News

As the star of A Thousand Blows, the British actor continues to take big swings

Malachi Kirby is the kind of actor who would rather tell you about his mum than about his BAFTA. After winning Best Supporting Actor at the 2020 TV awards for portraying real-life activist Darcus Howe in Mangrove — one instalment of Steve McQueen’s acclaimed anthology Small Axe — Kirby could practically touch the sky.

The London-born actor, who has appeared in landmark British television from EastEnders to Black Mirror to his latest — A Thousand Blows, a historical boxing series from Steven Knight — has built an impressive résumé. But even as he works with the very best, he counts his mum as number one. “We lived on a council estate; most of our food came out of a tin,” he tells Empire. “But she made me feel like we were so rich. I just grew up believing anything was possible.

//TV shows status included: 1883, 1932, 1944, 2024, 6666, 61st Street, A Classic Spy, A Gentleman in Moscow, Act Your Age, The Acolyte, Aftermath, The After Party, Agatha All Along, The Agency, Alex Rider, Alias Grace, Alien, All the Light We Cannot See, All the Queen's Men, All Rise, All's Fair, Almost Paradise, American Born Chinese, American Classic, American Crime, American Dad!, American Gigolo, American Horror Story, American Horror Stories, American Love Story, American Hostage, American Rust, American Sports Story, American Tragedies: Waco – The Trials, American Princess, Anansi Boys, And Just Like That …, Andor, The Angel of Darkness, Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches, Anne Rice’s The Talamasca, Apples Never Fall, Archer, The Archer Connection, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Ark, Armor Wars, A Small Light, The Artful Dodger, Art Detectives, The Assassin, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, Backstage,...

“Good Omens” Season 3 will be just one episode and will move forward without Neil Gaiman, Variety has learned.

It was previously announced that Season 3 of the Amazon Prime Video series, which is based on the book of the same name by Terry Pratchett and Gaiman, would be the show’s last. However, production was paused on the third season in September after Gaiman was accused of sexual assault by multiple women.

Now, Prime Video has confirmed that Season 3 will consist of one 90-minute episode, with production expected to resume in early 2025 in Scotland. According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, Gaiman had contributed to the writing of the series finale, but he will not be working on the show once production resumes. He is also no longer listed among the show’s executive producers for the final episode.

“Good Omens” first debuted on Prime Video in 2019, with Gaiman originally credited as creator,...

The third and final season of Good Omens at Prime Video will stretch — or maybe shrink — the definition of “season” in TV terms.

The Amazon-owned streamer announced Thursday that the series, which stars Michael Sheen and David Tennant and is based on Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s novel, will end with a single, feature-length episode. The 90-minute installment is set to begin production early next year in Scotland.

Prime Video also noted that Gaiman won’t be involved in production on the series ender (though he did contribute to its writing). Earlier this year, five women accused the author of sexual assault; their claims are detailed in a podcast titled Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman. He has denied any wrongdoing but offered to step away from the final Good Omens to let the production go forward and conclude the story.

The streamer renewed Good Omens for a final...

The third season of Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens is understood to be going ahead as planned at Amazon Prime Video, even though Disney has paused a feature adaptation of Gaiman’s novel, The Graveyard Book, following allegations of sexual assault against the UK author and screenwriter.

On July 3, UK news platform Tortoise Media published a podcast with accounts of claims of sexual assault against Gaiman by two women, with three more women subsequently coming forward. The allegations span the period of 1986 to2022. Gaiman denies the allegations.

Amazon officially greenlit the third season of fantasy drama Good Omens in December...

The third season of Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens is going ahead as planned, according to Amazon Prime Video, even though Disney has paused a feature adaptation of Gaiman’s novel, The Graveyard Book, following allegations of sexual assault against the UK author and screenwriter.

On July 3, UK news platform Tortoise Media published a podcast with accounts of claims of sexual assault against Gaiman by two women, with three more women subsequently coming forward. The allegations span the period of 1986 to2022. Gaiman denies the allegations.

Amazon officially greenlit the third season of fantasy drama Good Omens in December 2023. Screen understands...

Endor Productions, the television and film production company behind Vienna Blood, State of Play, Restless and Roald Dahl’s Esio Trot is to close after 26 years.

Seven.One Studios, which has owned Endor for the last 12 years, said it had taken the decision to shutter the outfit due to “the persistently difficult” market for productions in the international scripted sector.

In a statement to Screen’s sister title Broadcast, the ProSiebenSat.1 Media company said: “Endor will not make any further investments in new developments but will focus exclusively on the completion of current productions.

“This decision was made after long and careful consideration.

Exclusive: Paramount has rounded out the cast for its untitled Naked Gun reboot with four additions: Liza Koshy (Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts), current WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes, Cch Pounder (Rustin) and Busta Rhymes.

