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New Line Cinema(SeaPRwire) -   Every detail we uncover about the new Lord of the Rings midquel, The Hunt for Gollum, comes to us reluctantly. When the film’s development was first revealed, it struck many as entirely unnecessary—and for some fans, each new update only deepens that impression. Andy Serkis directing and starring in The Hunt for Gollum (reprising his role as the title villain) is somewhat intriguing, but since the film is said to take place between The Hobbit series and The Fellowship of the Ring, it’s bound to step on the toes of the beloved original trilogy. Cast members who can return (like Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood) will do so, but others will need to be recast. Wood even appeared to confirm in a recent interview that Leo Woodall will play Aragorn—a move that feels like a necessary evil in every way.Putting aside disappointments and Hobbit-like grumbling, it’s also a bit entertaining to watch the plot of this closely guarded film start to come together. With so little source material to draw from, every update feels like a key clue. Almost everything J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about Gollum’s past has already been adapted—except for some intriguing background in Chapter 2 of The Fellowship of the Ring — “The Shadow of the Past.” In those pages, Gandalf tells Frodo about the Ring’s history and Gollum’s link to it; if you read those passages alongside the casting news, it’s almost as if we can already piece together what’s happening in the movie. In fact, some casting decisions might hint at the direction The Hunt for Gollum will take—at least initially.Hunt for Gollum Casting HintsKate Winslet’s mysterious role might shed light on The Hunt for Gollum’s plot. | Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty ImagesLast March, Kate Winslet was officially cast in The Hunt for Gollum in an unknown role. Speculation has run wild about who she might portray, with two unconventional possibilities rising to the top: Gilraen the Fair (Aragorn’s mother) or Gollum’s unnamed grandmother. Both are referenced in Tolkien’s work, though briefly—Gilraen appears in his appendices, while Gollum mentions his grandmother in The Fellowship of the Ring. The latter character could offer fascinating glimpses into Gollum’s life before he found the One Ring or even went by the name Gollum.Peter Jackson touched on Gollum’s origins briefly in The Return of the King, showing that he was once a Stoor-hobbit named Smeagol. While his backstory is covered quickly in that film, several details were omitted—such as how finding the One Ring affected his place in Hobbit society. Smeagol’s grandmother was likely the leader of their community and the one who banished him when his fixation on the Ring became too extreme. Centuries later, when Gandalf captured and interrogated Gollum, he claimed his grandmother had Rings of Power of her own. This is intriguing enough to warrant a feature film exploration, and it could be a key element of Serkis’ movie. Essentially, if you revisit “The Shadow of the Past” and examine the details, you’ll be persuaded that Winslet is playing Smeagol’s grandmother.“The Shadow of the Past” Might Form the Basis of The Hunt For GollumAlan Lee’s artwork for Chapter Two of The Fellowship of the Ring. | Alan LeeAdditionally, while fans might be disappointed that Viggo Mortensen isn’t being de-aged to play Aragorn, it’s highly probable that Woodall’s new portrayal of Strider won’t have a large role in the film. Aragorn’s part in the actual hunt for Gollum in “The Shadow of the Past” isn’t the entire story—Gandalf enlists Wood Elves to track Gollum at one point, which suggests this version of Aragorn may have minimal screen time. Moreover, if the film (or films) delve into Gollum’s backstory from hundreds of years earlier, Aragorn’s presence could be even more limited. (To clarify: here, we’re referring to “The Shadow of the Past” as the second chapter of The Fellowship of the Ring, not the working title of the upcoming Stephen Colbert Lord of the Rings movie, which is set after Fellowship.)There’s still no confirmation on whether The Hunt for Gollum will kick off a two-part series, but regardless, a significant portion of it will likely cover Smeagol’s complete origin story. McKellen and Wood are both set to return as Gandalf and Frodo Baggins, respectively, but they’ll almost certainly be the ones recounting Gollum’s story years after the original trilogy’s events. Alternatively, we might get a version of “The Shadow of the Past” with de-aging effects. Either way, if the film uses that narrative frame, it will provide a familiar entry point to a side story while allowing The Hunt for Gollum to take some creative liberties with its plot.Once more, this isn’t a story we absolutely need to hear—but if it’s going to be made, at least it could expand Middle-earth in a captivating new direction.The Hunt for Gollum arrives in theaters on December 17, 2027. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Marvel Television(SeaPRwire) -   For many fans, the street-level heroes of the Marvel Universe have arguably been more popular than the epic adventures of the Avengers since the early 2000s. The MCU's initial foray into this area was a partnership with Netflix, but it was brief, with most series running for only two or three seasons before being canceled in 2018 and 2019. The MCU is now attempting to fill the void with series such as Hawkeye, Echo, and the revival/sequel Daredevil: Born Again.Ever since Matt Murdock appeared to assist Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home, audiences have wondered if other Netflix characters would also return. Trailers for Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 confirmed Krysten Ritter's return as Jessica Jones, though her role's scope and duration remain unknown. Now, leaks from the set of Season 3 have revealed a major plot point that will undoubtedly excite fans.Jessica Jones is already set to make her reappearance later in the current season of Born Again, but set photos reveal she’ll be joined by Finn Jones’ Iron Fist and Mike Colter’s Luke Cage. | Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty ImagesThis past weekend, Mike Colter and Finn Jones, the actors behind Luke Cage and Iron Fist, were seen filming with Krysten Ritter for the third season of Born Again. This marks the first reunion of these characters with Daredevil since the 2017 miniseries The Defenders, and serves as official confirmation that all the Netflix shows are part of the MCU canon. While the exact details of the reunion are unclear, the finales of their original series provide hints about their current status.The finale of Jessica Jones Season 3 saw Jessica arrest her best friend Trish Walker after Trish began killing criminals as a vigilante, a path triggered by gaining powers and her mother's murder. Iron Fist concluded with Danny Rand losing the Iron Fist power to his rival Davos; the power was then transferred to his girlfriend Colleen Wing, while Danny acquired chi-infused pistols. The Luke Cage series finale ended with the death of crime boss Mariah Stokes-Dillard, who ceded her nightclub to Luke Cage, forcing him to become Harlem's reluctant new "sheriff" to prevent a gang war.Mike Colter, sporting Luke Cage’s traditional outfit, while filming Daredevil: Born Again Season 3. | Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images/Getty ImagesIt is difficult to determine which elements from the Netflix shows will remain canonical, as Born Again has taken liberties with the original Daredevil lore. Jessica's activities will likely be explained in Season 2, and since Luke Cage appears in the same attire from his Netflix finale, he may still be Harlem's unwilling kingpin. However, the absence of Jessica Henwick as Colleen Wing leaves the conclusion of Iron Fist Season 2 uncertain.A key question is whether the Defenders will have a long-term future in the MCU. Daredevil: Born Again is undoubtedly one of Marvel's most successful Disney+ shows, making spinoffs a logical next step. This strategy could work for characters like Iron Fist and Luke Cage, who share a long history, but Jessica Jones faced challenges due to the character's relatively recent creation and limited solo comic book runs.The source material, specifically Brian Michael Bendis’ New Avengers, might provide the answer on how the Defenders could move forward. | Marvel ComicsGiven the famous comic book romance between Jessica Jones and Luke Cage (they married in 2006), and the close friendship between Cage and Danny Rand (the original Heroes for Hire), an ideal outcome might be a spinoff featuring the three heroes in a setup similar to the classic Heroes for Hire series. The possibilities for these returning characters are endless, but for now, fans can rejoice that the four core heroes from the Marvel Netflix era have returned after seven years. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Amazon Prime Video(SeaPRwire) -   While Good Omens is a series deeply rooted in themes of faith, it is not strictly religious. Adapted from the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, the show chronicles the unlikely partnership between the angel Aziraphale (Michael Sheen) and the demon Crowley (David Tennant) as they work together to avert Armageddon. Their previous endeavors include stopping an apocalypse and sheltering a renegade angel resembling Don Draper. However, for the abbreviated third and concluding season, the narrative seems to be introducing its most significant figure yet: the central figure of Christianity. What implications does this hold for the series' conclusion?On Easter Monday, the official social media channels for Good Omens shared a video featuring actor Bilal Hasna stepping into an elevator and pressing the button for Earth. The post was captioned, “Let’s kick off the Second Coming!” View the teaser here: The phrase "second coming" strongly suggests only one possible identity for this character: Jesus Christ, portrayed by Hasna. The original Good Omens book did not address the Second Coming, though rumors have persisted for years that Gaiman and Pratchett intended to explore it in a potential follow-up.This would not mark the first time Jesus has appeared in Good Omens. A flashback in Season 1, Episode 3, titled “Hard Times,” depicted Aziraphale and Crowley witnessing the crucifixion. In that scene, Christ was played by Adam Bond, an actor who has built a career portraying the Son of God, with four credits as Jesus on his record. However, the recasting of the role is not the most contentious issue surrounding this season.Adam Bond as Jesus Christ in Good Omens Season 1. | Amazon Prime VideoThe production of Good Omens Season 3 is already entangled in controversy following serious allegations of sexual harassment and assault against original creator and showrunner Neil Gaiman. While Gaiman denies the claims, the final season was reduced to a single, feature-length episode produced without his participation. Therefore, if this character is indeed Jesus, the finale has a substantial amount of story to resolve in approximately 90 minutes.On a positive note, the casting decision itself is a promising sign. Hasna, a seasoned British television actor of Palestinian-Pakistani descent, represents a welcome departure from the tradition of casting non-Middle Eastern actors in the role of Jesus, including the actor from Season 1. The real-world circumstances of Season 3 may be challenging, but the characters' arc deserves a conclusion. Based on this teaser, it appears the ending will be a memorable one.Good Omens Season 3 premieres May 13, 2026, on Prime Video. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

