Daredevil: Born Again S2 Finale Sets Up the Return of Two Netflix Characters

This article contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again season 2.

By the end of Daredevil: Born Again‘s second season, things look rough for Matt Murdock, who has his identity revealed to the public and is sentenced to prison. But things are slightly better for Jessica Jones and for fans of the Netflix shows, as the last episode sees the return of Mike Colter as Luke Cage.

Even if they don’t realize it, Matt Murdock’s very bad day is very good news for fans of the Netflix shows. Both the reveal of Daredevil’s secret identity and Matt’s prison sentence come directly from the comics. And both of those stories involve characters who we met in the Netflix shows: Danny Rand a.k.a. Iron Fist, played on Netflix by Finn Jones, and Kilgrave a.k.a. the Purple Man, played by David Tennant.

The Daring Danny Rand

The story about Matt Murdock going to prison after the public learned about his Daredevil identity culminated in the storyline “The Devil in Cell-Block D,” in Daredevil #82 through #87 (2005–2006), written by Ed Brubaker and illustrated by Michael Lark. However, the plot begins earlier than that, going back to the original “Born Again” storyline from 1986, in which a drug-addicted Karen Page sells the secret of Matt’s identity to Wilson Fisk. For a variety of reasons, Fisk kept the information to himself, using it to strategically torture Daredevil, but never wanting to share it with anyone else.

That changed during Brian Michael Bendis‘ run, which began in 2001 and ended with “The Murdock Papers” in Daredevil #81, right before handing the reins to Brubaker. During that time, the Kingpin struck a bargain with the FBI, trading incontrovertible proof of Daredevil’s identity in exchange for special favors. At the end of Daredevil #81, Murdock is found guilty of criminal activity as Daredevil and sentenced to prison, as happens in the show.

Of course, things don’t go well for Matt, who is locked in jail with not only people he prosecuted as a lawyer, but also with people he captured as Daredevil. And his only help comes in the form of Frank Castle, who can’t resist the opportunity to once again remind Red how half-measures never work.

Further complicating things is the fact that Daredevil is still stalking around Hell’s Kitchen while Matt’s doing time. Finally, when Matt gets out, he puts on his own red suit to find out what’s going on. He meets the imposter on a rooftop and attacks, easily outmatching the fake until the other Daredevil throws a punch, his hand glowing yellow.

Yes, the imposter Daredevil is Danny Rand, who tried to help out his ol’ pal by acting as the Man Without Fear, to prove that Matt couldn’t be ol’ Hornhead. Danny being Danny, of course, screwed it all up, making more of a mess for Matt to solve.

But for fans of the Iron Fist television show on Netflix, the plot point gives Marvel the perfect excuse to bring Finn Jones back into the fold. Even if season 2 of Born Again overcorrected the lack of Daredevil in costume from season one, it’s unlikely that the third season will go without its central hero. And while it would fit Bullseye’s current arc to see him take up the mantle, and while Elektra is also Daredevil in current comic book continuity—and many would also like to see Élodie Yung reprise the role—a Finn Jones return makes the most sense (especially if you saw those behind the scenes photos floating around the internet).

The Purple Man’s Legacy

Thus far, no set leaks have given us reason to hope for the other character who could return to Hell’s Kitchen, Zebediah Killgrave, the Purple Man. However, Born Again season 2 does pave the way for Tennant’s return, if they’re loosely following the comics.

Dumb as Danny is, his ploy did manage to raise some doubt in the public mind, as did Matt’s defense of himself. Over the next several years, Matt’s superhero identity was something of an open secret. Matt would deny it to anyone who asked him, and he would sometimes use various forms of subterfuge to throw people off the scent, but he never pulled a Peter Parker and made a deal with the devil to wipe everyone’s memory.

Instead, the devil did it for him. Well, the devil’s kids. Well, the Purple Man’s kids. Before I explain further, I do need to provide a quick trigger warning, as this story takes the Purple Man’s abilities to their logical extreme. As seen in the Jessica Jones show and in the original Alias comics that introduced her, Killgrave will use his mind-control powers to take advantage of women. In 2014’s Daredevil #8, by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee, we learn that Killgrave has sired a host of children, all of whom have similar powers.

When the Purple Children learned about one another, they banded together to take revenge against their father. However, Killgrave defeated his offspring and held them captive, hoping to seep away their power and enhance his own. Fortunately, Daredevil came to the rescue, and the Purple Children were so grateful that they did him a favor: they used their abilities to make everyone forget that he is Matt Murdock.

Matt had to do some work to remind people who he is, but the Purple Children reversal is more or less the current status quo in Marvel Comics. In fact, that plot point led to Wilson Fisk outlawing vigilantes when he became mayor, which served as the inspiration for Born Again‘s second season.

Obviously, the Purple Children story would need some alteration for Born Again‘s third season, and not just because the concept is more unpleasant than Disney would like. Killgrave died at the end of Jessica Jones season one, and while some hallucinations allowed Tennant to appear in season two, we’d need the real guy to help wipe everyone’s memory.

Still, writers have found some clever ways to integrate comic book plot points into past seasons of Daredevil: Born Again. And if it means more David Tennant, then it will definitely be worth it. More Iron Fist is okay, too.

All of Daredevil: Born Again is now streaming on Disney+.

How Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Finale Leads Into Spider-Man: Brand New Day

This article contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again season 2.

Even though they’ve only met in the MCU once, and even then only in civilian guises in No Way Home, Spider-Man and Daredevil are usually linked in the Marvel canon. Both are street-level heroes in New York City, both have tragic childhood stories, and both suffer from overwhelming and unending guilt. But where Peter Parker usually faces trouble with non-stop banter, Matt Murdock forever wrestles with the dark night of the soul.

So if Peter’s going to have a brand new day in the MCU, then Matt must first have a very dark day. Which is exactly what happened in season 2 of Daredevil: Born Again. Yes, Matt managed to survive Mayor Wilson Fisk’s onslaught and the Anti-Vigilante Task Force he unleashed on NYC. But he’s in a bad place, with his identity revealed to the world and now serving a prison sentence for his activities. And with Daredevil off the board, New York City’s going to need Spider-Man more than ever.

Mayor Fisk No More

The biggest change in the MCU status quo is the removal of Wilson Fisk as mayor. Throughout season 2, Fisk used the sympathy garnered by the attempt on his life by the assassin Bullseye to put his anti-vigilante legislation into place. Because the AVTF targeted vulnerable people, and because Fisk controlled media outlets such as The BB Report, average New Yorkers supported him.

However, by the end of the season, the AVTF had gone too far, leading to widespread fear and violence. The courtroom drama nature of the finale to Born Again season 2 reasserted the rule of law, proving that demagogues like Fisk cannot be allowed to use the government as their personal weapon. Moreover, the season ends with Fisk out as mayor and his campaign director Sheila Rivera in his place. We saw Zabryna Guevara as Mayor Rivera briefly in the trailer for Brand New Day, suggesting that this new leader is ready to embrace the vigilantes that her predecessor vilified.

NYC Loves Vigilantes?

Will Mayor Rivera be alone in her newfound support for the costumed set? Thus far, the MCU movies have been reluctant to let Spider-Man stay in his friendly neighborhood, and while Spider-Man: Homecoming has some delightful bits with him interacting with New Yorkers, it’s not entirely clear how the city feels about him, especially after J. J. Jameson disseminated footage of him killing Mysterio in Far From Home.

Born Again‘s second season began with New Yorkers happy to let the AVTF do its dirty work, as long as it made them feel safe. But as Powell and his thugs increased their grip, more and more regular citizens joined the rebellion, participating in mass protests outside the governor’s office. So Brand New Day may send the pendulum in the other direction, with citizens ready to embrace Spider-Man, especially if he’s dealing with Boomerang, Tarantula, Scorpion, and Tombstone—all foes who will appear in Spider-Man’s next movie.

Big Brother is Watching

The citizens might be ready to support Spidey, but what about the government? Fisk got to do what he did because he had the support of the U.S. government, as expressed through CIA operative Mr. .Charles (Matthew Lillard). As we saw in the season 2 premiere, Charles literally has a direct line to Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and was working in NYC on her behest. Born Again ends with Charles taking Bullseye away to replace Luke Cage as his new enforcer, but that doesn’t mean the federal government has no more interest in the Big Apple’s superhero community.

In particular, the Department of Damage Control has its eye on New York. We know that Tramell Tillman will play a member of Damage Control, the Homeland Security-style organization that has been an issue for Spidey since Homecoming. Further, rumors suggest that Damage Control will be hunting Sadie Sink’s character, who is likely to be Jean Grey of the X-Men. Given that Val just had Mr. Charles in New York dealing with Fisk and Daredevil, she’ll probably keep her eyes trained on the city, especially if mutants are about to appear.

The Punisher’s Pains

Between the end of Born Again season 2 and Spider-Man: Brand New Day comes The Punisher: One Last Kill, a Marvel Special Presentation focusing on Frank Castle. Jon Bernthal showed up as Castle in season 1 of Born Again, and he’ll be back again in Brand New Day, presumably defending Sink’s character from Damage Control. But he cannot help but be affected by his time with Daredevil.

Castle helped Daredevil fight off a horde of AVTF officers in the finale of Born Again‘s first season, and he repeatedly chided Matt Murdock for his half-measures. Certainly, he feels vindicated by the mess those half-measures made, and he’s likely to bring them up when dealing with Spider-Man, Hulk, and the other super-people he has to deal with in Brand New Day.

Dealt a Bad Hand

One of the more surprising parts of the Brand New Day trailer showed Spider-Man fighting off a host of crimson-clad ninjas. Longtime Marvel Comics readers will know these as members of the Hand Clan, a group of death-obsessed assassins who usually make trouble for Daredevil and Wolverine, but rarely bother Spider-Man. So why have they suddenly become Peter Parker’s problem?

The answer is simple: Wolverine isn’t present in the MCU yet (Deadpool & Wolverine doesn’t count) and Daredevil’s locked up in cell block D. Technically, the Hand haven’t appeared before in the MCU, but they were a major part of the Daredevil Netflix show and The Defenders. While the canonicity of those series is still in question, we can probably guess that Matt’s actions in those shows have kept the Hand out of the city. But now that he’s in prison, it falls upon Spidey to deal with those pesky ninjas.

Will the Devil Have His Due?

Perhaps the biggest thing people want to see in Brand New Day is an actual team-up between Spider-Man and Daredevil. That desire has only been stoked by the fact that Punisher and the Hand will be in the movie. And while Charlie Cox has been adamant that he won’t appear in the film, people have lied before about showing up in Spider-Man movies.

Yet, it’s hard to see how, exactly, Daredevil will be around in Brand New Day. He is, again, in prison. And while we don’t want him to stay there forever, it would be really disappointing if Matt gets out long enough for a quick cameo and then goes back to jail. So unless Peter decides to check in on his former lawyer during visiting hours, then Born Again season 2 makes it impossible for Daredevil to be in Brand New Day.

All of Daredevil: Born Again is now on Disney+. Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters on July 31, 2026.

Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 Episode 8 Review – The Southern Cross

This article contains spoilers for Daredevil: Born Again season 2.

It had to end this way. Even more than the three seasons of the Netflix show, Daredevil: Born Again has been devoted to the idea that Daredevil and the Kingpin are inextricably linked, to the point that they play as co-leads. But as much as their showdown seems predetermined, showrunner Dario Scardapane pulls a neat trick in the finale. The two meet one last time, not as Daredevil and Kingpin, but as Matt Murdock, esquire, and Mayor Wilson Fisk, combatants in a court of law.

Ending on courtroom drama instead of supheroics comes with significant risks for Born Again, if only because it forces us to once again recall the show’s tortured first season. Before Scardapane came aboard, the original showrunners imagined Born Again as more of a legal and political thriller, one that significantly downplayed the costumed adventures. A lot of the blame for any shortcomings in the finished product was directed at those showrunners, who shot a lot of footage in offices and courts that Scardapane couldn’t just throw away.

Thus far, much of Born Again has felt like Scardapane running away from those intentions to make a superhero show. Matt has spent little of the previous eight episodes out of costume, and although Fisk remains the mayor, he’s grown increasingly unhinged, first participating in a charity boxing match and then duking it out with Daredevil. Additionally, Dex has completely metamorphosed from the troubled FBI agent he was in season three of the Netflix show to become a proper supervillain, complete with a mask and the moniker Bullseye.

