Today in television news, Game of Thrones has been renewed for a seventh season because of course it has. The series, which returns for its sixth season on Sunday, is such a smash hit that its renewal was basically just a formality. In other news, though, HBO has also ordered additional seasons of Silicon Valley and Veep, according to Deadline, both of which begin airing new episodes after Game of Thrones this Sunday.
The letter "M" in MTV is about to mean something again. According to the Los Angeles Times, MTV's new president, Sean Atkins, plans to refocus the network on music. That includes a new competition show, a live-music series set in L.A., and a reboot of Unplugged. "Music is our muse, our spirit animal," Atkins said in an interview. "And it's a great muse to have. So we're leaning into it."
Idris Elba has just signed on to a new miniseries from the screenwriter behind 12 Years a Slave, Deadline reports. In Guerrilla, Elba will play a man who targets a counter-intelligence agency that is trying to stop black activism. John Ridley will write, executive produce and also direct the first two episodes. Guerrilla airs on Showtime in 2017.
Horror anthologies are making a comeback and a new one will be heading to television soon. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gale Anne Hurd, producer of The Walking Dead, will be adapting the podcast Lore into a hourlong TV series. Aaron Mahnke's podcast spends each episode telling an actual horror stories passed down from history.
Another show is coming to the DC TV universe. According to TV Line, SyFy is near a deal to produce Krypton, a Superman prequel that takes place on the iconic hero's home planet years before he was born. Serving as executive producer will be David S. Goyer, screenwriter behind Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. This will be the latest in a series of DC shows including Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Gotham.
American Gods have officially gone into production, and the show has just added some new members to its cast. According to Coming Soon, joining the series are Cloris Leachman as Zorya Vechernyaya, Peter Stormare as Czernobog, Chris Obi as Anubis and Mousa Kraish as The Jinn. Based on Neil Gaiman's wildly successful fantasy novel, American Gods also stars Ricky Whittle, Ian McShane, Emily Browning, Sean Harris, Yetide Badaki, Bruce Langley and Jonathan Tucker. It will air on Starz in 2017.
Bryan Cranston is working on a new comedy series on IFC. The network has just picked up Todd Barth Can Help You, which revolves around an insurance adjuster (Steve Weber) who decides who make a career move and become a self-help guru, according to Variety. Cranston is on board as executive producer, but it's unclear if he will actually appear in the show.