Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!
WIRE Buzz: Inspector Gadget go-goes live action; Rachel Maddow joins Batwoman cast; more
It's been a wild week for news, by which of course we mean that major studios are announcing exciting and unexpected new projects amidst the thrill of New York Comic Con.
In a move sure to induce a terminal earworm among fans of a certain age, Disney is working on a live-action Inspector Gadget film from Aladdin producers Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich, The Hollywood Reporter revealed. Also attached are Saturday Night Live writers Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell.
The Inspector Gadget cartoon debuted in 1983, pitting the inept titular hero against the villainous Doctor Claw. In the end, it was often down to his neice Penny and her dog Brain to save the day. Many of the original episodes are available on WildBrain's official YouTube Channel. Matthew Broderick starred in a previous live-action adaptation in 1999, but did not return for the 2003 straight-to-video sequel.
Go-go Gadget reboot!
MSNBC political commentator Rachel Maddow will join the cast of The CW's Batwoman as the journalist Vesper Fairchild, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Executive producer Caroline Dries described Maddow's character as "the sardonic Voice of Gotham," which tracks. "In addition to Rachel’s interest in Batwoman, we thought she’d be the perfect casting choice because her own hard-hitting journalism wildly contrasts Vesper’s penchant for snark, gossip and criticism of female superheroes."
Although she will not appear on screen, Maddow will feature in several episodes. Does this mean a voiceover? A hologram? Stay tuned! Batwoman debuts Oct. 6 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
CBS is adapting Japanese time travel drama Repeat from executive producers Masi Oka (best known for his on screen roles in Heroes and Hawaii 5-0), Sabrina Wind, and Watchmen's David Hayter, who also serves as lead writer.
According to Deadline, Repeat was one of of four projects Oka presented to producers as part of a Japanese External Trade Organization in Los Angeles event earlier this year. The series is based on a novel by Kurumi Inui, which was also adapted for Japanese television last year, and follows a group of strangers who are granted the ability to travel 10 months into their own past, only to find themselves confronted with a dark conspiracy.
Repeat will be the second project from Wind's recently-launched production company, Windpower Entertainment, working in collaboration with ABC Studios.
