The Wonder Woman '84 cast embraces the '80s with a Breakfast Club-themed photoshoot

Welcome to Development Hell, the fiery pit into which we fling recent developments in casting, distribution, and everything else that’s new and mildly interesting in the Boschian phantasmagoria of the entertainment industry.

Ah, nostalgia: The ultimate drug. Not even superheroes are immune to it, which is why we here at Development Hell are always happy to serve a fresh batch up, along with all the hottest “immature giggling at the word ‘Uranus’” news.

• Acknowledging that you can’t set a movie—even a big-budget superhero film—in the 1980s without tipping your hat to the decade’s unquestionable overlord, John Hughes, the cast of Wonder Woman 1984 paid their tribute to Hughes’ The Breakfast Club this week, with a little BC-themed photo shoot. Gal Gadot’s in the Molly Ringwald position, obviously, but we’ve also got Chris Pine as an ersatz Anthony Michael Hall, and Kirsten Wiig doing her best Ally Sheedy. (Meanwhile, that’s director Patty Jenkins bringing up the rear as a spot-on John Bender.) [via Jumpcut Online]
• After assembling a cast that rivals the size of a small American city, HBO has taken the additional rubber stamp step and given a formal series order to Damon Lindelof’s Watchmen. Per Deadline, the comic book adaptation—which the former Leftovers showrunner has repeatedly referred to as a “remix” of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ classic graphic novel—will air on the network some time in 2019. Nicole Kassell directed the series pilot, from a script by Lindelof.
• MTV’s slasher anthology series Scream has added a big new name to its cast, with Page Six reporting that music star Mary J. Blige will star in the show’s third season. Blige’s previous acting experience includes Mudbound, The Wiz Live!, and, of course, that clearinghouse of top-tier voice talent, Sherlock Gnomes.
• Darren Aronofsky is continuing his VR exploration of “the sounds of the universe,” via the medium of “cosmic slideshows narrated by famous women.” Per Slashfilm, Aronofsky is getting ready to debut the third installment of his Spheres series of VR films—directed by Eliza McNitt, and executive produced by the mother! director—at the Venice Film Festival. As far as we can tell from the trailer, the films are a set of artsy space explorations, combined with a secret challenge mode where you try not to giggle any time narrator Millie Bobby Brown says the word “Uranus.”
• We recently talked up Ben Kingsley’s exhilarating turn in 2000's Sexy Beast in our Inventory on “nice” actors playing the villain. Now, fans of the film might soon find themselves treated to an explanation of how Kingsley’s Don and Ray Winstone’s Gary became such hardcases, with Deadline reporting that the film will soon be getting a TV prequel. The series is currently being developed at Anonymous Content and Paramount Television.
• It sounds like Kevin Smith is moving forward with his Creepshow-esque horror anthology film, Killroy Was Here. The View Askew mastermind recently posted a photo from the film’s set, showing wrestler Chris Jericho as an extremely Florida Man-looking fellow called “The Gator Chaser.” [via Slashfilm]

• The Exorcist’s Jeremy Slater has now found himself on the hook to try to get a workable movie out of Stephen King’s famously crappy The Tommyknockers. This is per Birth.Movies.Death, which reports that Slater—whose other credits include Adam Wingard’s Death Note movie and the upcoming Umbrella Academy adaptation—is penning a script for a film version of King’s 1987 stinker.
• Renee Zellweger is about to become the latest big-name actress to make the jump to TV: Deadline reports that Zellweger is set to star in “social thriller” What/If, playing a powerful woman who offers a couple some sort of Faustian deal. The series is being developed by Mike Kelley, who also created ABC’s Revenge.
• Finally, we’ve got yet another remake of H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, because god bless the public domain. Per Deadline, this one is coming from British TV’s Sky, and is being put together by British playwright Nick Payne and director Kibwe Tavares, serving up all your Eloi and Morlock needs.