Wilmington-shot film and television projects announce release dates in 2024

The 2024 calendar is starting to get crowded with film and television projects that were shot in the Wilmington area.

"Hightown," a gritty drama on the Starz network starring Monica Raymund as a devoted law enforcement officer with a complicated personal life working in the coastal city of Provincetown, Massachusetts, will debut its third and final season Jan. 26, according to social media posts by the show.

"Hightown" season three shot in Wilmington in 2022.

Also coming in January is "I.S.S.," a movie that shot in 2021 at what was then EUE/Screen Gems Studios. The studio changed hands earlier this year and is now Cinespace Wilmington.

A thriller about an international crew of scientists working aboard the International Space Station, "I.S.S." hits theaters Jan. 19.

"Hightown," which was created by Rebecca Cutter, actually shot its first season in Long Island an in Massachusetts, where it's set, but moved to Wilmington in 2020 to shoot season two. In addition to Raymund's hard-nosed agent Jackie Quiñones, the show features a cast of characters that includes compromised cops and various criminal lowlifes.

Actors include Atkins Estimond, Riley Voelkel, Dohn Norwood, James Badge Dale, Amaury Nolasco, Shane Harper and Tonya Glanz.

According to permits filed with the city of Wilmington, locations in season three of "Hightown" include Rose's Ice on Market Street, oft-used dive bar The Rusty Nail, the former Legacy Lounge on Carolina Beach Road, St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Carolinian Inn on Market Street and a location that should be familiar to fans of Wilmington-shot drama "One Tree Hill": the Harry Forden 6th Street Bridge.

"Hightown" also shot at numerous other locations in Wilmington, including downtown and in Sunset Park. In May 2022, it transformed parts of Water Street with murals and rainbow decorations for scenes depicting a "Provincetown Pride" festival.

Wilmington film: The pride of 'Hightown': Starz show dresses downtown Wilmington in rainbow attire

A trailer for season three of "Hightown" has yet to drop, but Starz did release a mashup of the show's first two seasons encouraging people to catch up on (or revisit) the action before new episodes premiere.

The space thriller "I.S.S." made its world premiere at New York's Tribeca Film Festival in June.

Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite ("Blackfish") from a script by Nick Shafir, it's about a crew of American and Russian scientists working on the International Space Station. But when war breaks out on Earth unexpectedly, teams from the two countries get similar messages: Take control of the station by "any means necessary."

The trailer looks promising, with awe-inspiring space scenes giving way to tension-filled moments.

Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina and Pilou Asbæk star, but since it was shot almost entirely on sound stages, it's unlikely you'll see many Port City locations in "I.S.S."

Earlier this month, another Wilmington-shot movie, "Breakwater," announced it would hit theaters and video-on-demand Dec. 22.

Port City cinema: Wilmington-shot movie thriller set to hit screens just in time for Christmas

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Wilmington-shot TV, film projects Hightown, I.S.S. get release dates