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Jesse L. Martin is stepping away from The Flash for a bit.

EW has confirmed that the Broadway vet, who plays Detective Joe West, is taking a medical leave of absence from the Greg Berlanti-produced superhero drama. According to TVLine, which broke the news Wednesday morning, Martin suffered a back injury during the hiatus, which is why he has been seated in almost all of his scenes this season.

“Jesse Martin is taking a medical leave of absence from The Flash. We wish him a full and speedy recovery and look forward to his return as Detective Joe West,” said the studio in a statement provided to EW.

As of right now, it’s unclear how long Martin will be off-screen; however, sources told TVLine that Joe’s absence will eventually be addressed on the show.

So far this season, Joe has mostly been confined to the West home, where we usually find him seated on one of the living room’s many pieces of furniture. However, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t had anything to do this season, which began on the day Joe and Cecile (Danielle Nicolet) brought their daughter newborn daughter Jenna home from the hospital. He’s been there to comfort and help Cecile and Iris (Candice Patton) as they deal with the new struggles of motherhood, and in episode 3, he even had a frightening encounter with season 5 big bad Cicada, who took him hostage in order to lure out Vibe (Carlos Valdes).

The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on The CW.

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Maisie Williams had a Game of Thrones reunion Thursday night with two of her long-lost Stark family big brothers.

The Arya actress met up with Kit Harington and Richard Madden — photos below — after her new play, I and You, opened in London.

Here’s Williams with actors who played Jon Snow and the late, great Robb Stark:

Another angle:

Williams also posted a cuddly photo of herself and Madden:

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A post shared by Maisie Williams (@maisie_williams) on Oct 26, 2018 at 3:06am PDT

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Also on hand: John Bradley, who plays Jon’s loyal former Night’s Watch brother Samwell Tarly on the show. Granted, not a Stark (but perhaps he could be made an honorary Stark?).

Speaking of Madden, the actor is currently starring in the Netflix action thriller Bodyguard, which became Britain’s biggest hit drama since Downton Abbey during its run last month, and is definitely worth checking out.

Game of Thrones returns in the first half of 2019.

Hear that? It’s the eerie silence that descends when it’s a month into the fall season and not one new show has yet been canceled. But several titles have received orders for additional episodes, effectively making them safe (for now). Here’s a rundown of which new broadcast shows you can rest assured aren’t going anywhere, and which might be in danger. They’re roughly ranked from safest to the seemingly least safe:

Manifest (NBC), 12.3 million viewers and 2.7 rating. Boosted by its lead-in from The Voice, the mystery drama is the fall’s biggest new show. NBC has ordered a total of 16 episodes which will represent a full season.

New Amsterdam (NBC): 10 million viewers, 2.2 rating. Probably the most surprising success of the fall given the show’s relatively modest reviews. The aspirational medical drama sheds quite a bit of its This Is Us lead-in, but has received an order for additional episodes for a total of 22.

The Conners (ABC): 10.5 million viewers, 2.4 rating. The Roseanne spin-off has only aired a couple episodes so far so it’s tough to say where its numbers are going to settle, but it currently ranks as the second-biggest show on Tuesday nights and ABC ordered an additional episode of the comedy after the second episode aired.

FBI (CBS): 11.4 million viewers, 1.5 rating. Producer Dick Wolf’s latest isn’t the breakout procedural smash the network might have hoped, but isn’t shedding too much of its NCIS lead-in either and has been stable the last few weeks (and stability is a blissfully rare commodity in the fall). It also has a full-season order.

The Neighborhood (CBS): 7.6 million viewers, 1.4 rating. Cedric the Entertainer’s comedy has solidly performed the tough job of cold-starting a Monday lineup against tough competition.

God Friended Me (CBS): 9.8 million viewers, 1.3 rating. The spiritual dramedy is doing better-than-average numbers on Sunday nights and has a full-season order.

The Cool Kids (Fox): 6.3 million viewers, 1.4 rating. The retirement home comedy is drafting heavily off its Last Man Standing lead-in, but it’s also winning its Friday time slot and has a full season order. But it better put the brakes on — this comedy hasn’t stopped slipping since its big premiere.

Charmed (The CW): 1.4 million, 0.5 rating. CW’s entry into Sunday nights with this supernatural reboot is doing fine, and the network has bigger problems later in the week (why did they renew Dynasty again?).

Single Parents (ABC): 5.1 million viewers, 1.5 rating. The new Wednesday family comedy has seemingly stabilized into a passable number following Modern Family.

