‘End of Watch’ Series Adaptation in the Works at Fox

EXCLUSIVE: A limited scripted series exploring the rise and fall of Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr is in the works.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterSam Esmail’s “Metropolis” series has been greenlit at Apple, Variety has learned.The drama series is inspired by the 1927 Fritz Lang sci-fi film of the same name. Hailed as one of the greatest and most influential films of the silent film era, the story takes place in the futuristic city of Metropolis.While the city’s wealthy elite enjoy a lavish life of comfort and ease in penthouses and pleasure gardens, scores of workers labor at dangerous machinery in the bowels of the city to keep everything running. Freder Fredersen, the son of the most powerful man in Metropolis, has an awakening after meeting a young worker named Maria and witnessing a number of workers die in an industrial accident.

Milo Ventimiglia is dishing on the final season of This Is Us!

Joe Otterson TV ReporterSera Gamble is developing a series adaptation of the Francesca Lia Block book “Weetzie Bat,” Variety has learned exclusively.The series follows Weetzie, her best friend Dirk, and their found family as they traverse the sparkling, dangerous, secret world beneath the surface of 1980s Los Angeles. Weetzie faces the deepest heartbreaks of life with a spirit of hard-won optimism and an unfailing knack for finding the magic hidden inside the ordinary. Weetzie has discovered something amazing: magic is real, and it is hiding in plain sight in the city of Los Angeles.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAn “Outlander” prequel series is in development at Starz, Variety has learned exclusively.According to sources, “Outlander” executive producer and showrunner Matthew B. Roberts is attached to write and executive produce the prequel. A writers’ room is currently being assembled with an eye to begin work in the coming weeks.Exact plot details for what the prequel would focus on are being kept under wraps.

Mónica Marie Zorrilla “Grubbs,” a Keenspot all-ages webcomic that draws inspiration from “Calvin & Hobbes” and “Dennis the Menace,” is slated for an animated TV series adaptation penned by M.J. Offen.

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, John Wells Productions has landed the rights to Danya Kukafka’s recently published suspense thriller novel Notes on an Execution for series adaptation.

Stephan James is attached to star and produce a scripted limited series about artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

EXCLUSIVE: David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad), Marin Ireland (Y: The Last Man, The Umbrella Academy), Vivien Lyra Blair (Bird Box, Mr. Corman) and Madison Hu (Voyagers) have signed on to star alongside Chris Messina and Sophie Thatcher in 20th Century Studios horror-thriller The Boogeyman, based on Stephen King’s 1973 short story of the same name, which has entered production in New Orleans, and will debut in 2023 on Hulu in the U.S., on Star+ in Latin America, and on Disney+ under the Star banner in all other territories.

EXCLUSIVE: Even though the second film doesn’t bow till the spring, Paramount Pictures and Sega Corporation are moving fast to build on its ever growing universe with projects in both the film and TV realms. Paramount Pictures and Sega Corporation have commenced development on a third feature film installment to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Additionally, Sega and Paramount+ are developing the first-ever original live-action Sonic series, to launch in 2023, which will feature the character Knuckles, with Idris Elba returning to voice the role. The character is set to make its debut in the upcoming sequel that bows on April 8.

Bloom County, Berkeley Breathed’s comic strip that ran in the 1980s, is being turned into an animated series at Fox.

Wyatte Grantham-Philips editorAn eight-hour drama inspired by Carolyn Arnold’s “Madison Knight” detective novels is being developed by Muse Entertainment and Pop Fiction Entertainment.Hélène Joy (“Durham County,” “Murdoch Mysteries”) will star as Madison Knight, a daring detective who works to investigate criminals throughout the series. Orion Lee (“First Cow”) will portray Knight’s work partner, Detective Steven Hung.

David Ayer is bringing his 2012 movie End of Watch to television. Fox has handed a script-to-series commitment to the police drama project based on original film which starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña.

Peacock has given a straight-to-series order to Apples Never Fall, a limited series based on Liane Moriarty’s (Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers) bestselling novel.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterLiane Moriarty’s novel “Apples Never Fall” is being adapted into a limited series at Peacock, Variety has learned exclusively.In a competitive situation, Peacock has won the rights to the book, which was published in September 2021, and given it a straight-to-series order. Since its debut, the book has sold over one million copies.The series centers on the Delaneys, who from the outside appear to be an enviably contented family.

Orphan Black sequel series is officially in the works at AMC.The project, which was first reported in 2019, has found its writer with the writers’ room now having opened for the forthcoming show.Orphan Black ran from 2013 to 2017, with Tatiana Maslany playing a woman named Sarah and her “cloned sisters” in a present-day science-fiction thriller.According to Variety, Anna Fishko has joined the project to write and executive produce the series although plot details remain under wraps at the time of writing.It remains unclear whether Maslany will reprise her roles for the project, while it’s been confirmed that it will be a sequel set in the same universe (as opposed to a reboot).Meanwhile, Maslany was cast in the lead role of Marvel’s spin-off series She-Hulk at Disney+ in 2020.She will play Jennifer Walters, cousin of Bruce Banner, who inherits Banner’s Hulk powers via a blood transfusion, and is said to keep the character’s “personality, intelligence and emotional control”.The series will be directed by Kat Coiro, who will also act as executive producer. Jessica Gao will write the series and also act as the show’s executive producer and showrunner.

It's been over twenty years since Will Young defied the odds and was crowned winner of Pop Idol in 2001. Over ten gruelling weeks of live shows, Will impressed both the public and the show judges Simon Cowell, Pete Waterman, Nicki Chapman and Neil Fox. The singer was voted the champion by the public, managing to pip the series favourite Gareth Gates to the post with 53% of the vote, scoring him a coveted recording contract.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterNBC has placed drama pilot orders for “The Brave” creator Dean Georgaris’ “Blank Slate” and an adaptation of the novel “Predictably Irrational.”Written by Georgaris, “Blank Slate” follows Special Agent Alexander McCoy, a legend in law enforcement, the agent we all hope is out there, the agent we’d all like to be, per the project’s official logline. The only issue is … he doesn’t actually exist.

David E. Kelley and J.J. Abrams are teaming up for a limited series adaptation of courtroom thriller Presumed Innocent for Apple.

Louis Hofmann (Dark, Land of Mine) is set as the male lead opposite Aria Mia Loberti in Netflix’s All The Light We Cannot See, a four-part limited series adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, from Shawn Levy and Steven Knight. Also cast in the series Lars Eidinger (White Noise, Irma Vep) and newcomer Nell Sutton.