HBO + David Randolph + SMG's character sketch actually sounds like something very worthwhile. I'll be keeping an eye on this project.

SoddingNancyTribe | September 26, 05:26 CET

The page won't open for me, but the title alone is enough to make me happy!

Valentyn | September 26, 05:27 CET

Awesome news! I've been awaiting Sarah's return to a quality story since 2003. Well wishes to all involved.

marvelknight616 | September 26, 05:43 CET

Wait, how will she fit this in around the lead role in a franchise of movies based on Rachel Caine's "Weather Warden" series, or as Hero in the HBO mini-series of "Y: The Last Man"?




Crap, I just imagined those projects, didn't I?

KingofCretins | September 26, 05:52 CET

Wow, good choices KingofCretins. They really do need to turn Rachel Caine's books into movies. On the plus side, they are making a Y: The Last Man movie.

icallitvera | September 26, 06:30 CET

Very cool

Buffyfantic | September 26, 06:30 CET

Y: The Last Man needs to be read by more people. An awesome story.

However...I could never see SMG as Hero.

I'm into anything that HBO produces. I was never a huge fan of Geller's acting, but again...it's HBO. So, I know I'm looking forward to this.

EX | September 26, 06:53 CET

Gah! Great news. I can't wait to see this project move forward.

Emmie | September 26, 07:02 CET

It's not television...it's HBO!

stevekaw | September 26, 07:51 CET

This is great. SMG really needs to do something quality in television form, as it's clearly the medium that works best for her.

Morganology | September 26, 07:52 CET

Here's hoping this is more "Interpreter", less "David Gale". Like the character description...

hiddenicon | September 26, 07:58 CET

Oh, my god. That's so awesome, I'm so happy.

Allen Doyle | September 26, 08:07 CET

Executive producer to boot, good for her.

Simon | September 26, 08:55 CET

Sounds like good news, decent bit of drama for her to get her teeth into (pity it's a half-hour though cos time-wise we won't be getting much more SMG in a year than we do now).

I'm assuming the Gotham mentioned is neither the city from the Batverse OR a small east midlands town with a couple of fairly decent pubs (locals don't pronounce it Gotham anyway but Goat-am) but is in fact Variety speak for New York, right ?

Saje | September 26, 09:24 CET

Yep, news = good. It'll be fun to see SMG in a television series again, especially on HBO.

Though I'd totally sign up for the Y: The Last Man miniseries with her as Hero (or, possibly, as 'other Beth').

GVH | September 26, 09:45 CET

Yeah, she could play other-Beth or the geneticist twins or even Natalya, their bodyguard. I don't really see her as Hero though because I always saw Hero as quite tall and athletic (almost, dare I say it, Amazonian ;) - which, however highly you might rate her acting abilities (and I do), SMG just isn't.

In general i'd much rather a limited length HBO series of Y than a trilogy of films but it doesn't look like that's gonna happen.

Saje | September 26, 09:55 CET

This is great news! I'm happy that she's coming back to television and it's HBO.

maje | September 26, 12:43 CET

Glad to know she's back on tv, which seems to have really embraced bulkier roles from women even more in recent years, while of late the same seems have shrunken in movies.

Numfar PTB | September 26, 14:28 CET

Sounds interesting. Now we will have Sarah and Eliza back on TV in leading roles. Now only Caroline Dhavernas has to return. LOL.

Anyway, I hope the show will actually be good if it gets picked up. HBO's recent attempts at television were really bad. (Yes, I'm talking mostly about TRUE BLOOD, though TMYLM, IN TREATMENT and JOHN FROM CINCINNATI were not all that well either)

Donnie | September 26, 14:52 CET

(*in Pacino voice*) Just when I was about to cancel HBO - they pull me back in.

chazman | September 26, 15:17 CET

Saje; Yeah, "Gotham" is a US-media nickname for New York City. And right, SMG is a wonderful actress but she can't play tall; otherwise I'd nominate her to play Empress Katherine II of Russia, she'd nail it otherwise.

