Get hyped, Sharknado fans! Sharknado: The 4th Awakens promises to be yet another thrilling installment in the sci-fi franchise’s line-up.
The cast (Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Ryan Newman, Cody Linley, Masiela Lusha), director (Anthony C. Ferrante), and producer (David Latt) of Syfy’s cultural phenomenon took to the stage to look back at the production process of the movie and discuss what it’s all about. There were also a few exclusive clips shown from the movie, as well as a trailer.
This Sharknado takes place five years into the future and is centered in Las Vegas. There’s new, “bigger than ever” forms of Sharknados, more action, and dozens of cameos. The Shepards have found peace in Kansas, but that does not last long as the sharks come back to wreak havoc around the country.
April’s character, played by Tara Reid and who met a rather random death by space debris after quite a gruesome birth scene inside a space shark at the end of the third movie, was voted by fans to survive and come back in The 4th Awakens. She returns with a bionic arm, which is shown to be a lightsaber at one point in the trailer. Reid was very touched by her fans for being brought back and pointed out with the others how social media has been integral to the rise and continued fandom of the franchise.
Ian Ziering, who plays hero Fin Shepard, was very lively and shared plenty of stories from the set, including a description of a trench digger with a huge chainsaw attached to it that they use against the sharks. They also showed a clip from the movie of Fin fighting off a shark on top of a moving train as a sand-nado approached (which would later turn into a boulder-nado). Ziering also shared that his favorite moment of filming during any of the movies was during The Second One, when he was on top of a bus and the crowd standing around him cheered as if they were extras in movie.
Another major point of the panel, brought up mostly during the Q&A session, was that of Sharknado 5. There’s nothing officially in the works yet, but producer David Latt indicated that the possibility was based on ratings of the fourth movie. Still, the fans and cast had plenty of fun tossing ideas around, including going international and using time travel.
Sharknado: The 4th Awakens is set to air at 8 p.m. on July 31 on Syfy.