No word on the roles they’re playing, but we’re told Rhodes will only be making a cameo. As previously announced, Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand and Danny Huston will also star. Neeson plays Detective Frank Drebin, with Hauser as his partner Ed. Roles for Anderson and Huston haven’t yet emerged, though it’s understood that Durand will be playing the film’s villain.

Akiva Schaffer is directing and exec producing the comedy, slated for release on July 18, 2025. Dan Gregor and Doug Mand wrote the draft script along with Schaffer. Seth MacFarlane and Erica Huggins are producing via Fuzzy Door, with Daniel M. Stillman also serving as EP.

Known...

“Dead Boy Detectives” is TV’s latest Neil Gaiman adaptation and an expansion of the “Sandman” universe. On Wednesday, Netflix released a trailer for the YA-mystery-fantasy-horror-comedy genre mashup series.

The trailer, which is set to a custom version of My Chemical Romance’s “Welcome to the Black Parade,” gives a preview of the series’ darkly whimsical tone, in the vein of “The Sandman” or “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.”

Based on a comic series by acclaimed fantasy writer Gaiman and produced by co-showrunners Steve Yockey (“The Flight Attendant”) and Beth Schwartz (“Sweet Tooth”) and superproducers Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schecter, “Dead Boy Detectives” follows a pair of paranormal detectives, Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), who are best friends and ghosts, as they solve paranormal mysteries in the mortal world.

The cast also includes Kassius Nelson as Crystal Palace, a clairvoyant, and Yuyu Kitamura as her friend Niko,...

This evening we met the cast and crew of Wicked Little Letters on the red carpet of the film’s European Premiere in Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, London. Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley star alongside Anjana Vasan, BAFTA Nominee Timothy Spall, BAFTA winner Joanna Scanlan, Hugh Skinner, BAFTA winner Malachi Kirby, Gemma Jones, Lolly Adefope (Ghosts), Eileen Atkins (The Crown), and Alisha Weir (Matilda!).

Wicked Little Letters will be released in UK and Irish cinemas on 23 February 2024. Scott Davis, Colin Hart and Ethan Hart were on the red carpet, here are their interviews.

Wicked Little Letters Premiere Interviews

Plot:

Based on a true story, a 1920s English seaside town bears witness to a farcical and occasionally sinister scandal in this riotous mystery comedy. Based on a stranger-than-fiction true story, the feature follows two neighbours: deeply conservative local Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and rowdy Irish migrant Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). When...

It’s a pretty great time to be a Neil Gaiman fan. Technically, it’s always a great time to be a Neil Gaiman fan, but it’s almost certainly never felt more fun than at this precise moment.

Good Omens, The Sandman, and American Gods have all been adapted for television within the past five years, each with a rather astonishing degree of accuracy and faithfulness-–certainly to the spirit, if not always the letter of the author’s most popular works. Both Sandman and Good Omens will return for future seasons, a series based on Gods spin-off Anansi Boys is set to debut on Prime Video in the not-too-distant future, and Dead Boy Detectives, a show that’s focused on several DC characters created by Gaiman has been reclaimed by Netflix as part of their expanding Sandman onscreen universe. Honestly, it’s wonderful to witness, and it certainly...

Amazon has renewed the popular fantasy comedy series Good Omens for a third and final season.

Michael Sheen and David Tennant star in the adaptation of the best-selling novel Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Sheen plays Aziraphale, a fussy angel. Tennant is Crowley a fast-living demon. After millennia of working on opposite sides in the war between good and evil, the pair become close friends and allies.

Gaiman said the final season will “finish the story” he and the late Pratchett first plotted out back in 1989 and 2006. “Terry was determined that if we made Good Omens for television, we could take the story all the way to the end,” says Gaiman. “Season one was all about averting Armageddon, dangerous prophecies, and the End of the World. Season two was sweet and gentle, although it may have ended less...

The end of the world is really coming this time: “Good Omens” has been renewed for a third and final season at Amazon.

Created by Neil Gaiman and based on the novel co-written by Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett, “Good Omens” follows the friendship between the fussy angel and rare-book dealer Aziraphale and fast-living demon Crowley, a pair of apocalypse-fighting, millennia-long best friends played by Michael Sheen and David Tennant, respectively.

The first season of the series debuted on Amazon’s Prime Video in 2019. At the time, it was intended as a limited series. But the show was renewed for a second season in 2021, which is when Gaiman revealed he had hatched the idea for a sequel with Pratchett before his death in 2015.

The second season debuted in July — amid the now-ended writers and actors strikes — and ended on a massive cliffhanger that suggested Gaiman had more planned before this heavenly tale was done.

Dwayne Johnson and Dany Garcia’s Seven Bucks Productions added to its executive team Monday with the hiring of Scott Landsman and Melissa Fried, Seven Bucks president of production Hiram Garcia announced.

