Starburst always has the latest Sci-Fi news
Here's a quick burst of this month's stories

X-Files Unravels
Mimi Rogers, back in The X-Files as Agent Diana Fowley for the recent big two-parter Two Fathers/One Son (promoted under the tag-line ‘Full Disclosure’), revealed to America’s TV Guide that she may be sticking around for “another few episodes by the end of the season”.

The season finale may play over three consecutive episodes with the story concluded in a fourth part at the start of Season Seven, according to early reports. It should be an exciting time. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Chris Carter said, “I have another 28 episodes left. We’ve got to prepare for a big unravel. We figured it would be better to explain the conspiracy now [in the February two-parter] and make that last arc more emotional and action-driven, with less baggage to carry.”

Blade 2, T3
New Line Cinema has officially announced that Blade 2 will happen with star Wesley Snipes reprising his comic book-inspired role as the vampire hunter. Less certain is whether director Stephen Norrington will return. Along with Con Air’s Simon West and Elizabeth’s Shekhar Kapur, he’s one of Warner Bros’ candidates to helm Superman Lives. Sources say Norrington’s also the favourite to direct Terminator 3, a task he’s well suited for after Blade.

Oompa-Loompas Looming
Warner Bros is planning an updated film version of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – previously filmed in 1971 as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder. One report says Nicolas Cage is eyeing this tasty starring role. Though it acknowledges the first film has its loyal fans, the Dahl estate is working closely on the new production, which it sees as realizing the full potential of the book. The screenplay will be by Scott Frank (of Dead Again, Get Shorty, Out of Sight and Spielberg’s upcoming SF thriller Minority Report) and should retain the ‘Dickensian quality’ of the book. Filming is planned for early next year.

Back to the Future
Speaking of Spielberg, the producer/director is actively developing a new film version of HG Wells’s classic The Time Machine – adapted by John Logan (who did a similar job for I Am Legend, sadly now in development hell). Little else is known about the project except that it will be a big-budget co-production between DreamWorks and Warner Bros and that Spielberg may even add it to his directing slate of Minority Report, Memoirs of a Geisha and Indiana Jones 4. Not bad for a man who, at the recent LA Critics Association awards, announced he was “retiring”. He was joking of course.