Movies
First Details: “The Walking Dead” Companion Series, “Cobalt”
Deadline not only has the first casting, but also the vague scope of AMC’s new “The Walking Dead” companion series.
Frank Dillane, pictured above, and Alycia Debnam Carey, below, have been cast in the pilot, created by Robert Kirkman, on whose graphic novel “The Walking Dead” was based, and Dave Erickson.
Adam Davidson will direct the pilot, known as “Cobalt,” which takes place during the same zombie apocalypse depicted on “The Walking Dead” but in a different location.
It revolves around a male divorced teacher and a female guidance counselor. Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) plays the woman’s son, who has battled a drug problem. Aussie Debnam Carey (Into the Storm) plays the woman’s ambitious daughter.
There’s no slowing down Alice Maio Mackay. The filmmaker behind So Vam, Bad Girl Boogey, and this year’s The Serpent’s Skin is already back with sci-fi horror Our Effed Up World.
Starring Annapurna Sriram (Fucktoys), Sara Thompson (“One of Us is Lying”) and Jess McLeod (It’s a Wonderful Knife) and produced by Dark Star Pictures, the film will receive its International Premiere at Fantasia Film Festival on July 18, 2026.
The first teaser has arrived ahead of its fest screening, which sees a group of friends contend with terror from outer space when it crash lands nearby.
The synopsis reads: “Sheri thought her biggest problem in life was dealing with the recent loss of her beloved grandma. But when a mysterious entity crash lands in the woods, only she and her group of shitkicker friends are what stands in the way of an insatiable, intergalactic hunger.”
Scott Major, Brandon Flynn, Jordan Dulieu, JackHaven, Leela Varghese, Tommy Dorfman, and Chris Gun also star.
I Saw the TV Glow and Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun produces.
Mackay directs from a script co-written with Ben Pahl Robinson.
Mackay shares of her latest, “Our Effed Up World is my latest no budget queer film. I wanted to delve into a completely new sub-genre—sci-fi. But still through my signature lens and blend of campiness and melodrama. This project allowed me to take a step back from all the horrors that are happening around us and to really reflect on what makes us who we are and what we need to do to hang on to what is important in our lives. Whilst also being a rumination on grief and how we cope with living in an ‘effed” up world.'”
The 30th edition of Fantasia begins today; stay tuned for more from our coverage of the fest.
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