TV
After Just One Season, Syfy Has Pulled the Plug on “Nightflyers”
Released onto Blu-ray last week after premiering on Syfy back in December, the George R.R. Martin adaptation “Nightflyers” seemed to come and go with little fanfare, so it’s no big surprise to learn this week that Syfy has given the outer space-set horror series the axe.
Noted by Variety, “Nightflyers” was, to date, the most expensive series that Syfy had ever produced, and the numbers weren’t high enough to justify spending on a second season.
You can grab Season One on DVD & Blu-ray today.
In the series, from showrunner Jeff Buhler…
“In 2093, in hopes of making contact with a mysterious alien life at the edge of our solar system, a group of maverick scientists and a powerful telepath embark on an expedition aboard The Nightflyer. As they race towards first contact, terrifying and violent events begin to occur, causing the once tight-knit crew to mistrust each other. It’s not long before their main mission becomes survival.”
Gretchen Mol stars as Dr. Agatha Matheson, alongside Eoin Macken as Karl D’Branin, David Ajala as Roy Eris, Sam Strike as Thale, Maya Eshet as Lommie, Angus Sampson as Rowan, Jodie Turner-Smith as Melantha Jhirl, and Brían F. O’Byrne as Auggie.
“Nightflyers” is executive produced by Gene Klein, David Bartis and Doug Liman of Hypnotic; Jeff Buhler; Alison Rosenzweig and Michael Gaeta of Gaeta Rosenzweig Films; Lloyd Ivan Miller and Alice P. Neuhauser of Lloyd Ivan Miller Productions. Robert Jaffe, writer and producer of the 1987 Nightflyers feature adaptation, produces.
Best known to horror fans for playing Rupert Giles in 121 episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” actor Anthony Head (aka Anthony Stewart Head) has passed away at 72 years old.
Daughters Emily and Daisy Head said in a statement to the BBC that their father “passed away peacefully of complications due to pneumonia, surrounded by his family.”
Their statement continues, “It has been, and forever will be, an honour and a privilege to be his daughters, and to have witnessed firsthand the impact both he and his work have had on so many. We know how dearly he will be missed by friends, colleagues, and fans of the shows he was in — he loved his job very much, and he always considered himself incredibly lucky, to have been able to work alongside such exceptionally talented people, in such wonderful productions, across a career that spanned several decades.”
Anthony Head more recently played Rupert Mannion in 18 episodes of “Ted Lasso,” with the English actor’s film and television credits dating back to 1978. On the horror front, Anthony Head starred in Darren Bousman’s Repo! The Genetic Opera, as well as 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Let the Wrong One In, “Warehouse 13,” and “The Canterville Ghost.”
Also of note here in the world of horror, Anthony Head once played Dr. Frank-N-Furter in a London stage production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show back in the 1990s.
Outside the horror world, Anthony Head’s film and television credits well exceed 100 different productions and include “Highlander,” “NYPD Blue,” “Silent Witness,” “Doctor Who,” And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself, “Little Britain,” The Magic Door, “Sensitive Skin,” Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, “Free Agents,” The Iron Lady, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, “You, Me & Them,” “Dominion,” A Street Cat Named Bob, and Batman: Gotham by Gaslight.
“Buffy” actor James Marsters writes on Instagram, “There’s a hole in the World. Anthony Head has passed on from us. He was an unflaggingly kind and steady presence on the set of Buffy, and the best actor in the cast. He was the best of us. I was lucky to have known, and learned from him. He left the world a better place for his presence. Thank you Tony for all you gave.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.