Disney has released a first-look teaser trailer for the standalone Obi-Wan Kenobi streaming show that’ll premiere on Disney Plus on May 25.
The long-awaited return of Ewan McGregor to the role of exiled Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi feels within touching distance, following the near-two-minute teaser posted online on March 9.
“Between darkness and defeat, hope survives,” reads a tagline for the trailer, which shows Obi-Wan being hunted by the Empire’s forces ten-years after the events of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
“The fight is done. We lost.” Kenobi says to begin the trailer before the iconic Duel of the Fates theme from The Phantom Menace kicks in. We see a more haggard-looking Kenobi checking-in on a young Luke Skywalker on Tatooine – who is already envisioning getting off the planet.
We also meet a new villain called The Grand Inquisitor, who informs us “the key to hunting Jedi is patience. Jedi cannot help who they are. Their compassion leaves a trail. The Jedi Code is like an itch. It cannot help it. Where is he?”
He will be accompanied in villainy by another new character, Inquisitor Reva, played by Moses Ingram (The Queen’s Gambit). She appears to be following up the hunt on Tatooine, where we also see Luke’s guardian Owen Lars (again played by Joel Edgerton) looking extremely worried.
Overall, it appears Obi-Wan is leading a nomadic existence, remaining in hiding and only popping his head out to check in on Luke, just as he promised to Yoda. The trailer ends with the iconic sound of Darth Vader’s breathing, but we don’t get to see the Dark Lord of the Sith – once again played by Hayden Christensen – just yet.
Is this set to be the biggest Disney Plus show yet? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
Spotify and Discord are down right now and inaccessible to users. It's unclear what the source of the problem is, or if the two outages are related, but users began reporting issues with both services at about 1pm ET, according to reports on downdetector.com.
Spotify acknowledged the outage on Twitter, writing that "something's not quite right," but didn't elaborate.
Something’s not quite right, and we’re looking into it. Thanks for your reports!
Likewise, Discord said it was "working on a fix." The company wrote on its website that an "issue has occurred causing an major outage of the API" and that it was investigating the "root cause." The latest outage apparent happened after an earlier issue was resolved Tuesday morning.
We’re aware of an issue causing message failures and are working on a fix.
We've reached out to both companies for more details. In the meantime, Discord is encouraging users to "go outside."
Update 3/8 2:48pm ET: Spotify seems to have resolved the outage and the service is once again accessible. Discord is still experiencing some issues, but is starting to come back online as well. "While we continue to investigate the root cause, work has begun on restoring service by working around the issue," the company wrote in its latest update. "Oncall Engineering will begin allowing more traffic through as we restore service."
Update 3/8 3:15pm ET: Discord confirmed that messages, calls and streams are back up and running and that other features "should come back online soon."
Spotify also confirmed in a statement that it should be "functioning normally for most users." Neither company has elaborated on the source of the outage.
“Spotify and several other platforms experienced a brief service outage today beginning around 1:15pm EST," a spokesperson told Engadget. "As of 2:40pm EST Spotify is back up and functioning normally for most users."
The Batman's sequel hasn't been officially greenlit, but here's where the story could go based on clues in the movie.
While a sequel to The Batman has not yet officially been greenlit, Warner Bros. and HBO Max are obviously very eager to continue the property. From the cliffhanger ending in the movie itself to the various upcoming streaming TV shows in the works, it's clear that we are in no way done with this new Batman world--and luckily for us, the movie packs plenty of clues and Easter eggs about what we can expect to see in the future.
Needless to say, we're getting into huge The Batman spoiler territory here, so if you haven't seen the movie, consider yourself warned. Or, if you'd rather embrace the spoiler lifestyle and just read our recap of the ending, feel free to check that out here. Just don't say we didn't warn you.
No Man's Land
The most obvious direction for The Batman 2 can be found in the seminal comic book event, Batman: No Man's Land, which ran for a full year back in 1999 across the entire Batfamily of comic books. This was the story that introduced Cass Cain as Batgirl, among other things, and it's served as the inspiration for a handful of Batman adaptations already. The Dark Knight Rises, for example, took some pretty heavy cues from it, so it is by no means an untapped vein of Gotham City lore.
If you're unfamiliar, No Man's Land was the story of what happened to Gotham after the city was partially destroyed by a massive earthquake (in the Cataclysm event) that lead to a mass evacuation and then the governmental declaration that it was--wait for it--a "no man's land." This was partially due to some fancy political footwork by villains, of course, but it resulted in the bridges into Gotham being blown and everyone left inside to descend into Mad Max-style gang warfare and chaos.
The Riddler's scheme in The Batman clearly wasn't an earthquake, but it definitely did the job. The biggest takeaway from the comics that we'll likely see in the future of the franchise is the frantic power grab from Gotham's underground. This was teased with Penguin at the end of the movie, but in the comics it was a knock down, drag out fight between just about everyone with even Gordon and the GCPD having to establish themselves as a sort of "gang" to hold their "territory" as things progressively became worse and worse.
But, as previously mentioned, No Man's Land is also a fairly well tapped mine for inspiration in Batman content, so there's also a chance things could go a different direction, one that's a bit more recent.
Zero Year
A year-long crossover event released in 2013, Batman: Zero Year was the New 52's take on a sort of No Man's Land style story--with a couple major twists. First, it's a soft reboot (to work with the overall, universal reboot of the New 52 across DC Comics as a whole) of Batman's origin story, and second, it kicks off with the city being almost entirely destroyed in a massive flood. It's a fairly complicated story that involves a bunch of different characters, but, critically, it ended with a bizarre dystopian Gotham (that was, somehow, almost immediately reclaimed by nature--we're not quite sure how that happened so quickly but who are we to judge?) ruled over by The Riddler.
Obviously, the way things ended with The Batman has Riddler in Arkham, so he's not going to become a self proclaimed king any time soon, but the fact that he's making some dangerous friends (i.e. The Joker) inside the asylum means we might be seeing a very different side of Riddler whenever he does manage to get free. If the city hasn't been properly restored by then, well, anything is on the table.
Zero Year is also notable for how early in his career Batman is during it--it's a revamped origin that also deals with Bruce figuring out exactly what it means to be a symbol in a place like Gotham, and what he has to do to earn the trust and support of civilians.
But, let's jump back to that blossoming Riddler and Joker friendship for a second.
The War of Jokes and Riddles
Another modern day Batman story we could look at for some possible inspiration is The War of Jokes and Riddles, a story arc that took place in 2017 and featured, if you hadn't guessed just by the name, an all out turf war between Riddler and Joker that swept just about everyone up in the crosshairs.
This one is admittedly a bit of a leap from what we know about these characters in The Batman universe. We can assume that they're going to be friends for a while (much to the detriment of the health and safety of the citizens of Gotham, to be sure) but, stability has never been either character's strong suit so a falling out is definitely in the cards.
Most interestingly, The War of Jokes and Riddles forced many of Gotham's other rogues to pick sides and align themselves with either faction in a full on villain civil war with Batman caught in the middle. This could be an interesting direction for a future movie, especially since having two big bads focused more on taking each other out than taking Batman out would give a lot of room for new twists and ideas.
Finally, the villains aren't the only ones who need some time in the spotlight. There's the streaming GCPD focused TV show to consider as well. And for that, there's only one clear place to look.
Gotham Central
It was announced back in 2020 that HBO Max would be home to a streaming TV show focused on the Gotham PD within the world of The Batman. Since then, a Penguin-focused show has also been announced, but details on both shows have been sparse since their initial announcements.
(UPDATE: The GCPD show has since been put "on hold" per Matt Reeves, but whether or not that means it will or will not happen remains to be seen.)
However, with the movie out and a better idea of what this version of Gotham looks like, it's easy to see what the GCPD is going to be up against (and what Penguin is going to be trying to accomplish). It should come as no surprise that the best place to look for inspiration for these stories will undoubtedly be the Gotham Central series from the early 2000s.
Gotham Central was a police procedural that took a closer look at characters within the GCPD and what life was actually like for law enforcement in a city full of costumed vigilantes and villains. Batman himself very rarely showed up and was frequently only ever mentioned in passing, but loomed large as a figure in everyone's minds nonetheless.
Critically, these issues featured predominantly short one and two shot stories that could easily be adapted for TV, so if any of the stories in this list get a one-to-one adaptation from page to screen, this is the most likely source.
Court of Owls and Hush
Finally, we have two decidedly more oddball contenders, both of which were referenced in their own ways during the movie itself. Court of Owls is one of the most popular modern Batman storylines, spinning out of the early days of the New 52 reboot. It introduced a secret history for Gotham City that included supernatural, near-immortal assassins working for an illuminati-like body that had secretly been pulling the strings of Gotham for hundreds of years. Naturall, Bruce discovers that his family (and the Grayson family) have a history with the Court and have to figure out how to bring them down.
This one isn't directly pointed at but moments with the Wayne family history, especially Martha's stint in an institution, do lightly wink at the possibility for more secrets to be revealed, though it's unclear how a literal labyrinth hidden beneath the city full of literally immortal, brainwashed assassins could fit into this more grounded take on the universe.
Finally, Hush is another very popular story from the early 2000s featuring Batman going up against a new villain who teams up with Riddler to manipulate the entirety of Gotham's underground to take Batman down. We get a nod to a new version of this character in some of The Batman's backstory where a reporter named Elliot was murdered by a hit placed by Thomas Wayne. This is likely this universe's version of Tommy Elliot's father, the titular Hush, who in the comics was a childhood friend of Bruce.
There's a lot of big changes in the movie that would prevent a 1-to-1 adaptation of this story--and the big reveal that Tommy Elliot surgically altered his own face to look more like Bruce himself would feel a little silly--but still, the possibility for a story inspired by these events is definitely possible.
Major crypto exchanges including Coinbase and Binance are refusing a request by Ukraine to freeze all Russian accounts, saying that doing so would harm civilians and be counter to their ideals. "To unilaterally decide to ban people’s access to their crypto would fly in the face of the reason why crypto exists,” a Binance spokesperson told CNBC.
In a tweet, Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Federov asked major crypto exchanges to freeze all Russian and Belarus accounts, not just the accounts of sanctioned oligarchs. "It's crucial to freeze not only the addresses linked to Russian and Belarusian politicians, but also to sabotage ordinary users," he said.
Such a move would be in line with US and European Union sanctions against Russian banks and leadership designed to cripple the nation's economy. However, freezing crypto holdings could directly impact regular Russian citizens.
Coinbase said it's already sanctioning any persons or entities in Russia as required by law, but won't go any further. "A unilateral and total ban would punish ordinary Russian citizens who are enduring historic currency destabilization as a result of their government’s aggression against a democratic neighbor," it told Motherboard. Binance similarly stated that it wouldn't "unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts."
Binance, on the flip side, said it has committed to donate at least $10 million in humanitarian aide to Ukraine and launched a fundraiser with the goal of raising $20 million. The company is also currently under investigation by the US government for alleged money laundering and insider trading.
