I Know What You Did Last Summer star Freddie Prinze Jr. is officially confirmed to be coming back for Sony's upcoming sequel film. Prinze Jr. played the character of Ray Bronson in the original 1997 film (an adaptation of Lois Duncan's hit YA horror novel) and returned for its 1998 sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer; his character was the blue-collar boyfriend of Julie James (franchise star Jennifer Love Hewitt), who provided some red-herring misleads before ultimately being validated as a noble guy.

It was originally reported that both Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt were in talks to return for the I Know What You Did Last Summer "franchise continuation project"; Prinze is the first to make it official. Fans will now be looking at Hewitt with laser-like focus to see if she also commits to the project. Having both her and Freddie Prinze Jr. back would give this new film the stamp of authenticity it needs to rekindle the fanbase.

I Know What You Did Last Summer followed the story of four teens - timid girl Julie James (Hewitt), dockworker Ray Bronson (Prinze Jr.), Barry Cox (Ryan Phillippe), and beauty queen Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) - who hit a man while partying ad driving down the road one night, and made the dark decision to get rid of the body and cover up the crime. A year later, all four teens are in mental/emotional distress - which becomes peril when a mysterious killer begins stalking them one by one, making the impossible claim to know what the kids have done.

This new installment has already snagged a young cast of actors, including Madelyn Cline (Outer Banks), Tyriq Withers (Atlanta), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), and Tony Award-nominated Sarah Pidgeon. Riverdale star Camila Mendes was originally cast in a major role but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Bodies Bodies Bodies star Chase Sui Wonders was reportedly in talks to replace her.

Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge) is directing the film and has already revealed to fans that this new installment will indeed acknowledge the previous two films. That said, it's still unclear whether or not this new I Know What You Did Last Summer film is a traditional threequel or more like a "requel" that will use legacy characters and the same continuity to hand the franchise reigns to a new set of characters, while slightly updating the franchise framework. That approach has worked out for the Scream franchise, another breakout horror franchise of the '90s.

The new I Know What You Did Last Summer has a release date of July 18, 2025.

via Deadline

Since the full reveal of Dragon Age: The Veilguard earlier this year, the game's art direction has been heavily critiqued. Compared to Dragon Age: Inquisition -- and the games before it -- Dragon Age: The Veilguard has a more stylized look. Why BioWare opted for the visual change, isn't entirely clear, but judging by the Internet's reaction it was the incorrect call. And it is once again the look of the game that is dominating discourse. This time it is thanks a Reddit post on the Dragon Age Reddit page that pointed out the proportions of the game's characters are a bit wonky.

The post reveals, with visual proof, the reason the characters look uncanny to so many is the fact that the proportions are not quite realistic. The results are characters with narrow shoulders, oversized heads, and a general look that is far more stylized and far less realistic than previous games.

The post has been making the rounds and even caught the attention of popular YouTuber and streamer, Asmongold, who slammed the characters of the game as awful looking.

"Um, wow. Wait, wow. It didn't look stupid until I saw it not look stupid," said Asmongold. "That's crazy. I actually hate the game more now because it has been fixed. I should have never watched this."

Asmongold continues: "How did this get through? I really wonder, how the f**k did this get through? This is awful. Who the f**k would want to look like this.

As you can see, the issue seems worse with certain characters. For example, Lucanis Dellamorte. The head of the master assassin looks disproportionate to his body, especially with his narrowed shoulders. Other characters, this stylization is less noticeable though. Whether this is something BioWare can fix, remains to be seen. This is, of course, assuming it wants to fix the issue in the first place. Considering this was a deliberate choice, it may have no desire to tweak the character models, but with all the negative feedback they've been getting perhaps their position will soften and change.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is set to release worldwide on October 31. When it releases, it will be available via PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. For all of our previous and extensive coverage on the upcoming BioWare RPG, click here.

The ComicBook Nation crew review Transformers One, and it's Peak Geek TV time again with Agatha All Along, The Penguin and Zack Snyder's anime Twilight of the Gods all premiering this week!

PLUS: The Clue movie reboot may have a director; the Transformers & G.I. Joe movie gets an update; Zack Snyder's 300 TV series is happening - and Netflix's One Piece Season 2 drops some major casting surprises!

Transformers One Review

Here's what ComicBook Nation's Anime Initiative host Evan Valentine had to say about his 4-star review of Transformers One:

I would be remiss by not calling this the best Transformers film since the 1980s animated film. If this is the future of the Transformers franchise, then Autobot and Decepticons fans have a bright future to look forward to indeed.

The Penguin Review

ComicBook's Jenna Anderson had the following to say in her 4.5 out of 5 star review of The Penguin:

Across its eight episodes, The Penguin redefines what verisimilitude can mean in the world of comic book adaptations. The grittiness, violence, and double-crossing that fans would expect from the title are abundantly present, but balanced with a truly heartfelt take on loss, rebirth, and personal agency. The series is not only one of the better crime dramas in recent memory, it is one of the best examples of how to branch out decades of beloved lore.The Penguin is simply a show about people trying to thrive in a world much bigger and weirder than they can even comprehend - a subject that would be universal nonetheless, but transforms into something special with its engrossing performances.

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When Tom Welling not only returned to The CW but to the role of Clark Kent, albeit briefly, for an appearance in the 2019 Arrowverse crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths, Smallville fans were thrilled. After all, by that point it had been eight years since fans had seen him as the DC hero as he hadn't made any other appearances as the character since the Smallville finale. Now, in the most recent episode of the TalkVille Smallville rewatch podcast (via ScreenRant), welling explains why it took so long and why it was ultimately the Arrowverse event that saw he and Erica Durance return.

According to Welling, he had been asked to appear in the other shows as Clark, but Welling said that he didn't feel like the tone of those shows was quite right when compared to what Smallville and, by extension, his Clark had been. For him, it was the appearance in Crisis on Infinite Earths that ultimately fit, though he's not sure it was Smallville's Clark.

"I was asked to be in a lot of the other shows after Smallville ended, I was asked to sort of appear in them as Clark and it never felt like their tone was the same as Clark was or what Smallville was," he said. "I still believe that in the crossover what you see Clark doing and giving up his powers and being with Lois for their family, that might not be the Clark from Smallville because it's a multiverse."

For those who might not recall, Welling's Clark appears on Earth-167 where during a search for one of the Paragons -- which was supposed to be a Clark Kent from an alternate universe -- draws Lex Luthor (Jon Cryer) who is going Earth to Earth killing every Superman. When confronted by a Kryptonite-wielding Lex, Clark reveals that he gave up his powers to have a normal life with his family and that Kryptonite no longer impacts him. He fights a bit with Lex, but Lex ultimately leaves. Durance shows up as Lois and when Clark explains to her what's happened, she notes that "Smallville" made a joke.

Interestingly, Welling has said that he doesn't know if the version of Clark he played in Crisis on Infinite Earths was the Smallville Clark. Earlier this year at Terrificon, he suggested that not only did he not know, but that no one ever explained to him how Clark lost his powers.

"I don't know if that's actually Clark from Smallville, because it's a multiverse, so you never know," he said. "And I don't know how he lost his powers. No one ever told me."

One thing that we do know, however, is that Welling wouldn't have returned at all had he been required to suit up as Superman.

"If they had started the conversation with 'So, Clark is in the suit,' I'd have been like [click]'" Welling said in 2020.

For fans of 28 Days Later, there is a lot about the upcoming sequel 28 Years Later to be excited about. Not only have fans of Danny Boyle's original horror movie long wanted a third chapter in the popular franchise, but two additional films are in the works and now, there's one more thing to add to the list. According to Wired, 28 Years Later was filmed using an iPhone 15 Pro Max, following in the footsteps of 28 Days Later in that it was also filmed on unexpected and somewhat nonstandard technology.

According to the report, the film -- which concluded production in August -- was filmed on the iPhone, albeit with some additional equipment, including a cage with lens attachment adapter that would allow for the use of different lenses for filming. Per Wired, filming on the movie took place too early for production to get the new iPhone 16 series, hence it being filmed on the 15 Pro Max, and that the film's staff had been asked to sign NDAs to keep the detail about the iPhone a secret.

What makes this particularly interesting is that 28 Years Later being shot in iPhone is far from the first time a film in that franchise used nonstandard and unexpected technology to film. For 2002's 28 Days Later, Boyle and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle shot that film with a Canon XL-1, a digital camcorder that was pretty high tech and innovative for its time (the camera was initially released in 1998) and featured interchangeable lenses and recorded data onto MiniDV (digital video) tapes. The use of the Canon XL-1 for filming 28 Days Later was not only likely a good choice in terms of budget, but because of the size of the camera -- it was smaller and much more maneuverable than more traditional film cameras -- allowed production to make better use of the brief time available to shoot in locations within London at times when there wasn't traffic or pedestrians. It also led to the film having a unique look befitting what one might expect from a real zombie apocalypse, in part because it was filmed on technology somewhat available to general consumers at the time.

While not much is known at this point about the plot of 28 Years Later, it is very possible that using an iPhone to shoot this film will lend a sense of reality to things as well. With the film, based on its title, being set 28 years after the first film, one could argue that the visual quality of something shot on a smartphone (albeit with enhanced lenses) would look more like it belonged in our world (we won't get into discussions of whether phone and camera technology in a world in which the Rage virus exists would have evolved quite the same way as it has in our world, but hey, it's certainly possible.)

Interestingly, 28 Years Later, while it will be the biggest movie to date to be filmed with a smartphone, it certainly won't be the first. Stephen Soderbergh's Unsane and High Flying Bird were both shot on iPhone as was Sean Baker's Tangerine.

Starring Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes 28 Years Later is currently set to open in theaters on June 20, 2025.

Rachell Marie Hofstetter -- better known as Valkyrae, one of the top female YouTube streamers in the world and a co-owner of 100 Thieves -- has a street cameo in the upcoming Minecraft movie. And according to Valkyrae, she had a somewhat negative experience on set to film this cameo due to a "disappointing" moment where Jason Momoa, one of the movie's stars, allegedly mistreated the film crew.

For those that don't know: Momoa is a 45-year-old American actor best known for his role as Aquaman, but also known as Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones and Duncan Idaho in Dune. Unfortunately, for the actor, it doesn't look like Minecraft will join his list of prominent roles, or at least the reaction to the movie's debut trailer indicates a potential flop. More than this, it is now a source of controversy for the actor.

In a recent interview, Valkyrae talked about her time on the movie's set, revealing that Momoa was allegedly "mistreating" the film crew amid issues filming the movie.

"I just saw him mistreat some of the crew," said the streamer. "And it was pretty disappointing. It was after a very intense scene, and it was a very emotional scene, so maybe he was still in character, I don't know. But I was just surprised by how he treated some of the crew."

Valkyrae continued: "He was just really mad at them for not doing something right -- it was like setting up the shot and stuff. And he was just angry. Like really mad, and yelling. And so I was like, 'man this is not a good work environment'. I would not be happy working under these conditions.

Valkyrae has not followed up any of this with any additional details. Meanwhile, Momoa has not been drawn out for any type of comment, nor the Minecraft movie. At this point, we don't expect this to change for a variety of reasons, but if it does, we will be sure to update the story accordingly. In the meantime, for more coverage on the upcoming Minecraft movie, click here.

Karate Kid star Chad McQueen died earlier this week at the age of 63 and now, his Karate Kid co-star William Zabka is paying tribute to him in a touching post to social media. On Friday, the Cobra Kai star took to social media to remember McQueen, offering up fond memories of the actor and sharing his love and sympathy to the family of the man he called his "dear friend & Cobra Kai brother 4 ever."

Sadly, we lost the legendary Chad McQueen yesterday. I have so many great memories of him when we were filming the "Karate Kid". He was one of kind. He marched to the beat of his own drum and always made me laugh. We would caravan to set everyday -- him in his silver Porsche,... pic.twitter.com/DLapeBBc4P

-- William Zabka (@WilliamZabka) September 13, 2024

"Sadly, we lost the legendary Chad McQueen yesterday. I have so many great memories of him when we were filming the Karate Kid. He was one of a kind. He marched to the beat of his own drum and always made me laugh. We would caravan to set every day -- him in his silver Porsche, music blasting -- and me in my badass Honda Accord. He was the baddest of the OG Cobra's in the most fun and entertaining way," he wrote.

"I'm so thankful I had the chance to reconnect with him over the past few years. It was like no time had gone by at all. My love and deepest sympathies to his wife and family. RIP Chadwick -- my dear friend & Cobra Kai brother 4 ever."

Born and raised in Los Angeles, McQueen was the son of legendary actor Steve McQueen and followed in his father's footsteps picking up not only his penchant for acting, but for automobiles, motorcycles, and racing as well. His first major movie role was in the 1978 film Skateboard, but his breakout role was 1984's The Karate Kid which saw him play Johnny Lawrence's sadistic sidekick Dutch. He also appeared in The Karate Kid Part II. While McQueen's acting career largely ended by the 2000s, he continued to be active in racing until a 2006 crash practicing for the Daytona Sports Car race. In 2010, he started McQueen Racing LLC. McQueen is survived by his wife Jeanie and his children, including son Steven who is himself an actor who has appeared in series such as The Vampire Diaries and Chicago Fire.

"It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our father, Chad McQueen. His remarkable journey as a loving father to us, along with his unwavering commitment to our mother, truly exemplified a life filled with love and dedication. His passion for racing not only highlighted his exceptional talent but also served as a way to honor his father's legacy, a testament to the values instilled in him," the family said in a statement. "He passed his passion, knowledge, and dedication down to us, and we will continue not only his legacy but our grandfather's as well. As a family, we need to navigate this difficult time, and we kindly ask for privacy as we remember and celebrate his extraordinary life."

Longtime Marvel executive Dave Bushore has exited the company after 15 years. According to The Hollywood Reporter Bushore, who most recently served as vice president, franchise creative and immersive development for Marvel, is departing the company but not taking up a role with a new company. Per the report, Bushore is instead looking to "take his experience in the intersection of technology and new ways audiences participate in their favorite brands."

"I am going to mis the people, the characters, and the ideas that get thrown around in the hallways," Bushore said. "There's no place like Marvel Studios for that, it's infectious. But I'm ready to bring that energy and big ideas to some new kinds of stories in town."

Bushore first joined Marvel in 2009 and worked as a coordinator for Brad Winderbaum. Over the years, he went on to work in home entertainment, television specials, parks development and the franchise team dealing with special projects outside of theatrical production. Most recently, Bushore directed and executive produced What if...? -- An Immersive Story, a partnership between Marvel and ILM for Apple Vision Pro. It recently won a Creative Arts Emmy for outstanding innovation in emerging media. It was also exhibited at the Venice International Film Festival, marking Marvel's first trip there, an experience that Bushore called "mind-blowing."

