Lately, comic book fans have enjoyed a gamut of TV shows based on their favorite graphic novel personalities. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter have delved into the espionage section of their massive universe. As for DC, they have opted to feature their fastest superhero The Flash in his own series, and a prequel to Batman’s reign, Gotham. Fans have taken quite quickly to those shows, while a much smaller crowd has developed a connection to NBC’s smug magic wielder Constantine.
The first season of the show has just reached its 13-episode conclusion on NBC, and a follow-up season is still in doubt. This has led fans to Twitter, trying to keep the show alive with its own hashtag movement – #SaveConstantine. Rumors has been circulating that NBC may consider moving Constantine to the SyFy cable network, and re-naming the show Hellblazer.
It’s known that the show hasn’t been garnering the type of blockbuster ratings NBC is used to for such a special effects heavy show. Showrunner Daniel Cerone made sure to speak up when fans cried afoul on social media over the fact that their new favorite show may get cancelled. Cerone did note that Constantine might be technically cancelled at the moment, but there may be a sliver of hope for the show’s future:
NBC made some early pickups but Constantine not canceled. We’ll pitch them our plans for 2nd season in May. Then they decide. Anyone putting money in studio coffers by purchasing Constantine in any form will motivate studio to find a home for show. The more international viewers the better. Foreign sales can drive a series. Keep it on air. Look at Hannibal for proof.
Fans may want to stream the show as much as possible and make their voices heard even more if they’d like Constantine to stay on NBC. Honestly though, we’d be perfectly fine with the show’s move on over to cable TV. We’re of the opinion that the show may get the proper, darker tone we loved to follow in the comics if it made its home at Syfy. Looks like we’ll have to wait till May to learn the fate of our favorite chain-smoking magician.
As fans of The Walking Dead, we’ve been in a pretty depressed mood lately. The fifth season’s mid-way break ended with the death of one of the most beloved characters on the show – Beth (Emily Kinney). The gun shot heard round the world just happened to be the one that took sweet Beth away from us. Well, now it looks like we may just see the actress behind Beth make her debut on another comic book TV show.
News first broke thanks to Instagram user punkd_images, and has since been confirmed by multiple sources after Emily Kinney was spotted arriving in Vancouver for the filming of the upcoming 18th episode, “All-Star Team-Up.” The episode will feature Arrow’s Felicity Smoak and Ray Palmer visiting Central City.
So which character from The Flash’s rouges galley is Emily Kinney set to play? Welp, she’s reportedly slated to take on the moniker of Bertram Larvam. DC diehards know this character better as the male villain, The Bug-Eyed Bandit. It sounds like this lesser known baddie from the DC universe will get a gender swap on the small screen. For those who don’t know, the Bug-Eyed Bandit is an inventor who designed his own mechanical insect, which was used to control other insects. This Bandit resorted to stealing money in order to fund the finishing touches on his insectoid project. Mr. Larvam even went ahead and used his invention to go on an extended money-grubbing scheme.
It’s interesting to note that The Bug-Eyed Bandit is major rival of Ray Palmer aka The Atom, who is currently on Arrow, and rumored to be getting his own show soon. This could be a big setup step the same way they had Barry Allen appear on Arrow before giving him his own show.
Over the years DC have been pretty successful with TV shows based on its flagship characters. Superman has enjoyed numerous incarnations such as Lois and Clark as well as CW’s Smallville. CW also has Arrow, based on the adventures of the titular Green Arrow. Batman has had a few himself, mainly animated, including the bloody amazing Batman: The Animated Series. Now Fox are planning to revisit Gotham City with a series, currently titled Gotham, following the early years of Gotham Central’s finest, James Gordon. Gotham will be headed up by TheMentalist creator Bruno Heller who has signed on for a series commitment.
Now that everyone is on the same page… today’s news. Dylan Bruce is coming to Arrow!
He’ll be Laurel’s newest coworker which sounds like a nice job but let’s remember what happens to pretty much everyone in Laurel’s life. It’s not pretty. Dylan Bruce will be making his stay in Starling City a short one, only appearing in two episodes at some point in the upcoming season. Before you get your hopes up – no, Dylan Bruce is unlikely to be the new Barry Allen. While Flash is coming to Arrow, Bruce is playing a character named Adam Donner.
The real question is this… who does shirtless better? Stephen Amell or Dylan Bruce? You be the judge.
If this season is anything like last season, this newest casting update is just the latest in what will be a long line of casting updates so stayed tuned here to Grizzly Bomb as we bring you all the Arrow news you could hope for.
During the Arrow Comic-Con panel, we found out some of the guest stars coming to the show, like Bronze Tiger and Brother Blood, but today the big name was announced. It is none other than Barry Allen himself, The Flash!
At their Television Critics Association presentation, The CW president Mark Pedowitz made public the plans to bring Flash to the small screen starting with an appearance on the already hugely popular Arrow. There were quite a few mentions of Coast City during the first season so there were many, including myself, who thought that perhaps the next “big” name to come to Starling City would be Green Lantern.
Well, we were wrong. Just like we were wrong when we assumed there would be no Flash until the Flash feature film came about in 2016.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Barry Allen will roll into Starling City for three episodes before embarking on his own series. He will be introduced in episode 8, then appear in episodes 9 and 20, and then will go off and do his own thing. Writing the Flash episodes will be the crack team of executive producers Andrew Kreisberg and Greg Berlanti, along with DC author and now frequent Arrow writer Geoff Johns. Episode 20 will be directed by David Nutter, who directed the series pilot last year.
