Sci-fi TV News Round-Up: More Emmy Glory, Warhammer 40,000 and The Dark Tower Progress

Welcome to another transmission from the busier corners of science-fiction television. This week brought record-breaking Emmy success, encouraging news from the long road to The Dark Tower, the conclusion of another turbulent season in Manhattan and further evidence that genre television is no longer being politely confined to the technical categories at awards ceremonies.

There were no major science-fiction cancellations announced during the week, which is pleasant enough to make us suspicious.

Now Transmitting

Dark Matter Continues Its Multiversal Journey

The second season of Dark Matter continues on Apple TV, with new episodes arriving every Friday through 30 October.

Season two has widened the programme’s focus beyond Jason Dessen’s original journey through the Box. The Dessen family may have escaped the reality they left behind, but the existence of multiple Jasons ensures that starting again is rather more complicated than changing the locks and leaving no forwarding address.

The new season continues to examine the emotional cost of living with unlimited possibilities. Jason’s fascination with the Box is becoming increasingly dangerous, while Daniela and Charlie must decide how much trust can survive when almost every person, choice and relationship may have an alternative version somewhere else.

Apple ordered ten episodes for the second season, giving the story slightly more room to explore the people caught inside its increasingly crowded collection of realities.

Skully says: “The multiverse offers infinite possibilities, yet somehow none of them involve everyone sitting down and making a sensible plan.”

The Walking Dead: Dead City Completes Season Three

The third season of The Walking Dead: Dead City reached its finale on 13 September, concluding another hazardous visit to post-apocalyptic Manhattan.

Lauren Cohan and Jeffrey Dean Morgan returned as Maggie and Negan, whose deeply fractured relationship remained at the centre of the series. The season placed them inside a changing Manhattan community while introducing new threats, alliances and arguments over what rebuilding civilisation should actually look like.

The finale resolved the immediate conflict involving Mason Dillard, played by Jimmi Simpson, while leaving several possibilities open for the future. Maggie and Negan’s uneasy connection has changed, but the history between them has not been conveniently erased.

AMC has not yet confirmed a fourth season. The programme’s creative team has nevertheless discussed ideas for continuing the story, and the finale was structured to support further adventures rather than serving as an absolute ending.

Skully says: “Three seasons into Dead City, Manhattan’s property market remains surprisingly resilient. The neighbours bite, the transport system has collapsed and somebody still wants the penthouse.”

Awards Signal

Pluribus Collects Six Emmy Awards

Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus emerged as one of the major genre winners at the 78th Emmy Awards, collecting six prizes across the main ceremony and the earlier Creative Arts presentations.

Rhea Seehorn won Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her performance as Carol Sturka, finally receiving an Emmy after several previous nominations for Better Call Saul. Gilligan won Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, while the programme also collected awards for casting, editing and sound.

Although The Pitt retained the award for Outstanding Drama Series, the success of Pluribus represented another significant achievement for science-fiction television. A story involving a mysterious collective transformation of humanity was recognised not simply for its effects or production design, but for its writing, acting and dramatic construction.

That distinction is worth noting. Genre programmes have traditionally found it easier to win awards for creating impossible worlds than for telling stories inside them. Pluribus managed both.

Skully says: “Resistance may be futile, but apparently it can still secure six Emmy Awards.”

Widow’s Bay Sets a New Emmy Record

Apple TV’s supernatural comedy Widow’s Bay became the biggest winner of the 2026 Emmy Awards, collecting fourteen trophies and setting a new record for the most Emmys won by a comedy series in a single year.

The programme won Outstanding Comedy Series, while Matthew Rhys, Stephen Root and Kate O’Flynn received acting awards. Creator Katie Dippold won for writing and Hiro Murai was recognised for directing.

Set on a supposedly cursed New England island, Widow’s Bay follows mayor Tom Loftis as he attempts to revive the local tourist industry while confronting mounting evidence that the town’s supernatural legends may be inconveniently accurate.

The series sits between comedy, horror, mystery and speculative fiction, but its record-breaking success is another welcome sign that fantastical television no longer has to disguise itself as conventional drama to receive serious awards recognition.

Apple previously renewed Widow’s Bay for a second season. Jeff Hiller has reportedly been promoted to series regular, while Matthew Rhys has indicated that filming on the new episodes is approaching.

Fourteen awards is an impressive haul for any programme, particularly one built around a mayor attempting to market a town that may actively want its visitors dead.

Development Watch

The Dark Tower Remains on Mike Flanagan’s Horizon

Mike Flanagan has confirmed that his television adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower remains “very much on the table”, despite the project’s long and rather quiet development period.