The Kids Are Alright (6.5 million viewers, 1.4 rating): The working class comedy is losing a lot of its Conners lead-in, yet is also ABC’s second highest-rated show on Tuesdays.

Magnum P.I. (CBS): 8.2 million viewers, 1.3 rating. The poster show for the supposed declining interest in reboots, the flashy Hawaiian drama is losing its time slot to strong rivals (yet also has a full season order).

A Million Little Things (5.9 million viewers, 1.4 rating): Dubbed, fairly or unfairly, a This Is Us clone, the Wednesday drama has apparently stabilized at a modest audience. On Oct. 26, ABC gave the series a full-season order.

Happy Together (CBS): 5.5 million viewers, 1.0 rating. The Damon Wayans Jr. comedy is part of CBS’ should-be-doing-better-than-it-is Monday block.

Dancing with the Stars Jr. (ABC): 5.4 million viewers, 1.2 rating: Only aired two episodes so far. Presumably cheap to make, plus it isn’t doing much worse than ABC’s other Sunday reality fare.

Murphy Brown (CBS): 8.7 million viewers, 1.3 rating: You might think this is ranked a bit low given the revival starring Candice Bergen averages nearly 9 million viewers, but performance is all about context and this is the lowest-rated entry in CBS’ Thursday comedy lineup (and not by a little).

The Rookie (ABC): 5.4 million viewers, 1.0 rating: Nathan Fillion returned to ABC with a crime drama that got decent reviews. Its weak performance is a head-scratcher. 

Rel (Fox): 2.8 million, 1.1 rating: History shows that you never want to be the live-action weak-link entry shoved into Fox’s popular Sunday animated lineup.

All American (The CW): 650,000 viewers, 0.2 rating. This CW football drama stepped outside the network’s genre comfort zone, got good reviews and showed some growth this week, but has fumbled in the Nielsens overall. 

I Feel Bad (3.7 million, 0.9 rating). The worst-titled show of the fall is really struggling on Thursdays where it’s NBC’s lowest-rated program and managing to get beat up by Murphy Brown.

The Alec Baldwin Show (2 million viewers, 0.3 rating): Far below the line for a major broadcast network across its first two episodes. If you picked this Sunday night talk show for your First Canceled Show office pool, you’re probably going to win.

Ruby Rose and Melissa Benoist formed their own dynamic duo for the upcoming Arrowverse crossover event.

The actors suited up in costume as Batwoman and Supergirl, respectively, in a new set photo from production of Elseworlds, which marks the debut of Rose as Kate Kane, the openly lesbian superhero from DC Comics.

“Indicative of my excitement that she’s here and kicking a—,” Benoist captioned the photo on Instagram.

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indicative of my excitement that she’s here and kicking ass @rubyrose

A post shared by Melissa Benoist (@melissabenoist) on Oct 26, 2018 at 4:24pm PDT

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Elseworlds, the three-night crossover between Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl, will seemingly feature some trips throughout the multiverse, given the fact that Grant Gustin (Barry Allen) is now wearing Stephen Amell’s Arrow-slinging suit and Amell is the scarlet speedster.

John Wesley Shipp (the original Flash actor from the ’90s show and Barry’s father on the CW series) will also appear in the crossover in a speedster uniform, Tyler Hoechlin’s Superman gets his black suit, Cassandra Jean Amell will appear as Mr. Freeze’s wife Nora Fries, LaMonica Garrett will portray The Monitor, and Elizabeth Tulloch will play Lois Lane.

Green Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl will gather in Gotham City for something involving Dr. John Deegan (Jeremy Davies), an insane doctor at Arkham Asylum. Marc Guggenheim, who’s heading Elseworlds, recently shared a set pic that teased the infamous Arkham prison for the criminally insane.

I’ve encouraged a lot of Easter Eggs in this year’s crossover, but this might be going too far. #Arkham ⁦@JamesBamford⁩ pic.twitter.com/yRvQCwGONS

— Marc Guggenheim (@mguggenheim) October 27, 2018

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Even with the growing cast, Elseworlds has more potential for Kate. If all goes well, Rose’s crime-fighting days could continue on with her own Batwoman series, which would become the first superhero show with an openly LGBTQ lead.

It all begins on Sunday, Dec. 9, with The Flash at 8 p.m. Elseworlds will continue with Arrow on Monday, Dec. 10, at 8 p.m., followed by the conclusion on Tuesday, Dec. 11 at 8 p.m. with Supergirl.

The Johnson family will sport their finest Wakandan garb on this year’s Halloween episode of black-ish.

