Terminator: Genesis targets Matt Smith and new teaser for Star Wars: Rebels

We apologise for not publishing an update yesterday. We were close to finishing our report on Tim Blake Nelson’s casting as Mole Man in The Fantastic Four and a potential collaboration of Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby director Baz Luhrmann and Saving Mr Banks writer Kelly Marcel on an Elvis biopic. We return today though with a couple of stories that would be the biggest of the week were it not for the obvious.

We’ve still got some pretty major scoops on our hands though. You may remember that when Disney made the multi-billion purchase of Lucasfilm in late 2012, they delighted fans by confirming JJ Abrams’s Star Wars: Episode VII (which finally announced its cast of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, John Boyega, Domhnall Gleeson, Adam Driver, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis and Max Von Sydow) as well as crushing some with the cancellation of the highly regarded animated TV series The Clone Wars, after a six season run. Later though they did announce their plans for Star Wars: Rebels, which just revealed a short teaser for the upcoming debut trailer.

Rebels fills the gap between 2005’s Revenge of the Sith and 1977’s A New Hope, so it doesn’t take place during any instalment. This brief preview offers glimpses at new characters but we can expect the full trailer, dated for this Sunday (Star Wars Day), to unveil the return of Lando Calrissian, voiced by The Empire Strikes back and Return of the Jedi’s Billy Dee Williams. David Oyelowo (The Last King of Scotland, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Tiya Sicar (The Internship) and Freddie Prinze Jr (I Know What You Did Last Summer) also star but the most exciting aspect is the authentic design; the spaceships, the menacing villain and the Imperial propaganda posters all ooze of Star Wars style.

The excellent Matt Smith handed over the batten, after a three year run, for the lead role In British sci-fi phenomenon Doctor Who to The Thick of It’s Peter Capaldi last Christmas and is now in the process of establishing himself as a Hollywood star, a shot Smith’s Who predecessor David Tennant lost in horror misfire Fright Night. Smith’s attempts involved a supporting role in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut Lost River but he’s just landed a far bigger role.

He’s joined the cast of sci-fi sequel Terminator: Genesis, in a role Deadline describe only as major. This is likely because they hope Smith to return for the planned sequels. Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) directs Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones, Dom Hemingway) as Sarah Connor, Jason Clarke (The Great Gatsby, Zero Dark Thirty) as John Connor, Jai Courtney (A Good Day to Die Hard, Divergent) as Kyle Reese, Dayo Okeniyi (The Spectacular Now, The Hunger Games) as Danny Dyson, JK Simmons (Spider-Man, Juno) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (True Lies, Total Recall, The Expendables, Predator) as The Terminator.

Terminator: Genesis – June 26th 2015

Star Wars: Rebels – coming soon to Disney XD

JK Simmons set for Terminator: Genesis role and Get on Up trailer released

Chadwick Boseman experienced huge success last year with his breakout role in drama 42 alongside Harrison Ford but he’ll propel himself to success further with the lead in James Brown biopic Get on Up. The first trailer is online at last and, after years of stalled development, we can get a first look at the film. Alongside Boseman, who plays the troublemaking rock/soul legend, in the cast is Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Dan Aykroyd plus director Tate Taylor (The Help).

Director Alan Taylor moves on from his blockbuster success of Thor: The Dark World to a new franchise with Terminator: Genesis. So far, we have little clues about the plot but we know that Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thrity), Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) and Jai Courtney (Jack Reacher) will join the series as John Connor, Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese respectively with Arnold Schwarzenegger (Predator, True Lies) likely to return as The Terminator. The similar ages of the central trio hints that there’ll be a Back to the Future 2-like set up involving John Connor travelling back in time to the original’s setting.

Now, JK Simmons is negotiating his way to a role in the film. The star is most likely known for Spider-Man (where he plays Bugle editor J Jonah Jameson) and Juno as well as TV’s The Closer and video game franchises Portal and Half Life. He could be joining this summer’s shoot as a weary detective who aids Sarah in her attempts for survival from the robot that’s hunting her down.

