Arrow, Beauty and the Beast picked up for Series, Alcatraz and the Secret Circle Cancelled

Vancouver is going to see more superheroes and fantastic creatures stalking its streets now that both The Arrow and Beauty and the Beast have been greenlit for series by the CW. Among the casualties of last season are the magical teen drama The Secret Circle  and JJ Abrams’ Alcatraz, which dropped in ratings after its premier. Abrams still has plenty of work ahead of him with the second  Star Trek movie and a post-apocalyptic series for NBC called Revolution.

Percy Jackson 2, Arrow Pilot begin filming in Vancouver


ReelWest has updated it’s film lists with some interesting additions. The following films and TV shows have begun production in Vancouver:

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters: The sequel to the 2010 film will (hopefully) feature Percy and his friends journeying to the Bermuda Triangle to capture the Golden Fleece that will protect Camp Half-blood from the forces of (hopefully) Kronos. My wife will never forget the sight of 200 Grade 7’s nerd raging after she took her class on a field trip to see the first movie. There was so much that Disney either changed or left out of the first book, like the fight with Ares, and the identity of the series’ true villain. We can only hope that the producers have learned their lesson and not taken the first films “moderate success” to mean “Change more stuff”.

Arrow: This spiritual follow-up to Smallville features a former One Percenter named Oliver Queen as he returns to his home city and decides to take up a bow and arrow for the poor and downtrodden. If all goes well, Lou Dobbs will be outraged.

Primeval: This is a spin-off of the British Series Primeval, which features a group of scientists dealing with ferocious beasts from the distant past and future dropping into our time through various time swirly things and causing havoc. The wikipedia entry says that this series will actually be set in Vancouver (A show about carnivores set in a city that actually has some. Not bad ^_^). The original Primeval is now into its 6th season, and since international co-productions like Murdoch Mysteries have a habit of sticking around, perhaps this one will too.

Source: ReelWest

‘Arrow’ Adds Colin Donnell as Tommy Merlyn

CW’s The Arrow just updated its cast list today to include Colin Donnell as title hero’s best friend Tommy Merlyn. In this incarnation, Merlyn is one of Oliver Queen’s fellow “trustafarian” friends from his past, but notices that Oliver returns to the city a changed man. Whether that Tommy will become the Green Arrow’s arch-rival Merlyn in this series remains to be seen.

Source: Deadline.com.

The CW’s Arrow Pilot Casts Katie Cassidy

The CW’s Arrow has cast Katie Cassidy as Dinah Lance, better known to comic book fans as the alter ego of Black Canary, the on/off love interest of the Green Arrow. This will be the third time Black Canary’s been portayed on televison, the first being on Birds of Prey and the second was on Smallville. Katie has starred in the recent Melrose Place reboot and Supernatural. Arrow will start shooting soon in Vancouver.

Source: KSiteTV