Landsman joins the production company as head of television while Fried joins as VP of film development and production. In their new roles, Landsman and Fried will oversee Seven Bucks’ production and development slate as the studio continues to grow since its 2012 launch.

“This is an extremely exciting moment for Seven Bucks, as we expand our team with two top-quality executives. Scott has consistently shown his ability to create some of television’s most appealing shows, and his expertise will be invaluable as Seven Bucks continues to scale its television endeavors,” Garcia said in a statement.

“On the film side,” the statement continued, “Melissa’s brilliant instincts on content and her unique ability to partner with and cultivate...

Exclusive: As Deadline reported earlier this week, Douglas Mackinnon, who served as executive producer, director and co-showrunner on the first two seasons of Good Omens, will not be returning for the expected third season of the Amazon/BBC series. It turns out Mackinnon also has exited another Neil Gaiman Amazon fantasy series, the upcoming Anansi Boys.

According to sources, Mackinnon left Anansi Boys last November when the show was in early post-production, having wrapped filming on its six-episode order at the end of May.

Like with Good Omens, Mackinnon served as co-showrunner alongside Gaiman, director and executive producer on Anansi Boys, an adaptation of Gaiman’s novel. He will get a directing credit on an episode and an “additional material shot by” credit on another, in addition to being listed as executive producer, I hear.

Anansi Boys remains in post-production with no premiere date set yet.

The series, on which...

Studiocanal has revealed the brand spanking new red band trailer for ‘Wicked Little Letters’, the razor-sharp British comedy from director Thea Sharrock.

Based on a true story, a 1920s English seaside town bears witness to a farcical and occasionally sinister scandal in this riotous mystery comedy. Based on a stranger-than-fiction true story, the feature follows two neighbours: deeply conservative local Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and rowdy Irish migrant Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). When Edith and her fellow residents begin to receive wicked letters full of unintentionally hilarious profanities, foul-mouthed Rose is charged with the crime. The anonymous letters prompt a national uproar, and a trial ensues. However, as the town’s women – led by Police Officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) – begin to investigate the crime themselves, they suspect something is amiss, and Rose may not be the culprit after all.

Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley star. Supporting cast includes Anjana Vasan (We Are Lady Parts,...

Patrick Schweitzer has been named the new CEO of Red Production Company, the U.K. producer behind such hits as It’s a Sin, Years and Years and the upcoming Neil Gaiman-adapted fantasy series Anansi Boys.

Red parent company Studiocanal unveiled the news on Monday, with Studiocanal CEO Anna Marsh calling Schweitzer “an incredible asset to Red. He already has an extraordinary portfolio of drama to his name and an innate ability to create programming that is relatable to every kind of audience…Patrick’s relationships with writers, acting talent, broadcasters and his team members are second to none. We are thrilled to know that Red is in such excellent hands.”

Over his 30-year-career in television, Schweitzer has worked on such high-end drama series as Grace, Redemption and Whitechapel for ITV, Sky’s hit Gangs of London and Save Me, and such BBC shows as Ssgb, The Interceptor and Doctor Who.

Production

An estimated £617.4 million ($781.8 million) was spent on the production of film, TV and other audiovisual content in Scotland in 2021, compared to £398.6 million in 2019, up 55%, a new report has revealed. Commissioned by Screen Scotland and produced by Saffery Champness and Nordicity, the independent report titled The Economic Value of the Screen Sector in Scotland in 2021 found that significant growth was found in all areas of production, particularly inward investment film and High-End TV (Hetv) production. Inward investment film and Hetv production spend increased by 110%, from £165.3 million in 2019 to £347.4 million in 2021. This included content made by Scotland-based producers, producers based outside of Scotland filming in Scotland and public service broadcasters commissioned content.

The growth is in large part due to sector development work undertaken since Screen Scotland’s formation in 2018, including skills development work and the opening of new or expanded studio facilities, the report found. Prime Video’s “The Rig,...

Production spend in the Scottish high-end TV (Hetv) and film industries hit £617.4 million in 2021, an increase of 55% compared to 2019’s £398.6 million, according to statistics released today by Screen Scotland.

The figure released today includes content made by Scotland-based producers, producers based outside of Scotland filming in Scotland, and Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) commissioned content.

Screen Scotland said over 80% of the net increase in production spending between 2019 and 2021 (£218.8m) was due to “the tremendous growth” in inward film and Hetv production. Overall, inward film investment and Hetv production spend increased by 110%, from £165.3 million in 2019 to £347.4 million in 2021. Across this period, Scotland was home to several big-budget films, including Batgirl, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Hetv shows like The Rig, Good Omens, and Anansi Boys. Psb-commissioned content increased from £196.6 million to £223.3 million over the same period.

In total, the screen sector in Scotland contributed a Gross Value Added (Gva...

