TV
MGM Developing ‘RoboCop’ Prequel Series Focusing on Villainous Omni VP Dick Jones
Before being shot several times and falling to his death out of a boardroom window, Dick Jones (portrayed by Ronny Cox) was the slimy, villainous, and extremely corrupt Senior Vice President of Omni Consumer Products.
While his death in RoboCop (1987) will be remembered as one of the all-time greats, his life could be celebrated in a brand new RoboCop prequel series that would also focus on the rise of Omni Consumer Products.
Digressing, after losing Neill Blomkamp to another horror endeavor, MGM and Orion recently hired Abe Forsythe to get behind the camera for RoboCop Returns, an official sequel that had been planned by the original 1987 film’s screenwriters Ed Neumeier and Michael Miner, but was canceled when director Paul Verhoeven declined to direct the project and a WGA strike in 1988 followed [TheWrap].
Neumeier, who will also produce, revealed that he’s also currently working with MGM on the new RoboCop prequel series that would focus on the life of Dick Jones.
“I’m working at MGM on it,” he tells Moviehole while also noting:
“It has all the cool stuff about RoboCop except no RoboCop.”
“I’m working with these two writers, Dave Parkin and Rob Gibbs, who bought this idea to a TV producer friend of mine, who then brought it to me. The first time I heard it I knew it was a cool idea because I could see a lot of things you could do with it. It’s such an interesting character.”
Speaking in regards to the original film’s social commentary: “There’s the idea of doing things about business and law enforcement in the city of Detroit a minute-and-a-half in the future, it would be a way to do all sorts of stories about business and tech, Silicon Valley, corporations, snakes in suits, cops, all that. It’s a wonderful rich tapestry.
“So we’ve been talking about it and I think we have an interesting story,” he continues. “It’s fun to work with a younger version of the Dick Jones we meet in RoboCop. He’s an actualized corporate predator [in the movie] but nobody necessarily starts out being the bad guy,” he notes.
“So it’s going to be about the evolution of Richard Jones to Dick Jones, the story of OCP and how the world moves into the future, how the corporate world behaves.”
There’s no formal go-ahead, but Neumeier hopes MGM can find the right partners to give the pilot a try.
As the site notes, think “Gotham” but set in Delta City, which begs the question, would you watch a RoboCop series without RoboCop?
As the inaugural season of Apple TV+’s stellar new series “Widow’s Bay” barrels toward its finale in two weeks, the latest episode gives Kate O’Flynn the spotlight as her character revisits her trauma with the Boogeyman.
“Your Baggage“, directed by Andrew DeYoung (Friendship), sees O’Flynn’s scene-stealing Patricia once again renew her fight with the Michael Myers-like stalker that slaughtered her peers during her adolescence. Thrillingly, it makes for one extended chase sequence that sees Patricia trying to warn others, while evading the undead killer.
In short, this episode’s incredible riff on Halloween and the slasher subgenre transformed Patricia into a fierce Final Girl.
“Well, that felt like a bucket list that I didn’t know was on my bucket list until I did it, but when I did it, I just lapped up every minute,” O’Flynn tells Bloody Disgusting of her triumphant turn this episode. “It felt fantastic for her to get that moment where she is becoming a badass. That was amazing.”
The actress turned to a few notable references for her performance. “Horror-wise, I go back to my youth, which was referenced in some of the episodes: Wicker Man, Carrie, and Rosemary’s Baby, that sort of thing is my kind of vibe.”
O’Flynn also notes how the series’ unique tone allows for so much creative freedom to make bold swings. “There’s something very freeing about it. Every moment is up for grabs, so it’s like we don’t have to totally land in one direction or another. It keeps it alive.“
Patricia is the eccentric assistant to Matthew Rhys‘ Mayor Tom Loftis, who’s at the forefront of trying to solve the island’s pesky curse predicament. Rhys felt the same about “Widow’s Bay” and its rare ability to make you laugh and scream in equal measure, stemming from series creator Katie Dippold.
“The mandate was, ‘It’s a real world with real people. You play for real.’ There’s no playing for comedy or horror,” Rhys echoes O’Flynn’s sentiments on how freeing the series’ tone has been.
New episodes will release every Wednesday through June 17 only on Apple TV+.
Kate O’Flynn in “Widow’s Bay,” now streaming on Apple TV.
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