Other exchanges including KuCoin also said they wouldn't go beyond anything required by law. Kraken exchange CEO Jesse Powell said that such a move would violate the company's "libertarian values."
One exception is Dmarket, a Ukraine-based platform that allows people to trade NFTs and virtual in-game items. The company said in a tweet that it had cut "all relationships with Russia and Belarus due to the invasion of Ukraine."
Over half a decade later, a new Kickstarter campaign has finally eclipsed Pebble's crowdfunding record on the website. Fantasy and sci-fi author Brandon Sanderson set up a campaign to raise $1 million within 30 days to fund four secret books he intends to release every quarter next year. It didn't take 30 days to blow past that goal, though — it took only 35 minutes. And three days on, as of this writing, the campaign has already made $20.4 million, almost $100,000 more than what the Pebble Time e-paper smartwatch raised when it was up for funding.
While Sanderson is self publishing the four books included in the project, he's not a little-known indie author. Raising over $20 million in just three days was possible because he already had a solid fanbase who knows he can deliver, seeing as he's famous for being a fast writer who can quickly churn out new books. He's known for his novels set in the Cosmere universe, which he likens to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including the Mistborn series and The Stormlight Archive series. Three of the secret books in the campaign are also set in the Cosmere universe, with each story taking place on a different fantasy planet. Sanderson is known for finishing Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, as well.
The author told The New York Times that one of his objectives for launching this project is to see what it would be like to challenge Amazon. The e-commerce and cloud giant dominates the printed book and ebook market, and it accounts for 80 percent of Sanderson's sales. "If Amazon's grip on the industry is weakened, that's good for the publishers — they are very much under Amazon's thumb right now. I don't want to present this as 'Brandon versus Amazon.' Amazon's great. But I think that in the long run, Amazon being a monopoly is actually bad for Amazon. If they don't have competition, they will stop innovating," he said.
To get Sanderson's secret books, fans will have to pledge a minimum of $40 for ebook copies. The audiobook versions will set them back $60 at least, while they'll have to pledge a minimum of $160 (not including shipping costs) for the premium hardcovers. Sanderson plans to release one book each in January, April, July and October 2023.
Those interested can either go in blind and just wait for the deliveries or read an excerpt from the first book on Sanderson's website. They can also listen to him read the first book's opening chapter on YouTube.
Editor's Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.
Kyiv-based STALKER 2 developer GSC Game World has defiantly said that development on the game will continue after Ukraine's victory over Russia in the ongoing war.
Captions in the video read: "The previous week we were editing the video about our motion capture studio. We wanted to show how the cutscenes were created, took time to watch the videos, write scripts and speak with actors. The previous week was ages ago.
"The game development shifted to the side-lines. But we will definitely continue. After the victory."
"On the 24th of February Russia declared war on Ukraine and sent rockets, tanks, and soldiers to our homeland. Our country is forced to fight for existence again.
"Now we are striving to help our employees and their families to survive. The game development shifted to the side-lines. But we will definitely continue. After the victory. Glory to Ukraine."
GSC previously called for support from fans and the industry, and asked people to send funds to the Ukrainian army. It comes as many in the games industry have thrown support behind Ukraine after Russian president Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion into the country.
«Gameplay when?» is no longer the most common question. Now we hear «Are you guys okay?» more and more.https://t.co/E6yyzTwwSd
— S.T.A.L.K.E.R. OFFICIAL (@stalker_thegame) March 2, 2022
11 Bit Studios, GOG, Raw Fury, Bungie, CD Projekt Red, Beetlewing, Wargaming, and other developers, publishers, and gaming influencers have donated money to charities helping Ukrainian civilians and refugees.
Bandcamp, an online music store and community, announced that it has been acquired by Fortnite creator Epic Games. The music company also confirmed that initiatives such as Bandcamp Fridays, where the platform waives its revenue share so artists receive all sales for a 24 hour period, and its online publication, Bandcamp Daily, will continue to operate as they currently are.
Bandcamp says that joining Epic Games will allow it to expand internationally and push forward development across the platform, including working on mobile apps and merch tools, as well as search and discovery features. Additionally, Epic Games notes that Bandcamp will contribute to its vision of a "creator marketplace ecosystem" for content, technology, games, art, and music.
“Bandcamp’s mission is to help spread the healing power of music by building a community where artists thrive through the direct support of their fans,” said Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond in a statement. “In Epic, we’ve found a partner who believes as deeply as we do that the future of music, and art itself, depends on the creation of equitable and inclusive communities like the one our fans and artists have helped to build."
Steve Allison, Vice President and General Store Manager at Epic Games chimed in as well, saying, "Bandcamp has built an incredible community and business where up and coming artists can succeed thanks to the direct support of their fans, with one of the best revenue models and terms in music. This aligns closely with Epic’s approach to supporting creators across all media and enabling them to connect directly with their fans.”
This isn't the first time Epic Games purchased a music-based company. Back in November, Epic Games acquired Harmonix, a studio best known for titles such as Rock Band and Dance Central. Epic sought interest in Harmonix because it could help develop "musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite."
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey
A gang of masked thieves ambushed the set of the Netflix heist drama Lupin, stealing $330,000 worth of equipment.
According to Variety, the heist took place on February 25 in a neighbourhood in Nanterre, on the outskirts of Paris, while filming was underway on Part 3 of Lupin with Omar Sy, who plays gentleman thief Assane Diop on the series. Production was abruptly interrupted when approximately 20 people broke onto the set after throwing mortar fireworks, per AFP.
An estimated $330,000 worth of equipment was reportedly stolen from the set during the robbery, prompting production on the upcoming season to briefly pause, with filming resuming again a few days later, on February 28, after Netflix confirmed the cast and crew were "safe and there were no injuries" from the incident, which is now under investigation.
Sy appeared on stage at the César Awards in France to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the hit comedy Intouchables just hours after the robbery had taken place. The Lupin heist follows another reported incident that saw thieves make off with more than $220,000 worth of props from the set of Netflix's The Crown, which is currently filming its fifth season in the UK.
Lupin previously made headlines in October of last year when it was reported that a thief had robbed an oratory in Italy, using the "slick and confident techniques" of Lupin's central protagonist as a source of inspiration for his crimes. The thief admitted that he had closely studied Diop, the lead character in Lupin Part 1 and Part 2, which arrived on Netflix in June.
In separate declarations, both Intel and AMD clarify that they would no longer deliver products to Russia and Belarus. Intel has also established a fundraising effort to assist individuals affected by...
Editor's Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.
Major Hollywood studios have begun pausing their film releases in Russia – including The Batman, Morbius, and more – following the invasion of Ukraine.
Yesterday, Disney announced that it would pull all theatrical releases in Russia due to the “unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis”.
“We will make future business decisions based on the evolving situation,” added Disney. “In the meantime, given the scale of the emerging refugee crisis, we are working with our NGO partners to provide urgent aid and other humanitarian assistance.”
Its upcoming animated film Turning Red was due to premiere in Russia on March 10.
Warner Bros. soon followed, confirming that The Batman would not debut in the country.
“In light of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, WarnerMedia is pausing the release of its feature film The Batman in Russia,” it confirmed. “We will continue to monitor the situation as it evolves. We hope for a swift and peaceful resolution to this tragedy.”
Following the news from Disney and Warner Bros, Sony Pictures added that it too would suspend its upcoming releases in Russia.
“Given the ongoing military action in Ukraine and the resulting uncertainty and humanitarian crisis unfolding in that region, we will be pausing our planned theatrical releases in Russia, including the upcoming release of Morbius,” said a Sony Pictures spokesperson. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been impacted and hope this crisis will be resolved quickly.”
This follows a call from the Ukrainian Film Academy for an international boycott against Russian cinema and the Russian film industry.
The petition (via change.org) calls for a boycott from producers and distributors, as well as international film festivals “not to allow in the competition and non-competition programs films produced by the Russian Federation or in co-production with it.”
Meanwhile, the Motion Picture Association also issued the following statement:
“The MPA stands with the international community in upholding the rule of law and condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On behalf of our member companies, who lead the film, TV, and streaming industry, we express our strongest support for Ukraine’s vibrant creative community who, like all people, deserve to live and work peacefully.”
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Editor's Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.
Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov has called on "all game development companies and esports platforms" to temporarily stop support for Russia and Belarus, and directed an open letter to Xbox and PlayStation in particular.
On his Twitter account, Fedorov tagged Xbox and PlayStation, writing: "You are definitely aware of what is happening in Ukraine right now. Russia declare war not for Ukraine but for all civilized world. If you support human values, you should live [sic] the Russian market!"
The open letter calls for companies to "temporarily block all Russian and Belarusian accounts, temporarily stop the participation of Russian and Belarusian teams and gamers in all international esports events and cancel all international events holding on the territory of Russia and Belarus." While not explicitly mentioned, Fedorov has likely included Belarus in the request because of its tacit support of Russia's invasion.
You are definitely aware of what is happening in Ukraine right now. Russia declare war not for Ukraine but for all civilized world. If you support human values, you should live the Russian market! pic.twitter.com/tnQr13BsSv
Since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many parts of the games industry have thrown their support behind Ukraine, including a number of fundraising efforts for humanitarian organizations.
We've contacted Microsoft, Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Nintendo for comment on the open letter.
You can read Federov's letter in full below:
Ukraine's Open Letter to the Games Industry
To all game development companies and esports platforms
The Russian Federation has carried out a deceptive and outrageous military attack on my country! Just imagine, in 2022, cruise missiles attack residential neighbourhoods, kindergartens and hospitals in the heart of Europe.
The armed forces and citizens are defending Ukraine till the end! The whole world is repelling the aggressor through the imposition of sanctions - the enemy must suffer significant losses. But we need your support - in 2022, modern technology is perhaps the best answer to the tanks, multiple rocket launchers (hrad) and missiles.
I am sure that you will not only hear, but also do everything to protect Ukraine, Europe and finally, the entire democratic world from bloody authoritarian aggression - and I appeal to temporarily block all Russian and Belarusian accounts, temporarily stop the participation of Russian and Belarusian teams and gamers in all international esports events and cancel all international events holding on the territory of Russia and Belarus.
We are sure that such actions will motivate the citizens of Russia to proactively stop the disgraceful military aggression.
Yours sincerely,
Deputy Prime-Minister of Ukraine
Minister Mykhailo Fedorov
Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Vladimir Putin and Russia have launched attacks on Ukraine and begun to invade, and one of the major game developers from the country has released a statement. GSC Game World, which makes the Stalker video games, said this morning that Ukraine will fight to defend itself and persevere through this trying time.
"As of today, the Russian Federation has officially declared war on Ukraine. Our country woke up to the sounds of explosions and weapons fire, but is ready to defend its freedom and independence," it said. "For it remains strong and ready for anything. The future is unknown, but we hope for the best, are ever sure of our armed forces and our belief in Ukraine."
