Yesterday, Prime Video released the first season of the successful BBC series from creators Stephen Merchant and Elgin James, The Outlaws. The series, which has already been renewed for season two, is a comedy thriller about a group of seven strangers, who after breaking the law, agree to complete community service in leu of jail time. The unlikely group, who are all from different backgrounds and would have otherwise likely never met, are forced to work together to renovate a community center, and in doing so find that they may have more in common than they realize.   

The idea for the series started from memories Merchant had growing up, with his parents being involved in community service looking after criminals. “They would tell me about the sort of people that came through the doors, and it was such an unlikely mix of people,” Merchant told SciFi Vision during a recent roundtable. “In fact, one of them was a kid I went to school with, Dave, who was the world's laziest thief. He one time got caught stealing a TV from someone's house, and the homeowners came back, and they went, ‘Dave, what are you doing?’ And he went, ‘I’m not Dave.’ And they went, ‘Yeah, you are; you live next door.’ He couldn't even go a block over. He literally was stealing from his next-door neighbors. There was Dave and there were other people that would come through the doors, and my parents were talking about these people. It just seemed like a recipe for a drama or a comedy, because you had such unlikely groups forced to work together; sparks could fly. It always seemed like an interesting backdrop. So, I didn't really have more than that. So, I went [and] met up with Elgin, and we kind of started brainstorming.”

Last week, NBC premiered it’s new music competition series, American Song Contest. The series, which is based on the hugely successful Eurovision Song Contest, features live music performances from across America, representing all fifty states, as well as five U.S. territories and the nation’s capital. In the end, the best hit song will be chosen from a solo artist or group.

On last week’s episode, eleven contestants each performed a song, and Monday night on the show it was announced that three contestants, in addition to Rhode Island’s Hueston, who had already advanced into the semi-finals, would be moving on to the next round of the competition, including Michael Bolton, who is representing Connecticut.

On Monday night, the Grammy Award-winning singer talked to the press during a roundtable interview about performing his song “Beautiful World” on the series and moving on.

Young Rock, which is based on the life of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, airs Tuesday nights on NBC. Recently, SciFi Vision talked to Ana Tuisila, who plays Johnson’s grandmother, Lia, and Matthew Willig, who plays Andre the Giant, about any pressure they might feel about playing characters based on real people.

For Willig, it was all just about using Johnson’s perspective. “It starts with the way that Dwayne perceived Andre,” the actor told SciFi Vision, “because that's so important when I'm playing with Adrian [Groulx] as an eleven year old boy. He’s playing Dwayne; that’s Dwayne’s perspective. It really starts with that…To Dwayne, Andre was Uncle Andre…Then, obviously, later on in life, he did impart his wisdom. So, that's kind of where it starts. If I can get that right, then I'm ahead of the ballgame.”

***The following interview contains spoilers for 11.14***

On tonight’s all-new episode of The Walking Dead it was revealed that Annie, played by Medina Senghore, who fans were introduced to in last week’s episode as part of the Riverbend community, is actually not only Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan)’s wife, but she is pregnant with his child.

During the episode, Maggie (Lauren Cohan) is shocked to find out that Annie actually already has been told by Negan about the atrocities he committed and is still with him. Seeing what he did and being told about it, however, are two different things. Senghore recently told SciFi Vision that she does believe Annie knows how bad it really was. “I think Negan and Annie are both pragmatic enough,” said Senghore. “I think they're two people who are at a place of acceptance of their flaws, and I think that maybe is part of the cement that binds them. So, I think she really does know.”

Will their conversation impact Maggie at all with how she still feels towards Negan? “I know that Annie sure as heck hopes it does,” said the actress, “because I think Annie’s survival and Negan’s survival, from any perspective, depends on figuring out a way for Negan and Maggie to occupying the same planet. So, I know that is sure what Annie hopes.”

Today, Netflix drops the second season of its highly-anticipated series Bridgerton. Inspired by the best-selling novels by Julia Quinn, the series follows the Bridgerton siblings in each of their quests to find love in Regency London. Season two focuses on Lord Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) looking for a wife. When the viscount decides that love is not important in his match, things do not go as he expected.

Recently, a press conference was held to discuss season two that SciFi Vision took part in. During the conference, creator and showrunner Chris Van Dusen answered the site’s question about balancing what to pull from the books versus creative additions when developing the characters. To the showrunner, who fell in love with the books as soon as he read them, there were certain things he wanted to get right. “I think that with any adaptation, there's always going to be differences from the source material,” said Van Dusen. “What was important, for me, was to really stay true to the essence of these books. I wanted to capture the spirit of this family that loves each other. There's so much love apparent within this family. I wanted to capture the banter between the siblings, the brotherhoods, and the sisterhoods that you see. I think those were the most important things to get right, and I think we were able to do that on the seasons.”

