ICYMI: Gillian Anderson leaving The X-Files

We have a lot of sci-fi news to get to in this week’s issue of Sci-Fi After Dark. But before we do that, check out last week’s issue for important sci-fi news you may have missed!

The world of science fiction is always in flux. According to The X-Files‘ Gillian Anderson, it’s time for her to move on from playing FBI Special Agent Dana Scully.

“It’s time for me to hang up Scully’s hat. It just is. I’m finished, and that’s the end of that.”

‒ Gillian Anderson (Dana Scully)

It’s unclear what her departure from the show means for the future of the series. Anderson’s co-star David Duchovny is open to continuing the show without her but is also ok with it ending with season 11’s final ten episodes.

“I’ve tried to say goodbye to Fox Mulder many times and I failed. And they all went and did the show without me, so how do you like that? I’m feeling pretty pissed off, now that I remember.”

‒ David Duchovny (Fox Mulder)

Guess Who: Transformers: Prime Wars trilogy gains Mark Hamill and Ron Perlman

It was recently announced that both Mark Hamill and Ron Perlman have joined the cast of the animated series Transformers: Prime Wars. Mark Hamill will be portraying Megatronus (aka, The Fallen) and first appeared in the finale of Transformers: Titans Return.

Ron Perlman, on the other hand, will be voicing Optimus Primal. His first appearance will be in the third chapter of the trilogy, Transformers: Power of the Primes. Transformers: Power of the Primes will be debuting this spring.

TVAD Writers Room: The X-Files tackles doppelgängers and cuddling in its first standalone of the season

The X-Files entered its third week of season 11 with its first truly standalone episode, “Plus One.” Written by series creator Chris Carter, the episode explored a series of mysterious and difficult to explain deaths. The mysterious deaths got the attention of Mulder and Scully when a victim managed to survive.

“I think it’s not possible for someone to calmly try to move on with their lives after experiencing something like that. In my case, I would try to find a solution. I think I would study the phenomena and try to figure what it’s saying about myself. Doppelgangers reflect the dual light/dark, good/bad, nature of our soul and how it plays mind games with us to the point of self-destruction.”

‒ @Solecalvo1

The case led the FBI agents to the psychic (and psychotic) Poundstone twins, both portrayed by actress Karin Konoval. Our roundtable had very high praise for the episode as a whole, Chris Carter’s writing, and the incredible portrayal of the twins by Karin Konoval. You can read more about what our roundtable guests thought of the episode here!

Interviews: Star Trek: Discovery‘s Shazad Latif discusses major reveal, Jumper director talks about correcting movie’s mistakes in Impulse, and more!

Star Trek: Discovery recently returned from its winter hiatus and has dropped some rather big bombshells in recent episodes. One of the biggest bombshells involves Shazad Latif‘s character Lt. Ash Tyler. He recently talked to Variety about keeping such a big secret for so long and lots more about his character. Star Trek: Discovery can be streamed on CBS All Access.

The upcoming second season of Hulu‘s The Handmaid’s Tale will be moving beyond the material found in the original novel by Margaret Atwood. Series star Elisabeth Moss (June Osborne/Offred) and showrunner Bruce Miller recently talked about the themes of the series and what’s coming up for the show in its second season.

“So much of this season is about motherhood. We’ve talked a lot about the impending birth of the child that’s growing inside of her as a bit of a ticking time bomb, The complications are really wonderful to explore. She does have the baby, but it gets taken away from her. She can’t be its mother. It makes for good drama.”

‒ Elisabeth Moss (June Osborne/Offred)

Season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale premieres on April 25th on Hulu.

Doug Liman, director of Jumper and the creator of the upcoming series Impulse, has admitted that he’d like to correct the mistakes that were made in Jumper.

“I always felt like with Jumper I had a contrarian idea that I started exploring but I just didn’t get it right, and unlike my other films where I maybe don’t get something right but I go back and reshoot and so I get it right, that film just got released.”

‒ Doug Liman (Director)

Impulse will be a “pseudo-sequel” to the movie and is based on the third novel of Steven Gould‘s Jumper series. The series will be premiering on YouTube Red this summer.

Coming Soon: Netflix’s Mute gets a release date, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale gets new trailer, J.J. Abrams’ new space show, and more!

Netflix‘s upcoming sci-fi noir mystery Mute finally has a release date! Duncan Jones, who also directed Moon, recently announced on Twitter that his new movie Mute will be releasing on Netflix on February, 23rd.

The movie takes place in the not-too-distant future Berlin and has a noir look and feel. Mute is the second movie in Jones’ trilogy. The third movie in the series has not yet been named or announced.

A new trailer for the final six episodes of season 4 of Star Wars: Rebels was recently released. Season 4 will be the show’s final season. The last six episodes start airing on February 19th on Disney XD.

Fans of Hulu’s dystopian series The Handmaid’s Tale will be pleased to learn that season 2 now has an official release date and a new trailer! Season 2 will premiere on Hulu on April 25 with two new episodes. Check out the trailer below!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams has a new sci-fi drama series in development, and it seems to be highly sought after. Both Apple and HBO are reportedly in a bidding war to obtain the rights to the series. Very little is currently known about the series beyond it being about the “world’s battle against a monstrous, oppressive force.” Does that mean it’ll involve aliens? Humans from the future? Another dimension? Once more is known we’ll have the details here in Sci-Fi After Dark.

What’s Happening Next Week: The X-Files‘ “The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat” preview and synopsis

Season 11 of The X-Files continues next week and looks like it’ll be quite a ride. The episode was written and directed by series veteran Darin Morgan, who is known for some of the series’ zaniest episodes such as “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster” and “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space.” The X-Files returns on FOX on Wednesday, January 25th with “The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat” (yes, that’s the actual title).

We’ll let the official episode synopsis and trailer stand on their own:

“Exploring the idea of The Mandela Effect, in which large groups of people remember an alternate history, Mulder and Scully learn how The X-Files themselves may have originated.”