Regina King to Direct Bitter Root Comic Movie at Legendary

Courteney Cox teases her return to the Scream franchise. LeVar Burton is joining the CW’s Tom Swift spinoff in the weirdest way. Jensen Ackles prepares to head to The Boys. Plus, what’s coming on The Flash, and AMC has tapped itself a new moon-set sci-fi adventure. Spoilers, away!

Bitter Root

Deadline reports Watchmen’s Regina King is attached to direct a film adaptation of David F. Walker, Sanford Greene, and Chuck Brown’s Image comic series Bitter Root at Legendary. Set during the Harlem Renaissance, the story concerns “a fractured family of once-great monster hunters” facing “an unimaginable evil that descends upon New York City. For generations, the Sangeryes have hunted and cured those infected by a supernatural force that feeds off the prejudice of the era, transforming human beings into hideous monsters. With most of the family dead, and the surviving Sangeryes at odds between saving or killing the creatures, they must overcome the wounds of the past in the hopes of thwarting an invasion.:

Scream

During a guest appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Courteney Cox described the latest Scream as “a brand-new launch” for the franchise.

This is the fifth one… it’s not Scream 5, though. This is Scream. The directors are incredible, they’re making it absolutely… it’s a new franchise. It’s hip. It’s scary. It’s just a new Scream. It’s not a reboot, it’s not a remake, it’s just a brand new launch. I think it’s gonna be fantastic.

We Need to Do Something

Deadline reports IFC Midnight has acquired the North American rights to We Need to Do Something, a horror film starring Sierra McCormick (The Vast of Night) and Vinessa Shaw (Hocus Pocus) about “a family as they seek shelter from a storm and become trapped. With no sign of rescue, hours turn to days” as daughter Melissa “comes to realize that she and her girlfriend Amy might have something to do with the horrors that threaten to tear her family – and the entire world – apart.”

Jurassic World: Dominion

Empire has a new set photo of Chris Pratt and Omar Sy aboard a familiar-looking boat named the “Fair Spanish Lady” in Jurassic World: Dominion.

The Deep House

Bloody-Disgusting also has several new images from The Deep House — an upcoming horror film about a haunted underwater mansion. More at the link.

The Forever Purge

The first trailer for The Forever Purge promises to debut later today.

Spiral: From the Book of Saw

A new clip shows off Spiral’s first, gruesome trap. Germain Lussier’s review just went up if you’re interested.

100 Candles

A group of friends tell scary stories in front of a haunted mirror in the trailer for 100 Candles — a new horror anthology coming to VOD May 18.

Nancy Drew/Tom Swift

Star Trek’s LeVar Burton will lend his voice to Barclay, Tom Swift’s “steadfast AI companion and tough-love mentor” in this week’s episode of Nancy Drew which will also serve as a backdoor pilot for a potential spinoff series. According to Deadline, Barclay has been by Tom Swift’s side since the age of eight, “nimbly transferring himself to Tom’s smartwatch, his tablet, his laptop and even the screens of his car to offer astute encouragement and lightning-fast analysis. He’s Tom’s Hype Man, Tom’s confidante, and Tom’s friend — with a surprising depth of emotion and a journey of his own to take.”

Epic

Deadline also reports Sarah Hyland will star in Epic at ABC, a new “fairytale drama pilot” from Once Upon a Time creators Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis. Hyland will play Rose, a character “princess-y as princesses come, and about to marry her Prince Charming. But her fairy tale gets upended when he has second thoughts, and trying to preserve her dreams opens her up to an unexpected world.”

Little Demon

Spoiler TV reports FXX has ordered Little Demon to series—an animated comedy starring the voices of Danny DeVito, Lucy DeVito, and Aubrey Plaza. The story follows a reluctant mother (Plaza) and her Antichrist daughter (Lucy DeVito) “attempting to live an ordinary life in Delaware, but are constantly thwarted by monstrous forces, including Satan (DeVito), who yearns for custody of his daughter’s soul.”

Moonhaven

Meanwhile, AMC has greenlit Moonhaven, “a new series from Peter Ocko focusing on “a utopian colony on the Moon that may hold the keys to preserving life on Earth—which has become increasingly perilous. The suspense thriller focuses on Bella Sway, a lunar cargo pilot and smuggler 100 years in the future who finds herself accused of a crime and marooned on Moonhaven, a utopian community set on a 500 square mile Garden of Eden built on the Moon to find solutions to the problems that will soon end civilization on Mother Earth. A skeptic in Paradise, Bella is sucked into a conspiracy to gain control of the artificial intelligence responsible for Moonhaven’s miracles and teams with a local detective to stop the forces that want to destroy Earth’s last hope before they are destroyed themselves.” [Spoiler TV]

Evil

TV Line reports the second season of Evil will include an episode in which Michael Emerson’s character, Leland, “comes to a church saying he needs an exorcism because he sold his soul to the devil.”

The Boys

Jensen Ackles—sporting quite an enormous beard—teased his portrayal as Soldier Boy in a recent Instagram post.

Debris

Surprise! Another mysterious piece of alien Debris is located in the trailer for next week’s episode, “A Message From Ground Control.”

The Flash

Finally, Barry mentors a newly resurrected Fuerza in the trailer for “Family Matter’s, Part 1.”

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