"Being invited to Venice was mind-blowing," Bushore said. "Being there and seeing the embracing of this new type of content, and the people coming through doing the experience, filmmakers and ambassadors, that was a really cool thing."

Here's how Marvel describes What If...? An Immersive Story: What If...? reimagines events from across the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in unexpected ways. Utilizing the revolutionary spatial computer capabilities of Apple Vision Pro, What If...? - An Immersive Story will deliver a technologically advanced and engaging experience to fans that completely transforms the space around them. As they step into breathtaking environments, they will cross between mixed and virtual reality as they enter new and iconic MCU locations. Fans will use their hands and eyes to interact with the world around them, becoming immersed with stunning visuals and spatial audio, and work to save the fate of reality as they live out their narrative journey. Together, these groundbreaking features and more will remind them that time, space, and reality are more than a linear path.

What If...? - An Immersive Story is directed by Dave Bushore at Marvel Studios and produced by Shereif M. Fattouh at ILM Immersive. The experience is written by David Dong and Phil McCarty (The Learning Curve), with music by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning composer Laura Karpman (American Fiction, The Marvels). What If...? - An Immersive Story is executive produced by Bushore, Fattouh, and Brad Winderbaum (What If...?, X-Men '97), with Bryan Andrews (What If...?, Primal) serving as consulting producer. Vicki Dobbs Beck, VP of immersive content at Lucasfilm and ILM Immersive, Mark S. Miller, VP of creative development and production at ILM Immersive, and Jamie Voris, EVP/Chief Technology Officer at The Walt Disney Studios, all serve as executive producers.

The ComicBook Nation crew discuss the MCU news that Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton is directing Spider-Man 4 and break down the first reactions to The Batman spinoff series The Penguin, as well as the upcoming film Transformers One.

PLUS: A review of the new horror-thriller Speak No Evil and reactions to the final trailer for Venom: The Last Dance.

Transformers One Reaction

Here's what ComicBook Nation - Anime Initiative host Evan Valentine had to say about his 4-star review of Transformers One:

I would be remiss by not calling this the best Transformers film since the 1980s animated film. If this is the future of the Transformers franchise, then Autobot and Decepticons fans have a bright future to look forward to indeed.

Speak No Evil Review

Here's what ComicBook Nation host Kofi Outlaw said in his 4-star review of Speak No Evil:

Even with some groan-worthy moments of contrivance, it's hard to remember the last time a horror-thriller film has been executed as well, with as many strong performances, as Speak No Evil. It's another showcase of McAvoy's immense talent for creating unnerving characters (see also: Split), and a strong endorsement that James Watkins may have found his best lane as a horror filmmaker.

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After every show we'll keep the discussion on Twitter:

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Chad McQueen, the son of actor Steve McQueen, has died at the age of 63. McQueen's longtime friend Arthur Barens reportedly stated that the actor and auto-racer died of "organ failure" on Wednesday night; McQueen had been dealing with health challenges ever since he suffered a fall in 2020, from which he never fully recovered. McQueen is survived by his wife, Jeanie, and his children, Chase, Madison, and Steven (an actor whose roles include The Vampire Diaries and Chicago Fire). The McQueen family released a statement confirming the passing of Chad McQueen, which you can read below:

"It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of our father, Chad McQueen. His remarkable journey as a loving father to us, along with his unwavering commitment to our mother, truly exemplified a life filled with love and dedication. His passion for racing not only highlighted his exceptional talent but also served as a way to honor his father's legacy, a testament to the values instilled in him."

"He passed his passion, knowledge, and dedication down to us, and we will continue not only his legacy but our grandfather's as well. As a family, we need to navigate this difficult time, and we kindly ask for privacy as we remember and celebrate his extraordinary life."

Steve McQueen died when his son Chad was just nineteen (in 1980), but Chad managed to follow closely in his dad's footsteps. Born and raised in Los Angeles (his mother was actress Neile Adams), Chad quickly picked up his father's penchant for automobiles, motorcycles, and racing; at age 11, he won a children-only auto racing competition on the set of the Steve McQueen racing film Le Mans (1971); at age 12 he won the World Mini Grand Prix dirtbike racing competition in his class.

Chad jumped into acting and got his first major movie role as a competing skateboarder in the 1978 film Skateboard. However, Chad McQueen got his breakout role in 1984 with The Karate Kid, in which he played the role of "Dutch," the sadistic sidekick to Johnny Lawrence, and a member of John Kreese's Cobra Kai dojo. He also appeared briefly in The Karate Kid Part II, but not the third film. There was talk about getting McQueen back for an appearance in Netflix's Kobra Cai spinoff series (the show claimed Dutch ended up in prison, but it never panned out.

McQueen never saw the kind of stardom his father did. After Karate Kid it was mostly direct-to-video action films or box office bombs like Jimmy Hollywood (the Barry Levinson film starring Joe Pesci and Christian Slater). Chad was done with acting by the 2000s but remained active in racing - culminating in a 2006 crash while practicing for the Daytona Sports Car race, which ended his racing career. By 2010, McQueen started McQueen Racing LLC, which did collaborations with leading motorcycle and custom-car brands to develop "high-performance, limited-edition custom cars, motorcycles, and accessories."

R.I.P. Chad Steven McQueen. Condolences to his family, friends, and fans in their time of grieving.

Additional reporting by Variety & THR

When Friday the 13th rolls around, people typically find themselves on edge, though most people don't know why they feel so unsettled. You'd be hard-pressed to think of another date on the calendar that makes people so anxious, with the occurrence happening as often as three times a year. Much like walking under a ladder, breaking a mirror, or crossing paths with a black cat, people aren't always aware of why a superstition exists, other than because other people say it exists. In regards to Friday the 13th, its "bad luck" connection goes back centuries, dating all the way back to Jesus Christ.

There were 13 attendees at Christ's Last Supper, including Jesus and his 12 disciples, with Judas Iscariot being considered the 13th individual. With his betrayal of Christ that caused his death on Good Friday, the number 13 has long been considered an "imperfect" number, as evidenced by the Gregorian calendar only containing 12 months. While Christ's death might not have immediately inspired a superstition around Friday the 13th, Judas' actions and Christ's death on a Friday added superstition to both of these indicators. Christian beliefs aren't the only ones to associate the number 13 with bad luck, as Norse mythology notes that a dinner party of the gods was ruined by the 13th guest, Loki, resulting in death and darkness.

Another instance of terrible occurrences connecting with these omens would be Philip IV of France ordering the arrests of hundreds of Knights Templar on Friday, October 13, 1307. In the 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales noted that Fridays were an unlucky day to begin a journey, adding more caution to that day of the week. Additionally, Britain often considered Friday to be "Hangman's Day," as it was the day that individuals condemned to death were hanged.

The specific fear of Friday the 13th, also known as "paraskevidekatriaphobia," didn't take prominence until the 19th century. In 1980, the unlucky day was cemented into pop culture permanently.

In 1978, Halloween landed in theaters and became a major success, resulting in filmmaker Sean S. Cunningham being inspired to craft a movie around the ominous "Friday the 13th," ultimately hiring Victor Miller to write the script. The original story was tentatively called "A Long Night at Camp Blood," though with the title "Halloween" seemingly aiding that film's success, Cunningham hoped that borrowing another ominous title could result in similar success. The events of the film happened to unfold on Friday, June 13th, as a group of camp counselors was murdered by a woman whose son drowned at the camp years ago due to negligent counselors.

While the original Friday the 13th failed to earn the critical success of Halloween, it was a financial success when it landed in theaters in 1980, with a sequel being rushed into production and hitting theaters in 1981. By 1989, the franchise earned seven theatrical releases since its inception and, while the events of the films themselves might not have been intrinsically linked with the superstition of "Friday the 13th," it spread the fear of the day that much further.

Other notable events that have occurred on Friday the 13th include the bombing of Buckingham Palace during World War II on September 13, 1940, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashing in the Andes mountains -- with the survivors going on to eat the deceased passengers as made famous by the 1993 film Alive -- on October 13, 1972, a stock market crash on October 13, 1989, Tupac Shakur's passing on September 13, 1996, and various other plane and ship tragedies, in addition to a variety of weather anomalies afflicting areas.

Are you nervous about Friday the 13th? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

Author George R. R. Martin may have strong criticism for HBO's House of the Dragon, but when it comes to new Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, his opinion appears to be much higher. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Martin didn't comment on his criticism of House of the Dragon, but instead had nothing but good to say about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms currently in the works and expected to arrive on HBO sometime next year.

"I visited the set in Northern Ireland in July and loved what I saw," Martin wrote in a statement. "Great cast. [The lead characters] Dunk and Egg look as if they walked out of the pages of my book. My readers are going to love them. I certainly do. [Showrunner Ira Parker] is doing a great job."

Martin's praise for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms comes just a week after the Game of Thrones creator took to his blog to address what he called "toxic" story changes in House of the Dragon. In the since deleted post, Martin outlined that one of his issues with House of the Dragon centered around the erasure of Aegon and Helaena Targaryen's youngest child, Prince Maelor. In the book's version of the Blood & Cheese storyline, the young prince's existence is a major facet with significant ramifications later on and, Martin indicated that initial conversations with House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal indicated the character would still appear, albeit later on. However, that did not end up coming to fruition as the series is set to end with Season 4, prompting Martin to reveal that it could result in an impact to the final two seasons of the series as well as hinted that "there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if House of the Dragon goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4..."

HBO later responded to Martin's criticisms, acknowledging the difficult changes that the series had to make when it came to adapting the source material.

"There are few greater fans of George R.R. Martin and his book Fire & Blood than the creative team on House of the Dragon, both in production and at HBO,' the statement reads (via Variety). "Commonly, when adapting a book for the screen, with its own format and limitations, the showrunner ultimately is required to make difficult choices about the characters and stories the audience will follow. We believe that Ryan Condal and his team have done an extraordinary job and the millions of fans the series has amassed over the first two seasons will continue to enjoy it."

As for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Martin has had positive things to say about the series before. Earlier this year, Martin took to his blog to comment on the tone of the series as well as praise Parker and his team.

"The Hedge Knight will be a lot shorter than Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon, with a much different tone... but it's still Westeros, so no one is truly safe," Martin wrote. "Ira Parker and his team are doing a great job."

He added, "Oh, and we have our director as well: Owen Harris, a terrific British director whose credits include helming 'San Junipero', my all-time favorite episode of Black Mirror. Owen will direct three of our six episodes."

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, set a century before the events of Game of Thrones and following two unlikely heroes as they wander Westeros, Ser Duncan the Tall and his diminutive squire, Egg, is expected to arrive on HBO sometime in 2025.

When it comes to superheroes, many of their feats of daring and actions go well beyond the realm of what is possible in the real world -- after all, this is what happens when you're dealing with alien beings, magic users, gods come to Earth or even just a teenager bitten by a radioactive spider and given all sorts of incredible powers as a result. But while all superheroes and superhero movies deal with things that defy the laws of physics, there's one movie that Neil deGrasse Tyson says is the most unrealistic: 1978's Superman. Speaking with ComicBook at the premiere of Speak No Evil, the astrophysicist explained that one of the Christopher Reeve-starring film's most iconic scenes would have been catastrophic had it been actually possible.

"It's definitely Superman I where he flies backwards around the earth and reverses time. I mean, please," Tyson said.

The scene Tyson is referring to comes near the end of Superman when Eve Teschmacher frees Superman, who had been trapped by Lex Luthor, and the hero flies off to stop a missile that had been set for New Jersey. He manages to successfully diver the missile into space but misses a westbound missile which causes massive earthquakes in California. Superman manages to deal with the catastrophe and save others, but Lois ends up trapped in her car during an aftershock and suffocates. Distraught, Superman flies around the Earth to reverse time, allowing him to prevent Lois's death as well as the missile. While the scene is dramatic and has a positive outcome in the film, Tyson went on to explain that in the real world, with the laws of physics, Superman would have actually killed billions and, for him, that's the peak violation of the laws of physics in superhero film.

"Okay, so he flies backwards around earth. Time reversed. Had he slowed down Earth and stopped it, he would have killed a billion people because all the oceans would have washed up onto the continents and this is all in the interest of saving Lois," he said. "So, this was like, in terms of violation of all known laws of physics, that's peak. The rest are sort of magical things that maybe one day we'll figure out how to do. You know, like... Doctor Strange. You see, I prefer Rick from Rick and Morty because when he opens those portals, he uses real science whereas Doctor Strange uses magic. So, it's the real science I'm going with here."

While Superman has the worst violation of the laws of physics, Tyson did have a suggestion of a superhero moment that would represent something more accurate, albeit one that hasn't happened on screen: a battle between DC's Batman and Marvel's Iron Man. For Tyson, a fight between the two heroes would fit more into the laws of physics because it'd be just two human men using their technology -- though had a firm opinion about who would prevail.

"So, then it's technology against technology and who can be most clever. And we know Iron Man would wipe his a** with Batman because Batman, he doesn't know any of the science. It's his corporate military infrastructure rich guy that just buys it whereas Iron Man knows everything that he's doing. He's in the lab So there's some authenticity to that that you don't find with the other superhero."

Tyson's assessment that Iron Man would prevail really isn't a huge surprise, however. Back in 2020, he was asked who was more scientifically accurate, Marvel and DC and, for Tyson, it's Marvel.

"Oh yeah. No question. Oh, there's no question," Tyson says without skipping a beat. "Oh, it's obvious. Marvel wins that contest hands down over DC Comics if for no other reason that almost, minus Thor and maybe one or two others that I've lost track of, almost everyone with powers in Marvel Comics, those powers are derived from something scientific that happened to them."

The physicist adds, "Spider-Man. He's bitten while he's in a biology lab where there's a radioactive spider. There's the Hulk, who... it was gamma rays. Everybody's got a science-based story behind their superpowers, and that creates a fertile landscape that you can go back to if you need to. Plus, Banner was a medical doctor, for goodness' sake. So, this has value."

Speak No Evil opens in theaters Friday, September 13th.

Disney and Lucasfilm have a new lawsuit headed their way, over their use of late actor Peter Cushing's image in the Star Wars spinoff film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, back in 2016. According to reports, London-based film company Tyburn Film Productions has gotten a judge's formal ruling to take legal action against Disney, citing a deal they allegedly signed with Cushing in 1994, which gave them veto rights over the recreation of his image using special effects. Rogue One did just that, by using CGI to face-swap Cushing's likeness onto a body double (HBO's Rome actor Guy Henry) in order to recreate Grand Moff Tarkin, the role Cushing played in Star Wars: A New Hope (1977).

