This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains spoilers.So, tell me about your gramps, Mariner demands of the new ensign at the end of the latest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks. Did he smite?On its face, thats a weird question, even for a motor-mouth like Beckett Mariner. Across five seasons, Mariner has established herself as a mouthy and energetic, but shockingly competent, Starfleet officer. Furthermore, Mariner, like her voice actor Tawny Newsome, is a walking encyclopedia of Star Trek lore, which is why she knows about Ensign Olly (Saba Homayoon) and her grandfather Zeus. Or rather, as Captain Freeman reminds Mariner in official Starfleet terminology, Ollys grandfather is the psychokinetic being that presented itself as Zeus.Ollys appearance raises a question for Mariner, who asks, Didnt Kirk kick their asses? I thought they all went off and became one with the wind or whatever. Thats a question most Trekkies share, because Mariners quoting the last time Greek gods showed up on Star Trek. Specifically, they appeared in the second episode of the second season of the Original Series, Who Mourns for Adonais?Written by Gilbert Ralston and Gene L. Coon and directed by Marc Daniels, Who Mourns for Adonais sends the Enterprise to Pollux IV, where they encounter a being called Apollo. Kirk and co. learn that Pollux IV is the home planet of super beings who came to ancient Earth and were worshiped as gods by the Greeks, ruling from Mount Olympus. But as humanity began to put away its superstitions, the beings grew weak and returned to their home planet.While most of the gods allowed themselves to dissipate into some ethereal energy, Apollo (portrayed by Michael Forest) retained his humanoid form and sought new worshippers among the Enterprise crew. And he almost found one in the form of Lt. Carolyn Palamas (Leslie Parrish), the expert in ancient Greek mythology that the Enterprise apparently keeps around. Of course, Kirk outwits Apollo and saves Palamas, sending the rest of the god aliens into the ether.Even for those who love silly Trek, Who Mourns for Adonais? tends to rank toward the bottom of Original Series episodes. Forest has a lot of fun playing the haughty Apollo and theres something delightful about the effect used to make the god tower over Kirk and Chekov. But the episode is neither as goofy nor as serious as it needs to be. The cast plays the conflict a little too straight, which makes it difficult to look past the fundamentally sexist resolution, in which Kirk orders Palamas to get over her silly crush to lie to Apollo about her attraction, thus frustrating his desire for worship.Lower Decks doesnt bother with dealing overtly with the problems in Who Mourns for Adonais? Heck, it doesnt even bother to explain where Olly came from. In that way, Lower Decks differs from the non-canonical works that revisited the episode. Novelist Peter David brought back the gods in a few of his books, including 2001s Being Human, in which Palamas gives birth to a daughter she conceived with Zeus. A descendent of that daughter becomes a regular character in Davids New Frontier novels, Mark McHenry.Yet, as much as these works build on Who Mourns for Adonais, Lower Decks seems to offer the most compelling version of Greek mythology mixed with Star Trek, a woman whose electric powers get in the way of her ability to serve in Starfleet. Fortunately, Mariner knows a thing or two about making a mess and dealing with powerful parents, and the two find a way to use her gifts to solve a diplomatic crisis.Does the solution answer all of Mariners questions about the gods? No, obviously not. But it does help redeem one of TOSs lesser episodes, enriching the world of Star Trek.Star Trek: Lower Decks releases new episodes each Thursday on Paramount Plus.

Even the grouchiest viewer of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law swooned a bit when Tatiana Maslanys Jennifer Walters asks the robot K.E.V.I.N. the question on everyones mind: When are we getting the X-Men?While the robot Kevin dodged the question, the real Kevin Feige finally provided a more serious timeline during the Disney APAC Content Showcase in Singapore.I think you will see that continues in our next few movies with some X-Men players that you might recognize, Feige told attendees (via Deadline) while talking about bringing more characters together in future MCU films. Right after that, the whole story ofSecret Warsreally leads us into a new age of mutants and of the X-Men. Given that Avengers: Secret Wars isnt scheduled to release until May 7, 2027, it seems like the proper X-Men are still a long ways off, at least officially.However, Feige does suggest that well still see random mutants pop up between now and then, something thats been happening for a while in the MCU. Weve already seen Kamala Khan (not officially a mutant until the last episode of Ms. Marvel), Namor in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and El Aguila and Mr. Immortal in She-Hulk. Alternate reality mutants have popped up in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, The Marvels, and, of course, Deadpool & Wolverine.Thus, it sounds like Marvel will continue to introduce mutants in this method. Well likely see more variations of the Fox and animated X-Men appearing in alternate universes. Channing Tatum and Ryan Reynolds have called for a Gambit movie after the success of Deadpool & Wolverine and Michael Fassbender recently mentioned that he would return to his role as Magneto, so it wouldnt be too much of a shock to see those characters again.However, the most interesting mutants might be those who appear in the mainline MCU (sigh fine, Earth-616). Sabra aka Ruth Bat-Seraph will appear in Captain America: New World Order played by Shira Haas, but well probably see more C- and D-listers join the universe.Its important that Marvel seed these minor mutants before big guns like Wolverine, Cyclops, and Storm precisely because of the X-Mens central ethos. Unlike the Avengers or the Fantastic Four, the X-Men fight to save a world that hates and fears them. The mutant metaphor always stretched credulity, not just because it was an imperfect way to talk about oppressed groups, but also because it never really made sense that regular humans would love the Avengers, who count the Hulk and former criminals such as Quicksilver and Hawkeye as members, or the Fantastic Four and hate a mutant like Angel, who has the frightening ability to fly with his wings and dodge things.By introducing mutants slowly into a world thats already filled with fantastic heroes who have caused massive amounts of distraction, Marvel has the opportunity to retain some of the central themes of the comic book characters. If bringing the mutants to the MCU is, as Feige told the attendees, one of those dreams come true, then its good that hes doing them right. Only when mutants are feared and hated can we finally get the X-Men.

When released in 1998,Half-Life was so ahead of its time that it actually rarely gets credit for all of the innovations it introduced to the shooter genre and gaming as a whole.Things like scripted story sequences that play out without cutscenes have long been associated withHalf-Life, but theres more to Valves PC shooterthan just its game-changing approach to storytelling. From grenade throwing to mods, Half-Life changed how you play video games in ways that you may not even realize.In terms of impact on PC gaming, Half-Life stands as one of the most important titles ever released. Valves PC shooter is not only one of the titles that defined gaming on your computer in the late 90s, but an experience that few developers of that era could match in terms of artistry and quality. For years, you could argue that there was really only oneHalf-Life.To celebrate over two decades of Half-Life, lets look at the innovations that made this classic one of the most important PC games ever released.A Surprising Degree of RealismRealism probably feels like an odd word to use when talking about Half-Life. When many of todays shooters force us to stay hydrated, eat, and take our vitamins, thats probably not the way modern gamers would choose to describe an FPS that ends with a trip through an alien dimension.Yet, so many of Half-Lifes best touches are grounded in realism. The most famous example of this is humorously highlighted in the games manual, which boasts that in-game weapons are found in practical locations rather than just floating in the air. Titles like GoldenEye 007 played with similar ideas, but there really is an internal logic to the location of nearly every gun and item in Half-Lifethat goes beyond whether a gun is floating magically or laying in wait.On top of that, youve got impressive details like the fact that crossing a body of water that is touching an exposed electrical source will electrocute the player or enemies. It all sounds simple, but in an era when the shooter genre was still trying to escape the Doom clone label, this is one of the ways that Half-Life showed that even more action-oriented FPS titles could still benefit from a dose of realistic design.The Logic of the HEV SuitPrior to Half-Life, the concept of health and armor in most first-person shooters (and many other games for that matter) was pretty simple. You would just pick up health packs, armor, and power-ups as you went along, and you didnt ask any questions. Half-Life changed all that by introducing Gordon Freemans HEV suit during the games opening sequence.Not only did the HEV suit serve a practical purpose in the games story (its used to protect Freeman during the experiment that sets the story in motion), but it assigned a logic to in-game items, which at the time were usually treated as if they were magic mushrooms in Super Mario. Health was what kept Freemans body alive, while the suit, which functioned as additional armor, needed to be charged in order to continue protecting Freeman from harm. Health and recharge stations were also found in locations that generally made sense to the environment and narrative. It also featured a toggleable flashlight, which was either the first appearance of that mechanic in an FPS or a very early example of it.You could argue that the relationship between Gordon and his suit would even lead to things like the rechargeable shield in Halo: Combat Evolved. Interestingly, later games kind of went the other way by allowing characters to just magically heal by finding cover or resting, but there was a period when assigning logic to how a players in-game health worked in FPS titles was all the rage.Enemies, Grenades, and YouMuch has already been said about Half-Lifes revolutionary enemy and companion A.I. Yet, the ways in which Half-Life changed the art of PvE first-person combat can best be summarized by what happens when someone in the game throws a grenade.If you throw a grenade at human enemies in Half-Life, they will usually run away. If you are trying to hide behind a wall or box in the game in order to lure soldiers to you, they will typically use a grenade to flush you out or outright kill you. Non-human enemies are less likely to run from grenades, but thats because they dont really understand what they are.It all sounds simple, but Half-Lifes use of grenades showcases two concepts you didnt typically see in most FPS titles of the day. The first is that your enemies actually have a desire to live or, at the very least, live long enough to kill you. The second is that you wont be able to fight a highly-trained soldier the same way you would fight a shuffling zombie.Combined, those two details alerted players to the fact that winning every battle in this game wasnt just a matter of circle-strafing an enemy while firing your largest weapon. Instead,Half-Lifes grenade mechanic pushed players to employ a little creativity to survive the most intense combat sequences.A Cohesive FPS EnvironmentThe most notable first-person shooters released before Half-Life (Doom, Unreal, Hexen, etc.) didnt necessarily suffer from lackluster level design, but few of them really sold the idea that every level was part of a larger world.Half-Life accomplished this in a few notable ways.On the technical side of things, Valve created a fairly large in-game world where much of the loading happened behind the scenes. This meant that players didnt have to regularly stare at loading screens and experienced noticeably less loading as they moved from area to area. As a result, you felt like you were truly navigating a large and immersive research facility rather than bouncing between traditional gaming levels that felt unrelated to one another.However, this innovation is about much more than just technical accomplishments. The Half-Life team designed each area of the games map to feel like a place that existed for a purpose, even if that purpose didnt directly impact your path through the game in a notable way. There were break rooms, labs next to labs that were studying similar subjects, and numerous instances of objects and environmental events that made the Black Mesa research facility feel more real.This is something of an odd innovation as even the great FPS titles that would follow elected to adhere to a more traditional level/mission-based structure. Still, Half-Life raised the bar in terms of environmental design in ways that are still noticeable today.Different Kinds of Action PuzzlesMany of the FPS games released after Doom followed that games playbook in terms of puzzles and non-combat obstacles. In other words, most of those titles required you to collect keys or passcards in order to progress to the next area. It was a simple way to throw in some hurdles without forcing the player to drop out of combat for too long.Half-Life did things a little bit differently. The most obvious examples of its approach to a better class of puzzle design involve memorable sequences such as the one where you must find a way to launch a missile in order to remove an otherwise unbeatable enemy that is attracted to sound and will instantly kill you if it hears you. Most FPS titles from the 90s didnt feature such elaborate obstacles that expertly combined stealth, multi-step solutions, and even a dash of horror-based tension.Yet, Half-Lifes best (and most influential) puzzles were found in the combat itself. Half-Life forced you to adapt to what your enemies did and also consider other ways to survive encounters beyond blasting everything in your path. Such encounters adhered to the primal pleasures of the genre while still requiring the player to utilize a little brainpower from time to time. Obviously, Half-Life 2 would expand on this concept with its use of physics-based combat (especially in the legendary Ravenholm sequence).For a game that is sometimes implicated in the death of the pure FPS, Half-Lifes combat sequences and organically integrated puzzles sections showed that fetch quests werent the only way to add puzzles to the genre.A Smarter Weapon Progression SystemIn many of the FPS titles that precededHalf-Life, weapon progression was fairly simple. You usually used whatever gun you picked up until you found a better one. There were exceptions (Dooms shotgun was a somewhat notable example), but the idea was that weapons were closer to power-ups that gradually improved over the course of a game and were generally only limited by ammo.Half-Lifes introduction of the crowbar was its earliest and clearest declaration that it intended to break the weapon wheel. Despite being the first weapon you received in the game, you end up using the crowbar throughout Half-Life as both a tool for breaking boxes and arguably the best weapon against certain enemies (such as Headcrabs).While some weapons in Half-Life are arguably replaced by better versions of a similar concept (the MP5 fairly easily replaces the pistol), youll end up using most of your weapons until the end of the game. It all depends on what youre fighting and what the situation calls for. A rocket launcher is great against a helicopter, but its not really practical in many of the games confined areas. Trip mines can be devastatingly powerful, but they also require clever placement. Shotguns work great against lumbering monsters that get in close, but they do less against soldiers who keep their distance.Not every FPS game that followed Half-Life walked this path, but here again, we see another example of how Half-Lifehelped show there was a different way to do things.Improved Sequence Scripting and Set PiecesFile this one under controversial innovations, but Half-Life certainly raised the bar when it comes to scripted in-game events (especially in a first-person shooter).Half-Lifes own GoldSrc engine may have relied heavily on the Quake engine, but Valve managed to tweak that technological source in fascinating ways that greatly advanced the potential of the genre. One of their most important tweaks was the creation of a new scripting tool that made it easier for developers to not only create more elaborate scripted sequences but to allow the player to interact with their environment like never before.While the most positive examples of this innovation are Half-Lifes grand set pieces, its really the smaller moments that secure the games place in history in this respect. For instance, the ways that you interact with NPCs and small environmental elements in this game feel commonplace now, but it was anything but back in 1998.Some say that Half-Lifes innovations in this field eventually led to an era of overly-scripted shooters, but Half-Life actually found a nice balance between offering set pieces and allowing the player to feel like they were organically experiencing a journey.More Accessible ModdingDoom will always hold a special place in PC gaming history as the FPS title that helped modding reach the mainstream. However, Half-Lifes contributions to the mod scene are often overlooked despite the fact that Half-Life mods like Counter-Strike rank among the most important PC titles ever.Valve made the decision early on to allow the Half-Life community to easily access the design tools that powered the game. This not only led to more people playing around with modding but experienced mod creators enjoying nearly unprecedented access to a developers toolbox.Not long after, other studios started to catch on to the idea that the community isnt just there to buy your game and maybe swap some textures around. Instead, its possible that they can not only fix issues present in the base game but create experiences that the original development team would have never dreamed of, greatly expand the lifespan of the title in the process.

In 2120, Mother Earth is expecting, declares the title cards in the new teaser for the TV series Alien: Earth. The teaser mostly consists of an image of Earth reflecting off a xenomorphs head, which isnt too surprising. Weve known for some time that showrunner Noah Hawley intended to set the prequel series on our planet.However, the date indicated is a huge surprise. Previously, it was reported that Alien: Earth took place in 2092, right before Prometheus. However, the new update confirms that the show takes place in 2120, just two years before the events of Alien.The time change is just the latest bold move on the part of the series. Obviously, Earth has always played a big part in the Alien franchise, but mostly as part of the stakes. Ripley and others realized that the xenomorph would overrun the planet if it ever made it to Earth, a lesson that the company Weyland-Yutani refused to accept.Moreover, Earth was a third-rail for the franchise in its original incarnation. Sure, non-canonical spin-offs (including the Alien vs. Predator series) would go to Earth but, outside of a few early moments in Prometheus, the planet was mostly off-limits.Of course, Hawley would flaunt such rules, as he did in his previous successful series Fargo and Legion. The former used the Coen Brothers masterpiece as a starting point for a variety of stories that played on the brothers key themes. The latter ignored Marvel Comics lore for an exploration on identity.Hawleys previous comments about Alien: Earth sound like hes continuing in that vein. The series will star Sydney Chandler as Wendy, a mysterious woman whose mind appears to be much younger than her body, and Timothy Olyphant as her synthetic teacher. While the crash landing described the shows official synopsis certainly teases a xenomorph attack, Hawley has seemed more interested in exploring the relationship between humanity and synthetics than he is chest-bursters and face-huggers.Anyone whos seen Ridley Scotts most recent Alien movies knows that the esteemed director shares that interest, which takes some of the pressure off Hawleys decision to break an unspoken rule and go to Earth. The originally reported setting for Alien: Earth doubled that slack, as it placed the story far from the franchises best entries Alien and Aliens and around the time of the more controversial Prometheus.But by setting Alien: Earth right before Alien, Hawley runs the risk of undermining the original movie. Alien worked, in part, because of its isolation, the desperation of Ripley and her crewmates as they encounter a creature theyve never imagined. We didnt need to know the name of the Company or how they learned of the xenomorph to get scared. Scotts filmmaking and the actors outstanding performances did all that work for us.Worst of all, by making Alien: Earth a direct prequel to Alien, theres now an expectation that well see overt references to that film, a problem that diminished the often quite good Alien: Romulus. And given the way that film treated CGI representations of legacy characters, well lets hope Hawley is going in a different direction.Alien: Romulus debuts on FX and Hulu in 2025

Big Apple Comic Con is this weekend, so now is the perfect time to grab tickets to this exciting NYC event!Buy your tickets hereAnother trailer for A Minecraft Movie is here, confusing fans even more than the previous teaser.The latest LEGO Collectible Minifigure Series has been revealed, featuring kooky characters like a pirate, a longboarder, Cupid and more.USA-based authorised LEGO reseller Minifigures Plus has revealed series 27 minifigures, and also has a pre-order discount available for Brickset readers. Simply use the code brickset at checkout to purchase a set of 12 for $60.29, which is a 10% saving. Theyll be shipped when they are released on January 1st and Brickset will receive a small commission on sales using that coupon.Read more at BricksetLucasfilm announced another volume of Star Wars: Visions is coming, along with all the studios thatll get a shot to spin their own take on the galaxy far, far away.Is Blade even coming out? Thats the question thats been on Marvel fans minds as of late, and Kevin Feige has an update on the much-delayed film.Last week was big for Marvel. At its debut D23 event in Brazil, Kevin Feige showed up to speak of the future of Blade, the titular vampire slayer. Blade, the film, has seen a tumultuous year, with two directors exiting the production and causing delays. First, Bassam Tariq left the project and later Yann Demange did so as well due to scheduling conflicts that came to light before shooting. At the time, industry insider Jeff Sneider shared that star Mahershala Ali is said to be very frustrated with the process.'Read more at HypeBeast

Warning: contains spoilers forShetlandseries nine episode three.Billy, get me everything you can on this new marine lab, requested DI Calder in episode three. Copy us in too, Billy, because that shady facility is shaping up to be the epicentre of this years investigation.Just what is pluripotency expert (thank you, freeze-frame) Dr Mohan doing in that remote laboratory? Genetically engineering a new species of cold-resistant detectives to replace our shivering duo? Splicing frog and dinosaur DNA to turn Shetland into a new Jurassic Park? Perfecting the recipe for the ultimate shortbread biscuit?Whatever Mohan is up to, its part of series nines heightened twist onShetlands usual investigations. Spies, secret experiments,X-Files-style cold opens in which Looney-Tunes locals have their brains turned into mashed potato after getting caught trespassing in the no-go zone its a long way from this crime dramas usual fare. Unless the lab turns out to be a red herring distracting us from a more domestic answer to the question of who killed Annie and Anton,Shetlandis venturing onto new ground.And so is DI Calder, whos formed an unexpected to her, at least attachment to little Noah Bett. Ruths awkward interactions with Noah are rather sweet to watch, like eavesdropping on a shy kid trying to make a new pal. Contrasted with Toshs calm, capable, adult approach to the boy, Ruth comes across more like his peer than an investigating officer. The bond shes slowly building with Noah may prove vital if he remains the only witness to the murders.That fact hasnt escaped Professor Rossi, the former Oxford spy apologies,analyst who appears to be running his own investigation into Annies murder. Rossi has repeatedly asked after Noah, and this week parked outside his aunts house to spy on his police visit. If the previous series hadnt revolved around a genealogy twist, we might assume that Rossi is Noahs biological father, butShetlandwouldnt repeat itself so soon. Rossis interest in the boy must be down to his status as a witness. Does Rossi suspect Noah, does he want to know what Noah saw, or does he want to ensure that he keeps quiet?Read more In short: is the professor to be trusted? At the halfway point of a six-part murder mystery, its traditional for everybody in the cast to look a bit sus, and Rossis sneaking around this episode and turning up unexpectedly at Ruths home (nice, the little nod to her continuing grief over Cal in that record collection chat), certainly fulfilled that requirement. He wasnt the only one dinging alarm bells. Debtor Patrick Harris and his creditor JJ Huang were clearly involved in some scheme that went awry on the night of the murders.There could be one more of those to add to the list, depending on whether Patricks younger brother Fergus pulls through after that cliffhanger argument on the boat. The Harris family are already a tragic bunch, and John accidentally killing his youngest only adds more pain. Poor Fergus was the sweetest of that already-sorry lot.Back to the suspects: Frank also looked decidedly green when Tosh mentioned having found Annies husband Ian at the seedy Mission during that awkward night out on fizzy water and dirty looks at the pub. Hes hiding something. As are the wealthy Jakobsons in their magazine-spread home and expensive knitwear. Astrid Jakobsons phone call to Anton on the night he died was almost certainlynotabout the finer points of the US high school movie genre.Clueless? Not quite. Tosh and Ruth have plenty to go on, but there are currently too many potential directions for a clear way forward to have emerged which, at the midway point, is exactly where things should be.Shetland series nine continues on Wednesday November 27 on BBC One and iPlayer.

When audiences return to Romes Colosseum for Ridley Scotts Gladiator II they will surely be entertained by the spectacle of warriors fighting for their livesand for the fickle attention spans of Roman emperors and an angry public. Its WWE 200 A.D.. Much like its Oscar-winning predecessor Gladiator, Gladiator II is a story of an unlikely hero from humble beginnings who wants to rain bloody vengeance upon an empires elite. In that regard, Paul Mescals Lucius is not so different from Maximus, the titular gladiator played by Russell Crowe. But what many fans might not know is that Maximus was almost Gladiator IIs main character. despite his death at the end of the first movie.There were indeed several attempts to get a sequel to the 2000 blockbuster made over the years, but one script gained special notoriety for its religious themes, which were characteristic of Scotts other output post-Gladiator. But it took that subject matter to a heightened and supernatural extreme. Yes, there is a completed Gladiator II script that continued Maximus quest for revenge beyond his own death, beyond ancient Rome, and against the most unlikely adversary of all Jesus Christ.And it all began with a phone call between Russell Crowe and fellow Aussie and friend, rock singer Nick Cave.Nick Cave Goes to RomeCave is most known for fronting Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, whose biggest hit song is Red Right Hand, a dark, sexy tune familiar to anyone who loves the Scream franchise, The X-Files, or Peaky Blinders. Caves songs were often full of Old Testament fire and brimstone, and his script for The Proposition, a 2005 gory neo-WesternAround that same time, Scott was working on a Gladiator sequel with original screenwriter John Logan that had nothing to do with Maximus or even gladiators. Crowe, however, was eager to present the director with a sequel he could still star in. The Academy Award-winning actor was so taken with Caves writing he enlisted the songwriter to sort out the little matter of Maximus death and come up with a new fight for the resurrected Roman general.Maximus Is the Christ-KillerChrist-Killer, the 2001 screenplays working title, began with Maximus waking up in a dark purgatory on the shores of a black ocean where the dying Roman gods fight one another. It is these petty deities who also tell Maximus that he must kill Hephaestos. While in the Roman-Greco tradition Hephaestos is the God of Fire and Blacksmithing, he has lately been spreading the troublesome gospel of a new monotheistic Christian God. So Hephaestos (and Christianity) must die if Maximus is to be reunited with his wife in the wheatfields of Elysium, where the sun always shines and Lisa Gerrard forever warbles. If that sounds bizarre already, wait until you and Maximus learn that his wife was able to plead with the gods to restore their seven-year-old son back to life!This all sets up Maximus returning to Ancient Rome 20 years after his death in the arena. There he reunites with his best friend Juba (Djimon Hounsou would ideally reprise his role) and his son Marius, now a grown man and Christian convert, at a time when Rome was executing followers of the new religion. Maximus gets embroiled in the war between the persecuted Christians and Roman authorities and faces off against Lucius, now a corrupt leader like his Uncle Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix). Lucius is especially determined to stamp out Christianity after his mother Lucilla (Connie Nielsen) was stoned to death for her new religious fervor.While Maximus, disappointingly, never actually crosses swords with Jesus, he does double-cross the Greco-Roman gods by training Marius and the Christians as soldiers to rebel against the Roman Empire, and thus the old gods. Because Maximus choice allows the teaching of Jesus to spreadand especially because Maximus trained the Christians to use violence instead of peaceful resistanceMaximus is forbidden to return to Elysium and reunite with his wife. Instead he is gifted immortal life as an eternal warrior that will forever doom humanity by encouraging warfare.This concept is visualized literally with a frenetic montage of Maximus leading an army not only in Ancient Rome, but Persia during the Crusades, among tanks in World War I, and into the jungles of Vietnam. The final scene leaves Maximus sitting at a head of a meeting table in the Pentagon, hunched over a laptop and planning a present-day war.Why It Didnt Get MadeDont like it, mate, Crowe reportedly told Cave, who harbors no regrets.Speaking with Marc Marons WTF podcast, Cave called the rejected story a stone cold masterpiece, made with wild creative abandon because he was so certain that the screenplay would never actually get made. Cave continued to poke fun at his Gladiator experience, culminating in the outlandish music video for Heathen Child from his side project Grinderman, which features Cave and company dressed as gladiators, dancing over explosions.As utterly anti-commercial as Caves script was, one could see how it would fit alongside Scotts work in his post-Gladiator period, which seemed increasingly concerned with confronting faith. The director has described himself as an atheist, but his post-Gladiator output seems to be less against spirituality than against corrupt organized religion as films like Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood, and Exodus: Gods and Kings suggest. Prometheus and Alien: Covenant similarly place spiritual faith as equal to scientific knowledge, perhaps even marking it as more important. Those recent Alien movies also depict the divine originating away from human-adjacent creatures, whether its off-world Engineers or the incalculable intelligence of a sentient android.Scott himself recently called the Christ-Killer script bloody silly, but Gladiator II does share some distant DNA with it. Caves script also revisited the Roman Colosseum with a naval battle in the flooded arena, where crocodiles replaced the final movies sharks. Scott also gives a more overt nod to one Cave idea he genuinely enjoyed: the moonlit shores of the river Styx where Lucius dreams of his dead wifes soul. This provides a new, darker vision of the afterlife.Read more As epic as Maximus versus Jesus might have been, for all the bombast and pageantry a Ridley Scott sword and sandals already drama contains, perhaps Scotts depiction of eternity doesnt need its own competing storyline, with a large cast of gods and audience-fave characters like Maximus transformed into pawns for an evil, unwinnable forever war.The emotional core of the Gladiator is a simpler, more universal story of grieving warriors where brief visions of the afterlife exist to remind the hero that he must fight for the concepts that represent the best of humanity: strength and honor, family and love.

