Netflix orders three more genre shows to series, including one from Neil LaBute

By Randall Colburn  |  September 28, 2018 | 8:10pm
Aux Features Netflix

Dystopian futures. Time travel. Alternate dimensions. Genre’s having a moment right now, especially on TV, where Hulu made history with The Handmaid’s Tale and FX continues to squeeze blood from a stony turd with American Horror Story. Netflix has also had its fair share of success in the realm, with its Stranger Things having gamely leapt upon our modern culture’s nostalgia obsession and Cary Fukunaga’s Maniac drawing solid notices.

Where it’s tried and mostly failed to make a dent, however, is in sci-fi. Series like Sense8 and Lost In Space were valiant, if flawed, attempts at tackling it from varying angles, while original films like The Cloverfield Paradox and Extinction were dead on arrival. Now, it’s approaching the flexible genre with three new series that are welcoming a hefty dose of horror into the proceedings.

Variety reports on the three new original series, all of which have been picked up to series. Let’s break them down:

  • The I-Land: Neil Labute, acclaimed playwright and director of that insane Wicker Man remake, will serve as writer, director, and showrunner of the series seven episodes which follows 10 people who “wake up on a treacherous island with no memory of who they are or how they got there” before discovering that “this world is not as it seems.” Kate Bosworth and Alex Perryfer star, and Bosworth will also serve as a producer.
  • October Faction: Sanctuary’s Damian Kindler will helm this 10-episode series based on the IDW comic book series of the same name. It centers around a pair of “globetrotting monster hunters” who try to readjust to normal life in upstate New York. Of course, they “quickly discover that their new small-town setting isn’t as idyllic as it seems.”
  • Warrior Nun: As its title indicates, Warrior Nun sounds to be the looniest and most promising of the new shows. The story of “a 19 year-old woman who wakes up in a morgue with a new lease on life and a divine artifact embedded in her back” will feature ample slaying of demons. The 10-episode series is based on a series of manga novels and will see Simon Barry serving as showrunner, writer, and executive producer.

They all sound suited to binging, as is Netflix’s wont, though there’s no word yet just when they’ll begin annoyingly autoplaying in your queues.

 
Join the discussion...