According to the legal team representing Tyburn, Cushing made the deal with them due to a situation with a TV movie that Cushing was going to do with the studio until the project fell apart. Tyburn's suit alleges that Lucasfilm and Lunak Heavy Industries (a producer on the original Star Wars Trilogy) got "unjust enrichment" from having Rogue One feature Cushing's likeness as Tarkin, without proper permission. Lucasfilm and Lunak have countered that they did not believe that the terms of the contract between Cushing and Tyburn weren't violated by the way his likeness was used in Rogue One, arguing that Disney/Lucasfilm owns the rights to Cushing's image (as Tarkin), as part of owning the rights to the original Star Wars film.

Lucasfilm and Lunak already tried to get the case dismissed in court in December of last year, but were rejected. This latest ruling from the judge is also a rejection of the appeal for dismissal that Lucasfilm and Lunak made after having the initial dismissal claim rejected.

It should be noted that deputy High Court Judge Tom Mitcheson KC didn't view either side as having an especially strong case. The judge stated that case was not as "unarguable" as Lucasfilm and Lunak wanted to claim; but he was also "far from persuaded" that Tyburn Film Productions had a case that could be one, in these circumstances. The case will now presumably head to trial.

Use of celebrity likenesses has been a debated topic ever since film became the mainstream form of entertainment. Whether it's recycling old or unused footage of dead actors, or using visual effects to recreate dead performers or finish their incomplete work, the reactions from viewers tend to be charged. Rogue One remains a hotly-debated film in the Star Wars Saga - and the decision to recreate both Cushing's Grand Moff Tarkin and Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia through CGI face-swapping is high on the list of reasons why.

Now, AI has made celebrity deep-fakes a feat almost anyone with a computer or smart device can pull off - which was a major concern for actors during the 2023 Hollywood Strikes. This case over Star Wars' use of Cusing's likeness - who owns it, how it's used - could end up being a pretty pivotal one for the future of movie-making.

Star Wars films like Rogue One can be streamed on Disney+.

Source: Telegraph (UK)

The George Eastman Museum, who recently hosted a series of screenings of underrated comic book movies, will present Academy Award- and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Goldie Hawn with the George Eastman Award for her distinguished contribution to the art of cinema. The award will be presented to Hawn, an actor, producer, director, author, and children's advocate, at a ceremony in the Dryden Theatre (onsite at the museum) on Tuesday, October 22nd.

Hawn became an almost instant household name in 1968, when she first appeared on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, a groundbreaking and popular sketch comedy and variety show. She quickly pivoted to film, and earned an Oscar for her supporting performance in Cactus Flower (1969). She went on to work with some of the biggest stars and directors of the time over the course of a decades-long film career, including her husband, Kurt Russell, with whom she collaborated on the 1987 comedy Overboard.

Over the next decade, she appeared alongside some of the most notable leading men of the time, including Peter Sellers in There's A Girl in My Soup (1970); Warren Beatty in Shampoo (1975); and Chevy Chase in Foul Play (1978) and Seems Like Old Times (1980). She took on leading roles in movies like Butterflies Are Free (1972) and The Sugarland Express (1974), the latter of which was the first theatrical film directed by Steven Spielberg.

Hawn started serving as a producer and with Private Benjamin (1980), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Over the following two decades, she played lead roles in numerous films, including Swing Shift (1984), Overboard (1987), Housesitter (1992), Death Becomes Her (1992), Everyone Says I Love You (1996), and The First Wives Club (1996), which featured Hawn as a producer.

Hawn is the founder of The Goldie Hawn Foundation, a nonprofit organization with a mission "to transform children's lives by providing vital social and emotional learning programs to reduce stress and aggressive behavior, improve focus and academic performance, and increase resiliency for success in school and in life," according to the Eastman Museum.

In receiving the George Eastman Award, Hawn joins an elite group of film artists, including Lauren Bacall, Louise Brooks, Charlie Chaplin, Gary Cooper, Cecil B. DeMille, Michael Douglas, Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, Audrey Hepburn, Michael Keaton, Gregory Peck, Mary Pickford, Julia Roberts, Martin Scorsese, James Stewart, Meryl Streep, Gloria Swanson, and, most recently, Jodie Foster.

Tickets to Dawn's award ceremony go for $400 (or $250 for "supporter" tickets and $150 for "friend" tickets, which are determined based on your seating position and membership to the museum itself. Tickets include reserved seating for the award ceremony, admittance to the gala that follows, and valet parking.

Kaiju No. 8 is currently in the works on making a big comeback to screens, and now Kafka Hibino's kaiju form has leapt from the screen with an awesome cosplay helping to bring it to life. Naoya Matsumoto's Kaiju No. 8 manga series has been one of the standout hits of Shueisha's Jump+ app ever since it first made its debut 2020, but it was this year that the franchise reached a whole new level of recognition. Thanks to the TV anime adaptation debuting earlier this Spring, Kaiju No. 8 has now crossed over with a huge new audience.

It's hard not to see why when looking at the unique makeup of the series itself. Starring Kafka Hibino at the center of it all as a 30 year old whose life didn't exactly go how he was planning, he suddenly gains the ability to transform into a powerful monster and has to keep it secret from the defense force he's been dreaming of joining all his life. Helping in this matter is just how cool Kafka's full monster transformation is, and now it's come to life thanks to some absolutely perfect cosplay from artist red_scoplay on Instagram. Check it out below:

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A post shared by Red Diamond (@red_scosplay)

What Is Kaiju No. 8?

First releasing with Shueisha's Jump+ app in 2020, Naoya Matsumoto's Kaiju No. 8 manga series introduces fans to Kafka Hibino. Living in a version of Japan that's under the constant threat of giant monster attacks, he's been wanting to join the special defense force all his life to make a difference. Promising his childhood friend, Mina Ashiro, that the two of them would be fighting side by side as members of this defense force one day, his life doesn't exactly go that way. Failing to join the force multiple times, he instead lives as a member of a clean up crew that cleans up after the attacks.

When a flying insect kaiju suddenly enters his body, Kafka realizes he has the ability to transform into a kaiju himself. Due to how much power he has with this form, the defense force dubs him as the titular "Kaiju No. 8" to mark just how big of a threat to humanity he has become. But in making his way into the defense force after all this time, Kafka has to then balance his secret identity as this monster while using this power as a way to keep him in the fight (and thus closer to Mina's side).

Why Is Kaiju No. 8 So Popular?

Kaiju No. 8 really started to gain traction with the debut of its TV anime adaptation earlier this Spring. Kaiju No. 8's anime was one of the biggest new releases of the year so far, and even had a blockbuster level of support with its premiere. The anime not only was debuted around the world simultaneously when it hit streaming on both Crunchyroll and the X social media platform, but even had a Simuldub release that was keeping up with the Japanese language release of the franchise as well. And fans were there to support it every step of the way.

Kaiju No. 8's anime was such a hit when it premiered this Spring that it was quickly confirmed that Season 2 of the anime is already in the works. Aiming for a release some time in 2025, the new episodes have yet to set a release date as of the time of this publication. There will also be a special original episode focusing on Soshiro Hoshina released in the meantime, so fans will soon get a ton of this franchise in the coming months!

It wouldn't be Halloween without horror and now, two iconic horror characters are getting their own popcorn buckets that are surprisingly not the stuff of nightmares. On Tuesday, Cinemark Theatres announced that they are selling souvenir cups and popcorn buckets featuring the killer doll Chucky and Pennywise from It just in time for Halloween while supplies last. Per the announcement, the "killer collectibles" will be available at select theaters with the souvenir cups selling for $15 each including same day refills while the Pennywise popcorn bucket will sell for $29.99 and Chucky will sell for $24.99.

SURPRISE! ?

Our Chucky and Pennywise souvenir cups and popcorn heads are now available at select theatres! ?

While supplies last. pic.twitter.com/7zSXy6v3Bb

-- Cinemark Theatres (@Cinemark) September 10, 2024

What's interesting about these popcorn buckets is that they differ quite a bit from some of the more recent, viral popcorn buckets that we've seen introduced for various new releases -- buckets like the "intentionally crude" Deadpool & Wolverine offering and the viral Dune: Part Two bucket. Both the Pennywise and Chucky buckets are realistic "popcorn heads", bust-style creations that look like the characters and are, surprisingly, not that scary -- unless you're familiar with the characters, of course. Fan response to the buckets has already been pretty positive with horror fans and collectors eager to get their hands on them.

As for why Pennywise and Chucky are getting their own popcorn containers, neither character is appearing in a new film this Halloween season, though Bride of Chucky is getting a re-release at Cinemark closer to Halloween. Pennywise will return next year in a new It prequel series coming to HBO sometime in 2025, Welcome to Derry. Additionally, Chucky and Pennywise aren't the only two horror figures getting their own popcorn bucket for Halloween. Art the Clown from the Terrifier franchise is getting a popcorn bucket as well in time for Terrifier 3, which opens in theaters on October 11th. That popcorn bucket is also another "bust" style bucket with the offering shaped like Art the Clown's head. The bucket was unveiled by director Damien Leone on social media with a short video and while the bucket itself isn't super terrifying, the video is a little creepy. The Terrifier bucket is said to be available for pre-order soon at AMC Theatres, Regal, and Cinemark.

Terrifier 3 will see Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) set to unleash another round of chaos on the unsuspecting residents of Miles County as they peacefully drift off to sleep on Christmas Eve. As for Welcome to Derry, the series is a prequel to Stephen King's It and is set in the fictional town of Derry, Maine where Pennywise has terrorized residents for generations. The series is set decades before the events of It, set in the 1950s to explore the bizarre events in the town that pre-dates the story fans already know. In terms of Chucky, fans are still waiting to hear of the killer doll will get a fourth season of his USA/SYFY series -- but he's also currently appearing at Halloween Horror Nights where he's taking the stage to host Late Night With Chucky.

The Chucky and Pennywise popcorn vessels will be available at Cinemark while supplies last.

Over the weekend, Redditors unearthed a years-old photo of Leticia Sard?, a Spanish model whose identity had been baffling internet sleuths for five years. Called "Celebrity Number Six" on Reddit, a stylized drawing of the Sard? photo appeared on a fabric, alongside a number of other celebrities. This is the latest in a series of high-profile internet mysteries and lost media discoveries in 2024. Besides Celebrity Number Six, internet detectives have unearthed the source of the original, viral photo of The Backrooms and identified the musicians behind "Ulterior Motives."

The fabric had originally surfaced online in 2020, with a user sharing a photo and asking the internet to help them identify the various pop art drawings on the fabric. It didn't take too long before seven of the eight images were identified, and the photos used as the artist's source material shared as well. The other celebrities include Adriana Lima (who for some reason appears twice), Josh Holloway, Jessica Alba, Travis Fimmel, Ian Somerhalder, and Orlando Bloom. "Celebrity number six," though -- so named because that's the number arbitrarily given to the image in the original thread -- took years.

During that time, there have been hundreds of guesses, and at least two different celebrities -- one male and one female -- who believed the image was based on them. There were so many plausible guesses that a subreddit, with over 40,000 users, was created to manage the search for Celebrity Number Six, and within that community there was a rule: no matter how promising a lead, the search isn't over until we have the actual, original photo.

Over the last few years, the mystery has garnered a lot of coverage, ranging from YouTube videos by Justin Whang to mainstream outlets like Distractify and The Daily Mail. The Distractify story, sourced from a viral Tiktok, actually ran just two weeks ago.

After Sard?'s name came up as a suspect the other day, the photo itself came soon after. A user named Stefan Morse had suggested the model as a candidate, and that had led investigators to find Leandre Escandell, a photographer who quickly identified the photo as his own from an issue of a Spanish magazine. While the original cover for the magazine -- Woman #162 -- does not appear to have resurfaced online yet, the photo as provided by the man who took it is enough evidence for most investigators to call the case solved.

The fabric had been produced by Latky Mraz, a company operating within the Czech Republic, and it appears that the photos (or at least Escandell's) were used without permission. That made it difficult for investigators to get answers, as Latky Mraz did not appear to know where they had come from. The company briefly commented saying that they had come from a particular magazine (this proved false, and never actually lined up with the production timeline of the fabric anyway).

Since it's 2024, there were immediately skeptics on the Celebrity Number Six subreddit, claiming that the Escandell image was generated by artificial intelligence. The general consensus of the hundreds of commenters so far is that there's no validity to that charge.

Naruto is now in the midst of celebrating the anime's 20th anniversary, and one awesome cosplay has brought one of its biggest villains, Pain, back to the spotlight. Masashi Kishimoto first launched Naruto in the pages of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in the pages of 1999, and the anime then launched in Japan in 2002. With the franchise kicking off a new 20th anniversary celebration for the anime a few years ago, it's been a great time to be a Naruto fan with all sorts of new projects and releases now in the works for the future.

Over the course of its run, Naruto has introduced fans to all sorts of memorable allies and foes that Naruto himself had come face to face with. The series put Naruto at the center of so many massive fights that it all ended with a massive war that saw even more characters at the center of the fights. But even with all that happened after, there was really no villain that had a bigger impact on the Hidden Leaf Village than Pain. Maybe through aesthetics alone too, and an awesome highlight of the villain's look comes through cosplay from artist @artistjodysteel on Instagram. Check it out below:

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A post shared by Jo Steel (@artistjodysteel)

Naruto: Who Is Pain?

Naruto: Shippuden really ramped things up in the franchise as following the time skip from the end of the original Naruto run, the Akatsuki were introduced as a deadly group of rogue ninjas who were each out to hit a goal of their own. This came into play in many ways following the time skip as Naruto and the others faced off against these deadly ninjas, but the real biggest challenge came during the Pain arc as Naruto was facing a villain with an ideology that wasn't entirely wrong.

Fighting Pain came with a lot of mystery behind it too as the villain initially appeared as one of many, who were all seemingly connected in some mysterious way. Thanks to the power of the Rinnegan, Pain was a deadly foe that threatened the entire Hidden Leaf Village to a new level of destruction that had not been seen to that point. Making matters even more prominent was the fact that it all started with Pain killing off Jiraiya, who was not only Naruto's mentor but a fan favorite character to that point in the series.

Naruto's Creator Reflects on Pain

Funny enough, Naruto series creator Masashi Kishimoto recently reflected on the toughest moments during his serialization with the series and noted the Pain arc as one that was difficult to resolve. Noting that there was an issue that the creator had to resolve and work through, it was revealed during a much earlier interview that Kishimoto was struggling with Naruto and Pain's conflicting viewpoints. It wasn't enough for Naruto to just defeat an opponent like Pain because it would only continue that cycle of pain and strife.

Naruto instead needed to do the much tougher thing and forgive his foe for everything that had happened thus far. It was a much more difficult path for Naruto to walk down, and it showcased a real showing of leadership that helped the rest of the Hidden Leaf Village to see Naruto in a different way than they ever did before. It's also why this fight is still held in high regard all these years later.

