What to expect from the TV series industry during the coronavirus pandemic?  All rumors and upcoming releases are here. Check out the list of the hottest TV series to come out in 2021.

The year 2020 was marked by a boom in the television series industry, which is racing forward at great speed overtaking the film industry for which the period of the coronavirus pandemic was extremely unfortunate. Beginning in the spring, many cinemas have been closed, box office movie premieres have been postponed indefinitely while new films have been frozen. Calculating the huge losses that the film industry is suffering is not easy task – the best experts lack the courage to make predictions about the recovery of the former box office. According to some rumors, there will be no project in the near future that can surpass the “Avengers: Endgame” uber-blockbuster in terms of profitability.

In the TV series industry, cable TV and streaming services are also postponing new TV show premieres, while TV series that are on air are being split up with final episodes postponed until the end of the year. This fall, the last releases of large serial television projects will take place, which were filmed before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. The further fate of television is still difficult to predict. All that remains is to watch those TV shows that – for one or another reason – were bypassed earlier.

In this post, we will highlight all the hottest news, rumors and predictions about TV series that are likely to be released in the near future. While some TV shows are already filming, and for other projects only the cast was announced, the information about the rest of the TV projects is limited to a meager announcement or news of the purchase of the rights to the literary source for the upcoming – presumably – adaptation.

New TV Series in the Fantasy Genre

Driven by the success of “Game of Thrones”, the iconic fantasy television series, the popularity of fantasy genre continues unabated. Since the dramatic finale of the “A Song of Ice and Fire” saga, most of streaming service has sought to launch its own show in the genre. However, while Netflix is ​​releasing fantasy television series of various quality at an enviable speed, Amazon is still silent, not providing information or hot news about the projects being shot.

The Lord of the Rings

Let’s start with the hottest news. The most expensive TV series in television history is likely to be released in 2021 with budget – including copyright costs – of $ 1 billion. Not based on the plot of “Lord of the Rings” literary source, this project still has no official title. The TV series will tell a story that took place in the same world – but thousands of years before the War of the Ring. According to the showrunners, this project has no direct connection with the legendary film-trilogy.

Following in the footsteps of Peter Jones, the TV series creators decided to shoot in New Zealand and abandon the star names in the cast. Despite the fact that filming began last year, it is very difficult to find any information about the Lord of the Rings on the Internet.

Since the filming has been frozen due to the coronavirus pandemic, this will most likely affect the premiere date.

According to Amazon producers, the TV series which takes place in the “Lord of the Rings” universe, will be released in 2021. The show will include at least two seasons – however, the current contract terms allow the studio to film five seasons and one spin-off.

The Wheel of Time

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This is the second global fantasy project by Amazon, the production of which was launched several years ago.

Lagging behind the popularity of The Lord of the Rings, this television series still has a chance of success with viewers. In total, The Wheel of Time series of novels includes 14 books.

The “Wheel of Time” universe is a detailed world with a looped story and characters undergoing reincarnation.

Amazon takes a serious approach to filming the TV show, as evidenced by the choice in favor of the filmmakers of The Stranger Things and The Westworld. In addition, Rosamund Pike, the beloved actress, is included in the all-star cast.

Although the scriptwriters are already working on a second season, the date of the television series premiere is still unknown.

House of the Dragon

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HBO, the TV channel that aired the Game of Thrones cult television series, does not want to give up its positions. Initially, the idea arose of creating a prequel to the saga under the “The Long Night” title. In June 2019, the pilot was filmed starring Naomi Watts, a Hollywood actress. For unknown reasons, the filming of the TV series was canceled. However, HBO bosses commissioned the filming of “House of the Dragon”, another prequel based on a literary source. The new series will tell the story of the House Targaryen formation centuries before the times of “Game of Thrones”.

Filmed the best episodes of Game of Thrones, Miguel Sapochnik will be also working on a new project. The star cast of the television series, as well as the date of its premiere, are still unknown. However, it seems clear that the series will premiere in 2022 at the earliest.

Runestaff

In 2019, the BBC British channel announced the start of filming a TV show based on the “Runestaff”, the series of fantasy novels by Michael Moorcock. The series tells about the adventures of Dorian Hawkmoon, a young protagonist traveling through the vastness of Europe in the distant future where magic coexists with science, and Dark Empire of Granbretan is trying to take over the whole world.

“Runestaff” is a perfect symbiosis of heroic – and sometimes silly – fantasy, satire and phantasmagoria.

Since the launch of the project, it has been known that Steve Thompson, famous for his work on “Doctor Who” and “Sherlock”, has been writing the script for The Runestaff, and the hit producers of “Broadchurch” and “Good Omens” will be the showrunners of the TV show.

Unfortunately, no details about the cast and release date of the TV series are known yet.

Incidentally, following The Runestaff, New Republic Pictures acquired the rights to “Elric of Melnibone”, another series of novels by Michael Moorcock. At the moment, they are looking for a platform to work together for the new project.

The Witcher Spin-Off

Netflix was the first platform to push for a TV show that rivals Game of Thrones. However, the highly controversial “The Witcher”, and later the frankly unsuccessful “Cursed” were released for viewing through the streaming platform.