Editor's Note: The war in Ukraine is an ongoing, painful and emotive topic. IGN urges community members to be respectful when engaging in conversation around this subject and does not endorse harassment of any kind.
Footage from video games has been misattributed as real footage of the war in Ukraine, with social networks beginning to ramp up attempts to stop it spreading.
Some footage appears to have been purposely doctored to represent news coverage, misleading viewers about the true status of the war. Other footage seems to be being used simply as a means of receiving engagement on social media – even if unintentional, the harmful after-effect of this kind of post is in where it is shared without context afterwards, spreading misinformation in its own way.
Per Bloomberg, doctored gameplay of realistic military game Arma 3 was reportedly used as hoax news footage of combat in Ukraine. On Facebook and Twitter, these videos were pulled down, albeit after thousands of viewers had watched them.
Game footage is only one part of the current misinformation puzzle, with clips of previous conflicts, military training exercises and more gaining traction on numerous social media platforms. Facebook owner Meta has subsequently announced the creation of a Special Operations Center to combat misinformation alongside hate speech and added privacy protections for Ukrainian users.
As with all such situations, in your own use of social media, approach videos like these with a dose of scepticism. The BBC has a concise set of tips for spotting fake news, including checking sources, assessing the kinds of language used, zooming into images to check locations, checking the legitimacy of the account, and more. If you do see false videos, images, or information, all major social media platforms include reporting tools, with some specifically including a branch of reports for misleading posts.
A number of humanitarian aid organizations are currently accepting donations and support for their efforts to help Ukrainians impacted by the war. They include:
Save the Children: On the ground right now providing humanitarian aid to children.
UNICEF: Providing emergency supplies and safe water to communities, as well as care for children on the ground and who have been separated from families.
Project HOPE: Sending medical supplies and providing health care for refugees.
Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Quentin Tarantino is reportedly in early talks to direct some episodes of Justified: City Primeval, the FX limited series starring Timothy Olyphant as US Marshal Raylan Givens.
According to Deadline, Tarantino might be taking a seat in the director's chair for "one or two episodes" of the upcoming Justified miniseries, which was officially given the green light at the beginning of the year. The project would reunite the acclaimed filmmaker with series lead Timothy Olyphant, who starred in Tarantino's 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
As the report notes, Tarantino is also a devoted fan of Elmore Leonard, the late writer who penned the Fire in the Hole novella that eventually became the source material of FX's Justified series. The director has optioned several of Leonard's titles throughout his career and even adapted the author's Rum Punch novel into the 1997 film Jackie Brown.
FX's Justified spinoff will be based on another of Leonard's works, the 1980 novel City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit, though in this case, Olyphant's character will be stepping into the central role. He will cross paths with Clement Mansell, "a violent, sociopathic desperado who's already slipped through the fingers of Detroit's finest once and aims to do so again."
Per the show's logline, "Mansell's lawyer, formidable Motor City native Carolyn Wilder, has every intention of representing her client, even as she finds herself caught in between cop and criminal, with her own game afoot as well. These three characters set out on a collision course in classic Elmore Leonard fashion, to see who makes it out of the City Primeval alive."
The original Justified series ran from 2010 to 2015 and featured Olyphant in every episode. The creator of Justified, Graham Yost, is on board to executive produce City Primeval, with Dave Andron and Michael Dinner as co-showrunners. Dinner will also serve as lead director on the new limited series, which will pick up eight years after Givens left Kentucky.
Scientists from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the University of Calgary have developed a modular robot system that can morph into different shapes. ElectroVoxels don't have any motors or moving parts. Instead, they use electromagnets to shift around each other.
Each edge of an ElectroVoxel cube is an electromagnetic ferrite core wrapped with copper wire. The length of each ElectroVoxel side is around 60 millimeters. The total cost is just 60 cents.
When the polarity of a magnet is changed, the edges either attract or repel each other. That causes the cubes to shift into a different orientation. Printed circuit boards and electronics inside each cube control the direction of each electromagnet's current.
The robots have two basic types of movement. They can pivot around the edge of another cube, or traverse from one ElectroVoxel to the next. A software planner can be used to program reconfigurations. A user can highlight specific magnets, control the speed of cube's movements and ensure they won't collide with each other.
The researchers say possible to control up to 1,000 ElectroVoxels with the software. Users can tell the blocks to shift into different shapes, such as turning from a chair into a couch. They can decide which cube should move in which direction, and the software will determine the electromagnetic assignments needed to carry out the task.
The scientists tested ElectroVoxels in microgravity on a parabolic flight. They found the robots can operate in low-gravity environments. As such, the researchers say ElectroVoxels could be used to alter and create structures in outer space.
MIT CSAIL
They suggest the robots could change the inertia properties of a spacecraft, which might mitigate the need for extra fuel for reconfiguration. That, the scientists say, remedies many challenges linked with launch mass and volume. They hope the system will eventually enable a range of space-related use cases, such as augmenting and replacing structures over a series of launches, and building temporary structures to assist astronauts and help with spacecraft inspections.
A future version of ElectroVoxels could allow the creation of self-sorting storage containers. However, to allow the robots to more easily reconfigure in Earth's gravity, the researchers say more detailed modeling and optimization would be required.
"While the potential benefits in space are particularly great, the paradox is that the favorable dynamics provided by microgravity mean some of those problems are actually also easier to solve — in space, even tiny forces can make big things move," said Martin Nisser, a PhD student at CSAIL and lead author on a paper on ElectroVoxels. "By applying this technology to solve real near-term problems in space, we can hopefully incubate the technology for future use on Earth too."
While we humans can't agree where we stand on tracking devices, one group of birds assertively came out against the technology. In The Conversation, Dominique Potvin, an Animal Ecology professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, said he and his team recently witnessed a mischief of magpies display a rare cooperative “rescue” behavior when they attempted to track the birds.
As part of their study, Potvin’s team developed a seemingly ingenious way of collecting data on a group of five magpies. They developed a lightweight but tough harness the birds could wear like backpacks and carry a small tracker with them as they went about their daily lives. They also created a feeding station that would wirelessly charge and download data from the trackers. It even had a magnet for freeing the birds of the harness. “We were excited by the design, as it opened up many possibilities for efficiency and enabled a lot of data to be collected,” Potvin said.
Unfortunately, the study fell apart in mere days. Within 10 minutes of Potvin’s team fitting the final tracker, they saw a female magpie use her bill to remove a harness off of one of the younger birds. Hours later, most of the other test subjects had been freed of their trackers too. By day three, even the most dominant male in the group had allowed one of his flock to assist him.
“We don’t know if it was the same individual helping each other or if they shared duties, but we had never read about any other bird cooperating in this way to remove tracking devices,” Potvin said. “The birds needed to problem solve, possibly testing at pulling and snipping at different sections of the harness with their bill. They also needed to willingly help other individuals, and accept help.”
According to Potvin, the only other example they could find of that kind of behavior among birds involved Seychelles warblers who helped their flockmates escape from sticky Pisonia seed clusters. Visit The Conversation to read the full story.
Having produced and starred in some of the most memorable and funny music videos in modern rock history, it feels like a natural progression for the Foo Fighters to headline their own movie. But of all the forms that idea could’ve taken, I doubt a demonic possession horror-comedy was at the top of anyone’s list of expectations. Studio 666 parodies frontman Dave Grohl’s famous drive for musical excellence as the haunted house the Foos pick to record their new album brings out the devil in him, blending elements of the supernatural and slasher subgenres for a cinematic mixtape of mirthful mayhem -- one that could have used a more focused approach in its execution to get the most out of its silly and promising premise.
Studio 666 finds the Foo Fighters at a creative impasse as record label rep Shill (Jeff Garlin) demands delivery of their 10th album, with the band looking to a creatively tapped Dave for leadership and finding… the guitar intro of Everlong being his only idea. They decide to rent out a mansion in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley to find the new sound Dave’s after and, when bodies start piling up, it’s clear they’ve stumbled on much more.
Studio 666’s script, based on a story by Grohl and written by Jeff Buhler (2019’s Pet Sematary) and Rebecca Hughes, is a barebones pastiche of horror forerunners like The Shining, The Amityville Horror, The Evil Dead, and The Exorcist. Smoke demons, possessing spirits, suspicious neighbors, satanic cultists… there’s a lot of pieces on the game board for Studio 666 to play with, but their utility feels more aimed at giving director BJ McDonnell (Hatchet III) plenty of visual options in the movie’s back half and less about creating a cohesive story. These disparate supernatural elements, centered on a cursed song which the band find themselves compelled to finish, further suffer from shoddy visual effects, which draw more attention to the bloat they add to the movie. Despite a relatively brisk 108-minute runtime, it suffers from a protracted finale that draws out the less interesting aspects of the villains’ grand plan at the expense of ending the film at its most bombastic. Unsteady pacing is a recurring problem throughout Studio 666, with Dave’s possession being another element that gets teased out for too long.
Though the story is forgettable, Studio 666 is first and foremost a showcase for the Foo Fighters to kill and be killed in grand fashion and, in that regard, it’s a damn(ed) good time. Despite the fact that none of the guys are trained actors, the Foos are very natural on camera and their banter and brotherly digs at one another go a long way to keeping the movie afloat when the plot fizzles. Unsurprisingly, Grohl gets the most to do and plays the fictionalized version of himself without ego, leaning hard into jokes about being set in his ways and difficult to collaborate with. And as his possession worsens, Grohl swings for the fences, with his menacing of his bandmates and slapsticky brutality benefitting from his obvious enthusiasm.
Likewise, guitarist Pat Smear proves to be an excellently offbeat supporter, with his constant snacking and high-pitched screams providing Studio 666 reliably funny cutaways whether or not the spooky events provoking them are proving successful. Keyboardist Rami Jaffee, characterized as the band’s crunchy spiritual expert, gets the broadest brush to paint with and feels like he walked right out of an episode of Scooby Doo. The rest of the band -- drummer Taylor Hawkins, bassist Nate Mendel, and guitarist Chris Shiflett -- fall into more straight man-type roles, there to take Dave down a peg or two when he gets too full of himself, or to take a grill to the face when the singer needs to let off some steam. Studio 666’s supporting roster, featuring appearances from Whitney Cummings, Will Forte, and Jenna Ortega, is there solely to keep the plot moving, and they don’t leave much of an impression.
Studio 666 is a midnight movie through and through.
While the extraneous supernatural stuff doesn’t look great, the kill sequences are mostly realized with practical effects and give the movie much-needed texture, even if (and maybe because) the limited budget they’re executed with shows. The gruesome deaths don’t skimp on gore or creativity and will make you wish Studio 666 had spent more time celebrating its slasher roots, which feel the most in harmony with the band’s skillset as actors. The score, from Ministry drummer Roy Mayorga, provides the action with a brutal backbeat that feels refreshing in a modern horror movie, but it’s the theme song by – let me check my notes – f***ing John Carpenter that steals the show early on.