ABC revealed photos and video from the set with the cast dressed up as different members of Marvel’s Black Panther. Tracee Ellis Ross channels Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia from the end of the film (when Wakanda’s War Dog must suit up in Dora Milaje armor to save her king and country), Anthony Anderson rocks the royal look of Chadwick Boseman’s King T’Challa, and Marcus Scribner serves Michael B. Jordan’s more sartorially hip outfit as Killmonger.

Anderson also posed next to the Johnson family’s newest addition, little Devante (played by Austin and Berlin Gross), wearing T’Challa’s signature catsuit.

“The Halloween episode of @blackishabc is gonna be ” Ross wrote.

Wakanda forever #blackish pic.twitter.com/9YauvuBhwh

— black-ish (@blackishabc) October 26, 2018

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NAKIA & KILLMONGER ~ the halloween episode of @blackishabc is gonna be this tuesday at 9|8c! #blackish

A post shared by Tracee Ellis Ross (@traceeellisross) on Oct 26, 2018 at 5:28pm PDT

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The cutest Wakanda baby you've ever seen #blackish

A post shared by black-ish (@blackishabc) on Oct 27, 2018 at 8:01am PDT

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Miles Brown manned the camera as his castmates joked around the set, offering up Scribner as a future stunt double for Jordan.

“I’m only trying to aspire to be like her,” Ross exclaimed of her costume. “I love you, Lupita.”

They already have the blessing of the real Jordan, who gave them an “amazing” shoutout on Instagram.

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Which #BlackPanther character is your favorite? #blackish

A post shared by black-ish (@blackishabc) on Oct 27, 2018 at 8:06am PDT

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Titled “Scarred for Life,” the episode airing this Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC, will see the twins opting out of the family Halloween costume, fearing their social status will drop at middle school. Dre and Bow are setting up “the best haunted house” for the entire seventh grade class and Junior starts spending time with a girl from Ruby’s choir.

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The Making of "The Empire Strikes Back", the rare 1980 French TV movie documentary about the second film in the Star Wars trilogy, was considered lost until recently. Since clips surfaced a few years ago, it's been considered the "Holy Grail" for Star Wars fans. Directed by late director Michel Parbot, the hour-long film has now been found and posted on YouTube. Watch it while you can.

Ready to see the official first look at Bane on Fox’s Gotham? This is much more evolved from the earlier leaked images you might have seen floating around online.

Bane is coming to the drama series in the show’s fifth and final season, and below is actor Shane West (Nikita, Salem) in costume admit some fiery destruction in an EW exclusive:

Bane will be introduced as Eduardo Dorrance, a former Army friend of Jim Gordon’s (Ben McKenzie), who is gradually transformed into the supervillain.

With the actor’s red-rimmed-eyes and semi-transparent mask and all those cyberpunk mechanics going on there in that breastplate, the look stands as a clear contrast from the best-known version of the character, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises take as played by Tom Hardy.

Still, you might say this guy still looks like he was born in darkness?

Gotham‘s Bane was described by showrunner John Stephens as “very, very strong, and very angry … we made him integral to the fact of coming in as a special ops government agent.” Season 5 will continue the “No Man’s Land” storyline from the comics, where Gotham City is isolated by the U.S. government from the rest of the country..

“We pick up at the top of season five, at the conclusion of No Man’s Land, Day 365,” Stephens said. “Then, we cycle backwards to day 87, three months into No Man’s Land where Jim has created his green zone and wants his reunification. We’re catching up, and for the first nine episodes, we’re always catching up to that first scene we see.”

The producers have also stated that “the fifth and final season will wrap up this unique origin story of the great DC Comics Super-villains and vigilantes, which revealed an entirely new chapter that has never been told.”

Gotham returns in midseason on Fox.

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Sean Bean hasn’t had to keep Game of Thrones secrets in a while, so it seems he’s out of practice. The Ned Stark actor let slip that HBO has secretly filmed a reunion special featuring past and present castmembers.

The one-off special was apparently shot in Belfast earlier this year while the cast was working on the final season and included Conan O’Brien as host.

“They decided to get all the characters together for a bit for this big show in Belfast and kind of hosted the evening,” Bean told THR. “Conan O’Brien did this thing, it was the last episode, so we all got together. It’s funny with work, you don’t really keep in touch. You do so many types of jobs in that part of the world. It’s just like whenever I see old friends or even old drama school friends, it’s just the same, we pick up where we left off last time …”

Bean, of course, was on GoT for its first season back in 2011. Notably, Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo) was also spotted in Belfast during the filming of the final season, which caused all sorts of speculation, and perhaps this explains it.

The special is not confirmed by HBO at this point. There’s no sense yet if or when the special might air (the special might be for home video instead). But the final six episodes of Thrones will air in the first half of 2019.

