By Carol Pinchefsky, Source: Blastr.com
The Avengers is in production right now, with months of post-production ahead for director Joss Whedon. But one of our favorite writer-directors already has plans for his next project…and we’re already clamoring for it.
According to EW, Joss will be making another web series, called Wastelanders. And better yet, he’ll be teaming up with comic book writer extraordinaire, Warren Ellis (Transmetropolitan, Planetary, many, many others).
”I really want to make something tiny. You know, get back on the Internet,” Whedon says. ”Just something really home-baked.” He’s been developing an end-of-the-world project called Wastelanders with novelist and comics scribe Warren Ellis, which was postponed by The Avengers. When he does return to it, Whedon promises Wastelanders will be far different from the comedic tragedy of Dr. Horrible. ”I’ll say this about it…there ain’t no singing,” he says, laughing. ”It’s a dark piece….”
It goes without saying that a Joss/Warren project won’t be sunshine and rainbows. But we can expect razor-sharp dialog, plots and characters that shift along with capricious dark forces and a great deal of humor.
Joss will be financing Wastelanders himself and is aware of the financial risk. But this is a project he believes in:
…I’m just like, ‘Gosh, well, if I’m going to finance this and put it together, it’s kind of dangerous.’ It’s not going to have a soundtrack album, it’s not going to have all these revenue streams. It’s going to be something that I put out there because I feel like I have to, and I don’t have to rely on anybody else to let me.” But as a TV creator and tentpole director, why bother with Internet shorts? ”Right now, it’s the punk rock of filmmaking,” Whedon says. ”And I want to be a part of that.”
Of course, you would need the psychic ability of River Tam to know when and if Wastelanders will get made: there’s always a chance that Joss could be tempted away from this with another project (we’re still desperately hoping for a sequel to Doctor Horrible).
But Wastelanders looks like a show we can sink our geeky teeth into, chew, swallow and beg for seconds.
