First looks at ‘Dear White People,’ ‘Orange Is the New Black,’ more from Netflix
WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) — Netflix dropped teasers, trailers and premiere dates for nearly a dozen upcoming projects Wednesday, including several returning favorites and a bunch of new properties.
As the streaming service expands its slate of original programming, it is planning to roll out a variety of dramas, comedies, animated series, and documentaries in the months ahead.
The 10-episode first season of “Dear White People,” based on Justin Simien’s award-winning 2014 film, hits the service on April 28. Starring Logan Browning, it follows a group of diverse students at a mostly white university.
“Orange Is the New Black” returns for its fifth season on June 9. An announcement trailer released Wednesday consisted mostly of quick shots of the faces of the show’s stars, including Taylor Schilling, Laura Prepon, and Natasha Lyonne. The series about inmates and guards at a female prison in upstate New York has already been renewed for at least two more seasons.
An official trailer for the third season of “Chef’s Table,” which profiles prominent chefs around the world, was released. All six episodes, including one focused on a nun in South Korea, arrive on February 17.
Following “the coolest semi-truck racing dog who lives down in race-obsessed Greasepit,” the stop-motion series “Buddy Thunderstruck,” from the animation studio behind “Robot Chicken,” begins streaming on March 10.
Netflix also announced the March 24 premiere of the third season of “Grace and Frankie,” starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.
Original comedy series “Girlboss” arrives on April 21. The announcement trailer offers no footage from the show, which is based on a book by female fashion mogul Sophia Amoruso and stars Britt Robertson.
Also coming April 21 is “Bill Nye Saves the World,” a new show featuring, predictably, Bill Nye. He will be discussing and experimenting with scientific issues aided by various celebrity guests, including Wil Wheaton and Joel McHale.
“Casting JonBenet,” described by Netflix as “a hybrid of fiction and non-fiction filmmaking,” takes an unconventional look at the Christmas 1996 murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey. Director Kitty Green traveled to Ramsey’s hometown of Boulder, Colorado and interviewed residents there about the effects the crime had on the community. The film hits Netflix on April 28.
An eight-episode adaptation of “Anne of Green Gables” titled simply “Anne” is set for release on May 12. The announcement trailer opens with red-headed characters from other Netflix shows learning there is a “new ginger in town.”
After dropping the first full trailer for its latest Marvel Comics series, “Iron First,” earlier this week, Netflix released new footage of Jessica Henwick as martial artist and apparent cage fighter Colleen Wing. All 13 episodes begin streaming March 17.
Netflix also revealed Wednesday that a second season of “The OA,” its mysterious science fiction drama starring Brit Marling, is coming eventually.
Wednesday’s announcements follow the streaming service’s Super Bowl ad reveal that the second season of “Stranger Things” is set for release on Halloween.