Yet, in the finale, Fisk is just a witness on the stand, Bullseye gets whisked away to go on black ops missions with Mr. Charles, and Daredevil limits his superpowers to a demonstration in front of the judge. Jessica Jones goes back home to Danielle, where she gets to reunite with the heretofore missing Luke Cage. So does the finale, “The Southern Cross,” directed by Iain B. MacDonald and written by Scardapane & Jesse Wigutow, deliver a satisfying end?

Yes, but only if you understand Born Again as the story of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk trying, and failing, to go straight.

We saw in the penultimate episode Matt Murdock emerge from hiding to take his place as co-councillor with Kirsten McDuffie, defending Karen Page’s against charges that she’s a vigilante. Fisk observed those proceedings from his office, but now he’s ready to face his enemy in the open.

The tension of the episode comes from the way Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio play off of each other. By this point, the two actors have not only honed their characters and established a rapport with one another, but they feel a certain ownership over the show. During the Born Again press tour, they’ve both been vocal about their concerns with the previous showrunners and have claimed that they drove Disney to change the direction of the series.

Thus, it falls on the two actors to make the climax of “The Southern Cross” worthwhile as a piece of superhero television, and they mostly succeed. D’Onofrio’s “baby in a big man’s body” approach means that Fisk initially seems bored by Murdock’s questions, even though he thinks he holds sway over his opponent. He allows a spark of excitement to enter Fisk’s eyes when it becomes clear that Murdock may implicate himself in his interrogation. When Fisk tells Murdock that he’s willing “to go down that road” with him, D’Onofrio plays the character as if he’s finally shaking off the pretense of mayor, and getting to be his true self, the Kingpin, once again, and he loves it.

Cox imbues Matt with the same energy. Matt Murdock has always been a guy so mired in guilt that he cannot make a good, smart decision. His interrogation of Fisk offers him the greatest chance to indulge that tendency. He gets to make himself a martyr by revealing to everyone that he’s Daredevil, utterly destroying his life and endangering the lives of his friends, and he gets to feel like he’s doing the right thing because he takes down Fisk with him. Cox’s charming grin turns dangerous in these moments, his blood rising as he and Fisk egg each other on.

Even if you you’ve read the Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Brubaker comics that reveal Matt’s identity and send him to jail, it’s still thrilling to see the two actors try to outdo each other. Moreover, the resolution feels like a fitting end to Born Again‘s first two seasons. By the time the two men get taken away, there’s no doubt that Kingpin and Daredevil, Matt Murdock and Fisk, are mirror images, equally driven, powerful, and self-destructive.

It will be interesting to see if the climax gives Scardapane a reason to step away from Fisk as the big bad and explore some other parts of Daredevil’s rogues gallery. Season 3 is already primed to be a full Defenders reunion, which might mean the return of the Hand (especially since they’re in Spider-Man: Brand New Day), and Heather Glenn is the new Muse now, apparently (no offense to Margarita Levieva, who did what was asked of her, but Heather has been misjudged from the start, and her becoming a serial killer won’t help things).

If season 3 can move on from the Fisk/Murdock pairing, then season 2 will be remembered as a fine conclusion to a superhero epic. But if it sticks with the same dynamic for another season, then Daredevil: Born Again runs the risk of diluting its greatest strength.

Daredevil: Born Again season 2 is now streaming on Disney+.

The Mandalorian and Grogu Brings ‘90s Movie Style to Star Wars at Extended Footage Preview

There have been Star Wars movies made since the 1990s. There was even a Star Wars movie released (barely) in the ’90s, the decade of Clinton and dot.com, beanie babies and Swingers. However, 1999’s The Phantom Menace, like every Star Wars movie produced by George Lucas (or those who would seek to imitate his aesthetic) tended to reach toward a more classical cinematic style and vocabulary. The original Star Wars evoked the vistas of John Ford and the compositions of Akira Kurosawa, while the Prequel Trilogy maintained that mid-20th century influence, even while going all-in on CGI and digital photography by the time Attack of the Clones rolled around.

Hence the mild jolt in the opening moments of Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu, which just had sneak peek screenings around the country at select IMAX venues for fans. During these beginnings, it’s clear a filmmaker who came up in the Gen-X era, and indeed both wrote and starred in Swingers, is pulling from a different vernacular. Instead of the iconic Star Wars crawl, complete with triumphant John Williams music that echoed the 1940s serials of Lucas’ youth, viewers on the night of May the Fourth were treated to a title card that sums up a historical moment of upheaval and trouble after the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi (1983). It’s a trick made popular in historical dramas of a different era like Gladiator (2000) and Braveheart (1995), as well as a sneaky way to get viewers who might not have watched all three seasons of The Mandalorian on Disney+ up to speed.

It also signals a vibe shift in the first 26 minutes of footage screened, which is our most extensive look yet at the first Star Wars movie in seven years, exceeding even the 17 minutes that were shown at CinemaCon last month in Las Vegas.

The most spectacular element of the IMAX footage we screened includes a snowbound fight between AT-ATs and a smaller refined AT-ST that the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and his stuffed animal-sized sidekick commandeer. In the severe vertical expanse of IMAX, this sequence genuinely gives a sense of scale and vertico as Din Djarin stares up at his frigid, mechanical beast. The sequence is also fun for a slightly more casual Star Wars fan like myself, who enjoys the world but has always wondered what happened to those spiffy Snowtrooper uniforms after the cape-bedecked baddies left Hoth in Empire Strikes Back? It appears, they are just shuffled off to the next frozen rock, perpetually getting the short end of the Imperial stick.

Yet while evoking Empire—arguably the best Star Wars movie—the tone of Mandalorian and Grogu is more lighthearted and anachronistic. The sequence, in fact, begins between a meeting of Imperial leftovers who scheme ineptly about restoring the Empire to its once and future glory. In this context, the Mandalorian is not quite the gunslinger or the Western bounty hunter. He is, rather, the ultimate action movie fantasy; the unstoppable hero who enters the narrative like a myth; an urban legend; a boogeyman for bad hombres.

In a sequence that I’m convinced draws on the opening of Léon: The Professional (1994) and likely Desperado (1995)—the latter of which is also directed by Star Wars/Mando veteran Robert Rodriguez—the Mandalorian appears like an unstoppable wraith to completely decimate the last dregs of the Empire.

It’s a table-setter sequence which reveals a blunter approach to that galaxy far, far away. As the Mandalorian’s Razor Crest drifts into a friendly Republic port, it’s bathed in a perfect sunset, more reminiscent of Top Gun and its many ‘90s imitators, not least of which includes every Michael Bay movie. Meanwhile the legacy of Blade Runner is felt when Mando and Grogu are sent into the film’s real inciting incident by Sigourney Weaver: they must discover what happened to the kidnapped Rotta the Hutt, the descendant of evil Jabba—but who at least physically does not take after the gangster.

Resembling less shiny, clean Coruscant in the Prequel Trilogy and more the soiled rancor of Los Angeles in Blade Runner—and therefore many of its own ‘90s descendants like Dark City and The Crow—the city Mando lands in wallows in nu-noir chic squalor. It also features an easter egg only the parents (or grandparents) will appreciate: Martin Scorsese as the voice of an alien who absolutely, positively does not want to be a rat. The reluctant snitch is of course par for any movie playing with crime cinema seasonings, but to have the Martin Scorsese, maestro of some of the greatest crime films of all time, including Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), and The Departed (2006), voice a CG alien who doesn’t want to go the way of Billy Costigan, or for that matter Henry Hill, is a nice touch.

It also presages the longest look anyone has had yet of Rotta the Hutt in the ring. As we learn, he’s less coerced Gladiator than golden god rock star in his element. We see the surprisingly buff slug slime his way through one opponent after another. And the best thing you can say about the footage? By the time it’s over, I forgot that we weren’t getting the whole movie and wanted to see what happened next when Mando and wee little Baby Yoda entered the ring to ask for the space slug’s autograph.

The Mandalorian and Grogu opens only in theaters on May 22.

Evil Dead Burn Trailer Features a Major Twist on the Usual Formula

Evil Dead Burn is going to swallow Sam Raimi‘s soul. Okay, okay, that’s going too far. But the latest trailer for the next entry in the horror franchise features both the audacious camera movements that have been the director’s calling card since he made The Evil Dead in 1981, but it also inserts something new for the series: a plot.

The trailer has lots of nastiness, as someone with a car seat headrest in their face chases a couple into a family home. But it also sets up some character stakes, with the loss of a family member driving a person to read from the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis, the Book of the Dead, on purpose. Intentionally. Not by accident.

That’s a pretty huge change from previous Evil Dead movies. From the first two films and Army of Darkness, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams, to the 2013 remake and 2023’s Evil Dead Rise, reading from the Necronomicon draws the attention of Deadites that possess the living.

However, no one in those movies does it on purpose, at least not to raise the dead. In the first two Evil Deads and Evil Dead Rise, the reading comes via recordings. In Army of Darkness and the 2013 remake, characters intentionally read from the book, but the former because it will allow him to time travel back to the present and the latter because the guy is a curious dummy.

Directed by Sébastien Vaniček, who co-wrote the script with Florent Bernard, Evil Dead Burn raises the emotional stakes of the story by giving someone reason to read the Book of the Dead. Souheila Yacoub plays Alice, a recent widow who retreats to her in-law’s home to share in the grieving. Somehow, she discovers the Necronomicon in a garbage bag, which apparently belonged to the husband’s grandfather. Even though the shot in the trailer shows a bloodied Hunter Doohan (Muse from Daredevil: Born Again) saying that his grandfather believed the book would summon the devil, it’s clear that Alice sees it as a way to possibly reunite with her beloved husband.

That’s a little more plot and character than we usually get in an Evil Dead movie. Sure, Evil Dead II gives Ash time to lament the death of his girlfriend, the 2013 movie has a drug addiction plot to explain why the protagonists have gone to a secluded cabin, and there’s some sibling tension in Evil Dead Rise. But character dynamics rarely drive the plots, which are mostly about Deadites doing terrible things.

To be clear, the Evil Dead Burn trailer has a lot of terrible stuff being done by Deadites. Lots of nastiness occurs in the clip, including a good object lesson for anyone who needs to teach young children how to properly load a dishwasher.

If they can maintain the level of intense brutality we expect while delivering well-rounded character, then Vaniček and Bernard could add an interesting new chapter to the story that Raimi started.

Evil Dead Burn arrives on July 10, 2026.

Tony Promises a Messy Anthony Bourdain Biopic From Blackberry Director

As the booming success of Michael reminds us, biopics might be the most rigid and uncomplicated of film genres. Portray the subject as a morally-upright genius, hit a couple of big points from Wikipedia, and include lots of stuff that people love to reward the audience for their very good taste. Throw it all on screen and watch the box office numbers grow.

Some of that shows up in the first trailer for Tony, the A24 biopic about chef and author Anthony Bourdain. We get glimpses of his struggles as a writer, failing to get a Fellowship and then taking a job in a kitchen only out of financial desperation. He talks to a pretty girl (Emilia Jones), gets hazed by the kitchen staff (including The White Lotus‘ Leo Woodall and comedian Stavros Halkias), and studies under an exacting but brilliant mentor (Antonio Banderas). And, of course, the trailer has snippets of him doing what made him famous, finding the perfect phrase to describe the experience of eating.

And yet, there’s something different about the tone of Tony, highlighted by the way the trailer highlights the artifice of the story. When Bourdain, played by The Holdovers breakout Dominic Sessa, identifies the proceedings as a “coming of age” story, or when Jones asks if he’s a good guy or a bad guy, one gets the sense that Tony‘s doing something messier and more aware than the standard biopic.

That suspicion only intensifies when you realize that Tony comes from director Matt Johnson. Johnson’s acclaimed comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is still making the rounds in theaters around North America but he also directed the 2023 biopic BlackBerry.

Like Air, Tetris, and Flamin’ Hot that same year, BlackBerry is a corporate biopic, the story of a product more than a person: in this case, the titular personal assistant device. But where most corporate biopics treat executives as true geniuses who deliver heroic boardroom pitches, BlackBerry treats its central characters as either screw-ups who don’t know how to realize their ideas or, in the case of Glenn Howerton’s sociopathic take on investor Jim Balsillie, insanely ineffective alpha males.