This article contains spoilers for Superman & Lois season 4 episode 8.The Arrowverse may finally be coming to an end as Superman & Lois airs its final season, but that doesnt mean the show doesnt still have a few surprises up its sleeve. Season 4 episode 8 Sharp Dressed Man sees Lois (Bitsie Tulloch) and Lex Luthor (Michael Cudlitz) go head-to-head in a battle of wits on national television. As riveting as it is to watch the two debate each other, the real treat of this episode lies in who Superman & Lois brought in to play the host of this televised exchange Arrowverse veteran Tom Cavanagh.Tom Cavanagh first appeared in the Arrowverse as Harrison Wells, the brilliant scientist behind Star Labs, and Barry Allens (Grant Gustin) mentor in The Flash. We soon find out, however, that Wells is no longer Wells, but rather Eobard Thawne, the Reverse Flash, in disguise. After this reveal in season 1, Cavanagh continued to make appearances in The Flash as well as appearances in other Arrowverse shows, as Thawne and Wells.Cavanagh not only played the original Wells and Thawne Wells, he also played Earth-2s Harry Wells, Nash Wells in the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, Sherloque Wells, Harrison Orson Wells, and H.R. Wells, among others. Even though his character technically dies in season 1, the Arrowverse kept finding ways to bring back Cavanagh.His appearance in Superman & Lois is the first time that Cavanagh has played an Arrowverse character that isnt a version of Wells or the Reverse Flash, instead playing Gordon Godfrey. There have been a few different versions of Godfrey in comics and media over the years, but the character is most known for being a charismatic and manipulative television host.Also known as Glorious Godfrey, the character first appeared in The Forever People #3 (1971) and was created by Jack Kirby. Godfrey is one of Darkseids Elite, and possesses mind control powers. In most iterations of the character, Godfrey is portrayed as a sensationalist media personality, like a pundit or televangelist. Superman & Lois version of the character is similar, with Godfrey hosting his own show (titled Godfrey! of course), but Cavanagh still manages to put his own twist on it.When asked why they brought Cavanagh back to the Arrowverse for this role, co-showrunner Todd Helbing told TVLine that It was the no-brainer of all time. According to co-showrunner Brent Fletcher, [Cavanaghs] hilarious and has more energy than a 10 year old. [The character is] not like him at all, but he can play that guy perfectly.Even though Godfrey may be an entirely different character than Cavanagh has played in this universe before, Arrowverse fans on Reddit cant help but notice a few similarities in mannerisms between Godfrey and his previous characters. Cavanagh has played both the villain and the good guy, a line that a man like Godfrey has to walk very carefully to keep up his public persona. We may know that hes basically in Lex Luthors pocket Lex Corp. does own his show after all but that doesnt mean Godfrey can show all of his cards to the general public.Cavanagh is a good fit for this role, regardless of his past with the Arrowverse, and his appearance makes for a fun homage. Superman & Lois may be the end of an era for superhero television and the CW, but its nice to know that the Arrowverse is ending on such a strong note.New episodes of Superman & Lois premiere Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW, culminating with the series finale on December 2.

The term stagebound is familiar to anyone whos seen enough Hollywood adaptations of Broadway musicals. In the desire to get everything people like about a stage show into the movie, producers move heaven and boards to squeeze it all onto the screen, no matter how antithetical it might be to another medium.Jon M. Chu and Universal Pictures extravagant transfer of Stephen Schwartzs beloved Wicked musical is the opposite of that. Its something new. Not in terms of fidelity. Wicked the Movie is slavishly faithful about duplicating your favorite moments from Wicked the Showbut only half of that show. Aye, despite being marketed as simply Wicked, full-stop, this is actually an adaptation and expansion of merely Act One of the stage version. In a modern world where popular novels with mega-fanbases like Dune, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and the final Hunger Games installment all got divided by two, Wicked has essentially become the first expanded musical universe.The show is there, but so are elements taken directly from Gregory Maguires 1995 novel which never wouldve worked on the stage. For isntance, Professor Dillamond (Peter Dinklage) is a full-on goat now, organizing a talking-animal resistance against the rise of fascism in Oz. Meanwhile elements which were always part of the show, such as the cliquey nature of the Wicked Witch of the Wests academy days at Shiz University, are greatly built upon in a way apropos for a media landscape which has already taken 20 years worth of inspiration from Wicked and Harry Potter (see: Wednesday or Percy Jackson).So from a certain point of view, Wicked is the most thoroughly modern musical to come out of Hollywood in this century. But lest you read that as glib, rest assured it also remains as emotionally, and more importantly audibly, breathtaking as fans of the show will remember. With two powerhouse vocal performances by Ariana Grande and an especially devastating Cynthia Erivo, Wicked: Part One manages to levitate above whatever cynical commercial considerations weigh it down, or for that matter what any critic might have to say about those limitations. This thing is built to last as a monument to theater kids for generations to come, right down to a grandiose finale that will leave the youngest audiences feeling like theyre walking on air out of the theater.That magic begins by inverting the original Wizard of Oz story so thoroughly that its easy to speculate that this will become the definitive telling of Oz for millions to come. Like the stage show, Wicked begins where we traditionally associate the ending of L. Frank Baums story (and its 1939 movie). The Wicked Witch of the West is dead, and all of Oz is celebrating her melting. Munchkins dance along the Yellow Brick Road, children laugh and play in the poppy fields, and effigies of the green woman are all but burned by a crowd that gives Glinda the Good Witch (Grande, who is credited as Ariana Grande-Butera in the movie) serious pause. See, Glinda more than knew the Wicked Witch; she was her best friend back in college at Shiz, and she comes down from her flying bubble to tell the mob all about it.When Glinda met the woman who would become Wicked, things were different. For starters, Glinda went by her full-name of Galinda, and the Wicked Witch was simply Elphaba (Erivo), a studious and lonely young woman who initially is only on campus to see her sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) off on her first day. Nessarose is wheelchair-bound and eager to conform. Elphaba claims to have zero interest in any such frivolity. She does, however, feel seen for the first time when headmistress Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) takes keen interest in Elphabas evident magical abilities. She recruits Elphaba to the school and forces her to be the roommate of the most popular, and seemingly shallow, girl in the freshman class, Galinda.Much of the rest of the film is about a mutual disdain between Galinda and Elphie (Galindas nickname for her roomie) gradually thawing into admiration and friendship. Galinda belts bubbly pop ballads about making Elphie Popular, and gets her to dance with the roguish bad boy of the school, Prince Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), who doth protest too much when he sings a catchy anthem about setting low expectations by Dancing Through Life. Yet it all becomes radically secondary as Elphaba learns that Ozs talking animals are being scapegoated and worse by authorities. When she and Galinda are offered a chance to go to the Emerald City and meet Oz the Great and Terrible (Jeff Goldblum), Elphie hopes it is an opportunity to stop the rise of hate crimes against minorities. What she finds, however, is a revolution.Visually this is the most sumptuous Oz has looked onscreen since 1939. Director Chu and his production designer Nathan Crowley lean into the iconography of Hollywoods Golden Age when echoing the elements we are more than familiar with: yellow bricks and poppy fields that might as well be growing rubies. But when getting to color outside the lines, and even in spite of Wickeds stagey origins,Paul Tazewells costumes are similarly stunning, particularly in all the shades of pink applied to Grandes wardrobe, which runs the gamut from the familiar Good Witch gown to designer peignoirs. Its a luscious production, albeit the color-grading strangely seeks to mute a film that should have leaned harder into its oversaturated MGM influences.The designs of the film provide a beatific backdrop. Yet it is the movies old-fashioned theatrical impulses that prove to be its real superpower. Or, to put a finer point on it, Erivo and Grande can really sing, and they do so often in live and spectacular fashion. A friend I saw the picture with was even surprised to learn that most of their singing was performed in-camera, even when Erivo is being flung on wires and a broom 40 feet above the soundstage floor.Theres of course been live-sung movie musicals before, including the uneven Les Misrables adaptation from about a decade ago. Yet that movie made the seeming gimmick both obvious and lamentable when more than a few actors proved beneath the material (and that includes more than just Russell Crowe). Yet you might not even notice the singing is being done on the day by Wickeds two leads since one is a pop star with a sopranos range, and the other a Tony winner for her work in The Color Purple musical.In terms of character performance, however, theyre far less evenly matched. While Grande has proven herself to be an adept comedian with lightning-quick timing on Saturday Night Live, Wicked is the first time in her adult life shes returned to playing full characters on the screen, and it shows. A more seasoned thespian might have brought Glindas nuances and manic joy to bear. However, Grandes Glinda is flatter and comes across as a self-loathing Regina George, lost in her own doe eyes, rather than Carole Lombard reborn. The character is obviously meant to be the incandescent comic relief of the musical, yet this Glinda is perhaps a little too mean and self-conscious of her defects to steal the show like Kristin Chenoweths infectious hair-flipping did on the stage 20 years ago. Intriguingly, whether by accident or design, this does make the adaptation much more Elphabas storyand Erivos movie.Erivos Elphie is more forlorn than I recall the character being in the mid-2000s. Shes steelier too. Once this Elphaba gets going and starts climbing her crescendos, shes like a sword sheathed in half-chipped crystal thats finally exploded from its damaged wrapping. The loneliness at the beginning is palpable; the rage at the end transcendent.Read more That ending really does fly, too, not least of all because the movie has the dubious fortune of coming out in a moment where the musicals anti-fascist allegory no longer seems quite so distant or childlike. While the musicals political trappings were always heavy-handed in a way befitting its 2000s and YA-adjacent origins, the more heightened elements of racism and bigotry in the movie land different in 2024. Yet getting there remains the movies biggest challenge.As aforementioned, Wicked is only half the story. And it handles that detriment better than many other incomplete Part Ones littering Hollywood, including the similarly themed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. But at two hours and 41 minutes, the Wicked movie is just a few minutes shy of the stage shows entire length. And like most part ones, that expansion ultimately leads to the film having a rather padded and meandering pace. We spend so long on the note of Elphaba and Galinda being enemies that their sudden friendship at around the 100-minute mark comes too little, too late. Its hard to care about the mean girl when shes mean for over half the movie.Other supporting characters, like Fiyero, also feel strangely underdeveloped because too much of their arcs are dependent on Act Two of the show. Bailey certainly has charm and his one big musical number is a crowdpleaser, but the character is ultimately superfluous to a film that has no use for him beyond standing in for Elphies secret crush.Still, I recognize these sizable narrative problems will be completely nullified (if noticed at all) after audiences get enraptured by the films spectacular climax. Wicked takes too long to get to the Emerald City, but when its there, the thing erupts exactly in time with Erivos magnificent rendition of Defying Gravity. Much of it, again, is achieved while the actress is hanging by literal threads. It is the definition of a showstopperthe show indeed stops!and it is achieved by Chu and company creating enough oomph to ensure it goes down as a classic movie moment for its target audience.Wicked is a big Hollywood undertaking, with many of the modern pitfalls therein. But like its emerald witch, it defies the laws of gravity and conventional wisdom. Occasionally, it even soars.Wicked opens in theaters on Friday, Nov. 22. Learn more about Den of Geeks review process and why you can trust our recommendationshere.

Netflix continues its foray into live sporting events, announcing that WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW will debut on the streamer this January.Netflix and WWE announced that the brand-new Intuit Dome in Los Angeles will be the home of Monday Night RAWs debut on Netflix, LIVE at 5pm PT/8pm ET on January 6, 2025.The announcement was made by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Triple H Levesque and Travis Scott on stage from his sold-out concert at ComplexCon in Las Vegas. Scott, who will be at the January 6 Netflix debut, also revealed his new music will serve as the theme song for RAW.The premiere episode of Monday Night RAW on Netflix will feature some of the biggest names in WWE such as John Cena, Undisputed WWE Champion The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Bianca Belair, in addition to many other Superstars and surprise guests.This partnership marks a new era for WWE fans, with the much-anticipated debut of live weekly programming with cant-miss action unfolding 52-weeks a year on Netflix.The official presale will begin Wednesday, November 20 at 10am PT/1pm ET. Fans can register now to receive an exclusive presale offer by visiting here.The latest LEGO Ideas set has been announced, and we think Hank from Breaking Bad would enjoy it quite a bit.Its all happening today the results of the LEGO Ideas review for the first period of 2024 have just been revealed on the Ideas blog. One project from 48 nominees passed review and will be made into a set. Find out which after the break and let us know if it excites you in the comments!Read more at BricksetAhead of its domestic debut this weekend, Gladiator II grossed an impressive $87 million in foreign markets over the weekend.Ridley Scotts long-awaited sequel, Gladiator II, has charged into the global box office, earning $87 million USD in its opening weekend across 63 markets. This epic debut marks Paramount Pictures biggest international R-rated opening and Scotts strongest overseas launch, surpassing previous hits like The Martian and the original Gladiator.Read more at HypeBeastOne of the most popular board games is teaming up with the most popular video games for the ultimate gaming experience.Monopoly has entertained board game enthusiasts for decades. With so many special editions out therefrom Monopoly: Game of Thrones to Monopoly: Its Always Sunny in Philadelphiaits easy to see why players keep coming back to it. The newest version of the game features another iconic brand: Pokmon. While this isnt the first collaboration between the two properties, this edition puts a unique spin on the familiar gameplay.Read more at Mental FlossBeyonc, who has already performed at the Super Bowl halftime show twice, is once again doing another NFL concert.Beyonc will headline in her hometown of Houston during the NFLs Texans v. Ravens halftime show on Dec. 25. Netflix said it should air as the second game of the day at 4:30 p.m. ET. Queen B is supposed to host a round of songs from her recent album Cowboy Carter. The game is part of Netflixs Christmas Day NFL live broadcast, something the streamer has been promoting for months. The streamer said it will do similar Christmas Gameday broadcasts in 2025 and 2026.Read more at Gizmodo

This article contains spoilers for Dune: Prophecy episode 1 and details from the Dune books.When fans went to theaters in 1984 to see the David Lynch adaptation of Dune, they were given cheat sheets to help explain the strange world invented by Frank Herbert. Even though Lynchs movie literally begins with Princess Irulan (Virginia Madsen) staring at the screen and explaining things to the audience, the studio knew people would still be confused. And they were right.Denis Villeneuve managed to avoid that problem with his streamlined takes in 2021s Dune and this years Dune: Part Two, but the same cannot be said of the prequel series Dune: Prophecy. Set 10,000 years before the events of Dune, which is still 10,000 into our future, Prophecy takes even the elements introduced in Villeneuves movie and makes them stranger, compounding confusion upon confusion.Dont worry, because well explain it all. After all, if Den of Geek were around in 1984, the studio wouldnt have bothered with those cheat sheets.What Are the Thinking Machines?Viewers of Dune might recall a strange moment in that first movie, when Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) asks his companion Thufir Hawat (Stephen McKinley Henderson) how much money the Imperium spent on the pomp and circumstance to announce his familys stewardship of Arrakis. Hawat responds by rolling his eyes into the back of his head and rattling off a bunch of numbers.Hawat is a mentat, a human who has learned how to replicate the work of a computer. Why not just use computers, you ask?Well, we get part of the answer to that question in Valya Harkonnens opening monologue in Prophecys premiere The Hidden Hand. Vayla (Emily Watson) describes a great war against the thinking machines 100 years earlier, in which Artificial Intelligence began to enslave humanity. In a familiar sci-fi trope, the humans wage war against the AIs and eventually win.The patron saint of the revolt was Serena Butler, whose son was killed by the robot Erasmus. Serenas anti-machine fervor was only intensified when, towards the end of the battle, a fanatic called Rayna Butler (Serenas great grand-niece) grew to prominence. Rayna claimed that God gave her a vision, commanding humanity to refrain from making machines that think like humans. Rayna made Serena into a literal saint and added religious language to a general mistrust of machines.Dubbed the Butlerian Jihad, the movement resulted in not just complex AI but all computers, including those used to navigate deep space, being outlawed. Without these computers in place, people had to rely on the precognitive abilities granted by the Spice Melange, an element only found on the otherwise unimportant planet of Arakkis.Although Dune: Prophecy takes place about 175 years after the Butlerian Jihad, Reynas efforts arent quite as successful as it may appear. During Vaylas narration, we learn about a birthing system used by her mentor Raquella Berto-Anirul (portrayed by Cathy Tyson in the show). Raquella believed that the Sisterhood should engineer an Emperor according to the needs of the Sisterhood. They accomplish this goal, in part, through genetic engineering, which they do through the use of a massive, hidden computer.Obviously, Raquella kept the use of the computer secret and shared it with very few people, including Valya. As a result, Valya has privileged information about her predecessors plans, which helps fuel the fanaticism she shows in Dune: Prophecy.Where Is Arrakis? What Is Salusa Secundus?As even a novice nerd will tell you, Dune isnt the name of the planet in Dune, not really. The desert planet that contains spice is actually called Arrakis. Still, every entry in the franchise has the name Dune in the title, so it stands to reason that Arrakis would figure heavily in each, including Dune: Prophecy.Arrakis does get a mention in The Hidden Hand, when Duke Ferdinand Richese (Brendan Cowell) makes his play for control of the planets spice reserve. But because the Guild Navigators, the people who use precognitive abilities from spice to chart courses across deep space, are still relatively new, Arrakis isnt quite the political hotbed it will eventually become.Instead, most of Prophecy takes place on Salusa Secundus. Where Arrakis and Paul Atreidess first home Caladan adhere to the old sci-fi trope of one climate per planet, Salusa Secundus looks a lot like Earth in Prophecy. Thats particularly surprising to those who recall the depiction of the planet in the first Dune. We see Salusa when Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgrd) dispatches his mentat Piter De Vries (David Dastmalchian) to retrieve the Emperors super warriors called the Sardaukar. In that movie, Salusa appears gray and rainy.Thats where the time difference between Prophecy and Dune comes into play. Prophecy takes place 10,000 years after our time, when humanity has spread across the galaxy in an event called the Scattering. Because of it mirrors Earth, and was the home of the previous ruling system called the League of Nobles, the Emperors House Corrino is seated in Salusa Secundus.But like every ruler in Herberts world, the Corrinos make massive mistakes with huge costs. Sometime around the reign of Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong) in Prophecy, an atomic weapons attack destroys the environment of Salusa Secundus, turning it into the hellscape we see in Dune. Javiccos successor Hassik III moves the Corrino seat to a planet called Kaitain and turns Salusa Secundus into a prison planet. In this increasingly harsh environment, Salusa Secundus becomes the ideal ground to breed the remorseless Sardaukar.What is the Status of the Harkonnens, the Atreides, and the Great Houses?At this point, fans of the movie might be saying, Wait a minute! I thought Dune was about the Atreides and the Harkonnens! Who are these Corrino people?Although they didnt get much overt attention in Villeneuves movies, the Corrinos were present. The Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV (Christopher Walken) and his daughter Irulan (Florence Pugh) appeared in the second movie. However, as Paul (Timothe Chalamet) himself noted, the Corrino line had, by that point, grown atrophied and corrupt, a tool of the Spacing Guild and the conglomerate known as CHOAM.Because Prophecy takes place 10,000 years earlier, the Corrinos arent in quite as bad shape. The line still rules, despite the obvious weaknesses of Emperor Javicco Corrino, weaknesses that Valya Harkonnen and others seek to exploit.Speaking of the Harkonnens, Dune introduced that family as the movies overall villains and the initial stewards of Arrakis. After being removed from Arrakis, the Harkonnens leave for their home planet Giedi Prime, but the Baron makes his plans to retake Arrakis.Prophecy finds the Harkonnens still early in their time on Giedi Prime, which was a key battleground in the war against the machines. They get sent to the planet as a sort of insult, as the Imperium believes that the Harkonnens disgraced themselves in the war. Conversely, the Atreides were exemplary in battle, which gives them more attention from Javicco and leads to swordmaster Keiran Atreides being in the court on Salusa Secundus.Of course, Valya frames these perceptions as lies from the Atreides. Not only does she seek to restore honor to her house throughout Prophecy, but these lies also begin the conflict that will lead to the battle between Paul and the Baron in Dune.Are Jihaes Kasha Jinjo and the Sisterhood the Same as the Bene Gesserit?One of the more striking moments in The Hidden Hand occurs when a teenage Valya uses the Voice for the first time. Instead of the low rumble used by Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) and Paul in Dune, we hear a high-pitched shriek, which doesnt even fully control the subject. We learn that this was the first public use of Voice, which serves as an important reminder of the shows place on the timeline.The Bene Gesserit do not yet exist in Prophecy. Instead, Valya belongs to the Sisterhood. Whats the difference? Well, that will be the plot of Prophecy, but the short and simple answer is that the Sisterhood exists largely on the fringes of society, whereas the Bene Gesserit have power and influence, which earns them a great deal of mistrust.Of course, we see that mistrust beginning in The Hidden Hand, with Jihaes character Reverend Mother Kasha Jinjo. As a Truthsayer in Javiccos court, and his former lover, Jinjo strikes some of the power players as a potentially subversive element. But, at this point, it happens on more of a personal level than as a representative of the Sisterhood in general, especially after what happens to her in the episodes final moments.Why Do People Catch on Fire at the End of Episode 1?Although most of The Hidden Hand involves exposition, the episode does end on a striking note. In the last moments, we see people begin to combust, apparently spontaneously, while the mercurial soldier Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel) looks on.The meaning behind the flames will be explained in later episodes, but its likely a variation on a stone burner. Stone burners are a type of atomic weapon in the world of Dune, one thats considered extremely dangerous. It will play a major part in the later book Dune Messiah, which only makes its potential use here all the more devious.But the most notable element might be the aforementioned plot point about Salusa Secundus. Prophecy doesnt directly adapt any of the previous Dune books, but rather takes place 60 years after the Great Schools trilogy by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Given the fact that the exact date of the destruction of Salusa Secundus isnt explained in any of the books, this event might be something for Dune: Prophecy to explore, free from the burdens of other books and movies.For right now, all we need to know is that someone is willing to go to extremes to disrupt the court on court on Salusa Secundus, which will only create more trouble for Valya and the Sisterhood.Dune: Prophecy airs new episodes every Sunday night at 9 pm ET on HBO and Max.

Features The Ultimate Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 Adventure Feels Like the Real ThingNot only did we play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 in the latest episode of POWER-UP but also got to fly a REAL LIFE plane over the Grand Canyon. Plus, an interview with the creators of Secret Level!By John Saavedra | November 18, 2024 | | Photo: Xbox, Prime VideoFew video game franchises have pushed the boundaries of what the medium can do more than the Microsoft Flight Simulator series. Since it launched on PC in 1982, Microsoft Flight Simulator has been one of the chief innovators in the industry in terms of both presentation and the technological feats required to make a realistic flight simulator tick. And the latest 2024 installment takes things to a whole other level!In our very first POWER-UP Adventure Mode episode, host Sam Stone hopped over to the Grand Canyon to not only play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 but to do some real-life flying of his own. Thats right, Sam got into the cockpit of a real G2+ Vision Jet and took the aircraft for a spin, and weve got footage of the insane views from thousands of feet above the Grand Canyon. But even if you dont have the luxury of flying your own plane, Microsoft Flight Simulator is as close to the real thing as you can get, as Sam discovered in his hands-on time with the game. Tune into the episode to hear his thoughts on the latest installment in the seminal franchise, which is out Nov. 19 on Xbox consoles and PC. And if you want to read an extended version of Sams impressions, check that out here.PLUS! Get ready for a Bonus Level interview later in the show with executive producers Tim Miller and Dave Wilson (you may know them as the creative duo behind Love, Death + Robots), as they talk to us about the making of Prime Videos Secret Level, a video game adaptation unlike any youve ever seen before! Watch this jam-packed episode below:https://vid.connatix.com/49aecf72-6a67-41c1-8a7a-b37bbeab241e/mmid-99f45e78-9b60-50dc-7f47-934d74588e94/1080_h264.mp4This episode is powered by Razer. In a special PC Gaming segment, Sam sits down for a chat with Dwight Kwok, Global Head of Growth for Razer Software, who not only takes us through the most exciting features users will find on both Razer Cortex and Razer Axon, but also what the future has in store for this revolutionary software. Want to learn more? We broke down how Cortex can solve many of PC gamings most annoying problemshere. And if youre ready to power up the look and feel of your rig, check out our deep dive into Axonhere.Now, sit back, plug in, and POWER-UP!For business inquiries regardingPOWER-UP, contact:Chris Longo, Director of Editorial and Partnerships,clongo@denofgeek.comMatthew Sullivan-Pond, Publisher,msullivan@denofgeek.comFor media inquiries, contact:John Saavedra, Executive Producer,jsaavedra@denofgeek.com

A.P. Bio is one of the more under-appreciated sitcoms of its era. First premiering on NBC in 2018 before getting the boot over to streaming on Peacock in 2020, the Mike OBrien-created series takes the gruff teacher with a secret heart of gold trope and turns it on its head.The four-season show follows Jack Griffin (played by Its Always Sunnys Glenn Howerton), a disgraced Harvard philosophy professor who is forced to return home to Toledo, Ohio and take a job as an A.P. Biology teacher at Whitlock High School. Jacks heart contains no gold, secret or otherwise. He begins his story an asshole and largely ends it the same way. He also maintains an almost metatextual awareness of his role as a beleaguered-but-redeemable teacher archetype and makes a concerted effort to not allow his class full of lovable, precocious honor students to change him in any way.And yet, A.P. Bio quickly evolves into a warm hang out comedy anyway. Thats largely due to the sheer charisma of the people involved. The shows ensemble is neatly split between the teachers in Jacks world (led by Patton Oswalt as the schools principal and Paula Pell as his loyal secretary) and the students. Casting young actors can be a bit of a crapshoot but the performers that A.P. Bio finds to fill out its titular class all shine and prove to be the perfect accompaniment for Howertons cranky talents.With A.P. Bio now on Netflix for the first time, lets take a moment to take stock of that cast, what they bring to the show, and what theyve been up to since. The TeachersGlenn Howerton as Dr. Jack GriffinA.P. Bio is very much designed as a showcase for TV comedy heavy hitter Glenn Howerton. Prior to (and indeed concurrently with and after) his role as Jack Griffin, Howerton was best known for portraying Dennis Reynolds on long-running FX comedy Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Going on two decades, Howertons performances as the borderline sociopathic Dennis has been a comedic masterclass. Now viewers have gotten to know him a little better via The Always Sunny Podcast and his award-winning role as Blackberry co-founder Jim Balsillie in 2023s Blackberry.Lyric Lewis as Stef DuncanStef Duncan is a history teacher at Whitlock High School and part of the unshakeable Stef-Mary-Michelle friendship trio. Playing her is Lyric Lewis, who has previously appeared in TV comedies Baskets, iCarly, and Party Down. Mary Sohn as Mary WagnerMary is an art teacher at Whitlock High School and part of the aforementioned Stef-Mary-Michelle friendship trio. Playing her is Mary Sohn, a comedic actress who has appeared in Miracle Workers, Between Two Ferns: The Movie, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. She has also made several appearances voicing characters on the Comedy Bang! Bang! podcast. Jean Villepiqueas Michelle JonesMichelle Jones is the home economics teacher at Whitlock High School and is the oddball spoke of the Stef-Mary-Michelle friendship trio. Jean Villepique has popped up in numerous comedy series since 2007, including The Office, Modern Family, and Veep. Shortly before A.P. Bio, she voiced adoption caseworker Tracy in BoJack Horseman. Patton Oswaltas Principal Ralph DurbinPrincipal Ralph Durbin is the overmatched leader of Whitlock High School and the closest thing Jack Griffin has to a friend. Playing Durbin is the prolific comedy legend Patton Oswalt, who has been in just, everything. In addition to his long-running career as a standup comic and actor, Oswalt is known to young audiences as the voice of Remy in Pixars Ratatouille. Paula Pellas Helen Henry DemarcusThe perfectly-named Helen Henry Demarcus is Principal Durbins secretary who views him as something resembling her husband, son, best friend, and platonic soulmate. Playing Helen is comedic secret weapon Paula Pell. A respected writer at Saturday Night Live from 1995 through 2020, Pell has moved in front of the camera more in recent years, playing prominent roles in Parks and Recreation, Documentary Now!, and Girls5eva.The StudentsAparna Brielleas Sarika SarkarThe type-A Sarika Sarkar is the student most invested in actually learning A.P. Biology. Poor girl. Before A.P. Bio, Aparna Brielle had small roles in the shows Grimm and The Librarians. Since then shes become a part of Kevin Smiths View Askewniverse with a role in 2019s Jay and Silent Bob Reboot and the upcoming Mallrats sequel. She also appeared in Netflix series Boo, Bitch and FUBAR.Nick Peine as Marcus KasperakMarcus Kasperak is something close to Jack Griffins nemesis and is openly described as his least favorite student. Playing this stick-in-the-mud is Nick Peine who previously appeared in the 2016 comedy Office Christmas Party to go along with guest roles on Shameless, The Middle, and Fresh Off the Boat.Allisyn Snyderas Heather WilmoreThe heavily-bespectacled Heather Wilmore is weirdly loyal to Mr. Griffin and develops an unlikely love interest within her class. Before A.P. Bio, as a child actor, Allisyn Snyder played the role of Zora Lancaster on the Disney Channels Demi Lovato-starring series Sonny with a Chance and its Lovato-less spinoff So Random! She also created the long-running YouTube character Astrid Clover and portrayed her for more than seven years and 350 videos. She has since moved into filmmaking and directed indie horror movie Howdy, Neighbor! in 2023.Eddie Leavy as Anthony LewisAnthony Lewis is perhaps the most beloved student in Griffins A.P. Bio class. Playing the gentle giant is Eddie Leavy, who has also popped up in TV comedies like The Other Two, Tosh.0, and Ryan Hansen Solves Crimes on Television.Jacob Houston as Victor KozlowskiThe soft-spoken Victor is one of the more eminently likable occupants of A.P. Biology class. Playing this very demure Midwesterner is Jacob Houston, who has had guest roles in Criminal Minds and American Vandal. He is also charmingly credited as Smartass for his role as Kevyn Tans right hand man in Yellowjackets. Houstons Instagram handle is @giantloserbaby where his posts occasionally feature his former A.P. Bio castmates.Spence Moore IIas Dan DeckerEvery class has a figure so towering they can only be known as their full name. Dan Decker is such a figure on A.P. Bio. Playing the popular student is Spence Moore II, who came to the role by way of The CWs All American, where he played a similarly athletic character. He also appeared in Netflixs 13 Reasons Why. Since A.P. Bio wrapped, Moore II has played Matteo Mannheim on Superman & Lois and scored a main role as Jacob Nash on NBCs Brilliant Minds. Sari Arambulo as GraceThat the dreamy and ditzy Grace found her way into A.P. Biology underscores the kind of shambling operation that Whitlock High School is under Principal Durbin. Prior to A.P. Bio, Sari Arambulo popped up in guest roles in family shows like Netflixs Alexa & Katie and Disney Channels Girl Meets World. After the show wrapped, she had a four-episode arc as Bella in The L-Word: Generation Q.Marisa Baram as MarissaA relatively late addition to the class in season 1, Marissa becomes a crucial part of the A.P. Bio ensemble. Playing Marissa is another Marisa, albeit with one s fewer. Marissa Baram appeared in two episodes of How to Get Away with Murder before her time on the show. Currently she plays secretary Gail Price on NCIS: Origins.