The ‘Coming Soon to TV’ shelf in your local bookshop will be sagging under the weight of this lot – the thrillers, sci-fi stories, crime novels and non-fiction currently being adapted for television. If you prefer to read ahead before your imagination is sullied by the small screen version, then here’s where to start, from Apple TV+’s adaptation of 1950s-set revenge comedy Lessons in Chemistry and psychological thriller The Crowded Room, to Prime Video’s new Neil Gaiman show Anansi Boys and rumoured Kay Scarpetta series, via Netflix’s true-life opioid drama Painkiller, Itvx/MGM+ historical adventure series The Winter King and many more. Many many more.

It’s too soon to say when we’ll see those planned adaptations below which are yet to film, given the current WGA Writers’ Strike and earth-shifts taking place among the streaming networks whose pile ‘em high, sell ‘em cheap model is proving unsustainable,...

Updated with more details: Upfront week opened in New York City on Monday morning with ad buyers, TV executives and others walking in the middle of a street in Midtown Manhattan to get around protestors and WGA picket lines — and from there into Radio City Music Hall for the first of the networks’ big fall preview presentations.

Related: Support For WGA Strike To Take To The Skies Over Studios With Plane Trailing Banner ‘Pay The Writers You AI-Holes’

Invitees to the NBCUniversal 2023 upfront, briefly sharing the roadway with cars and trucks, were also greeted by more than 200 striking members of the Writers Guild of America and other sign-waving union supporters who ringed three sides of Radio City and urged the arrivals not to cross the line on Day 14 of the Hollywood scribes’ work stoppage.

The guests did get in, anyways, without incident but not without an earful of “shut it down,...

Exclusive: Fiona Shaw (Andor), Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice) and Chaske Spencer (The English) have entered production in NYC on Park Avenue, a new indie drama from Sundance alum Gaby Dellal (On a Clear Day), who directs from her script written with Tina Alexis Allen.

A production of Rimsky Productions and Washington Square Films, Park Avenue follows a mother and daughter who, over a fraught six weeks, reveal secrets, unravel lies and ultimately lay bare the ties that bind. Paralyzed by her life wrangling cattle in Alberta, Canada, Charlotte (Waterston) jumps into her Ford Bronco, flees her over-controlling husband, and lands back in her childhood Park Avenue apartment where she takes refuge with her mother Kit (Shaw). Rediscovering the boy she loved, now her grown doorman Anders (Spencer), and the life she left at 18, the mother and daughter explore shared history, unshared truths and find a way to face both love and loss.

“I’ve got one daughter, and you’ve got one daddy,” Edwin (Delroy Lindo) reminds his daughter Paige (Kerry Washington) in the trailer for the new Hulu series “UnPrisoned.” Their relationship is at the heart of the comedy, in which they reunite after Edwin spent 17 years in prison on drug charges. Based on writer and executive producer Tracy McMillan’s own life, the show will chronicle how that reunion unfolds and the impact Edwin has on Paige and her son, Finn (Faly Rakotohavana), when he moves in with them. All ten episodes premiere on Friday, March 10. Watch the full trailer above.

The trailer also offers glimpses at the adventures that await the family: Paige pursues a dream of owning a home — and gets a cathartic moment when she takes a sledgehammer to the dated wood paneling in the living room; Edwin teaches Finn how to drive and how to deal...

Fans have been waiting for the TV adaptation of Anansi Boys – Neil Gaiman’s 2005 fantasy novel about the two sons of the spider-god Anansi – for a long, long time.

Anticipation for Anansi Boys predates The Sandman, Good Omens and even American Gods when it comes to Neil Gaiman TV series. It was first reported that an adaptation was in the works back in 2014, but this project never came to be (parts were eventually incorporated into American Gods), so fans were excited to discover an Amazon Prime Video miniseries was in production back in 2020.

Three years later, we can almost taste it, so in anticipation here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming Anansi Boys:

It’s a Standalone Story… Developed From a Conversation with Sir Lenny Henry

Gaiman explains: ‘Anansi Boys began around 1996, from a conversation I had with Lenny Henry about writing a story that was...

More changes are afoot at the revamped DC Studios. As part of the ongoing strategy shift at the Warner Bros. unit now led by James Gunn and Peter Safran, the upcoming supernatural mystery series “Dead Boy Detectives” is moving from HBO Max, where it was originally set up, to Netflix, where it joins “The Sandman,” another show based on a comic series by writer Neil Gaiman. The news was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

“Dead Boy Detectives” is an eight-episode series executive-produced by Greg Berlanti, who oversees the now winding-down Arrowverse TV franchise, with “The Flight Attendant” EP Steve Yockey and “Arrow” writer Beth Schwartz serving as showrunners. The pilot was directed by Lee Toland Krieger (“Shadow and Bone”). It stars George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri as Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland, dead British teenagers who, rather than continuing on to the afterlife, choose to stay behind on Earth...