If you wanted to see more of Naruto, you can find the anime now streaming with Crunchyroll. The newest series, Boruto: Two Blue Vortex, is releasing chapters with Viz Media's digital Shonen Jump library and Shueisha's MangaPlus service.

An awesome fan artist has brought a fully functioning Pochita to life from Chainsaw Man! Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man has been one of Shueisha's most standout hits of the last few years. The first half of the series successfully ran with Weekly Shonen Jump magazine until it ended and returning in a different Jump magazine for the second half of the series now releasing new chapters every so often. It's hard to deny just how big of a franchise it has become in the last few years thanks to its successful anime adaptation either. And it's only going to keep getting bigger.

One of the ways Chainsaw Man will continue to grow is if the fan support is there. Fans have been drawn to each of the characters in the TV anime and manga thus far, and that's especially true for the Chainsaw Devil itself, Pochita. Serving as the literal heart of the franchise in many different ways, there are few cuter characters in the franchise. Now Pochita has come to life in a cool new way as artist @nerddreamz_cosplay on Instagram has crafted a fully functional Pochita and has gone viral with fans. Check it out:

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A post shared by Katy ? Peter | Cosplay & Prop Makers?? (@nerddreamz_cosplay)

How to Catch Up With Chainsaw Man

If you wanted to keep up with the latest chapters of Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man manga as they release in Japan, you can now find them available with either Viz Media's digital Shonen Jump library or Shueisha's MangaPlus service. If the anime is more your speed, you can now check out the first season of the TV anime exclusively streaming with Crunchyroll. Chainsaw Man is also now in the works on its debut feature film adapting the Reze Arc from the original manga series, but has yet to confirm a release window or date as of the time of this publication.

That means there's still plenty of time to catch up with it all in the meantime, and Crunchyroll teases what goes down in the Chainsaw Man anime as such, "Denji is a young boy who works as a Devil Hunter with the 'Chainsaw Devil' Pochita. One day, as he was living his miserable life trying to pay off the debt he inherited from his parents, he got betrayed and killed. As he was losing his consciousness, he made a deal with Pochita, and got resurrected as the 'Chainsaw Man': the owner of the Devil's heart."

Dr Disrespect made his controversial return to streaming, yesterday, September 6, to an audience of over 200,000 live viewers. The stream, as its title -- "The Truth" -- suggests, featured Dr Disrespect bolstering the defense of his character with new details and an expanded version of his story involving allegedly texting a minor sexually inappropriate messages. In an explosive rant full of insider baseball-like details, as well as very personal details, Dr Disrespect took umbrage with the reputation he's earned.

While the streamer looks poised to put the controversy behind him -- judging by the size of the support he has retained -- others may not let him. Meanwhile, former friends and other popular figures in the streaming space have begun to weigh in on Dr Disrespect's return. And so far it appears to be only universal criticism and distancing.

Nickmercs

Nickmercs and Dr Disrespect weren't just frequent collaborators, but friends before all of this. At the time of the initial allegations, Nickmercs severed ties and condemned his former friend. Fast-forward, and nothing has changed.

This retard Dr Disrespect is married with children, pushin' 40. Admits to texting a minor inappropriately. His words, not mine. So I cut ties, because obviously that's inexcusable. Now I'm a shit friend for not having his back??? Buncha brain-rot morons on this app.

-- Nickmercs (@NICKMERCS) September 6, 2024

Asmongold

Of the high-profile streamers who have reacted to the return of Dr Disrespect, Asmongold is perhaps the only one to consider the new details and expanded defense Dr Disrespect has shared, noting that he can't give a final verdict yet because it feels like there is a "missing piece."

Dr Lupo

Charitable streamer Dr Lupo did not just take umbrage with Dr Disrespect returning, but his viewers in the chat defending the streamer. Suggesting they have brain damage for defending something that can not be defended.

"Is there a place for forgiveness? Not for me. There's some shit you just don't do man"

Dr Lupo responded to people saying he turned on Dr Disrespect pic.twitter.com/qCNpVChmBA

-- Hunter (@HUN2R) September 7, 2024

Adin Ross:

While Adin Ross has been a big supporter of Dr Disrespect in the past, he to has seemingly cut all ties with the streamer. Not only this, but Ross pleaded with his viewers not to support the streamer and his return.

Adin Ross GOES OFF on Dr Disrespect For Returning as a P3D0 ? pic.twitter.com/K1iPGFSMNm

-- ? News (@x_Newzs) September 6, 2024

xQc

xQc was so taken aback by Dr Disrespect's return stream that he was convinced the streamer was trolling. More than this, he was not buying that Twitch would cut all ties with one of their biggest money makers over anything less than something super serious.

YourRAGE

YourRAGE was quick to remind Dr Disrespect that there is no escaping this controversy, noting the streamer "knew the consequences" and is "low IQ" for risking -- and losing -- everything.

YourRAGE's reaction to Dr Disrespect's tweet pic.twitter.com/N2cL5ee5yC

-- moga ? (@weluvmoga) June 26, 2024

Hasan

Hasan has long been a critic of Dr Disrespect, yet was still surprised he was playing a character whilst talking about the allegations, noting it was making him "lose his mind."

Today, September 5, Dr Disrespect announced what appears to be his return to streaming, set for September 6. Below, you can find a complete timeline of his initial Twitch ban, the years of mystery that followed, the controversy that erupted around him in June 2024, and details about his return to streaming after hiatus.

As the saga progresses, the story will update accordingly, but for those who want a complete and comprehensive timeline from start to finish, the timeline below has everything needed to catch up on every major point between the initial banning back in 2020 to the present day.

June 26, 2020:

Dr Disrespect was banned from Twitch without warning, a development that shocked many as he was one of the platform's biggest streamers and had recently been tied by the platform with what was believed to be a lucrative contract. At the time, Dr Disrespect said he couldn't take about the ban due to legal matters, and similarly all Twitch had to say was it had "evidence" the streamer "acted in violation of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service." In the following years, there was plenty of speculation, hinting, and teasing from various sources on the matter, but nothing concrete. The ban remained one of the biggest mysteries on the Internet.

August 27, 2021:

Dr Disrespect revealed he was earning, at the time, about 25 percent what he used to on Twitch. At this time, the streamer was streaming on YouTube, the platform that would house, and partner, the streamer over the next few years.

June 21, 2024:

Taking to social media platform X, Cody Conners, a former account director for strategic partnerships at Twitch alleged that Dr Disrespect was banned "because got caught sexting a minor in the then existing Twitch whispers product." Conners added: "He was trying to meet up with her at TwitchCon."

June 22, 2024:

After abruptly ending his last stream, clearly dejected and worried, Dr Disrespect issued his first public statement on the allegations.

"Listen, I'm obviously tied to legal obligations from the settlement with Twitch but I just need to say what I can say since this is the f****** internet. I didn't do anything wrong, all this has been probed and settled, nothing illegal, no wrongdoing was found, and I was paid."

In his first stream back following the allegations, Dr Disrespect followed-up the statement above by saying the following during stream:

"For those that are looking for me to expand on this weekend, not gonna," said the streamer while shaking his head. "I already said what I needed to say. I don't give a f**k about this guy. That's it. I do appreciate the donations. I do appreciate the messages."

The same day, Midnight Society -- a studio that Dr Disrespect helped create as a co-founder -- announced it was terminating its relationship with the streamer, booting him from the operation in the process.

June 25, 2024: With public pressure mounting, Dr Disrespect finally revealed why he was banned from Twitch, getting into the incident the aforementioned Conners alluded to. The message, which can be seen in its entirety below, concluded by revealing the streamer was taking a break from streaming and dipping out of the public eye for a bit. However, he was also adamant he wasn't going to disappear forever.

"Hello, I'd like to make a quick statement..

Lets cut the f*****g bullshit, as you know there's no filter with me. I've always been up front and real with you guys on anything that I can be up front about, and I'm always willing to accept responsibility... which is why I'm here now.

First and foremost I do want to apologize to everyone in my community as well as those close to me, my team, and everyone at Midnight Society Game Studio.

A lot of people have been left in the dark about what happened yesterday with midnight society and I, and we made the painful decision collectively, to have me step down. Our team is full of incredibly talented and good people that have high career ambitions and families and i'd never want jeopardize the culture we have carefully crafted.

Everyone has been wanting to know why I was banned from twitch, but for reasons outside of my control, I was not allowed to say anything for the last several years. Now that two former twitch employees have publicly disclosed the accusations, I can now tell you my side of the story regarding the ban.

Were there twitch whisper messages with an individual minor back in 2017? The answer is yes. Were there real intentions behind these messages, the answer is absolutely not. These were casual, mutual conversations that sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate, but nothing more. Nothing illegal happened, no pictures were shared, no crimes were committed, I never even met the individual. I went through a lengthy arbitration regarding a civil dispute with twitch and that case was resolved by a settlement. Let me be clear, it was not a criminal case against me and no criminal charges have ever been brought against me.

Now, from a moral standpoint I'll absolutely take responsibility. I should have never entertained these conversations to begin with. That's on me. That's on me as an adult, a husband and a father. It should have never happened. I get it. I'm not perfect and I'll f*****g own my shit. This was stupid.

Now, with all this said, don't get it f*****g mistaken, I've seen all the remarks and labels being throw around so loosely. Social media is a destruction zone. I'm no f*****g predator or pedophile. Are you kidding me? Anyone that truly knows me fucking knows where I stand on those things with those types of people. F**k that. That's a different level of disgust that I f*****g hate even hearing about. Don't be labeling me as the worst of the worst with your exaggerations. Get the f**k outta here with that shit.

But I think I've said what I needed to say regarding the ban itself. That's it. That's why twitch made the decision in 2020.

To my team, community, industry friends that have supported me, I apologize, I wish I could've said all this sooner. You guys have always showed me and my family love and support throughout all these years we love you guys like you can't imagine. I have the fucking best community and circle. If any of this has made you uncomfortable, I get it. You don't have to support me anymore but just know you have always been greatly appreciated.

But trust me when I say this...to all my haters that live and breath social media with zero real life experience, I don't give a f**k about you.

Finally, if you're uncomfortable with this entire statement and think I'm a piece of s**t, that's fine. But I'm not f*****g going anywhere. I'm not the same guy that made this mistake all those years ago. I'm taking an extended vacation with my family as mentioned on stream and I'm coming back with a heavy weight off my shoulders.

They want me to disappear... yeah f*****g right."

June 28, 2024:

A few days after Dr Disrespect gave his side of the story, YouTube demonetized his channel, which has over 4 million subscribers. More importantly, at the time, Dr Disrespect was one of YouTube's biggest streamers, something the platform reportedly had to pay a pretty penny for.

July 31, 2024:

Dr Disrespect broke a month-long silence, teasing his return via a post on social media platform X.

pic.twitter.com/vlEk7Yawog

-- Dr Disrespect (@DrDisrespect) July 31, 2024

August 14, 2024:

Dr Disrespect deleted his June 25, 2024 post on X where he admitted to inappropriately texting a minor. He also confirmed he would be back soon.

Vacation is just too good right now.

We'll be back soon though Champs. We have lots to talk about.

Yayaya yayaya yayaya

-- Dr Disrespect (@DrDisrespect) August 14, 2024

September 3, 2024:

Dr Disrespect once again used social media platform on X to seemingly tease his return.

Are people still streaming video games?

What a snoozefest.

-- Dr Disrespect (@DrDisrespect) September 3, 2024

September 5, 2024:

Dr Disrespect announced his return for September 6.

pic.twitter.com/7Y3UMTwI48

-- Dr Disrespect (@DrDisrespect) September 5, 2024

September 6, 2024:

Dr Disrespect, as he teased he would, made his return to streaming. His first stream back, titled The Truth, peak at roughly 250,000 live viewers, a record for the streamer. During the stream, Dr Disrespect provided new details on his side of the story, revealed he was planning on getting his YouTube monetization back, and put more emphasis on his innocence than previously.

FULL CLIP: Dr DisRespect goes into detail to prove his innocence and denies the recent accusations of him having inappropriate text messages with a minor pic.twitter.com/AeYpvgcaGv

-- ryan ? (@scubaryan_) September 6, 2024

Today, September 6, Dr Disrespect returned to streaming. The stream drew over 200,000 live viewers and featured Dr Disrespect going into great detail about his side of the story of his recent scandal, which involved allegedly texting a minor in a sexually inappropriate fashion. At the time, Dr Disrespect admitted guilt to this allegation, but in today's stream -- titled The Truth -- he, to an extent, walked back this admission of guilt, claiming the situation was less black and white than previous events and statements made it seem.

As you would expect, the return of the streamer divided the Internet and social media, with some buying into the streamer's expanded defense and others continuing the public castigation of the YouTuber from months prior when the controversy was at its peak.

In the latter camp is Dr Disrespect's former friend, Nickmercs, who he also did several collaborations with. Taking to social media platform X, Nickmercs slammed Dr Disrespect and those accusing of him being a bad friend for not having his back in this saga.

• Dr Disrespect Ban, Controversy, and Return: The Timeline So Far

"This r*****d Dr Disrespect is married with children, pushin' 40. Admits to texting a minor inappropriately. His words, not mine. So I cut ties, because obviously that's inexcusable. Now I'm a **t friend for not having his back??? Buncha brain-rot morons on this app," reads the post from Nickmercs.

This retard Dr Disrespect is married with children, pushin' 40. Admits to texting a minor inappropriately. His words, not mine. So I cut ties, because obviously that's inexcusable. Now I'm a shit friend for not having his back??? Buncha brain-rot morons on this app.

-- Nickmercs (@NICKMERCS) September 6, 2024

For those that missed the Dr Disrespect stream, there wasn't anything groundbreaking, but there were new details on what happened, or at least what Dr Disrespect alleges to have happened. In the same stream, Dr Disrespect said he was preparing to get his YouTube channel re-monetized and was "in a good place."

"I'm in such a good place today, and all these people act like they're just so perfect. I'm not perfect. I don't claim to be perfect. ...but I also didn't do all the s** they're saying I did. But then, that doesn't make a story, right," said the streamer.

FULL CLIP: Dr DisRespect goes into detail to prove his innocence and denies the recent accusations of him having inappropriate text messages with a minor pic.twitter.com/AeYpvgcaGv

-- ryan ? (@scubaryan_) September 6, 2024

This isn't the first time Nickmercs has commented on the situation. His first comment came back when it happened in June. And it was similar to what was said here. The streamer, who is also banned from Twitch, called it "inexcusable" at the time.

Dr Disrespect made his return to streaming, via YouTube, today as he previously teased. And as the name of the stream -- "The Truth" -- suggests, Dr Disrespect addressed the controversy that engulfed him earlier this year when the alleged reason for his Twitch ban back in 2020 surfaced. More specifically, back in June, it was alleged he sent inappropriate sexual messages to a minor via Twitch Whispers, which in turn lead Twitch booting him from the platform. Responding to these accusations at the time, the streamer admitted guilt, but took umbrage with some of the specifics being reported. Now, he appears to be walking back this admission, at least partially.

