A New ‘Orphan Black’ Series In Development At AMC
Well this seemed to come out of nowhere. News has hit the interwebs today that there is a new ‘Orphan Black’ series in development. This is apparently not a reboot or spin-off, but a completely new story set in the “world/universe” of ‘Orphan Black’.
For those of you unfamiliar with the series (it’s on Netflix, go check it out), the series followed Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany), an English con-artist who witnesses the suicide of a woman who looks exactly like her. Stealing the woman’s identity, Sarah becomes Beth Childs, a London police detective, and discovers Beth was not the only doppelgänger out there, as it leads her down an ever deepening rabbit hole. Sarah discovers a vast conspiracy involving evil scientists, assassinations, detrimental illnesses, and clones… lots and lots of clones…
Tatiana Maslany won an Emmy for her phenomenal tour-de-force performance as regular characters Sarah, Alison, Cosima, Helena and Rachel, plus a number of other clones they met along the way. Supporting her epic role were Jordan Gavaris as Felix, Maria Doyle Kennedy as Siobhán, Kristian Bruun as Donnie and Kevin Hanchard as Art. Tip of the hat also goes to Ari Millen, who had the job of playing all the male clones in the later seasons.
With this being a brand new story, it’s unlikely we’ll see Maslany back in any sort of permanent role, although it is set in the same world, so it wouldn’t be impossible for her to pop up occasionally if she’s available. The same would go for the rest of the cast.
One interesting thing to note is the US Network. The original show was produced by Temple Street Productions, in association with BBC America, who aired the show in the US, and Space, who aired it in Canada. However, BBC America is co-owned by AMC and BBC Studios, so AMC popping up as the potential network in the US isn’t quite as odd as it may seem at first glance. If this new series does materialise, it is possible they could simulcast on BBC America and AMC in the US, which is what they have decided to do with ‘Killing Eve’ Season 2, due to AMC having more coverage than BBC America.
As to where the series would land in the UK, that’s anyone’s guess. The original ‘Orphan Black’ started on BBC Three before moving to Netflix UK. Whilst we do now have AMC Global in the UK, it doesn’t always air AMC US series, due to the international rights for some shows being different to the US.
A word of caution though, it would appear to be very early days at the moment for this potential new ‘Orphan Black’ series, so it is quite possible it won’t go anywhere. However, if it does, we will let you know should we get more info.