What is the most underrated James Bond movie? That is a question that might have as much to do with when you ask it as it does the films themselves. Take On Her Majestys Secret Service for example. Over years and decades, it was generally treated as the black sheep of the Eon Productions canon; the one that was rejected by audiences in 1969 because Sean Connery isnt there, and the one that would get slipped in very late at night on TBS marathons in the 90s because it starred the one-and-done George Lazenby.Yet today the films bittersweet tone and outright tragic endingwith Bond crying over the body of his wife on their wedding day while Louis Armstrongs All the Time in the World is turned into an instrumental weepylingers so strongly that Eon more or less remade its elegiac quality, right down to the Louis Armstrong number, in No Time to Die. The brief Timothy Dalton era of 007 movies has undergone similar reappraisal on the internet where fans appreciated his tough, no-nonsense gruffness when juxtaposed with Roger Moores silliness. And so it goes. The stock of Bond is always rising and falling.So, with all that in mind, if you asked me today in 2024 what is the most underrated Bond adventure I would say the one that just turned 25 years old earlier this month.It has indeed been a quarter-century since The World Is Not Enough, the third Bond movie starring Pierce Brosnan and the first co-written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (scribes whod have a hand in every James Bond movie since). Generally well received upon release, if not riotously celebrated, The World Is Not Enough was reviewed by critics and fans as a serviceable nother one. This time with Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist, which might have conjured more howls from Gen-X and elder Millennial audiences than the older critics who grew up used to Eon Productions casting standards.Still, as the years passed, TWINE stands largely forgotten by anyone except diehards. And to be fair, no one should (or could) mistake The World Is Not Enough as the gold standard of its series. Nonetheless, there is actually a fairly solid and oft-overlooked soul to this installment. Its the film where Brosnan felt most confident and in command of his version of 007; the one which brought a graceful end to the 90s and post-Cold War era of James Bond; and the movie that burrowed so deeply into Bond and Ms psychologies that Eon covertly remade it during the Daniel Craig era.There is a case to be made that it is time to recognize The World Is Not Enough as one of the more underappreciated Bond flicks.A Setup So Good Eon Did It TwiceWhen producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson broke the story of The World Is Not Enough with their writers, as well as director Michael Apted, the film was going to originally feature one of the subtler pre-title sequences, particularly in the Brosnan era where they were almost all over-the-top. We would be introduced to Bond mid-mission where he interrogates a corrupt banker in Bilbao, Spain and then his life is saved by a mysterious third party as he quietly escapes from the office. The subsequent chase sequence along the Thames River would have then been saved for the very next scene after the opening credits.Thank Her Majesty for the change, because instead of being a forgettable intro, TWINE features one of the best. It was also the longest ever up to that point with its 14-minute runtime (a record No Time to Die finally broke in 2021). Obviously, this allowed the opening to have more bang for its buck. The opening is now the action highlight of the movie given it culminates with Bond highjacking Qs tricked out speedboat and pursuing an assassin along Londons Thames. They even wind up, appropriately enough, atop Londons Millennium Dome, a tourist attraction so new and of the moment that it wouldnt even be open to the public during the movies release.By itself this is just a terrific table-setter, right down to Garbages grooving 90s alt-rock title song. However, it also introduced one of the most intriguing, and prescient, setups in a Bond film. Rather than just introduce us to 007 wrapping up another case, we see the literal fallout of that mission when the money Bond retrieved from the aforementioned bank is discovered to have a bomb hidden inside its paper: it is used to execute a terrorist attack on MI6 headquarters that leaves one of Ms closest friends dead, and British intelligenceincluding Bond as an unwitting and physically injured patsyhumiliated.Its a prelude to a mission of intensely personal stakes for the wounded Bond, his employer, and MI6 itself, and it rather unintentionally picks up on geopolitical anxieties that would erupt into a bitter, horrifying reality a few years later when massive terrorist attacks on the West became more than just the work of fiction. Perhaps that is one reason Eon more or less remade this exact same setup in one of the production companys best films, Skyfall. Right down to the terrorist being someone from the past life of Judi Denchs M, Skyfall feels like a redo of The World Is Not Enoughs themes, remixed for a post-9/11 world (and with the villain being a riff on GoldenEyes 006 to boot).Skyfall does it better overall, but the naivet of The World Is Not Enoughs simple sense of escapism makes it a bit more charming to return to, plus the shots of Bond getting to wreak havoc in 90s London without any of the gloom and doom of the Craig era remains an absolute blast.Brosnan and Dench at Their BestA movie marking a personal vendetta for both Bond and M has became common place during the Craig era, but it was a novelty in 1999. And in some regards, The World Is Not Enough remains one of the more unique renditions of this growing clich. Whereas Craigs Bond had a deep emotional attachment to Denchs M, with the suggestion of her having groomed him as a troubled, bordering on sociopathic youth like a mother would a child, Brosnans Bond enjoyed a relationship with Denchs M more approaching that of equals and colleagueswhich made how they played off each other in this film uniquely interesting.With exception to Ralph Fiennes Mallory in the last couple of Craig entries, the Brosnan era is the only time in the Bond oeuvre where 007 is the old seasoned hand with a foot in the past, and M is the face of the future. The irony of a misogynistic relic of the Cold War like Bond having a woman as his boss practically writes itself, hence how she addresses him with those exact words in GoldenEye. Yet from that frosty introduction Brosnans Bond has somewhere to grow with M as the two reach a grudging and, eventually, admiring respect.That element comes to fruition in The World Is Not Enough, a movie where instead of treating M as just a bean-counter, or as a mother in need of protecting, Bond comes to see her as a real person and confidant. He recognizes she is taking it personal that her school chum (and ex-lover?) from Oxford was killed due to their mutual negligence. But from that recognition the two develop an unspoken trust and camaraderie. They have a mutual interest in redemption.But then, much of the movie is a showcase for Brosnans Bond. In the 90s, he was celebrated as a bit of the platonic ideal between Connerys aggressive swagger and Moores dapper silliness. Brosnan walked the line. After Craig entirely reinvented the character as brooding bruiser who grew out of his blunt instrument youth, Brosnans goldilocks approach was dismissed, particularly by online fandom who typically prefer the seriousness of Craig, or for that matter Dalton. Yet perhaps because I grew up in the 90s, Ive always had affection for Brosnans lighter touch, which was often more nuanced than detractors would suggest. And that styling was never so bespoke as in TWINE. While GoldenEye easily remains the one great Brosnan Bond movie, as with most 007 actors he was still finding his interpretation of the character in the first outing.By the time TWINE came around, though, the actor and producers knew exactly who this version of Bond was. He still has the charm and humorousness of both Connery and Moore, but there is also a wearied sadness and melancholy there. He is not a brooder like Craig (and probably like how Brosnan would have preferred to see the character written), but this Bond has lived through the Cold War, betrayals, and long empty nights. The charisma feels like a defense mechanism, and perhaps his weapon of last resort.And we see what happens when those defenses are circumvented after he meets the next great love of his life, as well as one of the more under-appreciated baddies in the seriesRead more One of the Better VillainsMany internet pixels have been spilled about Denise Richards as Dr. Christmas Jones. The former American model is spectacularly miscast as a nuclear scientist. Still, I would point out that not much more so than many of the other Bond movie casting choices in previous decades. Think of the Bond Girls who were later dubbed because of wooden line deliveriesor the ones who were introduced as fellow espionage professionals and then asked to just blankly run around in a bikini by the producers. The backlash to Richards casting says perhaps more about how audience expectations for womens leading roles had changed in the 40 or so years between Dr. No and TWINE while Eons had not.However, it should be noted that Christmas is not a lead in The World Is Not Enough. She is a character who sadly only exists so Bond has a love interest at the end of the film. And even in that pretext, she is at least written as competent in her expertise, even as the producers dubiously dress her up like 90s era Lara Croft for half the movie. Even so, she is tertiary to the central dynamic of the film: a romance between James and a woman named Elektra (Sophie Marceau).While On Her Majestys Secret Service has been reevaluated as a Bond classic, in 1999 it was still largely a black sheep. Which makes the choice to essentially subvert it bold. And the twist where the woman Bond falls in love with this time turns out to also be the real villain is bolder still.It is indeed one of the cleverer plot contours in the series when Bond and the audience discover at roughly the same time that the terrorist were introduced into believing is the mastermind villain, Robert Carlyles adequate Renard, is actually a patsy. He is a dupe as easily manipulated by Elektra King as as 007. She is the films surprise femme fatale who intentionally echoes Diana Riggs beloved Teresa di Vicenzo. For like Tracy, Elektra comes from a wealthy family (Bond always loves refined things, no?) but is damaged from that privileged lifestyle. Quite literally, as we learn she was tortured and maimed when she was kidnapped for an extended period by Renard.Initially, Bond and the audience is led to suspect that she was manipulated or seduced, much like the dubious and disputed pop culture image surrounding the Patty Hearst abduction. However, even that proves a red herring. As the film unfolds, we learn Elektra has manipulated Bond and M, as well as the viewers. In truth, Elektra seduces Bond by representing everything he loves, even as she also embodies everything he usually despises in a man: intensely privileged breeding, a sense of entitlement, and, finally, megalomania. She considers her familys oil holdings in Russia as her birthright, and will kill anyone who keeps her from it. Beginning with her father.As misjudged as casting Richards as Christmas Jones was (especially since rumors suggest Monica Bellucci was also in the running for the role), the film ultimately lives or dies based on the dynamic between Bond and Elektra, and casting an actress as adept as Marceau works wonders for the film. She and Brosnan kindle a sincere chemistry, just as the erudite French actress has enough playfulness to imbue Elektras later villainy with a fanged cruelty.It makes the actual climax of the film one of the best moments in Brosnans tenure. Thirty-seven years after Connerys Bond coldly assassinated Professor Dent in Dr. No, Brosnans 007 is forced to shoot Elektra King in cold blood. It feels uglier than how were used to seeing the Brosnan version of the character. Earlier in the movie, the character went so far as to acknowledge that cold-blooded murder is a filthy business. But doing it to a woman he loved for at least one night is a kind of self-abnegation. You can see it on Brosnans face as he holds the gun and begs for her to call off Renard and their scheme.You buy Elektras misplaced confidence when she smirks, You wouldnt kill me. Youd miss me. It sets up a typical Brosnan one-liner, though this one with venomous irony after he executes her: I never miss. But in the same breath, Denchs M arrives on the scene to witness a perverse tableau. Bond is visibly mourning the woman he murdered by brushing her hair. The moment is melodramatic but also faintly disturbing, including to M. It also gestures toward a quality of the character that would become dominant in the Craig era.Its also such a striking moment that it wreaks havoc on the rest of TWINEs finale, which has no more oxygen as Bond obligatorily kills Renard in a crashed submarine and saves Christmas.The End of an EraUltimately, The World Is Not Enough has a number of good moments like the Thames chase sequence or the death of Elektra King. The shootout between Bond and Renard in a nuclear missle silo is also 90s cheese, but of an entertaining flavor as Brosnan hops on chains designed to transport atomic weapons and uses them as a carnival ride while outrunning a fireball. There is also a touching sendoff to Desmond Llewelyn as Q and a surprisingly taut action sequence about navigating oil pipelines.But it is easy to admit the sum is lesser than the parts. There are a couple of action sequences that feel quite rote and strangely lacking for a Bond flick, such as the worst ski set-piece in the series and the aforementioned submarine fistfight. As good as Elektra is, the choice to keep Renard as the final heavy, presumably because he is a man, disservices the movie.Yet one cannot wonder if the film, and perhaps Brosnans whole tenure, might be better remembered if this had been the final entry of his run. While I am of the camp who thinks it is a shame that Brosnan didnt get a fifth film in the early 2000s to close out his era on a better note than Die Another Day, the flip side might have also been true. Brosnans interpretation of the character feels incredibly, inescapably rooted in the 90s. It is of that moment where the Cold War was over but the 20th century still had life left in it. During roughly that decade before terrorist attacks in 2001 changed the world for the worst, shortsighted optimists believed they were living at the end of history. They might have even argued the world had no more use for characters like James Bond.The three films Brosnan made between 1995 and 1999 absolutely tap into the anxieties of that moment, complete with TWINEs still timely narrative about Europeans willing to kill over getting oil out of Russia (or Tomorrow Never Dies satire of conservative media propaganda). In this context, TWINE acts as a bookend on elements introduced in GoldenEye. Robbie Coltrane as the best 007 contact in the series since Kerim Bey returns in the role of Valentin Zukovsky, a former KGB spymaster turned gangster. In GoldenEye, he wanted to permanently maim Bond for a Cold War injury Zukovsky sustained, but by the end of TWINE, he utilizes his last breath to save James life, confident Bond will avenge them both.The film also sees Denchs M and the audience finally recognize an implicit question she had for Bond in GoldenEye. Can you still be useful? The answer is yes, even if it rots away at another level of Bonds soul with one more dead lover in his arms.The World Is Not Enough is not top shelf Bond, but it might be at the top of the mid-tier pack. And just as it took about 20 years for even Daltons most uneven Bond film, Licence to Kill, to get its due, now seems apt for The World Is Not Enough to receive a couple of flowers of its own. If only for Elektras funeral.

As it turns out, Christmas did not come early this past weekend at the box office, even with a nominal holiday action movie playing in theaters around the world. Indeed, the long troubled and forthcoming Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans two-hander, Red One, saw its Yuletide hopes dashed over the weekend when estimates came in pegging the Christmas spectacles opening at $34 million.While technically the number one movie in North America, that number is down considerably when even compared to plenty of Johnsons other family friendly high-concept films like Black Adam (which was considered a disappointment when it opened at $67 million in 2022) and the second Jumanji movie he made with Kevin Hart, Jumanji: The Next Level, which debuted at $59.3 million five years ago in 2019.Technically Red Ones opening is comparable to Johnson and Harts first fun Jumanji flick, Welcome to the Jungle, which opened to $36.1 million in 2017. But that was seven years of inflation ago, and Jungle had a reasonable price tag of $90 million. Conversely, official reports claim Red One cost an eye-watering $200 million, andThe WrapOn paper, Red One was clearly intended to be a continuation of Jumanjis charm, with director Jake Kasdan helming all three movies. Yet Red One became something else as well: an attempt by an ambitious streamer to create its own family-friendly action IP by spending on Red One like it was a superhero movie. Crucially, however, Amazon MGM originally intended for Red One to be exactly thata streaming movie. When production began on the film in 2022, the plan was to have Red One on their streaming service Prime Video in time for Christmas the following year. Production pauses, caused by negotiations being dragged out during the acting and writers strikes of last year, delayed the movie until now. And during the interim, Johnson said he got the idea that the movie needed to be on the big screen in IMAX after watching the success of Christopher Nolans Oppenheimer in the same format.Whatever cracks one might wish to make at the folly of comparing intended streaming content starring Johnson and Evans to a talky, R-rated epic for adults, one should note that ahead of Red One, even Johnsons superhero stumble still actually eked out a north of $50 million opening. So a more interesting way to consider Red Ones failures might be to note that it offers a decent glimpse behind the curtain at the actual popularity of big, pricey streaming movies when their actual appeal isnt obscured by numbers massaged by the tech industry.The state of moviemaking is indeed in a strange place where audiences more often than not elect to stay home than go to the cinema on any given weekend, and in that environment streaming services and their owners have the opportunity to remain opaque about what is being watched for how long and by how many people. For instance, another Johnson streaming movie that never got released into theaters, Netflixs similarly titled Red Notice, was trumpeted by its streamer as its most popular movie of all-time, with the film allegedly generating 231 million views since 2021.Yet the numbers of how many people finished the film or actually enjoyed it (or even gave it their undivided attention) are murkier. There is obviously a world of difference between turning on something that is free (or part of a subscription you already paid for) and leaving it on in the background while wrapping presents versus paying $10 to $20 a ticket to see the film with your family ahead of Thanksgiving. But isnt that also kind of the point? Streaming services continue to be championed as the future of media consumption, or even cinema, and yet their seemingly algorithm-designed content with a tested movie star like Johnson and audience-favorite like Evans cannot generate as much excitement as an original (and sublime) family film, The Wild Robot, which opened at about $36 million in September.There are of course other conventional lessons that seem gleanable from Red Ones struggles, beginning with its price tag. As of press time, it is not clear if Red Ones exorbitant budget is partially borne out from the streaming model of paying above-the-line talent expanded fees to offset the films never having the opportunity to earn backends for the talent in a traditional theatrical rolloutwhich is why Amazons adult drama Air cost a reported $90 million, even though the non-salaried portion of that production was probably a fraction of the totalor if this is just the case of another Rock movie costing north of $200 million.According to The Wrap, though, Johnson alone demanded a $50 million payday and then allegedly caused the budget to balloon further by being chronically late to set. Producer Hiram Garcia categorically denied this allegation.Read more Whatever the case might be, it seems ill-advised to spend anywhere in the neighborhood of a quarter-billion dollars on a Christmas movie. Weve written before about how the industry went from reliably producing a few generally recognized Christmas favorites every decade to there not being a banner year for holiday classics since 2003. A large reason for that is the holiday movie has been surrendered to streaming services, which often treat them as disposable shovel programmer content. Conversely, attempting to rework the plot of 48 Hrs. or Lethal Weapon into a family movie with expensive talking polar bears and fist-fighting Krampuses seems equally tone deaf.Many of the celebrated holiday movies of yore, including 2003s Elf and Love Actually, were medium-budgeted movies that relied on quality talent in front of and behind the camera delivering the ephemeral magic. In other words, the best Christmas movies didnt try to just buy their popularity with special effects, or just phone the magic in, a la every Netflix Christmas movie you might watch this holiday season and have forgotten by New Years.Red One conversely feels like every other streaming service blockbuster that you might watch but regret afterward. Granted, not all audiences feel the same. It should be noted the film earned a respectable A- CinemaScore over the weekend, which is better than Black Adams B+. However, lest anyone has delusions of a long holiday season attempt to recover, it should be noted the traditional studios already seem to have the family market cornered with Universals highly anticipated Wicked slated to make landfall next week and, ironically enough, the Johnson co-starring Moana 2 from Disney prepared to open the weekend afterward. Just in time for the holidays.

Lets say you, like most people, havent read any of Frank Herberts novels, but youve watched and rewatched both of Denis Villeneuves Dune movies again and again. You should be set to jump right in to the new prequel series Dune: Prophecy, right?As much as HBO and showrunners Diane Ademu-John and Alison Schapker want the answer to be Yes, the fact of the matter is that Herbert created a dense world, familiar and foreign all at once. We may be able to see similarities between the Bene Gesserit sisterhood and real-world nuns or the spice production on Arakkis and todays oil mining operations, but Herbert covers those metaphors with unique language and backstory.Dune: Prophecy makes things more complex by building not on any of Herberts works, but on the additional material written by his son Brian and co-writer Kevin J. Anderson. Prophecy builds off of the Great Schools of Dune trilogy, and takes place 60 years after those events. Furthermore, the moral complexity of Herberts world means that we cant even break characters into simple good guy and bad guy categories, as demonstrated by the fact that the show chooses as protagonists Valya and Tula Harkonnen, ancestors of the movies big bads Baron Vladimir Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgrd) and his nephew Fayd-Ratha Harkonnen (Austin Butler).In short, Dune is complicated and confusing property. But Dune: Prophecy will make a lot more sense if you know a little about the characters, and thats where Den of Geek has you covered.Emily Watson as Valya HarkonnenThe first episode of Prophecy begins with Valya explaining her familys place in the world. While most viewers associate the name Harkonnen with the scheming Baron, Valya insists that her family was unfairly shamed by duplicitous Atreides during the war against Thinking Machines (read: AI) a century earlier. Valya sees a way forward for her family through the Sisterhood, a religious order that eventually becomes the Bene Gesserit.Prophecy overcomes any prejudices viewers might have by casting Emily Watson as Valya. A veteran of stage and screen, Watson has an inherent sweetness and vulnerability, qualities that led to standout performances in Breaking the Waves and Punch-Drunk Love. Watson began in the Royal Shakespeare Company, training that serves her well while delivering Valya long and often deliberately obscure monologues. But will that be enough to make people see Valya as a hero?Olivia Williams as Tula HarkonnenWhere Valya sees the Sisterhood as a means to restore the honor of her family, her sibling Tula sees it as a good unto its self. As a Reverend Mother within the Sisterhood, Tula devotes her time less to scheming power plays and more towards teaching her charges the fundamentals of their beliefs. Despite her differences in approach, Tula still deeply loves Valya and shows a great deal of patience for the latters plans.Like Watson, Olivia Williams has a long and impressive career in film, television, and theaters. Moviegoers may know her best for supporting roles in The Sixth Sense and Rushmore, where she played women who provided stability in complex situations. That experience will serve Williams well while portraying Tula, as will her historical research. As Williams told Den of Geek earlier this year, she and Watson prepared for their roles by studying the portraits of Tudor sisters Mary and Elizabeth in the National Portrait Gallery.Mark Strong as Emperor Javicco CorrinoAlthough he only had a few minutes of screen time, the Padishah Emperor Shaddam Corrino IV (Christopher Walken) made his presence known throughout both Dune films. His distant ancestor Javicco Corrino will be much more noticeable in Dune: Prophecy, but will he be more effective? The scion of the house who established itself in the fallout of the war against Thinking Machines, Javicco rules an empire in transition, still trying to figure out how to live without computers. As future institutions such as the Bene Gesserit and the Spacing Guild rise, Javiccos weaknesses will be theirs to exploit.Weakness isnt often a word associated with Mark Strong, and not just because of his surname. Strong loves to play scheming villains, most recently stepping in for John Turturro as Carmine Falcone in The Penguin, but also as Doctor Sivana in Shazam!, Sinestro in Green Lantern, and Frank DAmico in Kick-Ass. Strong will get to show off another set of skills as Javicco, a man who cannot keep up with the schemers around him.Sarah-Sofie Boussnina as Princess YnezOne of the prime schemers with whom Javicco must contend is his own daughter, Princess Ynez. Ynez recognizes that, even 10,000 years in our future, patriarchy still limits the abilities of women, a limitation she rejects. She can play the dutiful daughter in a royal line, even agreeing to a political marriage to the pre-pubescent son of a spice baron from Arrakis. But make no mistake, she is playing, working her own angles until she can find a role that befits her desires.A newcomer to most American and British viewers, Sarah-Sofie Boussnina has done most of her work in her native Denmark. There, she appeared on the 2011 crime series The Bridge and in the historical series 1864.Jodhi May as Empress NatalyaGiven Javiccos weak will, one might wonder where Ynez got such resolve. Those questions fall away the first time viewers meet her mother Empress Natalya, played by Jodhi May. Natalya has not true love for Javicco, but rather married him as part of a political alliance. She finds herself frustrated, then, by Javiccos unwillingness to strengthen that alliance, and especially his failure to recognize the threats around him on every side.May knows how to play characters with great expectations, as shes still the youngest person to ever receive a Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, having been bestowed the honor at age 12 for A World Apart. Lately, May has played royal figures in the series The Warrior Queen of Jhansi and The Witcher.Travis Fimmel as Desmond HartEveryone in Dune: Prophecy has a secret a long term goal. But Desmond Hart seems to want only chaos. A veteran of wars in service of the Empire, Desmond returns to the palace with a powerful combination of the crowns respect and deep anger. Although the showrunners have described Desmond as an enemy of the Sisterhood, he seems to have no love for the Emperor either, leading to some shocking acts of violence.Travis Fimmel is no stranger to genre television, having gotten his start playing Tarzan and eventually breaks out in the historical series Vikings. The Australian actor also appeared in the Warcraft movie as human hero Anduin Lothar.Chris Mason as Keiran AtreidesOf course, no Dune story would be complete without an Atreides. But because the story comes from the perspective of Valya, the Atreides arent the noble people represented by Paul and Leto. They are just as dangerous as everyone else, as represented by Keiran Atreides. A sword master, Keiran comes into Javiccos service ready to train soldiers for more traditional fights. But hes forced to understand a different type of power as Valya and the Sisterhood make their moves.Den of Geek readers most recently saw Chris Mason playing John Lennon in an episode of Doctor Who. Before that, Mason had parts in Riverdale and Broadchurch.Tabu as Sister FrancescaValyas plans for the Sisterhood dont go unchallenged from within, as many doubt her plans. One of the more notable objections comes from Sister Francesca, who advises a more slow and subtle course. Francescas approach may stem from her comfortable place within the Empire, as she lives in the palace with the Emperor and has Javiccos ear. Before that, she had Javiccos heart, and her emotional attachment creates tension in the Sisterhood and the Palace alike.Hindi acting great Tabu plays Francesca, adding a bit of international prestige to Dune: Prophecy. With a career that stretches across three decades, Tabu has won numerous accolades, including two National Film Awards and seven Filmfare Awards.Jessica Barden and Emma Canning as young Valya and Tula HarkonnenTo add depth to the conflict between Valya and Tula, Dune: Prophecy regularly flashes back to the girls adolescence. Driven by a vision from her mentor Mother Superior Raquella Berto-Anirul (Cathy Tyson), Valya strives to change the Sisterhood and put a leader they can control on the Emperors throne. That certainty gives her a confidence and clarity that often puts her into conflict with her fellow Sisters, as well as her more even tempered younger sister Tula.Before playing the younger Valya, Barden played Alyssa Foley in the original comedy The End of the F***ing World. She also went on to appear in the movies Scarborough and The Lobster. Irish actor Emma Canning has an impressive stage career, which includes performances in Trouble in Mind and The Night of the Iguana, as well as parts in the TV series The Irregulars and Masters of the Air.Dune: Prophecy airs every Sunday at 9 pm EST on HBO and streams on Max.