In other words, Johnson’s idiosyncratic and unpretentious approach to biopics makes him the perfect person to document the life of Anthony Bourdain, a man who famously had little patience for pretense. Bourdain became a household name not just because he took viewers of his shows to secret places in the world and shared their cuisine. Rather, he mattered because he managed to describe the specifics of the food in a way that felt universal, using meals as a way to draw attention to the people who made it.

Obviously, Tony won’t be the story of the iconoclast with the close-cropped silver hair who we all knew. But to show us how he got there, Tony cannot follow the standard biopic trail, and Johnson is exactly the type of person to help blaze a new path.

Tony arrives in theaters in August 2026.

Small Town Comedy Chasing Summer Is a Love Letter to Texas

They say you can’t go home again. But what if sometimes — at least in the movies — you can? That’s basically the premise behind Chasing Summer, an indie comedy about going back where you came from to find yourself once more. This is, of course, fairly well-trod ground thematically speaking — there’s basically an entire subgenre of Reese Witherspoon films about this very topic — but for comedian, writer, and star Iliza Shlesinger, it was a much more personal story.

“I wrote Chasing Summer at a time in my life when I was sort of transitioning. I was either engaged or about to get married — it was 2018, and I went back, and I looked at a little note that I sent myself, and I was realizing that, you know, you get married to someone, you’re a full adult,” she tells Den of Geek. “I was so happy, but I was also mourning the time in your life when you can still be a kid, when you can still go home.”

Shlesinger plays Jamie, a 40-something disaster relief worker whose life is turned upside down when she gets dumped by her long-term boyfriend. With nowhere else to go, she finds herself heading back to live with her parents for the summer in the small Texas town she hasn’t seen in two decades. Complications immediately ensue.

To be fair, there are reasons for this. Jamie has some fairly dramatic history with several members of her hometown, including Chase, the former football star ex that cheated on her (Tom Welling), and the painful rumors that dogged their break-up. But in order for her to move forward, she’ll have to reconnect with her past.

“I’m from Dallas, and those summers at home, the years right after high school, where you’re a full person but you don’t have a ton to do, and you don’t have the responsibility and the weight of everything – I wanted to cast that in amber,” she says. “That being at home, being frustrated, and still having fun. Your relationships don’t matter as much, your summer job doesn’t matter. There’s no more of that once you become someone’s wife and a mother and you have a career. So I wanted to sort of have that summer that I could always go back to because I have such fond memories of those things. I just wanted to make something personal.”

As for the cast, Shlesinger says that she “was so excited” when former Smallville star Welling signed on to take part in the film.

“I saw him on Lucifer. It was in the pandemic, and I consumed like 500 episodes of it, and I was like, who’s this beefy man? And I had him in mind for this,” she explains. “I was like, ‘We should get Tom Welling.’ And, our fingers were crossed the whole time, just like ‘Can you just make his reps make him say yes?’”

Welling, for his part, says he felt an immediate connection to the project.

“I’ve said this story before, but I was sent the script, and I was reading the script, and my wife walked in and I was giggling out loud. She goes, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m reading a script’, and she’s like, ‘What’s it about?’ I said ‘I haven’t finished it yet. She asks who’s in it. I said, ‘Iliza Shlesinger’ And she goes: ‘You’re doing it’. ‘Well, I haven’t finished [reading] it’. And she says, ‘No, you’re doing it’. So I may have jumped on that Zoom call with you before I finished the script.’

In addition to her past with Chase, Jamie must also navigate her relationships with her “complicated” family, including her parents, Layanne (Megan Mullally) and Randall (Jeff Perry), and her older sister (Cassidy Freeman), who owns a local roller skating rink.

“It actually is really fun to play someone who’s a little messy, because I think we all are messy somewhere,” Freeman, the former The Righteous Gemstones star who plays Jamie’s sister Marissa, says. “It’s something that we hide, we don’t show, or we’re ashamed of. So to be able to play a character like Marissa that not only has such specificity to her, is like, such a tactile thing, but to be able to just go for it and be messy and be like ugly in what you say and loud and like be a dickhead to your sister…that was fun. Amber was very reserved [in The Righteous Gemstones]. Amber was like, everything is perfect, and your ass is always tight. This was, I could let it go. I could let it all hang out with Marissa. It was relaxing.”

As a unit, the film’s cast is full of praise for one another’s performances and talent.

“I feel like, with all the actors here, but especially Cassidy, who got nominated for a Critics Choice Award for The Righteous Gemstones, she can seamlessly go from comedy to drama so quickly,” Aimee Garcia, who plays Amanda, one of Jamie’s former high school classmates, adds. “She’s very funny in this movie, as everyone is, but I think the heartfelt moments are what make it so unique, when you have have actors that can be laugh out loud, physical comedy, funny, but then can also rip your heart out in those beautiful dramatic scenes.”

“We were very lucky,” Shlesinger says. “All of these actors have been acting longer than I have, and we got really lucky with this caliber of actors and [their] professionalism. Everybody really wanted to be there. None of us made a billion dollars from being in this movie. But we all had the best time.”

A big part of Chasing Summer’s appeal is that it not only puts a fresh spin on a familiar genre, it does so by grounding its story in a very specific location and setting.

“This is a Texas movie,” Shlesinger says. “We were so fortunate to go to Sundance, but this, at its core, is a South by Southwest movie. It’s a love letter to Texas. I know people have a lot of opinions on a lot of things going on in the world, but we should all be allowed to view our own nostalgia through rose-colored glasses. And it’s a love letter to Texas and our own millennial nostalgia.”

Shlesinger isn’t the only cast member who hails from Texas, and the movie itself is steeped in the traditions of the Lone Star State.

“It feels like a homecoming for Iliza, Josephine [Decker, the film’s director], and myself, being Texans, but also for the film itself,” Garett Wareing says. “ It’s set in Texas. We got references to Texas A&M and Whataburger and all the things that Texans love, including Bucc-ees. Shoutout.”

Some of those traditions, of course, are more recent than others.

“That is newer. That was not around when I was growing up,” Shlesinger laughs. “People are all like, ‘Oh, you don’t know Bucc-ees?“ I’m like, you’re a child. It was not there when I was a kid.”

Chasing Summer premiered January 26 at the Sundance Film Festival and screened again on March 17 at the SXSW Film & TV Festival. It does not yet have a theatrical release date.

The Odyssey Trailer Breakdown: Trojan Horse, Robert Pattinson, Cyclops, and More

“Tell me what you remember,” says a voice at the start of the new trailer for Christopher Nolan‘s The Odyssey. For some watching, that’s a loaded question. The Odyssey is obviously one of the most important works of Western literature, a foundational epic that has influenced centuries of myths and stories.

The Odyssey is also really old, and for those who come to Christopher Nolan movies for towering visuals and complex story structures, the demand to remember a work of ancient literature might feel daunting. You may be watching the trailer feeling less excited and more confused.

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered, ready to break down the trailer and have you fully prepared when The Odyssey arrives this July.

Why Can’t Odysseus Just Go Home?

The trailer begins with the hero Odysseus (Matt Damon) telling Calypso (Charlize Theron) that he wants to go home, specifically to his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and his son Telemachus (Tom Holland). Why can’t he go? The answer is slightly more complicated than, “It’s a Christopher Nolan movie, so the male hero must always be separated from his wife and family.”

Odysseus helped win the Trojan War, but was waylaid on his way home to Ithaca, where he serves as king and has been held captive by Calypso, a nymph who had fallen for him when his ship crashes on her island. The shipwreck is just one of several mishaps that waylays Odysseus, including Poseidon wrecking his raft (the first thing we see in the trailer), cannibal giants (more on those soon!) and an ill-timed windbag (you’ll have to wait for the movie for that one).

Did Nolan Just Sneak a Trojan Horse Into The Odyssey?

The Trojan Horse appears in the trailer for the simple reason that The Odyssey picks up after the Iliad, Homer’s story of the Trojan War. Throughout the Trojan War, the 10-year siege of Troy by various other Greek city states, Odysseus proved his resourcefulness time and again, especially compared to the anger of King Agamemnon, portrayed by Benny Safdie in the movie.

The trailer gives us bits of Odysseus’ time in the Trojan War, where he fought alongside Agamemnon’s brother Menelaus, played by Jon Bernthal. The trailer also shows off the most famous example of Odysseus’s brilliance, when he constructed a gift to give to the Trojans and then hid himself and his fellow soldiers inside of it, allowing them to breach the city’s walls. That gift was, of course, the Trojan Horse.

Why is Robert Pattinson Being Such a Jerk?

A husband separated from his wife isn’t the only thing that makes The Odyssey such an urtext for Christopher Nolan. The story also cross cuts between Odysseus’s journeys and the turmoil at Ithaca, giving the director plenty of excuse to use his favorite editing techniques.

With Odysseus missing long after the end of the Trojan War, 108 other men see their opportunity to move up the social ladder and throw a gigantic party in his home. Those 108 suitors try to win over Odysseus’s wife Penelope, whose marriage was itself an extension of the Trojan War. Chief among the suitors is Robert Pattinson’s character Antinous, who seems to spend the entire movie ensuring Penelope that he’s moving in and that Telemachus should just start calling him “Dad.” Which is, according to the trailer, a word that Telemachus would use, apparently.

The suitor plot might be the hardest element of The Odyssey for modern viewers to understand. Why don’t Penelope and Telemachus just kick these guys out? How could Antinous and the other suitors be so bold?

One has to remember two things: first of all, hospitality plays a central part in Greek culture, and so one risks angering Zeus when rejecting a guest (remember that for when we talk about the cyclops). Second, Ithacans believe that they need a king, and someone needs to fill that role for the good of the people.

The motives of the suitors and Penelope’s inability to remove them goes beyond mere personal preference, requiring her to be as clever as her husband if she wants to hold his place for him. We won’t spoil how she pulls it off, but the shot of Hathaway holding a bow gives a little hint to her ultimate plan.

Why Is Tom Holland So Sad?

Judging by a cursory glance at the trailer, Tom Holland will spend most of the movie saying Robert Pattinson’s not his real dad and he hates him. But those who recognize some of the other characters realize that Telemachus has much more to do.

We see Telemachus talking to John Leguizamo in heavy make-up as Eumaeus, Odysseus’s faithful servant who aids in the resolution of the story. Later, Telemachus goes on his own sea-voyage and even takes the fight to Antinous. What we don’t see is any of Telemachus’ encounters with the gods, who ensure him that his father lives and give him the resolve to keep the faith.

Nor does the trailer give us much of any interactions between Odysseus’s family and his beloved dog Argos, who appears in one shot as a cute Krypto-level puppy and then later as… well, a much less happy dog. Let’s not talk about it. We’re getting as sad as Tom Holland the more we think about it.

Forget the Humans. Who Are Those Giants and Monsters in the Odyssey?!?

Because The Odyssey follows Odysseus as he travels from one place to another on his way home to Ithaca, he runs into a lot of weird stuff, some of which shows up in the trailer.

Most obviously, there’s Polyphemus the Cyclops. Remember how we said that hospitality is important to the Greeks? One of the clearest signs of Polyphemus’ evil is the fact that he eats two of Odysseus’ men, not so much because of the cannibalism, but because he mistreated his guests. As always Odysseyus will use his smarts to get himself out of there, but we’re most interested in Nolan’s cleverness in portraying the creature. Unfortunately, we get just a shadowy shot here, meaning we’ll have to wait for the full reveal.

While cannibalism isn’t the greatest of Polyphemus’s sins, it is still a sin, which comes up with another group of monsters we see in the trailer. Those giant warriors in silver armor are likely the Laestrygonians, who completely wreck Odysseyus’ ships and eat a bunch more of his men.

And then there’s the issue of the giant whirlpool and the things we don’t see around it, the sea monsters Scylla and Charybdis, which Odysseus must navigate around.

We obviously don’t see Scylla and Charybdis in their full glory, and that’s not the only stuff still missing from the trailer. We still haven’t seen major characters such as the Sirens, Circe, and Athena (the last of these played by Zendaya), nor do we know who Lupita Nyong’o, Elliott Page, James Remar, and Corey Hawkins are playing. Surely, some of these questions will be answered in later marketing, which gives you plenty of time to go back and read Homer’s epic for yourself.

