#dean devlin

[ageofthegeekdotcon]

[darkshrimpemotions]

The thing Dean Devlin has always known that so many other showrunners have forgotten is you don't need blockbuster-level special effects, grimdark realism that only seems to apply when it comes to violence and misogyny, shock value twist endings, or a sex scene per episode. All you really need is a small group of fucked up strange little guys and gals, a fantastical backdrop to be endlessly explored (i.e. a magical library, an intergalactic wormhole traveling device, the notion of true humanity and redemption amidst a cruel machiavellian world), and some wonder and whimsy.

[mariasklodowskastwixbar]

"Christian Kane is in every TV show" factoid is actually a statistical error. The average TV show does not cast Christian Kane. Devlin Georg, who casts Christian Kane in every show he makes, is an outlier adn should not have been counted.

[renthebarbarian]

The Librarians is so different from Leverage. See, The Librarians is about a team of 5 secret heroes consisting of a non-American thief with a hidden past, a quirky bisexual autistic-coded girl with trauma, a tough country guy played by Christian Kane, a sarcastic guy who provides technical support, and a leader who watches over the team like a parent. Also Noah Wyle is there. Unlike Leverage, which is about a team of 5 secret heroes consisting of a non-American thief with a hidden past, a quirky bisexual autistic-coded girl with trauma, a tough country guy played by Christian Kane, a sarcastic guy who provides technical support, and a leader who watches over the team like a parent. Also Noah Wyle is there.

[buddiestiel67]

I confess I hadn't watched the original Leverage before watching Redemption, just as I hadn't watched the movies before watching The Librarians. But now I'm watching the original Leverage, I'm on episode 8 of the first season, and I couldn't help but notice (and I don't know if anyone else noticed this detail Dean Devlin added to the episode), but when they're on the plane and Eliot is about to get up to check their carry-on baggage, the movie playing on TV is the second film in "The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines".

Leverage: Season 1 Episode 08 - The Mile High Job

And The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines

[trekscribbles]

I was convincing a friend to watch Leverage by telling her how great the characters are, and the following conversation happened.

Friend: Well who's in it? Anyone I'd recognize?

Me: Aldis Hodge from Cross is one of the main characters.

Friend: Ooh!

Me: And I don't remember, have you seen Angel? Christian Kane is in it too.

Friend: Christian Kane?? I remember him from Fame LA! I thought he was really good, but then he kind of just disappeared??? What happened?

Me: Well, Dean Devlin found him in 2008 and just. Yeah, that's where he's been.

[zqssq]

Dean Devlin talking about directing David Tennant with Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes

[jedijenkins]

About the structure of The Librarians: The Next Chapter and the potential Future of the Franchise (from a longtime obsessive fan):

sometimes i genuinely forget that your average person is not knowledgeable about how making television works, and don't really pay attention at all to the behind the scenes activities of the people who make television.

to everyone responding to The Librarians: The Next Chapter trailer with negativity along the lines of "why are there new Librarians" "why is Stone the only one there",

i am actually shocked to realize you guys are unaware of the entire reason the first Librarians show exists in the form it does. But then i realize i'm probably the weird one for knowing all of these specific details but here we go: The only reason Eve, Ezekiel, Jenkins, Cassandra and Jake even EXIST is because of scheduling conflicts. Noah Wyle wanted to come back to star in a spin off of the original movies very badly, but he was currently under contract in the middle of filming the final few seasons of Falling Skies. If you're unaware, when you're under contract to finish a certain amount of filming, you can't just break that contract without serious legal repercussions. Not to mention, Noah wanted to do Falling Skies justice. So the executives behind both projects and Noah came to a scheduling compromise - something that Noah was only able to do because of the pull he, Dean Devlin and John Rogers have, not something most actors can easily swing - to where he could finish his work on Falling Skies while also appearing in The Librarians in the time he wasn't filming for Falling Skies. This meant that Noah would be able to be there for at least a couple episodes for the first few seasons, but not all of them. Naturally, you can't have a show where the ONLY main character, the ONLY Librarian, is gone half the time for the first few seasons. So the obvious and genius solution they came up with? More Librarians.

