Paramount Plus launches on March 4. Several series that debuted as platform-exclusive programming on the streamer’s previous incarnation CBS All Access will reportedly return as Paramount Plus originals. However, the reboot of the science fantasy anthology program The Twilight Zone is not one of them, according to Deadline. Whereas season two renewal order was confirmed as episodes from season one were gradually added to the platform during the spring of 2019, all ten episodes from the show’s second season were released in the last week of June 2020 without any accompanying news blasts assuring its return, Show Snob reports.
Executive producers Jordan Peele (Get Out) and Simon Kinberg (The Martian) issued a joint press statement alleging that the series was not cancelled against their will and that they do not feel as if they are exiting with any unfinished business: “After twenty unique episodes, we have told the stories that we wanted to tell, and CBS All Access was gracious in their understanding of our decision. It was an honor and a privilege to bring audiences a modern reimagining of Rod Serling’s iconic creation,” via The Hollywood Reporter.
Peele and Kinberg named season two’s “Downtime,” starring Morena Baccarin (Homeland) and Colman Domingo (Euphoria), as one of their favorite episodes of the reboot in featurette posted on the official Twilight Zone YouTube channel. “I think that was the first concept we thought of for the season, which was this idea that you could sort of… change your identity and that the world was… not the world you thought it was,” Kinberg recalled. Watch Kinberg and Peele reflect on “Downtime” in the featurette below:
Additional recent announcements to come from ViacomCBS’s Paramount Plus team include plans to revive the Seattle-set Cheers spin-off Frasier and the long-running police procedural Criminal Minds. The streamer will also be the home for new slate of projects being developed by Academy Award nominee Taylor Sheridan (Sicario), including the political drama Mayor of Kingstown starring Jeremy Renner (Avengers: Endgame). The singer-songwriter previously collaborated with Sheridan on the 2017 murder mystery film Wind River.
Paramount Plus will reportedly operate on a two-tiered subscription system. A standard ad-supported subscription package priced at $4.99 a month will permit access to the streamer’s original series, current seasons of popular CBS shows, and much of Paramount’s feature film catalog. A premium $9.99 subscription will add live CBS news, sports and more, as reported by The Verge.