This sounds good, and HBO series don't compromise an actor's appeal to feature directors and they have relatively short seasons which leaves her schedule open.

DaddyCatALSO | September 26, 15:30 CET

Great news. I wish Sarah and the production the best of luck.

Anne 5_by_5 | September 26, 16:30 CET

Ha ha, shows how clueless I am - when I first read that, I thought, how cool, a story set in Gotham that isn't centered around Batman. I was imagining vague Batman references, perhaps even a sighting somewhere down the line, snappy dialogue while the news in the background was all about the Joker. Oh well. I too am glad that our lovely SMG may be returning to television.

AND I am reading Y: The last man for the first time, and it should SO be an HBO series. But I agree with Saje that I don't think SMG would be right for Hero. She could be Beth or other-Beth (I think original Beth) but there really isn't a particularly meaty role for her in that story. Oh, our lil' TV fantasies!

catherine | September 26, 16:46 CET

And right, SMG is a wonderful actress but she can't play tall;

Heh DCA ;). "Sarah, loving what you're doing, beautiful work, grabs me right by the heart-strings and won't let go. Just one thing though, can you make it more ... 5 foot nine-y ?".

... a story set in Gotham that isn't centered around Batman

There was a pretty decent comic called 'Gotham Central' with this as its premise - it was basically a police procedural set in Gotham in which Batman was just a peripheral character with the real focus being on the officers of the GCPD (and, among other things, how they deal with Batman encroaching on their professional "turf").

Saje | September 26, 17:01 CET

Saje; It was intentionally jokey but not completley unrealisitic. There's the whole standing-on-boxes thing, elevator shoes etc, but there's no real way to make SMG look like a big woman on screen, even if you cast people like Julia Louis-Dreyfuss or Natalie Portman in other parts.

DaddyCatALSO | September 26, 18:00 CET

I miss SMG so much! I liked "The Air I Breathe" but I would like to see her in a series again.

Rikardo | September 26, 18:32 CET

This is great news. SMG has been in absolutely nothing good since Buffy, and I hope that this will be a return to form.

Can't see her as Hero in Y: The Last Man, though I agree that an HBO mini-series would be far preferable to a trilogy of movies starring Shia LaBeouf and directed by *gakk* D.J. Caruso. (He wants Alicia Keyes as 355.)

Oh, and I've actually enjoyed both Tell Me You Love Me and True Blood, so I have no problems with HBO on that front. Though it's too soon to really tell with the latter.

UnpluggedCrazy | September 26, 18:57 CET

Really? Alicia Keyes? I'm sure there's some "unknown" out there who could just nail it. Why are they so lazy about looking? (Well, I guess it comes down to box office pull, right? Still.)

catherine | September 26, 19:47 CET

Actually, the woman playing Tara in "True Blood" would be great for 355 if she's not too young, IMO. I wasn't worried about Sarah's height, I can just picture her in every significant Hero scene in the entire series -- plus she'd get to keep her real hair color :)

I definitely wasn't kidding about Sarah playing Joanne Baldwin, though. Those who've read those books have surely found the Buffy-ness of them and the winking mirth. As soon as Sarah read the the "not exactly quaking in my stylish yet affordable boots" line, she nailed the lead in a "Weather Warden" movie.

Which is all to say, it's good to see more Sarah, and we should see Sarah more. I'm glad that her husband got the steady day job that he did, because hopefully it frees her up to pursue whatever projects interest her, rather than their old "take turns" thing.

KingofCretins | September 26, 20:25 CET

WAIT, does someone here actually likes True Blood?

Rikardo | September 26, 21:38 CET

Another great blurb about this here :)

binkaboo | September 26, 21:46 CET

Wow, I'm actually really excited about this. I'd really like to see SMG in another meaty, drawn out role. Good for her!

KnitWit | September 26, 21:52 CET

A lotta people here are enjoying True Blood, actually (and not just because it's a vampire show). If all you saw of it and judged it on was the leaked unfinished pilot...It's turning out very promising, so far, to be honest (three episodes in). If you saw creator Alan Ball's previous 5-season HBO series, Six Feet Under (unless you hated it)...(I feel like broken record...gonna stop using SFU as backup for my trust in Ball's abilities some time soon now).

