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WIRE Buzz: Netflix debuts vibrant Dark Crystal art; Bandersnatch eyes VR; more

By Benjamin Bullard
The Dark Crystal Age of Resistance on Netflix

Netflix appears to be sparing no expense with its hugely anticipated new Dark Crystal series, and if the newest batch of vibrant images from the upcoming show are any indication, you won’t even have to have the volume turned up to appreciate what’s in store when The Jim Henson Company sweeps us back to Thra.

In addition to a panoramic new banner logo that spares no hue in showing off the upcoming blend of CGI and practical puppet effects, the official Twitter account for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance also shared a fresh batch of up-close images that’ll likely leave longtime fans of the original 1982 movie scrambling to get in touch with their inner Gelfling. 

Full banner for The Dark Crystal on Netflix

“So much to explore, so much to learn about Thra,” indeed. This week’s San Diego Comic-Con is sure to bring plenty of fresh news about Age of Resistance, with the show getting its own panel as part of Netflix’s Hall H takeover on July 19. Stay up to date on the show via its official Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook channels, and be sure to check SYFY WIRE’s ongoing Comic-Con coverage as more Dark Crystal news…crystallizes…in the coming days.

As for the show itself, the wait’s almost over. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance arrives at Netflix on Aug. 30. 


Don’t expect Black Mirror to imitate itself and lapse into a virtual reality experience just yet, but show creator Charlie Brooker says the unnerving Netflix sci-fi series would make a great pioneer into VR territory — if technology and viewer demand ever come together just right.

Talking with Deadline about the show’s latest round of Emmy nominations for “Bandersnatch,” this season’s interactive, choose-your-adventure episode, Brooker said he envisions interactive TV eventually branching off into its own genre — and he could even see a future version of “Bandersnatch” getting its own VR treatment.

“Going forward I hope you’ll find that interactive becomes another genre, or approach, or style [of storytelling] along the lines of a musical,” Brooker said. “…I actually had an idea for a VR port of ‘Bandersnatch,’ which you could do very easily. Somewhere down the line, when these things are remastered, you could see things being remastered into VR.”

“Bandersnatch” picked up two Emmy nominations this year; one for Outstanding Television Movie, and the other for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media Within a Scripted Program. The two recent nods bring Black Mirror up to a lifetime total of four Emmy nominations, with Season 3’s “San Junipero” episode winning the statue for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series.

For the time being, you don’t need VR goggles to check out all five seasons of Black Mirror (including “Bandersnatch”) from start to finish. Just head on over to Netflix and let the dystopian bingeing begin.


Finally, let’s round out the Netflix news with a cool casting pickup for Away, the streaming giant’s upcoming space drama starring Hilary Swank.

Via The Hollywood Reporter, The Good Wife’s Josh Charles has just boarded Away as a NASA engineer named Matt Logan, part of the husband-and-wife space team that’ll send Emma Green (Swank’s character) on the agency’s first-ever manned Mars mission. 

Logan reportedly will watch from the ground as his wife takes off for Mars, enduring “a life-altering experience in the first episode” that will amplify the distance between Emma and the Earthbound family — including a teenage daughter — she left behind.

There’s still no firm release date for Away, but Netflix expects the spacey series to lift off sometime next year.