Vikings are not known for being chill, peaceful, non-violent folks, so it stands to reason that Vikings: Valhalla is full of big, violent, action scenes. Between that and the cast doing most of their own fighting and stunts (though not all), it's not shocking that the actors got banged up a bit during filming – though the extent is rather surprising.
During a panel at IGN Fan Fest, actor Sam Corlett (Leif Erikson) described taking a sword to the eye while filming the Battle of Kent – resulting in a black eye. They didn't cover the black eye with makeup for later shoots, but as it healed the crew actually had to add a black eye with makeup for continuity reasons. Corlett later mentioned having blood across his knuckles after filming one scene in the Great Hall, which showrunner Jeb Stuart suggested may have been from getting a hatchet handle to his wrist.
Frida Gustavsson (Freydís Eiríksdóttir) also had quite a few bruises from the filming:
"I still have scars on my hands just from wrapping and this is months ago. I went to the emergency room, I had my arm in a sling, I had bruises everywhere, I scarred my face, yeah."
Obviously, though, the crew had medics on hand to support them and make sure things didn't get out of hand, as Corlett describes in another anecdote.
"Also some of the fight scenes where we're in water, especially shooting night shoots at like 11pm, in water, in Ireland where it's maybe 5 degrees [C, 41 degrees F) in the water, and you're doing this fight sequence. There's the medic watching you like a hawk and if you shiver, you have to get out and get warm and the whole thing has to stop, wait for you to get warm, and you have to jump back in again.
"We're trying to get ten takes of this fight scene done and dusted so hopefully amongst that ten we have something to put together."
Vikings: Valhalla is set to premiere on February 25 on Netflix, and we got a first look at the opening scenes from the historical drama during the full panel at IGN FanFest.
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel will return for one final performance on Prime Video after Amazon Studios renewed the comedy series for a fifth season.
In a press release, Amazon confirmed that its award-winning comedy Prime Video show would return for the fifth and final time. The news comes ahead of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel season 4's launch on the streaming giant on Friday, February 18.
The announcement was accompanied by a screenshot, posted on Prime Video's social media channels, of the titular character – Miriam 'Midge' Maisel, who is played by Rachel Brosnahan – in a taxi. It's a nice touch, with the image adding a bit of poignancy to the bittersweet announcement. Take a look at it below:
Well, it's been a marvelous ride, but we can reveal that @MaiselTV will be back for a fifth and final season! #MrsMaisel pic.twitter.com/FzpHPsxXAxFebruary 17, 2022
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Commenting on the show's fifth and final season, Amazon Studios Head Jennifer Salke said: “Amy [Sherman-Palladino], Dan [Palladino], and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel have blazed an unparalleled path, elevating the stories we tell about women, challenging the norms in our industry, and forever altering the entertainment landscape with their one-of-a-kind storytelling.
“The dozens of awards cement Maisel’s legacy in many ways, but what’s even more enduring and poignant are the characters Amy created and the joyous, brilliant, singular world she and Dan brought to life. This series has meant so much to Prime Video and the effects of its success will be felt long after its final season. I can’t wait for fans and our worldwide Prime Video audience to savor each moment as we embark on the culmination of this ground-breaking and unforgettable series.”
No release date has been revealed for The Marvelous Mrs Maisel season 5 just yet. But, with the series set to return to our screens after a two-year hiatus, let's hope that it won't be another long wait until 'Midge' delivers her final mic drop.
Analysis: a fitting farewell to the queen of comedy
It'll be time to say goodbye to Miriam Maisel soon. (Image credit: Amazon Studios)
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel's last hurrah – whenever that may be – will bring the curtain on one of Prime Video's most successful original shows ever.
The period comedy-drama was the first of its kind to receive a multi-season renewal from Amazon Studios, and made Emmys history when showrunner Amy Sherman-Palladino became the first woman to win both Comedy Writing and Comedy Directing awards at the 2018 ceremony.
In total, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel has won 51 awards at various ceremonies across the globe, including 20 Emmys, during its three season run so far. Other prominent award wins include an Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series win for Brosnahan, five Critics Choice Awards, and an Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series gong at the 2019 Screen Actors Guild awards event.
Sure, other Prime Video shows and movies won prizes before and after The Marvelous Mrs Maisel's arrival, but few have been as successful as this Amazon Original project. In some ways, the show was a trailblazer on the award circuit for Prime Video, and proved that it can compete with the likes of Netflix and HBO for the biggest TV gongs.
It'll be a sad day, then, for Amazon and Prime Video subscribers alike when the curtain falls on The Marvelous Mrs Maisel for the final time. But, with other critically-acclaimed shows like The Wheel of Time, Invincible, and The Boys under its belt, Prime Video will continue to prosper long after 'Midge' departs the stage for the last time. It'll just be a less comedic place without her.
After months of waiting (and a four-year development cycle), we've finally received our first footage of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
The first teaser for Amazon's big-budget fantasy show is only a minute long, but it's packed with lots of information for us to pour over. There are plenty of callbacks to J.R.R. Tolkien's legendary source material, as you'd expect, as well as several new elements that Amazon Studios has introduced for its live-action prequel series.
We imagine you've watched the teaser multiple times by this point, scouring it for clues as to what The Rings of Power's story may be about, more on its eclectic mix of characters, Middle-Earth Easter eggs and more. So, allow us to help you work out what's what.
Below, we've covered eight things that you may have missed from the Prime Video TV show's first trailer. Bear in mind, though, that we'll be delving into potential spoiler territory for The Rings of Power. Turn back now if you'd prefer not to know anything about the series before its release later this year.
1. Welcome to Númenor
Numenor is revealed in The Rings of Power teaser. (Image credit: Amazon Studios)
The teaser opens on the beautiful but ultimately doomed island of Númenor, i.e. the kingdom of the long-living and wise Númenorians. This is the kingdom of Men from whom the Dúnedain descended, including Aragorn, the eventual King of Gondor.
Númenor was expected to feature in The Rings of Power – the show is set in the Second Age, which is when Númenor still existed – so it's pleasing to see that we'll be visiting it at some point.
How do we know it's Númenor? Well, there are two big giveaways. The first is the giant stone statue that's carved out of a cliff. Manyfans believe that the statue is of Elros Tar-Minytaur, the half-elven founder of Númenor who becomes the island nation's first king. Given his importance to Númenor, then, it seems that this is the most logical fit.
The second giveaway is that we see the flat-topped mountain of Meneltarma in the background. The sacred mountain was the location for numerous special Númenorian gatherings until the isle sank.
2. Historic hobbits
Markella Kavenagh's harfoot is going on an adventure. (Image credit: Amazon Studios)
The Rings of Power is likely to focus on the races of elves, dwarves and men for large parts of its narrative. We do know, though, that we'll also be seeing the ancestors of the hobbits in the series, too.
Lenny Henry (Doctor Who) had already confirmed he'd be portraying a harfoot, one of three pre-hobbit races, in the show. Thanks to this teaser, we know that Markella Kavenagh (The Cry) will also play a Harfoot, too, as she appears as one at the 0:15 mark.
We see Kavenagh's unnamed harfoot appear later in the trailer as well with an unidentified man, but we'll discuss that in more detail below.
3. An icy climb through Helcaraxë?
Galadriel best not slip in The Rings of Power trailer. (Image credit: Amazon Studios)
The next snippet of footage shows Morfydd Clark's Galadriel climbing a giant, icy wall. To the untrained eye, this may just appear to be a large, physical obstacle for the young elven warrior to overcome.
But there's far more to it than that. And, based on fan disputes online, it seems that nobody can agree on the exact location of this particular scene or sequence.
On the surface, it seems that Galadriel is traversing a region known as the Helcaraxë. In Tolkien's extensive literature, the Helcaraxë is an icy region that separates the lands of Aman – home to three elven kinfolk – and Middle-Earth. It seems, then, that Galadriel is travelling across the Helcaraxë to get to Middle-Earth.
Some fans, though, aren't convinced. On Reddit, users claim that there shouldn't be any sunlight in this region, hence why it's covered in vast sheets of ice. If it isn't Helcaraxë, then, where is it? Other Redditors believe it's Forodwaith, a cold wasteland that exists to the north of the Iron Mountains. And, based on a Vanity Fair trailer breakdown article, that seems to be the correct assumption.
With Galadriel pursuing the remains of Morgoth and Sauron's forces at the start of The Rings of Power, Forodwaith would make more sense. After all, it's located near to Morgoth's former stronghold of Utumno, so it seems logical that Galadriel would explore this region to snuff out any of Morgoth and Sauron's remaining allies.
4. A Middle-Earth meteor
A meteor streaks across the sky in The Rings of Power teaser. (Image credit: Amazon Studios)
Okay, nobody will have missed the meteor that streaks across the sky in the trailer. What makes this fiery piece or rock important, though, is its potential ties to Sauron.
Why does it hint at the Dark Lord's return? Well, the 'before the ring' writing that pops up on the screen, milliseconds before the meteor appears, can't be a mere coincidence. Sauron is the one behind the creation of the Rings of Power, so it would be a clever move on Amazon's part to tie the 'before the rings' line with his potential re-emergence.
If it is Sauron who returns in the meteor, it does beg the question of why he's using such a method to reappear. Clearly, it's not the most discreet way to return, but there may be some logic behind it. Again, we'll hold off on revealing why until further down the page, as it appears that Kavenagh's harfoot has a role to play in all of this...
5. We're so Gil-galad to meet you
Gil-galad makes his Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debut. (Image credit: Amazon Studios)
Ahead of the trailer's arrival, we'd received confirmation (via a Vanity Fair article) about some of The Rings of Power's key players. Now, the teaser has revealed another iconic character will be part of the show's line up.
Gil-galad, the last High King of the Ñoldor and ruler of Lindon, will appear in Amazon's Lord of the Rings show. We get a brief shot of him staring up at the sky – at something other than the meteor, despite the clever editing used in the trailer – and it seems we know which actor is portraying him, too. According to the Fellowship of Fans Twitter account, Benjamin Walker (Jessica Jones, The Underground Railroad) will play Gil-galad. So, now we've received as good a confirmation as any for who 10 of the series' stacked cast are playing.
6. Elrond in Moria
Who's upset Elrond in The Rings of Power teaser? (Image credit: Amazon Studios)
We don't get much in the way of footage containing dwarves in the teaser, but what is in there is pretty important nonetheless.
Yes, we get glimpses of Owain Arthur's Durin IV and Sophia Nomvete's Disa. But the biggest takeaway from these moments concerns Robert Aramayo's Elrond, who visits the dwarven kingdom of Moria on behalf of the elves. That's according to Vanity Fair's trailer breakdown piece, which suggests that Elrond heads to Moria (not Khazad-dûm) to repair the elves' relationship with the predominantly underground race.
It's unclear why Elrond looks so moody, but maybe he's been tasked with taking on Durin IV in a rock-breaking contest to prove his worth? He's kneeling next to a giant boulder and has his hand on a dwarven axe, and we see Durin IV smash a similar-looking boulder a few seconds later. Maybe Elrond has to best Durin IV in order for talks to take place, but we'll have to wait for the show's arrival to be sure.
