Pandemic slows ‘Outlander’ production, delayed until recently
QHave you heard anything about “Outlander”? Love the series but I know COVID-19 has probably slowed filming this year. A: It did. What was originally planned as a production start almost a year ago was delayed until just recently. And, as you can imagine, production under COVID-19 protocols has been challenging for this as well as other shows.
“Outlander” star Sam Heughan, in a recent New York Times interview, said this about acting in the COVID-19 age: “It’s not so much the protocols that are difficult — you have to wear a mask, you have to social distance where you can — it’s more the psychology of it. Certainly when you first start a job, everyone’s very tense, very aware. Of course the protocols are there for your own good, but everyone struggles with feeling like you’re being repressed or not being yourself, or going against your own instincts as a human being. When you see somebody you haven’t seen for a while, you want to give them a hug or touch them or get closer to them. You’re having to go against your instincts as an actor on set, where you’re supposed to use your instincts to portray a character. So it is a really weird situation, but you get used to it.”
Q: I have been bingewatching “Money Heist” on Netflix and “The Restaurant” on Sundance Now. Will there be more of them?
A: “The Restaurant,” a Swedish drama, will have four new episodes on Sundance Now beginning March 25. Airing under the name “The Restaurant: 1951,” these episodes backtrack to events between the series’s first and second seasons. A fifth and final season of the Spanish thriller “Money Heist” is in the works and should arrive later this year.
Q: Three shows I have enjoyed but have not heard anything about returning are “Deputy,” “New Amsterdam” and “Manifest.” I am hoping you might know.
A: “New Amsterdam” begins new episodes on NBC on March 2. And, as I mentioned before, it has been renewed for two more seasons beyond this one. “Manifest” will start its new season April 1. “Deputy” has been canceled after one season on Fox.
Q: I fell in love with “Sanditon” on “Masterpiece.” Will there be a second season?
A: I mentioned a year ago that the series based on an unfinished novel by Jane Austen was at best in limbo. ITV, the company behind the series, had decided not to continue the drama, but the creative team hoped someone else would finance a continuation.
After months with no good news, “Sanditon” fans found hope in the success of “Bridgerton,” the costume drama that has been a huge hit for Netflix. Maybe, they thought, Netflix or another service would like its own series in that style. And maybe someone will. But at this writing, there’s no announced deal anywhere.
Q: Is the “Wonder Woman” 2011 TV movie starring Adrianne Palicki available to watch anywhere?
A: For those of you tuning in late, Warner Bros. attempted to launch a new, live-action “Wonder Woman” series in 2011 on NBC. The 43-minute pilot was written by David E. Kelley (then famous for “Ally McBeal,” “The Practice” and other shows), and Palicki, recently seen on the TV series “Friday Night Lights,” was set to star. But the pilot failed to impress the network enough to become a series, and it went on the shelf. My searches have found only unauthorized releases on DVD, and I do not recommend bootlegs. But it certainly sounds intriguing, if only because “The Mandalorian” star Pablo Pascal is the villain in “Wonder Woman 1984” and part of that “Wonder Woman” pilot. Asked if the “1994” folks knew about his wondrous past, Pascal told TVLine. com he was not sure. “They must have either not known or not cared,” he said.
Do you have a question or comment about entertainment past, present and future? Write to Rich Heldenfels, P.O. Box 417, Mogadore, OH 44260, or brenfelsgmail.com. Letters may be edited.