(SeaPRwire) -   I’ll openly admit that my relationship with The Boys is a complicated one. Eric Kripke’s ultra-gory superhero satire was groundbreaking in its first few seasons, and its spinoff, Gen V, adapted that core concept incredibly well for a younger audience. However, once The Boys hit Season 3, a clear problem became impossible to miss: the entire show had been building toward a final confrontation between the Boys and Homelander, but with every new season and renewal, that climactic battle just got pushed further down the line, and it was impossible not to notice the plot was treading water.Now, the Boys are back for one final outing, and the promise of a definitive ending is exactly what the show needed. With an epic conclusion to build toward, every part of the series falls perfectly into place: the story’s stakes feel urgent, the satire takes a completely fresh new angle, and even the series’ format itself evolves. The Boys may be coming to an end, but that ending is exactly what it needed to cement its legacy as one of the greatest superhero shows of all time. By the end of The Boys Season 4, Homelander (Antony Starr) had reached new heights of his already-unmatched power. With a puppet leader installed in the Oval Office, nothing stood in the way of Vought — and by extension Homelander — achieving world domination, while Hughie (Jack Quaid), Frenchie (Tomer Capone), and Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso) were sent to a “freedom camp”, where they have remained for the past year. But when Annie January (Erin Moriarty), formerly Starlight, makes a bold move against Homelander, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) sets out to reunite the entire crew for one final mission — one that could eliminate supes for good. The gang’s all back together one last time in The Boys Season 5. | Amazon Prime VideoMeanwhile, Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie), who was just recently infected with Compound V, now holds the position of Vice President of the United States, but she is so completely under Homelander’s control that even though a part of her wants to do the right thing, she is terrified to cross him. And her fear is well-founded: Homelander is on a more violent rampage this season than ever before, to the point that you can often predict an episode is about to end right after he kills a major character. As established in Episode 1, no one is safe, and it’s incredibly rare for every character present at the start of an episode to make it to the end credits alive. But Homelander still makes time for his personal projects, including reviving his father, Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles), who gets one of the season’s best storylines, likely because his upcoming prequel series, Vought Rising, will carry the franchise forward after the main show ends. Homelander has also chased a new ambition, the only major title he has yet to claim: God. One of the biggest criticisms of The Boys’ later seasons is that the series had become unrecognizable from the sharp satire of other superhero franchises it originally set out to be. While a little of that issue remains — there’s a self-indulgent running joke about how hard it is to write a good finale — most of the problem is resolved by the season’s focus on religious satire, which often feels more similar to The Righteous Gemstones than the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At the center of this plotline is Oh Father (Daveed Diggs), a superstar supe preacher who immediately aligns himself with Homelander’s new goal, much to the frustration of Firecracker (Valorie Curry), who is unwilling to throw away the faith she was raised with. The introduction of Oh Father allows The Boys to shift its cutting gaze to the entire institution of Christianity. | Amazon Prime Video Out of the seven episodes provided to critics for review, one is an obvious standout: Episode 5, which takes an anthological deep dive into characters that don’t usually get the spotlight, including the new Black Noir, Sister Sage, and even Terror, Butcher’s dog. In each of its many segments, we get the most nuanced storytelling we have ever seen on this series. It is also by far the most star-studded episode, and the most narratively satisfying one of the season.In a way, every episode this season works as a fitting wrap-up for the whole series, exploring themes of sacrifice, closure, and questions about the nature of normalcy — all the core themes you would expect from a final season. The end is never treated as something to dread, but something to look forward to, and that positive outlook is what makes all the difference. While critics have not gotten to see the finale, even these seven episodes have repaired my relationship with this show. I still have a few small nitpicks, but I can’t deny the truth: this is the superhero show that will define the last 20 years, and frankly, no other story could do this era justice. The Boys Season 5 premieres on Prime Video on Wednesday, April 8. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

(SeaPRwire) -   For enthusiasts of the distinct directorial styles within the Alien movies, the franchise's varied tonal shifts have always been a defining characteristic rather than a flaw. Each film highlights its director's strengths, shifting themes from anti-capitalism to militarism to masculinity. While Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus might indulge his penchant for graphically dispatching young adults, it also plays a crucial role in the broader Alien saga. Alien: Romulus integrates key concepts from Ridley Scott’s prequels, solidifying synthetics as the true focal point of the series.Although synthetics appear in every Alien film, Scott’s prequels were the first to prominently feature their unique consciousness. Michael Fassbender’s portrayal of David—a Mary Shelley-esque exploration of how human creations can grow to resent their creators' imperfections—served as the emotional core of both Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. However, Scott’s emphasis on David’s perspective often created a rift between the franchise and its fanbase. Viewers expecting more traditional sci-fi monster films were surprised by two movies delving into genetic engineering and artificial intelligence. For many, the essence of the franchise lies in corporations and creatures, with synthetics best serving as an intriguing secondary detail.However, Alien: Romulus introduces N-D-255, known as “Andy.” Director Fede Álvarez and co-writer Rodo Sayagues undertake the significant task of weaving together two distinct franchise narratives. The screenplay explicitly links the original Alien films with Prometheus, creating a universe where Weyland-Yutani and the black goo hold equal weight in the lore. Expanding the already intricate Alien canon is challenging, making Álvarez and Sayagues' decision to use synthetics as the central unifying element a logical choice.We quickly learn a great deal about David Jonsson’s character, Andy. He is revealed as a childhood companion to Rain, Cailee Spaeny’s struggling colonist, having been salvaged by her father and equipped with an underclocked operating system. We discover his fondness for dad jokes and that his primary directive is to ensure Rain's well-being—an order he will struggle with as xenomorphs overrun the station. Following an upgrade, Andy becomes acutely aware of his difference from others, grappling with his otherness even as he strives to protect the person he considers his sister.By casting a Black actor to embody passive discrimination and presenting Andy’s outdated operating system as a form of neurodivergence, the writing team behind Alien: Romulus grounds the film in Andy’s distinctive viewpoint. His journey—culminating in his active choice of how to experience the world—serves as the film’s emotional and narrative engine. Jonsson’s nuanced depiction of a conflicted mind stands out in a franchise rich with exceptional actors and roles. This depth is achievable because Alien: Romulus places a synthetic character at its forefront.Synthetics have become the beating heart of the Alien universe. | 20th Century StudiosÁlvarez would not have been criticized for maintaining a human focus. A perfectly acceptable version of Alien: Romulus could have pitted the crew against Rook—the film’s digital recreation of Ian Holm, and arguably its biggest misstep—and adhered more closely to the working-class humanity seen in Scott’s original film. However, for Álvarez, the role of synthetic beings is crucial to understanding this future. Andy is the star of Alien: Romulus because the Alien movies fundamentally explore what it means to be human: to struggle, to fight, and to survive. Andy, much like David before him, exists both above and below humanity in the hierarchy, and no competent filmmaker would overlook the narrative potential this offers.Given the success and subsequent renewal of Alien: Earth — not to mention Elle Fanning’s captivating performance as Thia in Predator: Badlands — it is evident that synthetics are now the emotional core of the Alien franchise on screen. This shift allows xenomorphs to return to their appropriate, more peripheral role in the series. Despite their iconic design, there are only so many ways xenomorphs can dispatch supporting characters before the impact diminishes. Keeping the focus on synthetics firmly centers the narrative on the essence of being human, while relegating the monsters to the shadows—their most effective domain.Alien: Romulus is currently available for streaming on HBO Max. