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Preview: Tragic time-travel series Plan B returns for Season 3 on CBC Gem

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If you could, would you go back in time and stop something tragic from happening to a family member? That’s the premise behind Season 3 of Plan B.

Returning on Friday at 9 a.m. with new characters and a new cast, CBC Gem’s sci-fi drama once again questions whether we should try to change the past.

Abigail (Carolina Bartczak, Painkiller) seems to have it all. She’s the host of a popular morning TV show, champions women’s mental health rights, is approached to run for political office, hangs with her girlfriends regularly and seems to have a great relationship with her 15-year-old daughter, Lucy (Arianna Shannon).

But that all changes, tragically, when Lucy takes her own life.

Reeling from grief, Abigail turns to the Plan B Agency, hoping that going back in time will mean she can prevent Lucy’s death. Of course, it’s not that simple. The strength of Plan B has always been its “what if” question. What if I chose to do things differently? Would it have saved my marriage, my career, my child? Just watching Plan B makes me wonder what I could have changed if I’d made different decisions in my life. Would I be doing something else? Living somewhere else?

Plan B‘s other strength is the calibre of its cast. Leads Patrick J. Adams, Karine Vanasse, Vinessa Antoine and Vincent Leclerc knocked it out of the park in the first two seasons, and Carolina Bartczak keeps the streak alive in Season 3. Watching Abigail’s emotional highs in the first minutes of Episode 1 plummet to the ultimate low by episode’s end is stunning to watch. Her confusion, her shock and her loss are palpable. Co-star Arnold Pinnock (The Porter), as Nick, is up to the task too, bellowing in rage and despair when he sees his unresponsive daughter.

It doesn’t take long for Abigail and Nick to learn how secretive Lucy has been. That friend Lucy was supposed to be staying with? She hasn’t seen Lucy all summer. Her snarky attitude and retorts to Abigail were an unseen hint that not all was good in Lucy’s world.

And so, as in previous seasons, Abigail turns to the Plan B Agency, hoping that turning back time will heal wounds and reverse what has happened. Abigail quickly finds out, however, that leaving the past behind and looking towards the future may have been a better option.

Plan B returns Friday at 9 a.m. Eastern on CBC Gem.

Image courtesy of CBC.

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Featured, Plan B

Production now underway on the third season of CBC anthology series Plan B

From a media release:

CBC and KOTV today announced that production is now underway in Montreal on a third season of the time-bending anthology drama series PLAN B (6×60). An adaptation of the popular French-language drama series of the same name (now in its fourth season for Radio-Canada), the new season will focus on a new story, starring Carolina Bartczak (Painkiller, X-Men: Apocalypse), Arnold Pinnock (The Porter, Combat Hospital) and Ennis Esmer (Children Ruin Everything, Blindspot). Additional casting includes Arianna Shannon making her screen debut, as well as Jaeden Noel (Orphan Black: Echoes, Invasion), Carolyn Taylor (Baroness von Sketch Show, I Have Nothing) and Grace Lynn Kung (Sort Of, Fallout).

In Season 3 of PLAN B, Abigail Walker (Bartczak), the host of Canada’s top morning TV show, grapples with the devastating loss of her teenage daughter, Lucy (Shannon), to suicide. Tormented by grief and regret, Abigail uses the Plan B Agency to embark on a series of time-traveling journeys, desperate to alter the past and prevent Lucy’s tragic fate. As she attempts to protect Lucy from the toxic relationships that contributed to her downward spiral, Abigail’s actions create ripples that affect not only Lucy’s life but also the lives of those around her. Abigail’s pursuit of a better outcome for Lucy leads her to confront painful truths about her own past, her relationships, and the choices she’s made both for her daughter and for herself. She must navigate the complexities of time travel, grappling with the ethical implications of altering the lives of others. But as Abigail travels deeper into the past, she discovers that the true meaning of love and sacrifice may lie in accepting the unchangeable.

Season 1 of PLAN B, starring Patrick J. Adams and Karine Vanasse, and Season 2, starring Vinessa Antoine, offer gripping, reality-altering drama with unique storylines, showcasing characters navigating life’s what-ifs and second chances. Audiences can watch both seasons on the free CBC Gem streaming service.