Terminator: Genesis – June 26th 2015

Get on Up – August 1st

Jamie Bell for Fantastic Four, Pinkett Smith and more in Gotham and Jai Courtney is the new Kyle Reese

2015 sees the stellar release of the new instalment of the time-bending, action-packed, pre-apocalypse franchise The Terminator. This fifth chapter, titled Terminator: Genesis, will be directed by Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) and stars Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as Sarah Connor, Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, The Great Gatsby) as John Connor and Arnold Schwarzenegger (Predator, Commando) reprising his role as The Terminator. You’d be right to say that those three are the fulcrum of Terminator’s plot but a fourth icon from the series does exist.

Jai Courtney (A Good Die Hard, Jack Reacher) has been officially cast as Kyle Reese, a futuristic soldier sent back from a future ruled by robots to protect Sarah Connor (mother of future freedom fighter John Connor) from the monstrous Terminator whose been sent to kill her. The previous players of Reese were Anton Yelchin and Michael Biehn. The title Genesis hints that this new film will explore the origins of Skynet and their demonic creations while the two generations of the Connor family go to stop them – please note that’s purely my speculation, nothing about the plot has been confirmed. We’re immensely looking forward to Genesis but please tell us in the comments whether we’re in for another classic or if this’ll be a repeat of Rise of the Machines.

DC’s upcoming TV series Gotham has formed hugely in development since the assignment of Danny Cannon as writer and director. Castings such as Ben McKenzie as Commissioner Gordon and Sean Pertwee as Alfred were made and a tonne of actors were introduced to the series but Jada Pinkett Smith is probably the highest profile addition. The Collateral and Madagascar star will play Fish Mooney, the villainous mob boss of young Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Taylor – Another Earth), known to DC fans as The Penguin. A couple of Gordon’s fellow detectives have been cast; Donal Logue will play Harvey Bullock and Zabryna Guevara will play Captain Essen while Welsh actress Erin Richards (Open Grave) will play Gordon’s fiancee Barbara Kean.

The casting for Fox’s reboot superhero reboot The Fantastic Four has taken a huge turn today. It seems as if, after months of casting speculation, the official cast are signing on. Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now, Project X) is Mr Fantastic; Michael B Jordan (Fruitvale Station, Chronicle) is The Human Torch; Kate Mara (127 Hours, Iron Man 2) is The Invisible Woman and BAFTA winning actor Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, The Eagle, King Kong, The Adventures of Tintin) is The Thing. The fresh cast, Bell and Jordan in particular, should be able to generate a lot of interest in audiences, even if it does cause a few problems. Invisible Woman and Human Torch are a sibling duo in the comics but it’s evident that Jordan and Mara won’t be believed as a brother/sisters act. Bell certainly isn’t known for having the boulder like physique Thing is often associated with so I expect motion capture performance. The film is directed by Josh Trank, who called the shots on the fantastically dark superhero horror Chronicle, and might be a part of a co-existing FF and X-Men universe.

The Fantastic Four – June 19th 2015

Gotham – 2015 on Fox

Terminator: Genesis – July 1st 2015

Watch the first Interstellar trailer and find out the new Terminator’s title and star

Michael Caine, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck, Topher Grace, Mackenzie Foy, Wes Bentley, John Lithgow and David Oyelowo make up the key cast of the Interstellar, the new sci-fi from Christopher Nolan (director of The Dark Knight trilogy, The Prestige, Inception, Memento). However, the lead star Matthew McConaughey is the only one to feature in the brand new trailer. I’d say it’s more of a mood piece rather than an actual teaser as it features very little original footage of the film but that’s understandable as there’s nearly another year until the release of one from this century’s sci-fi greats.

Finally, we move onto the new instalment of a sci-fi thriller franchise which started off with two brilliant adventures directed by James Cameron and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in his most iconic role. The ensuing sequels titled Rise of the Machines and Salvation fell short of the original two’s brilliance due to lacking directors, namely Jonathan Mostow and McG. Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) is much more talented and is on board for the fifth chapter which is now titled Terminator: Genesis.

And that’s not all; they’ve finally confirmed that Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones’ Daernerys) will play the lead role of Kate Connor, beating the likes of Brie Larson and Margot Robbie, while we recently reported that Jason Clarke (The Great Gatsby) was in talks to play her future son John. Genesis hints at a plot taking place at the beginning of Skynet’s rule over the humans and their resistance, so it’s after Terminators 1, 2 and Rise of the Machines but before the post-Judgement Day era of Salvation.

Terminator: Genesis – July 1st 2015

Interstellar – November 7th 2014