This review contains spoilers for Dune: Prophecy episode 1.For years, fans considered Dune an unfilmable novel. Dense with lore, full of epigrams and aphorisms, and featuring an inversion of a classical messiah figure, Frank Herberts epic seemed to only work on the page, where the omniscient narrator can explain the true meaning behind a characters obscure dialogue.Denis Villeneuves Dune and its follow-up Dune: Part Two seemed to prove that conventional wisdom wrong. Not without its flaws and certainly streamlined, Villeneuves adaptations proved that the story of Arrakis could come to the screen.Now comes Dune: Prophecy to suggest that maybe Villeneuve got lucky.Dune: Prophecy is easily the worst live-action adaptation of any Dune property worse than David Lynchs oddball wonder, worse than the Sci-Fi miniseries of the 2000s. It misunderstands not just the central appeal of Herberts work, but also the appeal of Game of Thrones and other TV epics that HBO clearly wants to replicate.Showrunners Diane Ademu-John and Alison Schapker, the former wrote the premiere The Hidden Hand and Anna Foerster directs, do not make things easy on themselves, choosing to build off a little-loved trio of books (written by Frank Herberts son Brian Herbert and co-author Kevin J. Anderson) set more than 10,000 years in the future but more than 10,000 years before the events of Villenueves Dune movies.The Hidden Hand mostly concerns sisters Valya and Tula Harkonnen (Emily Watson and Olivia Williams, respectively), biological sisters and leaders of a religious order called the Sisterhood, forerunners of the Bene Gesserit seen in Dune. The more enterprising of the duo, Valya wants to continue her mentors desire to put a puppet ruler on the Emperors throne, giving the Sisterhood someone they can control.Valya sees her opportunity during the reign of Emperor Javicco Corrino (Mark Strong), a relatively weak ruler who struggles to keep up with the various power plays in his court. These plays include not only the machinations of Valya, but also his wife Natalya (Jodhi May), his daughter Ynez (Sarah-Sofie Boussnina), and Harrow Harkonnen (Edward Davis), the last of whom arranges a marriage to Ynez to his very young son, in hopes of securing spice flow from Arrakis. And then theres soldier Desmond Hart (Travis Fimmel), who seems to be playing his own game, and Javiccos son Constantine (Josh Heuston), who seems mostly concerned with being handsome, but might also have other motivations.Complicating matters for Valya are the fissures within the Sisterhood, which we only begin to glimpse in the pilot. Were introduced to a number of Sisters who more or less declare their character descriptions and then move on, including Aoife Hinds as the devout Emeline, Chloe Lea as youthful Lila, Jade Anouka as the mercurial Theodosia, and Jihae as the politically-minded Kasha Jinjo.To its credit, Prophecy seems to anticipate audience confusion. To its great demerit, Prophecy addresses the problem by reducing almost all dialogue to exposition, complete with voice over narration from Valya for the first ten minutes or so of the episode, referencing a war against thinking machines and elements that viewers might know from the movies. Even after the voice-over stops, most of The Hidden Hand consists of actors reading the Dune fandom wiki to one another in darkened hallways.Yet, for all its attempts to explain the timeline and characters and basic motivations, Prophecy never creates a legible story, let alone an engaging one. Villeneuves adaptation worked not just because it simplified the machinations upon machinations in the book. It worked because he leads with the emotional truth of the characters, giving the actors something to work with.Because theyre playing wiki entries, even outstanding actors such as Watson, Williams, and Strong get lost. Theres a clear affection between Watson and Williams that gives their interactions some reality, even if theyre just shouting nonsense to one another. Strong isnt asked to do much but look annoyed and beffudled by everything. The younger actors dont fare as well, especially Jessica Barden as teenage Valya. Like everyone else, Barden must try to make exposition sound compelling, but shes also asked to portray a visionary upstart who changes the course of history, a quality thats just not on the page or in the performance. When Valya uses the Voice for the first time, the Bene Gesserit power to control people through speech, it sounds like a whiny screech, unable to compel anyone to do anything but turn off the TV.The most compelling performance in The Hidden Hand comes from Fimmel, strangely. Fimmel plays Desmond Hart like hes Iago in a middle-school production of Othello, broadcasting to the cheap seats his dubious nature. Yet, its the most enjoyable bit of the show, possibly because like Dakota Johnson in Madame Web, another bad actor in a bad production, his disdain for the terrible material captures the audiences frustration.Whatever the reason, the fact that Travis Fimmel is the standout in a prestige show starring Emily Watson and Olivia Williams proves that Dune: Prophecy is doomed. The Hidden Hand ends with a compelling cliffhanger, in which Harts attack leaves several visitors to Javiccos badly burned, including Ynezs young betrothed. But after the fifty minutes of exposition that preceded it, it seems likely that episode two will just be people explaining the attack to one another instead of responding like real people.Anyone interested in what happens would be better off reading the Dune wiki and then rewatching any other adaptation. Even flawed but functional takes on Herberts world are better than what Dune: Prophecy has to offer.New episodes of Dune: Prophecy premiere Sundays at 9 pm ET on HBO and Max, culminating with the finale on December 22.Learn more about Den of Geeks review process and why you can trust our recommendationshere.

Warning: contains spoilers forThe Mirror and the Lightseason 2 episode 2.If only Hilary Mantel had lived 10 lifetimes, she might have rehabilitated 10 other historical figures as skilfully as she did Thomas Cromwell. Mantel overwrote historys shorthand for Cromwell, transforming him from a venal brute into a flesh-and-blood man capable, yes, of ruthlessness, but also of kindness, humour, love and grief. All of that was on display in this episode thanks to Mark Rylances many-faceted performance.Cromwells grief made the most lasting impression. Anyone whod observed the mans steely operations at court might have been less surprised to find a crocodile in the corridor of Shaftesbury Abbey than a sobbing Lord Chancellor. Were used to seeing Cromwell marshal his emotions and wear whichever face is required to reflect Henrys wishes, deflect Henrys anger, and intimidate Henrys enemies. Weeping in the open is a new look, and a new vulnerability that showed how greatly hurt Cromwell was by Dorotheas words.Unable to dissuade Dorothea of her bitterly held view that he had betrayed her father Cardinal Wolsey, Cromwell was broken. His love for Wolsey is a North star when it comes to interpreting this tricky character. Their imaginary conversations are some of the very few times inWolf Hallthat Cromwell drops his defences and stops measuring his every word. For him to think that Wolsey, in his final days, suspected him of betrayal must cause unthinkable pain. How do you remake your reputation with the dead? Not in this life.Who was it who poured that poison into Dorotheas ear? Perhaps the Cardinal himself, or perhaps Cromwells enemy the Duke of Norfolk.Norfolk was absent in person from episode two, but behind most of its drama. Cromwells deeply enjoyable interrogation of Thomas Tom Truth Howard Englands worst poet until Rick fromThe Young Ones ended with the rhetorical question of who put into his mind the thought of marrying the kings niece and one day becoming king himself. Of course it was Howards half-brother, Norfolk. As Lady Shelton warned, ever since his niece Anne Boleyn was separated from her head, the Duke has sought another route to the throne, and this was his latest.Norfolk too, is likely behind the destructive rumour that Henry intends to marry Cromwell to his daughter Mary, a fabrication clearly designed to put the king in a killing vein.Read more Unless Itisa fabrication, isnt it? Low-born Cromwell cant possibly entertain hopes of marrying the daughter of English and Spanish royalty. So why does he risk looking like it by giving Princess Mary a ring? Artist Hans Holbein looked rightly green about that idea, and even though Cromwell told Meg Douglas that a ring is not a pledge, he must know how it might be interpreted. And what are we to make of Cromwell dwelling on Marys intimate declaration that she would like a child of her own? Could our man be starting to push his luck?Whatever he may have dreamed could be possible with Mary, it certainly isnt now, and neither could Cromwell save his reputation with a quick kill-two-birds marriage to Dorothea.Cromwells luck either being pushed or running out was a preoccupation of Obedience. The episode started with a replay of series one scenes showing Wolseys downfall, and it was more than just a useful catch-up for anybody with a foggy memory it was a version in miniature of whats to come. Wolseys story a low-born rise to great wealth and influence followed by a cruel demise at the hands of Henry VIII is also Cromwells story. When he and George Cavendish discussed what brought Wolsey down, his pride or having made an enemy of Anne Boleyn (Wolsey stopped a younger Anne from marrying nobleman Lord Henry Percy due to the Boleyns taint of trade and she never forgave him), we can also ask the same of Cromwell. What will be the great mistake that leads to his own downfall? And has it already been committed?Some would say it was committed decades ago, in Putney, when this clever strategist was born to a blacksmith and yet strode into the corridors of power as if he were equal to them. English nobility doesnt take kindly to interlopers and parvenus, no matter how many royal portraits they commission to decorate their walls.Those portrait commissions showed Cromwell growing into his new place in society and planning for his legacy. The impassioned speech he gave to son Gregory on the wrongs of the papist church and the utopian future he envisages for the Church of England showed us a man motivated by far more than personal gain. So did his patient explanations to Gregory and cocky French servant Christophe. Hes teaching them both how to see the world, looking ahead to a time when hes no longer in it.When that day comes, it will be a duller place. What a pleasure it is to watch Cromwell at work, whether speaking in code to instruct Meg Douglas on how to wriggle her neck free of Henrys noose, taking Tom Truth to task for his terrible rhymes and treacherous scheme, or delicately edging away from sad Jane Seymours sad questions about her marriage bed. Contrast his deft cleverness with Henrys increasingly buffoonish behaviour the Turkish disguise indeed. Both men have blood on their hands, but only one in Peter Straughan and Peter Kosminskys meticulous adaptation just earned our sympathy.Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light continues on Sunday November 24 on BBC One and iPlayer. It will air on PBS Masterpiece in 2025.

Surprise cameo appearances have become the bread and butter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU has been chock-full of cameos since the franchises inception, from introducing major players in post-credits scenes to featuring A-list celebrities in hilarious bit parts. So today we are counting down the 25 best cameos the mega-franchise has to offer.Before we begin, its essential to specify precisely what constitutes a cameo. For the sake of our list, cameos are brief appearances from a notable character or actor which do not extend for longer than a couple of scenes. Some surprise reveals, such as Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield returning to play variants of Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), have too much screen time to qualify, while others, like Gambit and Blade in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) have complete character arcs that disqualify them from this list. Make sense? Without further ado, here are our picks for the best cameos in the MCUs storied history.25. Captain America in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)One thing the MCU has excelled at for years is world-building. The Marvel Cinematic Universe feels lived in as you witness the impact of major events from other films crossing over into the disparate pockets of the MCU. A great example of this is Captain Americas PSA videos from Spider-Man: Homecoming. Wearing his often maligned suit from The Avengers (2012), Steve Rogers talks to the camera to teach Americas youth about essential values. Hannibal Buress Coach Wilson meanwhile mutters, Im pretty sure this guys a war criminal now, but whateverI have to show these videos; its required by the state.These comments are in lieu of the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016), which concludes with the Star-Spangled Man on the run and the Avengers disbanded. But the real joy of this cameo comes in the post-credits zinger where Cap unexpectedly returns in PSA format to teach viewers that they need to have patience. After forcing us to sit through the credits and waiting for the usual teaser of the next movie, Marvel went surprisingly meta on this one, poking fun at their audiences expectations for an after-credits bombshell.24. Eddie Brock/Venom in Spider-Man: No Way HomeTom Hardys tenure as Eddie Brock/Venom has come to a supposed end with the release of Venom: The Last Dance (2024). The characters legacy is a mixed one, mainly because Sony was never really able to crossover the symbiotic antihero into the MCU proper. However, the mid-credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home set up a potential Peter Parker storyline that propelled this cameo onto the list.Venom leaves behind a small piece of his alien symbiote in the sequence, implying Tom Hollands Spider-Man could don the iconic black suit in future outings. While unfulfilled cameo teases are generally a bore, Spidey returning for a fourth installment in the MCU and two upcoming Avengers films the latter being Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027, it would make sense for this incarnation of Peter Parker to go through the comics storyline last portrayed in live-action in Spider-Man 3 (2007). The black suit is a central component of the original comics Secret Wars run, after all, so Eddie Brocks brief foray into the MCU could have significant implications for the saga moving forwardenough to make this more than just another road to nowhere.23. David Hasselhoff in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)or should we say Zardu Hasselfrau?The 80s culture icon of Knight Rider (1982) fame makes a brief appearance during a pivotal moment in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. After Peter Quill discovers his father, Ego the Living Planet (Kurt Russell), put a tumor in his mothers head. Quill reacts by immediately laser blasting the celestial being. In a fit of rage, Ego shapeshifts into David Hasselhoff, one of Star-Lords childhood heroes.The cameo in of itself is a joke, and some may argue it undercuts the tension of the scene. However, Hasselhoff appears later in the film during the credits, singing the original mixtape track Guardians Inferno. The hilarious and catchy tune perfectly represents the tone of the Guardians movies. Additionally, Quill draws comparisons between his pseudo-adopted father, Yondu, and his memories of a childhood hero in Hasselhoff. Thus the Hoffs appearance in the sequel is much more emotionally resident for those paying attention.When it was confirmed that Anthony and Joe Russo were tapped to direct Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), fans met the announcement skeptically. Before making their way into the MCU, the Russo Brothers were best known for directing over 30 episodes of the sitcom Community (2009), something seemingly far off from Marvel fare. It turns out that pessimism was not warranted, as The Winter Soldier and their subsequent three Marvel films, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Avengers: Endgame (2019), are regarded as some of the best films the franchise has to offer.The directing duo never forgot their roots, as they managed to sneak in several cameos for their former Community stars. This includes Danny Pudi as a technician in The Winter Soldier and Jim Rash as a slightly different colleges dean, this time M.I.T., in Civil War. Ken Jeong appears as the security guard at the self-storage facility who discovers Ant-Man in Endgame, while Yvette Nicole Brown is featured as a S.H.I.E.L.D. employee during the 1970s in the same film. Many other side characters from Community also appear throughout the MCU, and Donald Glover has a small part in Spider-Man: Homecoming. However, that was not a Russo Brothers wink and nudge.21. Doctor Strange in Thor: Ragnarok(2017)Significant cameos from major players in the MCU have been the bread and butter of the franchise since the beginning. Marvel has loved peppering brief appearances of its flagship heroes throughout the series run, cementing its trademark interconnectivity between each film. Doctor Stranges scene in Thor: Ragnarok is a perfect example of this.When he took over the dwindling Thor franchise in 2017, Taika Waititi injected some much-needed life into it. The sequence featuring Stephen Strange and the God of Thunder is emblematic of the style Waititi brought to the MCU. While mostly fueled by gags, watching these two larger-than-life characters interact on screen was a treat for fans. The scene ends with a hilarious bit of Loki, the God of Mischief, exclaiming, I have been falling for 30 minutes! between two of Doctor Stranges magic portals.20. The Original Marvel Comics Guardians of the Galaxy in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)The Guardians of the Galaxy, who weve come to know and love in the MCU, werent the original team from Marvel Comics. Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket Raccoon, and company were introduced as the modern-day Guardians in the 2008 comic Annihilation: Conquest #6. The OG team, introduced on the page in 1969, featured characters such as Stakar Ogord, Aleta Ogord, Charlie-27, Martinex, and Yonduthe latter of which is the only character to officially make the roster in the MCU.In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, director James Gunn was able to sneak in a half-dozen cameos for the original comics team with a star-studded cast. This featured two of Gunns longtime collaborators, Sylvester Stallone and Michael Rosenbaum, as Stakar Ogord and Martinex, respectively. Pulp Fiction and Mission: Impossible star Ving Rhames brought his resonating voice and presence to Charlie-27, while pop star Miley Cyrus voiced Mainframe in an uncredited role. Finally, future Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh joined the squad as Aleta Ogord. While Yeohs GOTG character never returned, she later got a part in a different Marvel movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). Despite not being the most recognizable Guardians to the casual viewer, seeing live-action interpretations of these characters was a delight to hardcore comics readers.19. Matt Murdock/Daredevil in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)If there is one thing Marvel fans can agree on, its that Charlie Cox as the Man Without Fear was perfect casting. The original Daredevil series, which ran on Netflix for three seasons, was embraced by viewers and critics alike. Sadly, the streaming series met an unceremonious end when Marvel announced their intentions to move their TV programming to Disney+. There is still even a cloud of uncertainty about whether or not the show is canon to the MCU at large, leading fans to give up hope wed ever see this interpretation of Daredevil again.Fast forward a few years, and the hype for Spider-Man: No Way Home is building. Every news outlet is speculating on the potential cameos in that film, ranging from Jamie Foxx as Electro to Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom. There were also loose reports that Charlie Cox would triumphantly return to the Marvel universe. And that he did. In an honest-to-goodness single-scene cameo, Matt Murdock appears as the really good lawyer Peter Parker needs to escape the pickle hes in thanks to the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019).In the years following No Way Home, Cox has reprised his role twice, appearing in his yellow and red suit in the show She-Hulk: Attorney at Law and in his black suit during a fun action scene in Echo (2024). Next March, Daredevil will once again headline his own series, this time titled Daredevil: Born Again. We cant wait to see what the MCU has in store for the character in the future.18. The Asgardian Theater in Thor: Ragnarok (2017)Thor (2011) and Thor: The Dark World (2013) are two of the least popular films in the MCU. Despite the immaculate casting choices of Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston as brothers Thor and Loki, the individual films failed to grab audiences like other Marvel movies. Thors fortunes would change with the redirection of the franchise when Taika Waititi injected his infectious enthusiasm into Thor: Ragnarok. The Oscar-winning writer even developed a clever way to recap and poke fun at the events of the previous installments.In a hysterical sequence early in the movies runtime, Odin (Loki in disguise) is watching a stage reenactment of the emotional moment of Lokis death in Thor: The Dark World. The Asgardian actors playing the in-universe characters are composed of an impressive list of stars. Jurassic Parks Sam Neill, who previously worked with Waititi on Hunt for the WilderpeopleMythic Quest breakout Charlotte Nicdao is featured as Lady Sif, and finally, none other than Matt Damon gets a shot at the God of Mischief in one of the most unexpected celebrity appearances the MCU has to offer.17. Howard the Duck in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)In 1986, Star Wars creator George Lucas produced the now-infamous comic book movie Howard the Duck. Released in an era where Marvel movies were mainly unheard of, Howard the Duck flopped at the box office and garnered negative attention, including four Razzie awards. The mainstream media quickly forgot the bipedal bird, and many fans were never aware he was even from a Marvel comic.Fast-forward nearly 30 years to the release of Guardians of the Galaxy, the most obscure MCU movie yet. The ragtag group of heroes was composed of lesser-known Marvel characters such as Rocket Raccoon and Groot. Little did we know that James Gunn had even more inside baseball references in store. In the films after-credits scene, the Collector (Benicio del Toro to civilians) mulls over his destroyed archive of intergalactic artifacts. As Cosmo the Space Dog licks his face, a cameo in her own right, a graveling voice in the background begins to speak.Its Howard the Duck. Voiced nowadays by Family Guy star Seth Green. The funny moment in Guardians of the Galaxy ballooned into several cameos for the character throughout the MCU, including appearances in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 (2023), What If? (2021), and even a brief glimpse of him during the final battle in Avengers: Endgame.16. The Cavilrine in Deadpool & WolverineAnything is possible in the multiverse, but witnessing Superman actor Henry Cavill portray Wolverine wasnt on many Marvel viewers bingo cards. In a shocking reveal early on in Deadpool & Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds Merc with a Mouth stumbles across the perfect specimen of a Logan variant to join him on his multiversal escapade.A quick shot from behind reveals muscles akin to that of a Greek god, even bigger than the already-jacked Hugh Jackman. Thats because this Logan is played by former Superman star Henry Cavill, transitioning from one of DC Comics most iconic characters to one of Marvels very own. Nicknamed The Cavilrine by Deadpool himself, the way-too-tall Logan cocks his arms a la Mission: Impossible Fallout (2018) and punches our hero right after Wade Wilson makes his usual meta joke poking fun at the rival studios mistreatment of the actor.15. Captain America in Thor: The Dark World (2013)Technically, this isnt Steve Rogers; its Loki shapeshifting into the Marvel icon. However, this is one of the funniest bits the MCU has to offer, despite appearing in one of their least appealing movies.The Asgardian trickster briefly transforms into Captain America while walking down a hallway with Thor. Chris Evans relished this part, portraying a caricatured version of Americas favorite boy scout, saying, I can feel the righteousness surging wanna have a rousing conversation about truth, honor, patriotism?14. The Falcon in Ant-Man (2015)When Anthony Mackies Sam Wilson showed up in the first Ant-Man flick, it felt like an afterthought. With a reported budget of only $130 million, the smallest in the entire history of the MCU, Falcon felt like the best Avenger that Marvel could afford to throw into the film, not someone they desperately wanted to include. However, the fight scene between the two heroes wearing red mightve actually saved the universe.From a visual standpoint, a flying character battling a shrinking character inherently makes for a cool faceoff, and the sequence in Ant-Man delivered. Whats most important about this scene was establishing a connection between the two characters. Sam Wilson later refers Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, to Steve Rogers as part of Team Captain America during Civil War. With Scott in the loop with the Avengers, he later seeks their help in Endgame with the idea of building the universe-saving time machine using the quantum realm.So, if it werent for a short skirmish between Ant-Man and the Falcon, Thanos mightve won!13. Hawkeye in Thor (2011)Jeremy Renners Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, needed an introduction into the MCU before the Avengers assembled in 2012. That introduction ended up being a brief appearance in Thor. In a key moment of the film, and when the God of Thunder is at his lowest point, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson requests eyes to be up high on the Asgardian with a gun.The camera pans over a nicely laid-out weapons rack with all the firearms a sniper could ask for, but the mysterious operative opts for a bow and arrow instead. Eagle-eyed, or should we say hawk-eyed, Marvel fans immediately knew what this meant: Clint Barton had arrived in the MCU. Hawkeyes presence was immediately established in this world despite not uttering a single word, perfectly setting up the archer for his future MCU outings.12. The Illuminati in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)In the months leading up to the release of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the internet went into a frenzy trying to predict what potential multiversal cameos could appear in the Marvel sequel. Rumors of anyone from Tobey Maguires Spider-Man to Ben Afflecks Daredevil, or even Tom Cruise as Iron Man, were floating around. What we eventually got was the Illuminati on Earth-838. This council was made up of several different styles of cameo.Members of the Illuminati included Maria Rambeau, taking over the mantle of Captain Marvel instead of Carol Danvers. Hayley Atwells Captain Carter, first introduced in the animated series What If?, was brought to live-action for the first time wielding the vibranium shield. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Anson Mount reprised his role as Blackagar Boltagon, aka Black Bolt, King of the Inhumans. Mount previously portrayed the character in the short-lived 2017 TV series Inhumans, which Marvel Studios generally wants you to forget about.The two highest profile cameos from this scene featured The Office breakout John Krasinski playing Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, a popular online fan-casting come to life. Finally, Patrick Stewart returned to the role of Charles Xavier/Professor X, this time in his iconic hovering yellow chair from X-Men: The Animated Series. While the novelty of these cameos were entertaining, the individuals didnt last long, as every last one of them was brutally murdered by Wanda Maximoff. For some fans, and even some of the actors, that was a disappointment. But the cruel, mean-spirited humor in their deaths was classic Sam Raimi mischief.11. Killmonger in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)Director and actor pairings are nothing new. You have classic combinations like Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, Oscar-winning duos such as Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy, or newer collaborators like Greta Gerwig and Saoirse Ronan. One grouping thats flown under the radar in recent years is Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan. In fact, Jordan has appeared in all four of Cooglers directorial efforts, with Sinners, their fifth film together, hitting theaters next year. Despite this, audiences were unsure whether or not Jordan would pop up in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.Erik Killmonger, Jordans character in the first Black Panther (2018), is often regarded as one of the best villains in the entire MCU. The multifaceted cousin of King TChalla proved a more than worthy adversary to the Black Panther but met his demise in the films final act. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is no stranger to character resurrections, but that wasnt the case with Killmongers cameo in Wakanda Forever.As is tradition with the incarnation of the new Black Panther, Princess Shuri (Letita Wright) took the ceremonial heart-shaped herb to gain the heros powers. This process transports her to the Ancestral Plane, the afterlife of the Wakandan people. In the original film, TChalla talked to his late father, TChaka, in this domain. In Wakanda Forever, Shuri is surprised to see her cousin Killmonger there instead waiting to greet her. Their interaction is brief, but Jordan commands the screen once again, pushing the plot forward in unexpected ways.10. Red Skull in Avengers: Infinity War (2018)The final showdown from Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) between the titular character and his arch nemesis, the leader of Hydra Red Skull, concludes with the Nazi holding the tesseract in his hand and being teleported into space. Nobody knew what happened to the villainous character, and fans wouldnt find out for another seven years.Enter Avengers: Infinity War. Thanos is on his quest to collect all six of the Infinity Stones, taking him to the remote planet of Vormir. To obtain the Soul Stone, Thanos must sacrifice a soul he truly loves. Who is the protector of the Soul Stone? Its none other than Red Skull, who has acquired a rather sinister black cloak since we last saw him nearly 75 years in the past of the MCU timeline. This cameo was quite a surprise to Marvel fans and helped to pay off a plotline established nearly a decade beforehand.Read more 9. Tony Stark in The Incredible Hulk (2008)The MCU debuted in the summer of 2008 with two separate movies. The first film, Iron Man, was a massive success credited with jumpstarting the beloved franchisethe second film, The Incredible Hulk, not so much. Lukewarm reception, mediocre box office returns, and the infamous recasting of Edward Norton as the titular character resulted in The Incredible Hulk feeling detached from the greater Marvel universe, sans one scene at the very end.Just slightly over a month after Iron Man premiered, Marvel fans were treated to the first legitimate crossover in the MCU. Gen. Thunderbolt Ross is pictured drinking his troubles away after the events of the film when Robert Downey Jr.s Tony Stark walks into the bar. The two have a brief conversation, referencing the super soldier serum used to create Captain America and the team Iron Man is helping to assemble, which, of course, would become the Avengers four years later. While viewers had no idea what was in store at this point, the scene from The Incredible Hulk laid the groundwork for future MCU crossover and gave us the first recurring face of an actor from an ostensibly different franchiseand what a face too when he looks like Iron Man.8. Wong vs. The Abomination in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was a breath of fresh air for the MCU in the post-Endgame era. Similar to many films from Phase 1, Shang-Chi felt mostly detached from the rest of the world, setting up its own little pocket of the universe. However, Marvel wouldnt let the movie get away with zero connections to other films, and the surprise cameos we got were bangers.Our protagonist finds himself in an underground fighting ring where various Marvel characters have matches that spectators can gamble on. The first big fight we see features Wong from the Doctor Strange movies battling against the Abomination, returning to the MCU for the first time in over a decade since The Incredible Hulk. Its a pairing no Marvel fan ever thought wed see, and it set up some funny storylines in the Disney+ show, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.7. J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)With all the multiverse gobbledygook surrounding the MCU over the last few years, J.K. Simmons reprising his role as J. Jonah Jameson from the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy doesnt seem like a massive shock. However, lets not forget when Spider-Man: Far From Home was released.In 2019, the MCU was fresh off Endgame, and the Multiverse Saga had yet to begin. When J. Jonah popped up on screen in the mid-credits of Far From Home, it was a genuine shock. Everyone figured the MCU would recast the part for their universe, but some actors are just too good to replace. The Oscar-winning Simmons is one of those, and the scene hes featured in had massive implications for Peter Parkers character moving forward in the MCU. Also by making him an Alex Jones-like internet influencer, as opposed to an actual journalist, somehow makes the character a lot scarier.6. Nick Fury in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)About 99 percent of Captain America: The First Avenger is set during World War II, which doesnt leave the door open for many surprise MCU appearances. However, the feature concludes with Steve Rogers waking up in present-day New York City. After not falling for S.H.I.E.L.Ds tricks to make him believe hes still in the 1940s, Rogers rampages out of his hospital room into the streets of Times Square. There he is greeted by Nick Fury.This was the final piece needed to bring the original team of Avengers together before their first crossover film in 2012. Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, Thor, and Hawkeye had already been established with a connection to S.H.I.E.L.D., and Captain America was the last component needed. The after-credits scene of The First Avenger was a trailer for The Avengers as well, beginning the hype train for the ambitious event film.5. Johnny Storm/The Human Torch in Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)There may be some debate as to whether or not this is technically a cameo per se because of Chris Evans screen time in the film, but his entire purpose in Deadpool & Wolverine builds to a fantastic punchline, so were counting it. Discovered in the backdrop of the Void, a hooded figure with a familiar voice communicates with our heroes. He drops down, does the recurring superhero landing joke from the other DeadpoolAvengers: Infinity War. Shades of dark blue can be seen underneath his cloak, leading the viewer to immediately associate him with the Star-Spangled Man.But in a classic bait-and-switch reveal, Evans does not assemble the Avengers. Instead he exclaims flame on! whilst his body is engulfed in fire. Thats right, hes Johnny Storm, aka the Human Torch from Fantastic Four (2005). While the mid-2000s Fantastic Four flicks were poorly received, Evans was always a bright spot, and it was entertaining as hell to watch him play against his usual Captain America type in a modern Marvel movie. Additionally, the final post-credits bit about his words for Cassandra Nova was the icing on the cake. His death, and how he was just asking for it, is one of the funniest moments in MCU history.4. Thanos in The Avengers (2012)The Avengers took the world by storm in May 2012. Breaking dozens of box office records, the crossover event film cemented the MCU as a force to be reckoned with for years to come. The comic book flick didnt necessarily need a tease in the mid-credits; everyone wouldve left the theater satisfied regardless, but what Marvel gave us was nothing short of monumental.A glance and a grin. Thats all it took to establish Thanos in the MCU. The mad titans intentions were palpable from a single expression: we all knew he meant business. It would take another six years to establish precisely what his intentions were for the universe, but boy, was it worth the wait, as Thanos has since become one of the most iconic comic book movie villains of the 21st century.3. Everyone in Avengers: Endgame (2019)Let it be known there could be an entirely separate list counting down the best cameos in Avengers: Endgame. Everyone and their mamma (literally, if youre Thor) showed up in this movie. Audiences expected those who Thanos dusted to return in some way, shape, and form; nobody really believed theyd permanently kill off the likes of Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange. The more surprising cameos were the random characters from the history of the Infinity Saga showing up once again, despite several of them being deceased in-universe.Some highlights include Tilda Swintons the Ancient One from Doctor Strange (2016), Robert Redfords Alexander Pierce from Captain America: The Winter Soldier in his last onscreen role, and Rene Russo returning to the part of Friga, Thors mother, for the first time since Thor: The Dark World. But the cameos dont stop there. Others include Ty Simpkins back as Harley, last seen in Iron Man 3 (2013), Natalie Portman returned as Jane Foster from the Thor films, perhaps leading to her return in Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), and James DArcy as Edwin Jarvis, the first instance of a Marvel television character making the jump to the cinema. DArcy was first seen as Howard Starks butler Jarvis, the namesake of Tony Starks future AI, in the TV show Agent Carter.Finally, wed be remiss if we didnt shout out recent Emmy-winner Hiroyuki Sanadas role as Akihiko, a Yakuza boss in Tokyo who faces off against Hawkeye in a brilliant one-take shot action sequence.2. Stan Lee in Every MCU Movie from Iron Man (2008) Avengers: Endgame (2019)One of the principal architects behind the Marvel Comics we all know and love, Stan Lee is a legend. With a larger-than-life personality, the late comic book writer was a perfect choice as a recurring cameo throughout the entirety of the MCU. Stan Lees Marvel movie appearances predate the MCU, with his first credit coming in the 1989 TV movie, The Trial of the Incredible Hulk.Stan Lees crowning acting achievement, though, was appearing in the first 22 MCU films, starting with Iron Man and fittingly being sent off with Avengers: Endgame, the highest-grossing installment in the entire franchise. Some other notable Lee cameos include being mistaken for Larry King in Iron Man 2 (2010), a Smithsonian security guard who lets Steve Rogers steal his original Captain America suit in The Winter Soldier, and a FedEx delivery driver who refers to Iron Man as Tony Stank in Civil War. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Lee is pictured in a space suit talking to the Watchers, implying that all of his cameos throughout the MCU are somehow the same person.Finally, Stan Lees various appearances are commemorated in the Marvel Studios fanfare in Captain Marvel (2019), the first MCU film released after his death. Anticipating Stan Lees latest cameo in the most recent Marvel flick became tradition for fans, and the universe hasnt been the same without him.1. Nick Fury in Iron Man (2008)Im here to talk to you about the Avenger initiative.Those 10 words uttered by Samuel L. Jacksons Nick Fury started this whole shebang. Nobody thought anything like The Avengers was possible when Iron Man was released. Every Marvel movie before it was a standalone project with no crossover. All that changed when the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. popped up in the post-credits scene of Iron Man.For starters, Samuel L. Jackson was a surprise cameo unto himself. Even if you didnt understand the comic book implications of Nick Fury arriving onscreen, it was undeniably cool to see a Hollywood legend appear out of nowhere. In the early 2000s, Marvel Comics redesigned Nick Fury for their Ultimate alternate universe to look like the actor, so he was the perfect casting choice for the role. But of course, the most exciting part of this cameo was the words that came out of his mouth.Little could we know that Nick Fury recruiting Iron Man would change the course of cinema forever, but he spelled everything out for us right then and there. Fury states, You think youre the only superhero in the world? Mr. Stark, youve become part of a bigger universe; you just dont know it yet. That line set up the entirety of the future of the MCU, which is why the first significant cameo in the franchise remains its greatest to date.

