M. Night Shyamalan Sets New Apple Series (Because ‘Wayward Pines’ Is Dead)
It’s good news and bad for fans of director M. Night Shyamalan, but when is it not? The once-revered Sixth Sense director has officially booked a new Apple TV series, albeit with official confirmation that FOX drama Wayward Pines will not move forward with a third season.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Shyamalan’s untitled half-hour series is being kept under wraps for now, other than to say that he’ll executive produce the ten-episode series and direct its first half-hour installment. 24 and Outcast alum Tony Basgallop created and will write the project, which is said to have stoked a “competitive situation with multiple outlets pursuing the project.”
All the same, at least some of Shyamalan’s freedom to pursue new TV ventures owes to FOX drama Wayward Pines, which TVLine at last confirms is “unlikely” to return for Season 3. The series premiered in 2015 and didn’t air a revamped second season until mid-2016, but FOX had declined to confirm any cancellation as recently as summer 2017. The series is said to have had trouble casting a third lead, following Matt Dillon in Season 1, and Jason Patric in Season 2. Still unknown is the status of Shyamalan’s stalled Tales From the Crypt reboot.
Shyamalan’s new series joins Apple’s growing slate of original programming, which now includes a Jennifer Aniston-Reese Witherspoon morning show drama, a new series from La La Land director Damien Chazelle, Steven Spielberg’s Bryan Fuller-free Amazing Stories, a new Kristin Wiig comedy, a space drama from Battlestar Galactica creator Ron Moore, and others.
Apple’s streaming distribution remains as opaque as Shyamalan’s new series, so stay tuned.
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