A few months later, after a hiatus, Dr Disrespect returned with his first stream and picked up this response and expanded upon it with a plethora of insider details and claims that can not currently be verified. Adding to this, Dr Disrespect claimed to have more unreleased information on the matter, which could surface in the future. In the meantime, what was said during the stream appears to be his final, definitive statement on the matter.

• Dr Disrespect Ban, Controversy, and Return: The Timeline So Far

"I'm in such a good place today, and all these people act like they're just so perfect. I'm not perfect. I don't claim to be perfect. ...but I also didn't do all the s** they're saying I did. But then, that doesn't make a story, right," said the streamer.

FULL CLIP: Dr DisRespect goes into detail to prove his innocence and denies the recent accusations of him having inappropriate text messages with a minor pic.twitter.com/AeYpvgcaGv

-- ryan ? (@scubaryan_) September 6, 2024

In the stream, Dr Disrespect also relayed word that he plans to reapply for YouTube Parternship on September 25 in order to get his channel monetized again.

"People ask, 'Now that you're not monetized, you're never gonna be streaming on YouTube again, are you?' There's an opportunity to re-apply. So in the meantime, we will do what we need to do. I enjoy my time here on YouTube. We've built a nice, strong community for years. This is where we started, 16 years ago," said the streamer.

The stream -- which can be viewed here -- continued, with Dr Disrespect pivoting to gaming, which is usually the content of his stream. More specifically, the streamer pivoted to Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which is currently in Open Beta. What's next for Dr Disrespect, remains to be seen, but for now it appears he will be picking up where he left off before he was engulfed in controversy.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer's sixth season episode "Seeing Red" is perhaps the most controversial of the series and, a more than 20 years after it originally aired in May 2002 remains upsetting for many fans of the series, but it turns out that it had a major impact on one of the series' stars as well. James Marsters, who played Spike in the iconic series, recently appeared on an episode of Michael Rosenbaum's Inside of You podcast and revealed that the episode -- specifically the troubling scene with Sarah Michelle Gellar's Buffy, actually sent him into therapy and remains the "darkest professional day" of his life.

"Buffy sent me into therapy, actually," Marsters said (via Deadline). "Buffy crushed. me. It's a problematic scene for a lot of people who like the show. And it's the darkest professional day of my life."

The scene in question sees Spike attempt to force himself on Buffy in an attempt to convince her that she still has feelings for him -- Buffy and the vampire Spike had previously been lovers. Buffy manages to fight Spike off and shove him into the wall, but the scene remains a difficult one. Marsters further explain that the sexual assault scene came out of a directive to the writers where they were asked to "slap metaphoric fangs" on their worst day and the scene was based on the experience of a female writer of the show.

"The writers were being asked to come up with their worst day, the day that they don't talk about, t heir dark secret, the one that keeps them up at night, when they really hurt somebody or when they really got hurt or made a big mistake of some kind -- and then slap metaphoric fangs on top of that dark secret and tell everybody about it," Marsters explained.

He continued, explaining how the scene was based on one writer's experience, "She had gotten broken up with, and she went to her ex's place and thought that if they made love one more time, everything would be fixed. And she sort of forced herself and he had to physically remove her from the premises. And that was just like one of the most painful memories of that time of her life. [The show's writers] thought that since Buffy was a superhero, that they could flip the sexes since Buffy could defend herself very, very easily from this. They thought that they could have a man do it to a woman, and it would be the same thing, I think."

Marsters said that he disagreed with the writers and had concerns from the beginning about how viewers would react to the scene, but that he was also in a position where he couldn't refuse contractually -- and that the scene was his personal hell.

"We got the scene in the can and it was hell. I was in [my] personal hell," he said. "I don't like sexual predation scenes, anything that has to do with it. I don't audition for those things. If there's a movie with that kind of material, I don't go see the movie. If it pops up on television, I've got to turn the television off before I break it. I have a very visceral reaction to that stuff."

Marsters isn't alone in having struggled with that episode. Gellar herself has previously said that when she watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Seeing Red" is an episode she and her family skips: "I have trouble with [season] six. It wasn't appropriate for them at the time, and I just don't want to rewatch it."

Will There Be a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Reboot?

With reboots or revivals of popular television series being a major entertainment trend, there has been discussion of a reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the past -- notably a reboot was announced in 2018, though nothing has ever really come to fruition. However, earlier this year, country music legend Dolly Parton who served as a producer on the original series, revealed that work is still happening on a new series.

"They're still working on that," Parton said at the time. "They're thinking about bringing it back and revamping it."

A Buffy Pop-Up is Coming to Chicago

While a Buffy reboot may not be a reality just yet, fans of the series do have a chance to continue to celebrate the series with a recently announced pop-up experience in Chicago. Media brand Bucket Listers is celebrating Halloween with an immersive Buffy activation described as "combination of equal parts cocktail bar, restaurant, training ground, and haunted house, molded into a one-of-a-kind, over-the-top evening." The event takes place on Saturday, October 26th.

In just a few weeks, The CW's final DC series, Superman & Lois will return for its final season, closing a chapter of television that in many ways started with another iconic portrayal of Superman -- or rather, Clark Kent. Smallville aired on the network (after starting on the WB in 2001) until 2011 and told a coming-of-age story for Clark Kent, played by Tom Welling, before he became the Man of Steel. Over the series' 10 seasons, Smallville introduced a number of iconic DC characters and heroes into the mix, but for Welling there was always one character he wanted to see on the series. That character was Bruce Wayne/Batman and now, more than a decade later, Welling is still disappointed Batman never showed up.

During a recent appearance at Terrificon (via Screen Rant), Welling spoke about how he still wishes that Smallville had been given permission to use the Bruce Wayne/Batman character for the series, explaining the reason why it never happened and elaborating on what his ideal scene for the character would have looked like.

"I always thought that we should have had Bruce Wayne pass through somehow," Welling said. "That would have been really cool to see. You know how Clark always got into the Luthor Mansion with no problem? But like, if he had gone into Lex's office, and it was just as simple as Lex being like, 'Good to meet you, Bruce' or 'I'll talk to you later, Bruce' and have him just walk out. I think that would have been cool. But one of the challenges we had is DC movies and DC television don't talk to each other, and it's very difficult as a television show to try to use -- it's a big deal, even using the Superman soundtrack."

These recent comments aren't the first time that Welling has indicated that Bruce Wayne not appearing on Smallville is one of his regrets about the series. Back in 2019 during an appearance at Fan Expo Canada, Welling also said that it would have been "cool" to have Bruce Wayne on the series.

"I can tell you what I wish we would have seen, was some version of a Bruce Wayne that fit in with what we were doing," Welling said. "I think that would have been cool."

Batman Did Eventually Appear on Smallville... Sort Of

In 2012, Smallville got a "Season 11" in the form of a comics series from DC. The series maintained the general continuity of the series and continued Clark Kent's adventures, now as Superman, following the events of the television series' finale. In one of the book's "episodes" series writer Bryan Q. Miller brought Batman into the story along with a female version of Nightwing -- with Barbara Gordon in the costume.

A Smallville Animated Series Could Be in the Works

In the years since Smallville ended, there has been talk of an animated version of the series and while it hasn't come to fruition yet, earlier this year at Nashville Comicon, Smallville star Michael Rosenbaum told ComicBook that he and Welling are still working on it, but it's going to take time.

"Tom and I are working on a Smallville animated series that we're trying to get made," Rosenbaum said. "It's gonna take time. But the creators of Smallville are attached, they want to be a part of it. And we, you know, when it's the right time, we'll pitch it. You know, we're working on it and we have some loose animation that we've worked [on] with someone who was just awesome. It looks great. So, if we can get that made, that'd be awesome."

Spirit Halloween is the go-to destination when it comes to ringing in the spooky season, as it offers costumes, decorations, and anything else you might need to honor All Hallow's Eve, so it only makes sense that they're partnering with Universal Studios to offer one lucky fan a trip for two to Halloween Horror Nights. Fans can simply head to Spirit Halloween's Instagram page to enter, or can fill out this entry form. One winner will win airfare, accommodations, and entry to the annual Halloween Horror Nights event in either Hollywood or Orlando. Fans have until Sunday, September 8th at 11:59 p.m. ET to enter.

Spirit Halloween describes the opportunity, "As Halloween continues creeping closer, Spirit Halloween is celebrating the season by bringing fright and delight to fans with the chance to win a trip for two to Universal Studios' iconic Halloween Horror Nights. One lucky fan will win a bloodcurdling excursion including airfare, airport transportation, accommodations, and three days of general admission tickets for two to their choice of Universal Studios Hollywood or Universal Orlando Resort."

"Now through Sunday, September 8th at 11:59 PM ET, horror-loving fans can enter by tagging the friend they'd bring along for the terrifying ride on Spirit Halloween's Instagram or by filling out an entry form here. For those seeking even more fun this spooky season, over 1,000 Spirit Halloween stores are already open, with more to come by the end of September. Halloween enthusiasts can visit stores.spirithalloween.com to find their closest location."

There's a lot to be excited for at this year's Halloween Horror Nights, as fans can experience Insidious: The Further, A Quiet Place, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines at both parks. Some of the unique experiences at Universal Orlando Resort include Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America, Goblin's Feast, and Slaughter Sinema 2, while Universal Studios Hollywood features The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Legacy of Leatherface, The Weeknd: Nightmare Trilogy, and Monstruos 2: The Nightmares of Latin America. Also unique to Hollywood is Terror Tram: Enter the Blumhouse, in which fans confront Blumhouse villains like M3GAN, The Black Phone's Grabber, and more.

Fans can head to Spirit Halloween's Instagram page to enter, or can fill out this entry form. Halloween Horror Nights runs select nights now through November 3rd at both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando Resort.

Will you be entering the sweepstakes? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

Dr Disrespect has announced what appears to be his streaming return date. At the moment, details on the nature of the return, and what it entails, are scarce. What has been shared is a new promotional video, which is capped by a screen that simply says "tomorrow." This is presumably in reference to his return to streaming, but right now that has not been outright confirmed.

Previously, Dr Disrespect relayed word back on August 14 that he was planning on returning. This followed a tweet teasing as much a few weeks prior. Since August 14, the streamer only made one other public statement. More specifically, on September 3 the streamer posted on social media platform X, "are people still streaming video games," followed by, "what a snoozefest." This potentially hints that Dr Disrespect will not be streaming video games upon his return, but something else.

All of this is on the back of allegations that were made against the streamer back in June when it was alleged that the streamer inappropriately messaged a minor in 2017, which lead to his -- at the time, mysterious -- banning from Twitch. In a message at the time of the accusation, the streamer admitted guilt and announced he was stepping away from streaming and the public eye. This led to his channel being demonetized on YouTube. He was also removed from Midnight Society, a game studio he helped start as a co-founder.

pic.twitter.com/7Y3UMTwI48

-- Dr Disrespect (@DrDisrespect) September 5, 2024

There were no further developments in the situation until August 14. In addition to announcing his return, Dr Disrespect removed his public statement on the incident, scrubbing his admission of guilt in the process.

"Everyone has been wanting to know why I was banned from Twitch, but for reasons outside of my control, I was not allowed to say anything for the last several years," read the now-deleted statement. "Now that two former Twitch employees have publicly disclosed the accusations, I can now tell you my side of the story regarding the ban. Were there Twitch Whisper messages with an individual minor back in 2017? The answer is yes. Were there real intentions behind these messages? The answer is absolutely not. These were casual, mutual conversations that sometimes leaned too much in the direction of being inappropriate, but nothing more. Nothing illegal happened, no pictures were shared, no crimes were committed, I never even met the individual.

The statement continued: "I went through a lengthy arbitration regarding a civil dispute with Twitch and that case was resolved by a settlement. Let me be clear, it was not a criminal case against me and no criminal charges have ever been brought against me. Now, from a moral standpoint I'll absolutely take responsibility. I should have never entertained these conversations to begin with. That's on me. That's on me as an adult, a husband, and a father. It should have never happened."

Spy x Family is currently in the works on making a major comeback for the anime, and one awesome cosplay has gone viral for showing off Yor Forger's acrobatic skills. Spy x Family has been a massive hit ever since the anime adaptation for Tatsuya Endo's original manga series first made its debut. It was such a success that the anime continued with not only a full second season of the TV anime, but its very own feature film as well. There's even a third season of the TV anime now in the works as the franchise shows no signs of slowing down.

Spy x Family has been such a big hit because of the trio at the center of it all hiding their respective secrets from one another. With a super spy, telepath, and assassin forming a makeshift family together to keep their secrets hidden from the suspicious of the war torn world around them, fans have gotten to see the three of them in all sorts of ways. This is especially true for Yor Forger, who often gets to show off the full scope of her acrobatic assassin skills in action. Now that's come to life in an awesome way thanks to artist norikaaliani on TikTok. Check it out:

@norikaaliani

"Let the rhythm change your world on the floor" - Yor Forger cosplay #fyp #spyxfamily #yorforger #cosplayyorforger #yorforgercosplay #yorforgercosplay #yorforgerspyxfamily #cosplayerindonesia #coswalkcompetition

? suara asli - Norika Chan - Norika Chan

What's Next for Spy x Family?

Spy x Family Season 3 has been announced to be in the works, but there has yet to be any word on when the new episodes will premiere as of the time of this publication. For now, you can currently catch up with the TV anime's first two seasons now streaming with Crunchyroll and Hulu. The first feature film in the franchise will soon be available for streaming as well with both its English subtitled and dubbed releases launching on Crunchyroll. As for what to expect from the new movie, they tease Spy x Family Code: White as such:

"He's a spy. She's an assassin. Together, Loid and Yor keep their double lives to themselves while pretending to be the perfect family. However, their adopted daughter Anya, a telepath, knows both of their exciting secrets unbeknownst to them. While under the guise of taking his family on a weekend winter getaway, Loid's attempt to make progress on his current mission Operation Strix proves difficult when Anya mistakenly gets involved and triggers events that threaten world peace!"

Former X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo is continuing his one-man campaign against Marvel Studios and Disney, after being fired from the hit Disney+ animated series earlier this year. DeMayo appeared in a video on his Only Fans account, where he openly refuted the recent press from Disney about his firing and even went so far as to accuse Marvel Studios for supporting a "toxic environment" with "near criminal working conditions" that "turns individuals against one another" and "stokes paranoia to ensure compliance."

"The rumors being spread around me online are lies, and they are offensive but more concerning is that they're a smear campaign designed to discredit my credibility in order to cover up the egregious prejudicial misconduct stretching from select crew members on X-Men '97, all the way all the way to the top at Marvel Studios," DeMayo said in his video post.

