Filming for Season 3 has already started. Also, we finally have a Premiere Release Date!
(Spoiler Alert: You will get spoilered about main characters and storylines in Season 3 by reading this post and its comments or by clicking on the links provided!)
Season 3 News
Like every year, Justin Hires had revealed the Season Premiere Episode Title. Written by Peter Lenkov and Craig O’Neill, Episode 3×01 (Improvise) is directed by Stephen Herek. The Premiere Date has been set for September 28. We also know that CBS has ordered a Full Season Order of 22 episodes.
While some cast and crew had been on set starting July 6 or even earlier shooting inserts, the main cast started filming on Monday, July 9. So far, it’s mostly Justin Hires and the Stand-Ins that provide us with BtS material. Compared to Seasons 1 and 2, there’s not much to see yet, though.
Justin uploaded several short videos on Snapchat and Instagram, but also provided some BtS photos every now and then. As every year, cast and crew have to suffer in the Summer Heat – but as Costume Designer Sarah Downer reveals, they come to work with a smile every morning, no matter the conditions. She also provided a new BtS photo of the traditional Finnish costumes used for Episode 2×06 (Jet Engine + Pickup Truck).
Lucas Till provided a snapshot taken inside of a car, congratulating Henry Winkler for his Emmy nomination. Besides Lucas, we can see Tate Donovan, Tristin Mays, Reign Edwards, Justin Hires and Lucas’ younger brother Nick. It’s not clear yet if Nick was visiting or if he’s also working on the episode, since he was on set today as well. It’s also not the first time that Lucas brought family on set: His cousin Eric worked on set of Episode 2×03 (Roulette Wheel + Wire).
Cast and crew are filming in “Nigeria” again. Interestingly, they’re using some of the actors that have been on set of beforementioned Episode 2×06, e.g. Hakeem Kae-kazim. A lot of the bad guys for this episode seem to be Russian, though. So there should be a lot going on in the Season Premiere. Yesterday, SpoilerTV released some very spoilery snippets for Episode 3×01, so read at your own risk.
As End of Silence revealed, one of their tracks will be used for Season 3 – presumably for a Teaser Trailer.
Cast, Crew and Character News
As the MacGyver Writers revealed, a new writer has joined their team: Jim Adler, who has written some episodes for Castle and Vegas.
By looking for regular Stand-Ins and providing photos of the actors, Central Casting Georgia has confirmed what we already suspected: Both Reign Edwards (as Leanna) and Tate Donovan (as MacGyver Senior) will have recurring or regular appearances this season. For now, we can expect Leanna to join Team Phoenix (similiar to Cage last Season). Let’s hope she doesn’t suffer the same fate…
They’ve also been looking for Stand-Ins for Gil Darnell (SEAL Team, Lethal Weapon, Bones) and for Richie Stephens (Blue Bloods, Major Crimes). Darnell revealed on his Twitter Profile that his character will be named Oleg Vadim. Looks like they might play some bad guys. Another actor in the Season 3 Premiere is Ilia Volok ( Air Force One, Water For Elefants, Indiana Jones and an Episode of rebooted Hawaii Five-0).
Another Casting Call has been looking for a Stand-In for Sibongile Mlambo (Teen Wolf). It’s not clear yet what character she will portray and if she will have recurring appearances over the Season or not. The most interesting Call for a Stand-In is probably the one for tomorrow: Apparently, our favorite villain will be on set this Saturday, as will Meredith Eaton.
As Carie Patterson revealed in her Facebook comments, she will play a regular Special Agent all Season. This reads interesting to me, since the show so far exchanged their Phoenix personnel for every episode (besides the recurring assistants of the Phoenix bosses). At first, I thought that unless she was cast as Mac’s mother (in flashbacks), there was no reason of them needing a regular female character. But since they’ve also been looking for a male Tech who works regularly through the season, they’re finally starting to bring in recognizable faces.
Central Casting Georgia has been looking for Extras as well; e.g. for Soldiers with Caucasian or European Looks, a male Fit Model, for Bad Guys, for Techs and Agents or for Computer Techs and Military Officers. They’ve also had Casting Calls for European Brand Cars, a bald Security Guy, Bodyguards, people in the background for an Airport scene, a waiter and Nigerian patrons.
