It was that time of the year again, the highly anticipated televised series of trailers that were preceded and followed by sports of some kind. The Super Bowl commercials are undoubtedly as big the game itself, with companies spending millions of dollars to have their products seen by an estimated 103.4 million American football fans this year (which apparently is below average). The 52nd Super Bowl ads included trailers for Avengers: Infinity War, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Westworld season 2 and many more, However, one TV spot for an upcoming series has gotten very little attention and has past under the radar significantly despite its premise, and that show is Krypton.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1-_4JwfteA
Developed by Syfy, the show is a prequel based on the home planet of DC’s favourite red and blue boy scout, with writer David S. Goyer (Man of Steel, The Dark Knight) spearheading the development. What I do not get is how anything superhero related can go unnoticed by so many – seeing as superheroes are our new westerns, cash cows, dead horses to beat, you would imagine networks and studios to make a push for promotion with plenty of set photos, panels and teasers far in advance.
And so, for those of you who are only hearing about this now, here are 5 things we know about Krypton so far (some possible spoilers ahead):
5. THE Release Date
Let’s get straight to it, Krypton’s pilot episode is to be aired on 21st March 2018, but there is no indication when the series will continue airing from the date or if it will be airing in the UK’s Syfy channel around the same timeframe.
The show’s first teaser was released in April 2017, with an announcement it would be premiering in the same calendar year – however due to setbacks Syfy pushed the premiere date to 2018, which could explain why we didn’t see an official trailer until early into the new year.
4. The Series Is Filmed In Northern Ireland
The northern province of the Emerald Isle is best known in the film industry for being the central hub for much of the filming of HBO’s Game of Thrones, as well as other Hollywood films such as Hellboy 2 and The City of Ember. Belfast’s famous Titanic paint halls were converted into film studios and used to build large set pieces to convey the grandiose nature of Westeros.
The Northern Irish economy has done quite well from the series and so has invested £20 million in the construction of the Belfast Harbour Studios. In June 2017 it was announced that the studio had signed a contract with Warner Horizon Television, who have decided to move away from its original filming location of Vancouver to set it apart from the other DC Comic book shows on the air.
As the planet of Krypton has had little screen time in other Superman productions it’s difficult to visually imagine what the world exterior should look like and so it’s unclear how much of Northern Ireland we’ll see – but from the trailer, it is evident that they’ve made a great use of the 8-acre site. Also, with the HBO series on its way out, be ready to see a few familiar faces show up.
3. The Series Is Treading New Ground
What can you recall about the planet of Krypton? It blew up…and that’s pretty much it. While other comic book adaptations give us a character’s origin story or drop us in the middle of their adventures Krypton takes us back 200 years, set two generations before the birth of the last son of Krypton. We are seeing the Kryptonians in a completely new light, without powers, invulnerability or many of the other aspects that frankly made Superman just plain vanilla for a lot of fans.
Now many of you are probably pondering the same thing, we already know everyone dies, what’s the point in telling us about what happened before it? It’s for the same reason we watch movies and shows about WW2. We know how it ultimately ends but we love the human interest stories, acts of bravery and sacrifice and with two centuries worth of time and essentially a clean slate, they have a lot to work with.
The series follows Superman’s grandfather, Seg-El, on a journey of redemption as the House of El has become ostracised from society. The banishment is presumably to do with the revolution alluded to in the trailer. Executive Producer Cameron Walsh has explained that at this point in time the planet is divided by a theocratic governing body and the segregation between two classes of citizens, the Rankless and Gilded, and this will obviously be one of the primary arcs of the show.
One of the other storylines that will likely feature heavily is the forbidden romance between the disgraced Seg-El and reserved Kryptonian soldier, Lyta Zod, presumably an ancestor of the Man of Steel’s famous enemy.
Though, from what the trailer tells us the main storyline for the season at least is that one of Kal-El’s current day enemies has traveled back in time and across the vacuum of space in an attempt to rewrite history and stop the Man of Tomorrow from ever being born by kill Seg-El. However, he is warned of this and told of the greatness his grandson shall achieve by a mysterious man (who we’ll get back to) who visits him in the literal house of El.
2. The Cast Isn’t What You’d Think
Much like Game of Thrones, despite being an American produced series Krypton hosts an almost entirely British cast. Obviously, this isn’t anything new, many American productions have had British stars in them before, but what is different about this is that there isn’t a Hollywood lead attached to the project for the audience to react to with an ‘oh yeah, that guy’ – which is all too commonplace in the industry. For viewers in the United States, unless you’re well versed in films and shows from the United Kingdom, you’ll probably not recognise most of the cast.
In the leading role as Seg-El is Cameron Cuffe, an upcoming English actor best known for the BBC mini-series The Halcyon. Opposite Cuffe is Georgina Campbell as Lyta Zod – Campbell may best be known for her time on the series Broadchurch but an international audience may know her better as Amy in the Black Mirror episode ‘Hang the DJ.’ Possibly the most recognisable actor amongst the cast is veteran Northern Irish actor Ian McElhinney, who many would know as Ser Barristan Selmy on Game of Thrones or as General Dodonna in Star Wars: Rogue One. McElhinney will be playing Seg-El’s grandfather and space exploration advocate, Val-El.
It isn’t simply the casting that is surprising but also the characters who are set to make an appearance in the Kryptonian homeworld. Much of the cast is comprised of new and original characters created for the show – however, some characters of the DC comic mythos have been announced and teased to us. Firstly, there is the mysterious visitor who foretells the future played by actor Shaun Sipos (Complete Savages, The Vampire Diaries) who was confirmed to be Adam Strange. A Lesser known hero, Adam Strange was an archeologist that was transported to the alien planet of Rann and with the use of Rann’s technology Strange defends the planet from extraterrestrial threat, periodically beaming back between his home world and Rann. DC Comics president Geoff Johns even stated on a panel that Hawkwoman would also feature on the Syfy series.
Johns also went on to mention some of the classic Superman villains that are also to show up against Kal-El’s grandfather. Iconic enemies Doomsday and Brainiac are scheduled to make an appearance, with Brainiac being played by Indian Summers star Blake Ritson.
1. It Could Be Connected To The DCEU
Krypton is just the most recent in a long series of DC Comics TV shows, spread across multiple networks including The CW, CBS, FOX, NBC and now Syfy. Despite this plethora of networks, a number of these shows have come together to form its own shared universe, commonly referred to as the ‘Arrowverse.’ Some have speculated whether the Superman prequel would join this televised extended universe, however, others have wondered if it could be the first of its kind of to have connections to Warner Bros’ DC Comic film universe, similar to Agents of Shield and the MCU.
Early on into Krypton’s development, in an interview with Collider, David S Goyer said Krypton took place 200 years before the opening in Man of Steel. As Goyer was a writer for Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (aka Man of Steel 2), his specifying of the film, instead of simply citing Krypton’s implosion, has led fans to theorize it will link into the growing film universe.
So there’s all you need to know about Syfy’s Krypton, what’s got you the most excited about it? Or did you even know it was happening?
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