The Odyssey arrives in theaters on July 17, 2026.

The Terror: Devil in Silver Review – Dan Stevens Battles Monsters Both Human and Horrific

This The Terror: The Devil in Silver review is Spoiler-Free.

When the first season of AMC’s The Terror premiered in 2018, it seemed an odd choice for a franchise, likely because it wasn’t supposed to be one. An adaptation of Dan Simmons’ novel of the same name, the critically-acclaimed limited series dramatized the real-life story of the doomed 19th-century Franklin expedition with a supernatural twist, and was so successful that it almost immediately spawned another season and a transition into anthology territory. The Terror: Infamy followed a year later, an original story set in a haunted Japanese internment camp in California during World War II. The series’s second outing was less successful, both critically and commercially speaking, and the show has been on the proverbial shelf ever since.

Now, AMC is bringing it back with a third installment, one that returns the franchise to its literary roots and leans more firmly than ever into the idea that while horror stories often traditionally feature bloodthirsty creatures, dark spirits, and vengeful ghosts, these elements are often most frightening when used as mirrors through which the worst of humanity’s own flaws can be reflected back at us.

Based on Victor LaValle’s (excellent) novel, The Terror: Devil in Silver is a horror narrative that works on multiple levels. One part supernatural thriller about a mysterious dark force at work in a run-down local asylum, and one part searing social commentary on everything from toxic masculinity to the ways that the mental health industry has failed the most vulnerable among us, it’s a unique and disturbing story that, despite its contemporary setting, slots neatly into the thematic world of the larger The Terror franchise. Like both its predecessors, a literal monster is involved, but it’s not exactly the most important — or most compelling — part of the story.

The series follows Pepper (Dan Stevens), a working-class mover from Queens who dreams of launching a side hustle giving drum lessons. But when he intervenes in a physical dispute between his girlfriend and her overbearing ex-boyfriend, he finds himself arrested for throwing punches at cops and taken into the fictional New Hyde Psychiatric Hospital, ostensibly to cool off for a weekend, but largely because the police don’t feel like doing the paperwork to process him. This is the first of many horrifying shortcuts and legal loopholes that will unfold in the episodes ahead, as Pepper, over-medicated and deemed non-compliant, slips through the cracks enough to become what seems to be the asylum’s latest permanent resident.

As he struggles against the system in an attempt to win his freedom, Pepper slowly becomes aware of a series of strange events in the hospital — including the sudden death of the man who used to live in his room — that many of the residents insist are the result of a dark force that lives within its walls, trapped behind a mysterious silver door. Along the way, the show takes care to illustrate the very real horrors that exist within the mental health industry, from the overworked staff members and scarce resources to the drugged up patients left to languish in a system that’s forgotten about them.

Though the series’s premise almost immediately lends itself to questions of unreliable narrators and whether viewers can trust what they’re seeing, Devil in Silver is actually pretty upfront about the fact that there really is a monster in New Hyde, and the question at hand is more about whether, as Pepper’s roommate, Coffee (Chinaza Uche), puts it: “Do bad things happen in a place because the place itself is evil or were so many bad things done there that it invited evil in?”

Clocking in at a brisk six episodes, the show doesn’t quite have enough runway to truly unpack the answer to that question in the way it probably deserves, and its final episode feels almost uncomfortably rushed. (Rarely do I wish TV shows were longer, but an extra hour would probably have benefited this particular outing in several worthwhile ways.) Still, the story is tense and atmospheric, as a trio of overworked hospital employees moves through sets lit by flickering bulbs, littered with run-down equipment, and doused in an air of general neglect. Director Karyn Kusama helms the series’s first two episodes and immediately establishes a claustrophobic, oppressive vibe that visually conveys the decay and hopelessness many of New Hyde’s residents clearly feel. Yes, there are moments where the lighting is almost too dim, but as that seems to be an industry-wide problem these days, it’s hard to fault the show too much for it.

With Devil in Silver, Stevens continues his run of bizarrely delightful career choices since leaving Downton Abbey and his designated period drama heartthrob status behind. (The man has played everything from a kaiju dentist in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire to Professor X’s son in the criminally underrated Legion, truly, what can’t he do at this point?) His performance here is intense and layered, running the gamut from helpless rage and frustration to genuine fear and regret. His Pepper is a man who contains multitudes, an angry, occasionally resentful, and still deeply decent person with a hero complex and a hot temper. A man with plenty of emotional baggage of his own, his journey is as much about confronting the monsters inside himself as it is battling any sort of external creature.

Stevens’ performance is the emotional linchpin around which much of Devil in Silver revolves, but he gets some significant help from the show’s fantastic supporting cast, who play a variety of neurodivergent characters that slowly come to form Pepper’s offbeat found family. Though each have wound up at New Hyde for different reasons, they all have compelling stories of their own, and real diagnosis that prevent them from becoming vague cariactures of “mental illness” writ large. Judith Light is both slyly funny and genuinely heartbreaking as Dorry, a schizophrenic woman who has spent most of her life as a resident of the asylum, but it is nonbinary actor b who quietly steals the show as Loochie, a belligerent teen with bipolar disorder who becomes especially close to Pepper as his stay goes on.

Thanks to the hospital’s book club (run by Stephen Root’s delightfully weird Dr. Badger), the series pays tribute to everything from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest to Jaws. But The Terror: Devil in Silver would still be a fairly compelling horror story even if the supernatural never entered into the picture — and that may well be the most frightening thing of all.

The Terror: Devil in SIlver premieres Thursday, May 7 on AMC+ and Shudder.

Andy Serkis: The Hunt for Gollum ‘Absolutely Will Be Like’ How They Made Lord of the Rings

It’s become cliché in modern pop culture discourse to lament they couldn’t make The Lord of the Rings today like they did at the turn of the century. When Peter Jackson came down from the proverbial Mountains of Moria, he and an army of craftspeople brought with them a set of movies that combined a century’s worth of classical filmmaking techniques with what now looks like the early pioneer days of digital effects.

But the most intrepid of these CG-explorers, Andy Serkis, does not agree with the sentiment that those days can never come again. And when I caught up with him on New York’s Upper East Side, he was adamant that Middle-earth’s halcyon era is about to return as he gears up to take on the director’s chair in The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.

“I absolutely think you can make them like that because we are doing it,” Serkis says. “All the same people who worked on the original movies have come back to the set department; the set designers; we’re using miniatures; we’re employing some of the older techniques and bringing some of the new techniques to bear as well. So we will be walking the tightrope of creating a world that people are familiar with, but also it’s an entirely new story.”

The placement of that story is indeed one of the most intriguing things about Gollum. Originally expected by fans to take place in the hazy gap in Fellowship of the Ring between Ian McKellen’s Gandalf the Grey discovering the Baggins’ ring and his return with foreboding news of its power—which on the page actually spans 17 years!—reports have since suggested The Hunt for Gollum is a full-fledged prequel set entirely before the events of the original trilogy. This is a development which Serkis seems to confirm.

“I’m very excited, and not just it being a nostalgia trip. There’s actually a lot to explore with the character of Gollum,” Serkis continues. “We are using more prosthetics for the orcs, for instance and shooting all on location. This film sits between the world of the Hobbit trilogy and the original trilogy, so within the law and canon, it sits perfectly in there, but technically, visually, and stylistically, it wants to merge those two [trilogies].”

The character of Gollum is a profound one for Serkis, who acknowledges the poor wretch is never far from the surface of his subconscious. Still, he refrains from reprising the character in his personal life, making only special occasions for some fans, particularly those with stories about finding unlikely hope from this admittedly “deeply malevolent character.” Like Serkis, they see Gollum as a metaphor for surviving addiction.

The director also leaves us with one last tease about another character returning in The Search for Gollum: the man who would be king, Aragorn. Initially played by Viggo Mortensen, the heir to the throne has been recast with the younger Jamie Dornan. With that said, he might come across as quite different from how viewers remember, as signaled in the casting announcement where Dornan is credited simply as “Strider.”

“That’s where he is at this particular part of the journey,” says Serkis. “He wouldn’t think of himself as Aragorn, son of Arathon, at this part of the journey. He’s living in the wilderness. He’s a doomed lone ranger.”

Check out our full profile of Serkis for more about the actor’s career, his passions, and his inspirations, from King Kong to Animal Farm.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation’s Goofiness Has Aged Perfectly

If you’ve spent any time at all on the internet, you’ve probably seen the most infamous moment from the 1997 bomb, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. A woman in purple strides onto the screen to take her place between two ninjas standing in fight positions. When a young lady below says, “Mother… you’re alive,” the camera cuts to a close up on the purple person. “Too bad YOU… will DIE!” she declares with an ostentatious point.

That bit of dialogue occurs just four minutes into the film, and for nearly 30 years, it solidified fans’s opinion that Annihilation represented a serious step-down in quality from its 1995 predecessor, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. Yet, when revisited three decades later, just as the latest big-budget and very respectful Mortal Kombat II is about to hit theaters, anyone watching the scene has to ask: What, exactly, would be the realistic way for a benevolent queen of a perfect realm, now corrupted by the magic of a pan-universal conqueror, to tell her daughter that she lives and now plans to conquer our realm, with the help of a four-armed lady and some centaur/dragon guy?

Without question, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is goofy, plotted with indifference, and filled with effects that looked cheap in 1997 (despite having a $30 million budget, higher than the first film’s $20 million). But now that we have two respectful and impressive Hollywood films to look at, Annihilation can remind us that maybe there’s something deeply silly about the franchise that gave the world Noob Saibot.

A Test of Might

Directed by John R. Leonetti, from a script credited to Brent V. Friedman and Bryce Zabel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation begins right where the previous film ended: the victory of the Earthrealm heroes gathered by the thunder god Raiden—Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, and Johnny Cage—over the sorceror Shang Tsung in the Mortal Kombat tournament meant nothing. Shao Kahn (Brian Thompson), emperor of the Outworld still plans to invade Earthrealm, with the help of his generals: Queen Sindel (Musetta Vander), Sheeva (Marjean Holden), Smoke (Ridley Tsui), Ermac (John Medlen), and Motaro (Deron McBee).

Despite the strict continuity in plot, the end of Mortal Kombat and the start of Annihilation look very different. Robin Shou and Talisa Soto still play Liu Kang and Kitana, but James Remar is Raiden instead of Christopher Lambert, Sandra Hess has replaced Bridget Wilson as Sonya, and Chris Conrad takes Linden Ashby’s place as Johnny Cage, at least for the five minutes he’s on screen, before Shao Khan snaps his neck. Later, Red Williams joins the cast as Sonya’s partner Jax, replacing Gregory Williams, who portrayed the character in a brief cameo in the first movie.

It’s not really the cast changes that mark a difference between the two films. The original has all of the features that people love/hate in Anderson’s later movies, manifested in a goofy performance by Lambert and some shoddy plotting. The second film has all those problems, only more so. Characters such as Sub-Zero and Scorpion pop in and then disappear from the story, Thompson, who has an otherworldly presence in The X-Files and Cobra, feels like a regular dude than a great conqueror, and a giant CGI-monster fight in the climax is both nonsensical and ugly. B-movie king Remar seems half-asleep while delivering his lines, and Williams is asked to do little more than shout slang as Jax.

Not Flawless, Still a Victory

Yet, the corniness of Annihilation matches the corniness that’s always been present in the games, even when it was freaking out parents and legislators in the mid-’90s. The spine-ripping always has more Looney Tunes to it than Faces of Death, and no series that includes babalities and “Toasty!” can have too many pretensions. Nor can a series that built half of its roster out of palette swaps complain about any filmmaker’s frugality.

If Annihilation treated those strange aspects to Mortal Kombat with derision, then it would deserve the fan’s ire. But instead, the movie seems to lean into the silly parts of the games. We see this with the introduction of new characters Nightwolf (Litefoot) and Baraka (Dennis Keiffer). Neither character arrives with the best effects, as Nightwolf transforms from a wolf to a person with all the prestige of an Animorphs cover and Baraka’s giant head and flailing arms make him look more like a confused high school magic than a blade demon. But look at how unabashedly Keiffer throws himself into playing Baraka, or how Litefoot delivers the clunker “Cool, huh? It’s my animality.” with conviction. These guys are clearly having fun.