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Lucasfilm(SeaPRwire) -   When Maul: Shadow Lord was first announced, I expected a Star Wars equivalent to The Penguin: a gritty, noir-inspired tale of a secondary villain carving out a criminal empire. Given how impressive The Penguin turned out to be, I had high hopes. However, this series offers something quite different. While it retains the noir atmosphere I anticipated, its core narrative focuses on a world struggling under Imperial rule and the difficulty of acknowledging who truly holds power. Though Maul hasn't reached his full potential yet, the connection to the Solo post-credits scene and the early confirmation of Season 2 suggest this is a rich starting point for the journey ahead. Taking place only a year after Order 66, Maul: Shadow Lord is set on Janix, a planet where criminal groups and local authorities maintain a fragile peace. This status quo is challenged by two rivals: Maul (Sam Witwer), who intends to seize control by toppling the syndicates, and Detective Brander Lawson (Wagner Moura), a lawman intent on bringing Maul down solo. At the same time, a young Jedi, Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon), and her master, Eeko-Dio-Daki (Dennis Haysbert), are forced into poverty. Maul eventually approaches her with a tempting offer that would require her to abandon her most sacred principles. Is Maul: Shadow Lord as vital to the broader Star Wars mythos as Starfighter or The Mandalorian and Grogu? Likely not. It primarily introduces new faces, and while the return of Maul and Rook Kast is compelling, the plot doesn't fundamentally alter the established canon. But that isn't the only reason to watch. Just as Andor wasn't strictly required to enjoy Rogue One, it provided essential depth and world-building that elevated the franchise. Maul's series follows this lead, presenting a pursuit narrative between Lawson and Maul that feels more like Catch Me If You Can than a traditional space fantasy. The series truly excels in its minor details, such as Lawson’s droid partner Two-Boots (Richard Ayoade), who is hard-wired to follow rules and is eager to report to the Empire. We also see Lawson’s son playing a local sport unique to Janix and learn that his ex-wife is an Imperial employee. These glimpses into daily life on Janix make the show feel more like a detective drama than a standard Star Wars entry, which serves as a major strength. Maul: Shadow Lord’s best character is actually Brander Lawson, the man pursuing Maul. | LucasfilmLawson is the show's standout element; he operates in a moral gray zone as an officer who values order but avoids requesting Imperial help. He understands that once the Empire arrives, they stay forever—a recurring theme in the saga. This highlights how the Imperial occupation was a gradual, relentless takeover rather than an overnight change after Order 66. Following the finale, it is clear why a second season was ordered so early: the story is just beginning, and Maul’s rise is far from over. With careful development, the arcs of Maul, Devon, and Brander could span several seasons, illuminating unexplored areas of the Star Wars universe. Perhaps this isn't the Star Wars version of The Penguin, especially since that series was a limited run. Instead, it feels more like Task—a detective story defined by complex morals and shifting allegiances. There is certainly a place for more stories like this in the galaxy. Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord is currently available for streaming on Disney+. New episodes debut on Mondays. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Independent Film Company/Shudder(SeaPRwire) -   Who would have thought to reboot Faces of Death? While it's technically a horror franchise, with eight installments released between 1978 and 1999, all direct-to-video, the series isn't known for its characters, lore, or special effects. Faces of Death is essentially a bizarre oddity, an American take on Italian "Mondo" films that blurred the lines between documentary and exploitation cinema in the 1960s and '70s.At its core, it's a compilation of clips, linked by a narrator claiming the footage is real (which it wasn't, but we'll address that later). It lacks artistic merit, instead presenting a parade of footage supposedly depicting real deaths from alligators, car crashes, electric chairs, bullets, and a particularly gruesome parachute accident. These are interspersed with interviews with medical examiners and hitmen who deal with death regularly.You might be thinking, "So what? I can watch strangers die online for free every day." This very sentiment is the driving force behind this new, fictionalized interpretation of the series. It's reimagined as a commentary on how constant access to video evidence of humanity's worst impulses is degrading the fabric of American society. The film's approach to this theme is predictable: Barbie Ferreira stars as Margot, a young woman working a dead-end job as a content moderator for Kino, a YouTube-like platform. (It's worth noting this film was shot in 2023, predating other films like American Sweatshop and Red Rooms that explore similar themes.)Early scenes of Margot at work expose the hypocrisy and insincerity of these platforms' "community standards." For instance, she removes an explainer on how to use Narcan, citing it as "promoting drug use," while retaining a graphic beheading video because, according to her employers, all violence is considered fake until proven otherwise.Barbie Ferreira sees something she can’t unsee in Faces of Death. | Indepedent Film Company/ShudderConveniently for her indifferent boss Josh (Jermaine Fowler) — who also chooses to ignore employees getting high and hooking up during breaks as a coping mechanism — proving the authenticity of anything online is incredibly difficult. Nevertheless, for reasons that become apparent throughout the film, Margot feels a moral obligation to investigate a series of videos that appear disturbingly real. She suspects they are snuff films, a suspicion echoed by Reddit commenters who note their striking resemblance to segments from the original Faces of Death.The discussions about what "Faces" was and how it operated are the most awkward parts of the new Faces of Death. Margot’s horror-fan roommate describes it as "the first viral video before the internet," which isn't entirely inaccurate. However, this discomfort is brief, as the screenwriters Daniel Goldhaber (who also directs) and Isa Mazzei fulfill their franchise obligations before returning to their primary objective: creating a modern exploitation horror film that explores how the internet has led a significant portion of the global population to dehumanize others.This phenomenon is evident in online "NPC" discourse and in the film itself. A character escaping from a villain's torture den, a nondescript McMansion, runs to a mother and her children walking to their car, pleading for help. She is bloody, out of breath, and clearly in distress. In a normal society, they would offer assistance, but in Faces of Death, they drive away without her. The police are also depicted as ineffective, mirroring their portrayal in real life; authority figures in general are portrayed as lazy and apathetic, as desensitized as Margot’s coworker Gabby (Charli XCX), who laughs at gore videos while vaping.Aside from Margot, the only character who appears to care about anything in Faces of Death is the villain, Arthur Spevak (Dacre Montgomery). He approaches his gruesome "work" with the dedication and precision of an artist. Montgomery's performance is a blend of classic serial killer archetypes, seemingly drawing inspiration from Ted Levine in Silence of the Lambs and Tom Noonan in Manhunter, particularly evident when he wears pantyhose on his head in certain scenes. Red contact lenses and a blank, featureless white mask contribute to his unsettling appearance. As Faces of Death intensifies in its final half-hour, Montgomery's pursuit of Ferreira through his eerily deserted subdivision is appropriately tense and menacing.It’s not a snuff movie, it just looks like one. | Independent Film Company/ShudderFor dedicated exploitation film enthusiasts, the most striking aspect of Faces of Death isn't its bleak, cynical outlook or its re-enactments of what were presented as real murders in the original VHS. It's the film's uncanny resemblance to a snuff film, or at least, our collective imagination of what a snuff film would look like if they were real (the debate continues). The use of mannequins, plastic sheeting, duct tape, and harsh floodlights creates an atmosphere of depravity and impending violence. This feeling is amplified by Goldhaber and DP Isaac Bauman's choice to shoot on grainy 35mm film. Combined with DSLR footage, pixelated digital video, and 16mm clips from the original Faces of Death, the visual style creates a sense of forbidden viewing, effectively generating the unease expected from such a film.Goldhaber and Mazzei appear less interested in examining their own role in perpetuating a culture of violence through their filmmaking, which is understandable given the existence of films like Michael Haneke's Funny Games. Their focus is on a pursuit that has long been central to exploitation filmmakers: transforming controversial topics that most people avoid into unsettling, morally ambiguous entertainment. If this movie failed to leave you feeling the need for a shower, it would be a disappointment. Fortunately, the unsettling "ick factor" is very much present.Faces of Death, from Shudder and Independent Film Company, premieres in theaters on April 10. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Amazon MGM(SeaPRwire) -   Cosplay has long been an art form, stretching back to the costume parties of decades past. But there’s a clear difference between putting together a cosplay outfit by buying or sewing pieces, and hand-knitting or crocheting a garment that perfectly matches what you see on screen. From Althea Crome’s intricate microknit sweaters for Coraline to the iconic Knives Out sweater that earned the nickname “Handsome Chris,” fiber arts lovers spend months reverse engineering and recreating the already incredibly labor-intensive hand-knit pieces they spot on screen. For one committed knitter, work on the viral fox sweater from the new sci-fi blockbuster Project Hail Mary began even before the movie hit theaters.“I love knitting pieces I see in movies and TV. My biggest project to date is the Oaken sweater from Frozen, for which I designed the full pattern chart,” reproduction knitter Harmony Leiker tells Inverse. “I also happen to be a huge fan of Project Hail Mary. I read the book about a year ago, and I absolutely loved it. So when the first trailer dropped in October 2025, I recognized this sweater right away because I’d seen the base pattern before.”