7. The fall of Finrod?
Is Finrod about to fall in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power? (Image credit: Amazon Studios)
Despite only running for 60 seconds, the first trailer has enough time to tease an almighty battle that'll form part of The Rings of Power's plot. It isn't the Last Alliance between elves and men that stops Sauron at the end of the Second Age, however, but a First Age battle that Finrod Felagund (as seemingly confirmed by Fellowship of Fans) takes part in.
"Wait, who's Finrod?", we hear you cry. In Tolkien's mythology, Finrod was an Aman-born Noldorian elf and Galadriel's brother who took part in the Battle of the Sudden Flame. Also known as Dagor Bragollach, this fierce fight between Morgoth's forces, and an earlier alliance of elves and men, saw Morgoth claim victory during the long War of the Jewels.
Finrod doesn't die during the battle – he's saved by a man called Barahir – but Amazon could alter his backstory for the show. We know that Galadriel is hunting Morgoth and Sauron's remaining forces in retaliation for the deaths of her loved ones in the show, and Finrod could be among that number.
Galadriel's other two brothers, Angrod and Aegnor, perish during the fight in Tolkien's famous works, but could Amazon revise this narrative and have all three brothers fall during the bout? Given that Amazon is telling an original story (albeit one that's based on Middle-Earth mythology) in its prequel series, it's possible. It would give Galadriel a bigger incentive to go after Morgoth and Sauron's forces and, according to Vanity Fair's trailer breakdown article, Finrod's death is what drives her to pursue this endeavour. Either way, get some tissues ready as it's bound to be an emotional moment.
8. Who is Meteor Man?
Who is Meteor Man in Amazon's Lord of the Rings? (Image credit: Amazon Studios)
While fans have been able to confidently predict (or even reveal) the identities of key characters in the trailer, there's one mystery that most can't solve.
Remember that meteor we mentioned earlier? Well, it turns out that there's someone inside it. In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment around the 0:46 mark, we see Markella Kavenagh's harfoot trying to help a naked man escape the burning wreckage of the meteor's impact site.
So, who is he? Well, nobody knows. The Fellowship of Fans reports that Daniel Weyman (Gentleman Jack) is playing the character simply known as 'Meteor Man', but it hasn't hinted at their real identity.
It seems, then, that the mystery surrounding 'Meteor Man' will be a huge plot point in The Rings of Power's overarching narrative. If this character is of vital importance to the show's story, some fans have posited that it's Sauron – disguising himself as a man – who emerges from the meteor. Using his magic, he may be able to alter his appearance if he visits the the elves, dwarves and kingdoms of men to ensure that the rings are created, and then delivered, to them later in the series.
That, though, sounds like a stretch to other Tolkien fans. Some believe that 'Meteor Man' will end up being an Istari, the first Wizards to arrive in Middle-Earth. This theory seems to hold more weight, what with him likely befriending Kavenagh's harfoot. Vanity Fair's own trailer breakdown article doesn't provide any clues, so it seems that we'll have to wait to see who 'Meteor Man' turns out to be.
Hopefully, it won't be too long of a wait. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power launches exclusively on Prime Video on September 2, 2022.
While Kennedy's departure has been rumored for some time, now that it's actully happening it's clear that the Star Wars franchise is at a critical juncture. Will Filoni and Brennan be able to revive excitement in fans and mainstream audiences about what has been seen as something of a lagging series in recent years?
So let's take a look at all of the upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows that we know about. While some are locked, others on our list are just industry reports that haven't been confirmed by Disney yet. We've also kept some older projects on our list that have long since been snuffed out, like the Jedi themselves! Their fire has gone out of the universe...
Click right through the scruffy-looking slideshow below to see what's coming, and a couple of "maybes" too...
What Are the Next Star Wars Movies and TV Shows Coming Out? 2026 Release Dates
For those keeping track, here's the full lineup of upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows:
Definitely Happening:
Jon Favreau's The Mandalorian & Grogu Movie (May 22, 2026)
Maul: Shadow Lord Series (2026)
Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi Series (2026)
Star Wars: Starfighter Movie (May 28, 2027)
Star Wars: Ahsoka Season 2 (In Production)
In Development:
Dave Filoni's Mando-Verse/New Republic Movie
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's New Jedi Order/Rey Movie
Simon Kinberg's Star Wars Trilogy
On Hold or Status Unknown:
The Hunt for Ben Solo Movie
Taika Waititi's Star Wars Movie
James Mangold's Dawn of the Jedi Movie
Star Wars: Lando Movie
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron Movie
The Mandalorian: Season 4 / The Book of Boba Fett: Season 2
Carlton & Nick Cuse's Star Wars Series
Canceled/Dead:
Star Wars: Rangers of the New Republic Series
Untitled J.D. Dillard/Matt Owens Movie
Rian Johnson's Star Wars Trilogy
Kevin Feige's Star Wars Movie
David Benioff & DB Weiss' Star Wars Movies
Here are the Star Wars projects that are closest to becoming a reality (or at least were in recent times)...
The Mandalorian & Grogu Movie (May 22, 2026)
Lucasfilm turned heads with the announcement of a Mandalorian spinoff movie separate from Filoni's Mando-Verse New Republic crossover film. Dubbed The Mandalorian & Grogu, this film will be helmed by The Mandalorian co-creator Jon Favreau. It's assumed the movie is taking the place of The Mandalorian: Season 4.
Filming wrapped at the end of 2024, meaning this will wind up being the first Star Wars project to hit the big screen since 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. The Mandalorian & Grogu has a May 22, 2026 release date.
Maul: Shadow Lord Series (2026)
The Star Wars franchise will remain in the post-Clone Wars, pre-A New Hope era for its next animated series, which focuses on the former Darth Maul as he seeks to rebuild his criminal empire in the age of the Empire. Lucasfilm teases the series will showcase Maul "plotting to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire." Sam Witwer will reprise his role as Maul. Look for it to debut on Disney+ in 2026.
Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi Series (2026)
The animated anthology series Star Wars: Visions is getting a miniseries spinoff called Star Wars: Visions Presents - The Ninth Jedi. As the title suggests, this series will be a continuation of Production I.G.’s “The Ninth Jedi” shorts from Visions Season 1 and 3. It’s a natural choice, as there’s clearly far more story left to tell in this bleak yet adventurous take on the Star Wars mythos.
Star Wars: Starfighter Movie (May 28, 2027)
The next Star Wars movie hitting theaters after The Mandalorian and Grogu is Star Wars: Starfighter, directed by Deadpool & Wolverine's Shawn Levy and starring the Driver himself, Ryan Gosling. The film is set roughly five years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, putting it further down the Star Wars timeline than any movie or show to date.
There are few details on what the film would be about, but Levy has been developing the project with scripter Jonathan Tropper since 2022. Tropper previously worked with the director on This Is Where I Leave You and The Adam Project. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the prospective movie would be unrelated to the Skywalker Saga and would be a standalone story.
Star Wars: Ahsoka Season 2 (In Production)
When Ahsoka: Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger, it was unclear whether those loose ends would be picked up in a second season or feed directly into Dave Filoni's Mando-verse movie. But production has now wrapped on Ahsoka: Season 2. There's no release window yet, though 2026 could be possible.
Dave Filoni's Mando-Verse/New Republic Movie (In Development)
Dave Filoni will make the jump from Star Wars shows to the big screen. Filoni is directing a movie set after the events of Return of the Jedi. The film is said to tie together shows like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's New Jedi Order Movie (In Development)
Ms. Marvel's Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is directing the first Star Wars film set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker. Daisy Ridley will return to reprise the role of Rey Skywalker, with the film focusing on Rey's efforts to rebuild the Jedi after the final battle with Emperor Palpatine. It's expected that other actors from the Sequel Trilogy will also return.
At various points in its development, Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson, and then Steven Knight, were attached to write the film. However, all have since left the project. Reports previously indicated that Rey as a character was still a major priority at Disney, and in January, 2025, George Nolfi (The Bourne Ultimatum) was the latest writer hired to script the film. But when Kathleen Kennedy announced her resignation from Lucasfilm in January, 2026, she did not mention the Rey project while discussing other films in development. Huh.
Simon Kinberg's Star Wars Trilogy (In Development)
In 2024 news broke that X-Men producer (and Star Wars Rebels co-creator) Simon Kinberg had been tapped to oversee a brand-new trilogy of Star Wars films. Kinberg will write the trilogy and produce. Sources gave conflicting reports as to what the trilogy will actually be about, though. It may be a direct continuation of the Skywalker Saga, effectively making Kinberg the architect of Episodes X through XII. However, others claimed the trilogy will focus on a new storyline. In January, 2026, Kathleen Kennedy revealed that Kinberg wrote something that was "very good, but not there. We’ve pretty much upended the story, and then spent a great deal of time on the treatment." From there she said Kinberg was expected to turn in "something" -- presumably a screenplay -- by March, 2026. All of which is to say it's still early days on this one.
The Hunt for Ben Solo Movie (On Hold or Status Unknown)
Fans got very excited when word came that Adam Driver and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh had pitched a Hunt for Ben Solo movie, even though the project was not given the go-ahead. A fan campaign since then has not led Disney or Lucasfilm to reverse their decision, but Kathleen Kennedy has said that “Steve Soderbergh and Adam Driver turned in a script written by Scott Burns ... It was just great. Anything’s a possibility if somebody’s willing to take a risk.” Time will tell if this one ever happens or not.
Taika Waititi's Star Wars Movie (On Hold or Status Unknown)
Thor: Ragnarok's Taika Waititi was tapped to direct a live-action Star Wars movie at one point, which he would co-write with 1917's Krysty Wilson-Cairns. Nothing else is known about the film yet, including when it's set in the Star Wars timeline... or if it will even happen. Kathleen Kennedy said in January, 2026, that she thinks the project is "still somewhat alive." Hope springs eternal! The film dates back to at least 2021, when Waititi revealed he'd cracked the story for his movie, but the actual script was still in its early stages. In May, 2022, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said that this would be the next Star Wars film released, while in March, 2023, Variety reported that it could be the project that snaps up the then-empty December, 2025, release date on Lucasfilm's slate. In February, 2025, however, Kennedy confirmed that she still hasn't seen a finished script from Waititi, saying “if we ever do get a script from Taika, it’s going to be fantastic.”
James Mangold's Dawn of the Jedi Movie (On Hold or Status Unknown)
At Star Wars Celebration 2023, we learned that Logan director James Mangold was going to be directing a movie about the very first Jedi Knights. Little was known about the movie, other than that it would be set roughly 25,000 years before the other films and would be "biblical" in scope. Unfortunately, in January, 2026, Kathleen Kennedy said that the film is now on the "back burner."