One gets the same feeling watching the pay off of the animality plot, when Lui Kang becomes a dragon and Shao Kahn becomes a gorgon thing. It looks horrible, and the mechanics of the fight make no sense, especially when Lui Kang’s dragon—a famously flying creature with giant wings—gets scared about falling off a cliff. At the same time, you have to respect the filmmakers for trying to do a big kaiju battle at the climax of their movie, even if it looks janky.

In fact, all the clunky visuals now come off as charming instead of irritating. The shots of Jax punching toward the camera aren’t as cool as a middle-distance shot of him actual grappling with a monster, but they have their charm. The endless shots of ninjas twirling through the sky recall a ’90s screensaver, in a way that feels nostalgic now.

Even the infamous introduction of Sindel ages better because of the silly visuals. Her line delivery is ridiculous, but actor Musetta Vander puts everything into it. And all the actors around her are just as over-the-top, standing there with the dukes up and making mean, growly faces… just like the models in the games’ character selection screens.

Friendship!

To be clear, this isn’t to say that Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is good, nor does it mean that all of the flaws have become charming. For as much as their co-stars pour themselves into their roles, Remar and Reiner Schöne, who plays Elder God Shinnok, don’t quite have the same gusto. Nor can anyone claim that the martial arts action is as clean and propulsive as the first film.

But we still have that first film to provide the cleaner martial arts action. Moreover, we’ll soon have two classy, expensive, and mostly respectful (give or take a Cole Young) Hollywood takes on the franchise.

With those other entries in place, Annihilation can now be praised for retaining the series’ silly, janky, and altogether embarrassing side. When examined from that perspective, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is not too bad at all.

Mortal Kombat II will get over to theaters on May 8, 2026.

TV Premiere Dates: 2026 Calendar

Wondering when your favorite shows are coming back and what new series you can look forward to? We’ve got you covered with the Den of Geek 2026 TV Premiere Dates Calendar, where we keep track of TV series premiere dates, return dates, and more for the year and beyond.

We’ll continue to update this page weekly as networks and streamers announce dates. A lot of these shows we’ll be watching or covering, so be sure to follow along with us!

Please note that all times are ET.

Note: These are U.S. releases. For upcoming British releases, head on over here.

DATE	SHOW	NETWORK
Wednesday, May 6	Love Is Blind Poland	Netflix
Wednesday, May 6	Worst Ex Ever Season 2	Netflix
Wednesday, May 6	Citadel Season 2	Prime Video
Thursday, May 7	The Chestnut Man: Hide and Seek	Netflix
Thursday, May 7	Legends	Netflix
Thursday, May 7	M.I.A.	Peacock
Thursday, May 7	The Terror: Devil in Silver	AMC+
Friday, May 8	Amadeus	Starz
Friday, May 8	My Royal Nemesis	Netflix
Friday, May 8	Thank You, Next Season 3	Netflix
Friday, May 8	Unconditional	Apple TV
Saturday, May 9	Song of the Samurai	HBO Max
Monday, May 11	Pop Culture Jeopardy!	Netflix
Monday, May 11	Regular Show: The Lost Tapes	Adult Swim
Tuesday, May 12	Devil May Cry Season 2	Netflix
Tuesday, May 12	U.S. Against the World: Four Years With the Men’s National Soccer Team (9:00 p.m.)	HBO
Tuesday, May 12	The Punisher: One Last Kill	Disney+
Wednesday, May 13	Between Father and Son	Netflix
Wednesday, May 13	Perfect Match Season 4	Netflix
Wednesday, May 13	Roosters Season 2	Netflix
Wednesday, May 13	Good Omens Season 3	Prime Video
Wednesday, May 13	Off Campus	Prime Video
Thursday, May 14	Nemesis	Netflix
Thursday, May 14	Soulmate	Netflix
Thursday, May 14	Welcome to Wrexham Season 5	FX
Thursday, May 14	On the Roam	HBO Max
Friday, May 15	Berlín and the Lady with an Ermine	Netflix
Friday, May 15	The WONDERfools	Netflix
Friday, May 15	It’s Not Like That	Prime Video
Friday, May 15	Rivals Season 2	Hulu
Friday, May 15	Dutton Ranch	Paramount+
Friday, May 15	Couples Therapy	Paramount+
Tuesday, May 19	The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch Season 7 (9:00 p.m.)	History Channel
Wednesday, May 20	Carizzma	Netflix
Wednesday, May 20	Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed	Apple TV
Thursday, May 21	The Boroughs	Netflix
Thursday, May 21	SkyMed Season 4	Paramount+
Friday, May 22	Mating Season	Netflix
Friday, May 22	The Chi Season 8	Paramount+
Sunday, May 24	Rick and Morty Season 9 (11:00 p.m.)	Adult Swim
Wednesday, May 27	A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Season 2	Netflix
Wednesday, May 27	My 2 Cents	Netflix
Wednesday, May 27	Spider-Noir	Prime Video \| MGM+
Thursday, May 28	The Four Seasons Season 2	Netflix
Thursday, May 28	Murder Mindfully Season 2	Netflix
Thursday, May 28	Deli Boys Season 2	Hulu
Thursday, May 28	Criminal Minds: Evolution Season 19	Paramount+
Friday, May 29	Brazil ’70: The Third Star	Netflix
Friday, May 29	Calabassas Confidential	Netflix
Friday, May 29	Star City	Apple TV
Monday, June 1	Lethally Blonde Season 2 (10:00 p.m.)	ID
Tuesday, June 2	Love Island Season 8 (9:00 p.m.)	Peacock
Wednesday, June 3	The Legend of Vox Machina Season 4	Prime Video
Friday, June 5	Everything on the Menu with Braun Strowman Season 2 (11:00 p.m.)	USA Network
Friday, June 5	Cape Fear	Apple TV
Sunday, June 7	The Vampire Lestat	AMC
Monday, June 8	Alice and Steve	Hulu
Thursday, June 11	Surviving Earth	NBC
Thursday, June 11	Sweet Magnolias Season 5	Netflix
Saturday, June 13	My Adventures with Superman (12:00 a.m.)	Adult Swim
Friday, June 19	Sugar Season 2	Apple TV
Sunday, June 21	House of the Dragon Season 3 (9:00 p.m.)	HBO
Thursday, June 25	Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2	Netflix
Friday, June 26	Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Happiness (9:00 p.m.)	HBO
Wednesday, July 1	Elle Season 1	Prime Video
Friday, July 3	Silo Season 3	Apple TV
Thursday, July 9	Little House on the Prairie Season 1	Netflix
Thursday, July 9	The Five Star Weekend	Peacock
Wednesday, August 5	Ted Lasso Season 4	Apple TV
Sunday, August 16	Lanterns	HBO Max
Friday, December 25	Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone	HBO Max

If we’ve forgotten a show, feel free to drop a reminder in the comment section below!

Want to know what big movies are coming out in 2026? We’ve got you covered here.

New Star Wars Viewing Data Shows a Deep Generational Divide

Nielsen has released new viewership data to mark Star Wars Day, aka May 4th, and the numbers are pretty fascinating for anyone curious about how well the franchise is doing in the streaming landscape.

Largely based on 2025 data, it reveals that in the U.S. alone, viewers watched a staggering 33 billion minutes of Star Wars content last year. A New Hope, The Phantom Menace and Rogue One were the most popular movies, while Andor, Skeleton Crew and The Mandalorian filled out the top three spots on the TV side.

Yet, it’s the data from the first quarter of 2026 that proves rather more compelling. Many months after the Andor series finale, it remains the most popular Star Wars show among Millennials and Gen X viewers. Gen Alpha and Baby Boomers seem to both prefer The Mandalorian, even as Gen Z becomes the outlier generation by claiming The Clone Wars.

It doesn’t feel totally surprising that Gen Alpha and Boomers both enjoy The Mandalorian. Younger viewers have Baby Grogu to latch onto. Yellowstone-loving Boomers might gravitate to its space Western vibes, action, or clear “good vs evil” storytelling. But Andor’s continuing popularity among viewers aged 30-61 seems like a different story. We’re talking about two generations of viewers who grew up with not just the original trilogy and the prequels, but also with prestige TV. In that respect, Andor felt like a breath of fresh air; a show that understood storytelling for adults. Jedi tales and “chosen one” narratives had worn thin. Suddenly, there was a show that took Star Wars TV worldbuilding very seriously—perhaps too seriously for anyone scrolling for light entertainment.

Andor was more like a slow-burning political thriller than the snappy franchise fare of The Mandalorian, garnering critical acclaim from the first episode to its last. It presented an adult Star Wars universe where character-driven drama was more important than a pricey CGI chase sequence or the pew-pew of laser blasters. It wasn’t interested in selling toys as much as creating a story with a real, timely message: resistance to authoritarian power is built brick by brick, with ordinary people choosing sacrifice and action over comfort and fear.

It’s a message that has truly resonated with Millennial and Gen X viewers, who have arguably spent more time thinking about and coping with real-world institutions and systems. But now that those generations have seen live-action Star Wars reach a level they hadn’t thought possible pre-Andor, Lucasfilm may find itself in a curious spot. Will it continue to try to hit all the bases by creating movies and shows for various ages, or will a new direction emerge from the top down?

There won’t be another show like Andor, but viewers are clearly still hungry for deeper Star Wars storytelling. The war between money, acclaim, and that elusive mix of both likely continues in a galaxy far, far away.

Shattered Might Have the Most Underrated Ending Twist of the ’90s

The late Wolfgang Petersen made some memorable films in his career. The German director, who first gained international acclaim with the war film Das Boot, went on to traumatize children everywhere with The Never Ending Story and then captivate audiences with movies like In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Air Force One, and Troy. You’ll also occasionally hear people discuss his box-office flop, Enemy Mine, which later became a cult sci-fi movie. But a Petersen movie that no one talks about has one of the most underrated ending twists of the 1990s, and it’s time to give Shattered its due.

If you didn’t already sense it, there’s a 35-year-old spoiler coming, so if you’re interested in seeing Shattered, now’s the time to watch it and return here later. Give yourself the gift of seeing the movie’s twist without reading about it first! However, if you’ve already seen it or we can’t persuade you to, strap in for a wild ride.

Still here? Alright, then. Like Enemy Mine, 1991’s Shattered was a box-office dud that didn’t wow critics. It wasn’t exactly a star-studded affair either, relying on solid performances from Tom Berenger, Bob Hoskins, and Greta Scacchi, who seemed to understand exactly what each of them should bring to the table in Petersen’s sexy thriller.

Berenger stars as a wealthy businessman called Dan Merrick, who survives a car crash that throws his wife Judith (Scacchi) clear of the wreckage. Unfortunately, he’s left with severe facial injuries and amnesia, but after reconstructive surgery, he returns to his luxurious life. Merrick should probably count himself lucky after going through all that, but he can’t quite seem to settle. Everything feels off. He doesn’t recognize his home, his friends, or even his reflection.

As Judith helps him recover, Dan starts noticing odd things about her behavior and inconsistencies in the story she’s told him. He also begins to understand that he used to be quite the asshole after trying to pal around with his slimy business partner, Jeb Scott (Corbin Bernsen) so he decides to dig deeper into the events that led to his fateful accident with the help of a private investigator called Gus (Hoskins, doing a hilariously over-the-top New York accent).

It’s not long before Dan uncovers a web of lies. He learns that, prior to the crash, his wife had been having an affair with a guy called Jack Stanton, and she eventually reveals to Dan that he’d found out about the affair and killed Stanton in a jealous rage. The two had apparently gotten rid of Stanton’s body together at an old, abandoned shipwreck and had crashed the car after leaving the scene.

That seems like an acceptable twist in the tale, but Shattered isn’t done. Though Judith’s story sounds viable, Dan still isn’t convinced, so he and Gus finally decide to get to the bottom of what the hell actually happened the night of the crash. Exploring the shipwreck, they open a tank of formaldehyde and discover the preserved body of the real Dan Merrick. That’s right, we’ve actually been following poor Jack Stanton with the surgically reconstructed face of Dan Merrick this entire time!

Judith reveals that she was the one who actually killed Dan after he attacked her in a jealous rage, and she and Stanton disposed of the body. Stanton wasn’t comfortable getting away with it. He had second thoughts and decided to go to the police, which sent Judith into a panic at the wheel that led to the late-night crash. In the end, Judith dies in yet another insane car wreck. Luckily, Stanton escapes this one, and the police close in to wipe up all the mess as the credits roll.