“Right away I thought, ‘I’m going to bet this sweater will be a huge hit, I’m going to bet the movie is good, and I’m going to bet it’s visible for a good chunk of the film. I’m just going to bet on all of it, and I’m just going to go ahead and make this sweater.”A few months later, she had a fully finished garment ready to wear when she went to see the film at her local cinema. Unfortunately for Project Hail Mary fans who don’t knit, this sweater isn’t currently available to buy as a finished, ready-to-wear piece. However, if you’re willing to learn a few new crafting skills, you can still make this sweater your own. Below is everything you need to know to craft the sweater, including exclusive tips from the first fan who ever made it. How To Make The Project Hail Mary SweaterWhen Leiker spotted the pattern in the trailer, she knew exactly where to start: Mary Maxim’s 1950s pattern for a “Wolf Cardigan,” with swapped colors that turn the wolves on the front and back into foxes. The base pattern only costs $8 to buy from the Mary Maxim website, but tweaking this vintage pattern to match the on-screen sweater exactly is a bit more complicated. If you compare the original pattern and the movie sweater side by side, there’s one major difference: The animals on Ryland Grace’s sweater look far less intimidating, with bigger eyes and no extended tongue sticking out. Leiker noticed this gap, but didn’t know exactly how the patterns differed — she knit the sweater following the original pattern first, planning to adapt it later. It wasn’t until Project Hail Mary costume designer Glyn Dillon shared an Instagram post about the sweater that Leiker could adjust the colorwork to perfectly match the film version. Harmony Leiker’s finished Project Hail Mary fox cardigan. | Harmony LeikerAccording to Dillon, the design change came at the suggestion of Ryan Gosling himself. “Ryan came in with an unexpected suggestion … He’d been staying in London and had spotted our urban fox population around the city … A lot of Londoners consider them pests, but I’m more inclined to agree with Ryan; they’re special, and it’s always a bit magical when you spot one crossing your path at night,” he wrote. “So he asked if we could change the wolves to foxes. We were extremely tight on time, but this was also a chance to adjust the faces and the bloodred footprints.” Mary Maxim now sells a “Project Hail Mary version” of the original Wolf Cardigan, but it’s only available as a $90 kit that includes all required supplies, and it’s currently temporarily sold out. But don’t worry, there are other workarounds if you’re willing to put in a little extra crafting effort.How To Make The Project Hail Mary Sweater Without The KitAs Leiker’s own finished sweater proves, you can make this garment using the original vintage pattern with just a small amount of adjustment. “Overall, the construction of this sweater isn’t actually difficult,” she says. “It’s made in separate pieces, so you do have to sew all of the pieces together at the end — it’s not knit in one single piece.” Many modern, popular hand-knit sweaters are knit from the top down in one go, which makes construction much simpler, but this sweater is knit in separate panels that are then stitched together, which is definitely more labor-intensive. It also requires adding a zipper, which is a daunting task even for the most experienced knitters. The pattern included in the official kit is much more detailed, but if you’re using the original vintage pattern, you’ll run into another issue: navigating vintage knitting instructions. “Vintage patterns have very sparse directions,” Leiker says. “It’s literally just, like, ‘Sew it together.’ All you get is a picture of the different pieces of the sweater.” She also notes that the kit is more convenient simply because it includes the perfect yarn for the project. If you’re sourcing your own yarn, she suggests picking something with “a bit of tooth.”But don’t let that scare you off from trying. “I’m the type of person who takes on projects that are beyond my current skill level, and I jump right in and figure them out as I go,” Leiker says. “I started with a hat and then immediately made a sweater.” (Sidenote: This writer is the exact same way; I started knitting with a 30-foot-long Doctor Who scarf about 15 years ago and have worked almost exclusively on vintage projects ever since.) “It’s not the easiest project in the world. So I’d say this is a project for a very dedicated beginner. A very ambitious beginner project.”The most challenging part of the project is the colorwork, which combines stranded colorwork — where extra yarn is held behind active stitches — and intarsia, where yarn is carried to the spot it’s needed next. But sharp-eyed fans have already posted more screen-accurate colorwork charts on Ravelry, so you won’t have to squint at blurry movie screenshots to get the pattern right. We’re living in an era where knitting is more accessible than it’s ever been before. Whereas in the past, you’d have to consult a book or an in-person teacher to learn different stitches and techniques, today almost any question you can think of can be answered with a YouTube tutorial or a Reddit post. The knitting community is also one of the most open crafting communities in the world — if this project is your first entry into knitting, you may just have stumbled onto a brand-new favorite hobby. Project Hail Mary is now playing in theaters. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Paramount Pictures(SeaPRwire) -   Guilty or innocent? Courtroom dramas build tension as they race toward one of these two unavoidable conclusions—whether through shocking new evidence coming to light, testimony being systematically torn apart, or an unforeseen witness taking the stand, all of which could shift the outcome. Gregory Hoblit’s 1996 thriller Primal Fear is full of clever legal twists, but it saves its most explosive reveal for after the verdict is handed down.“There’s just one truth—my version, the one I plant in the minds of the 12 jurors,” declares Martin Vail (Richard Gere), a high-profile Chicago defense lawyer, early in the film (which is based on William Diehl’s 1993 novel). But by the movie’s conclusion, Vail turns out to be the unknowing victim of this very tactic.Vail’s newest client is 19-year-old Aaron Stampler (Edward Norton), an altar boy caught running from the site where a beloved Archbishop was murdered and mutilated. Aaron claims he just stumbled onto the crime scene, had one of his typical blackouts, and woke up covered in blood. Frightened by the sound of sirens approaching, he fled.Our initial view of this youthful, baby-faced teen is one of innocence and fragility. When authorities find him, he’s curled up in a fetal position. He’s gentle and unassuming, and his soft Southern drawl evokes the image of a small-town Kentucky boy lost in a harsh urban environment. The film emphasizes this portrayal by showing Martin walking past intimidating, bearded criminals on his way to see Aaron—making the teen seem even more childlike in comparison. And when the skeptical prosecutor Janet Venable (Laura Linney) teases Aaron about his stutter, it makes viewers root for him.Eventually, a video emerges showing the Archbishop forcing Aaron, his girlfriend, and another young boy into sexual activity. This not only gives a motive for the crime but also makes the boy more sympathetic—he’d been threatened with being homeless if he didn’t go along. He complied until he finally snapped and killed his abuser… or so his alternate personality did, at least.Norton is memorable in his debut. | Paramount PicturesPrimal Fear’s first major twist comes with the arrival of Roy—an aggressive, verbally and physically abusive persona who appears when Aaron has a blackout under pressure. Roy is a stark contrast to the shy teen we’ve grown accustomed to: he stands taller to look more intimidating, pushes Martin against a wall to invade his personal space, and calls him “boy” as if he’s dismissive of Martin’s authority. According to the neuropsychologist (Frances McDormand) assessing Aaron, the reason he can’t remember the murder is that Roy did it. She determines Aaron has Multiple Personality Disorder, caused by years of childhood abuse, and that he’s not a ruthless killer—just a traumatized kid who needs support.In a last-ditch effort to win the case, Martin puts Aaron on the witness stand, knowing Janet’s aggressive cross-examination would trigger Roy to come out. Roy does just that—shouting curse words, grabbing Janet, and threatening to break her neck. The judge calls for a mistrial and rules Aaron not guilty by reason of insanity. Instead of facing possible execution, Aaron will be sent to a psychiatric facility for assessment, therapy, and eventual discharge.Martin tells Aaron the news, and the grateful teen shares a warm moment with his lawyer. It seems the teen’s horrific ordeal is finally over—until he makes a mistake. He apologizes for hurting Janet’s neck, a detail he shouldn’t know if, as he claims, he has no memory of Roy’s actions. So who exactly has Martin been dealing with all this time?Vail studies the case. | Paramount PicturesCourtroom dramas depend on how a case is presented—facts may be unchangeable, but how people see them is shaped by the flexible stories built around those facts. For the cunning Aaron, this meant putting on an intricate act (one that earned Norton the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in his first film role). There was never any alternate personality.This is a devastating shock for Martin, who’d long chosen to ignore whether his clients were truly guilty, focusing solely on doing his job. Now, this intentional ignorance has kept him from seeing the truth. It’s not that Roy wasn’t real—it’s that Aaron was the fake. The clumsy, timid persona was just a mask for a cruel, sadistic teen, who now admits he also killed his girlfriend. Thanks to attorney-client privilege, his crime will never be made public, even though he accidentally revealed it.The film references a quote from The Scarlet Letter: “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.” But Aaron had no problem telling them apart. He’d been fooling Martin the whole time—and if the film’s lasting spot on lists like The 10 Craziest Movie Plot Twists of All Time is any indication, he fooled all of us too.Primal Fear is available to stream on Fubo. