It’s been another exciting week for fans of the small screen, with countless announcements whetting our appetite for the future of television. When there’s so much going on, it can get a bit overwhelming to keep up, so we continue our weekly TV News Roundup today with our top reveals of the past seven days…
Will Bryan Cranston appear in the final season of Better Call Saul?
Chatting with Collider, Better Call Saul lead actor Bob Odenkirk - who plays the titular Saul Goodman - claimed he didn't know if Bryan Cranston would be making a return to the Breaking Bad franchise as Walter White.
He did however, let his own thoughts on the matter be known.
"This I do not know," he said. "I've only got the first two [scripts for the final season], so I hope that that happens. I've heard that rumour, but I have not seen anything factual that it's going to happen yet.”
If Cranston does return, it will undoubtedly be one of the most historic moments in television history. There is also however, the possibility he could come back and work behind the camera, as a director for an episode. It’s something he did in the original series, along with other TV shows.
Cobra Kai Season 4 filming starts
When it was revealed that the Karate Kid franchise would be being brought back to our screens, albeit as a TV series, hardcore fans were a little sceptical as to how it would work. Now though with three seasons of Cobra Kai under their belt, streaming service Netflix can safely say that it’s been a massive success.
This week, it was announced that the show’s fourth season had started filming, with the series’ official Twitter account taking to the social media platform to announce the news:
Originally becoming a bit of a cult hit, Cobra Kai could only be accessed via YouTube, but now that the rights of the series have moved to Netflix, it’s become a mainstream success, even doing better than Netflix original series Bridgerton in terms of audience share!
Showrunners Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg are all reuniting to continue telling Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence's (William Zabka) story, after (spoilers!) the pair come together in Season 3 for the All-Valley Tournament, hoping to take down Cobra Kai for good.
Carole Baskin rejects Tiger King Season 2 offer
After being portrayed as somewhat of a villain in the first season of Netflix original series Tiger King, Carole Baskin has explained why she won't be appearing in the show's second outing.
Speaking with RadioTimes, the big cat keeper explained that it wasn't a hard decision to reject the offer to come back for Season 2, despite production saying it was her opportunity to "clear the air”. She ultimately told those that had called her to “lose her number”.
Baskin claims that production on the series told her Joe Exotic would be in just “five minutes” of the show; something that left her feeling “misled” and “betrayed” after it became clear the “freak show they produced” (in her words) was actually making him the main focus.
She said that she was led to believe it would be an informative and educational show, raising awareness for big cats.
If true, it’s quite obvious why she won’t be making her return.
WandaVision could return for a second season
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has revealed he’s been working at the company “too long” to completely rule out a second season of the hit Disney+ exclusive series, WandaVision.
Considering the context of the show, the comments are extremely interesting to note. It’s not clear exactly how a second season would work, as the narrative being explored is one that only really appears to be able to work in this first season - which reaches its conclusion next week (March 5th, 2021).
Via Alex Zalben on Twitter, Feige said as part of this year's TCA: "We are developing these shows [which also include The Winter Soldier and Loki] the way we develop our movies,” before noting they make the first part of major features before concentrating on the second or even third.
So, the door will be left open! Good news for anybody who has loved the unique series to-date.
The Simpsons recast Dr. Hibbert
After taking on the role of Dr. Hibbert in The Simpsons for over 30 years, white actor Harry Shearer has now been replaced by black actor, Kevin Michael Richardson, in a move that many say is way overdue.
The news comes from TVLine, who say that Shearer will continue to voice his other roles on the show, but his final episode as Dr. Hibbert has already aired. Richardson's first will broadcast in the United States on Sunday, February 28th, 2021.
Richardson isn't new to the world of voice acting. He's got major credits to his name including Family Guy, Teen Titans, The Batman and Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as smaller roles in The Simpsons which he picked up from 2009 onwards.
This should hopefully be a huge step towards the eradication of the use of harmful stereotypes in the comedy series, so that it can continue to succeed without controversy.
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