I think HBO's still doing okay (not everything can be The Sopranos and Deadwood...even some of their more middleground shows are still a lot better than most of what network TV outputs, IMO). Generation Kill was probably the most polished product I've seen from them in a while (not for everyone though). They've lost a lot of their thunder in the last three or four years to other premium cable networks that're able to hold their own and come out with really good programming (Showtime, FX, AMC), but I still enjoy a lot of HBO.

Pretty excited to hear about SMG on HBO, despite not seeing any of Randolph's films (I mean to eventually see David Gale because of Kevin Spacey, but it wasn't a must-see...I love Nicole Kidman, but I thought The Interpreter was universally panned, wasn't it ? And I'm not usually a big fan of Sean Penn, to be honest). It's been a while since I've seen a drama that's only a half hour each episode.

Re: Y: The Last Man
Yep, like most, would way rather see Y as a limited series on HBO than as three films (though having it as a film franchise will probably see the story altered in potentially interesting ways, as opposed to a TV series that likely would've adapted the comics scene for scene). Would also like to see someone else in the lead (Christopher Gorham, aka Jake 2.0 and killer student from Buffy's "I Only Have Eyes For You" used to be my top pick...but really, anyone aside from Shia LaBouf, even back to the oddball choice of Topher Grace that was originally rumored). SMG doesn't look or seem the part for Hero, but I could see her as Other-Beth no problem. Would rather have an authentic Russian as Natalya, no North Americans with badly-faked accents in that role, please.

Kris | September 26, 23:51 CET

It has a 58% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes from 185 reviews. It sounds like it got mixed reviews, erring on the side of positive. I am not a fan of Sean Penn and tend to avoid his films (I find him hard to watch), but I quite enjoyed it.

'The Wonderful Maladys' doesn't sound like something I would usually pay a lot of attention to, but Gellar means I will be a lot more interested to see what happens than I might otherwise have been. I hope it pans out for her.

alien lanes | September 27, 00:42 CET

You know who would be perfect as 355? Tracie Thoms.

Oh, and The Interpreter was not good. I'm not usually a Sean Penn fan either, and that wasn't one of his watchable ones.

[ edited by UnpluggedCrazy on 2008-09-27 04:21 ]

UnpluggedCrazy | September 27, 04:21 CET

Oh man. Tracie Thoms would be perfect for 355. Can't believe I never even considered her (Jaye's friend from Wonderfalls, plus she rocked in Rent as one of only two new actors cast alongside originals from the play). She's tough-looking and hot, just like how 355's drawn/portrayed.

Kris | September 27, 05:05 CET

Yes. A perfect choice there for 355. Kudos, UnpluggedCrazy!

GVH | September 27, 09:38 CET

Yeah, Tracie Thoms is a good choice. I always kind of had a young(er) Angela Bassett in mind but she's probably too old for the part now (at least in TV land). That's partly her 'Strange Days' baggage too - Mace has exactly the right mix of qualities for 355 I reckon and if she can play one she can play the other.

The woman playing Tara isn't an insane choice either but she's maybe a bit too young right now.

Saje | September 27, 11:09 CET

Putting aside the past history with HBO, I'm very pleased to hear this news. I'd always felt Sarah had a mind for this business and I'll smile ear-to-ear when she's successfully struts her stuff in Hollywood. Just watch...

Best of luck, Sarah!

Madhatter | September 27, 17:49 CET

See, I didn't even know Thoms was in Wonderfalls, because I sadly have yet to see that. All I know is that I am a big Death Proof fan, and I loved everything about her in that. (I also forgot she was in the Rent movie.)

UnpluggedCrazy | September 27, 18:00 CET

Very cool. I'll be watching.

NimNams | September 27, 18:20 CET

I'm so annoyed I don't get HBO! *sigh* I guess I'll have to look towards the interwebz to see this pilot when it airs. :D This is very exciting news though. Yay for SMG!

holypotatoes | September 28, 00:32 CET