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Warner Bros TV/Kobal/Shutterstock(SeaPRwire) -   Space rebellions are nothing new. Long before Star Wars taught a generation that joining the Rebel Alliance could make you a hero, Robert A. Heinlien’s Revolt in 2100 told the story of humanity rising up against a dictatorship. Meanwhile, the iconic Doctor Who serial “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” (later remade as the 1966 film Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D.) proved that humans fighting against invading alien forces could be just as thrilling as they were terrifying. But what if Earth itself was the enemy? What if humanity turned on its own people? Technically, every conflict in the original Star Wars is a civil war, but the dynamic feels far different when the opposing sides are Earth versus the rest of the galaxy.In April 1996, over the first week of the month, Babylon 5 Season 3 aired its then-most pivotal installment yet. The civil war between Earth and its colonies had been simmering for some time, but in “Severed Dreams,” the show’s central characters made the active choice to secede from Earth—an act that completely redefined what a weekly sci-fi television series could achieve.An Earthforce destroyer under attack during Babylon 5’s “Severed Dreams.” | Warner BrosAs has been thoroughly covered elsewhere, Babylon 5 was a trailblazer for primetime television serialization, particularly within sci-fi series. Plot threads first referenced in Season 1 of Babylon 5 paid off massively in Season 3 and beyond. One such thread was the revelation that the death of Earth President Santiago at the end of Season 1 was not a genuine accident, but rather part of a coup orchestrated by then-Vice President Clark. By the midpoint of B5 Season 3, during “Severed Dreams,” Clark’s authoritarian rule had pushed multiple Earth Alliance factions into open rebellion—a plot that had previously been kept under wraps. A key underlying throughline here is that Clark’s unconstitutional seizure of power on Earth is only one piece of a broader intergalactic conflict: an ancient alien race known as the Shadows is amassing dark forces during this period. Oddly enough, the moment Babylon 5 breaks away from the Earth Alliance frees up the rest of Season 3 to focus on the fight against the Shadows across both time and space.This does not mean the decision for B5 to secede from Earth was treated as a trivial matter in this episode—far from it. In fact, when Captain Sheridan (portrayed by Bruce Boxleitner) declares the space station an independent nation, the moment was utterly shocking at the time, as no other sci-fi franchise had ever attempted something similar. Sheridan’s announcement that B5 was no longer part of Earthforce would be comparable to Picard (Patrick Stewart) leaving Starfleet in Star Trek: The Next Generation, or Sisko (Avery Brooks) joining the Maquis in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.“Severed Dreams” approaches this moment with the appropriate weight, reminding audiences that in a real civil war, personal tensions and complications would surface extremely quickly. Early in the episode, Major Ryan (Bruce McGill) laments a victory over an enemy vessel, admitting he personally knew the captain of the ship that had just been destroyed. Ahead of a planned communications blackout between B5 and Earth, Sheridan shares a heartfelt, quick video call with his father. (It’s worth noting that Sheridan’s dad is played by Rance Howard—the real-life father of Ron and Clint Howard—delivering a warm, standout performance in the first of three Babylon 5 guest appearances.)Nowadays, “Severed Dreams” is most widely recalled for its final act, where Delenn (the beloved late Mira Furlan) arrives leading a fleet of Minbari ships to turn the tide of the Earthforce assault on B5. Delenn’s iconic line to the Earth vessels is, “If you value your lives, be somewhere else.” What many fans overlook, though, is that Delenn’s entire arc in this episode is about demanding others step aside: the only reason she has the firepower to aid B5 by the episode’s end is that she forced the Grey Council to get their act together earlier on. Once more, Babylon 5 was pushing creative boundaries, and by upending familiar tropes, Delenn’s decision to dissolve the Grey Council is analogous to the Babylon 5 take on telling every Elf in The Lord of the Rings to stop lingering on the sidelines and ordering others to destroy the One Ring. “Severed Dreams” isn’t just about B5 leaving the Earth Alliance—it’s also about strengthening the makeshift alliance between various species in their broader fight against the Shadows.It goes without saying that “Severed Dreams” is a blockbuster battle installment: there are space combat sequences outside the station, plus an on-site siege where B5’s human security forces team up with the Narn to fight other humans. The Narn, who had been conscripted into service just a few episodes earlier, are fighting and dying alongside humans to safeguard the space station’s overall sovereignty. This is heavy, unflinching storytelling, especially compared to other sci-fi series of the era. Though the episode wraps with a tactical win for the crew, show creator J. Michael Straczynski did not want viewers to walk away feeling overly triumphant. In 1996, Straczynski explained, “I hate leaving the audience feeling cocky,” and noted that many other series of the time would have faded out right after Sheridan ordered all ships to return to base.But Babylon 5 showed viewers what happens next: bloodied, wounded humans and Narn on both sides of the conflict gasping for air and fighting to survive once the gunfire stops. The next episode finds Sheridan and his crew grappling with whether they even have a right to keep wearing their old Earthforce uniforms. This concept sparked a subtle creative shift for the series, but in that final moment of “Severed Dreams,” the episode aims to remind audiences that space rebellions are not glamorous—they are deadly, serious affairs.Babylon 5 can be rented or purchased via Apple TV, Prime Video, and other streaming platforms. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Apple TV(SeaPRwire) -   The alternate timeline show For All Mankind is currently set in a 2012 that’s not our own—one where a Mars outpost is a daily reality, and humanity is striving to venture deeper into the solar system. However, the main plot of the first two episodes of For All Mankind Season 5 centers on whether Lee Jung-Gil (C. S. Lee) is guilty of murder, and if his fellow Mars residents plan to break him out of space prison. Meanwhile, Kelly Baldwin (Cynthy Wu) is advocating for a crewed mission to Titan to check for potential signs of life. In the middle of all this chaos, Ed Baldwin (Joel Kinnaman) says to Kelly and Alex (Sean Kauffman), “Sometimes you’ve got to roll the hard six.”The episode itself is titled “The Hard Six”—a phrase that’s popped up in For All Mankind before. But sci-fi fans will recognize that this line actually comes from the rebooted Battlestar Galactica, co-created by Ronald D. Moore, who’s also a co-creator of For All Mankind. It’s a neat Easter egg, and it fits FamK just as well as it does BSG—but is there a deeper connection here? Could For All Mankind’s alternate history be a continuation of Battlestar’s timeline?Spoilers ahead.Battlestar Takes Place in the Distant Past Mary McDonnell as Laura Roslin and Edward James Olmos as Admiral William Adama in Battlestar Galactica Season 3. | NBC/NBCUniversal/Getty ImagesLike the original 1978 series, Battlestar Galactica isn’t set in the future—it’s set in our past, telling the story of humans who evolved independently, away from our Earth. The original canon (including Galactica: 1980) had the Galactica crew finding a modern-day Earth, but the more popular reboot ended with the fleet’s survivors settling on a prehistoric Earth. BSG’s finale implied that humans evolved from both humanoid Cylons and regular humans, hinting that a panspermia event was the source of all life on Earth.To date, For All Mankind hasn’t explored artificial, synthetic life forms like the Cylons, but we’ve known since Season 1 that it’s set in an alternate timeline. The question is: Could For All Mankind be Battlestar Galactica, but millions of years down the line?In the Season 1 Battlestar Galactica episode “The Hand of God,” Adama (Edward James Olmos) utters the line, “Sometimes you gotta roll the hard six.” There, he’s referring to the fleet’s attempt to capture a Cylon base with far superior firepower. In that scene, the phrase is treated as a common saying—after all, rolling a six in dice is both difficult and risky. But is this phrase as widely recognized in For All Mankind? For All Mankind Could Be a Low-Key Battlestar Sequel Generations of Baldwins, rolling the hard six. | Apple TV+The scene in For All Mankind’s “The Hard Six” episode is packed with other show-specific Easter eggs. Ed, Alex, and Kelly are having a family pasta dinner, and Ed is heaping cheap, store-bought Parmesan onto his plate—a habit first shown in Season 2 when he, Kelly, and Karen dined at the Outpost restaurant. Back in Season 4, when Alex was a little kid, Ed tried to get him to like this cheese, but Alex wasn’t interested. Now, Ed’s the only one using it, which is a funny nod to everyone thinking he’s odd for favoring the inexpensive brand.Everyone’s used to Ed’s quirks, but when he says, “You’re a Baldwin—when things get rough, you roll the hard six!” Alex replies, “Roll the what?”It’s a lighthearted moment, but given that Battlestar established that many modern Earth words, phrases, and even a Bob Dylan song have roots in the distant past, it’s not a stretch to think: The phrase “roll the hard six” is part of Ed’s subconscious because he, like other humans in the FamK timeline, are descendants of the Battlestar humans.That being said, when Inverse asked Ronald D. Moore directly in 2021 if he could imagine a crossover between Battlestar and For All Mankind, he responded: “I mean, if I ever think about that kind of thing, the stray thought is like how could I have crossed certain Battlestar characters in Star Trek. It was something I did think about during Battlestar...But I always thought of it in terms of the multiverse.”So even though that answer feels like a denial, and the “hard six” is likely just a fun Easter egg, it’s still plausible that some version of Battlestar is part of For All Mankind’s backstory—if not in this universe, then in another alternate timeline we haven’t seen yet. We’re not claiming Ed Baldwin is a Cylon, but we might just be encouraging fan fiction that says he is. So say we all?For All Mankind streams on Apple TV. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. 