JJ VERSE

Bad Robot is in negotiations for the rights to Stephen King’s bestselling 2011 novel 11/22/63. The deal is being done through Warner Bros TV. The plan is to adapt the book as a TV series or miniseries, likely for cable.

11/22/63 centers on Jake, an unassuming divorced English teacher who stumbles upon a time portal that leads to 9/9/1958 and goes on a quest to try and prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which occurred on November 22, 1963.

I’m guessing this is the “non-original TV project” that J.J. mentioned, but wouldn’t talk about in the interview published by Playboy a few days.

According to some ABC are already considering a live-action TV series base in the Star Wars universe, and now that Abrams and Bad Robot are on-board for Star Wars VII, what would be the chances of an Abrams/Bad Robot-produced series?

• There is already history between Bad Robot and ABC – the network was home to both Alias and Lost.
• Abrams and Bad Robot always feature heavily in pilot season, so maybe a Star Wars pilot for next year or the year after – depends if Disney would want it to lead into the new film or follow it.
• It would be similar to how Joss Whedon has S.H.I.E.L.D. to go along with The Avengers

It’s no more unlikely that the thought off Abrams directing Star Wars VII was a couple of weeks ago. So?

THR spoke to Favreau about Iron Man 3 (which he’s producing but not directing) and The Avengers (he was one of the producers), but more importantly they aksed him about directing on Revolution and his future involvement with the series.

On JJ’s involvement with the pilot:

Well, he was definitely very involved in developing the script with Eric, and then while we were filming, he was filming Star Trek, so we would shoot dailies to him, we would communicate using the same technology that he show eliminates.

On future involvement:

I’m going to be a producer on the show, and as soon as I’m done out here, I’m going to go back and hit the writers room and Eric is going to be breaking stories for the new season with J.J. and myself, and then hopefully either direct or be involved some way for future episodes.

I didn’t know he would be sticking around as a producer post-Pilot, but I guess his direct involvement will really depend on his schedule – much like I suspect will be the case with JJ. Still, having the guy who sets the tone with the pilot sticking around – in any capacity – can’t be a bad thing.

Who is Drew Goddard? Oh, he’s been involved in a few things you might have heard of: Cloverfield, Alias, Buffy, Angel, Lost and most recently The Cabin in the Woods. He’s also writing Robopocalypse for Steven Spielberg. If any of those interest you, the interview is worth a listen, great way to spend a lunch break – which is exactly what I did.

Listed simply as Untitled J.J. Abrams/Eric Kripke Project, EW has a slightly different logline for the series formerly known as Revolution:

In this epic adventure thriller, a family struggles to reunite in a post-apocalyptic American landscape: a world of empty cities, local militias and heroic freedom fighters, where every single piece of technology — computers, planes, cars, phones, even lights — has mysteriously blacked out … forever.

Does that mean I can go back to using Revolution for one of my own ideas…

Sony has tapped blockbuster writing duo Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to work on the script for “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” the sequel to the upcoming reboot of the superhero franchise.

The first installment of the new franchise bows this summer, with production starting for the next film in the first quarter of next year. Release is set for May 2014.

Person of Interest is one of 18 shows that CBS has renewed – the lengthy list also includes CSI and Hawaii Five-0.

Andrea Roth (Rescue Me) and JD Pardo (Drive) are gearing up for NBC’s Revolution … Roth will play the mother of two of the leads, while Prado is an expert… archer?

If you look at his IMDb profile it looks like Tim Guinee has had guest parts in just about everything in the last few years – most recently in The Good Wife. IMDb also say that the name of his Revolution character is “Ben”.

Esposito will play Lieutenant Neville, a southern gentleman and steely military man with a secret.

This pilot just keeps sounding better and better. I can’t wait. Also, I hope Lieutenant Neville is an ‘evil’ character…

Tracy Spiradakos (Being Human) will play a warrior in NBC’s Revolution, a high-octane drama penned by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke and exec-produced by J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk.

Paramount Pictures has extended its first-look deal with in-house hit-maker J.J. Abrams.

The new pact pushes the agreement with Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions  through December 2015.

“J.J. is a unique talent and a captivating storyteller,” Brad Grey, chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures, said in a statement. “J.J., Bryan Burk and the whole Bad Robot team are an integral part of Paramount and we’re proud to continue our collaboration. Their pictures have extraordinary resonance around the world and we’re so pleased Paramount will be their home for years to come.”

Terry O’Quinn will star in the upcoming ABC pilot, 666 Park Avenue. The new show is based on a series of novels by Gabriella Pierce about a couple who move to New York and manage a historic building where supernatural happenings are the norm. O’Quinn will play the role of the building’s owner, Gavin.

I wasn’t really interested in this pilot before, but I am now.

Jon Favreau has been tapped to direct Eric Kripke/JJ Abrams’ high-concept NBC drama pilot Revolution.

There has been no casting yet and only a relatively vague (but interesting sounding) description has been released, but the Kripke + Abrams combo alone was enough to get interested, and the addtion of Favreau seems good to me.