An ensemble main cast that would be able to hold down the fort and keep the show moving forward when Noah/Flynn wasn't there. And they specifically wrote it in a way to where it made perfect sense character wise for Flynn to be absent, both because of the plot and because of Flynn's trauma and fear of commitment. They made Noah Wyle's inability to be there the whole time an integral part of the plot and themes, and constructed the rest of the show around it.

And then when Falling Skies was finished filming, Noah was able to appear more regularly in s3 and s4 of the show, while still being absent sometimes to maintain the consistency of his character arc. The group and plot was set up to allow it to make sense for him to be able to come and go as needed.

I want you to take a second to digest this information. Your favorite characters and their relationships with each other would never have even existed if Noah Wyle had been completely free at the time the show was being started. We would have no Eve Baird, no Ezekiel Jones, no Jacob Stone, no Jenkins, no Cassandra. It would be just the Flynn Carson show, just like the movies. Flash forward seven or so years, and Dean finally gets the chance to bring the franchise back again - but all the actors from the first show are now, just like Noah was, tied up in contracts and schedules for stuff they are already doing. The person with the most schedule flexibility? Christian Kane, because the other shows he's working on currently are also under Electric Entertainment. All of the actors have confirmed they DO WANT TO RETURN WHEN THEY ARE AVAILABLE. They have told Dean this, they talked about this at the convention panel at ElectricCon, and I even personally talked to John Harlan Kim during the meet and greet about how excited he is to eventually return whenever he can. They will return when they can, and these new characters are perfectly set up to work alongside them smoothly the second they do.

Therefore Jake is the best choice to be the first returning character to bring in the new characters and establish their connection to the Library, because they are new recruits, not replacements. This is a CONTINUATION spin off, not a reboot. The Library is once again expanding it's employee base and becoming even more of a capital-O Organization than it already was in the first show. This makes sense both externally and internally.

Externally, this is exactly what they did when they made the first continuation spin off show based on the movies. They created a new ensemble cast of main characters to form relationships with the previous characters in the franchise, and to hold down the fort when those characters are off screen because their actors are currently busy. Internally, expanding the Library even more is the natural progression of the plot and themes that where being explored in the original show. The entire point of the final season, if not the show, is that it was always a mistake to have only one Librarian, a mistake made out of fear. The natural endgame of the themes of the show was to invite even more people to join the Library - there where even multiple side characters heavily set up to potentially become future Librarians themselves. (Lucy Lyons for example). These new characters are not replacing the old ones, they are holding down the fort so that the old characters have a franchise to come back to in the first place. Because if they had to wait for all the actors to be available again to make the new Librarians show, it wouldn't get made, because the people with the money don't wanna wait when they're greenlighting a show. When you get greenlit on a concept, you make it now or you never make it. This was true when Noah was too busy to be the sole main character of the first show, and it's true now when the actors where too busy in 2022-2023 to all return at once for the new show's first season. And a final but EXTREMELY IMPORTANT POINT: Dean announced this show while talking about expanding The Librarians universe, and then at ElectricCon he announced that what he REALLY wants to do is bring back the original show if next chapter is successful, and have both the next chapter and the original librarians team's show airing at the same time while crossing over constantly with each other. Essentially creating a shared Librarians television landscape for characters to move throughout. But that will only happen if The Next Chapter is successful enough. So PLEASE, open your hearts to these new characters and these new actors, because they are in the exact same position the cast of the original show was in. I was there, movie fans where complaining that it wasn't a show solely about Flynn and Flynn alone. But when once the show actually aired, they all quickly shut up, because the day Dean Devlin makes Librarians characters that aren't worth obsessing over is the day hell freezes over. If you don't support The Next Chapter, you will completely lose any chance of seeing those older characters return. Trust me, guys. Relax. You will love these new characters just as much, and you will see the old ones again if this show gets more seasons. So if you want that, you better start getting hyped!