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(SeaPRwire) -   After a four-year break, Peaky Blinders returned with renewed vigor. In the installment titled Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, Cillian Murphy, now an Oscar winner, reprised his role as former crime boss Tommy Shelby for a final time. He was depicted as a man consumed by grief, desperately attempting to chronicle his life story before it was too late. However, when his son, Duke Shelby (portrayed by Barry Keoghan), entered into an agreement with Nazi sympathizers to destabilize the economy, Tommy was compelled to once again assume his iconic flat cap.While The Immortal Man brought a definitive close to Tommy’s narrative, Duke’s journey has just commenced. He is set to be the central figure in a new sequel series, which Netflix announced late last year. However, the streaming service has just revealed a significant alteration: a different actor will now portray Duke.Jamie Bell’s Duke Shelby swaps a flat cap for a 1950s fedora in the Peaky Blinders sequel series. | NetflixNetflix recently unveiled a first look at Jamie Bell in the role of Duke Shelby for the as-yet-unnamed Peaky Blinders sequel series. Bell, recognized for his starring role in the 2000 film Billy Elliot and as Ben Grimm in the critically panned 2015 movie Fantastic Four, will embody Duke in 1950, set in the post-WWII era.Netflix’s official announcement states, “The effort to reconstruct Birmingham transforms into a brutal struggle of epic proportions. This is a city brimming with unparalleled prospects and perils. At its violent core stands Duke Shelby (Jamie Bell): more mature, more astute, more ambitious, and undeniably more formidable.”The chronological leap between The Immortal Man and this upcoming sequel series serves multiple purposes beyond simply facilitating the transition from Keoghan (whose packed schedule might preclude a full TV series commitment) to Bell. It also conveniently bypasses a period that might not offer the most compelling narrative for a show of this nature. While The Immortal Man confronted historical realities by opening with a scene in a concentration camp, this sequel series will jump directly into the reconstruction era.Bell takes on the role of Duke Shelby from Barry Keoghan, who played the role in Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. | NetflixNetflix is investing heavily in this series, having already commissioned two six-episode seasons. The supporting cast is also robust, with Charlie Heaton from Stranger Things, Jessica Brown Findlay of Downton Abbey, and Lashana Lynch from Captain Marvel joining the ensemble. This truly marks Peaky Blinders: The Next Generation, though there is no current information on whether any characters from the original series will make an appearance.This series may feature a new title, a new lead actor, and a new historical setting, but audiences can anticipate the familiar Peaky Blinders intensity. With the series originating from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, this is not a reboot; rather, it represents an evolution into a new era, both within the show’s universe and in the realm of streaming entertainment.Peaky Blinders and Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man are currently available for streaming on Netflix. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Hulu(SeaPRwire) -   The university experience is often defined by a quest for new sensations, which for many students involves experimenting with various substances. Whether it is a heavy reliance on caffeine or something more illicit, college is the quintessential time for such exploration.This makes the campus an ideal backdrop for coming-of-age stories, which focus on the pivotal moment when young adults begin to define their identities. While films ranging from Animal House to Pitch Perfect have utilized this setting, Pizza Movie—the first feature film from the comedy duo BriTANick (Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney)—takes the concept to a new level.The narrative is straightforward: two roommates, the adventurous Jack (Gaten Matarazzo) and the high-strung Montgomery (Sean Giambrone), decide to cope with their problems by consuming mysterious pills that fell from their ceiling. They must then make their way downstairs to collect a pizza delivery before their deepest anxieties manifest. While the setup is simple, the execution is anything but; as the drugs take hold, the characters navigate various stages of a "trip," each utilizing different science fiction archetypes.The movie functions as an episodic journey through the complex social bonds of college life, told through the lens of familiar sci-fi and fantasy elements like time loops, body swapping, fourth-wall breaks, and more surprises that are best left unrevealed.“I was thrilled that a script this original actually exists and is being produced,” Gaten Matarazzo shared with Inverse. “My initial thought upon reading it was that it felt like the drug-trip sequence from 21 Jump Street expanded into a full-length feature, which was my favorite part of that film.”Beyond its comedic value, the film stands out as a technically impressive science fiction work. Each stage of the psychedelic journey adds depth to the narrative and maintains its own internal logic. Pizza Movie doesn't just add sci-fi elements to a comedy; rather, the sci-fi serves as a natural progression of the humor itself.“To push a comedic concept to its furthest limit, you often have to step outside of reality,” McElhaney explained to Inverse. “We decided to just embrace it—if making a character teleport makes a scene funnier, we do it. It allows the comedy to go exactly where it needs to.” This philosophy leads to scenarios involving a pizza-delivering robot voiced by Bobby Moynihan and resident assistants who operate as a high-tech secret police force.The lead actors are well-suited for such a genre-bending project. Matarazzo is a veteran of the genre, having spent a decade playing Dustin on Stranger Things. While he confirmed there are no plans for a secret follow-up to that series, he has his own ideas for future stories. “I’d love to see a Stranger Things bottle episode where the group is preparing for a mission,” Matarazzo noted. “They’d be ready to head into the Upside Down only to realize they forgot to get gas, similar to the Friends episode where they are stranded at a rest stop.”Gaten Matarazzo and Sean Giambrone star as two freshmen navigating a surreal night. | HuluGiambrone also has a connection to major sci-fi franchises, having appeared in promotional content for the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser. Matarazzo reacted with playful jealousy when Giambrone described the experience of "punching" the hyperdrive at the immersive hotel before it closed, lamenting that he never had the chance to visit.This genuine passion for the genre is a core part of Pizza Movie. The young cast enjoys both celebrating and parodying fantastical tropes, such as a scene where characters are forced to reveal their secrets while trapped with an older RA played by comedian Caleb Hearon.“I’m sure there is a lot of footage of Caleb from that truth-telling scene that didn't make the final cut,” Giambrone remarked. Matarazzo added that he hopes the outtakes are eventually released, calling Hearon’s performance a "game changer."Sci-fi tropes are integrated throughout Pizza Movie, including a specialized delivery robot. | HuluDuring that sequence, the character Lizzy (Lulu Wilson) makes a shocking revelation about the contents of her purse. While the moment is absurd, Matarazzo noted it is based on a real-life story he heard from a friend. “I can’t wait for them to see the movie so I can remind them they did the exact same thing,” he said.Pizza Movie acts as a compilation of sci-fi's greatest hits, crafted by two sharp comedic minds. Every joke and callback is designed to be meaningful. “The more connections and callbacks we can include, the better,” Kocher told Inverse. “It’s a difficult writing process because the setup has to work on its own, but the payoff is very rewarding for the audience.”Much like a late-night pizza, the film is fresh, slightly indulgent, and highly satisfying, whether the viewer is looking for a stoner comedy or a wild science fiction journey.Pizza Movie is currently streaming on Hulu. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Ondřej Hrdina(SeaPRwire) -   It has been confirmed that a TV adaptation of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, created and initially self-published by author Matt Dinniman, is currently in development at Peacock. Chris Yost, known for his work on The Mandalorian and Thor: Ragnarok, is set to write the series. Executive producers will include Yost, Seth MacFarlane, and Dinniman. MacFarlane’s Fuzzy Door production company, the force behind comedies like Ted and The Orville, is involved. Given the show's heavy reliance on referential humor and metatextual deconstruction, this creative team appears to be an ideal match.However, the true significance of this adaptation extends beyond merely bringing a popular fantasy series to television; it represents a major victory for an entire RPG genre entering the mainstream spotlight.RPGs have long been a favorite gaming style, dating back to the early days of tabletop gaming, largely because they allow players to fully immerse themselves in characters they build from scratch. Whether through physical games like Dungeons and Dragons and Call of Cthulhu or the massive success of video games like The Elder Scrolls and Baldur’s Gate, the concept of assuming a new identity and exploring a grand adventure through fresh eyes holds an enduring appeal.Leveraging the popularity of traditional RPGs, a new narrative form known as LitRPG has emerged, blending the genre's mechanical rules with the experience of reading a novel. Unlike choose-your-own-adventure books, which offer reader control within a "real" story world, LitRPGs plunge both the reader and the protagonist into a literal RPG environment—similar to the isekai subgenre—where progression involves leveling up and managing stats like intelligence and strength. While this genre has grown in popularity over the last decade, Dungeon Crawler Carl stands out as its most mainstream iteration to date.The Dungeon Crawler Carl series has definitely become the biggest example of the nascent LitRPG genre. | Ace BooksSpanning seven novels, the story is set in the World Dungeon, an 18-level dungeon constructed from the debris of Earth. The protagonist, Carl, a former U.S. Coast Guard member, is compelled to enter this dungeon alongside his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Donut, and other survivors. They are forced into this scenario by the Borant Corporation, an alien entity that destroyed Earth to harvest its resources. The corporation turns the survivors' struggle into an intergalactic game show called Dungeon Crawler World. In this contest, "crawlers" battle foes and bosses to gain experience and receive gear from viewer-sponsored "loot boxes," all while attempting to clear the dungeon's final level.While narratives involving "death games"—where characters face fatal consequences in what seems like a game—are not new, the current cultural landscape, following The Hunger Games and Ready or Not, makes this the perfect time to adapt Dungeon Crawler Carl. Fundamentally, the story explores the gamification of the apocalypse for entertainment value. This theme, common in the death game genre, resonates with a frightening relevance to today's political climate.Author Matt Dinniman | Phillip Faraone/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty ImagesAdditionally, video game adaptations are currently enjoying unprecedented popularity, with recent hits like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and the Fallout TV series. It is reasonable to expect that this success could extend to a show centered on video games, particularly one that examines RPG wish-fulfillment through such surreal humor and profound existential depth.Given that LitRPG is a relatively new trend in publishing, the form of the Dungeon Crawler Carl adaptation will be intriguing to watch. The show aims to capture the essence of a book that mimics the experience of playing an RPG—a complex concept in itself. If executed successfully, it has the potential to become one of the most distinctive science fiction series on television.A release date for the Dungeon Crawler Carl series has not yet been announced. