WIRE Buzz: Shang-Chi set work restarts; Miracle Workers S3; Andrew Lloyd Webber calls Cats 'ridiculous'

Shang-Chi is heading back to work. After shutting down in March, the set of Marvel’s upcoming film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is back under construction in Western Sydney. Director Destin Daniel Cretton had previously quarantined himself when the coronavirus pandemic began earlier this year, leading to Shang-Chi’s set shutting down earlier than many in the film industry. Now, not only are things ramping back up, but fans can get their first look at some early set builds for the film.

This comes from Australia’s 7NEWS, which captured helicopter footage of buildings with Eastern-style hip-and-gable roofing. There appears to be a small village in the set in question, with a larger house in its center.

Take a look:

The superhero film, which sees Simu Liu take on the mantle of martial arts master and chi channeler Shang-Chi, looks to be Marvel’s first film with a predominantly Asian cast. The film also boasts Awkwafina, Ronny Chieng, and Tony Leung among its cast—though the plot is still under wraps. With sets being constructed once again, however, look for more details to come as production resumes in the near future.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is scheduled to hit theaters on May 7, 2021.

Next, one of the weirdest anthology series on TV is coming back for a third round. Miracle Workers — the Simon Rich comedy that’s gone from actual Heaven to the Dark Ages — is getting a third season.

This news comes buried in a Deadline report about tax incentives, but fear not, Miracle Workers fans: the Daniel Radcliffe-fronted show is on its way back...just shooting in California this time around. The TBS show filmed its first two seasons in the Czech Republic. 

As it heads to Season 3 (the setting of which remains a mystery, but will likely vary as wildly as the disparity between its first two), fans can simply speculate on which strange characters its recurring cast will embody this time around. Poop shovelers? God himself? The possibilities are endless.

Miracle Workers — which also stars Steve Buscemi, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Karan Soni — does not yet have a release date set for its third season.

Finally, after seemingly everyone and their furry feline got catty over the oddball CGI adaptation of famed musical Cats, the man behind the original is coughing up a hairball in the film’s general direction.

Andrew Lloyd Webber, speaking to The Sunday Times (via Deadline), had some harsh words — and interesting logic — for the film flop. “The problem with the film was that Tom Hooper decided that he didn’t want anybody involved in it who was involved in the original show,” Webber said. “The whole thing was ridiculous.”

December’s critical and box office flop has already earned ire from its own cast members (including Dame Judi Dench) and allowed insight into a troubled production that was working on its surreal visuals up until the last minute. Now it seems it’s lost one of the people most likely to stick up for it. If Webber doesn’t like your Cats, nobody will.