It’s a fantastic twist that you don’t see coming, despite a fair amount of signposting. That’s down to some great direction by Petersen and canny editing by Hannes Nikel (Das Boot) and Glenn Farr (The Right Stuff) who collectively manage to keep the truth from the audience until the tail end of the final act.

As a result, Petersen really does his adaptation of Richard Neely’s pulp noir novel The Plastic Nightmare justice. Not only does he pull off the 1969 book’s twists and turns in a more modern setting, but he also deftly uses his middling budget to swing between car chase action, soapy drama, and the spooky chills of the abandoned shipwreck, where his previous experience on Das Boot must have come in handy.

The 1990s were a great time for fans of twisty movies. This was the decade that gave us Fight Club, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Primal Fear, and Dark City, to name but a few. Still, Petersen’s thriller has largely been forgotten in that incredible decade of cinema, and we reckon it’s high time that Shattered joined the conversation.

Marvel’s Oddest Show Is Staying That Way in Season 2

After garnering positive reviews and having cracked the Nielsen Streaming Originals chart using a binge release model, something that Daredevil: Born Again hasn’t managed in either of its much-hyped weekly rollout seasons, Wonder Man will be coming back to Disney+ for a second batch of episodes in the future.

Marvel doesn’t renew its live-action Disney+ shows very often. Only Loki and Born Again managed to secure renewals before Wonder Man’s debut. Yet unexpectedly, audiences warmed to the unusual series, which introduces a complex superpowered human and struggling actor named Simon Williams, who keeps his powers hidden so he can audition for parts in a Hollywood that’s playing it safe by only casting normies.

Aquaman star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II was keen to hop over to the Marvel Cinematic Universe when Wonder Man came along, having been impressed by the “fun, funny and smart” world Marvel Studios was building, but he was wary of taking the part of Simon Williams until he had spoken to Marvel maestro Kevin Feige personally, he revealed to THR.

“I asked [Feige], ‘I only get one Marvel buck to spend. Is this worth my dollar, because I can wait.’ And he said, ‘No, trust me, it will be worth it.’ And I’m so glad this is the role I got to spend my dollar on because I’m getting all of the super stuff and I’m getting all of the human stuff at the same time.”

Abdul-Mateen II plays Williams as an odd kind of hero; someone who cares much more about breaking into Hollywood than about his powers. During the first season of Wonder Man, Williams also joins forces with washed-up actor Trevor Slattery (Sir Ben Kingsley) and together they make for compelling viewing as they form a genuinely sweet friendship. The show wisely avoids the superhero spectacle usually associated with Marvel projects, and showrunner Andrew Guest has confirmed that season 2 will maintain the same tone.

“The people who like this show and like it because it feels different are going to be rewarded,” Guest said. “And the people who think that this show is going to suddenly turn into something else, I’m sorry to say, it’s not. Simon still has superpowers. It is still about this relationship, about two artists, and our industry. That is essentially what we want to maintain.”

He noted that, “One of the things that has been really rewarding is people who don’t think they like Marvel shows, or who have nothing to do with Marvel, find themselves watching it and binging it. My mother’s therapist, the last person who would watch a Marvel show, texted her, ‘I stayed up all night, I’ve never binged a show, I watched the whole thing.’”

Wonder Man season 2 is still in development and doesn’t yet have a release date. We’ll update you as soon as we know more.

15 Senior Movie Stars That Acted at 90+

As the wise Deadpool once said, “you’ll be doing this till you’re 90.” Well, something that sounds like a grim fate is the reality of many actors and performers, who not only act until they’re 90, but well past it. But when you see them on screen, you don’t see them in pain.

Instead, you see the expertise and experience of a life well lived, a journey that might be reaching its end, but isn’t slowing down. These are the senior movie stars that gave it their all for their craft, becoming shining icons of the industry.

Clint Eastwood

Eastwood continued acting and directing into his 90s, appearing in films like Cry Macho at age 91. His late-career work reflects a shift toward introspective storytelling while maintaining the screen presence that defined his earlier roles.

Dick Van D

Van D remained active well into his 90s, including appearances in Mary Poppins Returns at age 93. His continued performances highlight his enduring physicality and timing, rare traits for a performer at that stage of life.

James Earl Jones

Even in his 90s, Jones continued contributing through voice acting, reprising iconic roles like Darth Vader. His unmistakable voice remained in demand, demonstrating how certain talents translate across decades of work.

Michael Caine

Caine reached 90 while still acting, appearing in films like The Great Escaper. His later roles leaned into reflective characters, often drawing on his long career and distinctive presence.

William Shatner

Shatner remained active in television and film well into his 90s. His continued appearances reflect both his enduring popularity and his willingness to embrace projects across genres even late in life.

Robert Duvall

Duvall continued acting into his 90s, with late-career roles maintaining his understated, character-driven style. His longevity reflects a steady career built on consistency rather than constant reinvention.

June Squibb

Squibb has remained actively working well into her 90s, with roles in projects like Palmer and later appearances. Her continued presence in both film and television makes her a clear example of sustained acting work past 90.

Bob Newhart

Newhart continued appearing in television roles into his 90s, often playing elder authority figures. His dry comedic style remained intact, showing how his signature delivery translated across generations.

David McCallum

Best known for long-running television work, McCallum continued acting into his 90s. His role on NCIS extended for years, making him one of the most visible examples of sustained late-career activity.

Robert Wagner

Wagner continued appearing in film and television projects into his 90s. His long career allowed him to transition into supporting roles that capitalized on his established screen persona.

Harry Belafonte

Belafonte remained active into his 90s, appearing in projects and documentaries. His later work often reflected his legacy as both a performer and activist, adding historical weight to his appearances.

John Astin

Astin continued acting and making appearances into his 90s, often revisiting his legacy roles. His longevity highlights a career that successfully transitioned from leading roles to respected veteran status.

Lois Smith

Smith continued appearing in films like The French Dispatch after turning 90. Her steady presence in independent and mainstream projects shows a career defined by longevity and adaptability.

Marla Gibbs

Gibbs remained active in television into her 90s, taking on guest roles and appearances. Her continued work reflects a long-standing career that adapted to evolving formats and audiences.

Tom Skerritt

Skerritt continued acting into his 90s, including roles in independent films. His later work demonstrates how character actors can sustain careers through smaller but meaningful performances.

The 15 Most Bizarre ’70s and ’80s TV Spin-Offs

Television in the 1970s and 1980s was full of experimentation, especially when it came to spin-offs. Networks were eager to extend popular shows, sometimes in ways that felt natural, but often in ways that were surprisingly strange.

Characters were transplanted into entirely new settings, tones shifted dramatically, and familiar concepts were stretched to their limits. The result was a wave of spin-offs that ranged from slightly inspired to outright baffling. Yes, some found modest success, but most others quickly faded. These entries highlight some of the most unusual examples, where the connection to the original show seems anecdotal at best.

Joanie Loves Chachi

Spun off from Happy Days, this show relocated supporting characters into a music-focused storyline. The shift in tone and premise felt disconnected from the original, making it one of the era’s more unusual extensions.

The Brady Bunch Hour

Rather than continuing the sitcom format of The Brady Bunch, this spin-off turned the family into variety show performers. The drastic tonal shift made it one of the strangest reinterpretations of an existing property.

AfterMASH

Following MAS*H, this spin-off moved characters into a civilian hospital setting. While logical on paper, the change stripped away much of what made the original series compelling.

The Ropers

Derived from Three’s Company, this spin-off focuses on the landlords after they leave the original show. Expanding minor characters into leads resulted in a noticeably different dynamic.

Three’s a Crowd

Another continuation of Three’s Company, this show shifts focus to Jack’s life after the original series. The premise alters the core setup significantly, making it feel disconnected from its roots.

The Tortellis

Spun off from Cheers, this show follows Carla’s ex-husband and his new life. Centering a series on less popular characters made it a curious and short-lived experiment.

Blansky’s Beauties

Connected to Happy Days, this spin-off focuses on a modeling agency. The premise feels far removed from the original’s nostalgic setting, contributing to its odd reputation.

The New Odd Couple

A reimagining of The Odd Couple, this version changes the cast and tone. While technically a revival, it functions as a spin-off with a noticeably different feel.

Fish

Spun off from Barney Miller, this show follows a single character into a new domestic setting. The shift from police comedy to family life makes the concept feel unusually disconnected.

The Facts of Life

Originating from Diff’rent Strokes, this spin-off moves into a boarding school setting. While successful, its premise significantly departs from the original show’s structure.

Benson

Also spun off from Soap, Benson transitions from a chaotic family sitcom into a political setting. The tonal and thematic shift makes it a notable departure.

Flo

Derived from Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and its TV adaptation, this spin-off focuses on a side character running a diner. Expanding that character into a lead made for an unusual premise.

Enos

Spun off from The Dukes of Hazzard, this show centers on a secondary character becoming a police officer. The premise shifts away from the original’s core appeal.

The Golden Palace

Though slightly outside the ’80s, it continues The Golden Girls without one of its key characters. The absence significantly alters the dynamic, making the continuation feel unusual.

Grady

A spin-off of Sanford and Son, this show follows a side character into a new setting. Expanding a minor role into a full series created a noticeably different tone.

15 Games People Only Like Because of Streamers

The point of video games, if you ask anyone, is to play them. Or it was, before the advent of streaming content and personalities, who make a living out of playing games in front of an audience. Often, they’ll play games so their audiences can buy a copy for themselves, but that isn’t always the case.

Certain games, built with horror or stressful themes, derive their enjoyment from watching someone going through it, rather than you doing it yourself. Other games utilize a multiplayer aspect where personality is everything. These are the games that, while enjoyable, people only engage with thanks to streamers.

Among Us

Although released in 2018, Among Us only became widely popular after major streamers picked it up in 2020. Its social deduction gameplay thrives in group settings, making it especially entertaining to watch and helping drive its explosive visibility.

Only Up!

Only Up! gained attention almost entirely through streaming clips of players failing and retrying difficult climbs. Its appeal lies in frustration and spectacle, making it more engaging as a viewing experience than for long-term play.

Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy

This game became a streaming staple due to its punishing difficulty and emotional reactions from players. Watching streamers struggle through its mechanics became a major part of its appeal and visibility.

Goat Simulator

Goat Simulator’s chaotic and glitch-heavy design made it perfect for viral clips. Its popularity surged through online content creators who highlighted its unpredictable and comedic moments.

Phasmophobia

Phasmophobia quickly became a streaming favorite thanks to its cooperative horror gameplay. Player reactions and voice interaction mechanics made it particularly effective for live content and audience engagement.

Lethal Company

This co-op horror game spread rapidly through streaming communities. Its mix of tension and humor, combined with unpredictable encounters, made it highly shareable and entertaining to watch.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

Fall Guys gained momentum through its colorful chaos and competitive mini-games. Its short matches and unpredictable outcomes made it ideal for streaming, contributing heavily to its early success.

Poppy Playtime

This episodic horror game gained traction largely through reaction-based content. Streamers amplified its visibility by highlighting its scares and mysterious story elements.

Five Nights at Freddy’s

Five Nights at Freddy’s became a phenomenon through YouTube and streaming reactions. Its jump scares and theory-driven lore encouraged both live reactions and extensive online discussion.

Human: Fall Flat

Its physics-based gameplay creates unpredictable and often humorous moments. These qualities made it particularly appealing for group streaming sessions, boosting its popularity through shared experiences.

Gang Beasts

Gang Beasts thrives on chaotic multiplayer fights and exaggerated physics. Its appeal largely comes from watching unscripted, comedic interactions between players, which helped it spread through streaming platforms.

Devour

Devour gained attention through cooperative horror streams. Its intense pacing and reliance on teamwork create strong reactions, making it especially suited for live audiences.

Content Warning

Designed around recording and sharing in-game footage, Content Warning naturally aligns with streaming culture. Its mechanics encourage moments that translate directly into viral clips and online content.

Crab Game

Inspired by popular media, Crab Game spread quickly through streaming due to its chaotic multiplayer sessions. Its simplicity and unpredictability made it a frequent choice for group content creators.