This article contains spoilers for Arcane season 2.The Arcane is waking up.A phrase from the Arcane season 2 trailer provides a key thematic anchor for what weve seen so far in Acts I and II, and were likely to witness even more awakenings in the final chapter of the series. Theres still plenty of mystery surrounding raw magic and wild runes after what was largely a more steampunk first season, and it appears that there are some very real consequences for hextechs meddling with such powerful chaotic energy. But who or what exactly is waking up?Its not just the powers of magic, thats for sure. Isha awakened feelings of family within Jinx, who in turn awakened Vi from her drunken self pity. Caitlyn couldnt allow Vi to lose a parent like she did and awakened to the manipulation of Ambessa. Vander awakened inside the body of a beast, and all seemed like family and friends were headed towards a reconciliation and reunion. But Arcane likes to awaken hope in its viewers hearts only to snatch it away with exquisite, tragic cruelty.The magical awakenings are equally as interesting if a little bit more mysterious. What did Jayce see inside the Anomaly, for example, to make him seek out his best friend and kill him? His inner turmoil is very evident, even to Viktor, who, when Jayce calls hextech a curse, says You seem different. Something happened. Now I see it. You, too, have touched the Arcane. Your mind suffered.Are the forces of magic angry with what theyve done to command its energy through technology? Whatever Jayce might mean by I will not fail, Viktors supposed death somehow elicits further thoughts on the matter. I understand now the reason for our failures in the commune Viktor says, seemingly reflecting on the situation after having died. The doctor was right. Its inescapable! Humanity! Is it possible Viktor could still rise again to strip away his last remaining weakness once and for all? After all, Sky awakened inside his mind!Then theres the Medarda clan. Although the arrival of the mystical Black Rose could be seen as an arcane awakening of sorts, it appears that this force has been at work in Noxus for quite some time. The secretive cabal clearly doesnt want Ambessa exercising too much control outside of their purview, mentioning a feud that cost the general her son under mysterious circumstances. But the awakening actually happens elsewhere.If those who have imprisoned Mel are seeking answers that her brother Kino couldnt provide, they may be getting more than they bargained for. A voice says, We had such high hopes for him! At first it seemed plausible that he could have been the child, but then your mother led us to you sister. The burst of powerful light that is Mels only response speaks to a hidden power we never suspected, nor perhaps did Mel herself. Quite the awakening!And dont forget that Jayce wasnt the only one swept up in the Anomaly! Heimerdinger and Ekko are presumably still lost in the magical dimension that changed Jayces hammer and embedded that blue gem from his childhood in his wrist. Could the ex-councilor and head Firelight awaken to their own new powers, perhaps ones that resemble what League of Legends players recognize from the game? (Zero Drive anyone?)The Arcane may be waking up, but one person is still asleep at the end of Act II: the loved one of Singed, the developer of Shimmer now known as Dr. Reveck. League of Legends players will recognize the doctors name and what that says about the identity of the girl in the glass coffin, but its unknown what it will take to bring her out of her slumber. Her awakening may have to wait until Act III, which will wrap up Arcanes story on November 23.

This article contains major spoilers for Cobra Kai season 6 part 2.Season 6 is the final bow for Cobra Kai, but dont be fooled. The abrupt ending of episode 10 is akin to how Monty Python and the Holy Grail concluded. For Cobra Kai, this season is different its more like a season and a half. While the previous five outings of the Karate Kid sequel were 10-episodes long, this one goes to 15.This isnt the end just yet. There are five more episodes of Daniel (Ralph Macchio), Johnny (William Zabka), and Chozens (Yuji Okumoto) journey to go. Cobra Kai showrunners Jon Hurwitz, Josh Heald, and Hayden Schlossberg sat down with Den of Geek to discuss the rest of that journey.Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2s Cliffhanger Ending at the Sekai TaikaiSeason 6 episode 10 ends with another edge-of-your-seat cliffhanger a stupefying camera cut right smack in the middle of an all-out battle royale with everyone in the mix. And when it comes to cliffhangers, Cobra Kai has earned a black belt.Our initial plan was that we would keep the final five episodes a secret to the world and then would end [episode 10] this way, grins Hurwitz. But I think a lot of people dont realize that theres a third batch. So were going to get what we wanted out of a lot of viewers who are just like What? It ended like that!?Season 6 takes Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do far away from the All Valley Karate Tournament, the fictional battleground for the two rival dojos, to the Sekai Taikai, a world tournament set in Barcelona.The big thing for us was weve built up the Sekai Taikai to be something that is unlike other karate tournaments that theres added levels of danger and unpredictability when it comes to what the events are going to be, Hurwitz says.The set up for the tournament is such that each character gets to fight in succession, allowing for complex character development within the fights and escalating tension. Its not like any tournament seen before, real or fantasy, which creates a compelling showcase for the young cast.We definitely did some research on world tournaments, Hurwitz says. But we tried to free ourselves from what was real and create things that would happen in this tournament that was a little larger than life.The Villains Old and NewAt the end of season 5, Kreese (Martin Kove) escaped from jail and weaseled his way back as the sensei of Cobra Kai to terrorize Daniel, Johnny, and their students. In a wicked season 6 twist, it turns out that Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) also evaded incarceration and returns for the Sekai Taikai.Injecting Terry Silver into the world, you have the twist of him double crossing Kreese, which you never see coming, Schlossberg says. So theres always the soap opera between the original actors from The Karate Kid that we just love, that this little rivalry from 1984 is still reverberating today and causing all this havoc.The return of Silver ratchets up the action and the mercilessness. Suddenly Kreese is fighting a multifront war.We like playing with the iconography of the original movie, adds Schlossberg. Its always fun when you can take something from the original movie and repurposed it in Cobra Kai.Taking the Sekai Takai global opens the door to many new rival dojos. And within them, there are new villains. In the very early going, we were really concentrating on bringing in new villainy, new bad guys and bad girls, Heald says. Cobra Kai and Miyagi-do must face off against a brutal opposing team, the Iron Dragons. Leading that dojo is Sensei Wolf (Lewis Tan) and Zara Malik (Rayna Vallandingham), two real life martial arts masters in roles that couldnt be more perfect for them.Tan is the son of Philip Tan, making him a second-generation martial artist and actor. Previously he has starred in martial-themed projects like Into the Badlands and Mortal Kombat.It was important to us that [Sensei Wolf] be somebody of substance and of martial art pedigree that can enter this world believably and scarily, says Heald. There were very few people who could deliver that. When they discovered Tan was available and willing to come and play, they pursued him aggressively. We couldnt really see it any other way.Vallandingham is a 13-time World Champion in Taekwondo. And just like her character Zara, shes a martial arts influencer with 2.5 million followers on Instagram and 2.3 million on TikTok. Rayna became kind of a model for that character before we went into production, says Heald. We were following her online and thinking, okay, she could potentially come in and nail this. As an influencer in real life, Vallandinghams role as Zara went meta. We were watching it play out in real time on Instagram while writing it, continues Heald. At one point, the lines got blurred.I just want to say she is not like Zara at all, adds Hurwitz, Shes kind and sweet and game and supportive of everybody. Shes amazing. Oftentimes the sweetest, kindest people do such a great job of playing villainous characters because they get to let loose in a fun way thats not like them at all.The Future of the FranchiseThe stage, or perhaps the mat, is set for the Cobra Kai finale, but Netflix has yet to announce a release date for the final five episodes. Nevertheless, the showrunners claim to have many more twists up their sleeves to stick that landing.There are scenes in the final few episodes that weve been talking about for seven or eight years now. Some of them even longer, Hurwitz says. Its really exciting to be able to finish what we started in a way that has intent as opposed to just being told No more Cobra Kai, and the fans are left with an incomplete story.Cobra Kai might be ending, but the franchise never dies. Sony has announced Karate Kid: Legends, a feature-length film that will unite Ralph Macchios Daniel with Jackie Chans Mr. Han from the 2010 reboot thatstarred Jaden Smith (Will Smith is a producer of Cobra Kai, The Karate Kid reboot, and this upcoming Karate Kid: Legends). Slated for release in May 2025, Heald, Hurwitz, and Schlossberg are not involved with this new project.Were as curious as everybody about that movie, says Heald. Within the Cobra Kai Miyagi-verse, Jackie Chan exists as Jackie Chan, but Mr. Han does not. However, they understand why Sony wants to blend those franchises and are eager to see how this movie goes. We love Ralph, adds Heald, We root for all things Karate Kid.And there may be more to come from the Cobra Kai showrunners, but nothing they are able to disclose at this time. We have so many different ideas for kinds of spinoffs, says Hurwitz. Some of the ideas they have been spitballing are a deeper exploration of Mr. Miyagis past, Johnny Lawrences journey down the road, the futures of Tori, Robbie, Miguel, Samantha, the Binary Brothers, and Chozen. Even new characters like the Iron Dragons, Hurwitz adds. We just love playing in this sandbox and hopefully in the wake of Cobra Kai, there will be opportunities to go down different paths.Cobra Kai Season 6 Part 2 is now available on Netflix. The final five episodes of Cobra Kai are scheduled for some time in 2025.

Both the Rebel Alliance and the Resistance have called a few different planets and moons home over the course of Star Wars history, and yet Yavin 4 continues to be the best of them all. Finding somewhere safe outside the purview of a fascistic government cant be an easy task, but Rebels somehow keep finding their way to the jungle moon of the gas giant Yavin Prime. We first see this moon in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope as the home base of the Rebel Alliance and again in Rogue One. Though weve yet to see how or why the Rebels came to settle on Yavin, Andor season 2 might just give us some insight into how this Rebel base came to be.Series creator Tony Gilroy told Empire Magazine that there will be a return to Yavin this season. I mean, we have to end up in Yavin, right? So, well tell the story of Yavin. No one has quite dealt with Yavin the way we will be doing it.Settling on a planet like Hoth, as the Rebel Alliance does in The Empire Strikes Back, makes logistical sense. It has a harsh, unforgiving, frozen surface, which makes it less likely for there to be Empire-sympathizers hidden on the planet and it makes it less likely for random ships to show up and find them. Obviously, we know that this logic wasnt totally foolproof as the Empire does find them, but it makes more sense, in some ways, to make a home base on a planet like this than it does on Yavin 4.But we cant fault the Rebels for choosing Yavin 4 as their first major base either. From what weve seen of it thus far, Yavin is a gorgeous place. Its lush and green and inviting. It does make sense that Rebel leaders would want to settle on a place that kind of feels like a vacation destination probably makes for a nice little morale boost.Weve yet to see other people on Yavin 4 other than the Rebels. This doesnt necessarily mean that the moon was uninhabited, but the Rebels also dont seem like the kinds of people who would force their way into a place if it meant angering or displacing people indigenous to the planet. Thats what the Empire does.In the Doctor Aphra comic series, it was revealed that a species known as the Massassi once lived on Yavin 4, but they were extinct for millennia before the Battle of Yavin took place. They built temples at the behest of a tyrannical Sith Lord, which we have yet to see on screen. It doesnt seem likely that Gilroy would reference these in Andor, as the series likes to stay grounded in the everyday people outside of the Sith and Jedi, but its still an important part of the moons history that could come into play.It will certainly be interesting to see how Yavin 4 went from what was likely an abandoned moon to the hub of the Rebel fleet. By the time we see Yavin in Rogue One and A New Hope, the base is thriving with forces moving in and out as needed. The Battle of Yavin is so important to Star Wars history that it has become the point from which all other time in the Star Wars universe is based. Everything either happens before the Battle of Yavin (BBY) or after (ABY). We cant wait to see what Andor has in store for this moon and what the show will add to its history.Andor season 2 premieres Tuesday, April 22, 2025 on Disney+.

By this point, the interstellar hunters known as Yautja have appeared in several movies, comics, and video games. Yet, each Predator movie follows the same basic structure: were introduced to human protagonists, we see them get killed by a mysterious force, and its not until late in the film that we finally see the ugly motherf-r in its full glory.Not so for upcoming new entry Predator: Badlands, which is seemingly changing up the usual formula. This film puts the Predator front and center, leading the charge, according to director Dan Trachtenberg in an interview with Empire.Hes still badass, but theres something there that touches you emotionally, too, Trachtenberg trased. Creating a character you connect with, but are also super-intimidated by, has been challenging. But exciting.That last part stands out, as the Predator franchise isnt historically known for the emotional depth of their main characters. The heroes of the original 1987 film worked better as hunks of American exceptionalism who get torn apart by a bigger threat than they do as people with interiority. Danny Glover finds bits of depth to his overwhelmed L.A. cop in Predator 2 (1990), but both 2010s Predators and 2018s The Predator go back to macho men spouting one-liners and sneering at one another.In fact, the only properly rich hero in the franchise thus far came from Trachtenbergs first outing in the series, Prey (2022). As played by Amber Midthunder, Comanche warrior Naru wants to prove herself to her tribe and move out from under the shadow of her brother. Her plight gets even more rich when European colonizers arrive, a sign of the battle to come.For Trachtenberg, the complexity of Preys hero meant that he had to continue pushing the franchise forward in its next entry. The director needed to find another essential piece of cinema that does what Prey did spirituallypushing the franchises boundaries, letting us root for a hero we rarely get to root forbut in a different way. And that transformed into this big idea of rooting for the Predator.With a change in focus also comes a change in setting. At this point, we still dont know much about the plot of Predator: Badlands. However, we do know that it takes place on a wasted world in the far future and will star Elle Fanning. That description might bring to mind Predators, which followed a group of human tough guys stranded on a planet used as a Yautja hunting ground. But where that film had an ensemble cast with character actors such as Walton Goggins and Mahershala Ali, Badlands will involve a pair of sisters.She faced intense challenges on this moviedramatically, physically, logistically, Trachtenberg says of his lead human. He doesnt say more, but we cant help but wonder if those challenges relate to the movies shift in focus. If the Predator is the hero here, does that mean Fanning will have to do the stuff usually done by the antagonist, ripping out spines and skinning victims?Well, probably not. But it will be exciting to see how these human sisters challenge our Yautja protagonist.Predator: Badlands releases on Nov. 7, 2025.

Our friends from Vizio are turning up the heat on the holiday season with a curated list of the hottest free action titles on WatchFree+ in November!WatchFree+ has thousands of free premium movies and shows that can be streamed on demand on VIZIO TVs, or ANYONE can enjoy titles like these and more using the VIZIO mobile app! All you need is a free VIZIO Account to start enjoying WatchFree+.Current offerings include Black Hawk Down (2001), Training Day (2001), The Crow (1994), Cloverfield (2008), Charlies Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Angels & Demons (2009), Sicario: Day of the Soldado (2018), Behind Enemy Lines (2001), Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil (2006), Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia (2009), and Vampire in Brooklyn (1995).Read more at Vizio.comTo celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Terminator, Den of Geek has an exclusive reveal of two incredible new posters from Vice Press inspired by the film! This wonderful artwork was created by Florey. Sometimes the fact that the Nintendo Switch is a hybrid console and handheld works against it, such as when playing Mario & Luigi: Brothership.For the vast majority of my Switch gaming, the console stays safely ensconced in its dock by the TV, with my hands on a Pro Controller, playing it exactly like I play my PlayStation 5. On some level, I know Im Doing It Wrong by not taking advantage of the systems hybrid nature and mobility, but playing Brothershipan unlikely return to one of Nintendos best handheld franchisesreally brought that disconnect into focus.Read more at The A.V. ClubSilo showrunner Graham Yost shares how the Apple TV+ show has broadened in season 2, offering a new plot to go along with the additional setting.Season 1 was a tense, claustrophobic paranoid conspiracy drama that ended with mechanic-turned-sheriff Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) venturing out into the wastelandNow, in Season 2, the story has fractured into two separate stories: one following Juliette as she tries to find her way home and another following the world Juliette left behind, where she has gone from leader to symbol. But this latter storyline, following an uprising in the silo, is far bigger than its counterpart.Read more at InverseLove Actually director Richard Curtis jokes that Heretic star Hugh Grant had to work harder in my movies when he was pretending to be nice.Curtis said that for over a decade, no one took any risks with Grant, but he finds it lovely that the actor has carved out a new niche for himself in the later stages of his career. The two worked together on romantic comedies like Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Love Actually. However, the Emmy Award-winning director said he would still like to see Grant return to the charming, rom-com roles of his earlier years.Read more at The WrapThe Boys will be ending after its upcoming fifth season, but showrunner Eric Kripke doesnt necessarily see that as a total mistake.For some, the news came as a gut punch, while others were happy that it would be bowing out peacefully, not pushing the storyline further and becoming the very thing that it has been dunking on after all these years. And, although he will be sad to see it go, series creator, Eric Kripke, seems to align more with the latter camp, certain that he doesnt want to push the show too far over the edge and disappoint the fandom in that way.Read more at Collider

Across six decades and several iterations, one thing has remained true about Doctor Who. The series portrays adventures across space and time. For this years Christmas special, Joy to the World, writer Steven Moffat plans to put a unique twist on the concept.Imagine that a hotel chain got hold of the idea of time travel, Moffat revealed to BBC South East in a recent interview (via Total Film). Whats the first thing a hotel would do if they had time travel? Theyd realize they have an opportunity to sell all the unsold nights in their old hotels [throughout] history.Fans already saw a bit of that hotels function in a teaser released back in July. The short begins with Ncuti Gatwas Fourteenth Doctor popping into various visitor spaces throughout space and time, offering a ham and cheese toastie and a pumpkin latte. Halfway through, we meet Joy, a kind but lonely young woman played by Nicola Coughlan. As soon as Joy gets into her room, shes interrupted, first by a Silurian in a business suit and then by the Doctor, once again bringing breakfast.Moffats explanation helps us better understand whats happening in that teaser. The Doctor is investigating the hotel chain, going through its various rooms and looking for a person who can help, a person who loves ham and cheese toasties and pumpkin spice lattes.The meal is a classic Moffat tautology, in which wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff puts the effect before the cause. One of the most delightful versions occurred in The Big Bang, in which the Doctor slakes his thirst with a drink he steals from the past, which makes him parched in the first place. Then theres the River Song plot throughout Moffats episodes, in which we meet the Doctors wife as a woman moving backwards through time and eventually learn that shes the daughter of Amy Pond. But the best might be from Moffats first episode Blink, where the Doctor communicates to Carey Mulligans Sally Sparrow through a message distributed across VHS tapes.While these types of episode were common under Russell T Daviess first tenure as showrunner, which was followed by Moffat in charge for seven years, they more or less fell away after Chris Chibnall took over in 2018. But with Davies back for a few more seasons, Moffats style of Doctor Who adventure has a home once again.In fact, they work particularly well within the series current overarching mystery, which began with last years Christmas special, The Church on Ruby Road. That special introduced Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday, the Doctors latest companion, whose true identity vexes the Doctor. Given that Rubys Christmas Day birth in general, and the hooded figure who left her on a church doorstep in particular, drive the Fourteenth Doctors story, Moffats approach is welcome. Is the person who delivered the infant Ruby to the church on Ruby Road the adult Ruby herself?The 2024 Christmas Special isnt likely to answer that question. Instead, like most Christmas specials, it will let the Doctor run around with another special companion. But its depiction of time flattening out in a hotel might help prepare viewers to finally understand Rubys true identity.The 2024 Doctor Who Christmas special Joy to the World airs this Christmas on Disney+ in the U.S. and on BBC and BBC iPlayer in the UK.

This must be a Taskmaster first. Of the five celebrities taking part in the 2025 New Years Treat, three are bona fide letters-after-their-name Commanders, Members or Officers of the Order of the British Empire: money expert Martin Lewis CBE, former England footballer David James MBE and acting national treasure Sue Johnston OBE. Whether having eaten cucumber sandwiches at Buckingham Palace will help or hinder them in their attempt to nail a jelly to a wall or whatever high jinks Greg Davies and Alex Horne have planned this yuletide, remains to be seen.Mathematician and TV presenter Professor Hannah Fry will be joining that trio in the annual one-off special featuring non-comedians. Shell be there alongside pop singer Melanie Blatt of All Saints. Never ever has Melanie thrown a potato into the hole without touching the red green, but theres a first time for everything.Lets find out a bit more about the quintet wholl be competing to win a golden pair of Greg Davies eyebrows while viewers at home munch their way through Christmas leftovers and very likely nurse a little hangover.Melanie BlattAll Saints singer Melanie Blatts agent has been busy booking her on celebrity formats in recent years. Shes been a Celebrity MasterChef finalist, competed in Celebrity Race Across the World, and was one of the celebrity judges on The X Factor New Zealand. Now, she faces the greatest celebrity challenge of all no, not pretending to laugh at the jokes on Michael McIntyres The Wheel, but doing the one-off Taskmaster special.Martin LewisFinancial journalist Martin Lewis CBE is the founder of MoneySavingExpert.com and the presenter of The Martin Lewis Money Show and The Martin Lewis Podcast as well as a regular money correspondent on ITV magazine and daytime shows. Will he whip Gregs investments portfolio into shape in exchange for extra points? Lets wait to see.David JamesFormer England goalkeeper turned pundit, presenter and charity fundraiser, David James MBE is one of the few Taskmaster contestants tall enough to almost be able to stand eye-to-eye with Greg Davies. Hes a regular face on celebrity formats, from Strictly Come Dancing (see above) to Pointless Celebrities, Celebrity Mastermind, Richard Osmans House of Games, The Chase and many more.Sue JohnstonSue Johnston OBE is a famous face from Brookside, The Royle Family, Waking the Dead, Downton Abbey,and recently, Ben Wheatleys Channel 4 zombie horror Generation Z. Surely the Taskmaster will show due deference to her national treasure status and just give Sue all the points right at the start?Professor Hannah FryMathematician, science communicator and TV presenter Prof. Hannah Fry is another familiar face whos fronted multiple documentaries, given the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures and recently, presented BBC satirical news show Have I Got News For You? As with all of Taskmasters most educated contestants (Hugh Dennis, David Baddiel), should we expect some extreme stupidity?Taskmasters New Years Treat 2025 is expected to air in early January 2025 on Channel 4.

