#multi-season show + spinoff? i... uh...

[blogger360ncislarules]

Jim Parsons is opening up about how "beautiful" it was to reprise his Big Bang Theory role as adult Sheldon Cooper for the Young Sheldon series finale.

While speaking with ET's Rachel Smith about his Broadway project, Mother Play, Parsons shared that, yes, he has already taped his part for the Young Sheldon series finale. He's reprising his role alongside Mayim Bialik's Amy Farrah Fowler. Parsons said going back to a familiar role went so much better than he expected.

"It was beautiful. It was even more beautiful than I expected it to be. One of the reasons I was excited to do it is because what they wrote is so sweet and I think they worked Mayim and I into that show so beautifully," Parsons tells ET. "I hope everyone agrees. But also for us the way that they tape -- because they're a single-camera show and we're multi-camera -- the whole look of the show was a really special experience. To get to go with Mayim, in a world we're really guests and revisit these characters a little older, just a completely different circumstance."

When they reprise their roles on Young Sheldon on what will likely be a flash-forward scene, it'll be the first time Parsons and Bialik reprise their roles and appear on-screen together since The Big Bang Theory ended in May 2019. Parsons said that since leaving the show, everything's been like "one big wash of a memory, but to go back" it felt different.

"We're older and we haven't seen these people," he says. "It just felt different, but it felt really, really sweet."

"Well, yes and no. We finished our first read-through, we didn't tape it. We just went in and felt around the set, and Mayim nailed it when she walked back and said, 'Uh, I thought I'd feel a lot more confident than this.' I said, 'Me, too,'" Parsons admitted. "I really thought it'd be like putting on a pair of old shoes and then eventually it was, but not for about an hour or so. And I was like, 'Do I still know how to talk like this?' It was weird."

When Young Sheldon comes to a close with the season 7 finale in April, fans can expect the Big Bang Theory universe to expand once again, as it's been reported that CBS ordered a Young Sheldon spinoff series centered around George and Mandy raising their family in Texas. Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro and Steve Holland are the creators. The trio's also the brains behind The Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon.

"I really think it goes back to the writers," said Parsons, explaining what makes the shows successful. "They have continuously created such characters that people connect to, that people enjoy watching. It was always the key to our show, that I thought it was a group of people that who each individually were such well-defined deep characters. And it's the same with Young Sheldon and now they've got two more to go with. It's crazy."

In the meantime, fans can catch Parsons star opposite Jessica Lange and Celia Keenan-Bolger in Mother Play, a Broadway feature from Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel. The 1-hour, 30-minute play (no intermission) is directed by Tina Landau, and the play centers around Parsons, Lange and Keenan-Bolger sharing the stage as a dysfunctional but moving family. 

Mother Play begins preview performances on Broadway on April 2.

#the big bang theory #shamy

[anghraine]

manymanytimesb4 replied to your post “Any thoughts about the new Amazon series for LotR? I had vague...”

Chris is involved? I didn't know. Kind of relieved, if that's the case. I'm much more likely to watch it. Like yavieriel, I'm waiting to have feelings - while casual friends are excited.

In seriousness, I’m not sure how directly he’s involved, but the Estate is. It started with them shopping around, rather than Amazon going knocking at their door. Apparently Amazon was looking for a fantasy epic comparable to GOT, and the Tolkien Estate was like... pssst, have you considered the real deal?? But, speaking of GOT, a cooperative endeavour???

This still ended with Amazon paying many millions more than pretty much anyone, ever. Something in excess of two hundred million USD, I think? And that’s just for the rights, not counting the cost of actual production. 

*double checks*

Okay, it doesn’t seem to be some narrow rights access as with the movies—Rolling Stone says it’s a joint project of Amazon Studios, the Tolkien Estate, and Tolkien’s publisher. I think the project as a whole will be able to tap into the entirety of the wider legendarium. What that means, idk. After Googling around, I ... can’t say I’m excited yet, but I’m starting to be more interested just given all the moving parts.

Oh, it’s also in conjuction with New Line Cinema, who made the movies, which seemed alarming but:

The series will reimagine Tolkien's epic fantasy novel in a Middle Earth different than filmmaker Peter Jackson's vision.

*phew*

Set in Middle Earth, the television adaptation will explore new storylines preceding Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. I hear that there are some creative restrictions imposed by the rights holders on what can be done and what can’t be done in a LOTRTV series.

There definitely seems quite a bit of oversight going on. And the articles note that collaborating with Warner Brothers might seem more natural with the history of the movies, but Amazon won out instead. I’m sure this has nothing to do with the eighty million dollar lawsuit the Estate just settled with Warner or the well-known ambivalence over the movies.

Also, I had assumed that it would an original narrative loosely based on stuff outside LOTR, but not much earlier; the articles emphasize the connection to LOTR. However, the Estate’s specific wording is:

exceptional ideas to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien's original writings 

Previously unexplored material (so not LOTR itself or The Hobbit) based on other writings. So ... spun out of UT or something??? There aren’t that many coherent narratives outside the bounds of the Silm. Unless it’s not outsi—okay, that’s a legit terrifying thought.

Specifically, Deadline says:

The streaming service has given a multi-season commitment to a LOTR series in the pact, which also includes a potential spinoff series.

General purchase with details to be decided, vague Third Age plans based on assorted bits and pieces, or yikes the Silmarillion? No idea.

#manymanytimesb4 #respuestas #tv: lotr #it didn't even occur to me that this could be a take on the silmarillion #which i've always said would have to be a tv show to make any sense #multi-season show + spinoff? i... uh... #okay it could be anything really but #/that/ would tip me closer to real alarm #though probably more for the inevitable trashfire of a fandom than anything else #legendarium blogging