A CBC original series, PLAN B is produced by Quebec-based production company KOTV. Jean-François Asselin, who co-created the original French-language series, co-directs with Marianne Farley, and also co-writes with Celeste Parr, for this English adaptation. Asselin & Parr also serve as Showrunners and Executive Producers, alongside Louis Morissette. For KOTV, Louis-Philippe Drolet, Mélanie Viau and Jacques Drolet are Executive Producers and Marie-Claude Beaulieu is Producer.

For CBC, Sally Catto is General Manager, Entertainment, Factual & Sports; Trish Williams is Executive Director, Scripted Content; Sarah Adams is Director of Current Production, Drama; and Nicola Makoway is Executive in Charge of Production.

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Featured, The Porter

Preview: CBC’s The Porter is an important story of Black history in Canada

The first thing that struck me about The Porter, CBC’s newest series—debuting Monday at 9 p.m.—was the sound. The flick of a lighter, the crackle of a tobacco cigarette igniting, the scrape of glass on a wooden bar. Then, it was the colour of the clothing, a peacock of brights, followed by the music. This, I told myself, was going to be different. And I was right.

Co-created by Arnold Pinnock and Bruce Ramsay, showrun by Marsha Greene and Annmarie Morais, and based on true events, The Porter delivers a rich and dramatic look at the Black community in St. Antoine, Montreal—known at the time as the Harlem of the North—the key characters who live in it and the relationship the community has with the train line between Montreal and Chicago.

The eight-episode journey begins in Montreal in 1921 and follows train porters Junior Massey (Aml Ameen) and Zeke Garrett (Ronnie Rowe, Jr.). While Zeke fights the railway to change how Black porters are treated by unionizing them, Junior takes advantage of the existing structure to pursue money and power through gambling and bootlegging. Meanwhile, Junior’s wife, Black Cross nurse Marlene (Mouna Traore), and club performer Lucy (Loren Lott) are set on different paths to a better life after an awful tragedy.

In CBC’s press material for The Porter, series creator, executive producer and writer Pinnock, an avid reader and history buff, first came across the story of the sleeping car porters and the first Black Labour Union. It resonated with him, and the first seeds of The Porter grew in his mind.

I’m a history buff as well, and a series like The Porter not only tells a story from Canada’s past but an important Black story from this country’s past. The Porter has been grabbing a ton of headlines for its storytelling, creative team, cast and crew. So, is it worth the hype? Absolutely.

The Porter airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

Images courtesy of CBC.

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The Porter

CBC and BET+ original series The Porter now in production

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From a media release:

The highly anticipated start of production for Inferno Pictures and Sienna Films, THE PORTER (8×60), a CBC and BET+ original series, is now underway in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Shooting across various locations as well as in studio, THE PORTER continues until mid-September.

Exciting new additions to THE PORTER cast include Olunika Adeliyi (Titans, American Gods) and Loren Lott (American Idol, Tag). They join Aml Ameen (I May Destroy You, Yardie), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Star Trek: Discovery, Pretty Hard Cases) and Mouna Traore (Self Made, The Umbrella Academy) who were announced earlier this year. Plus, series originators Arnold Pinnock and Bruce Ramsay take on series regular roles of Glenford and Dinger, respectively.

Adeliyi portrays Queenie, the savvy, seductive and sinister crime boss in Chicago whose lavish lifestyle and power appeals to Junior, but at what cost?; while Lott plays headstrong Lucy, a talented performer who yearns for the spotlight as she battles shadeism and an instinct for music that’s out of step with the times.

Set in the roaring 20s, THE PORTER offers a dramatic and compelling look at the Black community in St. Antoine, Montreal, known, at the time, as the Harlem of the North. The story is told through the eyes of two Black train porters taking very different paths to liberation. One pushes to create the first Black union in existence, the other chases power on the wrong side of the law, but both have the same goal: to free themselves and their families from oppression. They’re young, gifted and Black, from Canada, the Caribbean, and the U.S., and they find themselves thrown together north and south of the colour line. In an era that boasts anything is possible, if change isn’t coming for them, they will come for it.