Star Wars: Lando Movie (On Hold or Status Unknown)
While Lucasfilm seems to have no plans for a sequel to 2018's Solo: A Star Wars Story, Donald Glover's Lando Calrissian was supposed to get his own live-action series at one point. The project was announced in December 2020, and was being developed by Dear White People's Justin Simien. However, Simien eventually departed the project, with Glover and his brother Stephen Glover taking over as writers. And in the fall of 2023 Stephen revealed that Lando was expected to take shape as a movie rather than a show. As of January, 2026, Kathleen Kennedy said that the project was "still somewhat alive." Great!
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (On Hold or Status Unknown)
Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins was given the reins of a Star Wars theatrical film, which was originally slated to hit theaters in Christmas of 2023. Kathleen Kennedy teased, "This story will introduce a new generation of starfighter pilots as they earn their wings and risk their lives in a boundary-pushing, high-speed thrill ride. The legend of Rogue Squadron has been long beloved by Star Wars fans, and will move us into a future era of the galaxy."
However, as of November 2021 the film was no longer on the production schedule while Jenkins reportedly focused on Wonder Woman 3 (which has since been cancelled). Industry insider Matthew Belloni reported the film was the latest in a long line of Star Wars projects hampered by "creative differences." And in March of 2023, Variety reported that a source has stated that the film is no longer in active development. In April of that year, Kennedy told IGN the following: "Rogue Squadron, that definitely is something that we still talk about. Whether it's a movie, or whether it ends up being in the series space, that's definitely something."
The Mandalorian: Season 4 / The Book of Boba Fett: Season 2 (On Hold or Status Unknown)
There's currently no word on a fourth season of The Mandalorian or a second season of The Book of Boba Fett. The announcement of The Mandalorian and Grogu may mean the former series has ended its small-screen run, and we're not holding our breath for more The Book of Boba Fett at this point.
Carlton & Nick Cuse's Star Wars Series (On Hold or Status Unknown)
Lost co-showrunner Carlton Cuse was developing a streaming Star Wars series with his son, Watchmen and The Leftovers writer Nick Cuse, at one point. That's virtually all we know about this mysterious project, as there's no word on the plot, timeline, characters, or other story details yet. And with Disney seemingly pulling back on greenlighting new Star Wars streaming shows now, it seems unlikely that this one will move forward any time soon.
Just a day before contenders for 2022 Oscars are announced, the Razzies has revealed its nominees for worst movies and film performances of 2021. Bruce Willis in particular is being roasted this year, with the Razzies dedicating an entire category to his eight worst film performances in the past year. Yes, you read that right. Bruce Willis starred in more movies than most actors get in a decade, including low-budget action flicks like American Siege, Apex, and Midnight in the Switchgrass.
At the top (or maybe bottom) of the pack is Netflix's Diana, the live stage musical filmed for streaming audiences, with nine nominations, including for worst picture, actor, and actress. The Guardian called it "a musical mess to rival Cats" and "the year's most hysterically awful hate-watch" for its depiction of the late royal family princess. It's similarly nominated for worst director, supporting actor, and supporting actress.
Netflix also takes second place in total nominations for The Woman in the Window, the psychological thriller starring Amy Adams, taking home five nominations, including for worst picture. Ironically, it boasts one of the more bankable casts in Razzie history, including Gary Oldman, Anthony Mackie, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Julianne Moore.
Following the pack is Karen, the dark-comedy thriller about a racist white woman stalking a young black couple living in the surburbs. You might remember it from the too-bad-to-be-real trailer that went semi-viral last year. Richard Roeper of Ebert and Roeper fame called it an "extended SNL parody of a Jordan Peele film."
Both Space Jam: A New Legacy and Dear Evan Hansen also received four nominations, including for worst picture, while Mark Wahlberg's Infinite and Renny Harlin's The Misfits close out with three nominations a piece.
Check out the full list of nominees below:
WORST PICTURE
Diana the Musical (The Netflix Version)
Infinite
Karen
Space Jam: A New Legacy
The Woman in the Window
WORST ACTOR
Scott Eastwood / Dangerous
Roe Hartrampf (As Prince Charles) Diana the Musical
LeBron James / Space Jam: A New Legacy
Ben Platt / Dear Evan Hansen
Mark Wahlberg / Infinite
WORST ACTRESS
Amy Adams / The Woman in the Window
Jeanna de Waal / Diana the Musical
Megan Fox / Midnight in the Switchgrass
Taryn Manning / Karen
Ruby Rose / Vanquish
WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams / Dear Evan Hansen
Sophie Cookson / Infinite
Erin Davie (As Camilla) Diana the Musical
Judy Kaye (As BOTH Queen Elizabeth & Barbara Cartland) Diana the Musical
Taryn Manning / Every Last One of Them
WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Ben Affleck / The Last Duel
Nick Cannon / The Misfits
Mel Gibson / Dangerous
Gareth Keegan (As James Hewitt, the Muscle-Bound Horse Trainer)
Diana the Musical
Jared Leto / House of Gucci
WORST PERFORMANCE by BRUCE WILLIS in a 2021 MOVIE
(Special Category)
Bruce Willis / American Siege
Bruce Willis / Apex
Bruce Willis / Cosmic Sin
Bruce Willis / Deadlock
Bruce Willis / Fortress
Bruce Willis / Midnight in the Switchgrass
Bruce Willis / Out of Death
Bruce Willis / Survive the Game
WORST SCREEN COUPLE
Any Klutzy Cast Member & Any Lamely Lyricized (or Choreographed)
Musical Number / Diana the Musical
LeBron James & Any Warner Cartoon Character (or Time-Warner Product) He
Dribbles on / Space Jam: A New Legacy
Jared Leto & EITHER His 17-Pound Latex Face, His Geeky Clothes or
His Ridiculous Accent / House of Gucci
Ben Platt & Any Other Character Who Acts Like Platt
Singing 24-7 is Normal / Dear Evan Hansen
Tom & Jerry (aka Itchy & Scratchy) Tom & Jerry the Movie
WORST REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL
Karen (Inadvertent Remake of Cruella deVil)
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Tom & Jerry the Movie
Twist (Rap remake of Oliver Twist)
The Woman in the Window (Rip-Off of Rear Window)
WORST DIRECTOR
Christopher Ashley / Diana the Musical
Stephen Chbosky / Dear Evan Hansen
“Coke” Daniels / Karen
Renny Harlin / The Misfits
Joe Wright / The Woman in the Window
WORST SCREENPLAY
Diana the Musical / Script by Joe DiPietro, Music and Lyrics by DiPietro
and David Bryan
Karen / Written by "Coke" Daniels
The Misfits / Screenplay by Kurt Wimmer and Robert Henny,
Screen Story by Henny
Twist / Written by John Wrathall & Sally Collett, Additional Material
by Matthew Parkhill, Michael Lindley, Tom Grass & Kevin Lehane,
from an “Original Idea” by David & Keith Lynch and Simon Thomas
The Woman in the Window / Screenplay by Tracy Letts, from
the Novel by A.J. Finn
NOMINATIONS per PICTURE
Diana the Musical (9 Nominations, including Worst Picture, Actor & Actress)
Karen (5 Nominations, including Picture, Actress, Screenplay & Director)
The Woman in the Window (5 Nominations, including Picture, Actress
& Remake/Rip-Off)
Space Jam: A New Legacy (4 Nominations, including Picture, Actor
& Screen Couple)
Infinite (3 Nominations, including Worst Picture, Actor & Supporting Actress)
The Misfits (3 Nominations, including Supporting Actor, Director & Screenplay)
Image credit: Getty Images/VCG Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN, and he'll never forget the Razzies nominated Ennio Morricone's score for The Thing.
NVIDIA's has abandoned its plans to purchase ARM, the UK-based business that licenses chip technology used in most smartphones, NVIDIA and Softbank announced. The deal collapsed on Monday, a year and a half after NVIDIA revealed that it was purchasing the Softbank-owned chip business for cash and stock then valued at $40 billion. Based on NVIDIA's current stock prices, the deal would've been worth over $60 billion if it had gone through today.
"ARM has a bright future, and we’ll continue to support them as a proud licensee for decades to come,” said NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. "Though we won’t be one company, we will partner closely with ARM. I expect ARM to be the most important CPU architecture of the next decade."
The planned takeover was met with opposition from the start. ARM customers Qualcomm and Microsoft objected to the deal, raising concerns that NVIDIA might prevent ARM from licensing its chip designs. The massive acquisition, which would've been the largest in the chip sector, was also intensely scrutinized by regulators. UK's Competition & Markets Authority investigated it twice over its impact product prices and quality, as well as on its implications on national security.
In the US, the Federal Trade Commission sued to block the purchase over concerns that it would stifle competition for multiple technologies. Previous reports said NVIDIA has been preparing to walk away from the deal since early January, seeing as it has made little progress on convincing regulators to approve the purchase.
As The New York Times notes, NVIDIA repeatedly told authorities that it will keep ARM's business model and even proposed to set up a separate licensing entity for its chip designs. It also said that it will license any ARM-based IP that it develops to all companies without discrimination. "There is no evidence that a combined NVIDIA and ARM would have either the ability or the incentive to harm competition," its lawyers said in a response to FTC's lawsuit.
ARM-owner Softbank will get a break fee of up to $1.25 billion as a result of the failed purchase, the sources said. SoftBank confirmed that it would take ARM public, though it didn't provide any further details.
"ARM is becoming a center of innovation not only in the mobile phone revolution, but also in cloud computing, automotive, the Internet of Things and the metaverse, and has entered its second growth phase,” said SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. "We will take this opportunity and start preparing to take ARM public, and to make even further progress."
Update February 8, 2022 2:46 AM ET: The post has been updated with NVIDIA and SoftBank's official announcement that NVIDIA has ended its plans to acquire ARM.
The Craob X looks to be the world’s very first laptop that doesn’t feature a single port. That means there’s no USB or headphone jack connection in sight, and even requires a wireless charger to power it up.
While such a design may sound incredibly inconvenient, it does offer many benefits. Firstly, the Craob X is one of the thinnest laptops we’ve ever seen, measuring in at just 7mm. For comparison, the MacBook Air M1 is 16.1mm thick, making it more than double the height.
And with such a skinny frame, the Craob Xis also one of the lightest laptops available. It weighs just 862 grams, making it featherlight compared to the 1.29kg MacBook Air.
The Craob X has seemingly made few compromises to the specs to achieve such a design too, packing Intel 12th Generation (Alder Lake) processor options, up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM and up to a 2TB PCIe 4.0 SSD.
The screen also looks very striking too, with a skinny bezel forcing the manufacturer to use a hole-punch webcam, akin to the MacBook Pro 2021. You’re getting a 13.3-inch 4K display here, which could be ideal for watching the likes of Netflix and Disney Plus on the go.
But are all of those specs worth the absence of ports? Fortunately, Craob has a workaround, with the wireless charger (which magnetically clips onto the laptop’s lid) featuring multiple ports such as USB-C, USB-A, Thunderbolt, an SD card slot and a headphone jack. It’s a clever workaround, but we won’t know how well this works in practice without testing it out for ourselves. We’re expecting it to have a major impact on data transfer speeds at the very least.
