Development: Doctor Who starts filming new season; Vampire worlds collide; Channel Zero showrunner breaks out

Fire up the TARDIS, because the cast of Doctor Who is already reassembling to begin filming the followup season to Jodie Whittaker’s breakout debut last year as the 13th Doctor.

Whittaker appeared with fellow cast members to announce on social media that Season 12 of Doctor Who has officially begun filming this week, revealing in an Instagram post that the show is “back in production” ahead of the upcoming season’s previously announced 2020 premiere.

From left to right, that’s Bradley Walsh (Graham), Mandip Gill (Yaz), Whittaker, and Tosin Cole (Ryan) on the Season 12 set. Sure, it’ll be a while before we see what they’re cooking up — but seeing the gang back in action behind the scenes is a reassuring sight for fans anxious over spending all of 2019 without a proper Doctor Who fix.

There’s still no word on when new episodes will be arriving next year, but — Oh brilliant! — at least we’ve got photographic proof that the cast and crew are back on the job.

In a blood-red union that’s being described as equal parts True Blood and Sons of Anarchy, Dreamstreet Entertainment and Lonetree Entertainment reportedly have picked up on a pair of hot-selling paranormal books for development into a single scripted TV series.

Via Deadline, Kade’s Dark Embrace and Damon, books by bestselling authors Kym Gross and Teresa Gabelman, respectively, are being fused into a single story world for the fresh TV treatment.

Kade’s Dark Embrace tells the story of a female detective who teams up with an “alpha male vampire” to solve a series of ritual murders while the romantic tension between them builds. Damon follows protagonist Damon DeMasters — “a true vampire warrior” — as he attempts to beat back humans’ drug-like addiction to vampire blood (sound familiar, True Blood fans?).

The yet-unnamed new series hasn’t been attached to a network or streaming platform, and there’s no early word on when it might debut, so keep those fangs sharpened for more juicy info as it surfaces.

Finally, Channel Zero showrunner and former Hannibal writer Nick Antosca reportedly has launched his own genre-focused production studio, to be overseen by former Archie Comics development head Alex Hedlund.

Via The Hollywood Reporter, Antosca has named his new operation Eat the Cat (“to reflect an appetite to break from formula and to tell challenging stories in unconventional ways,” according to the report, presumably as a play on the screenwriting book Save the Cat), and aims to use the new label to focus on green-lighting “elevated genre material and high-end dramas and thrillers.”

Antosca reportedly will develop programming for both television and the big screen, but there’s no early word on any projects that may be in the works. If the new studio gives us more off-kilter horror like Channel Zero, though, we can’t wait to see what kind of appetizing genre mind-benders Eat the Cat has on its development menu.