"In the end, the offenses Marvel and others have leaked are designed to distract you from what really offended them," DeMayo added later. "Someone like me dared to speak truth to people like them. They wanted me to be the Black stamp of approval on this project, I declined. They wanted to erase aspects of my personality that clashed or proved inconvenient with the misguided narratives they wanted to establish. I declined. They tried to intimidate me with both explicit and implied threats. I was not intimidated. Everything they have done since then has been designed not just to silence me and smear me, but to crush me and to remind me to know my role."

While exact details have been vague, DeMayo has previously alleged that Disney/Marvel fired him from X-Men '97 Season 2 after sharing fan art of himself as a shirtless Cyclops during Gay Pride Month in June. In this latest video he acknowledges that he is "not everyone's cup of tea," when it came to the working environment on X-Men '97, and creative conflicts did occur. At the same time, DeMayo and his attorneys have slammed Disney/Marvel's framing of the firing, claiming it cast the showrunner in a purposefully sinister light:

"Mr. DeMayo was terminated in March 2024 following an internal investigation," a Marvel spokesperson said in a statement (via THR). "Given the egregious nature of the findings, we severed ties with him immediately and he has no further affiliation with Marvel."

"I have the receipts and the eyewitnesses so long as you stop coercing them to lie, you can keep attacking me with lies and misinformation, but we can become the ugliest, most annoying version of that of that ... or you can start acting like a studio that is worthy of a show like X Men '97," DeMayo said in response, during his video.

DeMayo's attorneys are also putting out a new statement, throwing suspicion on Disney/Marvel's part for the use of allegedly questionable Non-Disclosure Agreements. As attorney Bryan Freedman stated:

"There are only two possible explanations for why Marvel and Disney had Beau sign an NDA that so obviously violated basic California law. Either incredulously Marvel and Disney's hundreds of lawyers who advise over 250,000 employees all just happened to make a mistake or Marvel knowingly and intentionally attempted to silence Beau so they could have total control as to why he was no longer at Marvel, why he had his credits removed on season 2 and why he was uninvited to attend the very award show that nominated his hard work for an Emmy," Freedman said. "Violating Beau's statutory California rights will cost Marvel this case but more importantly, Marvel can no longer stop the truth from coming out."

So far, the allegations from both sides are being kept vague. We'll see if that continues.

X-Men '97 is streaming on Disney+

HBO is responding to George R.R. Martin's criticism of House of the Dragon. On Wednesday, in a now-deleted blog post, Martin made good on his promise from his August 30th post and went into detail about the things he felt had gone wrong with House of the Dragon's second season, specifically citing changes from the pages of his book to screen when it came to the "Blood & Cheese" plot from the season premiere and what it meant for the story further down the road as well as teased larger concerns in future seasons. Now, in their response, HBO acknowledges the "difficult choices" the series has had to make and expressed confidence in showrunner Ryan Condal and his team going forward.

"There are few greater fans of George R.R. Martin and his book Fire & Blood than the creative team on House of the Dragon, both in production and at HBO,' the statement reads (via Variety). "Commonly, when adapting a book for the screen, with its own format and limitations, the showrunner ultimately is required to make difficult choices about the characters and stories the audience will follow. We believe that Ryan Condal and his team have done an extraordinary job and the millions of fans the series has amassed over the first two seasons will continue to enjoy it."

In his post, which has now been deleted, Martin outlined that one of his issues with House of the Dragon was the erasure of Aegon and Helaena Targaryen's youngest child, Prince Maelor, whose existence is a major part of the book's version of the Blood & Cheese storyline and has ramifications further along. Martin wrote that when Condal first spoke with him about the plan for Maelor, he came to understand the practical reason for it, but also was assured that the character was merely being postponed.

"I did not argue long or with much heat, however. The change weakened the sequence, I felt, but only a bit. And Ryan had what seemed to be practical reasons for it; they did not want to deal with casting another child, especially a two-year old toddler. Kids that young will inevitably slow down production, and there would be budget implications. Budget was already an issue on House of the Dragon, it made sense to save money wherever we could. Moreover, Ryan assured me that we were not losing Prince Maelor, simply postponing him. Queen Helaena could still give birth to him in season three, presumably after getting with child in late season two. That made sense to me, so I withdrew my objections and acquiesced to the change. I still love the episode, and the Blood and Cheese sequence overall. Losing the 'Helaena's Choice' beat did weaken the scene, but not to any great degree."

But he went on to explain that with the character eliminated entirely, there could be impact to the final two seasons to the series, which is set to end with Season 4, by revealing potential spoilers based upon the book, but he also went on to suggest that there were more concerns with House of the Dragon, adding "And there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if House of the Dragon goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4..."

What is House of the Dragon About?

Based on George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. In Season 2 of House of the Dragon, Westeros is on the brink of a bloody civil war with the Green and Black Councils fighting for King Aegon and Queen Rhaenyra respectively. The series is set to enter production on Season 3 in "earlyish 2025."

It's been more than a decade since Laurence Fishburne played Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, but it's a role that the actor looks back fondly -- especially for how it changed perception of Perry White. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter (via Screen Rant), Fishburne reflected on the film, calling it "a wonderful movie" and then noted the legacy it's left of the character Perry White being portrayed by Black actors, when the character was originally envisioned as white in the comics.

"That was beautiful," Fishburne said. "Man of Steel is a wonderful movie. If I've been influential in any way in terms of that whole nontraditional casting thing, I love it. That's great."

Fishburne brought Perry White to life on the big screen in both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and made a major mark on the character. In 2013, Fishburne said that he modeled his take on the character on late CBS correspondent Ed Bradley. While Fishburne is not reprising the role for James Gunn's DC Universe film Superman, another Black actor is stepping into the newsman's shoes -- Suits alum Wendell Pierce.

"I'm looking forward to this," Pierce said earlier this year. "I never grew up reading comics, so I relied on my friends to tell me about it. I'm excited about this, you know."

Fishburne Is Currently Starring in Slingshot

While Fishburne's days as Perry White are behind him, the actor is currently starring in the film Slingshot with Casey Affleck. The film opened in theaters on August 30th. Fishburne recently spoke with ComicBook about what appealed to him about the movie, revealing that he wasn't inspired by his Event Horizon character, but by the mystery of Slingshot.

"Not so much, because that was a very long time ago," Fishburne said. "But this one for me the appeal was I the mystery of it the sort of unknown quality of it with his mission that these men are on to slingshot around a planet to pick up more gravity so they could travel further out into space and whether or not any of that is going to work."

"Casey Affleck's character being among a number of people who are vying to get a position on the ship, to get a seat on the ship. Because it goes back and forth between this process of being vetted for the mission, and then of course the reveal at the end," he continued. "Which I just thought was really fabulous and amazing. Something so surprising comes out of it. I was really satisfied with the way we pulled it off."

What Do We know About James Gunn's Superman?

Per DC Studios, Superman tells the story of Superman's journey to reconcile his Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as Clark Kent of Smallville, Kansas. He is the embodiment of truth, justice and a better tomorrow, guided by human kindness in a world that sees kindness as old-fashioned.

In addition to Pierce as Perry White, Superman will also star David Corenswet as Clark Kent / Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher, Terence Rosemore as Otis, Mar?a Gabriela de Far?a as Angela Spica / The Engineer, Isabela Merced as Kendra Saunders / Hawkgirl, Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner, Edi Gathegi as Michael Holt / Mr. Terrific, and Anthony Carrigan as Rex Mason / Metamorpho.

It's been over two years since Marvel's Moon Knight debuted on Disney+, and fans have wondered ever since if the Oscar Issac-starring series will get a second season and, every so often, the character trends on social media as fans speculate and hope. On Tuesday, Moon Knight started trending on social media once again -- but this time it wasn't because of fan speculation about the character's future. Instead, Moon Knight started trending again because of the character -- or more accurately, the series' -- past all because of comments made by head of Marvel television Brad Winderbaum about another, eagerly anticipated series, Daredevil: Born Again.

In a recent interview, Winderbaum spoke about the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again and commented about the action the series would feature. Specifically, Winderbaum said that the series would have "some of the most brutal action we've ever brought to the screen". And while the comments certainly do make sense for a Daredevil series, especially since we've seen set photos that lend to the idea that the show will have some serious violence, the comments sounded an awful lot like something they'd heard before about Moon Knight.

"So did Moon Knight," @primegundam wrote in response to the assertion about Daredevil: Born Again's brutal action. Others were a bit more critical of the comments with @batmanderiv writing "I wouldn't believe a word of it until I see it for myself when the series comes out. We were made the same promises with Moon Knight (rip) and we got screwed. On the other hand, I know that it sells less but what we want above all is good writing, otherwise it sucks."

Fans Have Heard It Before About Both Moon Knight and Echo

Fans aren't exactly wrong in terms of having heard the "brutal" comments before when it comes to Marvel Television. Back in 2022, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige referred to Moon Knight as "brutal" and spoke about the tonal shift of the series.

"He's brutal," Feige said at the time. "It's been fun to work with Disney+ and see the boundaries shifting on what we're able to do."

He continued, "There are moments [in the series] when Moon Knight is wailing on another character, and it is loud and brutal, and the knee-jerk reaction is, 'We're gonna pull back on this, right?" No. We're not pulling back. There's a tonal shift. This is a different thing. This is Moon Knight."

Similar comments were also made about Echo. Winderbaum described Echo as being on the "grittier side" while series director Sydney Freeland spoke about how the show would "lean into the TV-MA aspect" of things.

"Because we're dealing with a story that is more street-level, itis a little more grounded and a little more visceral," Freeland said at the time. "We're leaning into the TV-MA aspect of it. One of the big things when I first came on was talking to Marvel and saying, 'Well, she's a villain in Hawkeye, and to me that's the most interesting thing about. her.' And their response was, 'Let's lean into that, let's explore that.'"

"As we progressed through the production, I had the chance to say, 'Okay so what if this guy gets his head smashed onto the table, and actually loses a couple of teeth?'" Freeland would add. "That's the character and that's the world: She's a criminal and she's a villain, she's killing people. And the response was, 'Yeah, let's try it!'"

Will Daredevil: Born Again Live Up to the Hype?

While fans are skeptical of Winderbaum's comments, it is likely that Daredevil: Born Again will have some pretty brutal action. As fans recall, the Netflix Daredevil series had some intense action and Daredevil: Born Again star Vincent D'Onofrio has previously said that the new series will push those boundaries even further.

"There are some things in this show that we go much further with than on the original show," D'Onofrio said earlier this year. "There's one thing in particular, that my character does, that I can't believe made it into the cut."

What Do We Know About Daredevil: Born Again?

Charlie Cox returns as Matt Murdock / Daredevil and he'll be joined by Vincent D'Onofrio (Wilson Fisk / Kingpin), Jon Bernthal (Frank Castle / Punisher), Wilson Bethel (Benjamin Poindexter / Bullseye), Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), Ayelet Zurer (Vanessa Fisk), Margarita Levieva, Michael Gandolfini, Genneya Walton, and Arty Froushan. It's unclear if Sandrine Holt, Nikki M. James, Clark Johnson, Michael Gaston, and Harris Yulin will remain in the series after the aforementioned creative overhaul.

Daredevil: Born Again is expected to be released on Disney+ starting March 2025.

Kaiju No. 8 is now in the works on Season 2 of the anime, and one awesome cosplay is helping Kikoru Shinomiya show off ahead of the new episodes. Naoya Matsumoto's original Kaiju No. 8 manga series has been a huge hit for Shueisha ever since it debuted with the Jump+ app since 2020, but the franchise hit a whole new level of recognition and popularity thanks to the successful debut of its official anime adaptation earlier this year. Kaiju No. 8 impressed fans with its fights against the giant monsters of the series as humanity had to use their special weapons to take them on.

Kaiju No. 8's anime was such a hit with fans that it was no surprise that a second season of the TV anime was announced to already be in the works. This means there will be more opportunity to see Kafka Hibino and the others in action. One character fans are hoping to see more of is Kikoru, who just started to use a massive axe as a way to level the playing field against the monsters. Showing off just how cool Kikoru was in the anime with this weapon in tow, artist yayaizen on TikTok has brought her to life with even cooler cosplay. Check it out:

@yayaizen

TUNE IN TO IT OR ELSE! #anime #cosplay #kaijuno8 #cosplayer #cosplay #manga #prop #kikorushinomiya

? one call - audiosaxf

What's Next for Kaiju No. 8?

Kaiju No. 8 Season 2 is now in the works along with a brand new special that will be entirely original as it focuses on Soshiro Hoshina. Neither the new season or special have yet to announce a concrete release date as of the time of this publication, but Season 2 of the TV anime is currently scheduled for a premiere some time in 2025. You can now catch up with the first season of the series now streaming exclusively with Crunchyroll. They begin to tease the anime as such:

"In a world plagued by threatening creatures known as Kaiju, Kafka Hibino aspired to enlist in the Japan Defense Force to defeat them. 'Let's wipe out the Kajju together.' Kafka pledged to his childhood friend, Mina Ashiro. Over time, life circumstances forced them to go their separate ways and caused him to abandon his lifelong ambition. He found himself employed by Monster Sweeper Inc., a professional cleaning company that specialises in cleaning up the aftermath of Kaiju battles."

The synopsis continues with, "Meanwhile, Mina Ashiro is now the Captain of the Defense Force's 3rd Division. As it stands, he is currently unworthy of fighting Kaiju alongside her. At work, Kafka crosses paths with the highly motivated Reno Ichikawa. Reno's undying determination to join the Defense Force leaves no room for failure. His perseverance reawakens Kafka's ambition of standing next to Mina as they protect humanity from Kaiju together. A dream frozen by time, thawed by a burning promise."

Anya Taylor-Joy has played some memorable roles, but there's one that the Furiosa star says is her dream job. Taylor-Joy told Vogue Hong Kong (via EW) that she would love to take on the role of Elsa from Frozen if Disney ever did a live-action version of the beloved animated film. Speaking with the publication, Taylor-Joy spoke about wanting to do a musical and then specifically spoke about Frozen being "pretty great" not only because of Elsa's powers, but because it would also be fun to be a character that her siblings' children know and love.

"I would love to do a musical because I'm a bit addicted to hard work," Taylor-Joy said. "I like having an impossible mountain to climb. The idea of having to be able to sing, dance, and act at the same time would just really thrill me."

She continued, "I think Frozen would be pretty great. It would be very fun to shoot ice out of your hand. Also, you'd just be the favorite at every kid's birthday party. All of my siblings have children now, so I would love for them to be able to say, 'My auntie is Elsa.' That would be pretty sick."