There are no details regarding price or release date just yet, but we’ll make sure to keep you up to date with all the latest information on the Craob X.
The Trusted Take
I have to say, I’m very sceptical about the idea of a laptop with no ports. Having a portable PC that is super skinny and hardly weighs a think obviously has its benefits, but I’m unconvinced that they outweigh the convenience of having ports such as USB and a headphone jack. And wireless charging is notoriously inefficient compared to a physical power cable.
That said, I’m intrigued by the wireless charger that features all of the conventional laptop ports. If that can offer a similar performance to on-board ports (which is unlikely), then this Craob X laptop may be onto something. At the very least, it’s great to see laptop manufacturers experimenting with new innovations rather than simply following the latest trend.
You no longer have to be a GM employee to try Cruise's self-driving taxi service. TechCrunchnotes Cruise has opened fully driverless ride-hailing to the public in San Francisco. The company is initially accepting sign-ups for only"small number" of riders, but those early trips will be free. More slots will open as more cars become available, Cruise said.
Be prepared for an unusual pickup. A spokesperson told TechCrunch this first service operates between 11PM and 5AM, and you'll have to be content with rides in certain parts of the Chinatown, Haight-Ashbury, Pacific Heights and Richmond District neighborhoods. The nighttime runs will help Cruise have the most impact, the spokesperson said, and should expand over time.
The free rides aren't entirely voluntary. While Cruise has most of the licenses needed to offer driverless service, it doesn't yet have the California Public Utilities Commission permit needed to charge for those rides.
The launch comes at a good time for Cruise. While it abruptly lost CEO Dan Ammann in December, the SoftBank Vision Fund is investing another $1.35 billion in the company now that it's running truly driverless cars. Cruise can better afford those free rides and otherwise take the time to build out autonomous driving technology that includes the Origin shuttle van. The firm wasn't necessarily facing a crisis given GM's healthy financials, but this clearly reduces some of the pressure to make money.
- Episode 6 (of 7), ‘Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger’
- Written by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni
- Directed by Dave Filoni
★★★★
Spoilers for The Book of Boba Fettfollow.
Boba Fett famously spoke just four lines in the original Star Wars trilogy, yet he still managed to become an icon.
Now, the son of Jango has made it through two whole episodes of the show that bears his name without uttering a single word. And the fact that they’ve also been the two best episodes so far isn't a coincidence.
Look past the notion that The Book of Boba Fett is rapidly becoming the most misleading title on television, and it’s clear that the former bounty hunter works best in his original role – as a memorable supporting player with a killer suit of armor.
Now that the show has detailed the long and winding road that took him from Sarlacc dinner to mob boss, it’s free to tell a multi-character, thematically varied story in the tradition of classic Star Wars.
And, even if the much-vaunted Tatooine-meets-The Godfather plot is still struggling to deliver – despite early promise, there’s still little evidence there’s a concrete story to tell – there’s now no question that The Book of Boba Fett will leave its mark on the galaxy’s wider mythology. It’s just a shame that Boba himself may be the collateral damage in a Disney Plus series that’s much better at telling other people’s stories than his own.
That said, this episode is so packed that writers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni (who also directs) would struggle to find space for Mr Fett, even if they wanted to. To borrow from that classic Friends title treatment, ‘From the Desert Comes a Stranger’ is ‘The One with all the Characters’. It's an instalment that devotes screen time to so many major characters from The Mandalorian that Carl Weathers (Greef Karga) and Katee Sackhoff (Bo-Katan Kryze) must be disappointed they didn’t get a phone call.
After working with George Lucas on The Clone Wars for years, Star Wars lore runs through Filoni’s blood like Midi-chlorians, and his influence is unmistakeable here. From a pair of characters he originated in animation (Ahsoka Tano and Cad Bane), to a trio of bona fide superstars (R2-D2, Baby Yoda and Luke Skywalker), this is an unashamed opportunity to revel in the vastness of Star Wars lore.
But it’s Luke and Grogu’s Dagobah-inspired training sequence that will undoubtedly grab the headlines, as The Empire Strikes Back’s pupil/teacher dynamic shifts to make Luke the master.
Beyond the educational opportunities, most of Grogu’s exercises (whether levitating a frog or hopping between rocks) are precision engineered to become internet memes – frankly, everything that kid does is cute.
And yet he’s still prone to the impulsiveness of a toddler, something Luke may not have entirely grasped. In fact, learning about Grogu’s past – and by extension, that of his old master, Yoda – seems as important to Skywalker Jr. as training his new Padawan. A flashback to the Jedi slaughter during Order 66 – nearly three decades earlier – is a harrowing glimpse of the intense trauma in the Child’s past, and is sure to tug on the heartstrings.
While wheeling out an iconic character in Luke, for a supporting role no less, undeniably cheapens his surprise cameo in The Mandalorian season 2 finale, it’s integral to the continuation of Mando and Grogu’s story. As a heartbroken Din Djarin looks on from a distance, this is far from the joyous reunion many were hoping for – even though the Child’s come on leaps and (Force-powered) bounds since they parted ways.
But Skywalker Jr. isn’t the only practitioner of Jedi ways in the episode. “Old friend of the family” Ahsoka Tano pops in for a visit, although she’s slightly surplus to requirements. Her main functions are seemingly keeping Mando away from Grogu, and reminding everyone she exists before her own spin-off series gets underway – for a character who’s such a favorite with fans, it feels like a slightly unnecessary cameo.
Back on Tatooine, the episode is effectively a recruitment drive for the inevitable season finale shoot-out – already something of a cliché in Star Wars TV shows.
Even by the standards of that galaxy far, far away, a militia boasting Boba Fett, Fennec Shand, 'Mando', Black Krrsantan, a pair of Gamorreans, and a bunch of Vespa-riding mods feels like an implausibly ragtag assortment of warriors. But that mercenary weirdness is perfect counterpoint to all that earnest Jedi philosophising with Luke and Ahsoka. Recapturing the original trilogy’s blend of Western-style lawlessness and Force-powered mythology, then, is the episode’s biggest strength.
The return of Mos Pelgo’s Marshal Cobb Vanth is particularly welcome. He’s the quintessential honorable lawman on a lawless frontier, one of the few to face up to the danger of the oncoming Pyke storm – even in his “more careful”, armor-less state, he’d be a worthy addition to Fett’s army.
Timothy Olyphant injects a healthy dose of charisma and quotable humor to the episode. As a character who survives by his wits and skills with a blaster alone, he may be the closest thing we’ve had to Han Solo since Return of the Jedi.
If only he’d watched The Clone Wars, however, he’d have recognized the silhouette emerging from the desert a little sooner. Then he’d have realized that Cad Bane (a character who presumably had an alien Clint Eastwood on his bedroom wall as a kid) is not a bounty hunter to be messed with, and that he should have taken cover with the rest of Freetown's residents.
But then we’d have been denied a wonderfully tense face-off lifted straight out of a classic Western, that ends with Vanth fighting for his life after Bane proves he’s the superior marksman. Bane’s reminder that that Tatooine belongs to his employers – the Pyke Syndicate – is wonderfully chilling, and makes the Spice runners significantly scarier than they have been to date.
But even the unresolved fates of Vanth – or the patrons of Madam Garsa's Sanctuary after that bomb blast – come to feel close to inconsequential.
Indeed, Grogu’s choice becomes a cliffhanger that could shape the destiny of The Mandalorian's next season. Will the kid opt to get his hands on the ultimate Star Wars souvenir, in the form of Yoda’s old lightsaber? Or will he go with that beautifully crafted beskar chain mail? We can’t help hoping he chooses the latter – after all, it would be a shame to see the little glass dome on Mando’s new Naboo starfighter going to waste.
Our verdict
Cobb Vanth used to wear Boba Fett's iconic armor. (Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm)
When The Book of Boba Fett was first announced, many fans speculated that it was a rebranded third season. It now seems they weren’t too far off the mark, as the last two episodes have been as much continuation of Din Djarin’s story as a new chapter in Boba Fett’s. Whatever the title in the credits, it’s clear that Lucasfilm and Disney see both shows in this post-Return of the Jedi era as part of the same story.
That Marvel Cinematic Universe-style interconnectivity is great news for Star Wars as a whole, but may come at the expense of The Book of Boba Fett having its own beginning, middle and end. If there's a bigger bad than the Pykes waiting in the wings, the show is running out of time for a big reveal, and if there isn’t… well, it’s disappointing that Favreau, Filoni and Robert Rodriguez couldn’t come up with a better adversary for a superstar like Fett.
Still, even if The Book of Boba Fett turns out to be a bridge to other corners of the galaxy rather than a show in its own right, this episode’s mix of Jedi lore, emotional beats and Star Wars underworld weirdness suggests that those overlong flashbacks earlier in the season were outliers rather than the norm. And the Star Wars galaxy is an essential pop culture destination once again.
Force facts
Ahsoka and Grogu first made friends in The Mandalorian season 2 episode 'The Jedi'. (Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm)
Having debuted in Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath novels (set just after Return of the Jedi), Marshal Cobb Vanth made his screen debut in The Mandalorian’s season 2 premiere. Vanth used Boba Fett’s famous armor to help bring law and order to the frontier settlement of Mos Pelgo (now known as Freetown), until he handed it to Mando as payment for helping save the locals from a troublesome krayt dragon.
The stone hut under construction on Luke’s homeworld looks very similar to the ancient Jedi buildings on Ahch-To in The Last Jedi, aka Star Wars Episode VIII.
The name of the planet where Luke built his Jedi school has never been confirmed in canon. Whether we’ve just visited that world – or Luke subsequently relocated – is unclear.
Luke’s black outfit harks back to the suit he wore in Return of the Jedi.
Skywalker’s return is once again a triumph of digital de-ageing CG – you can learn more in the brilliant ‘Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian: The Making of Season 2’ Finale documentary on Disney Plus, which explains how ILM used ground breaking technology to recreate the young Luke.
While original Luke (Mark Hamill) gets a credit, his body double from The Mandalorian’s season 2 finale – Max Lloyd Jones – isn’t mentioned. We’d be surprised if he didn’t fulfill a similar role here, though – especially as he turned up as an X-wing pilot last week.
It’s not surprising that Luke wants to know more about Yoda and his race – neither his planet nor his species have ever been revealed in Star Wars canon. Aside from Yoda and Grogu, the only other representative of the species we’ve ever seen is Yaddle, a female who made a brief appearance in The Phantom Menace.
We’re guessing someone at Disney saw Grogu in a backpack and screamed: “Merchandising opportunity!”. It's that, or a fun callback to how Yoda trained Luke in The Empire Strikes Back.
The hovering training remote Luke uses to teach Grogu made its first appearance in A New Hope.
We already knew from The Mandalorian season 2 episode ‘The Jedi’ that Grogu was raised in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where he was trained by many masters. This may explain why Luke feels like the Child is remembering, rather than being taught.