This post contains spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine.He might arrive spinning his cards, accompanied by triumphant music and a slow-mo stride, but make no mistake: Gambit is introduced as a joke in Deadpool & Wolverine. Gambits a joke on a plot level, as he alone represents one-quarter of the resistance army that the titular heroes hoped would be much larger; hes also a deep cut in-joke, even by Deadpool standards, because hes played by Channing Tatum, who tried for years to get a Gambit solo film out of development hell; and hes a comic book nerd joke, decked out with all the absurdities that made him seem cool in the 90s and dated immediately afterward, with his duster and head sock, and his superfluous French catchphrases.But by the end of the movie, Gambit is a full-on superhero in his own right. And Deadpool & Wolverine is just one of the stories that reestablished the Ragin Cajuns status as one of Marvels most reliable characters. Its a Gambit renaissance occurring across comics, cartoons, and cinema.Remember It AgainMr. Stubble King 1994 read a caption under Gambits appearance in The No-Sin Situation, a hilarious back-up story written and drawn by Chip Zdarsky. A spoof of the otherwise dire Original Sins crossover, The No-Sin Situation was published in 2014 (so well after Gambits heyday) and largely consisted of single-panel talking head shots of Marvel heroes making embarrassing confessions. Sometimes I kill people who I suspect are vampires but really I know they arent vampires, says Blade, in a typical example. I just really like killing.The comic begins with Gambits admission, and its among the most ridiculous. Im not actually French, admits a character the comic already told readers is 20 years dated. Its why I always just pepper easy French words like oui and chere with English. I just wanted to sound coolPublished decades after the height of Gambit mania, The No-Sin Situation highlighted what a punching bag Remy LeBeau had become. One of the last great characters that legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont introduced during his 14-year run, Gambit had everything that people loved about Wolverine, including a dubious moral compass and a shadowy backstory, but in a 90s-centric package. By the time Original Sin hit comic shops, Gambit had been muscled out of the X-Men and into a lesser incarnation of X-Factor, where even the great Peter David failed to find something compelling to do with him.Contrast that to the current Uncanny X-Men ongoing by Gail Simone and David Marquez. Speaking with Den of Geek before the first issues release, Simone praised the romance between Gambit and Rogue as the driving force of her story. I love that Rogue andGambitare central to it because their romance is super hot, Simone said.While the writer doesnt shy away from lambasting other popular characters (see: her Cyclops comments on social media), shes 100 percent serious about Gambit in Uncanny. The passionate relationship between him and Rogue drives Simones story, which finds a group of mutants hiding out in Gambits old bayou stomping grounds.Yet the most impressive example of Gambits unlikely 2024 renaissance might be the way hes used in the surprisingly excellent cartoon series, X-Men 97. For the first couple of episodes, Gambit appears exactly as one would expect in a revival of a Saturday morning cartoon show from the 1990s: hes charming, but in a goofy dad sort of way. As the series progresses, however, to embrace richer themes about fascism and oppression, Gambit goes from hot goofball to genuine hero. In his greatest moment, Gambit stands down the massive Sentinel attacking the mutant-ruled island of Genosha. Gambits swagger pauses when the Sentinel pierces him with a metallic tentacle, but only for a moment.The camera cuts to a close-up of his blood-stained mouth, which slides into a characteristic smirk. The names Gambit, he tells the genocidal robot. Remember it. And with that delivery, Gambit charges the entire machine, sacrificing himself in his last breath while blowing up the massive threat to all mutankind.At that moment, Gambit becomes an awesome hero without sacrificing any of the elements that made him a punchline for so many years.Timeless CoolInitially, Gambits Deadpool & Wolverine appearance seems ready to set back the Cool-O-Meter. The movie gets a lot of mileage out of Tatums garbled Cajun accent and his stylish, if impractical, tendency to throw charged playing cards at enemies.Your powers close-up magic. Thats good, Deadpool observes, with typical snark. Even in that scene, however, Tatum begins to bring a bit of charm to the joke.As the heroes rouse themselves out of a defeated stupor by admitting their place in the world, both fictional and real, Jennifer Garners Elektra, a character we havent seen in 19 years, laments, Our worlds forgot about us. Yet it is Tatums Gambit who earns the laugh by adding, Or never learned about us. Yet as the heroes continue to commiserate, there is no irony to Gambits observation about the lives they saved or wanted to save. There is a genuine sadness to Gambits line deliveries that cuts through all of the self-aware winking, a sadness that cant even be undercut by the extended description of conception that Gambit is about to offer.That richness marks Tatums take on Gambit throughout the movie. As demonstrated in Logan Lucky and the Magic Mike films, Tatum excels at grafting affable charm onto a movie star body. He doesnt have the aggressive charisma of, say, a Tom Cruise or even Dwayne Johnson. Rather his charisma is derived from a laid back personality that draws people closer toward him. And crucially, as demonstrated by his surprise cameos in This is the End, The Lego Movie, and The Hateful Eight, hes happy to be the butt of the joke.Tatums effortless charm allows Gambit to be both laughable and cool, especially as the movie progresses. After spending several minutes laughing at Gambit, we viewers feel compelled to cut him some slack when he gets to charge a whole deck in slow-motion. Its unnecessarily flashy, especially in the middle of a battle that director Shawn Levy mostly shoots with chaotic handheld cameras and lots of cuts. In an action sequence that is tediously directed, weve got to admit this moment looks cool.So cool, in fact, that star Ryan Reynolds released a deleted scene to grateful and excited fans. The scene finds Gambits body in the wreckage of the battle on Cassandra Novas hordes. His eyes begin to glow, suggesting that he has not died, teasing more Gambit adventures in one universe or another.Read more From the Big Easy to the Big TimeWill a Gambit solo movie finally happen? Yes, Deadpool & Wolverine made a ton of money and Tatums Gambit was a highlight, but its hard to imagine the beleaguered MCU putting too much money in a revival of a movie series that never actually happened.Even if Tatum doesnt get to strap on the headsock again, he succeeded in making Gambit a viable character in a year that has turned out to be about reclaiming the Ragin Cajun. Between Tatums take in Deadpool & Wolverine, Simone and Marquezs story in Uncanny X-Men, and the thrilling first season of X-Men 97, Gambits ready to hit the big time once again even if he has to endure a few giggles along the way.Deadpool & Wolverine is now streaming on Disney+.

Irish comedy-drama Bad Sisters is back on Apple TV+. Season one, adapted from Belgian original Clan, was one of the finest shows of 2022 and season two picks up two years after its dramatic conclusion. Joining the Garvey sisters (Eva, Grace, Ursula, Bibi and Becka, played respectively by Sharon Horgan, Anne-Marie Duff, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene and Eve Hewson) this time around are a bunch of returning favourites as well as a few newcomers. Find out more about Fiona Shaws tricky Angelica, Thaddea Grahams fresh-faced detective Una and some more familiar faces below. And if you need a recap of what went on last time to jog your memory, we have you covered here.Fiona Shaw as Angelica CollinsThe sister of Roger Muldoon (Grace and JPs former neighbour), Angelicas introduced with the subtitle The Wagon. Irish readers wont need an explanation of that slang term, but for anybody who does, its a derogatory term for an extremely obnoxious, unlikeable and strong-willed woman, and seems to be a fitting one for Angelica.The new character is played by Irish stage and screen actor Fiona Shaw, wholl be known to a generation forever as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter film series, but who has a long career in the theatre and in film and television, including recent roles in Killing Eve, True Detective, Baptiste and many more, all the way back to a part in 1989 feature film My Left Foot.Thaddea Graham as Una HoolihanNewly qualified police detective DC Una Hoolihan is a new addition to Loftus investigatory team. Shes played by a Northern Irish actor whos previously had a lead role in Netflix Sherlock Holmes fantasy The Irregulars, as well as playing Bel in Doctor Who: Flux, Sarah in Sex Education and Vivian in BBC Threes Wreck.Owen McDonnell as Ian Reilly (L) & Peter Claffey as Joe Walsh (R)Killing Eve fans will recognise new character Ian for being played by Owen McDonnell, the same actor who played Niko, husband of Sandra Ohs Eve Polastri in the hit assassin thriller. McDonnell also recently played Joe Gargery in Steven Knights adaptation of Great Expectations, Raymond in three episodes of the last series of True Detective, and many more screen roles from Mount Pleasant to Silent Witness.New character Joe Walsh, whos involved with Becka Garvey, is played by Peter Claffey who, coincidentally, also appeared as a different supporting character named Callum in Bad Sisters season one. Claffey will soon be seen in the lead role of Dunk in Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight, and previous to this, has appeared in Harry Wild, Vikings: Valhalla, and played professional rugby.Lorcan Craitch as Det. Supt. HowlettLoftuss boss joins Detective Superintendent Howlett joins season two, and is played by Dublin-born actor Lorcan Craitch, who has a long and healthy screen career including the role of DS Jimmy Beck in Cracker, DCS Jackie Twomey in BBC crime drama Bloodlands, Sean in Ballykissangel, Erastes Fulman in HBOs Rome, and many, many more.RETURNING CASTBarry Ward as Fergal LoftusIrish actor Barry Ward is rarely off the screen, with a huge number of roles, recently including that of Thomas Cromwell in Anne Boleyn, Sawyer in Britannia, Barry in Save Me,White Lines and many more. As DI Loftus in Bad Sisters season two, Ward has an expanded role as the investigator looking into the discovery of a dead body that threatens to dig up the Garvey sisters secrets. Michael Smiley as Roger MuldoonGraces kindly, churchgoing neighbour Roger played a small but key role in season one (read our spoiler-filled recap here) as Graces confidante and ally. In season two, hes still suffering from his dealings with JP, and living with his difficult sister Angelica, played by Fiona Shaw. Northern Irish actor Michael Smiley is well-loved for a great many roles, including his unforgettable turn as Tyres in Channel 4 sitcom Spaced, but much more recently Luther, Dead Still, Temple and The Curse. Brian Gleeson & Daryl McCormack as Thomas and Matt ClaffinThe Claffin brothers were hoping to find the Garvey sisters guilty of murder to stop their family insurance firm from having to pay out on JPs hefty claim in season one, but then younger brother Matthew fell for Becka and things got complicated. They return in season two, still played by Brian Gleeson (The Lazarus Project, Frank of Ireland, Peaky Blinders) and Daryl McCormack (The Woman in the Wall, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, also Peaky Blinders).ALSO RETURNINGAlongside the five Garvey sisters will be Saise Quinn as Graces teenage daughter Blnaid Williams, Yasmine Akrim as Bibis wife Nora Garvey, Jonjo ONeill as Ursulas husband Donal, and Aidan McCann, Kate Higgins and Connor ODonnell as Ursula and Donals kids David, Molly and Michael.Bad Sister season two streams weekly on Wednesdays on Apple TV+. Episode three will land on November 20.

Its no secret that the film side of Star Wars has really struggled to get off the ground again following the end of the Sequel Trilogy. Countless Star Wars movie projects have been announced in the last five years, but The Mandalorian & Grogu is the only film thats actually completed production since The Rise of Skywalker. A trilogy of films said to be helmed by The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson was announced and then put on hold indefinitely; new movies to be developed by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were shelved; Patty Jenkinss exciting Rogue Squadron movie was announced, then shelved, then put back in development; and no one knows what the heck is going on with Taika Waititis movie. Theres apparently a Jedi origin movie coming from Indiana Jones director James Mangold at some point, but nobody seems to know when. In short, things are a mess for Star Wars on the big screen. There was at least a modicum of hope that the upcoming Rey movie, which is rumored to follow the hero as she establishes a new Jedi Order after the events of the Sequel Trilogy, would be the next film to hit the big screen and usher Star Wars movies into a new era. But a series of creative shakeups on the projects, as well as new reports about a potential continuation of the Skywalker saga developed by producer Simon Kinberg, have muddled Reys return, too.The Rey movie has already lost several writers at the development stage, each shakeup delaying the the project just a bit more, with Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) stepping away from the film in October. Knight was already the second writer on the project, following Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson. Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is still currently attached to direct the movie. But when she and Ridley will actually get to make their film is a big questionand how the movie will fit alongside Kinbergs trilogy plans, which, according to a report from THR, may also use Rey.Theres been a lot of speculation as to whether or not Kinbergs planned Star Wars trilogy is, in fact, another expansion of the central Skywalker Saga or something else entirely, but the fact that were even having this conversation doesnt bode well for the franchises cinematic future or its central star. Lets face it: Lucasfilm doesnt have a great track record when it comes to carving out a clear path for Rey (or any of the Sequel Trilogy characters, for that matter). The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker very overtly clashed with each other in terms of not only Reys identity but also the overarching themes of her journey. Clashing visions hurt Rey on the big screen the last time around. We, of course, dont know for sure that Kinberg is working on his own Rey moviesand if he is, how closely hes coordinating his take with Obaid-Chinoys movie. (Theres always the possibility that Obaid-Chinoys film has now become the first installment of that trilogy, but were speculating here.) But the stops and starts regarding Reys film future are already a little worrying. According to industry insiders via THR, Rey is the most valuable cinematic asset, in some ways maybe the only one, Star Wars has right now, as the Sequel Trilogy closed the book on all of the franchises biggest characters, including Luke, Han, and Leia. Which at least means that well likely get to see Rey again at some point, as long as Daisy Ridley is willing to reprise her role. However, this language is indicative of so many problems with Star Wars and the industry at large right now.By looking at characters and their stories as little more than numbers and dollar signs and nostalgia grabs, were losing a lot of the heart that drew many of us to this franchise in the first place. For many women and young girls, watching Reys journey (at least until The Rise of Skywalker) was and is inspiring. She was a nobody from a desert planet who was able to discover this power within herself and channel it into saving herself and the galaxy from oppression. Before she was a Palpatine or a Skywalker, she was just Rey, and it was easy for us to see ourselves in her and her desire to prove herself.Rey deserves more time on the big screen. She deserves to carve her own path forward and make her own legacy rather than only being a vessel to carry the legacy of others. But its hard to get excited about her potential future when shes being passed around by creatives and executives like the latest toy on Christmas.And whats worse, is this just seems to be the way that Lucasfilm operates now, according to insiders. There are multiple projects in the works that may or may not overlap characters and timelines. Some writers and directors are privy to what their peers are working on, but others arent. Its a different way of development, according to an insider. Theres so much parallel work going on.All of this parallel work feels akin to throwing something at the wall and hoping it sticks. Which might work for some people, but for a franchise as large as this one, doesnt seem to be working thus far. What happens if Reys solo movie takes her in one direction, but Kinberg sees her future differently? Its The Rise of Skywalker all over again. (Seriously, that film is absolutely dreadful.)Rebellions may be built on hope, but the current trajectory of Star Wars movies is far from hopeful. At this point, its hard to even imagine a world where either of these Rey projects, let alone both of them, actually make it to our screens. Star Wars needs to choose a direction and stick with it, for better or for worse. Otherwise were probably not going to see anything outside of the Mandoverse for the foreseeable future.

As part of the British Film Institute (BFI) Art of Action season, a high-octane nationwide celebration of the genre, the team behind the London Action Festival are delighted to be collaborating with the BFI Southbank on events for the season which runs through to December 2024.Events to be jointly presented have been announced with more in the works include Bottom of Formthis years edition of the London Action Festivals The Worlds Greatest Screening Ever (Probably!) series a special night built around a screening of a celebrated feature film.On Nov. 21. Director George Millers acclaimed masterpiece Max Max 2: The Road Warrior is to be honoured with a special contribution by Miller himself and a look at how the 1982 classic was a game-changer for the vibrant franchise. Other segments have also been announced including an in-person interview with Iain Smith OBE, BAFTA-winning Producer of Mad Max: Fury Road where hell look at what it takes to produce for George Miller and his involvement in bringing the franchise back.There will also be a live performance of Mad Max music from The McBain Quartet led by Patrick Savage with multi-award winning singer-songwriter Zara McFarlane PLUS prizes and surprises!Find out more hereThe World of Warcraft games are expanding in an unexpected way.For two decades, World of Warcraft players have lived their digital lives in the lands of Azeroth and beyond. But have they truly lived them? After many years of requesting and being shot down by Blizzard, they are about to finally be allowed to do so. As part of a livestreamed event celebrating both 30 years of the wider Warcraft franchise and 20 years of World of Warcraft specifically today, Blizzard announced that the long-running MMORPG will finally allow players to put down roots and step away from the world-saving heroics to sit back, relax, and have a nice cuppa in their very own housing system. Read more at GizmodoHalloween and Christmas are full of movies, but what about Thanksgiving? Here are the perfect films to watch in preparation for the upcoming holiday.What makes a Thanksgiving movie isnt always clear-cutsome are conceived around the holiday, and others feature one memorable scene with a turkey on the table. Like the holiday itself, Thanksgiving movies are the offbeat, sometimes melodramatic stepsiblings to their Christmas counterparts. If youre looking for something other than football or parade coverage to watch on the holiday, check out the Thanksgiving (or Thanksgiving-ish) films below.Read more at Mental FlossTaco Bells latest specialty menu will have you nostalgic for an earlier time.Taco Bell is bringing back fan-favorite menu items in its new Decades Menu, offering a nostalgic taste of the brands history. Starting October 31, fans can order iconic dishes from the 60s through the early 2000s, all priced under $3 USD for a limited time. The Decades Menu kicks off with the 60s Tostada, 70s Green Sauce Burrito, 80s Meximelt and 90s Gordita Supreme, with the 00s Caramel Apple Empanada joining on November 21. This revival aims to unite generations of Taco Bell fans, with each item representing a different era of the brands menu innovation.Read more at HypeBeastThirty years after its release, the Interview with The Vampire movie still stands tall amongst a crowded genre.Vampires never die. Not even sunlight and garlic can quash the enduring appeal of one of the most famous supernatural creatures in our mythological lore, especially when it comes to pop culture. For as long as cinema has existed, vampire movies have swarmed the screen, each offering a different representation of the mythic bloodsucker. The malleability of their mythos has allowed them a kind of thematic flexibility not afforded to, say, zombies (sorry, The Walking Dead). Vampires represent anything and everything, often absorbing the ideas and ills of their given era. Just when it seems as though the cultural backlash may be forming against vampires, they become relevant once again.Read more at The A.V. Club

Warning: this review contains spoilers forShetlandseries nine, episode one.Shetland isnt all sheep farming, ceilidhs, and charming gift shops selling hand-poured scented candles. They also havespies. Well, they did, until Annie Bett was killed by a single shot to the chest from an automatic pistol. Now they have a mystery to solve who shot Annie the spy and fellow victim Anton Bergen, and why?DI Calder had put the spy angle together by the end of episode two. Something about a maths genius so brainy that shed gone to Oxford aged 15 but now spent her time doing tax returns for the local Chinese takeaway just didnt add up.Of courseAnnie had been recruited to the British intelligence service. Thats what happens to those beautiful mind kids. Aged nine, theres a picture of them holding up their GCSE certificates in the local paper, and by the time theyre legally old enough to drive a scooter, theyre passing cyphers to their man in Berlin under cover of a German exchange tour of the Reichstag.Accountancy had been Annies cover story until it was blown by her death. That, and the sudden arrival in her extremely remote hometown of the man who is presumably her handler. If Professor Rossi hadnt pitched up and forgotten to disguise his familiarity with Police Scotland acronyms in front of Ruth, then perhaps she wouldnt have put two and two together, and Annie Betts would have gone down as a Honda-driving mum instead of a double-life-leading spy.Not thatShetlanddoesnt have time for Honda-driving mums; theyre some of its best people. Tosh will solve her friend Annies murder, just you see if she doesnt. It wont come without a personal cost though. Thats the trouble with policing a small community; youve probably borrowed Tupperware from the murder victims.Toshs response to Annies death was commendable. While visibly shaken, she stuck to the books and kept a cool head. A cooler head, at least, than Ruth, who approached the interrogation of Annies husband Ian with all the control of a child trying to shake a pound coin out of a piggy bank. Ruth was certain that Ians guilt was in there and, red-faced, she was going to get it out. Their It felt like we were arguing, from your body language/I get that a lot exchange in the car afterwards was a top bit of character work, incidentally. Were still getting to know Ruth Calder, and lines like that tug us closer towards her.The same can be said for Ruths interactions with young Noah Bett (a chip off the old block if his primes-recital is anything to go by). Compare Tosh warmly hugging the boy at the party, with Ruths arms-length response to his panic attack at the hospital. Her bedside manner may need work, but when it came to his mums death, Noah seemed to respond to Ruths honesty. It doesnt seem as though hes grown up with a lot of that.Read more Noahs dad didnt kill his mum, but Ruth was right about Ians guilt. Despite sending Annie a slew of texts straight out of the Andrew Tate school of misogynist correspondence, he turned out to be having it off with one of her mates on the night she died. Classy stuff.Speaking of romance, we discovered in episode two that the other victim Anton Bergen had summarily dumped his boyfriend just before he was killed. One phone conversation from a mystery caller and it was goodbye to Nathan Huang. Perhaps Bergen knew that he was in danger and wanted to protect Nate?Theres deffo something fishy about the family Anton was working for, and not just because theyre Scandinavian. The beautiful Jakobsons in their stunning magazine-spread house, with their ill, melancholic daughter, are more than a bit sus. Are they spies too, or might they have something to do with the Nesting facility that conspiracy theorist Campervan Angus is surveilling? Are both things connected? And where do the mussel-farming Harris family fit in? One things for certain: Angus tin foil hat blog is going to come in useful one of these episodes.More useful than Lisa Friels shopping trip into Lerwick, at least. Rev. Calders latest project was so spooked by mention of the murders on BBC Radio Shetland that the sight of harmless PC Grant had her ducking into a fridge to hide faster than Boris Johnson on the campaign trail. Lisas argument with Annie on the day that she died must have been of consequence. A pity though. All that effort and she still didnt get her Pot Noodle.Pot Noodle feels out of place in this picturesque crime show, which feels more like a homemade preserves and organic loaves kind of place. From the windswept views to the lovely knitted scarves, this is a drama straight out of the pages ofCountry Livingmagazine. Its so artisanal that even the police station evidence board is slate and chalk like the specials menu at a farm-to-fork bistro. No dry-erase markers for this lot, their coroners reports probably come cross-stitched into locally woven linen.It all makes for a great contrast with the espionage storyline, which usually plays out against more steel-and-concrete urban backdrops than this. Spies on Shetland, whatever next? County lines drug-dealing? UFOs?Shetland series nine continues next Wednesday November 20 on BBC One and iPlayer.

Theres a lot to be excited for with the return of Andor next year. This second and final season is set to bridge the gap between the Cassian (Diego Luna) we saw in season 1 and the Cassian we see in Rogue One. This means that the potential for familiar characters to appear is has increased, including fan-favorite K-2SO (Alan Tudyk). Thanks to a trailer shown to audience members at D23 in Anaheim, we already knew that our favorite sassy droid was going to show up this season, but that doesnt make his appearance in a recent teaser any less exciting.Disney+ has released a teaser showcasing its upcoming 2025 projects, one of those being Andor season 2. We dont get to see much of what to expect this season aside from a few snippets, but we do get a glimpse of an Imperial droid we can only assume is the one and only K-2SO. For those not lucky enough to catch the trailer released at D23 back in August, this is the first time weve seen our boy since he made the ultimate sacrifice in Rogue One. Even though he has no dialogue in this scene, we can already hear his sassy remarks in our hearts.When we meet the pair in Rogue One, its clear that there is some kind of history there between Cassian and K-2, and Diego Luna is excited for fans to see how these characters came to be in each others lives. The actor told Entertainment Weekly in August that Rogue One will be a different film after season 2 of Andor. Everything will be signified differently knowing what had to happen for K-2 to be there. Its going to make you witness the journey of Rogue One in a different way, I think. And not just with K-2, but with many other characters. I think itll be really cool.Andor season 2 is set to take place across four years leading up to the start of Rogue One, giving us plenty of time to see K-2 and Cassians meet-cute and the journey that led them to find each other.Another exciting sneak peek from this teaser is a new Imperial ship that Cassian gets to commandeer (or more likely steal). It appears to be a new kind of advanced TIE fighter, with a design similar to a TIE interceptor. Per the useful X account The Spaceshipper, this design is a TIE Advanced variant as first seen in LucasArts 1993 video game Star Wars: X-Wing. In the Legends canon, it is production model that succeeded Darth Vaders iconic TIE fighter.Though we dont yet know everything this ship is capable of, or how it differs from other TIE fighters, we do know that it looks cool as hell and were excited to see it in action. Andor season 2 is easily one of our most anticipated shows of 2025, and if these sneak peeks are any indication, April cant come soon enough.Andor season 2 premieres Tuesday, April 22, 2025 on Disney+.

Jennifer Coolidges Tanya McQuoid may have met an untimely end at the end of season 2, but that doesnt mean that HBOs The White Lotus is done with bringing characters back for more. Natasha Rothwell, who played White LotusA recent teaser for HBO and Maxs upcoming 2025 slate gave us a first look at some of the new and returning characters we can expect to see when the series returns next year, and it confirms that Belinda is ready to live her best life at the White Lotus Thailand resort as shes greeted by resort staff.According to HBO and Max content chairman and CEO Casey Bloys, Belindas return is only the beginning. Per Bloys interview with Variety, White Lotus creator Mike White is planning to connect future seasons to each other by bringing back one cast member each season. Bloys is already excited about who is going to come back for Season 4. It really is a fun model that Mike has set up.While Rothwells Belinda would be a great recurring character for The White Lotus beyond her season 3 appearance (as long as she survives), there are also several season 2 characters that fans would love to see come back. There are many viewers (myself included) who are eager to see Daphne (Meghann Fahy) and Harper (Aubrey Plaza) ditch their husbands and go traveling the world together. And then theres Mia (Beatrice Grann) and Lucia (Simona Tabasco), who may not have the means to become jetsetters, but have certainly inspired many with their tenacity. If they can charm their way into one White Lotus resort, it wouldnt be too much of a surprise to see them take their earnings and try their luck elsewhere.In addition to Natasha Rothwells return, The White Lotus cast for season 3 includes Leslie Bibb (Iron Man), Dom Hetrakul (Bangkok Dangerous), Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter), Michelle Monaghan (The Best of Me), Parker Posey (Lost in Space, Josie and the Pussycats), Carrie Coon (The Leftovers), Walton Goggins (Fallout), Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education), Patrick Schwarzenegger (Gen V)andTayme Thapthimthong.There are so many possibilities for returning characters, and it will be fun to see who Mike White carries over from one season to the next as the series goes on, and who survives their second stay at a White Lotus resort. Fingers crossed that Belinda makes it through season 3!

This article contains spoilers for The Penguin episode 8 and The Batman.In the final moments of The Batman, the young Dark Knight turns his bike away from Catwoman and back toward Gotham City, burdened by the work yet to be done.Although Batman never appears in The Penguin, the series further developed the world created by director Matt Reeves by following the unlikely rise of one Oz Cobb, derisively known as the Penguin. With Carmine Falcone out of the way, exposed as a rat by the Riddler and then murdered, Oz saw a chance to claim power for himself. Of course, he first has to deal with not just Falcones son Alberto and rival boss Salvatore Maroni, but especially Falcones daughter Sofia, who went to Arkham for murdering seven women.Over eight episodes, The Penguin portrayed a gang war between the mercurial Oz and a vengeful Sofia, who takes charge of the family, changing the name from Falcone to Gigante. Along the way, we see more of Gothams underworld, including Arkham psychatrist Dr. Julian Rush and sex worker Eve Karlo.Of course, The Penguin falls between The Batman and its upcoming sequel, which means that the show needs to set the stage for The Batman: Part II. So lets charge up the Bat-signal and examine the state of Gotham City after the Penguin waddles away.Oz TriumphantAlthough Colin Farrell stole every one of his scenes in The Batman, his character a minor antagonist at best. The Riddler and Carmine Falcone posed the greatest threats to the Dark Knight, while Penguin just showed up to bark out hilarious commentary about speaking Spanish.The Penguin reveals that people within the Gotham underworld think even less of Oz. Hes a low-level driver in the Falcone family, derided for his appearance and his obvious desire for acceptance. The series links Ozs insecurity to his jealous desire to control his mother, an envy that goes so far that he murders his brothers to have her all to himself. In fact, Oz frames all of his power grabbing as a way to achieve her love.By the end of the finale, Oz has become the new power in Gotham. The Maroni and Falcone crime families are destroyed, Sofia is in Arkham, and Oz gets to dance the night away in his penthouse. Oz succeeds by consolidating the remaining Gotham families and overthrowing the bosses, positioning himself as the most powerful criminal in the City. Best of all, Oz has his mother Francis at his side in a way.Will Sofia Gigante and Catwoman Team Up?The show might be called The Penguin, but Oz wasnt the real star. Instead, Cristin Milioti soon proved herself the most exciting person on screen, thanks to her ferocious performance as Sofia Falcone.After serving years in Arkham for the murder of seven women, crimes that earned her the nickname The Hangman, Sofia returns to Gotham ready for revenge agains the real killer, her father Carmine. Sofia seemed poised to recreate the Gotham gangland in her own image.And she almost did it too. But Sofia underestimated the odds stacked against women in her situation and soon found herself back in Arkham, under the control of her psychatrist Dr. Julian Rush.The one bit of hope for Sofia comes in a letter receives from her half-sister Selina Kyle, who not only knows what its like to be a woman in Gothams margins, but also understands the violence perpetuated by their father. Will they team-up in The Batman: Part II? Sofia isnt nearly ass important a character in the comics, but no one would complain about getting more Milioti dominating the screen.Were There Any Other Villains in The Penguin?Sofia Gigante isnt the only new baddie to join the world of The Batman in The Penguin. The series loved to make nods at other comic book characters, most notably Ozs moll Eve Karlo (Carmen Ejogo).As discussed elsewhere at Den of Geek, the name Karlo brings to mind Basil Karlo, the secret identity of the original Clayface. Before turning into a big brown glob of shapechanging goo, Clayface was a master of disguise, who used classical theatrical tricks to commit crimes. Eve Karlo seems to use disguises as part of her sex work, as demonstrated by her dressing up like Ozs mother at the end of the finale. We dont ever see Eve harming people in disguises, but Oz may make use of her skills against Mr. Vengence in the sequel.We got a couple of glimpses of other villains, including the mad scientist Dr. Bloom and the blissed-out petty thief Magpie. But the biggest potential big bad masqueraded as a good guy. At first, Dr. Julian Rush (Theo Rossi) seemed like a welcome bit of kindness for the beleaguered Sofia, locked away in Arkham. However, his soft-spoken demeanor soon revealed a lust for control, one that continued even after he seemed trapped under Sofias thumb. Many had speculated that Rush would be an established Batman villain, maybe Jonathan Crane aka the Scarecrow, Julian Day aka the Calendar Man, or Dr. Hugo Strange.And at the end of The Penguin, Dr. Julian Rush is revealed to be Dr. Julian Rush. The same creepy doctor hes been all along. Hes still at Arkham, so theres still time for him to create a fear toxin or shave his head. But Dr. Rush might just be a more banal and believable villain, a medical professional who uses his training to manipulate women.What Happens to Victor Aguilar?Not everything in The Penguin serves as a setup for The Batman: Part II or serves any other type of purpose either. Victor Aguilar (Rhenzy Feliz) seemed like a sidekick for Oz, a henchman who would plague Batman in the sequel. But he gets strangled by Oz midway through the finale, his thematic purpose filled (Feliz broke down Victors fate here). Likewise, Frances Cobb had some potential to continue to plague Oz as he became the Penguin, but shes comatose by the end of the series.Perhaps the strangest loose end involves the climax of Sofias attack on Oz, in which she blew up his drug headquarters. The Penguin depicts the outcome of the attack with 9/11 imagery, suggesting that a major act of destruction takes place. Furthermore, Oz used the response to the event to gain an in with a corrupt city official, which helped him put Sofia back into Arkham.Yet, its hard to see how the explosion will tie into The Batman: Part II. One gets the sense that the sequel will fold the explosion into one of the Riddlers attacks in The Batman, so the story wont alienate anyone who didnt watch The Penguin.These closed off storylines aside, The Penguin still leaves Gotham a more dangerous place than where it began, with multiple supervillains in place of the fading mafia and an even more disillusioned populace. Its a good thing Batman stuck around, because hes going to have a lot more work to do when The Batman: Part II finally gets to theaters.Every episode of The Penguin is now streaming on Max. The Batman: Part II is slated for a 2026 release.