The Mortuary Assistant

This horror game gained traction through reaction-based streaming. Its atmosphere and unpredictable scares made it particularly effective for content creators looking to engage audiences with tension and surprise.

’80s Cartoon Intros Everyone Remembers Better Than the Show

The 1980s were a golden age for animated television, especially when it came to unforgettable opening sequences. Long before binge-watching or streaming, a show’s intro had to grab attention instantly, and many of them succeeded through catchy theme songs and striking visuals.

In quite a few cases, those openings became more iconic than the episodes themselves. Backed by rock-inspired tracks or bold narration, these intros left a lasting impression that still resonates decades later. Most of these shows faded from memory, but their memorable openings remained, living on through nostalgia, reruns, and countless revisits online.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

The opening narration and theme song became instantly recognizable, setting up the world of Eternia with dramatic flair. Even for those who don’t recall specific episodes, the intro’s energy and iconic delivery remain firmly embedded in pop culture memory.

ThunderCats

ThunderCats’ intro combined fast-paced visuals with a powerful theme song that built immediate excitement. Its dramatic tone and memorable chant helped it stand out, often leaving a stronger impression than the show’s actual storytelling.

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

With its bold narration and action-heavy montage, this intro emphasized heroism and conflict. The closing tagline became especially iconic, making the opening sequence one of the most remembered elements of the series.

Transformers

The Transformers intro featured a high-energy theme and clear premise setup. Its simplicity and intensity made it memorable, even for viewers who may not recall the show’s more complex and evolving storylines.

Inspector Gadget

Driven by a distinctive melody, this intro stands out for its instantly recognizable tune. The sequence efficiently introduces the character while leaving a stronger lasting impression than many of the show’s episodic plots.

DuckTales

DuckTales’ theme song became a cultural staple, widely remembered for its catchy rhythm and chorus. Even those unfamiliar with specific episodes often recall the intro, which helped elevate the show’s overall legacy.

The Real Ghostbusters

Building on the popularity of the film, the intro uses a variation of the iconic theme song. Its familiar music and visuals made it instantly engaging, often overshadowing the show’s individual storylines.

SilverHawks

SilverHawks features a synth-heavy theme that captures the era’s aesthetic. The intro’s music and visuals are often what viewers remember most, even if the series itself didn’t leave as strong a lasting impression.

M.A.S.K.

The intro’s energetic theme song and fast editing made it highly memorable. It quickly establishes the show’s premise, often leaving a stronger impact than the episodes that followed.

Jem and the Holograms

This intro stands out for its music-focused presentation and vibrant style. The theme song became a defining element, often remembered more clearly than the show’s narrative arcs.

Voltron

Voltron’s intro uses dramatic narration and visuals to set up its story. Its tone and structure make it memorable, even for viewers who may not recall the details of the show itself.

Bravestarr

Blending sci-fi and Western elements, the intro introduces its unique setting with a strong musical identity. Its distinct style helped it stand out, often being more memorable than the episodes.

Centurions

The Centurions intro emphasizes transformation and action, supported by a dynamic theme song. Its visual energy made it easy to remember, even if the show itself didn’t achieve the same level of recognition.

Dinosaucers

With a concept as unusual as humanoid dinosaurs, the intro leans heavily into its premise. The catchy theme and distinctive visuals often stick with viewers more than the episodes themselves.

Pole Position

The intro’s upbeat music and racing visuals capture attention immediately. While the show itself is less frequently remembered, its opening sequence remains a nostalgic highlight for many viewers.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 Box Office Reminds Blockbusters Need Not Lean on Young Male-Skewing Action

There are a few ways one might look at this past weekend’s chic box office win for The Devil Wears Prada 2. As an observer who never gilds the lily, one can imagine Meryl Streep’s Ms. Priestly coolly stating, “A legacy sequel hitting big? In May? Groundbreaking.” Yet we, and probably most of the industry, should feel a lot more like Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs right now: just happy to be here and having a good time!

Indeed, Andy, Miranda, and the rest of the Runway coterie should be popping champagne now that The Devil Wears Prada 2 came in slightly ahead of its studio’s projections, with Disney estimating the sequel grossed $77 million in its first three days. That’s ahead of the $65 million to $75 million forecast by prognosticators ahead of the weekend, and nearly triple what the first Devil Wears Prada did when it opened to $27.5 million in 2006. Granted, that was a full 20 years ago, however even with inflation, the affection for these characters and that movie is palpable, with The Devil Wears Prada 2 grossing an estimated $233.6 million globally in its first weekend.

For context, that is the second biggest opening weekend of the year worldwide, behind The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s $372.5 million and considerably above Michael ($219 million) and Project Hail Mary ($141 million). Although domestically, it’s worth pointing out that Michael and Project Hail Mary did open higher among North American ticket-buyers.

There are a lot of takeaways that can be gleaned from this, with Disney especially taking satisfaction in having created essentially another multi-decade franchise out of the defunct 20th Century Fox’s back catalogue. After all, this comes on the heels of Disney successfully rebooting other Fox franchises into 2020s hits via Alien: Romulus, Predator: Badlands, and arguably Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Furthermore, Devil 2’s success comes at a good time for the Mouse House, which doesn’t have a superhero movie opening this May as in past years—and in fact, the new Streep movie outdid Disney’s Marvel effort from 2025 in the same timeframe, Thunderbolts*, which opened to $74.3 million and with a much bigger price tag.

To be clear, this is not to besmirch Marvel’s prowess. The reason they don’t have their usual May opening weekend is because the studio is regrouping before the hard-press on Avengers at the end of the year (Spider-Man movies for Sony notwithstanding). However, the success of The Devil Wears Prada 2 says more than just the priceless value of audiences’ nostalgia, even if it does signal 2000s and Y2K member berries are now in full bloom.

That’s all well and good, but really… it’s just nice to see an adult-skewing, female-leaning comedy strutting in vogue despite studios continually being afraid to take a bet on those audiences. By virtue of its legacy sequel nature, none of the leads in The Devil Wears Prada 2 are under the age of 40, and the subject matter has far more to do with 21st century workplace situations—particularly the timely subject of print journalism’s rapid collapse—than it does “romantic” clichés often expected in women-led movies. Or, for that matter, the dangling keys of bloated CGI and childhood IP-excess at the multiplex.

Take the aforementioned Thunderbolts* from last May, a movie I personally enjoyed and think is one Marvel’s stronger efforts in this decade. The film still had a reported budget of $180 million, with anonymous sources suggesting to trades it’s possibly much higher. Conversely, Prada 2 reportedly cost $100 million, a number on the steeper side for a comedy due to actors and filmmakers being able to bargain higher for a sequel to a beloved classic, with the original’s director David Frankel and screenwriter Aline Brash McKenna also returning. Still, $100 million for a summer blockbuster that opened bigger than Michael—a huge hit in its own right, but with an enormous price tag due to behind-the-scenes troubles—is chump change in the modern era where most blockbusters come with budgets closer to a quarter or third of a billion dollars.

Those budgets are obviously influenced by large VFX demands, the commonplace need for extensive reshoots during post-production, and myriad other factors that come with making four-quadrant tentpoles that skew often toward the interest of teenagers. And for more than a decade, studio resources have gone by and large to investing in almost only that kind of entertainment, especially during the summer months.

There are exceptions, of course. Probably the most headline-grabbing of which is 2023’s pink tidal wave in Barbie, albeit that was still an IP-heavy comedy relying on childhood interest and nostalgia. But there’s also the decidedly not kid-friendly rom-com Anyone But You, which grossed $220 million during the holidays in 2023 while in the shadow of Avatar: The Way of Water; last December’s darker laugher The Housemaid ($401 million globally) also cleaned up, and a retinue of “prestige” arthouse comedies have still been able to make nine figures globally, a la The Menu or Poor Things.

The audience does appear to be there for comedies and especially those in underserved demographics largely forgotten by studios. Whether IP/franchises are needed to bring them out of their homes remains to be seen, really, since you can count on one hand the number of women-led laughers that have been released as summer tentpoles by their studios in recent years. Two out of the three were Barbie and Devil Wears Prada 2; the third was the Jennifer Lawrence-led No Hard Feelings, which underperformed at $87 million worldwide.

Honestly, though, that is an awfully small sample size to write off original comedies, and the fact remains audiences do indeed want to see more than fast cars, capes, and sword fights in the summer months. Studios never stopped making horror movies en masse in the 2010s, not least of all because they’re so cheap to produce. However, audiences never lost a taste for that genre in a theatrical setting, nor were their dry spells to point to and say “audiences perceive this only as streaming content now.”

Well, The Devil Wears Prada 2, shows more than a few folks are ready to trip the lights fantastic at the theater for movies set in our world—or at least a highly fashionable corner of it. That’s all.

14 Games That Paved the Multiplayer Trail

The idea of multiplayer games, particularly ones with hundreds of players online at the same time, is something we are quite used to. But this didn’t used to be the norm; in fact, the progression between how gaming started and where we are now was a slow but steady one.

Through split-screen, LAN play, and early internet integration, these games pushed multiplayer forward in meaningful ways. Many of today’s most popular titles build directly on foundations laid years ago. These are the games that helped shape multiplayer into what it is today.

Doom

Doom popularized networked multiplayer through deathmatch modes over LAN. Its fast-paced gameplay and mod support helped establish competitive multiplayer as a central part of first-person shooters.

Quake

Building on Doom, Quake refined online multiplayer with dedicated servers and internet play. It became a foundation for competitive gaming, influencing how online shooters were structured for years to come.

StarCraft

StarCraft became a cornerstone of competitive multiplayer, particularly through its online matchmaking and balanced factions. Its influence extended into early esports, especially in South Korea, where organized competitive play helped shape the future of multiplayer gaming.

GoldenEye 007

GoldenEye brought split-screen multiplayer to a wide console audience. Its local competitive modes became a defining experience for console gaming, showing that multiplayer didn’t require a network to thrive.

EverQuest

EverQuest expanded on MMORPG concepts with large-scale cooperative gameplay. Its design encouraged social interaction, grouping, and long-term progression, influencing many online games that followed.

Counter-Strike

Originally a mod, Counter-Strike became a defining competitive multiplayer shooter. Its team-based gameplay and objective-focused matches helped establish the structure of modern online competitive games.

Diablo II

Diablo II helped popularize online cooperative play through its Battle.net integration. Players could easily join shared worlds, trade items, and tackle challenges together, reinforcing the appeal of persistent multiplayer systems outside of traditional competitive formats.

Halo: Combat Evolved

Halo helped popularize console multiplayer through LAN play and later online integration. Its balanced gameplay and accessible controls made it a cornerstone for multiplayer shooters on consoles.

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft brought MMORPGs to a massive global audience. Its accessibility and scale made online multiplayer a mainstream phenomenon, setting standards for social and cooperative gameplay.

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

This game revolutionized online shooters with its progression systems and matchmaking. Its multiplayer design became a blueprint for modern competitive games.

League of Legends

League of Legends helped popularize the MOBA genre and competitive online play. Its accessibility and constant updates contributed to the rise of esports and long-term multiplayer engagement.

Minecraft

Minecraft expanded multiplayer beyond competition into shared creativity. Its servers allowed players to collaborate, build, and create communities, redefining what multiplayer interaction could look like.

Fortnite Battle Royale

Fortnite introduced large-scale battle royale gameplay to a massive audience. Its cross-platform play and live events helped redefine multiplayer as a shared, evolving experience.

Among Us

Among Us popularized social deduction in online multiplayer spaces. Its simple mechanics and emphasis on communication created a new kind of multiplayer experience centered on trust and deception.

15 of Television’s Most Annoying Characters

Stories are driven through conflicts, showing us how characters either solve these conflicts or make them worse. If everyone in these tales acted rationally or without ill intent, stories would go nowhere, so there is a need for conflict-seeking characters. Even if, sometimes, they feel like too much.

And too much they are, since there are characters that people can’t stop complaining about online, often years after their given show has ended. While their antics pushed their stories forward, audiences around the world feel like their tales would’ve been better without them.

Skyler White, Breaking Bad

Skyler often became a polarizing figure due to her opposition to Walter’s actions. While grounded in realism, her resistance and emotional reactions were frequently perceived by viewers as frustrating, sparking ongoing debate.

Janice Soprano, The Sopranos

Janice’s manipulative tendencies and constant self-interest make her a recurring source of tension. Her behavior often complicates situations, reinforcing her role as one of the show’s most aggravating personalities.