The harrowing flashback shows Baby Yoda watching his protectors being wiped out by Clone Troopers, after the newly crowned Emperor initiated “Order 66” (as seen in Revenge of the Sith).
One of the principal characters in The Clone Wars, Ahsoka Tano was Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice. She left the Jedi Order after being framed for a crime she didn't commit, but went on to play a pivotal role in the formation of the Rebel Alliance as covert operative Fulcrum (see Star Wars Rebels). She made her live-action debut in ‘The Jedi’.
Rosario Dawson is back as Ahsoka, having inherited the role from Clone Wars/Rebels voice actor Ashley Eckstein.
Episode 6 clears up the mystery of whether Luke ever met his father’s former apprentice, and why she turned down the chance to train Grogu. Apparently the fact the Child chose to go with Luke was crucial.
It would also be interesting to learn when Ahsoka first met Luke – was it before or after he made contact with Grogu in ‘The Rescue’.
Ahsoka’s own spin-off series will reportedly start shooting imminently. Dawson will be joined in the cast by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Natasha Liu Bordizzo (playing Mandalorian Rebel Sabine Wren) and Hayden Christensen (as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader).
The Jawa Sandcrawler Mando sees from the air is carrying the skull of a krayt dragon – presumably the one killed by the residents of Mos Pelgo. A krayt dragon skeleton can also be seen half-buried in the sands of Tatooine in the opening act of A New Hope.
This is Cad Bane’s first appearance in live-action, but the Clint Eastwood-inspired Duros bounty hunter has a long history in Star Wars animation. The ruthless killer was a frequent thorn in Jedi sides in The Clone Wars, and he’s also popped up in The Bad Batch. This is our first confirmation that he survived through the Imperial era – making it even more bizarre that he wasn’t among the mercenaries Darth Vader recruited to hunt down the Millennium Falcon in The Empire Strikes Back.
The Clone Wars voice actor Corey Burton returns to voice the character – presumably nobody else could come close to replicating that characteristic growl.
Wherever Cad Bane goes, his droid Todo 360 (voiced by Seth Green) is usually close behind.
Cad Bane’s long walk into town is almost definitly inspired by Omar Sharif’s famous entrance in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia.
There’s a bat-like Chadra-Fan propping up the bar in Garsa Fwip’s Sanctuary. The species first appeared in the Mos Eisley Cantina in A New Hope.
The two Pykes leave a “camtono” in the Sanctuary. A camtono is a cylindrical container frequently used in the Star Wars galaxy for carrying valuables. A notable example can be seen in The Empire Strikes Back, held by a background character evacuating Cloud City. Because the camtono resembled an ice cream maker, he became widely known as the “Ice Cream Man”, but was subsequently written into canon as Willrow Hood.
The episode’s co-writer and director Dave Filoni made his name in Star Wars circles as the showrunner of animated shows The Clone Wars and Rebels. Now Executive Creative Director at Lucasfilm, he’s directed The Mandalorian episodes ‘The Mandalorian’, ‘The Gunslinger’ (which featured Fennec Shand’s first appearance) and ‘The Jedi’. He’ll also call the shots on the Ahsoka TV series.
The episode’s Jedi stunt double is Scott Lang, who shares his name with the MCU’s Ant-Man.
New episodes of The Book of Boba Fett debut on Disney Plus every Wednesday.
It was the second week in a row where Disney+'s The Book of Boba Fett's story focused primarily on The Mandalorian--along with some other special guests. This week's episode focused on Mando gathering some help in order to take down the Pyke Syndicate, and in doing so, a bunch of familiar faces pop back up.
Warning, there are spoilers for the episode below.
Many of these characters you've seen on The Mandalorian, but they've been worked into this episode. From tiny little green buddies that you're not supposed to call Baby Yoda anymore to lawman who originally wore the Boba Fett armor, chances are you'll get a kick out of seeing all these Star Wars characters in this episode.
Episode 6 of The Book of Boba Fett also marks the live-action debut of a famed bounty hunter from an animated series. Check out all the returning characters and some Easter eggs below.
Cobb Vanth
Timothy Olyphant returns as Cobb Vanth, the Marshall of Mos Pelgo--which is now called Freetown. He has his own deputy this time around though, JJ Dashnaw (Sin City) plays Deputy Scott according to the credits. Sadly, Vanth probably won't be showing up much more in this series because of how the episode ended.
R2-D2
It's everyone's favorite booping and beeping sassy robot. R2 is still by Luke's side at this time. This is still a few years before we see R2 with Leia at the Resistance base in Force Awakens.
Order 66
Grogu's earliest memories happen during Order 66--which we saw happen in Revenge of the Sith and the animated series The Clone Wars. This is when Palpatine ordered the Clone Troopers to kill off all of the Jedi, including Younglings. Grogu has a distant memory of this, as three unknown Jedi take on a group of Clone Troopers in a hallway.
Ahsoka Tano
Rosario Dawson reprises her role as Ahsoka Tano from the Mandalorian, the former Jedi Padawan who was trained by none other than Anakin Skywalker, also known as Darth Vader.
Luke Skywalker
In the Season 2 finale of The Manadlorian, Luke Skywalker showed up and whisked Grogu away. Now, he's training Grogu to become a Jedi. A good chunk of the episode focused around the training.
Grogu and the training ball
Everyone's favorite green guy is back. Formerly known as Baby Yoda, Grogu has begun his journey to become a Jedi. Luke introduces him to a Jedi Training Droid, which does exactly what you think it does. In the past, we saw Luke use it on the Millennium Falcon.
Luke carrying Grogu
Yes, Grogu is a tiny guy, so he can't move as fast as Luke--but Grogu can totally do backflips--so Luke has to carry Grogu on his back. When Luke was training on Dagobah, he carried Yoda on his back in the same manner–and even compared Grogu to the fallen Jedi master.
Jawa Sandcrawler
We catch a brief shot of the Jawa Sandcralwer, and what's interesting about that is the giant skull on top. This is the skull of a krayt dragon, which Mando and Vanth helped kill in Season 2 of The Mandalorian.
Live action Cad Bane
Fans of the animated series The Clone Wars or The Bad Batch will recognize this face. At Freetown, an imposing man in a hat approaches Vanth, which ultimately leads to the marshall getting shot. This is none other than the bounty hunter Cad Bane, who is about 70 years old at this time. After the death of Jango Fett, Bane was the most-feared bounty hunter in the system. Bane has worked with Darth Maul, Darth Sidious, and even Jabba the Hutt. Now, he's working for the Pyke Syndicate.
This year will be densely packed with Marvel movies and streaming TV shows. Here's what to expect and when.
Marvel Studios and its big machine may have had things slightly waylaid by 2020, but the past year has proven more productive than ever--and 2022 is shaping up to be no different. Gone are the days when the calendar would be occupied by two or, at most, three major MCU releases. Now we've got a fully packed slate with nine different projects on the calendar.
Yes, some of them are still tentative and could potentially be pushed, but the vast majority of them aren't. Even at the absolute bare minimum and barring any major release date catastrophes, we can expect three different movies and at least three different Disney+ shows before this year is over--probably more.
That said, it can understandably get a little overwhelming and a little hard to keep track of, especially if you're paying attention to literally anything else in entertainment on top of all this. So, we've taken it upon ourselves to make things a bit easier with a simple breakdown of all of Marvel Studios' 2022 releases, when they're coming, and what they are.
What upcoming MCU projects are you most excited for? Let us know in the comments.
Moon Knight
Disney+, March 30
The first official MCU entry for the new year is Moon Knight, which will premiere on Disney+ in March and already has a full-length trailer to tease your expectations. Basically, Marc Spector is in for a rough time, which is pretty standard fare for him. Moon Knight is typically likened to Batman as a character with no real superpowers, plenty of gadgets, and a dubious personality--though he tends to take things a bit further with an actual diagnosed case of multiple personalities and different identities he flips between as he fights crime. Also, he may or may not be literally in contact with a supernatural deity, just to make things even more tricky to understand.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Theaters, May 6
The first theatrical release of 2022 is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which is theoretically going to premiere in May. That is, assuming it doesn't get delayed or shuffled with the ongoing COVID pandemic. Right now, it's impossible to tell whether or not this (or any of the non-streaming) releases are going to hold, but we can continue to hope. A trailer was released for this one as the second post-credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home, and it was teased heavily by the end of WandaVision as well.
Thor: Love and Thunder
Theaters, July 8
The second theatrical release of the year will belong to Thor: Love and Thunder, scheduled to debut in theaters this July. No trailer has been released for this one yet, though we do know that it's going to feature Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher and will doubtlessly be all sorts of ridiculous thanks to Taika Waititi's hallmark style.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Theaters, November 11
Details for the second Black Panther film are being kept under wraps and, while we know Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa will not be recast, we don't know who or what this movie will focus on in his place. Other characters like M'Baku, Shuri, W'Kabi, Okoye, and Nakia will be returning alongside Ryan Coogler who is returning to direct. Additionally, Dominique Thorne will be debuting as Riri Williams, AKA Ironheart, who will go on to star in her own Disney+ series.
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Disney+, December
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, which we know next to nothing about, is aiming for a December release. James Gunn is helming this particular project and we can assume it's going to be the exact kind of ridiculous you've come to expect from him, though details beyond that are still very scarce.
Ms. Marvel
Disney+, TBA
Following Moon Knight, we can expect Ms. Marvel to drop on Disney+, though no premiere date has been set. We do, however, have a handful of promotional clips and images featuring Iman Vellani's debut as Kamala Khan, a young girl who gains superpowers and just so happens to be a massive fan of Carol Danvers.
She-Hulk
Disney+, TBA
Another D+ TV show that has been promoted with clips and images is She-Hulk, which will likely come after Ms. Marvel (or vice versa, given the lack of official release dates post-Moon Knight.) It will focus on Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters, the cousin of Bruce Banner who suffers from a similar green problem--except she's not a scientist, she's a lawyer. We can expect her case work to take her all over the proverbial map within the MCU and probably provide a road for no shortage of cameos.
What If…? Season 2
Disney+, TBA
Disney's animated MCU show, What If…? Will be returning for a second season, and, thus far, it seems to be on the docket for a 2022 release. This could certainly change, however. There has been no promotional material released and no official date set, meaning if production is pushed for pandemic related reasons or otherwise, we could be waiting a bit longer for this one.
Secret Invasion
Disney+, TBA
Another show that remains relatively up in the air is Secret Invasion, the Skrull-focused story featuring Nick Fury and Maria Hill that will, presumably, deal with that Spider-Man: Far From Home stinger that has yet to be expanded upon. You know, the one with Fury being up in space with the Skrulls and Talos impersonating Fury? What was up with that? As of right now, Secret Invasion is loosely slated for a 2022 release but it wouldn't be surprising to see this one pushed into 2023, given how crowded the slate of D+ releases already is and the lack of promotional material. But, still, it's better to keep an eye out.