 

One week after Netflix pulled the plug on Marvel's Iron Fist, the streaming network has cancelled Luke Cage, IGN has confirmed.

"Unfortunately, Marvel’s Luke Cage will not return for a third season,” Netflix and Marvel said in a joint statement Friday. “Everyone at Marvel Television and Netflix is grateful to the dedicated showrunner, writers, cast and crew who brought Harlem’s Hero to life for the past two seasons, and to all the fans who have supported the series.”

The news comes the same day Netflix premiered Season 3 of Marvel's Daredevil, which has been earning rave reviews from critics. Luke Cage Season 2 didn't fare quite so well when it debuted back in June, with IGN noting that the season "never quite finds its footing over the course of its 13 episode run."

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Paul Allen, the man who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, died on Monday, October 15, 2018. Mr. Allen left Microsoft in 1983, but remained in its Board of Directors till November 2000. In the recent years Paul Allen focused on various investment and philanthropic activities. He was 65.

“Paul Allen’s contributions to our company, our industry and to our community are indispensable,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, in a statement. “As co-founder of Microsoft, in his own quiet and persistent way, he created magical products, experiences and institutions, and in doing so, he changed the world. I have learned so much from him – his inquisitiveness, curiosity and push for high standards are something that will continue to inspire me and all of us at Microsoft. Our hearts are with Paul’s family and loved ones. Rest in peace.”

Paul Gardner Allen was born on January 21, 1953, in Seattle, Washington. He attended Lakeside School, where he met Bill Gates, with whom he shared a passion for computers and programming. Eventually Mr. Allen would drop out of Washington State University to work as a programmer, and then convince Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard in order to establish Microsoft. In fact, it was Paul Allen who came up with an idea about the name of the company, only in 1975 the future software giant was called Micro-Soft.

Along with Bill Gates and Monte Davidoff, Paul Allen is recognized as a key developer of Basic computer language for Intel 8080-based MITS Altair computer, the world’s first native high-level programming language for a processor. Meanwhile, later on Paul Allen admitted that his strongest side was not programming, but rather research and strategic planning. In fact, he organized a deal that got Microsoft QDOS operating system after the company landed a contract with IBM to develop DOS in 1980. Furthermore, he envisioned emergence of mobile computers and smartphones in 1977 as well as the Internet in 1980.

Paul Allen left his executive position at Microsoft on February 18, 1983, but remained on the BOD and was elected vice-chairman eventually. In November 2000 he resigned from the board and left Microsoft once and for all. Meanwhile, Microsoft stock he owned eventually enabled him to become a billionaire in 1986 when Microsoft went public.

After leaving Microsoft, Paul Allen concentrated on his investment business. He invested into countless technology companies, real estate, and ultimately acquired the Seattle Seahawks (NFL) and Portland Trail Blazers (NBA), branching out to sports. Mr. Allen was the sole investor in SpaceShipOne, which completed the world’s first manned non-government-funded spaceflight in 2004. In his private life Paul Allen was a big music lover and a philanthrope, who spent over $2 billion on various causes ranging from science and education to wildlife conservation, and from arts to health. He also owned the Octopus yacht, one of the world's largest yachts at 122 meters long. His net wealth was estimated at $21.7 billion by Forbes magazine recently.

Paul Allen was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and battled with it in 2009. On October 1 he said that the disease had returned.

Sources: Microsoft, PaulAllen.com, Vanity Fair, Reuters

 

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Here’s a rather inventive high-tech step that Game of Thrones used to prevent final season spoilers.

The HBO production employed a “drone killer” to keep away snooping aerial cameras.

The news was first mentioned by star Sophie Turner during her New York Comic Con appearance last Sunday.  “If a drone flies above sets, there’s a thing that can kill the drones, which is really cool,” she said. “It creates a field around it and the drones just drop. It’s very X-Men.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, a “drone killer” is “an electronic device that can disable a drone in the sky and force it back to the ground.” It’s typically only used by police for “life and death situations.” The device “looks like a gun” and “can be aimed like a rifle or a shotgun at a drone in the air. The 30-degree field of its beam and its range of almost half a mile make the target hard to miss.”

The device was reportedly first used by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to protect the 2017 Rose Parade and has since been on guard at public events around L.A.

While EW was on the Game of Thrones set in Northern Ireland, we could see how the sprawling outdoor constructions on sets such as Winterfell castle were labeled with no-fly zone warnings — drones, helicopters and planes were not permitted over locations where GoT was filming. HBO worked together with local authorities to prevent any unauthorized photography (the hit fantasy series has added an estimated $200 million to the economy in Belfast).