Whoopi Goldberg has been cast as a guest star in an upcoming episode of ABC’s The Conners.

Goldberg will play Ms. Glen in the Roseanne sequel series, Mark’s (Ames McNamara) intimidating music teacher, who has a complicated history with another member of the Conner family.

The current Season 5 sees the Conners continue to face the daily struggles of life in Lanford. Dan (John Goodman), Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), Darlene (Sara Gilbert) and Becky (Lecy Goranson) grapple with parenthood, dating, financial pressures and aging in working-class America. Through it all—the fights, the coupon cutting, the hand-me-downs, the breakdowns—with love, humor and perseverance, the family prevails.

Emma Kenney, Jayden Rey and Jay R. Ferguson also star.

The series is from Werner Entertainment and executive produced by Tom Werner, Sara Gilbert, Bruce Helford, Dave Caplan, Bruce Rasmussen and Tony Hernandez.

Egot winner Goldberg moderates ABC’s The View, for which...

Peter Chernin has launched The North Road Company, a global content studio that will bring together Chernin Entertainment, the U.S. assets of Red Arrow Studios, which includes Love Is Blind producer Kinetic Content, and Connor Schell’s non-scripted business Words + Pictures.

The move comes as the former Fox chief paid $200M for Red Arrow’s U.S. companies including Kinetic Content, The Circus producer Left/Right, 44 Blue Productions, the company behind Netflix’s Life After Death with Tyler Henry, Say Yes To The Dress producer Half Yard and Building Alaska producer Dorsey Pictures.

The new company will have access to hundreds of millions of dollars in financing for further acquisitions from Providence Equity Partners and Apollo and will open a London office with former Red Arrow Studios Chairman and CEO Jan Frouman, who Deadline revealed joined the company earlier this year, and former AMC Networks exec Kristin Jones.

In a move that shocked no one, Amazon Prime Video renewed its Emmy-nominated, adult superhero series “The Boys” for a fourth season Friday, just one week after the third season debuted its first trio of episodes and saw a 17 increase in viewership from Season 2.

Getting to work on another installment of the “The Boys,” created by “Supernatural” mastermind Eric Kripke and based on the comics by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, is the latest decision made by Amazon Studios to support what has stealthily become its first-ever franchise. It’s also symbolic of the streamer’s overall programming strategy heading into the fall debut of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.”

“We’re just really excited. I’ve been thrilled to be witness to all of the magic that Eric and the team have created,” Vernon Sanders, head of global television at Amazon Studios, told Variety Thursday.

The last five years have been a roller coaster ride for Neil Gaiman fans, between the rise and fall of "American Gods" on Starz and the success of "Good Omens" on Prime Video. Things aren't going to be slowing down anytime soon, either, what with the second season of "Good Omens" on the way, along with the small screen adaptations of the multi-hyphenate's "American Gods" quasi-spinoff novel "Anansi Boys" and his venerated comic book series "The Sandman."

Written by Gaiman and published from 1989 to 1996, the original run of "The Sandman" comics center on Morpheus or Dream (played by...

The post The Sandman Teaser: Dream Big With Neil Gaiman as the Series Premieres on Netflix in August appeared first on /Film.

Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo are set to star in a new comedy series set up at Onyx Collective on Hulu, Variety has learned.

The series is titled “Unprisoned” and has received an eight-episode order. It is inspired by the life of series creator Tracy McMillan. In the show, a messy but perfectionist relationship therapist and single mom (Washington) has her life turned right-side-up when her dad (Lindo) gets out of prison and moves in with her and her teenage son. The show is the first comedy to be ordered to series at Onyx.

“From the moment Tracy McMillan brought this project to Simpson Street, we knew that it had the potential to be provocative, groundbreaking and life-affirming,” Washington said. “I love this show. I love these characters and the stories that they inspire. And I’m extremely excited to be working, once again, with both Onyx collective and ABC signature,...

“Dead Boy Detectives” has been picked up to series at HBO Max, Variety has learned.

The show, based on characters created for DC by Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner, was originally ordered to pilot at the streamer last fall. HBO Max has given it an eight-episode order.

The show is described as a ghost story that explores loss, grief, and death through the lens of Edwin Payne and Charles Rowland, two dead British teenagers, and their very alive friend, Crystal Palace.

As Variety exclusively reported, George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri star as Dead Boy Detectives Edwin Payne (Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Revri), and Kassius Nelson stars as Crystal Palace.

Additional series stars include: Briana Cuoco as Jenny the Butcher, Ruth Connell as the Night Nurse (reprising her role from the “Dead Patrol” episode of HBO Max’s “Doom Patrol”), Yuyu Kitamura as Niko, and Jenn Lyon as Esther.

Steve Yockey...