It may have been the last nail in Segas hardware-producing coffin, but the truth remains that the Dreamcast was an impressive console. Not only was it a relative powerhouse for its time, but it was truly ahead of its time, introducing many of the modern home console features we still use today.The Dreamcast was the first major console to include a modem as standard for online play, it introduced the intriguing, but never-really-properly-used VM memory units, microphone attachments for voice-controlled games, and even high definition visuals via a special VGA box.The Dreamcast also provided us with some truly excellent games during its relatively short tenure, some even considered by many to be definitive versions. Some of these titles were Dreamcast exclusives, while others were superb ports of games also found on other platforms.To celebrate the legacy of the Dreamcast, lets take a look back at the 25 best titles to release on the console25. SilverSilver was an underrated gem of an RPG, first released on PC, then on Dreamcast. A unique real-time combat role player that was wisually similar in style to Final Fantasy VII, the games characters were 3D polygonal models that wandered around pre-rendered environments.That said, combat wasnt at all turn-based. Instead, you took full control of David, the protagonist, as well as the party of followers he met during his quest against the evil wizard Silver. The game was fully voice acted, a rarity for the genre at the time, and although the RPG elements were fairly basic, it was an absorbing adventure.24. SeamanAdmittedly a very hit and miss title, Seaman (queue endless schoolboy jokes) was one of the strangest games on the Dreamcasts roster. Essentially a high tech Tamagotchi, the game tasked you with bringing up the distinctly odd titular human-fish hybrid. Guided by none other than Leonard Nimoy, you had to rear the charismatic Seaman through his various life cycles, with the goal of evolving him into a land animal so that he could leave his tank.As you interacted with Seaman, using the controller and microphone attachment, you formed a bond with the creature, which in turn affected his development and his social skills. If you looked after him correctly, he could become your friend and talk to you, or he could grow to dislike you and ignore you. Much of the game was left for the player to discover, and if you failed at your parental duties, Seaman could even die.It was a very ambitious game, and with a lot of perseverance, it could be surprisingly enjoyable. Sadly, a lot of people had trouble getting Seaman to respond correctly, and the game would often fail to recognize phrases.Still, its place on this list is deserved, as it was a fine example of Segas willingness to take risks on new kinds of games, something thats becoming less and less prevalent these days. And come on, its got Leonard Nimoy in it!23. IllbleedThis is an odd one. Illbleed was probably missed by a lot of DC owners at the time, but even today its still a game well worth seeking out. Brilliant in both design and freakishness, the game saw players navigate a horror theme park, using only their senses to avoid all sorts of traps and threats.Often these dangers were totally invisible and unexpected, and only by learning how to effectively use the games sense-based detection system and goggles were you able to progress. As well as this detection system, you also had to keep your characters mental health in check, otherwise you could actually die from fright. It was challenging, and for some far too obscure, but with perseverance was also a very a rewarding title.The presentation was, undeniably, a little rough around the edges, with some dodgy voice work and iffy visuals, but the often quite creepy theme park setting, which incorporated various themes and parodies of the horror genre, and the unique sense system made it a very intriguing affair. Just be sure to turn down the music, as some of it, especially the central hub sections theme, was just plain abominable. So bad its good? Oh yes.22. Typing of the DeadEducational games dont usually make best-of lists, but Segas Typing of the Dead isnt just any ordinary educational title. Making full use of the Dreamcasts keyboard peripheral, Typing of the Dead was a great typing tutor that tasked you with correctly typing words at the required speed in order to shoot zombies and other nasties.The game was basically House of the Dead 2, repackaged as a typing tutor, but this was fine, as the game really could develop your typing skills. Mavis Beacon eat your heart out (if the zombies dont beat you to it). Odd? Yes. Effective? Most definitely.21. Virtua Tennis 2Tennis is a very difficult thing to get right in the world of video games, but this is something that didnt bother Sega, and its Virtua Tennis series is one of the best.The second outing was a corker on the Dreamcast, and along with an excellent game engine, which provided a fast and fluid game of tennis, there was a sprawling world tour career mode and a large selection of mini games, not to mention an in-game currency system that let you buy items for your player, as well as front entry fees for tennis tournaments.Tennis games have come a long way since VT2, and it has been surpassed technically, but many DC owners will always prefer the long rallies and court-busting smashes that Virtua Tennis 2 delivered.20. Mars Matrix: Hyper Solid ShootingLook up pulse pounding in the dictionary and youll probably find a screenshot of Mars Matrix. This loud and proud shooter was bright, bold, and hard as nails. Fast paced action was the order of the day, and the game threw enemies and bullets at you like there was no tomorrow.In fact, this was a classic example of a bullet hell shooter, as there were often so many projectiles on screen at once, you could barely see the backgrounds. And, if you wanted to unlock items from the games store, youd have to put in the work, as things cost a fortune.19. Chu Chu RocketAll European DC owners had Chu Chu Rocket, as it came with the console, and although it wasnt all that technically impressive, the fast-paced puzzle gameplay more than made up for it.Your goal was simple: place arrows on the game grid to guide mice into the rockets while avoiding the Picasso-like cats. Once the rockets were full, the mice would launch to safety. It was simple, but deviously challenging puzzling, and the single player was an entertaining distraction.The multiplayer is what really made the game, though. The goal was to save as many mice as possible, while sending cats over to your opponent, thus causing them all sorts of grief. The most mice saved would ensure the win.Unlike a lot of puzzlers at the time, which were often clones of existing games, Chu Chu Rocket was an original creation, and it was well worth a shot, especially if you had friends to join in on the fun.18. Metropolis Street RacerThe forerunner of Project Gotham Racing, Metropolis Street Racer was a very ambitious title that recreated London, Tokyo, and San Francisco to the smallest detail. It featured a brilliantly robust driving engine, and this was complemented by the kudos system that rewarded players for stylish driving.Points earned via the kudos system were used to buy new cars as well as new tracks. So successful were the games mechanics that theyve been reproduced time and time again, including in Bizarre Creations own aforementioned Project Gotham Racing series, and Blur, as well as in other series.Yes, you may primarily remember Dead or Alive 2 for its very antiquated approach to designing female characters that no longer plays today, but underneath all that, was a great fighting game packed with game modes.Dead or Alive 2 was a consistently smooth scrapper that featured a complex fighting system, large arenas and varied combatants, including Ninja Gaidens Ryu Hayabusa. It may not have been quite as interesting as the likes of Soulcalibur, or quite as technical as Virtua Fighter, but it was a very popular series, and DOA2 on the Dreamcast was one of the best fighters at the time.16. Grandia IIA real fan-favorite, Grandia II was a Final Fantasy-inspired RPG that featured a perfectky implemented combat system and some great storytelling.The combat system followed the Final Fantasy formula pretty much down the line, but mixed in some limited character movement, which made things feel a little more dynamic. The system also used a timer that dictated when both allies and enemies could attack. Careful timing could allow you to cancel out your opponents attacks, you could perform combination moves, and counters were also possible. It wasnt revolutionary, but was different and slick enough to make the game stand out, and the anime effects were a nice additional touch.The game was released on other formats later, but these are considered by most to be inferior to the original Dreamcast release.The light gun game was once an impressive feat of technical wizardry, wowing players picking up their plastic gun peripherals for the first time to shoot onscreen enemies. Some of that novelty has of course worn off with the arrival of wireless controllers, but back in the Dreamcasts day, this genre was still going very strong. House of the Dead 2 was one of the best around. Long before zombies were cool, Sega was slaying the undead with style, and the quality arcade blasting and impressive boss fights were complemented by a ridiculously cheesy plot and terrible voice acting. Classic.Clearly Segas attempt to reproduce Metal Gear Solid on its own platform, Headhunter was a fine game in its own right. As Jack Wade, a bounty hunter suffering from amnesia after waking up in a strange lab, you had to complete a series of missions, capturing the most deadly criminals in the city, while uncovering a seedy conspiracy.The game mixed third person stealth and combat with puzzles and motorbike sections, and was a great alternative to Solid Snakes titles. Okay, so the bike sections were pretty superfluous (and were dropped for the sequel), and the controls and camera needed work, but the great story and quirky, futuristic world paired up with solid gameplay to make for a great game.13. Power Stone 2Capcom was the master of 2D combat at the time, but with Power Stone, it branched out into a very different kind of 3D fighter. The original was one of the launch titles for the DC, but it was the second installment that managed to hit all of the right notes, as well as adding four player battles to the mix.The game played very much like a 3D Smash Bros, and players had to fight to be the last one standing to win. During the bouts, the games titular power stones could be collected, which could turn players into a powered up form, giving them a big advantage.The game was pretty simple, but like so many things, this simplicity made it all the better, and it was one of the best party games on the platform.12. Samba De AmigoWithout a doubt one of the best rhythm/dance games ever released, and certainly the most colorful, Samba De Amigo was like an acid-powered fitness trip. Packing in a selection of Latin beats, the game didnt simply rely on a dance mat to register the correct inputs, but instead utilized bright red maracas. It was a dance game with a difference, and one that became an instant party classic.Now selling for pretty high prices, the original Dreamcast version, or Ver.2000, is the best release of the title. This is mostly down to the included maracas, which worked perfectly on the DC. The more recent Wii release of the game wasnt didnt come close to the DC title, and the control scheme was terrible. It also lacked maracas, and used Wii remotes instead. If you can find the original game on eBay, or second hand for a decent price, the DC original is well worth picking up.11. Jet Set RadioThe game that launched a thousand cel-shaders. Jet Set Radio may be remembered by most for its stunning and then-revolutionary cel-shaded visuals and funky soundtrack, but it should also be remembered for its excellent gameplay.As a spraycan-wielding in-line skater, your task was to skate around the futuristic city of Tokyo-to, throwing up graffiti tags and murals in order to rebel against the police and rival gangs. Your gang, the GGs, began with main character, Beat, and eventually grew to include more playable skaters as the game progressed.The skating gameplay was similar in many ways to the Tony Hawk seriesplayers could jump and grind their way through the detailed environments, and you pulled off tricks to increase skating speed. Small, gesture-based QTEs were used to spray graffiti, and players could even design their own graffiti, which could then be used in-game.The mixture of traditional skating gameplay and graffiti tagging worked well, and produced a game that not only looked impressive, but was a great, and challenging title to boot.10. IkarugaIkaruga often finds itself in top games lists, and for good reason: its one of the best shooters ever made. Simple.Created by the legendary studio Treasure, Ikaruga was, on the face of it anyway, a pretty standard shooter. However, the simple, but highly effective twist of using a black and white color system for enemy projectiles elevated it above most of its compatriots.In the game, you were able to switch your ships polarity from white to black and back again at will, with each color absorbing enemy projectiles of the same hue. And with the screen rapidly filling up with bullets of both colors, this was a skill you needed to master quickly. Deviously tricky, while being as simple a mechanic as you can get, it worked brilliantly and thrust the game to the top of many peoples favorite shooter lists.Accompanied by a thumping soundtrack and some eye-scorching visuals, Ikaruga has been re-released several times, such is the demand for this shmup classic.9. RezRez is a game thats become something of a darling for gamers of a certain age. The ultra-stylish visuals accompany a superb, dynamic soundtrack, and both react to your progress and skill.As you do progress, the world morphs from wire frame to fully shaded, and the music, which is near quiet to begin with, gains more and more layers, eventually transforming into a thumping beat-fest. Your avatar also evolves over time.There may be a myriad of arty titles around these days, with the likes of Journey and The Unfinished Swan proving that theres a space for excessive style without compromising gameplay, but Rez was certainly one of the first and still one of the best.8. Crazy Taxi (1 & 2)The odds were, if you liked checkpoint racing, drifting and The Offspring, you had Crazy Taxi. Segas take on the good ol cabbie certainly wasnt intended to be a realistic affair, and was ridiculous, over the top action.As one of several cab drivers, your goal was to race around the city, picking up fares and dropping them off as quickly as possible before your time ran out. Various mini games were also included in the Crazy Box mode, such as a taxi ski jump and bowling. The second game added more complex maps, a jump ability, and group fare pick ups, but remained pretty much identical to the original, which many still consider superior.Crazy Taxi was the epitome of classic time and score attack gaming. It was one of those games you kept coming back to just to see if you could do better, and the unlockables and mini games only served to add even more to the addictive gameplay.7. Resident Evil: Code VeronicaThe Dreamcast may have only received lazy straight ports of the main Resident Evil series, but Capcom made up for this with the original release of Resident Evil: Code Veronica.A first for the series, Code Veronica introduced 3D environments that, while they still featured fixed cameras, managed to push the series into the next generation, and it even featured an unlockable first-person shooter mini game.Sticking with the traditional Resident Evil gameplay, Code Veronica was a long, two-part story that saw players control both Claire and Chris Redfield as they once again struggled against the sinister Umbrella Corporation. This time the primary antagonists were the Ashfords, a downright freaky family that was pivotal in Umbrellas creation and operations. Fan-favorite Albert Wesker also returned, and the game introduced some great new enemies, including familiar foes, such as the highly-feared Hunters.Although the core gameplay of the game played it pretty safe, this didnt stop this installment from becoming one of the best Resident Evil outings ever.Even though the series has now been updated on modern consoles, most diehard fans still consider Marvel vs. Capcom 2 to be the best of the series, and its almost universally considered to be one of the best 2D beat em ups ever created.Throwing together the best of Capcom and Marvels stables, this was a true gamer and comic aficionados dream. Gorgeous visuals accompanied one of the best fighting systems ever created, and the sheer scale of some of the special moves in the game, not to mention the combo potential, made for a truly spectacular scrapper, and one thats still used in tournaments today.Three-on-three combat was featured, and despite a mass of characters, most were very well balanced, and it took eons for players to unlock everything in the games store, which included new characters, arenas, costumes and artwork.Now released on many more platforms, including XBLA and PSN, this is considered by many to be the best traditional 2D fighter on the Dreamcast.5. Phantasy Star OnlineEven today, with consoles as powerful as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, there have been very, very few MMORPGs outside of the PC world. However, the Dreamcast made one of the first attempts, and it was a real corker of a title.Phantasy Star Online (PSO) took Segas long-running RPG series and turned it into an online multiplayer action role player, making the most of the consoles built-in modem. It wasnt a full, open-world affair like World of Warcraft, instead being a four-player instance-based affair, but this didnt hold the title back, and it quickly gathered a large, loyal fanbase.As a hunter your job was to leave the safe confines of your orbital colony ship and venture to the surface of planet Ragol, which was to be your new home. However, the planet was also home to a host of nasties, including the powerful Dark Falz. Spread across a handful of areas, the game was relatively short for an RPG, but this didnt matter as replayability came in the form of questing with groups of friends, tackling harder and harder levels and trading loot.The real-time combat, addictive loot collecting, and text chat system that automatically translated set phrases to other languages all helped create a unique online RPG thats still going today in updated forms.PSO V2.0 added new areas, items, and character classes to the mix, as well as improvements to the games lobby systems, and even though more recent incarnations have added all sorts of technical enhancements, its the Dreamcasts version that most fans fondly remember.4. SoulcaliburAlthough the Soulcalibur series had the most irritating announcer of any fighter, the weapon-based combat more than made up for it. Soulcalibur on the DC was not only one of the best fighters on the system (some would say the best), but is often cited as the best 3D scrapper ever created.The combat system was wonderfully implemented, and catered for total newcomers and seasoned veterans alike. It was easy to pick up and very hard to put down, and it also packed in a collection of game modes, including an expansive quest mode and a ton of special content.It wouldnt be a total exaggeration to call Soulcalibur a perfect fighting game, and even the later entries in the series have never really recaptured the overall quality and appeal of this incarnation.3. Sonic Adventure 2Its a widely held belief that Sega pretty much killed off its mascot when it made the jump to 3D, and it has to be said that many of the 3D Sonic games are pretty terrible. However, Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast was an exception to that rule.The first Sonic Adventure may have been a little rough around the edges, but the second game managed to refine the formula greatly. It featured multiple characters, various game styles, and an impressive presentation. It was a slick, 3D affair that was one of the few such Sonic games to recapture the feel of the originals while injecting something new.The pseudo-adventure elements of the first game were stripped out, leaving, for the better, a much more traditional action-oriented game. It also made much better use of the DCs VM units, thanks to the improved Chao garden.It wasnt a perfect game, but its one of the few great 3D Sonic games released, and to some, the only 3D outing worth playing.2. Skies of ArcadiaSome call this the best Final Fantasy clone ever made, and others would argue its even better than Square Enixs RPG series. Regardless of your view, what cant be argued is that Skies of Arcadia is one of the best examples of a turn-based RPG, period.The story of Blue Rogue air pirate Vyse and his friends is a sublime RPG masterpiece that contains a huge world, loveable characters, and plenty of secrets to discover. Add on to that the ship-to-ship battles and innovative VM minigame, and you had an epic adventure that simply wouldnt let you go.Sure, when compared to such titles as Final Fantasy, Skies of Arcadia is nowhere near as challenging, with some vastly overpowered specials (Aikas Delta Shield and Vyses Skull Shield practically made your party invulnerable in most battles), but it was nonetheless a vastly enjoyable game that didnt settle for simply cloning other RPGs, but brought its own tricks to the party.1. Shenmue (1 & 2)No Dreamcast owner worth his or her salt should need introducing to Shenmue. Any self-respecting gamer should seek out Yu Suzukis open-world masterpiece, preferably on its native Dreamcast.The story of Ryo Hazukis quest for revenge was an epic tale that took place in a stunningly realized recreation of late 80s Japan and China. Via a third-person view, gamers explored a detailed world, conversed with NPCs, investigated leads, and even took part in Virtua Fighter-powered fights (the game was originally going to be a Virtua Fighter RPG).Few games of the time could even come close to the impressive technical achievements made by the game, and despite some missteps, such as the infamously dodgy English dub, and a story that often left you waiting around for events to happen, it was a rock solid adventure/RPG, and one that still stands as a perfect example of what Segas internal studios were capable of.

This review contains spoilers for The Penguin episode 8.By the end of the eighth and final episode of The Penguin, Sofia has become a very different person. No longer the morally conflicted daughter of mob boss Carmine Falcone, no longer the patsy sentenced to Arkham for her fathers murder of seven women as the Hangman, she has become Sofia Gigante and she appears to have won the gang war against Salvatore Maroni (now dead) and Oz.So, of course, she monologues, telling a story to Oz and his mother Frances about a trio of birds she saw when she was a little girl. According to Sofia, the mother bird doted on the stronger of the two baby birds, at least until she went away one day and came back to find that the weaker bird had pushed the stronger one out of the nest before it could fly.Of course, Sofia tells this story as part of her psychological game with Oz and Frances, referring to the former killing his brothers and the latter ignoring it. But the story also fits a show called The Penguin, and not just because its about a flightless bird. Because The Penguin ended up being a series in which Cristin Milioti, a lesser-known performer playing an unknown character, ended up pushing the Academy Award-nominated Colin Farrell out of the spotlight.To be clear, this is a good thing. A spinoff series from The Batman about the Penguin always reeked of corporate desperation, of the increasingly pathetic Warner Bros. studio trying to milk whatever it can from its hits to prop up its streaming service HBO Go HBO Max Max. While Colin Farrell absolutely popped as Oz in The Batman, he worked in part because the movie did not ask him to do any emotional heavy lifting. He could waddle and shout and call Batman Mr. Vengance, and it provided a comic book break from a heavy film.But after a few clunky opening episodes, it became clear that showrunner Lauren LeFranc had something more in mind than just the continuing adventures of the Penguin. Instead, she used the opportunity given to an HBO superhero show to make a show about the ability or inability of women to change a world ruined by, but still dominated by, patriarchy. Written by LeFranc and directed by Jennifer Getzinger, the finale A Great or Little Thing brings an end to Sofias failed attempt to break from her fathers ways. She gets a bravado sequence in which burns her fathers house and belongings, staring imperiously while a rocking version ofIn the Pines aka Where Did You Sleep Last Night? plays on the soundtrack.Its framed as a moment of triumph for Sofia, even as it raises questions about her ability to actually break from Carmines model, a model that builds power on the backs of destroyed women. How will Sofia Gigante be different than Carmine Falcone?Turns out, she doesnt have to worry about answering that question, because Oz comes back to seize control. While not quite as overt as Roman Sioniss misogynistic rallying cry at the climax of Birds of Prey, Oz gets all the small gangs to work against Sofia in part because shes a crazy woman. And so, the reign of Sofia Gigante comes to an end after shes betrayed by men, including the cops she thought she had bought, and put back in Arkham, once again Julians control.LeFranc pairs this theme with the culmination of Ozs storyline with Frances. As seen in a flashback, Frances made a deal with old school gangster Rex Calabrese, Ozs hero, to kill the boy and rid her of, in her words, the devil in her house. Instead, she changes her mind at the last second, making Oz promise to give her the high life that she always wanted.The Penguin presents Francess final fate as a EC Comics style twist of fate. According to Oz, he did everything he did for her, including all of the backstabbing and murder and manipulation that we see throughout the series. Thus, she earns an ironic punishment, comatose and trapped in Ozs penthouse, for her callous power grabbing.Of course, Oz didnt really want to do anything to Frances. Instead, he wanted a woman he could control, and Frances was the only one available. Theres something haunting in the final scene, when Oz walks out of his mothers room and into the great room of his new digs to find Eve Karlo dressed as younger Francis (she really is Clayface, it turns out). As the two dance together, she says again and again that she loves him and is proud of him. The real Frances would never say those words, so Oz forced Eve to become a version of Frances he could mold.A Great or Little Thing elegantly brings the two storylines together and pairs their themes. But not everything works so well. The episode doesnt really resolve the wreckage of Sofias bombing the Bliss plant, an explosion small enough that Oz and others survive, despite being right next to it, but large enough to blow a giant hole in the center of Gotham. The explosion does give one last chance for Oz to show off his ability to manipulate, but it feels more like a narrative cul-de-sac that preserves the wreckage of Riddlers attack. By not dealing with the explosion, The Penguin lets those who go into The Batman 2 having only seen the previous movie think that theyre just dealing with another Riddler bomb.Speaking of cul-de-sacs, Vics storyline proves to be a big nothing, as hes strangled by Oz just when he thinks that the two have bonded. The show set up Vic as Ozs foil, another boy forced into a violent system that wouldnt give him a fair shake otherwise. But when Oz suffocates the kid, he proves that he was never like Vic at all. He wasnt a good kid forced into a bad situation. He was just evil.Getzinger holds on the shot of Ozs disgusting, twisted face as he strangles the life out of Vic, making sure everyone knows that hes a monster. But heres the thing: we never really doubted that he was a monster. He never seemed sympathetic, even when the show wanted so badly for Vic to add shades to what was clearly a one-note character.In the end, Victor best represents what The Penguin could have been the show, not the person. The series could have been just more Batman content, devoting way too much time to a character who doesnt have enough depth to carry it. And, to be clear, The Penguin sometimes was that empty series. The entire sequence of Ozs men killing the heads of Gotham families feels like a poor cover of the baptism scene from The Godfather.To the credit of LeFranc and her collaborators, The Penguin proved itself much more. The world didnt need another show about a sad-sack, one dimensional Batman villain, but it did need a show about a woman vying for power that could never be hers. In the end, Im grateful that The Penguin became that show, even if it had to push the Penguin out of the nest to do it.All eight episodes of The Penguin are now streaming on Max.Learn more about Den of Geeks review process and why you can trust our recommendationshere.