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Dark Star Pictures(SeaPRwire) -   Last month, it was confirmed that Chloé Zhao’s planned reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer would not be moving forward at Hulu, leaving heartbroken fans who had long hoped for a return to Sunnydale. But there is no need to grieve, Scoobies: the spirit of YA-infused supernatural horror-romance lives on in The Serpent’s Skin.Now 21 years old and releasing her sixth feature film, Australian writer-director Alice Maio Mackay specializes in DIY independent projects that take familiar genre frameworks and rework them through her own personal experiences, as well as those of the queer community around her. Mackay’s films have grown up alongside their creator, gradually gaining the confidence to step beyond campy storytelling into something far more heartfelt. The Serpent’s Skin is this tipping point. The visual effects and makeup still clearly mark this as a low-budget production, but in a charmingly retro way that calls back to supernatural teen TV shows from the turn of the millennium — Charmed, for example, or of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The full story is self-contained, but keeps the episodic pacing of a television series, introducing its lead characters and building their relationships before introducing a supernatural threat roughly halfway through the film — in this case, a cursed tattoo that transforms the film’s attractive male lead into a snakelike succubus. Even the supernatural makeup bears a resemblance to work seen in Buffy. | Dark Star PicturesIn truth, this is really more of a side subplot. The core heart of The Serpent’s Skin is the romance between Anna (Alexandra McVicker), a soft-spoken young trans woman who just escaped her restrictive small town to live with her older sister (Charlotte Chimes), and Gen (Avalon Fast), a tattoo artist and witch who traveled across the world to find the woman she saw in her dreams. Anna is that woman, and the attraction between her and Gen is immediate and strong. The chemistry between McVicker and Fast is tender, and they make a believable pair as they fall into a soul-baring relationship that grows even more intense through their shared exploration of their psychic abilities, which grow more powerful when they are together. The intimacy Anna shares with Gen — who acts alternately as a lover, teacher, mentor, and best friend to the fledgling witch — is heady and romantic. The film’s connection between queerness and magic is also deeply affirming: Early on, Gen tells Anna that her ability to “pop” into the minds of others is “a defense you’ve built up [that’s] almost automatic,” turning the thick skin Anna developed into a superpower. Before shifting into monster-of-the-week mode in its second half, The Serpent’s Skin plays like an ethereal Sapphic take on Scanners, with colored lighting that calls to mind another Buffy-inspired work by transfeminine filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun, I Saw the TV Glow. This should come as no surprise; the trans film community is quite small, particularly in the genre space. And while Schoenbrun wasn’t directly involved in The Serpent’s Skin, two other prominent trans filmmakers did contribute — The People’s Joker director Vera Drew, who edited the film; and Castration Movie maestro Louise Weard, who produced it — were on board. Drew’s editing is a particular standout, adding psychedelic touches to the film that greatly boost its dreamlike atmosphere.This queer updated take on the genre procedural will appeal to fans of I Saw the TV Glow. | Dark Star Pictures In the end, however, The Serpent’s Skin is Mackay’s vision, and her onscreen stand-in McVicker carries it with reserved, watchful grace. This is a fantasy — of belonging, of strength found through softness, of being able to protect the people you love from everything violent and hateful in this world — but it is rooted in lived experience that makes it feel grounded and authentic. Being queer in today’s world can be scary, but it can also be transcendent and beautiful. All of that is reflected here — the emo f*ckboy demon with the serpent fangs is just a fun added bonus. The Serpent’s Skin is currently playing in select theaters in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and will expand to Alamo Drafthouses across the U.S. on April 10. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Netflix(SeaPRwire) -   What makes Beef stand out is that it never hesitates to cross lines and lean into transgressive themes. As Netflix’s top revenge thriller, it follows a cast of characters who give in to their very worst impulses: in the first season, a simple road rage incident blew up into a catastrophe of massive proportions. By moving this style of conflict to a quiet country club setting, the second season might seem more low-key on the surface — but in reality, Beef is going bigger, broader, and much sexier for Season 2. Instead of following two vastly different drivers (and their put-upon families) through increasingly hostile acts of sabotage, director Jake Schreier and creator/writer Lee Sung Jin have adjusted Beef’s scope to center on three disgruntled couples, and the angry tangled web that connects all of them. Questions of class and power will remain a core focus, just as they were in Season 1. But as the show’s latest trailer shows, Season 2 is also a lot more sexually charged than its predecessor, turning the whole conflict into a psychosexual game of chess.Netflix’s new promotional spot is keeping most details close to the chest, holding back the majority of plot points beyond what has already been revealed. The titular feud kicks off when newly engaged employees Ashley (Cailee Spaeny) and Austin (Charles Melton), who work at a local country club, stumble on their boss Josh (Oscar Isaac) in an all-out brawl with his wife Lindsay (Carey Mulligan). But the pair get caught snapping a photo of the fight at its most heated... and that is when the power games begin.Even so, the latest trailer digs deeper into the simmering frustrations that ignite their feud. Across a rapid stream of out-of-context shots, Lindsay admits that her outwardly happy marriage feels more like “a temporary band-aid” than a real partnership. While she and Josh are bound together by the “immense pain” of picking the wrong life partner, Ashley and Austin are still enjoying a prolonged honeymoon phase. That all changes, of course, after the inciting incident, which opens the floodgates for all sorts of temptation and infidelity. Lindsay is caught staring longingly at Woosh (K-pop star BM), the son of Chairwoman Park, portrayed by Youn Yuh-jung. (Park’s ongoing conflicts with her second husband, played by Parasite’s Song Kang-ho, make up the third side of this unhappy tangled triangle.) Austin, meanwhile, guides a client (Seoyeon Jang) through a very sensual stretching session. And there is plenty more layered into the story: Lee named erotic thrillers like The Handmaiden, and domestic dramas including Revolutionary Road and Phantom Thread, as inspirations for this season of Beef. How all of these influences will mix with Lee’s other creative references — like Burn After Reading and The Informant! — only makes anticipation for Season 2 that much higher.Beef Season 2 arrives on Netflix on April 16. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Lucasfilm(SeaPRwire) -   Since the debut of The Mandalorian in 2019, Star Wars animated shows have consistently been at a disadvantage. Live-action series such as Andor have earned Emmy Award nominations, whereas animated entries like The Bad Batch or anthologies including Visions, Tales of the Jedi, and Tales of the Empire are frequently overlooked by audiences who don't view them as essential to the overarching story. The newest Star Wars animated series now faces the same risk of being ignored, but a significant announcement from Lucasfilm has suddenly elevated its importance within the broader Star Wars chronology. Maul: Shadow Lord is already renewed for a second season, despite the fact it won’t premiere on Disney+ for a few more days. | LucasfilmThe premiere of Maul: Shadow Lord is just days away. The animated series tracks Maul (Sam Witwer) as he ascends to power as a crime lord in the Imperial Era. Remarkably, before viewers have had a chance to witness his double-bladed lightsaber cause chaos again, it has been revealed that Maul: Shadow Lord is confirmed for a second season. This makes it the first Star Wars series to receive a Season 2 renewal ahead of its premiere. This early renewal is a major vote of confidence for the show, indicating that Lucasfilm has such strong faith in it that audience reaction is not a primary concern—the existing excitement demonstrates a clear demand for a series centered on Maul. The character is not the only attraction, however, as the series will also include fearsome Inquisitors like Marrok, who first appeared in the live-action series Ahsoka, which is also preparing for its own second season. Maybe he serves as a good luck charm. Maul was previously a recurring character on previous Star Wars animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels. | LucasfilmThis news also invites speculation about the narrative of Maul: Shadow Lord. Typically, when Disney renews a series this far in advance, it suggests a significant cliffhanger is planned, similar to how the conclusion of Loki Season 1, which revealed the collapse of the known timeline, was followed by a Season 2 announcement. What kind of dramatic ending could justify a renewal before a single episode has been broadcast? This has the potential to be a landmark Star Wars story. Maul: Shadow Lord will release new episodes weekly, leading up to May 4, known as Star Wars Day, making it the perfect occasion for a major revelation. What was once viewed as a simple spinoff to fill the programming schedule now possesses the potential to permanently alter the Star Wars universe. At a minimum, it should alleviate the persistent concern that it would become just another one-season Disney+ series. Maul: Shadow Lord premieres April 6, 2026, on Disney+. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