“The View” will be without its typical moderator for a few weeks. Due to scheduling conflicts, Whoopi Goldberg will be out until May while she films a new series.

Filling in for Whoopi at the start of this week, host Joy Behar informed the audience that Whoopi would be gone for more than just the day. “If you’re wondering where Whoopi is, the girl’s got a movie she’s making! And she will be back whenever she finishes whatever she’s doing,” Behar explained. “So she’s gone for a while.”

At the time, Behar did not specify when exactly Whoopi would be done. But, on Wednesday the show revealed that it’d be at least a few weeks, with her return date set for May 2. “Our Egot winner is away doing Egot things!” the official show account tweeted.

Icymi: Our Egot winner is away doing Egot things!

Whoopi Goldberg is leaving The View—for a bit. Goldberg is on hiatus from the roundtable chat show while she films a TV show, it was announced on the April 11 episode. "If you're wondering where Whoopi is, the girl's got a movie she's making and she will be back when she finishes whatever she's doing," fellow panelist Joy Behar revealed. "So she's gone for a while." The View announced that Whoopi would return to the show on May 2. What Whoopi is actually doing is filming the new Prime Video limited series Anansi Boys in Scotland. Based on the fantasy novel by Neil Gaiman, Whoopi will play Bird Woman, the villain of the story,...

Whoopi Goldberg is leaving The View temporarily to film the new Amazon Studios series Anansi Boys. Goldberg’s casting in the TV adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel was announced April 7. Her hiatus was announced by co-host Joy Behar on The View on April 12. “If you’re wondering where Whoopi is, the girl’s got a movie she’s making and she will be back when she finishes whatever she’s doing. So she’s gone for a while,” Behar said. In Goldberg’s place as guest host was CNN conservative political commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin. Behar incorrectly stated Goldberg was filming a movie. Anansi Boys will be a six-episode limited series at Prime Video and is currently filming at FirstStage Studios in Leith, Scotland. It’s not clear how long Goldberg’s hiatus will be. “Anansi Boys follows Charlie Nancy (Malachi Kirby) — sometimes known as Fat Charlie (it was...

Whoopi Goldberg has been cast as Bird Woman in the series adaptation of ‘Anansi Boys,’ based on Neil Gaiman’s internationally beloved novel.

Goldberg will take up the mantle of Bird Woman, God of Birds, and one of the show’s key antagonists. The six-episode series stars Malachi Kirby in the leading roles of brothers Fat Charlie and Spider.

Set throughout contemporary London, the series follows Charlie Nancy (Malachi Kirby)—sometimes known as Fat Charlie (it was his father’s nickname for him; he’s not fat)—a young man who is used to being embarrassed by his estranged father. But when his father dies, Charlie discovers that he was Anansi: Trickster God of stories (played by Delroy Lindo). And he learns that he has a brother. Now that brother, Spider (also played by Kirby), is entering Charlie’s life, determined to make it more interesting—but making it a lot more dangerous instead.

The latest Neil Gaiman book adaptation has a new cast member. Today Amazon Studios announced that the upcoming series "Anansi Boys" has cast Academy Award-and Emmy-winner Whoopi Goldberg as the Bird Woman. Not only that, but we have more casting news for some of the main roles in the series, including the gods from the World Before Time. The series is currently shooting in Scotland, and will premiere on Prime Video.

The series will be six episodes long and stars Malachi Kirby in the lead roles of Fat Charlie and Spider, his brother. The story is...

The post Whoopi Goldberg Will Play the 'Scary' God of Birds in Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys Series appeared first on /Film.

Amazon Studios’ adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel Anansi Boys has added those from the World Before Time. Whoopi Goldberg has been cast in the role of key antagonist Bird Woman, God of Birds. “She’s the embodiment of birds. Not just beautiful stately birds in flight,” her character description reads. “Anyone who’s had a close encounter with a seagull knows that some birds are more dangerous than others, and Bird Woman is the most dangerous of them all. Long ago Anansi did her wrong. Now may be her chance to turn the tables.” The series follows Charlie Nancy (Malachi Kirby), sometimes known as Fat Charlie, who is a young man used to being embarrassed by his estranged father, When his dad dies, he discovers that he was Anansi: Trickster God of stories (Delroy Lindo) and he has a brother, Spider (Kirby), who’s determined to make his life...

Prime Video’s forthcoming Anansi Boys adaptation has found its Bird Woman in Whoopi Goldberg.

The Egot winner will star opposite Malachi Kirby (Small Axe), who was previously cast as both Charlie Nancy (aka Fat Charlie) and his brother, Spider; and Delroy Lindo (The Good Fight), who will play Anansi/Mr. Nancy.