From Montreal to Chicago and at every stop in between, in a time of extraordinary social and political change, THE PORTER tells the story of the people who fought to ignite the civil rights movement in North America.

A CBC and BET+ original series, THE PORTER is originated and created by Arnold Pinnock (Altered Carbon, Travelers) and Bruce Ramsay (19-2, Cardinal), with Annmarie Morais (Killjoys, Ransom, American Soul), Marsha Greene (Ten Days In The Valley, Mary Kills People) and Aubrey Nealon (Snowpiercer, Cardinal), and produced by Winnipeg-based Inferno Pictures Inc. and Sphere Media’s Sienna Films. Morais and Greene are showrunners and executive producers. Charles Officer (Akilla’ Escape, Coroner) and R.T. Thorne (Blindspot, Utopia Falls) will direct the series, and are executive producers. Pinnock also serves as an executive producer, and Ramsay a co-executive producer. The series is written by Morais, Greene, Andrew Burrows-Trotman, Priscilla White, Pinnock and Ramsay, with Thorne participating in the writers’ room. The series is funded with the support of the Canada Media Fund and Manitoba Film & Music and is distributed internationally by Abacus Media Rights (AMR) and Sphere Distribution.

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The Porter

Aml Ameen, Mouna Traoré and Ronnie Rowe Jr. set to star in CBC’s The Porter

From a media release:

The first round of casting for CBC and BET+ original series THE PORTER (working title, 8×60) has been confirmed, with Aml Ameen (I May Destroy You, Yardie), Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Star Trek: Discovery, Pretty Hard Cases) and Mouna Traoré (Self Made, The Umbrella Academy) to co-star in the 1920s drama. With the series set to start production in Winnipeg, Manitoba later this spring, more additions to the cast will be announced in the coming weeks.

Inspired by real events and set in the roar of the 1920s, THE PORTER follows the journeys of an ensemble of characters who hustle, dream, cross borders and pursue their ambitions in the fight for liberation – on and off the railways that crossed North America. It is a gripping story of empowerment and idealism that highlights the moment when railway workers from both Canada and the United States joined together to give birth to the world’s first Black union.

Ameen will portray ‘Junior Massey,’ an intelligent, smooth, ambitious and fearless risk taker and war veteran employed as a porter with the Transcontinental Railroad; alongside Rowe Jr. as fellow porter ‘Zeke Garrett,’ Junior’s friend and war buddy, who is calm, thoughtful and persistent to a fault in his fight for integration. Traoré will play ‘Marlene Massey,’ Junior’s wife who works with the Black Cross Nurses, an offshoot of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, risking resources and reputation to help her community and reach her full potential.

Set primarily in Montreal, Chicago and Detroit as the world rebuilds after the First World War, THE PORTER depicts the Black community in St. Antoine, Montreal – known, at the time, as the “Harlem of the North.” They’re young, gifted and Black, from Canada, the Caribbean, and the U.S. via the Underground Railroad and through the Great Migration, and they find themselves thrown together north and south of the color line, in an era that boasts anything is possible – but if change isn’t coming for them, they will come for it. By any means necessary.

A CBC and BET+ original series, THE PORTER is originated and created by Arnold Pinnock (Altered Carbon, Travelers) and Bruce Ramsay (19-2, Cardinal), with Annmarie Morais (Killjoys, Ransom, American Soul), Marsha Greene (Private Eyes, Ten Days In The Valley, Mary Kills People and Aubrey Nealon (Snowpiercer, Cardinal), and produced by Winnipeg-based Inferno Pictures Inc. and Sphere Media’s Sienna Films. Morais and Greene are showrunners and executive producers. Charles Officer (21 Thunder, Ransom, Coroner) and R.T. Thorne (Blindspot, Utopia Falls) will direct the series, and are executive producers. Pinnock and Ramsay are co-executive producers. The series is written by Morais, Greene, Andrew Burrows-Trotman, Priscilla White, Pinnock and Ramsay, with R.T. Thorne participating in the writers’ room. The series is funded with the support of the Canada Media Fund and Manitoba Film & Music and is distributed internationally by Abacus Media Rights (AMR) and Sphere Distribution.

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