Premiered at the end of 2019, The Witcher is one of the most popular TV shows available on Netflix. A month later, the start of work on The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf, which tells the story of the teacher Geralt, was announced. Recently it became known that Netflix is ​​working on the “The Witcher: Origins”, another TV show about the cataclysm called “Conjunction of the Spheres” that brought witchers and monsters to the world of Geralt.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic and the postponed premiere of the title show second season, Netflix has not announced a release date for the two new TV series.

TV Shows Based on Cult Movies

Sometimes, creating a TV show does not need a new idea at all – it is enough to take the plot of a popular film and write a script for a TV series based on it – however, there are some pitfalls waiting for showrunners on their way. How to make a TV adaptation so that viewers don’t say that the original film was better?

From the controversial 12 Monkeys and Pulp Fiction to public favorites such as Westworld and Fargo, there are a lot of iconic film-classics remakes have been presented to viewers over the past several years. Let’s find out what else the TV producers have prepared for us.

Time Bandits

Terry Gilliam’s film in the genre of adventure fantasy was released almost forty years ago and became a real hit. Time Bandits tells the story of Kevin, a teenager who was assigned to a team of six dwarfs traveling from era to era in search of mysterious treasures. This motley company escapes from spirits and meets various historical and literary characters. Apparently, Apple Tv Plus platform executives thought this seemed like to be a good synopsis for the show. In the end, Gilliam was hired as a producer while Taika Waititi directed the TV show – this sounds intriguing. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic and Taika Waititi’s busy schedule, predicting a possible premiere date is difficult. By the way, Waititi recently presented a serial remake of “What We Do in the Shadows”, one of his hits. The TV show, which ended its second season in June, has been renewed for a Season 3.

Willow

This is another revival of the classics from the master and another fantasy about a dwarf.  Directed by Ron Howard and based on the story of George Lucas, the famous filmmaker, “Willow” was released to the public in 1988. Despite two Academy Award nominations, Willow did not expect much commercial success – with a $ 35 million budget (like Return of the Jedi), it grossed just $ 126 million at the box office. So, Lucas’s plans for sequels fell through.

A classic fantasy story is put into the plot of the film – it tells about a magical land, a prophecy, an evil witch who learns about the threat to her power and also about a girl who will save the world from evil. Willow, a dwarf wizard who becomes the protagonist in the film, is Elora’s assistant.

In 2019, Ron Howard announced the start of work on “Willow” serial remake. The series will be released on the Disney+ platform, and Warwick Davis, 33 years after, will return to the role of the little wizard.

Untitled Series about Cassian Andor

Disney Corporation is starting filming a new TV series of the Star Wars universe, which is not surprising after the global success of The Mandalorian, another television series belonging to the film franchise. As yet untitled, the TV show follows the adventures of Cassian Andor, the main character of Rogue One, and it will be the prequel to this successful blockbuster. Working on the cast, the producers promise to deliver a gripping spy fantasy thriller. Returning to their roles, Diego Luna and Alan Tudik will work on stage with Stellan Skarsgard and Adria Arjona. Presumably, the shooting of the television series will begin in 2020.

In addition, another TV series featuring the character Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), is preparing for production.

Parasites (Gisaengchung)

The worldwide success of the Gisaengchung, the South Korean film, prompted HBO’s executives to create a television series based on it. Under the direction of Bong Joon Ho, the the original film director, the social divide drama will be transformed into a six-hour TV series. According to the winner of four Oscars, the new TV show will not be just a remake, but rather an extended film showing what viewers did not see when watching the original film.

While still in its very early stages of development, this project looks at least intriguing.

Animated TV Series Based on Video Games

Disney is not the only corporation that turns its cartoons into animated movies. In the near future, two new TV shows based on animated series will be presented. Interestingly, both new projects will be filmed for the Netflix streaming platform.

Cowboy Bebop

The cult anime filmed in 1998 is slowly moving towards becoming a television series. Announced three years ago, this project has already assembled a cast, and filming began in the fall of 2019 – however, lasted just a few weeks. John Cho, the leading actor, was injured, which contributed to the freezing of the project for six months. This was followed by the coronavirus pandemic – and only now the studio has resumed filming the TV show.

“Cowboy Bebop” tells the story about the future of the solar system where people left the Earth and settled in planets and satellites. A team of bounty hunters that consist of four people and one wonderful dog is at the center of the plot.

According to the showrunners, the series will consist of 26 episodes of 1 hour each, but the TV show will not be a literal retelling of the original anime.

Due to the filming postponements, Netflix has not yet announced even the approximate date of the TV show premiere.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Netflix is ​​also making plans to adapt Avatar, the popular American animated series. The blatantly bad adaptation of the TV show by M. Night Shyamalan from ten years ago dealt a devastating blow to Aang’s universe – however, now the showrunners promise to film the animated series according to all the rules and with all due respect.

“Avatar” shows a magical world where four different peoples possess different types of magic directly related to the four elements. However, one magician who can learn all types of magic is in the spotlight – he is the Avatar, who is in the eternal cycle of rebirth. Aang, air magician, is the protagonist of the animated series who has to make a long journey to study the magic of water, earth and fire, and save the magical world from invaders.

Michael Dimartino and Brian Konietzko, the original animated series creators, were originally hired by Netflix bosses. Having worked on the project since its announcement, both producers officially quit production of the TV show in the summer of 2020.

To be continued…