More from TVLineMr. & Mrs. Smith: Maya Erskine to Replace Phoebe Waller-Bridge in Prime Video's TV Series RebootWhat If Yellowstone, But Supernatural? Watch the Trailer for Josh Brolin's Prime Video Neo-Western, Outer RangeUndone Season 2: Hidden Secrets Await Alma in Trippy New Trailer -- Watch

Goldberg’s Bird...

Whoopi Goldberg is set to play Bird Woman in the upcoming Amazon series adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s “Anansi Boys.”

The series follows Charlie Nancy (Malachi Kirby)—sometimes known as Fat Charlie (it was his father’s nickname for him; he’s not fat)—a young man who is used to being embarrassed by his estranged father (Delroy Lindo). But when his father dies, Charlie discovers that he was Anansi: Trickster God of stories. And he learns that he has a brother. Now that brother, Spider (also played by Kirby), is entering Charlie’s life, determined to make it more interesting—but making it a lot more dangerous instead.

“I have been a fan of this book for a very long time and when Neil Gaiman told me it was being brought to the screen, I did everything I could to be part of it to help make people aware...

Whoopi Goldberg has been tapped to play the menacing Bird Woman opposite Malachi Kirby and Delroy Lindo in Anansi Boys, Neil Gaiman’s series adaptation for Prime Video.

Based on Gaiman’s fantasy novel, the six-episode series is set throughout contemporary London and follows a cast of characters in an epic story that stretches from the UK to Florida, the Caribbean and the mythical World Before Time. Kirby stars in the leading roles of Fat Charlie and Spider. The series is filming in Scotland and will premiere on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

2021-22 Amazon Prime Video Pilots & Series Orders

Per Amazon Studios’ descriptions: Anansi Boys follows Charlie Nancy (Kirby) — sometimes known as Fat Charlie (it was his father’s nickname for him; he’s not fat) — a young man who is used to being embarrassed by his estranged father. But when his father dies, Charlie...

Exclusive: Prodigal, Inc, the L.A.-based entertainment company headed by Arvind Ethan David, a producer of the Tony Award-nominated Jagged Little Pill, has hired Tarquin Pack, producer of films including Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2, The Debt, Stardust and X-Men: First Class, as Producer + Head of Film & TV.

Said Pack in a statement, “Arvind and the team at Prodigal have demonstrated excellence across theatre, television, film – and even expanded during the pandemic into tabletop gaming, escape rooms and audio dramas. I look forward to actively growing our presence in the U.K. and am thrilled to build on the many projects we currently have in development,”

Pack, based out of the United Kingdom, will oversee development and production for film and TV for Prodigal, along with current Director of Development and Head of Audio, Brittany Chapman.

“The last few years of producing amidst a pandemic showed us that we couldn’t stay as we were,...

Germany’s Zdf Enterprises has partnered with award-winning U.K.-based Endor Productions to develop and co-produce the new crime thriller series “A State Of Grace,“ based on the popular books by author-screenwriter M.J. Arlidge.

Arlidge will be adapting “Eeny Meeny,“ the first book of his bestselling collection of 10 novels, which revolves around kick-ass private investigator Helen Grace, the U.K.‘s most intreprid crime fighter who takes down criminals clad in leather and on her Kawasaki motorbike. In this series of six one-hour episodes, she faces a twisted serial killer whose tactics are baffling but even more horrific when they all start making sense.

Arlidge, who will also be serving as an executive producer alongside Endor’s managing director Carlo Dusi, said: “Helen Grace is the Dark Knight of Southampton, a troubled, brooding but exceptional crime fighter, whose taste for action is matched by her seering intelligence and moral courage.

Another This Is Us star is making post-Pearson plans as the NBC drama nears its series finale.

Chris Sullivan (aka Toby) has nabbed the lead in ABC’s single-camera comedy pilot The Son in Law, our sister site Deadline reports.

More from TVLineChicago Med: Jessy Schram Returns as Hannah, Will Be Series RegularArrow Alum Katherine McNamara to Star in The CW's Walker: IndependenceMrs. Maisel EPs Tackle Burning Qs Ahead of Final Season: Is Susie Officially 'Out'? Did [Spoiler] Almost Die? What Are the Last 4 Words?

Sullivan’s character, a divorcé named Jake with a 21-year-old daughter, finds new love with a woman named Asha.

Amazon Studios has rounded out the cast of forthcoming drama “Anansi Boys” with the additions of Fiona Shaw, Cch Pounder and Jason Watkins.

The series is an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel of the same name, and is currently shooting in Edinburgh, Scotland.

“Anansi Boys” follows Charlie Nancy (Malachi Kirby), sometimes known as Fat Charlie (it was his father’s nickname for him), a young man who is used to being embarrassed by his estranged father. But when his father dies, Charlie discovers that his father was Anansi, the trickster god of stories (played by Delroy Lindo), and that he has a brother. Now that brother, Spider (also played by Kirby), is entering Charlie’s life, determined to make it more interesting — but making it a lot more dangerous instead.