CJ ENM(SeaPRwire) -   One thing you can always count on Bong Joon-ho to do is work. Even when the Oscar-winning filmmaker seems to be on hiatus or taking a break, Director Bong always devotes some part of himself to his passion for film. This love of film often shapes his daily routine — as he shared during a 2017 masterclass, his day typically starts with watching a movie. And as his latest career shift shows, this sometimes means he works on multiple films at the same time.There was a six-year gap between the Academy Award-sweeping Parasite and Bong’s latest English-language film Mickey 17, but the director did not spend that time idling. Starting in 2019, Bong has been quietly developing an animated feature alongside screenwriter Jason Yu (director of the 2023 psychological thriller Sleep) and his long-time producing partner Seo Woo-sik. V8 Pistons Pictures has revealed a first look at the upcoming project, which will see Bong returning to the anti-industrialist themes he is best known for.Bong Joon-ho has been developing this animated film for the past seven years. | Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis Entertainment/Getty ImagesAlly does not look or sound like a typical Bong Joon-ho project at first glance, but audiences can expect the director to find plenty of ways to surprise us. The film follows the journey of Ally, a “curious and endearing” piglet squid (a real existing deep-sea creature) who dreams of escaping the uncharted depths of the South Pacific to finally see the sun and become the star of her own wildlife documentary. Her quiet, peaceful life changes overnight when a mysterious aircraft crashes nearby — but the incident also gives Ally the push she needs to set off on her journey to the surface, alongside a group of colorful companions.According to the film’s official synopsis, Ally “explores themes of friendship and courage as encounters between humans and deep-sea creatures reshape both worlds.” It is billed as a family adventure that puts a focus on humor and emotion, and its similarities to beloved films like The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo are impossible to ignore.That being said, Bong is widely known for portraying the harsh realities of our world, and examining how industrialism, wartime, and capitalism oppress every corner of the globe. From Okja to Snowpiercer and Mickey 17, his work never shies away from showing how the working class (and vulnerable animals) are exploited by the endlessly turning system. Could Ally feature a similarly bleak sociopolitical theme? The new animated film — which looks very warm and Pixar-like in its first revealed image — will almost certainly not be quite as dark as Bong’s most famous works, but it is safe to expect the director to strike a balance for his first animated feature.Ally is scheduled to premiere in theaters in 2027. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Universal Pictures(SeaPRwire) -   Though it has received a number of middling reviews, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie debuted with $34 million in ticket sales and shows no indication of slowing its box office domination. Nintendo’s growing film franchise is already a huge hit, and based on plot points set up in this latest sequel, it is clear the plumber brothers will be back on the big screen before long (possibly alongside new allies pulled from the wider Nintendo multiverse).While it draws primarily from the 2007 Wii title Super Mario Galaxy , this new sequel pulls inspiration from several other games, including Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario Sunshine. The end product feels less like a straightforward adaptation of the beloved game and more like a collage of assorted influences and Easter eggs, which has its fun moments but fails to live up to the tight, cohesive experience of playing the game the film is named after. The flaws of this creative approach are most obvious in how the film handles Princess Rosalina, whose characterization is drastically altered from her in-game version, almost entirely for the worse.Even Brie Larson’s performance cannot save Rosalina from her underdeveloped writing. | Universal PicturesIn Super Mario Galaxy, Princess Rosalina is depicted as a mighty guardian of the cosmos, acting both as a maternal figure to the Lumas (childlike star creatures that assist Mario across the course of the game) and the leader of the Comet Observatory, the huge spacecraft that functions as the game’s central hub. When the game opens, Princess Peach is abducted by Bowser yet again, but Rosalina steps in to aid Mario this time around; her Lumas offer assorted forms of support, and in exchange for Mario collecting Power Stars, Rosalina agrees to transport him to Bowser’s recently created galaxy for their final showdown. Though she is not a playable character, Rosalina is a critical part of the Super Mario Galaxy gameplay experience, and her role forms a core cornerstone of the title.But while the film’s iteration of Princess Rosalina (voiced by Brie Larson) remains the cosmic guardian and maternal figure to the Lumas, her role is switched with Peach’s. Rather than offering support to Mario, she is reduced to a flat, generic damsel in distress who spends most of the runtime held captive by Bowser Jr. She gets very little screen time, and none of the regal authority or strength she displays in the game comes through on screen. She uses her magic briefly to minimal effect, but the majority of her scenes show her locked in a cell that drains her power. The Lumas’ role alongside her is also greatly minimized.Rosalina is a warm, recurring core presence in 2007’s Super Mario Galaxy. | NintendoNaturally, the most significant alteration is the plot twist that Rosalina and Princess Peach are sisters, separated when they were young during an attack by an unidentified foe. While fans have long speculated that Peach and Rosalina are related (this was Nintendo’s initial concept during the early development stages of Super Mario Galaxy), no such connection exists in official game canon. Rosalina’s established backstory in the games explains that as a small child, she built a close bond with the Lumas after their original mother vanished, a dynamic that mirrors Rosalina’s own experience of losing her mother. This twist is not inherently bad on its face, and could have been written to highlight the grief over lost family that defines Rosalina’s character, but she is given so little to do in the film that the reveal lacks the emotional weight of the game’s iconic storybook backstory.Given that Rosalina has become a core staple of the Mario franchise ever since her debut in Galaxy, it is reasonable to expect she will appear again in upcoming installments of the film series. Ideally, the creative team will give her character far more depth and nuance then, as her backstory carries unexpected emotional resonance for a franchise that has never prioritized complex storytelling in the past. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.

Warner Bros.(SeaPRwire) -   Horror has been in a renaissance for years, but 2025 felt like the moment the floodgates of bloody, creative content truly swung open. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and Zach Cregger’s Weapons each showed what’s possible when an auteur’s vision meets a solid budget—though their approaches couldn’t have been more different: Sinners turned the vampire invasion genre into a lush period piece filled with musical sequences and racial commentary, while Weapons leaned heavily into supernatural horror using a structure evocative of Magnolia. Both films were big hits at the Academy Awards, with Weapons’ Amy Madigan taking home a surprise Best Supporting Actress award for her role as the wig-wearing, child-manipulating Aunt Gladys.Now, Aunt Gladys is moving from villain to main character in Cregger’s new prequel, and we already have a (working) title for the upcoming project.Krampus and Godzilla: King of the Monsters writer Zach Shields is co-writing the Aunt Gladys prequel movie with Cregger. | NINA PROMMER/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockAccording to Variety, Zach Cregger and Krampus screenwriter Zach Shields will collaborate on a project currently titled—fittingly—Gladys. The prequel is said to be based on an origin story from an early draft of Weapons that would have revealed how Aunt Gladys got her powers, before it was cut from the final film.The title might seem obvious, but it gives us a hint of what’s to come. Since it’s not called Aunt Gladys, it will probably be set when she was a young woman, before she became an aunt. Given that Gladys has had her powers for decades, the prequel is likely a period piece. But which era? Our biggest clue is her style: gaudy tracksuits, shirts with large brooches, and even bigger collars suggest she came of age in the 1980s and hasn’t updated her wardrobe since.This is a woman with strong opinions on Duran Duran. | Warner Bros.Shields joining as a writer could also signal something about Gladys. While Weapons was an atmospheric, modern horror mystery, Shields’ past work on Krampus implies the prequel will take a more folk-horror tone—perfect for a story about a woman learning to control minds by breaking a stick over a bowl of water. The mystery Gladys will solve is where and when these powers originated, and no matter how much we guess, there are sure to be more surprises ahead.Weapons is streaming on HBO Max. This article is provided by a third-party content provider. SeaPRwire (https://www.seaprwire.com/) makes no warranties or representations regarding its content. Category: Top News, Daily News SeaPRwire provides global press release distribution services for companies and organizations, covering more than 6,500 media outlets, 86,000 editors and journalists, and over 3.5 million end-user desktop and mobile apps. SeaPRwire supports multilingual press release distribution in English, Japanese, German, Korean, French, Russian, Indonesian, Malay, Vietnamese, Chinese, and more.