We don’t know yet who the new Stunt Coordinator is. As Reece Fleetwood mentioned, a new Stunt Coordinator also means new Stunt Doubles, which means he’s not on set doubling for George Eads anymore.
Season 2 News
There have been no Reboot re-runs so far – contrary to pretty much all the other action and drama shows in the CBS line-up. Initially, episodes of Celebrity Undercover Boss (CUB) had been scheduled for Fridays 8pm until August 31.
Either the ratings were not promising enough or CBS couldn’t find another timeslot, because they dropped CUB in favor of the new show Whistleblower that premieres today. According to CBS, the Summer Show has 8 episodes – so even without reruns, the schedule is already filled up until the end of August.
That’s quite a disappointment, considering the S1 reruns had had better ratings than CUB or than Peter Lenkov’s show Salvation (airing on Mondays 9pm; currently at about 3 million live-viewers per episode with a demo-rating of 0.37).
According to The Futon Critic, we should get 2 reruns in September, right before the Season 3 Premiere. I’m assuming it will be 2 episodes of Season 2; one of them most likely the Seasaon 2 Finale.
Fans living in Ireland are lucky, though: The DVD release for Season 2 has been set for September 18, ten days before the Season 3 premiere in the US. Interestingly, the cover is completely different from the S2 poster they used for the social media promo so far; again photoshopped with material of the photoshoot for the Season 1 promo.
The DVD Extras are listed as following:
- MacGyver in Cuba (Featurette)
- Saving the Day, Season 2 (Featurette)
- MacGyver: Special & Visual Effects (Featurette)
- Gag Reel
- Deleted Scenes
Of course, we have yet to see if the US fans will get these extras as well or if CBS leaves them empty handed as they did for the Season 1 DVD.
Stunt Coordinator Jeff Wolfe had handed in a Season 2 Stunt Reel for the Emmy Awards. Nominations have been out since yesterday. Sadly, MacGyver didn’t snag another Emmy nomination.
Lucas Till was nominated for the Teen Choice Awards in the category “Choice Action TV Actor”. The Awards Show will air on August 12. I guess we’ll know if he’s won or not by judging his attendance (or lack of it).
MacGyver in Germany
Season 2 premiered this Monday on German FreeTV. Channel Sat.1 airs two episodes every Monday on primetime, right before two episodes of SEAL Team. The DVD for Season 1 was released on July 5.
Sadly, the ratings weren’t all that good. While Season 1 had surprised everyone with its ratings; surpassing even Lethal Weapon, Hawaii Five-0, Bull or NCIS in demo ratings, the first episodes of Season 2 failed to deliver.
The German dubbed Episode 2×01 (DIY Or DIE) reached 1.61 million viewers in total, resulting in a rating of 6.7 in the demo-group of 14-49 years-old viewers. Episode 2×02 (Muscle Car + Paper Clips) garnered 1.62 million viewers with a demo-rating of 6.6. (For comparison: The Pilot Premiere back in June 2017 made 2.1 million viewers with a demo-rating of 12.9.)
Compared to the Season Finale of Lethal Weapon that just aired before, the ratings aren’t that bad, though. Most likely, the hot weather plus the Soccer Championship has more impact on audience TV-watching-habits than expected; even when there’s no games going on.
The upcoming German Episode Titles:
2×03: Die rote Faust (The red fist; Roulette Wheel + Wire)
2×04: Väter und Söhne (Fathers and Sons; X-Ray + Penny)
2×05: Geisterinsel (Ghost Island; Skull + Electromagnet)
2×06: Höllenfeuer (Hellfire; Jet Engine + Pickup Truck)
2×07: Herz und Helden (Heart and Heroes, Duct Tape + Jack)
2×08: Der Turm der blauen Pferde (The Tower of Blue Horses, Packing Peanuts + Fire)
2×09: Die Regeln des Spiels (The Rules of the Game, CD-Rom + Hoagie Foil)
2×10: Verloren im Eis (Lost in Ice, War Room + Ship)
Dashboard On Fire 