The show is set in contemporary London, though the story stretches from the U.K. to Florida, the Caribbean,...

Exclusive: Cch Pounder, The Crown star Jason Watkins and Killing Eve’s Fiona Shaw have rounded out the cast for Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming big-budget adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys.

The trio are joined by L. Scott Caldwell (Lost), Joy Richardson (Small Axe) and Lachele Carl (Doctor Who) for the series, which is shooting in Scotland and already features Black Mirror star Malachi Kirby in the lead of Charlie Nancy.

2021 Amazon Prime Video Pilots & Series Orders

Kirby’s character is a young man used to being embarrassed by his estranged father. But when his father (Delroy Lindo) dies, Charlie discovers that he was Anansi: trickster god of stories. And he learns that he has a brother.

NCIS star Pounder will play Mrs. Higgler, the matriarch of her clan and an old family friend of Charlie’s.

Watkins, an established British TV drama...

Global streamers are investing heavily in Scotland, with Amazon Prime Video investing £50 million ($65 million) across three series.

The U.K. parliament’s Scottish Affairs Committee is conducting a series of evidence sessions exploring the media landscape in Scotland. Amazon and Netflix appeared before the committee on Monday.

“Over the last 12 months, we’ve contributed directly over £50 million into the creative industries and that’s across three shows that we’re very proud to have shot and being currently shooting,” Amazon Europe originals chief Georgia Brown told the committee. The shows are “The Rig,” “Anansi Boys” and “Good Omens” season two.

Brown added that within that investment, the streamer has created over 750 jobs, of which 60% have been Scottish, and 60 traineeships were created directly into those productions.

Anne Mensah, who was formerly head of drama at BBC Scotland and is currently VP, original series, at Netflix, said that parts of hit series...

‘Good Omens’ showrunner Douglas Mackinnon, Screen Scotland’s Steven Little and Barry Crerar producer Ciara Barry took part in a Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) panel.

“We need to make space for independent films, so we’re not eating our young,” said Steven Little, head of production at Screen Scotland, during an event at the Glasgow Film Festival this week.

“Maybe there’s a model around de-risking financing. Not just investing in a project, [but] investing among multiple projects, so you only have to have one success to mitigate loss.”

In 2021, in Glasgow alone, a record £42.4m was generated for the local...

Amazon Prime Video has signed a multimillion-pound long-term deal with the Pinewood Group’s Shepperton Studios for exclusive use of new production facilities.

The move is ahead of Amazon launching several U.K. original series in 2022 and 2023. Filming is currently underway in Scotland on “Anansi Boys” and “Good Omens” Season Two. The forthcoming Lord of the Rings series, “The Rings of Power,” will film Season Two in the U.K. Amazon Studios has also signed overall deals with British creators including Neil Gaiman, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Steve McQueen.

The new facilities will comprise nine sound stages, workshops and office accommodation, totalling approximately 450,000 square feet, and forming part of the wider redevelopment and expansion of Shepperton Studios, which will deliver approximately 1.2 million square feet of new studio space.

Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Pinewood Group as we continue to support, develop and...

And just like that (not be confused with And Just Like That…), another year of television is in the books.

In terms of pop culture, 2021 was never going to be as strange and surreal as when the whole world shut down in 2020. Still, this year of TV wasn’t necessarily the return to normalcy that one might expect. TV changed in the year 2021. For one, it got a hell of a lot bigger. That’ll happen to a medium when Disney decides to throw the Marvel Cinematic Universe its way. Series like WandaVision, Loki, and even Marvel’s What If…? dominated the streaming servers for most of 2021.

Even beyond the Marvel machine, however, it felt like TV regained some of its watercooler mass appeal in 2021. Netflix’s dystopian Korean TV series Squid Game was an absolute phenomenon and rightfully so. A slickly-produced, beautifully crafted race to a tragic end, Squid Game...

Amazon’s upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman‘s (Good Omens) best-selling fantasy novel Anansi Boys has cast its lead female stars, Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn (Small Axe) and Grace Saif (13 Reasons Why). St. Aubyn, who made her screen debut as part of Steve McQueen‘s Small Axe series in the feature Lovers Rock, is set to play cheerful and kind teacher Rosie Noah. Rosie is the fiancée to Charles “Fat Charlie” Nancy, the show’s main protagonist, played by fellow Small Axe actor Malachi Kirby. Saif, meanwhile, will portray the smart, determined, and very funny Detective Constable Daisy Day. Daisy finds herself tied up in multiple overlapping police cases, including a murder. “When you are casting something on the scale of Anansi Boys, you need female leads who are as accomplished, charming, and brilliant as, well, Malachi Kirby in both his incarnations,” said Gaiman (via The Hollywood Reporter). He continued: “Amarah-Jae St.