Frozen 3 is In the Works

While Disney has made no announcements regarding a live-action Frozen, a third installment in the Frozen franchise is coming on November 24, 2024, and last month at D23, producer Jennifer Lee teased that a fourth Frozen film could be in the works, teasing that the story turned into two parts during development. Lee had previously teased in 2023 that the film could become two.

"Only what we have already shared, which is the team is hard at work, we are deeply excited about the story we are shaping together, and it's so epic that it may not fit into just one film," Lee said at the time.

Anya Taylor-Joy is Headed Back to Netflix for New Series

Though she's not taking Elsa anytime soon, Taylor-Joy is returning to Netflix. The actor, who previously starred in the Emmy-winning The Queen's Gambit, is set to star in an adaptation of Bella Mackie's best-selling novel How To Kill Your Family. Taylor-Joy is set to play the "murderous protagonist" Grace Bernard.

"As soon as I turned the last page, I knew I had to be a part of bringing this story to life," Taylor-Joy shared in a statement. "After some (light) stalking of the inimitable Bella Mackie, I could not be more thrilled to be collaborating with the team that is Sally, Lizzie and Emma. I am looking forward to getting our hands even dirtier."

"It's been thrilling to watch the characters I wrote take on new life under this magnificent creative team," Mackie added. "Anya is the most perfect fit to play Grace: I often think she understands her better than I do. Pairing up with Sid Gentle has been joyful and introducing me to Emma has made me supremely confident the book is in safe hands."

Frozen 3 is currently scheduled to open in theaters on November 24, 2027.

It's been more than 14 years since fans last saw Dolores Umbridge in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, but now, Imelda Staunton is back to reprise her role as the villainous character. Staunton is bringing back Umbridge for Universal Epic Universe's new Wizarding World of Harry Potter -- Ministry of Magic attraction set to open at the Universal Orlando Resort next year. Staunton's return to the role was announced in a new, promotional video for the attraction, which also gave fans a look at the new ride as well as a behind-the-scenes look at Staunton bringing the villain to life once again.

According to the official information about the attraction (via Deadline), visitors will "Travel by M?tro-Floo from Paris to the British Ministry of Magic where Dolores Umbridge is about to stand trial. Board a lift and join Harry, Ron, and Hermione as you journey deep into the Ministry's many departments. Thrilling adventure, fantastic beats, and unexplored mystery await in Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry."

"She was absolutely brilliant in her performance," Anisha Vyas Burgos, assistant director of projects at Universal Creative says in the video. "She got to take Umbridge to the extreme."

Staunton's return to the world of Harry Potter is a little bit of a surprise, who back in2019 told Hello! magazine that she didn't think she'd return to the franchise after appearing in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and then Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, though she also acknowledged the longevity of the franchise's influence -- and the importance of her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

"Of course I can scare people," Staunton said at the time. "I don't get a lot of kids coming up to me actually. It's the grown-up kids -- you want to say you are 35 -- but they grew up with it. Harry Potter doesn't stop, does it!"

One Harry Potter Star Forgot They Were in the Franchise

While Staunton is coming back to the Harry Potter franchise for the new theme park attraction, another star recently revealed that she had forgotten that she was in the films while watching the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood and joined the franchise in the fifth movie, said she found herself watching Prisoner of Azkaban with her partner and briefly forgot she was part of the overall franchise.

"I don't watch the films as it's too emotional, but recently, Prisoner of Azkaban was on and my partner and started passively watching it, and I had that strong feeling of, 'I want to be part of that world,' and then remembered, 'Oh, I already am!' "Lynch said. "The fans have kept that world very alive in my life. I continue to try to find that sense of belonging in other communities, but none have proved quite so profound a match yet. So yes, I'll always be happy to see a familiar face in the Harry Potter world."

About Universal Epic Universe's The Wizarding World of Harry Potter -- The Ministry of Magic

Earlier this year, Universal Orlando unveiled details about the new Harry Potter attraction: Beyond the world's ornate portal, guests will first journey from a Muggle park in Paris into the breathtaking spectacle of 1920's Place Cach?e - a hidden, bustling shopping district in wizarding Paris lined with Haussmannian buildings, shops, sidewalk cafes, and historic Parisian domes rising in the distance. Here, wizards and non-magiques alike will be enamoured with the majestic grandeur and enchanting ambiance of the city as they cast dazzling spells throughout the magical streets using interactive wands, encounter fantastic beasts at a traveling circus, and -- for the first time ever within The Wizarding World of Harry Potter -- travel across countries and time to 1990s London using the M?tro-Floo for a thrilling adventure set inside the iconic British Ministry of Magic."

While a fourth Spider-Man movie bringing Tom Holland's web-slinging hero back to the big screen is among the most eagerly anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe projects for many fans, there is one person who is unlikely to return -- director Jon Watts. Watts, who previously helmed Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home, has cast doubt on going back to the franchise -- as well as the MCU overall. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter (via DarkHorizons), Watts explained that part of it is because he wants to do his own creations, but also it would be hard to top No Way Home.

"That was such a specific moment in time, and the reaction to that movie was just so unbelievable," Watts said about the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which was one of the first major films released post-pandemic. "It's never going to be like this, ever again."

He also spoke about getting back to movies of his own creation, like his current film Wolfs which stars Brad Pitt and George Clooney. Watts came to the MCU after directing one indie feature, 2015's Cop Car.

"I was just getting started and Marvel came along -- and I take full creative ownership over all those films -- but Spider-Man is always going to be Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's creation," Watts said. "This was the chance for me to go back to my voice and my vision and my style. Wolfs is mine, and that's a really good feeling."

He also explained a bit further, speaking about how getting back to his own creations lets him be more hands-on, something that he wasn't able to do making a Marvel film because there was "so much to be done".

"Sometimes you do an action movie, and all the fun action stuff is given to the second-unit director," Watts said. "On the Marvel movies, you split up the work because there's so much to be done. Rarely do you get the Christopher Nolan opportunity to do all of it. On this one, I was like, 'I want to shoot every single shot;"

Watts Previously Offered Advice to Whoever Takes on Spider-Man 4

Earlier this year, Watts spoke about his work on the Spider-Man franchise and offered a bit of advice for whatever filmmaker next takes a crack at Spider-Man: don't do practical wire work.

"I have a very practical bit of Spider-Man advice, and I think every Spider-Man director goes through it. It doesn't look good when someone is just swinging on a rope," Watts said. "You think you're gonna go in there, you're like, 'We're gonna do it all practical. We're gonna get a stuntman. We're gonna be swinging around.' It's boring. It looks dumb. It looks like a monkey swinging on a vine when you put someone on just a rope. Don't waste your time. That's my advice to the next Spider-Man director."

What's Next for Spider-Man 4?

While there haven't been many updates when it comes to Spider-Man, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige did announce that the project was "actively developing" and, earlier this year, Holland confirmed that he will "always want to do Spider-Man films" but also said that they were being careful to make sure that they found the right story to tell.

"The simple answer is that I'll always want to do Spider-Man films," Holland said. "I owe my life and career to Spider-Man. So, the simple answer is yes. I'll always want to do more."

He added, "We have the best in the business working toward whatever the story might be. But until we've cracked it, we have a legacy to protect. The third movie was so special in many ways that we need to make sure we do the right thing."

"This is the first time in this process that I've been part of the creative so early," he added. "It's just a process where I'm watching and learning. It's just a really fun stage for me. Like I said, everyone wants it to happen. But we want to make sure we're not overdoing the same things."

James Darren, the former teen idol who played Vic Fontaine in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has died. He was 88 years old. The actor and musician, whose breakout role was as Moondoggie, the singing, surfing leading man in the Gidget movies, became a fairly household name when his song "Goodbye Cruel World" hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961. The actor played the lounge singer across seven episodes of Deep Space Nine's final two seasons, and became a fan-favorite recurring character.

Born James William Ercolani on June 8, 1936, in Philadelphia, Darren would take on his stage name in 1955 when he moved to Hollywood, reportedly naming himself after the Kaiser-Darrin sports car. He signed a deal with Columbia, and played minor roles in several movies between 1956 and 1959, as well as appearing on TV's The Donna Reed Show. It would only be a few years before he broke through in 1959's Gidget. He would do two sequels -- Gidget Goes Hawaiian and Gidget Goes to Rome -- before moving on from the role.

In those early days, Darren palled around with the Rat Pack, and remained close to some of those legendary performers for years, even being named godfather to Frank Sinatra's granddaughter.

Darren worked in feature films almost exclusively in the 1960s, but embraced TV starting in the 1970s, leading The Time Tunnel and the sci-fi pilot The Man From the 25th Century. All throughout, he continued to tour as part of his music career, making sure he kept busy year round.

In the 1970s, Darren would appear as a guest star in shows like S.W.A.T., Charlie's Angels, The Love Boat, and Fantasy Island before taking on a series regular role on T.J. Hooker, in which he would star alongside Star Trek legend William Shatner., Besides Deep Space Nine, his '90s acting included roles on Silk Stalkings, Diagnosis: Murder, and Melrose Place.

Even when he embraced acting, Darren would regularly incorporate song and dance into his roles, from Gidget all the way up through his lounge-singing days in space.

After Deep Space Nine, Darren largely retired from acting, appearing only in a pair of feature films -- 2001's Random Acts and 2017's Lucky. In 1999, he released an album of the songs he had performed on Deep Space Nine, and did only two more records during the last 20 years of his life.

According to TheWrap, Darren's son Jim Moret has told the media that his father had a scheduled heart surgery last week, but that the procedure was considered too high risk because Darren was so weak at the time. He was sent home, but returned to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center sometime after. Darren passed away there, surrounded by family.

While his time on Deep Space Nine was short, relative to his illustrious and decades-long career, Darren had nothing but positive things to say about it in interviews.

"I loved... everybody," he told StarTrek.com in 2021. "There wasn't a single person who I didn't have a good relationship with, whether it was on the set, on screen, or off. They were all incredibly considerate and kind, to say the least."

Darren is survived by his wife, actress and former Miss Denmark Evy Norlund, and their two sons. Our condolences go out to Mr. Darren's family, friends, collaborators and fans during this difficult time.

Lord of the Rings star Ian McKellen has revealed that he has been asked to return as the wizard Gandalf, in the upcoming prequel films, titled Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. In a new interview, McKellen (currently in recovery from a stage fall during a performance in London's West End) was talking about the sustained love and enthusiasm for the LOTR franchise, while also revealing that he's aware of the new prequel film because producers "hope that I'll be playing him."

In his his full quote to The Big Issue, McKellen said "Enthusiasm for The Lord of the Rings shows no sign of abating ... I've just been told there are going to be more films and Gandalf will be involved and they hope that I'll be playing him."

Of course, at 85 years old, McKellen can't guarantee his... 'availability' for any new film projects. The Hunt for Gollum has a director (original Gollum actor Andy Serkis, who will also star) and a creative team in place, but the actual production timeline has yet to be confirmed. The first installment has a release date set for 2026, so odds are things are going to move fast.

McKellen acknowledged that The Hunt for Gollum is only in the early stages of development, suggesting that producers indeed move with haste: "When? I don't know. What the script is? It's not written yet. So, they better be quick."

That echoes McKellen's earlier statement on the matter, telling The Times he'll play Gandalf again "If I'm alive."

Andy Serkis has already hinted during a convention appearance that McKellen's Gandalf could be but one of several LOTR actors/characters we see making a return:

"The Hunt for Gollum is a work-in-progress title. It may not end up being called that. It's going to very much be the world of Middle Earth according to Gollum's experience of it," Serkis said. "It is so early... But I will say that it will be a deep dive where we investigate Gollum's character. There may be characters that we recognize that might be coming back. I'm not going to say who."

Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movie trilogies director Peter Jackson is producing The Hunt for Gollum. Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, who co-wrote the original LOTR Trilogy will return to write the prequel screenplay, along with Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou (Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim anime).

Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is executive produced by Ken Kamins, with Serkis and The Imaginarium's Jonathan Cavendish. Peter Jackson is producing with Walsh and Boyens.

The Lords of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum is has set a release date window for 2026, but no story details about the film have been revealed.

The Alien franchise is thriving at the moment with filmmaker Fede Alvarez's latest installment, Alien: Romulus, engaging fans with a fresh take on the iconic sci-fi tale. And there's even more Alien to come, with Noah Hawley's television series, Alien: Earth coming in 2025. The future at this point seems pretty bright for the franchise, but when it comes to whether that future includes a return for filmmaker James Cameron, fans might not want to hold out hope. Cameron, who wrote and directed 1986's Aliens, recently told The Guardian that while he wouldn't rule out a franchise return, it's not something that's likely to happen.

"It's kind of trampled ground at this point," Cameron said of the franchise. "I wouldn't rule anything out but I've got 23 other projects in the queue before that hypothetical one so I'm going to guess, with me turning 70, that ain't gonna happen. You've got to pick your battles at some point. You know what I mean?"

Despite not planning to ever return to the Alien franchise, however, Cameron did have positive words for Alien: Romulus -- and dismissed the idea that he did anything to help with the film though he did see the opening and offered advice.

"I wasn't really helping out," he said. "I know Fede, the director, and very early on he and his writing partner came to me and said, 'Got any ideas?' -- no, they had plenty of ideas but they just wanted to kind of, I don't know, pilgrimage to Mecca or something like that. But that was years ago, then they went off and wrote their thing and I had nothing to do with it."

He continued, "Then six months ago or so he shared an early cut of the film with me and I gave him some notes for like an hour. I don't want to take any credit whatsoever. If the film is great, I don't want to take any credit; if it sucks, not my fault! Seriously, it's his thing, so credit due where it's due and, from what I'm hearing, it's pretty good."

What is Alien: Romulus About?

Alien: Romulus is being billed as more of a spinoff rather than a direct continuation of the Alien franchise and will see a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe. Alien: Romulus stars Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), David Jonsson (Agatha Christie's Murder is Easy), Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone), Isabela Merced (The Last of Us), Spike Fearn (Aftersun), Aileen Wu. Fede ?lvarez (Evil Dead, Don't Breathe) directs from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator Rodo Sayagues (Don't Breathe 2) based on characters created by Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusett.

It's been more than a decade since it was announced that a Barbarella television series was in development with writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade as well as filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, but despite reports that the series had found a home at Amazon Studios, no further developments were ever announced. Now, Refn is opening up about why he's not making the project, explaining in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter that it's as simple as the idea of something is sometimes more interesting than actually doing it.

"Well, let me put it like this: Sometimes the idea is more interesting than the reality. Sitting around the table talking about remaking Logan's Run is probably more fun than remaking it or Barbarella, for that matter," he said. "But I think I've never turned down anything. I just had meetings with everyone but never really materialized, none of these projects became a real reality. But the illusion is always more exciting than the actual bones of it and, at the end of the day, I've always found if I can make my own projects that define myself, that is more satisfying. But that's maybe because I haven't found the right project. I mean sure, I'll make Batwoman or Batgirl, whatever it's called, if it comes my way. I love Hollywood, I love the machinery, I love the campiness of it, the iconography and the excitement around it. I guess I'm still waiting for the right moment, but until that comes, I do very much prefer my freedom. Being free to do what I want to do every day is, for me, a very essential, very pleasurable experience."