The measures seemingly worked — while distant shots of the sets have leaked, surprisingly few images of active final season filming have gotten out.

It’s not clear, however, if the GoT team ever actually needed to use its drone killer to take down airborne paparazzi spies.

The drone killer is just one of many techniques the show employed to try and clamp down on spoilers for season 8, including abolishing all paper scripts — including on the set. Instead, scripts were only accessible through a highly secure app.

GoT returns for its final season in 2019.

Netflix rounded out the cast of its Henry Cavill-led series based on The Witcher, including two pivotal female roles.

Freya Allan (Into the Badlands), a 17-year-old native of Oxfordshire, will play Ciri, the Princess of Cintra, which is an important kingdom in The Witcher saga.

Game of Thrones’ Jodhi May will play Cintra’s Queen Calanthe, Fortitude’s Björn Hlynur Haraldsson will play Calanthe’s knight husband Eist, and Knightfall’s Adam Levy will play druid Mousesack. Wanderlust’s Anya Chalotra will then play another crucial role, that of the sorceress Yennefer. Her world at the magical academy at Aretuza will be populated by MyAnna Buring (Kill List) as Tissaia, Mimi Ndiweni (Black Earth Rising) and Therica Wilson-Read (Profile) as novice sorcerers Fringilla and Sabrina, and Millie Brady (The Last Kingdom) as outcast Princess Renfri.

Cavill, meanwhile, plays the lead role of The Witcher, Geralt of Rivia.

Ciri was initially the subject of media attention when a casting ad for the character called on women of color to audition, while the original Polish novels and ensuing video games portrayed her as white. Hissrich proceeded to take “a Twitter hiatus” after all “the hate” percolated on the web.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Hissrich said of the pushback, “It boils down to a couple things. One, this property has such a passionate fan base. I think any leak at all was going to attract this type of attention, and with any attention comes backlash to that attention. I do think that whatever information is trickling out there, there will be people responding positively to it and people responding negatively to it. I think that’s just part of making a television show, and especially a show this big.”

She continued: “In terms of why people responded so strongly, I think the fans really have pictures of these characters in their minds and I don’t blame them for that. I get it. When I read my favorite books I certainly imagine characters a certain way. There’s obviously a couple lines of description of Ciri in the books and people become very enamored with their own vision of it. I think coming in as a writer and saying my vision might look different than yours is scary for fans, but truthfully I don’t think it has to be. One of the things I feel most strongly about is people being afraid that we’re going to strip out the cultural context of The Witcher, to remove its Slavic roots, the very thing people in Poland are proud of. That couldn’t be further from the truth. What I’ve always wanted to do is take these Slavic stories and give them a global audience.”

The Witcher is the story of monster hunter Gerald as he struggles to find his place in a world “where people often prove more wicked than beasts,” according to the logline. Destiny soon thrusts him together with Ciri, who holds a dangerous secret, and Yennefer as they navigate the Continent.

The drama is mainly based on the original Polish novels, and since the video game series is “the sole visual representation of these stories,” Hirssch told THR her team needed to find their “own visual representation.”

Episodes will be directed by Alik Sakharov (Game of Thrones), Alex Garcia Lopez (Marvel’s Luke Cage), and Charlotte Brändström (Outlander).

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Fans won’t be treated to a third season of Marvel’s Iron Fist.

The sophomore superhero series was officially canceled by Netlix on Friday, making it the first of the streaming network’s Marvel series to get the ax.

“Marvel’s Iron Fist will not return for a third season on Netflix,” Marvel and Netflix said in a joint statement to Deadline. “Everyone at Marvel Television and Netflix is proud of the series and grateful for all of the hard work from our incredible cast, crew and showrunners… We’re thankful to the fans who have watched these two seasons, and for the partnership we’ve shared on this series. While the series on Netflix has ended, the immortal Iron Fist will live on.”

News of the cancellation comes on the heels of a second season — which was released on Sept. 7. Though EW staffer Chancellor Agard wasn’t a huge fan of the first two seasons, he felt the season 2 finale showed promise.

“I didn’t like the show’s lethargic and pointless first season,” Agard wrote in his season 2 finale recap. “And if I’m being honest, I found most of this season incredibly boring, despite some great performances (hello, Meachums and Alice Eve) and marginally better fight choreography. But after watching the season 2 finale, it feels as though the show was saving the best for last, because ‘A Duel of Iron’ has some genuinely cool moments.”

Read more of Agard’s season 2 recap of Marvel’s Iron Fist.

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