This article contains spoilers for The Penguin episode 8.When The Penguin began, embattled mid-level mobster Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell) was left reeling in the wake of his boss Carmine Falcones assassination in The Batman and the resulting chaos left by the Riddler. In pitting the Falcone and Maroni crime families against each other, Oz made his own calculating bid for power to become Gotham Citys newest kingpin of organized crime, relying heavily on wayward youth Victor Aguilar.Though Victor quickly proved himself valuable to Oz, saving his life on multiple occasions and helping him outmaneuver the vengeful Sofia Falcone (Cristin Milioti), Oz murders Victor in The Penguin season finale, feeling his trusted associate had grown too close.In an exclusive interview with Den of Geek, The Penguin actor Rhenzy Feliz unpacks Victors death scene, reflects on the characters arc over the course of the season, and explains Victors role in the wider story along with Ozs violent rise to power.Den of Geek: A moment of silence for Vic. How was it playing such a brutal death scene in the season finale?Rhenzy Feliz: It was an interesting one. Me and Colin both circled the dates in our calendar knowing that the scene was coming up. I remember even a week leading up to it, he came up and went You ready for our scene? and I was like Yeah. Three days before that, he was like Three days before our scene! and then, [the day before] Big day tomorrow!We knew this day was coming and it was a big deal plot-wise, character-wise, and so many different things. The thing that I was most interested in nailing was the moment right before that happened. Its a very soft scene. The way I read it, its vulnerable and emotional. These two are opening up to each other in a way that they maybe havent before. In a way, Victor is being as open and honest as he can be with a guy like Oz.Then, for Oz to do that directly afterwards, its meant to be a gut-punch. That was its own challenge as well, filming the strangling and dying of it all. That was an interesting thing to do, but thats more physical. The first half is more emotional, mental, and wanting to tackle this challenge. Theyre two different challenges ones physical and ones emotional. It was a big day and we knew as much. You could feel it on set, that it was a bit different that day, with the way people interacted with each other. It was a little bit darker, more sad and sullen kind of day.Even before that, in the hospital, its Vic coaching Oz after they bring in Francis. Vic pulls up Oz from his lowest moment only to get rewarded for it shortly thereafter. How was it playing Vics journey from somebody trying to steal Ozs hubcaps to an assertive figure in his life?That was one of the things that interested me the most about the part, that we get to tell this arc of his character who is, at the beginning, very different from who he is at the end. That was always the mental charting that I was doing in my mind, making sure there was this change and this arc. By the end, you dont feel that its forced, but a natural progression of what hes turning into.That was an incredibly exciting thing to get to do over eight episodes. You get time that you dont necessarily get on a movie because you dont get as much time to draw out the arc. You get eight hours on this thing and that was very exciting. By the end, he is more assertive. You can see that in the way hes talking to the gangs. The guy is looking at five different gangs in the face and calling them cowards, telling them Nut up! Is this it? Yall are a bunch of cowards.Thinking about how Squid walks up on the rooftop, a week before the show technically begins in episode 3, and he walks away from this lower level guy. By the end of the show, hes telling off the heads of these five different gangs. Hes a very different person and it was always exciting to chart that out, get to create that, and do it in a way that didnt feel too rushed.Do you think Vic killing Squid in the seventh episode also killed the innocent, old Vic?I think there is still a death process happening between 7 and 8, its not a switch thats flipped. I think it is the beginning of a descent, where hes going into a darker and less innocent place. By the time he pulls that gun on Sofia, I think if need be, hed pull the trigger and not feel as bad as he did about Squid. I think its on a gradual spectrum versus an on-and-off switch. Hes on his way to something much darker and it wouldve been interesting to play out.I wonder if hed lose all of his goodness and innocence, I dont know. I think itd be interesting to play out and get to see, but we never get the chance because Oz does what he does.In speaking with [showrunner] Lauren LeFranc and the directors, were there things you were conscious of as you were figuring out where Vic was mentally from the beginning across each episode?For sure! There were some things I was doing with posture and my stutter. The scenes and words hes going to say are there, so its easy to chart out and keep track of that myself. But definitely my stutter and the way that Id stand, sit, and things like that change over the course of the show, for sure. At the beginning, his shoulders are rolled a little bit and he looks up a lot more. As the show goes on, hes talking to you more head-on.I think that subtly, without the audience even knowing whats happening, shows confidence, insecurity, youth, and that this feels more submissive or assertive. It was slowly and gradually changing over the course of the first three [episodes] and little more after the time jump in 6 and even more in 7 and 8. There were definitely things we were charting along the way in creating this arc, even if its just subconsciously. Maybe the audience wont know that its happening, but theyll feel that theres a difference.So many of your scenes are with Colin Farrell. How was it working with him on this series, especially on the more intense scenes?It was awesome! The guy is so giving as an actor. There were definitely moments where it felt like he was overdoing it, where he didnt have to be this generous. Hes been on set far longer than I have because he has to put on prosthetics at the beginning of the day. Hes there three hours before I am and hes got to be there about 45 minutes afterwards to take off all the prosthetics as well.There were times where we were doing scenes and Id just need to look in that general direction and not really have any words to say to him, just reactions to what he was saying. Id tell him You can totally go home, were just finishing this coverage. He never would. Hed always stay back and give whatever I needed for looks as an actor.Thats just an example. The guys an incredibly giving human being, a generous person, so incredibly talented, and works so hard. I couldnt have asked for a better person to stand next to and take this journey with.We had talked about Vic not having a lot of time to process losing his family and the trauma from that. How was it playing this guy who thinks he found his father figure and place only to swim into the mouth of a shark?Its heartbreaking, its brutal. If youre looking at it from an audiences perspective, this poor kid is trying to do his best and hes found someone who he thinks is looking out for him, who he thinks cares for him, and who he thinks cares for a lot of people. Victor falls into the trap of [thinking] Oz really cares about the people of Crown Point, about the small guy.If Im looking at it as Rhenzy, I think Oz cares about people who adore him. The way you get that is making people think that you care about them. Its more about the adoration that Oz gets rather than the care that he gives to others. I think that Victor confused the two. When hes giving him that speech in the hospital, the reason that he cares about Oz so much is because Oz cares about the little guy, for me. Im the little guy and look at what hes doing for me. He couldve killed me but he didnt because he cares.I think he confuses that adoration, attention, and wanting to look up to Oz. It is heartbreaking. I think he misread the situation and who Oz was at his core and it ends up costing him his life.Looking back, what scenes standout for you? What makes the sizzle reel?Its hard to watch my own stuff, to be honest. I try not to bring that up as much as possible, I think its eye-rolling behavior. There are very small moments in 6 that I like. There are, like, three seconds from a scene that Ill think are decent, but its all tough. I like watching everyone elses work more. I like watching that scene between Colin and [Deirdre OConnell] when she tells him if my mind goes before my body does, youve got to help me die. That whole scene is heartbreaking.The scene between Sofia and Eve, when theyre having their moment at the end is a heartbreaking moment and its so intense. I was having the time of my life watching Francis talk to Sofia, going Go fuck yourself. I cant wait until my son puts a bullet in that little skull of yours. All of those scenes are fun to watch. Some of them are heartbreaking, some of the other ones are intense. I just find them to be awesome.The whole fourth episode with Cristin, and that scene where she realizes shes going to go to Arkham, what a scene. I can stand back and appreciate those. I think its hard for me to stand back and appreciate my own. Its the other ones that Im in awe of.Rhenzy, lets lay Vic to rest. How was it getting to add your own stamp in the Batman mythos with this tragic, impressionable character who grounds the narrative and this world of organized crime and losing ones soul?It was an honor. I was also afraid that maybe people wouldnt understand it, that maybe people are so used to seeing Ozes and Sofias, the badasses doing badass stuff. I was afraid people wouldnt embrace Victor in that way because hes too sensitive, he feels too much, or hes too weak. I, the creators, the producers, the writers, and the directors always saw it as what would probably really happen if somebody didnt just want to go around murdering people in cold blood. A 17-year-old kid probably wouldnt just take to it like that.Itll probably take some time, itll hurt, and it wont be fun. Taking a real grounded approach to it and bringing it into reality, I thought it was awesome. I was afraid that people wouldnt understand it and, what I realized, is that people have really embraced Victor as a character, embraced his innocence and how good he is. They seem protective of him, they dont want him to go. They dont want him to meet a tragic demise.Its been eye-opening. Its taught me about the world and that maybe I didnt give the world enough credit and was cynical about how theyd perceive him. Ive learned that on this show, to give the audience a bit more credit with empathy, that they would be more empathetic when I was afraid that they wouldnt be. Thats been nice.I think thats who Victor is at his core. He is the kid who, after Batman fights whoever, the buildings get blown up, and whatever happens, hes the personification of the people who are affected by this thing on the ground level. We get to see that, see the everyday person and what happens to them. Their families are lost, they dont have any clothes, their girlfriend and people they know are scared of the city and leaving Gotham. Thats the human aspect of whats going on in the city and Victor embodies that.We get to see an extraordinary tale because its not the everyday person who gets to meet Oz. We get to see what happens. We get to take the ordinary person and put them in an extraordinary situation and circumstances, and that makes for good television. I think thats who he is and Im glad people were able to embrace him.All eight episodes of The Penguin are available to stream on Max.

Great shows with bad first seasons almost feel like a luxury in the modern streaming era. At a time when new projects are relatively abundant and often treated as disposable, shows are forced to find a substantial audience out of the gate or risk being canceled. There are far fewer instances of an interesting series with a small, but dedicated, fanbase being allowed to grow into itself in subsequent seasons.That said, its difficult to revisit some of the worst first seasons of your favorite shows and try to imagine sticking with them if you didnt know what they would eventually become. Yes, most shows need time to grow. A long-running series first season is rarely its best season or even among its best seasons. Still, these debut efforts will leave you wondering how these shows got renewed in the first place.Star Trek: The Next GenerationAvailable on: Paramount+ (U.S. and U.K.), Netflix (U.K.)Its easy and not entirely inaccurate to blame Gene Roddenberry for The Next Generations first season. By all accounts, Roddenberry desperately tried to maintain creative control over the series and ensure that the show followed a direction he outlined early on. Unfortunately, the first seasons revolving door of writers struggled to work within Roddenberrys often immovable boundaries and attempts to revive old ideas that were questionable, at best, in the first place.The result is one of the strangest collections of episodes youll ever see from an otherwise beloved series. This seasons lackadaisical pacing may have worked in a more serialized show slowly building toward something. Sadly, many episodes often drag along with only half-hearted attempts at drama occasionally appearing to remind you that youre still alive. Even the wonderfully weird moments are too scattered to be anything more than frustrating blips on a static radar. Mercifully, the seasons better episodes and some beneficial behind-the-scenes circumstances showed a better way forward that TNG would soon follow.Parks and RecreationAvailable on: Peacock (U.S.), ITVX (U.K.)You can sum up Parks and Recreations woeful six-episode first season with the name Mark Brendanawicz. Due respect to actor Paul Schneider (who tries his absolute best with what he was given), but that characters painfully generic love interest role gets to the heart of a series so desperate to maintain its kind of like The Office origins that it was seemingly terrified of displaying more than a hint of personality lest everything go off the rails.This is essentially a season-long pilot filled with generational talent going through the motions as they struggle to figure out their characters. It has all the awkwardness and scattered humor of going to an improv show on amateur night. Its remarkable that this show was able to turn things around so quickly in the early parts of its second season. As for Mark, he stayed around for a time, though the changing direction of the series made it clear there wasnt a place for such a throwback character concept. Perhaps Mark should have been louder, angrier, and given access to a time machine.Halt and Catch FireAvailable on: AMC+ (U.S.)Every Halt and Catch Fire fan reaches that point in their life when they have to seriously weigh the consequences of continuing to push this show on their friends. Desperate pleas of It gets better! are soon undercut by the painful admission that you cant skip the lackluster first season of this otherwise compelling drama about the rise of the PC industry during the 80s and early 90s. At some point, you start to sound crazy going to bat for this one.Much like its AMC cousin Mad Men, Halt and Catch Fires early episodes rely on its period-setting atmosphere and mood to do much of the heavy lifting. Unlike Mad Men, that setting is not nearly as immediately striking at least as the show presents it to make the necessary first impression. What youre left with is a show trying to navigate a real insider baseball concept with the help of characters that feel like they were plucked from other series they would much rather be in. Halt and Catch Fire essentially rebooted itself after season one, though it retained enough of that first year to make its debut episodes a painfully necessary part of the experience.Sex and the CityAvailable on: Max (U.S.), Netflix (U.S.), Sky (U.K.)Sex and the Citys season one struggles often get lost in the discussions about the shows innovations and significance. I completely understand why. Even a lesser version of this series felt positively refreshing in 1998 on the cusp of what would prove to be the early days of the prestige TV era.In retrospect, though, Sex and the Citys debut season feels like an almost entirely different show. You can write off the seasons cheap look as circumstances of the times, but the constant fourth-wall breaks and almost documentary-like cutaway sequences are often jarring. Early on, the show also had this strange habit of devoting too much time to a parade of side characters while leaving its main cast stuck in a series of questionable circumstances that youd struggle to imagine them in now.AngelAvailable on: Hulu (U.S.), Disney+ (U.K.)The first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer is also pretty rough, but you can still see significant traces of what that show would become through all the growing pains. When Angel debuted, there was plenty of reason to hope the series would hit the ground running and confidently exhibit its creative identity out of the gate. Hey, thats what we eventually got from Firefly.Read more Sadly, Angels first season often feels like a parody of the entire spinoff concept. Buffy characters keep making Why, its our old friend! cameos in Angels new life, and even those characters that would become significant down the line most notably, Wesley, struggle to find a place for themselves early on. What were left with is a motley collection of case of the week episodes and some half-hearted attempts to make the series one significant new character (Doyle) feel like the heart of the show. Even this series worst seasons (you know Im looking at you season 4) at least felt like they were experimenting with far more interesting ideas.SeinfeldAvailable on: Netflix (U.S. and U.K.)At this point, the show about nothing is such an inarguable cultural institution that its tough to remember the time when that whole concept seemed doomed to fail. If you really want to remember what those times were like, though, just watch Seinfelds five-episode first season.Fundamentally, the idea of watching Jerry and his friends struggle through often exaggerated versions of real-life social scenarios was established pretty early on in the series. Everything else just feelsoff. It makes sense that the characters took time to grow into the versions of themselves we know and love, but few of them especially Kramer feel like much of anything early on. Worse, that razor-sharp writing that would eventually define this series was clearly still being honed in these early episodes. Granted, season 2 and 3s episodes were still figuring things out, but those episodes often offer a pleasantly grounded contrast to what the show would soon become. Season 1 of Seinfeld iswell, truly a show about nothing.Person of InterestAvailable on: Freevee (U.S.)Many shows use the X of the week format during their first season as a way to grow an audience while trying out bigger ideas. Even in shows where that format doesnt entirely work compared to what comes next like The X-Files and Hannibal you still get enough of a glimpse of better days to come to make them eventually feel like pieces of a greater whole. Sadly, Person of Interests first season still sticks out like a sore thumb.Person of Interests debut season is one of the better seasons on this list, but its difficult to watch it and trust those who insist that this series gradually becomes one of the best sci-fi shows of the last 20 years. Instead, Person of Interests first season offers a fairly typical CBS procedural that is occasionally sweetened by its supercomputer that predicts crimes plot device. If youre into that style of show, it offers a pretty good version of it. If not, youll really have to have faith that this thing eventually earned its rabid following.Its Always Sunny in PhiladelphiaAvailable on: Hulu (U.S.), Netflix (U.K.)Many great comedies have bad pilots and rough first seasons. It just takes time for everyone involved writers, characters, and the audience to establish that connection that allows such shows to hit their stride. That said, even Always Sunnys creators have said that its hard for them to watch these early episodes and understand how the show was allowed to continue.This is the only Always Sunny season without Danny DeVito, and you certainly start to feel his absence if youre only familiar with that era of the long-running comedy. The bigger problem is that Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, and Rob McElhenney were essentially trying to figure out even the basics of making a TV show on the fly. Everything feels like a struggle during this season, and that trickle-down effect impacts jokes and scenarios that are otherwise not too far off from what the show would eventually become. Its one of the easiest skip this season options when youre recommending a show to friends.JustifiedAvailable on: Hulu (U.S.), Disney+ (U.K.)Much like Person of Interest, its easy enough to recommend Justifieds first season to someone as long as theyre not expecting much more than a standard procedural crime show. If you dont have a fondness or maybe a weakness for those kinds of shows, then youll likely find Justifieds debut episodes to be a wild series of ups and downs that ultimately doesnt amount to much.Actually, its fascinating to consider that many of this seasons best moments involve Boyd Crowder: the Walton Goggins character who was originally supposed to die in the series pilot. When much of a shows juice comes from a character who wasnt even supposed to be there in the first place, you know youve got a season of experiments and failures.BoJack HorsemanAvailable on: Netflix (U.S. and U.K.)If BoJack Horseman was canceled after its first season, it probably would have become one of those Netflix shows with a rabid following of fans who insist it still had so much to offer. They may have been right in retrospect, but theyd be defending a debut season so far removed from the brilliant meditations on loneliness, celebrity, and humanity that this show would eventually offer that you have to wonder if the whole thing is somehow an intentionally weak part of the series meta storytelling style.Thats almost certainly not the case, but its probably best to treat this season as some kind of commentary on the adult animated TV series trends that were popular around at that time. Because this first season lacks many of those deeper elements that would eventually define this series, youre left with largely disposable gags and thin characters that will struggle to sell this show to anyone who watches comedies toyou knowlaugh.The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of PowerAvailable on: Prime Video (U.S. and U.K.)Too soon? Maybe. It remains to be seen how many more seasons of Rings of Power well get, and it certainly remains to be seen if those upcoming seasons will live up to or improve upon what we saw in season 2. Still, its tough to imagine that this show will ever dip below what we suffered through during its first season.Read more Even those willing to lower their expectations for all things Lord of the Rings likely found Rings of Powers first season to be a lore-fuelled slog painfully devoid of compelling characters, exciting scenarios, and actual storytelling. While the shows second season still tries to do a little too much, the significantly improved pacing and action alone suggest that this debut season which often feels like the audiobook version of The Silmarillion will likely be an anomaly.

Its almost a decade since Wolf Hall aired on the BBC. Back then, the wonderful actor Bernard Hill, who played the foul-mouthed Duke of Norfolk in the 2015 series, was still with us. Tom Holland, who played Thomas Cromwells young son Gregory, had yet to put on his Spider-Man suit. So much time has passed since then that anybody would be forgiven for needing a reminder of who the characters are and where they fit in to this Hilary Mantel adaptation.Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light concludes Mantels retelling of Thomas Cromwells 16th century rise to power under Henry VIII, against a backdrop of an England in religious turmoil after the king broke with Catholicism and named himself head of the Church of England. It picks up exactly where the first series left off, with the 1536 execution of Henrys second wife Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy), following trumped-up charges of adultery and treason.Heres a run-down of who everybody is and where they stand.Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance)Wolf Hall ended with Cromwell (Bridge of Spies and The BFGs Mark Rylance) being drawn into an embrace by a smiling Henry, who was celebrating Cromwells successful concoction of treason charges against Anne Boleyn, her execution, and the kings immediate marriage to wife number three: Jane Seymour. Cromwell, however does not smile in Henrys arms. He recognises that his survival lives and dies with this dangerous, unforgiving king, and that hell have to walk an extremely careful path not to go the way of Anne, or his predecessor Cardinal Wolsey (see below).For now though, Henry is pleased with Lord Cromwell, and has elevated him further, to the position of Lord Privy Seal, Secretary to the king and Viceregent in Spirituals aka the kings deputy in the English church. Not bad for the low-born Putney son of a blacksmith. Cromwell is extremely powerful and wealthy, but his common birth undermines him with the nobles in Henrys court. Without Henrys protection, the enemies who see him as an interloper would act against him.Cromwell also made enemies due to the imprisonment and execution of former Lord Chancellor Thomas More, a steadfast Catholic who refused to swear an oath recognising Henrys supremacy in the newly Protestant church of England. As the architect of Anne Boleyn and her brother George Boleyns downfall, Cromwell is also disliked by Annes wealthy uncle the Duke of Norfolk (now played by Timothy Spall), who enjoyed the connection to the throne while she was queen. Himself a Protestant believer, Cromwell nonetheless used alliances with (now, secretly) Catholic aristocrats the Pole family to bring about Annes demise. The Poles hope to restore Catholicism to England by marrying Mary Henrys daughter with his first wife Catherine of Aragon into their family and having her succeed the king on the throne.Henry VIII (Damian Lewis)A brief bit of background: Henrys older brother Arthur had been heir to the throne of England, and as a teenager was married to 16-year-old Catholic Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon. Six months into the (unconsummated, according to Catherine) marriage, Arthur died of an illness and so to maintain the Spanish alliance, Catherine was married to Henry and they had a daughter Princess Mary. Henry and Catherine failed to produce a son who could inherit the English throne, which Henry (conveniently) interpreted as a divine judgement on his incestuous and unholy marriage to his brothers widow, and so sought to have the marriage annulled so that he could remarry and try again for an heir.The annulment wasnt granted by Rome, so Henry (Billions and A Spy Among Friends Damian Lewis) broke with Catholicism, imposed Protestantism on England and sent his first wife and daughter away so that he could marry Anne Boleyn. Anne gave birth to a daughter who would go on to be crowned Elizabeth I after Henry eventually restored his daughters to the line of succession just before his death but had no surviving sons. Henry had Cromwell frame Anne for treason, and had her executed so that he could marry his third wife Jane Seymour. Thats where we find him in The Mirror and the Light: married to Jane, rid of Anne, and frustrated that his Catholic daughter Mary refuses to swear an oath of obedience recognising his supremacy in the church.Cardinal Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce)In Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, we see Cromwell having discussions with Wolsey (Slow Horses and Game of Thrones Jonathan Pryce) in his private rooms. These are figments of Cromwells imagination, as Wolsey died six years before the events of the series. In his lifetime, Wolsey was a father figure to Cromwell, whose own father had been an abusive drunk. The two shared similarly low-born backgrounds (Wolseys father was a butcher) and made similarly impressive careers. Cromwell remained steadfastly loyal to Wolsey, and used the trial of Anne Boleyn to avenge him against the men responsible for Wolseys downfall. Well, all but one of themWolsey had been the Lord Chancellor and the kings closest advisor, as well as Archbishop of York, but none of those titles protected him from Henrys wrath. When Wolsey failed to secure the annulment of Henrys first marriage, Henry turned on him, taking away his property and positions, and accusing him of treason. Wolsey died humiliated and stripped of his reputation, something that his loyal protge Cromwell could never forgive. When Cromwell needed men to accuse of having committed adultery with Anne Boleyn, he targeted the four who had acted in a cruel farce at court which had shown Wolsey being welcomed into hell, as well as a musician who had mocked the Cardinals downfall.Cromwell now needs to avoid suffering Wolseys same fate, and fears that his intense loyalty to the Cardinal will work against him. Henry knows that Cromwell took vengeance against the men who worked against Wolsey, and chief of those was the king himself.Lady Mary (Lilit Lesser)Formerly Princess Mary but declared illegitimate after Henrys break with Rome, the 20-year-old daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon is currently being held by the crown. She has so far refused to swear an oath of obedience to her father as the head of the Church of England, choosing to remain loyal to her dead mother and to her faith. A Catholic that many believers still see as Henrys true heir, Mary is the centre of various plots to put her on the throne and restore Catholicism to England. She sees Cromwell as a particular friend, a position that could prove dangerous if Henry suspects Cromwell of working against him in favour of Mary.Mary is played by Lilit Lesser, the actor daughter of renowned actor Anton Lesser, who played Catholic martyr Thomas More in the first series of Wolf Hall.Jane Seymour (Kate Phillips)Peaky Blinders actor Kate Phillips once again takes up her role as the kings third wife Jane Seymour, a former lady-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn and part of the Seymour family who own Wolf Hall from which Hilary Mantels trilogy and this series takes its name. Unlike sexually experienced Anne Boleyns negotiations with Henry (she was reported to have allowed him access to her body inch by progressive inch), Jane presented to Henry as shy, pious and virginal.Rafe Sadler (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) & Gregory Cromwell (Charlie Rowe)Though Thomas Cromwell had only one surviving son Gregory after the death of his wife and two daughters from illness, Rafe Sadler is also like a son to him. Rafe was raised and educated as part of Cromwells household from the age of seven, and worked for Cromwell as his chief clerk. In The Mirror and the Light, Rafe has become a part of the kings retinue and so now serves two masters Henry and Cromwell. Hes played by Game of Thrones and The Queens Gambits Thomas Brodie-Sangster.Read more Young Gregory Cromwell was played by the MCUs Tom Holland in the 2015 series, but now is played by Slow Horses and Vanity Fairs Charlie Rowe. Scenes of Rowe as Gregory standing next to his father at Anne Boleyns execution have been digitally added to the opening scenes of The Mirror and the Light, which starts where Wolf Hall left off.Thomas Call-Me-Risley Wriothesley (Harry Melling)Harry Melling (His Dark Materials, The Queens Gambit, Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films) replaces Joel McCormack in the role of Call-Me for The Mirror and the Light. Risleys a case of keep your friends close but your enemies closer for Cromwell. In the first series, the clerk was a protge of Stephen Gardiner, the former Secretary to the king displaced by Cromwell, and no fan of our lead. Risley remains in contact with Gardiner, who is currently in France serving as the kings ambassador.Stephen Gardiner (Alex Jennings)Cromwells former sparring partner and political rival was played by Mark Gatiss in Wolf Halls first series, and now the role goes to The Crown and This is Going to Hurts Alex Jennings. Gardiner is the Bishop of Winchester and the kings ambassador to France (though according to Mantels novels, hed rather not be). He was pushed out by Cromwell and so resents him, and his continued alliance with new member of Cromwells team Risley represents another threat.Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk (Timothy Spall)Played by Bernard Hill in the 2015 series and now taken on by The Sixth Commandment and Mr. Turners Timothy Spall, the Duke of Norfolk is a brute of a politician, and also no fan of Thomas Cromwell. The uncle of both Anne Boleyn and Henrys future wife Catherine Howard, hes closely embedded in Henrys court.Countess of Salisbury, Margaret Pole (Dame Harriet Walter)A powerful noblewoman and niece to King Edward IV, the Countess of Salisbury is the matriarch of the Catholic Pole family. Her son Reginald was the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, and in The Mirror and the Light, is in Europe forging alliances with Emperor Charles V and planning to lead a crusade to bring England back under papal control. To Henrys horror, his cousin Reginald has written a book urging the people of England to rebel against their king and restore the country to Rome. The Poles wish Princess Mary restored to the succession.Margaret is played by Succession, Silo and the Royal Shakespeare Companys Dame Harriet Walter.Eustache Chapuys (Karim Kadjar)The London ambassador of Emperor Charles V, Chapuys is a Catholic loyal to Princess Mary and a useful but dangerous man for Cromwell to know. Hes played by Leave to Remains Karim Kadjar.Richard Cromwell (Joss Porter)Thomas Cromwells nephew Richard is played by The Undeclared Wars Joss Porter. Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light airs on Sundays at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Warning: thisWolf Hallreview contains spoilers.Peter Straughan and Peter Kosminskys exquisite, careful adaptation of Hilary Mantels Cromwell trilogy is finally back after almost a decade after it first aired. For anybody who still has the stomach for despotic rulers and political skulduggery this week, thats cause for celebration. This wise drama deserved to be completed, and a performance as quietly commanding as Mark Rylances deserves our full attention.Youll need to giveWolf Hall: The Mirror and the Lightyour full attention, although effort has been made in this first episode to explain the whos, whats and wherefores. Its easier to follow than the first series thanks to the absence so far of timeline-jumping flashbacks. Its also easier to see, perhaps in response to criticism of the 2015 series atmospherically gloomy, candlelit look. Apart from the scenes inside Cromwells home, almost everything happens in bright daylight. If that continues as a lighting scheme, then its a neat way to divide Cromwells requirement to be one person in private, and another in public.Inside Cromwells chamber is the only element that may trip an unsure viewer up in the form of Jonathan Pryces Cardinal Wolsey. Several years dead by the series 1536 timeline, this Wolsey is a phantom of Cromwells imagination. His conversations with his former mentor are Cromwell talking to himself, and a precious insight into whats going on behind the sorrowful yet alert expression Rylance hides behind at court. With Wolsey, Cromwell can be bold, honest and wry a man in his own right. With Henry, he must be nothing more than an extension of the kings power.We see as much in the scene where Cromwell bodily removes Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton from the Privy Council chamber for speaking his mind and telling Harry where hes going wrong in the matter of his daughter Mary. A good attack dog, Cromwell uses his physicality to enforce Henrys will. He also throws his weight around in dealings with Catholic plotters the Poles, taking Sir Geoffrey Pole by the shoulders to quite literally put him in his place when he attempts to stand in his way. However much Cromwells wits are now his weapon, the former soldier who carries a knife up his sleeve is never far away. As he warns French ambassador Chapuys, this blacksmiths son may have lost the art of metalwork, but he can still swing a hammer.With Princess Mary (Lilit Lesser), Cromwell hides the brute and instead shows her the loving father-figure and royal servant. Reading between his lines, she signs the oath of obedience Henry requires of her, and once again, Crumb delivers what Henry demands and is rewarded.Read more With each step of his ascendency though, comes the threat that lowborn Cromwell is rising dangerously high, and thats thanks to Damian Lewis gently terrifying performance as Henry VIII. Lewis imbues the king with vicious menace and in this episode, does most of it behind a smile. His unctuous post-wedding night boast in Cromwells ear about Jane Seymours freshness and maidenly modesty may have been nauseating, but not more so than how Cromwell subsumes himself to his king, measuring his every word and look. When Mary complains, I thought they would all say plain what I know they believe, about the nobles on whose support shed relied for her restoration to the line of succession after Anne Boleyns death, shes showing her naivety. In the court of Henry VIII, saying plain what you believe is no way to survive.Survival both Marys and his own preoccupies Thomas Cromwell in this first episode. As Henry VIIs leading adviser, he has his head in the mouth of a lion and is astute enough to know that one clumsy move will be the end of him.Succession, eat your heart out: no drama better illustrates the precariousness of being in the employ of a tyrant thanWolf Hall. Its historical setting raises the stakes to the skies take a wrong step in the court of Henry VIII and you wont just lose your livelihood and reputation, but also your head. Thats why Mary feels frustrated. Her fathers courtiers may well believe in her divine right to succeed him on the throne, but theyre damned if theyre going to say so out loud.Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light continues next Sunday at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer. Its due to air on PBS Masterpiece in the US in 2025.