Although Netflix is primarily known for its exciting series — with its slate of original programming having burgeoned from zero programs just three years ago to an impressive 55 today — the streaming service is also starting to branch out into feature films. The first, the Idris Elba-starring Beasts Of No Nation by True Detective director Cary Fukunaga, debuted on website in October of last year. Although only one other has premiered since then — the Adam Sandler comedy The Ridiculous 6 — Netflix has a huge roster of films set for premiere in 2016, including the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel The Green Dragon, the Brad Pitt dramedy War Machine, and the Christopher Guest mockumentary Mascots. Now there's one more to add to the list: Arq , a science-fiction thriller starring Rachael Taylor, as announced by The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday.
There's plenty about Arq that sounds exciting... and not just that it's on Netflix, home of such varied acclaimed offerings as Orange Is The New Black, Daredevil, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Making A Murder, and Master Of None. There's also its cast: Rachael Taylor, who was very much in search for a long-term project after her previous shows Charlie's Angels, 666 Park Avenue, and Crisis ended — and now has TWO projects between this and Netflix's Jessica Jones — and also her co-star Robbie Amell of The Flash fame.
Then there's the movie's writer/director, Tony Elliot, who has already brought some of the best sci-fi to our television screens as a writer and story editor on BBC America's Orphan Black. And finally, there's the plot itself, which sounds like an insane mishmash of sci-fi thriller, post-apocalyptic drama, and home invasion horror flick — with a dollop of Groundhog Day wackiness thrown in for good measure. Here's the official synopsis, according to THR:
Arq is a post-apocalyptic thriller set in the near future when the oil supply has run dry.Trapped in a house and surrounded by a gang of mysterious masked intruders, an engineer must protect a technology that could deliver unlimited energy and end the wars that have consumed the world. The only problem is that the technology has created a time loop that condemns him and his friends all to relive the same day over and over.
As exciting as that all sounds, there's likely one question on the mind of every Jessica Jones fan out there — what does this news mean for Taylor's future on that Marvel series?
Season 1 of Jessica Jones premiered in November of 2015, after having filmed from February through July of that year (or August, if you count reshoots and other post-production work). If Season 2 of Jessica Jones — which was just officially announced by Netflix — follows the pattern of Daredevil before it, whose seasons were released 11 months apart, the new batch of episodes could drop in October of 2016. If that were the case, filming would likely have to begin very soon in order to meet that deadline. However, according to THR, filming for Arq is set to begin "this winter," as in sometime in the next couple of months. And Taylor can't very well shoot a movie and a TV show at the same time, can she?
Don't worry, though: Neither Taylor not her character, Trish Walker, are leaving Jessica Jones anytime soon. The actress herself has already confirmed that she will be returning for Season 2 — which she sort of HAS to, considering how much the first season spent teasing Trish's possible transformation into Hellcat, the character's alter-ego in the pages of Marvel comics. What that does mean, then, is that we might have to wait a bit longer for the next round of Jessica Jones, since filming won't be able to start until Taylor is done with Arq.
This isn't exactly surprising, given the timing of the show's renewal. While the Daredevil team was able to get to work on their second season quickly after Netflix announced the show's renewal only 11 days after its premiere, it took Netflix over eight weeks to announce the same for Jessica Jones. That lost time probably means we won't actually be getting Season 2 until later than Season 1, unlike Daredevil.
But with filming already underway on Season 1 of Luke Cage, the other of Netflix's Marvel series most closely tied to Jessica Jones thanks to Mike Colter's thick-skinned hero, it's entirely possible Taylor may have already filmed a super-secret cameo on that series — much in the same way that Rosario Dawson surprised viewers by turning up in the Season 1 finale of Jessica Jones after appearing in Daredevil. We'll find out when that series bows later this year.
In the meantime, we have Season 2 of Daredevil to look forward to, premiering on March 18.
Images: Myles Aronowitz/Netflix; Giphy