A Barbarella Reboot is In the Works at Sony

While Refn's Barbarella television series isn't going forward, a reboot film that is set to star and be executive produced by Sydney Sweeney, has been in development since 2022 and, according to recent reports, Edgar Wright is in talks to direct with mother-daughter duo of Jane and Honey Goldman in negotiations to co-write the script with Wright.

What Is Barbarella About?

Barbarella was created by Jean-Claude Forest and serialized in V Magazine in 1962, and then began to be collected in a standalone book years later. The comic followed the exploits of Barbarella, an astronaut from the 41st century who sets out to find and stop the evil scientist Durand Durand, whose Positronic Ray threatens to bring evil back into the galaxy. Barbarella was adapted into a 1968 film led by Jane Fonda, which has since become a cult classic. Multiple new comics inspired by the franchise have been published by Dynamite in recent years.

"I'm really excited to serve all the fits," Sweeney explained in an interview late last year. "But also, just it's such an iconic, fun character. And I want to keep that fun alive through Barbarella. So, I'm excited for everyone to see it."

Jujutsu Kaisen has become a reality thanks to an awesome cosplay that's gone viral with a full Yuta Okkotsu and Rika team up. Jujutsu Kaisen has been going through a major period of change as series creator Gege Akutami has announced that the manga will be coming to an end in just a few more chapters. As the manga works its way through the final fight between Yuji Itadori and Sukuna, there are still many questions floating in the air about how it's all going to end for the fan favorite characters still alive after all of these intense fights.

Yuta is very much one of these characters that's still hanging in the balance, and there are still plenty of chances for the fighter to show off before Jujutsu Kaisen comes to an end. Kicking off the franchise in a special prequel story introducing Yuta and his childhood friend turned curse, Rika, the duo has since become one of the pillars of the story as it gears up towards the grand finale. Now the duo have come to life for real thanks to a viral cosplay from artist yau_coser on Instagram. Check it out:

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A post shared by Yu Wong (@yau_coser)

Where to Read Jujutsu Kaisen Before It Ends

If you wanted to seek out the newest chapters of the series before it all ends this Fall, Jujutsu Kaisen's original manga release is currently available with either Viz Media's digital Shonen Jump library or Shueisha's MangaPlus service. As for the anime, Jujutsu Kaisen Season 3 has been announced to be in the works, but has yet to give an update on its potential release window or date as of the time of publication. If you wanted to catch up with it all in the meantime, you can find the first two seasons of the Jujutsu Kaisen TV anime and Jujutsu Kaisen 0 movie now streaming with Crunchyroll.

They tease what to expect from the anime on a whole as such, "Yuji Itadori is a boy with tremendous physical strength, though he lives a completely ordinary high school life. One day, to save a classmate who has been attacked by curses, he eats the finger of Ryomen Sukuna, taking the curse into his own soul. From then on, he shares one body with Ryomen Sukuna. Guided by the most powerful of sorcerers, Satoru Gojo, Itadori is admitted to Tokyo Jujutsu High School, an organization that fights the curses... and thus begins the heroic tale of a boy who became a curse to exorcise a curse, a life from which he could never turn back."

The Marvel Studios' Infinity Saga Concert Experience debuted Friday night at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, but fans got more than just an orchestral journey through the cinematic adventure that is the Infinity Saga. Fans in attendance were also treated to a major surprise with what one can only call a post credits tease: the debut of The Fantastic Four: First Steps theme. According to The Wrap, after the concert concluded, complete with fireworks, composer Michael Giacchino came out on stage with music for conductor Gustavo Dudamel and asked for "four more minutes".

And in those four additional minutes? Fans were treated to the theme for the eagerly anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe film which won't debut in theaters until July 25, 2025 -- you can check the score out for yourself here. And the debut of the Fantastic Four theme wasn't the only surprise fans in attendance Friday night got. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige made an appearance earlier in the evening asking that fans stay to the end and also announced that the concert experience will be going on world tour next year.

What is The Marvel Studios' Infinity Saga Concert Experience?

Here's the official description of the Infinity Saga Concert Experience according to the Hollywood Bowl's official site: "Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the global premiere of a new Marvel Studios film concert that will take you on an epic on-screen cinematic journey that covers 23 films in one momentous concert experience. Revisit the earliest days of Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor as they discover their place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe--each accompanied by their own unforgettable heroic music. Then recapture the excitement as Earth's mightiest heroes join forces for the first time and open the door to the next wave of Avengers: Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, and more. The Guardians of the Galaxy don't miss this party either, dropping in to deliver a taste of their iconic mixtape backed by the LA Phil. Finally, the spectacle culminates in a revisiting of the ultimate trials of the Infinity Saga. It's time for fans--new and old--to assemble and relive every iconic moment from this defining canon of films, all accompanied by live orchestra, fireworks, 3D Mapping by Xitelabs, light-up PixMob wristbands, surprises, and a crowd of thousands."

Michael Giacchino Has Previously Teased the Vision for Fantastic Four

Speaking with Nerd Reactor previously, Giacchino teased the vision for the Marvel film, sharing that the music and story for Pixar's The Incredibles -- which Giacchino also did music for -- may be similar in some aspects, but they are also very different as well.

"They're similar and different in many, many ways," Giacchino opined. "There's definitely room for both in the world. Those are two where I'll have my feet in both of those. The challenge for me is how do I differentiate them? Because you don't want them to just be the same thing. You want them to be different. And I think what Matt Shakman, who is directing The Fantastic Four, is bringing so the table is very fresh, very fun, very different. Even on the outside, you go all, 'this is this and this is that.' Well, they're not, and they're very different, and very unique in different ways. I'm really excited to work on that project and it's going to be a fun one for sure."

The Fantastic Four: First Steps is scheduled to be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.

More than three decades after the original Beetlejuice gave fans the "Ghost with the Most", the sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is spooking its way into theaters next week and, to celebrate, AMC Theatres has a suitably spooky treat for moviegoers. The theater chain announced on Friday their special, Fanta Haunted Apple Icee available at AMC Theatres for a limited time starting September 6th, just in time for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Encounter the chilling flavor of our Fanta Haunted Apple ICEE(C) available for a limited time only when you see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, opening 9/6. pic.twitter.com/XksGTRDfnV

-- AMC Theatres (@AMCTheatres) August 30, 2024

The Fanta Haunted Apple Icee is pretty straightforward: it's the Icee take on Fanta's special, limited edition soda flavor inspired by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice with that flavor being described by Fanta as a "unique apple" flavor. The soda itself was launched earlier this month with special Beetlejuice Beetlejuice inspired packaging: black and white stripes and a photo of Michael Keaton's iconic character on it as well.

Denny's and Keebler Also Have Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Inspired Offerings

AMC isn't alone in offering up a special treat in honor of the Beetlejuice sequel. Both Denny's and Keebler have launched special food tie-ins to the eagerly anticipated upcoming sequel. Keebler recently announced the arrival of their new Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Dark Chocolate & Vanilla Fudge Stripe cookies, a limited-edition cookie innovation that features a first-of-its-kind black and-white format with dark chocolate shortbread cookies topped with vanilla-flavored fudge stripes to mimic Beetlejuice's suit. The cookies are available at retailers nationwide.

Ad for Denny's, they've launched an entire menu in honor of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, resurrecting their Value Menu as well as honoring the character with all-new items in its Afterlife Menu. Both menus are available at Denny's nationwide now.

"Bringing back the $2 $4 $6 $8 Value Menu with innovative new dishes and launching the new Afterlife Menu allows us to offer our guests great food at unbeatable prices, as they immerse themselves in the scary-delicious world of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," Patty Trevino, Denny's chief brand officer, shared in a statement. "Whether you're a Beetlejuice superfan or simply looking for delicious, affordable options, we're confident there's something on the menus for everyone to fill their cravings -- without emptying their wallets."

What is Beetlejuice Beetlejuice About?

You can read the official synopsis for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice here: "Beetlejuice is back! After an unexpected family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia's life is turned upside down when her rebellious teenage daughter, Astrid, discovers the mysterious model of the town in the attic, and the portal to the Afterlife is accidentally opened. With trouble brewing in both realms, it's only a matter of time until someone says Beetlejuice's name three times and the mischievous demon returns to unleash his very own brand of mayhem."

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opens in theaters September 6th.

Marissa Tomei has made five appearances as Aunt May in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it turns out the actor's favorite thing about being a part of the MCU and specifically the Spider-Man franchise happened behind the scenes. At Fan Expo in Toronto recently (via EW), Tomei revealed that some of her favorite things about being part of Spider-Man were watching stars Tom Holland and Zendaya grow up and fall in love. Tomei also spoke about her costars' "enormous star power".

"I think some of the favorite things were really just watching Tom and Zendaya grow up and watching them fall in love... and seeing their phenomenal talent," Tomei said. "Just being, like, blown away from the get-go... I mean, I'm blown away."

"Some people are just meant for it," she added. "And they are meant for it."

She went on to praise the talent of the Spider-Man and Michelle "MJ" Jones actors, even outside of their acting.

"They carry enormous, enormous star power, enormous power and they manage to be real people at the same time and just, they're multitalented," Tomei said. "They can do everything! They sing, they dance, they act, they do stunts, they design fashion. I mean, what are they not doing? They're incredible, incredible people."

Could Tomei Return as Aunt May in the MCU?

Tomei appeared as Aunt May in Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: Far From Home, and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Tomei's Aunt May died in No Way Home, though back in 2022, she said she was open to the idea given the concept of the Multiverse -- though she also admitted that she didn't fully understand the concept.

"Oh yes there is a Multiverse. That was part of the secrecy originally, now a lot of people know," she said at the time. "But the thing was, if anyone asked me about it, I don't understand the Multiverse myself. Our wonderful director, Jon, and I'm like 'And so, where am I now? Okay, well, can you explain it to me one more time?"

She added, "I would love to come back and be a part of that. There's history there, too. May Parker hooks up with Ant-Man. Well, I mean, she's a standalone character, of course, but. there are more avenues to explore."

What's Going on With Spider-Man 4?

While there hasn't been much in the way of news about Spider-Man 4, back in July Marvel chief Kevin Feige said that a first run of the script for a fourth film should be coming soon.

"Amy [Pascal] and I are working on it," Feige said. "We have writers who are going to be delivering us a draft relatively soon."

Chucky is headed to Halloween Horror Nights. On Thursday, Universal Studios Hollywood announced that everyone's favorite killer doll will be taking the stage to host Late Night With Chucky at the stage of DreamWorks Theatre. The event is described as a "killer new live talk show" where Chucky will answer audience questions in real time. Guests will be able to submit questions for Chucky via a QR code in the lobby of the theater and no doubt, mayhem will follow.

? A Show Announcement: Late Night with Chucky

Chucky's your host and he's ready to roast. Be in the audience for his killer new live talk show, where Chucky will answer your questions in real time. USA/SYFY's Chucky is now streaming on Peacock. pic.twitter.com/VYTcdg4I4X

-- Horror Nights (@HorrorNights) August 29, 2024

Late Night With Chucky is just one horror attraction for fans to get excited about at Halloween Horror Nights this year. Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood kicks off on September 5th -- the seasonal fun kicks off on August 30th at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida -- and will bring plenty of Universal's spookiest out for new scares and experiences. There are eight new haunted houses, including those themed to Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Insidious, A Quiet Place and more. Another terrifying doll-like creature, M3GAN will be represented at Halloween Horror Nights, thanks to the Terror Tram.

Will Chucky Get a Season 4?

As for Chucky, fans of the killer doll can catch up on his misadventures with the USA/SYFY series now streaming on Peacock. The series aired its Season 3 finale earlier this year. The series hasn't yet been given fourth season renewal, but the series has set things up for more in a huge way. Season 3 saw Chucky and Tiffany back in their doll bodies and reunited, but also eager to reunite with GG, their child from Seed of Chucky previously seen in Chucky Season 2. The show's three leads also found themselves in doll bodies in a wild cliffhanger and, oh yeah, the season also saw the demise of the President of the United States and Chucky nuking the North Pole.

"Murder, mayhem, and malicious intent. These are the values I have always held dear, and it has been my honor to uphold these principles for lo these many years," Chucky says at the end of the Season 3 finale as The White House burns down. "Now tonight I'm proud to officially announce my candidacy for a fourth consecutive term...If you have any doubts at all, I ask you to please consider the many accomplishments of my hugely successful third term."

You can learn more about Halloween Horror Nights at the Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights and Universal Hollywood official websites.

SpongeBob SquarePants is reportedly coming to Wendy's. A new image circulating on the internet suggests that the fast food franchise is getting ready to link up with Paramount's most recognizable cartoon series. PopVerse reports the purported leaked memo announces the partnership, which will lead to Krabby Patties being sold at Wendy's this fall. Neither Paramount nor the fast food giant have been available to comment. Social media is already buzzing with takes about having a Krabby Patty for sale in a real restaurant. There's also talk of a pineapple Frosty going alongside this SpongeBob SquarePants offering. (The Pineapple Under the Sea Frosty would involve a new Pineapple Mango puree.)

As for the Krabby Patty, Wendy's would be rolling out a "secret Krabby Patty Sauce" to compliment the burger. SpongeBob SquarePants fans would reasonably flock to the restaurant locations to see what all the fuss is about. The lovable yellow sponge is celebrating a 25-year anniversary and this would be a way to commemorate this long run on Nickelodeon, and now Paramount+. SpongeBob and Wendy's have a bit of a history together through Wendy's Kids Meal tie-ins and other promotions. If this reporting can be trusted, look for Bikini Bottom to start popping-up October 8th and run through early November at participating locations.

SpongeBob's 25th Anniversary Rolls On

It's been a wild few months for SpongeBob as the Paramount mascot handled a broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII with Patrick Star. ( The clips of that wildness online will still make you feel like you were dreaming.) Then, Bikini Bottom ended up hosting The Kids Choice Awards this year, with the two friends handling double duty again. That event ended up kicking off the 25th Anniversary of SpongeBob SquarePants in earnest. Now, Nickelodeon is airing a bunch of fun episodes to celebrate the long run with the yellow sponge.

"A series of specially produced all-new episodes, with Easter eggs and nods to fan-favorite moments, will debut in July on Nickelodeon around the world and continue to roll out through the year. Viewers will catch up with former jellyfishing champion Kevin C. Cucumber, journey through different eras of Bikini Bottom, travel 2000 years into the future with Plankton, and more."

Would you go eat a Wendy's Krabby Patty? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!