The highly-anticipated live-action series Halo comes to Parmount Plus on Thursday. The series is based on the hugely successful video game franchise of the same name. One of the iconic things about the games is Master Chief’s costume. During a recent roundtable interview, star Pablo Schreiber, who plays him, talked to SciFi Vision about how the costume informs the way he plays the character.

“The fact that it's hard to manipulate and makes you a little immobile informs what we're able to achieve,” said Schreiber. “Mostly it informs how we now have to attack shooting it. There are certain elements that are going to have to be via VFX because they're just not capable in the suit. One particular thing I'm thinking of is from the video games, I always love the moment where where chief is running into battle, and he reaches behind his back, pulls out the assault rifle, and continues into battle and start shooting at folks. That's something that, because I can't get my hand above my shoulder, just simply can't happen in real life…So, there are certain things that have to obviously be movie magic and be augmented by visual effects, and the suit does affect some of that.”

NBC’s Mr. Mayor was back last week with its season two premiere, “Most Fast and Break Things.” This week, Neil begins his second year in office by hiring a new Innovation Team to shake things up at City Hall. Unfortunately, he gets sidetracked when his daughter needs a ride to the DMV for her permit test. In his absence, the staff become increasingly concerned about the I-Team's intentions.

After finding its footing last year, the show has proven itself as a hilarious workplace comedy that pokes fun at politics, government service and life in Los Angeles. One of the series’ running gags is the generation gap that separates the mayor from his teen daughter and millennial staffers; the youngsters are constantly schooling him on modern culture, slang, technology and social media.

SciFi Vision asked actors Kyla Kenedy (who plays Neil’s daughter, Orly) and Vella Lovell (chief of staff Mikaela Shaw), what it’s like working with the cast’s elder statesman, Ted Danson. Does art imitate life? The answer is in the video below!

Young Rock recently premiered it’s second season on NBC, with its second episode airing tonight. The series is based on the life of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and shows him in different periods of his life from childhood to young adulthood. 

Recently, Stacey Leilua, who play Johnson’s mother, Ata, and Joseph Lee Anderson, who plays his father, Rocky, talked to SciFi Vision as part of a virtual roundtable, about playing someone based on a real person.

“With [playing] not only a real person, but a person who is still very much alive and present out in the world, you always have to approach that with respect,” said Leilua, who shares Ata’s role as a Samoan mother in real life “…You want to bring truth to the story and honor that in that sense.”

NBC’s hit comedy Mr. Mayor is back for a second season with some big changes at City Hall. Mayor Neil Bremer (Ted Danson, CSI) has brought in a team of innovation experts he calls the I Team, causing major tension at the office. The mayor signed them to a lengthy contract, and it looks they’re going to be a fixture at City Hall for the foreseeable future. SciFi Vision asked series costars Mike Cabellon (Tommy) and Bobby Moynihan (Jayden) what that means for their characters this season.

“I think this season is about the mayor trying to do his job better and really trying to make a difference and what he thinks is best for LA,” said Moynihan (Saturday Night Live), “and the rest of the people dealing with that and deciding if those choices are the right choices.” He was coy about Jayden but hinted at some exciting new characters coming aboard later in the season.

The I Team’s arrival, said Cabellon (Orange is the New Black), “is one of the big character arcs for Tommy this season…All the interoffice dynamics that exist in season one kind of shift in light of these new people coming in. And that's been [exciting] to play this season, because it's all new and it feels fresh from last season.”

The following interview contains spoilers for 11.13

In last week’s episode of The Walking Dead, Aaron, played by Ross Marquand, sided with Lance Hornsby (Josh Hamilton) in wanting Alexandria to join the Commonwealth. According to Marquand, Aaron has grown weary of trusting others, but he wants the Commonwealth to work out. “I think he instinctively is very dubious of every new community that he interacts with,” Marquand told SciFi Vision during a recent interview, “but he wants desperately to believe that Lance and the rest of Commonwealth are good people.”

“[P]rotecting all of the survivors that are left is his ultimate and really only goal, I think,” the actor added. “He puts so much of his personal life aside for the sake of others and making sure that everyone's safe and has a chance for the future. So, as much as he wants to believe that Lance is a really good guy, he's certainly on his guard.”

However, even though Aaron moves to the Commonwealth, he doesn’t expect it to be permanent, likening it to visiting a hotel while your home is being fixed. “Commonwealth for him is that hotel that he's going to stay at for a temporary amount of time until his home is rebuilt, and then he's right back there, because Alexandria is his home,” said Marquand.