Now you can’t even watch a Marvel or Star Wars series without having to search the fan forums afterward to find out what links it has with the rest of the remaining works and if you missed a plot detail because you weren’t a completionist. Television universes are the new fashion due to the obsession of studios and platforms to find a successful series and maintain public interest with derivative works. But what are the most prolific fictional universes or, at least, that are attracting attention?
When AMC acquired the rights to 18 Anne Rice novels, the idea was not to produce a single series but to start a television universe by giving the green light to the adaptation of Interview with the Vampire and also to The Witches of Mayfair. The result is two complementary series, currently not excessively dependent, that bring the themes and imagery of the American author into the 21st century.
Highlight? That Interview with the Vampire, this time starring Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid, has an openly queer reading and a racial dimension; and that The Mayfair Witches has in Esta Spalding a screenwriter who is not afraid to go beyond combative feminism. “Would a matriarchy really be different or would women use power in the same way as men? Could it be that power simply corrupts anyone?” Spalding said in an interview for La Vanguardia.
For those who are interested, both series have aired one season each, can be found on the AMC service, and the first to premiere was Interview with the Vampire. With eight episodes each (and seasons to come) it’s not hard to catch up.
The arrival of SkyShowtime this week made possible what seemed like a television chimera: that the Iberian viewer had the possibility of knowing the complete universe of Yellowstone. It began in June 2018 when Kevin Costner rode a horse and turned a family and crime drama into a phenomenon in the United States, for its ability to break down borders and attract the attention of critics and the Republican public.
Yellowstone narrates all the actions that patriarch John Dutton must carry out so that his ranch, the largest in the country, is not cut into pieces by real estate interests, electric companies or the adjoining native reserve. After four seasons and with a fifth on the way, eyes are also turning to the work of Kelly Reilly and Wes Bentley as the Dutton children. And, how could it be otherwise, its creator Taylor Sheridan was increasing the universe.
In early 2022, the prequel 1883 about the beginnings of the Dutton dynasty in Montana aired. Sam Elliott this week took home the SAG Award for Best Male Performance in a Miniseries. Also currently airing is 1923, SkyShowtime’s highlight recounting the miseries and challenges of the Duttons during Prohibition with Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. And Bass Reeves is underway, on the first U.S. Black United States Marshal with David Oyelowo as the lead; 6666, a spin-off about a Texas ranch; and another Dutton family chapter, only this time in the eighties.
And, from Amazon Prime Video, their priorities are clear: The Boys, after demonstrating in July 2019 that they could succeed in the superhero genre, completely distancing themselves from the Marvel philosophy, has two derivative series: The Boys presents: Diabolical and Gen V , which should arrive this year.
The Boys, which is based on the comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson and is creatively led by Eric Kripke, imagines a society in which superheroes are trademarks: the Seven, the most publicized, work under the orders of a corporation that monetizes them to the maximum, sells them to the general public and ensures that they have pristine images. But as the team’s newest addition, Starlight (Erin Moriarty) discovers, they are actually deplorable beings that are more psycho than superhero.
Diabolical, broadcast spring 2022, told eight independent but complementary stories from this same universe; and Gen V will take the ultra-capitalist and psychopathic vision of the genre to the university field. More than studying, what these young people will try is to fall in favor with Vought International, which recruits the superheroes with the most potential from these classrooms.
And while Star Trek can’t be called a novel franchise, its ability to relaunch itself in the 21st century on television must be recognized, in part by building on the strong performance of J.J. Abrams in rooms. Pre-production on Star Trek: Discovery was rocky, with Bryan Fuller (Hannibal) leaving when nothing had been shot, but critics applauded the effort and it became a flagship for CBS All-Access, the rebranded content platform. like Paramount in the US
The signing of Sonequa Martin-Green as the protagonist of the Discovery ship made it possible to understand that a new stage was being entered, to which the animated comedy Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Picard would be added, which could be read as a sequel to Star Trek: The new generation; Star Trek: Prodigy designed for children and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the latest to be released, which narrates Spock’s adventures on the Enterprise a decade before having James T. Kirk as captain.
With Anson Mount in the role of Captain Pike and Ethan Peck in the shoes of Spock (and who had previously appeared on the Discovery ship), Strange New Worlds recovers the optimistic, adventurous and luminous spirit of the original saga created by Gene Roddenberry. Those who have reservations or prejudices have a gateway to rediscover the franchise in this spin-off.
It has not even been released but it deserves a place on this list for the commitment it represents for Amazon Prime Video. The Russo brothers sold the platform an idea of a fictional universe with an international mindset: a spy and action series with characters from different countries to later launch local versions in India, Italy or Mexico. And in the distribution? Richard Madden, Priyanka Chopra, Stanley Tucci and Lesley Manville.
The first season of Citadel will premiere on April 28 and will have six episodes. It might be interesting to see if a large-scale operation like this pays off for Amazon. And it is that, inadvertently, the budget got out of hand after the Russo’s decision to shoot scenes again and fire the screenwriter Josh Applebaum, who led the project. With a budget that could have exceeded $200 million, Citadel could be the most expensive series ever, behind only The Rings of Power.