TV News Wrap-Up: New Star Trek Series Coming to CBS All Access, The CW Orders ‘The Republic of Sarah’ and ‘Kung Fu’ to Series, Good Girls Gets Season 4, and More

Late spring is a pretty hopping time for television news. Between upfronts and the oncoming Comic-Con season, there are often lots of announcements to be made. 

Yet, due to COVID-19 many of those events aren’t happening. However, that hasn’t stopped networks from planning for the future.

While it looks like live-action series won’t be able to start filming again for a while, some shows are still getting creative with quarantine specials and networks are being proactive in how they slate the upcoming 2020/2021 television season. 

Check out our TV news wrap-up for more. 

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Disney+ is developing a Percy Jackson TV series. Author Rick Riordan announced that his book series Percy Jackson & the Olympians is being developed into a live-action TV series. Since the film series failed to make a splash on the big screen fans have been asking for a proper adaptation for the small screen: a proposition that became much more feasible when Disney+ launched in November. Read more about this announcement right here. 

Good Girls has been renewed for Season 4. According to Deadline, the third season, which was cut short due to the coronavirus production shutdown, “averaged a 0.9 rating in adults 18-49 and 3.4 million viewers overall in L+7 Nielsens, with the show’s Feb. 16 season premiere growing to a 3.3 rating in 18-49 and 7.8 million viewers with digital and linear viewing recorded to date.” Digital viewership also grew this season by 50%, making it NBC’s #2 show on the digital platform. In related news, creator and executive producer, Jenna Bans just re-upped her overall deal with Universal Television. 

Fox has announced its schedule for the fall which includes new and returning shows. The new programming slate includes new drama series Next and Filthy Rich and returning animated favorites The Simpsons, Bless the Harts, Bob’s Burgers, and Family Guy. The Masked Singer will also return, alongside the network television debut of the police drama L.A.’S Finest, starring Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union. Read more about what to expect from Fox this fall right here. 

Apple TV+’s workplace comedy Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet will be returning on May 22nd with an episode shot entirely in quarantine. Deadline reports that the episode was shot entirely on iPhones and edited while under quarantine where, “Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao) and Ian (Rob McElhenney) struggle with solitude, while Brad (Danny Pudi) and David (David Hornsby) start a charitable competition. Assistant Jo (Jessie Ennis) tries to explain video-conferencing to CW (F. Murray Abraham) with mixed results.” The episode will show the team behind the biggest multiplayer video game of all time tasked with working from home. To produce the episode, the cast and crew worked in multiple locations across the country. 

The Good Fight has been renewed for Season 5 by CBS All Access. With the renewal, the series will be able to continue the story they began with Season 4. Like many shows, The Good Fight had to shut down production due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fourth season was meant to have ten episodes but instead will conclude on May 28th with episode 7.  “The Good Fight remains one of the most beloved and critically acclaimed original series on CBS All Access, and we’ve seen a tremendous response from fans this season,” said Julie McNamara, Executive Vice President and Head of Programming, CBS All Access told Deadline. 

The Purge and Treadstone have been canceled by USA Network.  According to Deadline, the decision to cancel these series is the result of a programming strategy shift at NBCU away from ongoing scripted programming in favor of live events and reality programming alongside “eventized” scripted projects. This is the same model followed by Turner, A+E, and ViacomCBS networks as it’s become harder for ad-supported television to sustain linear tv series.

Peacock has revealed its opening slate ahead of its July launch. The new streaming series will launch with all first season episodes of Brave New World, The Capture, Intelligence, and Lost Speedways, as well as sports documentary In Deep with Ryan Lochte; and feature-length film Psych 2: Lassie Come Home. Premiere dates for the streamer’s original and exclusive content will be announced later this year. Read more about the upcoming series in this Deadline report. 

The CW has announced its 2020/2021 season with most of its series returning in January 2021. The new season, with a balance of original, acquired scripted series, and alternative programming taking over the fall. Read more about what to expect right here. 

The CW has given series orders to the Kung Fu reboot and The Republic of Sarah for the 2020-2021 television season. The two shows join Superman & Lois and Walker, two series that received their renewals in January. These two series mean The CW is going into the 2020-2021 broadcast season with the most straight-to-series of any network so far. Two additional pilots, The Lost Boys and Maverick are being rolled. Deadline reports that fans are also awaiting a decision on two spin-off series including the Arrow offshoot, which premiered with a backdoor pilot during the show’s final season, and The 100 prequel series. Earlier this year, The CW renewed 13 of its current shows and is still waiting to make a decision on freshman drama Katy Keene. 

The CW is plotting a Superman & Lois and Batwoman crossover in 2021. The network is planning a two-hour crossover event consisting of Batwoman‘s sophomore series and Superman & Lois‘s freshman series. A Deadline article states that The CW chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz is hopeful the crossover will happen in the first or second quarter of 2021. Pedowitz is quoted as saying, “We’re still working on it. It will be a smaller event than usual, we’re only planning a two-hour event. We are talking about doing Superman and Batwoman together. There’s a lot of characters coming from our other shows.”

There’s a new Star Trek series in the works! Deadline reports that the new series will hail from Alex Kurtzman, creator of Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard. Under the title Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the new series will star Spock, Pike, and Number One and will take the U.S.S. Enterprise almost right up to the reign of Captain Kirk. Ethan Peck, Anson Mount, and Rebecca Romijn will reprise their roles from Star Trek: Discovery Season 2. 

There’s a TV series based on the movie Center Stage in the works at Sony Pictures TV. A Deadline exclusive reports that on the movie’s 20th anniversary, the follow-up series was greenlit. The series will hail from Sweet/Vicious creator Jennifer Kaytin Robinson who will write, executive produce, and direct. The potential pilot is described as, “…a series continuation of the original film set today within the highly competitive world of dance. It follows a new, inclusive class of dancers as they work to stay at the academy and clash against the traditional students and style the ABA is known for. Ballet has always been a conformist world, but with Cooper Nielson now at the helm of the ABA and the ABC, change is on the horizon in more ways than one.” Currently, no talent is attached to the series. 

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