The odd part about all of this is Warner Bros. and DC are not planning on having the already somewhat established TV universe have anything to do with the proposed and hopefully successful cinematic universe. I understood that decision when it was just Stephen Amell’s Green Arrow because the show does have the “no superpowers and/or metahumans” stance, but now that Flash is coming along? Granted they are saying that when Barry Allen and Oliver Queen meet up Allen won’t be Flash but still, the show about the Fastest Man Alive is getting a soft launch from one without any superpowers. Unless they cast Usain Bolt as Barry Allen, I’m calling bull. Actually, they are beginning the casting process this week so maybe it is Usain Bolt.
Another thing we (okay, maybe this was just me) were wrong about? Holding out any hope for the Wonder Woman series to ever make it to air. CW President, Mark Pedowitz, announced yesterday during the same presentation that the Wonder Woman project, Amazon, was on pause.
Excuse me as I roll my eyes in epic fashion. It’s on pause? Did anyone ever press play? Even when we last spoke about the Wonder Woman television series, it was all still speculation and rumor. This whole “pause” business is just irritating. Rip off the Band-Aid Mark, just do it already.
I get that Wonder Woman is a difficult character to try and build a franchise around. Almost every Wonder Woman fan will agree to that. The invisible jet, the different planet, the Lasso of Truth… it’s all a bit fantastic and might be too fantastic to make a TV series out of, outside of the campy 70s. However, either do it or don’t, but stop stringing us along.
Speaking of stringing along… What happened to Booster Gold? When Arrow premiered, Andrew Kriesberg was still talking up the Booster Gold series. I got my hopes up. Thought that for sure one of the men behind this great new show would want to do every thing in his power to bring one of his favorite characters to life in a live action setting. Instead we’ve heard nothing about Booster Gold and when Greg Berlanti was asked why Flash was getting a series, he said it was because Flash was one of his favorite characters growing up! Ugh, I just can’t win.
The last bit of Arrow news coming out of TCA, we now know who Caity Lotz is playing. We saw her in the Arrow season two sizzle reel, but there was no indication who her character was beyond “the origin story for Black Canary”. Well get this, Sarah Lance is still alive and she’s returning to Starling City thanks to Caity Lotz. If the Tommy/Laurel/Oliver love triangle was messy, I can’t even imagine how dysfunctional Ollie stuck between two sisters is going to be.
Despite my irritation, this is exciting news. As a DC fan it’s easy to look at the Marvel cinematic success and be jealous, but Arrow andthe new Flash show (and Booster Gold and Wonder Women if they ever get made) are all part of a long and storied history of DC characters on the small screen. They are doing well, so here’s hoping they continue to do well…
Let’s start right off with the Arrow season two sizzle reel. Now, if you have not seen all of Arrow season one, you might want to skip this as it has a lot of spoilers in it. A lot, a lot.
So much action packed into so little time! Taken from footage of the season premiere, we get a good look at Summer Glau as Isabel Rochev.
As exciting as that is, I think we all echo Roy Harper’s question to the mysterious blonde in a mask (Caity Lotz as not Black Canary), “Where the hell did you come from?” Of course this Arrow season two sizzle reel didn’t answer any big questions, like who exactly Caity Lotz’s character is, but we do see Oliver Queen make the beginnings of his move from “the Vigilante” to actually being called Arrow. As Marc Guggenheim said in this interview, they are moving from Hood Guy, to Arrow, to ultimately Green Arrow.
Same with Black Canary apparently. Laurel will eventually be Black Canary but she needs to start on that journey and Caity Lotz is there to help her begin.
Apparently everyone is moving along in their storylines, including Roy Harper and Deathstroke. During the Comic-Con panel, Colton Haynes referred to season two as Roy’s “island” and Andrew Kreisberg made a point of telling fans that those who are interested in if/how Manu Bennett’s Slade Wilson becomes the Deathstroke, then they should make sure to watch season two.
The other big news from the panel is that although it seems as if Malcolm Merlyn met his end in the season finale of Arrow season one, perhaps he’s not as dead as we assumed. John Barrowman appeared on stage saying “I would be more than happy to come back into this family fold. And if I’m being invited back, it’s more than the 50th anniversary of ‘Doctor Who’s’ ever done.”
As great as all that news is, two big guest spots were also announced.
That’s right, Suicide Squad’s own Bronze Tiger is coming to Starling City! Or the island, his story hasn’t been revealed. Michael Jai White will play the martial artist sometime in season two. Given that they are announcing it this early, you’d have to imagine it’d be early in the season.
Same goes for Kevin Alejandro, guest starring as a character named Sebastian Blood, aka Brother Blood. Longtime foe of the Teen Titans. It’s a little easier to see the martial arts fighting of Bronze Tiger making the leap to the Arrow-verse, but there will be some definite changes in the Brother Blood character to comply with the “no superpowers/metahumans” thing that they’ve committed to. But we’ve seen how Count Vertigo was able to be adapted so I’m not too worried about it.
So I think that about covers it. Laurel Lance is still going to be Black Canary. Caity Lotz is going to help her. Roy Harper and Slade Wilson both have changes in store for them. Oh yeah, Thea is taking over Oliver’s club, and Summer Glau’s Isabel Rochev is coming to town.
Can’t wait for October 9th when Arrow season two premieres!
Grizzly Bomb 