Flanagan acquired the adaptation rights independently and has described King’s sprawling fantasy and science-fiction saga as a personal dream project. His plan has previously involved five television seasons followed by two feature films, although no network or streaming platform has formally ordered the production.

Progress has been slowed by the immense scale of the story, the cost of creating its many worlds and the complicated rights surrounding characters and locations connected to King’s wider fictional universe. Flanagan is also balancing the project with several other commitments, including Prime Video’s forthcoming Carrie series and his work on a Warhammer 40,000 adaptation with Henry Cavill.

The reassuring news is that The Dark Tower has not joined the large pile of announced projects that quietly disappear into development oblivion. Flanagan continues to work on it, even if Roland Deschain’s next journey towards the Tower remains some distance away.

Skully says: “The man in black fled across the desert, and the production schedule followed.”

Warhammer 40,000 Is Still Advancing Alongside The Dark Tower

Flanagan’s comments also provided a reminder that Amazon MGM Studios and Henry Cavill’s proposed Warhammer 40,000 screen universe remains in development.

Cavill is attached as both star and executive producer, with the project intended to establish a broader collection of interconnected stories based on Games Workshop’s vast science-fiction setting. Flanagan confirmed that he remains involved with the adaptation while continuing his other work.

There is still no confirmed production timetable, casting announcement beyond Cavill or premiere date. Given the scale of the setting, that caution is probably sensible. The Warhammer 40,000 universe contains thousands of years of history, numerous competing factions and enough armour to exhaust the costume department of a small country.

The continued involvement of Cavill and Flanagan is nevertheless encouraging. Both have spoken about their enthusiasm for the material, and Amazon appears to be treating the property as a potentially substantial long-term franchise rather than rushing a single adaptation into production.

Release Radar

Tales From ’85 Returns Viewers to Hawkins

Netflix has returned to the world of Hawkins with the animated series Stranger Things: Tales From ’85.

Set between the second and third seasons of the original programme, the animated adventure follows younger versions of Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas and Max as they face new supernatural disturbances during the winter of 1985.

The format allows the franchise to revisit familiar characters and locations without attempting to de-age the original cast. It also creates opportunities for creatures, environments and action sequences that would be significantly more expensive in live action.

The series expands a franchise that is continuing beyond the conclusion of the original Stranger Things. Netflix is also developing additional projects set within the same universe, although the animated programme currently provides the clearest indication of how Hawkins can survive without simply extending the central story indefinitely.

The Walking Dead: Dead City Arrives in the UK

The third season of The Walking Dead: Dead City began its UK run on Sky and NOW on 18 September.

British viewers can now follow Maggie and Negan’s latest journey through Manhattan, although anyone hoping to avoid details from the American broadcast may need to approach social media with the caution normally reserved for an abandoned subway tunnel full of walkers.

The season consists of six episodes and continues the broader expansion of The Walking Dead universe. While the original programme ended in 2022, its surviving characters have continued through Dead City, Daryl Dixon and The Ones Who Live.

Skully’s Story of the Week

Science Fiction Takes Centre Stage at the Emmys

The combined Emmy success of Pluribus and Widow’s Bay is this week’s most significant story.

Between them, the two Apple TV series collected twenty awards. More importantly, those victories included acting, writing, directing and top-level programme categories rather than being limited to visual effects, sound or production design.

Science fiction, fantasy and horror have always contributed some of television’s most imaginative work, but awards bodies have frequently treated them as impressive technical exercises rather than serious drama or comedy. That barrier has weakened considerably in recent years, and the 2026 results pushed it further towards extinction.

Pluribus received recognition for building a thoughtful drama around an extraordinary premise, while Widow’s Bay succeeded by refusing to choose between supernatural mystery and comedy. Neither series had to minimise its genre identity to be taken seriously.

Awards are not the only measure of quality, and a trophy cannot rescue every deserving series from cancellation. Spider-Noir demonstrated that rather brutally last week. However, prominent recognition can expand an audience, strengthen a programme’s future and encourage commissioners to support similarly ambitious ideas.

For one evening, at least, speculative television was not waiting outside the prestigious drama club. It was inside, collecting trophies and making off with the refreshments.

Skully says: “Twenty Emmys for stories involving hive minds and supernatural islands. Normality has lodged an appeal, but nobody is especially interested.”

That concludes this week’s transmission. Skully will return next Friday with the latest renewals, cancellations, casting news and unexplained signals from the stranger end of the television schedule.