Ross Geller, Friends

Ross is often portrayed as overly insecure and prone to jealousy. His repeated relationship mistakes and neediness have made him a frequent target of criticism among viewers despite being one of the central characters.

Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory

Sheldon’s rigid behavior and lack of social awareness are central to the show’s humor. However, his self-centered tendencies and constant need for control can make him frustrating to watch for some audiences.

Kimmy Gibbler, Full House

Kimmy is intentionally written as obnoxious, frequently ignoring boundaries and inserting herself into situations. Her exaggerated personality made her memorable, but also one of the more irritating recurring characters of the era.

Dawn Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Introduced later in the series, Dawn is often portrayed as emotional and impulsive. Her frequent need for attention and involvement in dangerous situations made her a divisive addition among fans.

Pete Campbell, Mad Men

Pete’s ambition and entitlement often come across as grating. His tendency to undermine others and seek validation makes him a consistent source of frustration within the show’s corporate environment.

Lori Grimes, The Walking Dead

Lori’s decisions and shifting loyalties frequently drew criticism from viewers. Her actions often complicated survival situations, making her one of the more debated characters in the show’s early seasons.

Ted Mosby, How I Met Your Mother

Ted’s romantic idealism often turns into stubbornness and self-sabotage. His repeated mistakes, indecision, and tendency to overcomplicate relationships made him increasingly frustrating for viewers, especially as the series progressed and his character showed limited growth.

Screech, Saved by the Bell

Screech’s exaggerated awkwardness and constant need for attention made him a defining comic relief character. However, those same traits often pushed him into overly irritating territory.

Paige Jennings, The Americans

Paige’s evolving awareness of her parents’ secrets leads to frequent tension. Her reactions, while understandable, often disrupt carefully constructed plans, making her a frustrating presence in a high-stakes narrative.

Jack Shepard, Lost

Jack’s leadership style and stubborn decision-making often divide viewers. His insistence on control and frequent clashes with others contribute to his reputation as an occasionally exasperating protagonist.

Andrea Harrison, The Walking Dead

Andrea’s choices and alliances frequently placed her at odds with other characters. Her shifting loyalties and decisions under pressure made her one of the more controversial figures in the series.

Ezra Fitz, Pretty Little Liars

Ezra’s secretive behavior and questionable decisions create ongoing tension. His storyline often relies on withheld information, which can make his character frustrating to follow.

Teddy Perkins, Atlanta

While intentionally unsettling, Teddy Perkins’ behavior and mannerisms create discomfort that borders on irritation. His presence is designed to provoke, making him memorable but difficult to watch.

Lord of the Flies Review: Jack Thorne Makes William Golding’s Classic Feel Painfully Timely

This Lord of the Flies review is spoiler-free.

Even if you’ve never actually read Lord of the Flies, you probably still know the story ofLord of the Flies. William Golding’s iconic novel was written over 70 years ago, but its influence can still be felt throughout our pop culture today. It has been parodied on The Simpsons and South Park. Dramas from Lost and The 100 to Yellowjackets have cribbed bits and pieces from its story. Heck, Stephen King named his town of Castle Rock after a fort in the novel. There’s probably even an argument to be made that reality elder statesman Survivor — and all the shows it subsequently spawned — owe Golding a debt of gratitude.

The basic beats of its story are familiar, if not necessarily for the faint of heart: A tale of shipwrecked children stranded on a deserted island whose attempts to form a functioning society spiral into savagery, chaos, and death, it’s a showcase for the worst elements humanity is capable of, told using a group of its most vulnerable members. As such, it’s difficult to imagine a writer working today who’s better suited to telling this story than Jack Thorne. The creator of the critically acclaimed limited series Adolescence, which sparked a global conversation about toxic masculinity, internet culture, and what, precisely, is going on with teen boys today, this feels like nothing so much as the natural next step for him as a writer and creator, a trip back to the text that first interrogated so many similar questions.

The bones of the story remain the same. Set in the 1950s, Lord of the Flies follows a plane full of British schoolchildren, seemingly being evacuated from England during an unnamed and unexplained war. The plane crashes on a remote tropical island, the pilot dies, and the kids are left to fend for themselves, with no grown-ups to tell them what to do. What follows is a rapid descent into anarchy.

Though the boys initially elect a leader and attempt to impose familiar rules of structure and order — they are British, after all — things crumble rapidly. Factions form, fight, and fall out, with members arguing over everything from where to build lavatories to whether the weakest among them are worthy of care and protection. As the group splinters further, almost everyone descends into a kind of savagery, painting their faces with blood and clay, joining in chants and dances, and just generally becoming the monsters they’re so afraid lurk in the woods around them.

Golding’s work has been adapted for the screen a handful of times; this four-part Netflix drama is the first time the novel has been made into a television series. The shift in format not only gives its central story more space to breathe, but also adds new flashbacks meant to flesh out several of the core characters’ histories. Each of its episodes centers on one of the story’s four main characters: Brainy Piggy (David McKenna), cruel Jack (Lox Pratt), sensitive Simon (Ike Talbut), and well-meaning Ralph (Winston Sawyers).

With an assist from Piggy, Ralph is initially elected leader, thanks to being moderately good at sports and the son of a military officer. He comes into immediate conflict with the hyper-competitive Jack, a smug choirister who wants power for himself. Not content with being named leader of the “hunters”, a.k.a the squad charged with finding food for the rest of the camp, he sets out to undermine Ralph at every turn, ultimately using his charisma and disregard for rules to tempt those bored by his rival’s attempts to impose structure and order in such a wild locale.

The series’ cast, comprised of over thirty child actors of various ages with little to no acting experience, is phenomenal. It’s honestly incredibly refreshing to see actual kids cast as children for once, a move that not only makes the entire endeavor feel more realistic, but the characters’ inevitable descent into violence all the more harrowing. (So many of these kids are just so small.) McKenna is particularly excellent, imbuing Piggy with a level-headedness that feels beyond his years, a sly sense of humor, and a fervent belief in right and wrong. And Pratt, who is set to play Draco Malfoy in the forthcoming (and largely unnecessary) HBO Harry Potter series, already feels like a star in the making. His Jack is petulant and aggressive by turns, horrifying and infuriating in equal measure. (That kid is a Slytherin through and through, is what I’m saying.)

Even the island itself comes alive as a character in its own right. Director Marc Munden makes the most of the show’s lush Malaysian filming location, blending wildlife shots, vibrant colors, and beautiful vistas in a way that feels as much like a nature documentary as it does a TV drama. Extreme close-ups of the boys’ faces slide by, interspersed with shots of rotting fruit, dead animal carcasses, and a plethora of insects. Hallucinatory night shots see the forest drenched in reds and pinks, giving an otherworldly sheen to the world the boys find themselves in. As technical achievements go, this series is a complete success. (Well..except for the CGI wild pigs. Those aren’t great. But that’s a nitpick, in the grand scheme of things.)

As for its narrative, Golding’s lessons about the fragility of social norms, the dangers of tribalism, the appeal of charismatic leaders, and the seductive nature of violence feel as timely and terrifying today as they ever have. (Possibly even more so, given, well… everything.) Thorne smartly doesn’t attempt to draw direct parallels between the world of Lord of the Flies and our own present day, content to poke at broader truths and questions about human nature and let his audience draw their own conclusions. The result is something that feels bigger than the sum of its parts, and, at the very least, a rather convincing argument to give this book we read in English class so long ago another look.

All four episodes of Lord of the Flies are available to stream on Netflix now.

Euphoria Season 3 Is Full-On Body Horror – We Should Have Seen It Coming

This article contains spoilers for Euphoria through season 3 episode 3.

Euphoria has always enjoyed mistreating young bodies. From the physical toll Rue (Zendaya) faces during her numerous drug relapses and withdrawals, to the way characters like Jules (Hunter Schafer) and Kat (Barbie Ferreira) utilize their sexuality in dangerous situations, the story of this teenage drama is told through the exploitation – self-inflicted or otherwise – of the human body

Euphoria has also never been short on raw violence. In its first two seasons, Nate (Jacob Elordi) chokes and bruises his ex-girlfriend, puts another high schooler in a neck brace after almost beating him to death, and holds that same ex-girlfriend at gunpoint during his streak of blackmail. Season 2 built on these violent themes by writing a fatal ending for Ashtray (Javon Walton), the murderous sidekick of the show’s primary drug dealer, Fezco (Angus Cloud).

The first episode of Euphoria’s third season arrived on April 12, with die-hard fans and skeptics alike wondering how this installment would build on or burn down the themes of hedonism and bodily cruelty that have come to be expected out of the show. The first three episodes have not only led the characters farther down that path, but into realms of actual body horror that put the first two seasons to shame.

Body horror is defined as a focus on the mutilation, decay, or otherwise torture of the human body, in which “the human body itself becomes a source of fear, anxiety, and disgust, often through graphic and disturbing depictions of bodily changes, mutilation, or alteration,” according to IMDb.

The most obvious example of body horror in Euphoria’s newest season comes in the form of Nate Jacobs. The once powerful high school bully has found himself in over his head as a real estate developer, owing money to not only his friends, but to a Godfather-esque investor named Naz who is owed over half a million dollars.

In episode 3, Nate and Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney) finally get married. Although the ceremony goes relatively smoothly, Naz makes an appearance threatening to become Nate’s “worst nightmare.” In seasons 1 or 2, this likely would have meant more blackmailing or a tensely homoerotic conversation in the parking lot of a motel four episodes later. In season 3, this threat was followed through before the credits roll; Naz and his henchman surprise the groom as he carries his wife across the doorstep, leading to a gruesome beating for Nate and a broken nose for Cassie, and ending with Nate’s pinky toe severed from his foot.

The ending of this episode evokes films by David Cronenberg and Quentin Tarantino. Although these directors and many others have laid a solid foundation for the body horror subgenre in the film industry, it is rare for a teenage drama to feature such explicit sequences of bodily harm. Recent television shows like The Last of Us, The Boys, and Hannibal have contributed to a culture of body horror fans within the TV industry, but for a show not categorized under the umbrella of horror, Euphoria is taking an unexpected leap with these moments of violence.

As if the burst pipe of Nate’s toe spewing blood all over his luxury home wasn’t enough, the new season of Euphoria is also exploring body horror within its fetishized sex scenes. Jules has always been the femme fatale of the show, and in this season she has dropped out of art school to pursue a surprisingly lucrative career as a sugar baby to disturbed men.

One of these men is a married plastic surgeon who, after courting Jules for some time, wraps her head-to-toe in cellophane, naked with her arms stretched to the sky in a bone-chilling cosmetic cocoon. “I just might keep you forever,” he says as her breath fogs up the plastic wrap plastered across her mouth. It’s hard for a singular moment to outdo every freaky scene that precedes it in a show like Euphoria, but this one brought a whole new level of horrifying to season 3.

The show’s antihero, Rue Bennett, is facing some of the most harrowing plot points of the show thus far, whether she’s teetering on the edge of the border wall between Mexico and the United States or staring down the barrel of a gun while her boss shoots an apple resting on her head.

Rue begins her season 3 storyline by paying back her debt to the unassuming, but feared drug dealer Laurie (Martha Kelly). Instead of paying Laurie back the millions of dollars she owes, Rue starts working as a drug mule, forced to “body pack” by swallowing dozens of balloons filled with fentanyl and transporting them into the United States.

The scene in which Rue and her friend Faye Valentine (Chloe Cherry) are forced to lubricate their throats and choke down latex-bound balls of lethal drugs is a grotesque depiction of the illegal drug trade. It is paired with another scene in which a young woman collapses at an airport while Rue narrates about the immediate fatality when a balloon pops inside a person’s digestive system in another haunting and horrific moment of TV from Sam Levinson, the show’s director and screenwriter.

Levinson has faced backlash from fans and others in the industry for his objectification of young women, on both Euphoria and his single season drama, The Idol, including unnecessary nude scenes and a general unwillingness to write female characters who aren’t objects of sex. Ultimately, it will be the remainder of Euphoria’s third season that clarifies whether Levinson is displaying a penchant for gratuitous impropriety, or if these moments of body horror are elements of the show’s larger shift into a popular horror subgenre.

New episodes of Euphoria season 3 release Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.