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Although ARM-based single-board computers are more popular by far, there’s a time and place for x86 SBCs. In general, they often pack more of a punch and can be used in applications where power consumption is of lesser concern than performance such as server hosting and emulation.

This post contains spoilers through the seventh episode in season 3 of "Star Trek: Picard."

As of this writing, seven episodes of "Star Trek: Picard" have aired, and we've learned many secrets about the show's primary antagonist, Vadic (Amanda Plummer). Captaining a ship called the Shrike, Vadic has the ability to form weaponized portals in space and uses this technology to redirect enemy fire back at them. The Shrike can also fling entire starships using its overpowered tractor beam, and a lot of dialogue has been devoted to how well-armed it is. Vadic projects a slithery intensity when talking to her potential foes, and sports facial scars and the slicked-forward hairstyle of a proper supervillain. Vadic, however, becomes scared in private when talking to her Changeling commanding officer. Her villainous arrogance is merely a show. 

We eventually learn that Vadic is also a Changeling. Following the Dominion War (a central event of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine") she had been captured by a Federation scientist (also Plummer), who subjected her and several other Changelings (who ordinarily live in a liquid state) to horrible tortures and medical experiments. Vadic eventually revolted, took the form of her torturer, and set about on a quest for revenge.

While the "singular villain who wants revenge" is a too-tired trope of "Star Trek" (the feature films in particular), Plummer has been given the time and the leeway to establish just how scary and threatening Vadic is. 

In a recent interview with TV Line, showrunner Terry Matalas pointed out that Plummer's performance was something of a question mark, at least at first. It seems that Plummer was busy shooting another TV series, so she was unavailable for rehearsals. No one knew what kind of performance she was going to give until she was already on set. This left everyone, including her co-stars, uneasy.

Acting To A Blank Screen

Terry Matalas may have been a little scared, but he was resolute in casting Amanda Plummer. He admitted he has been a fan of hers for many years, stemming from when he saw her in several of her more notable 1990s feature films as well as one of her more famous stage performances. He wrote the role with the actor in mind, and Matalas felt he tailored the part well. The showrunner said:

"I have always had this fascination with Amanda Plummer. I mean, going back to her winning the Tony for 'Agnes of God,' to 'The Fisher King' to 'Pulp Fiction' to 'The Prophecy' ... I just loved her. There were two actors that we wrote for: One was Amanda Plummer. The other was Todd Stashwick, who plays Shaw, who I've worked with before on '12 Monkeys.' There was never anyone else ever envisioned in those roles besides those two people, and the value of that is you get to write towards their strengths." 

But, that didn't mean everything went as smoothly as Matalas would have liked. He pointed out that Plummer was so busy, that her appearance became a last-minute proposition. A lot of "Picard" had to be shot before her actual arrival on set, leaving many actors talking to a blank viewscreen to be filled in later. Luckily, when the time came, Plummer brought the villainy. Matalas said: 

"Amanda was shooting another show, 'Ratched,' so she came in after we had already shot the majority of episodes 1 through 5. So we didn't know who was going to appear on the viewscreen. By the first rehearsal, we were all holding our breath, and [when] she gave that performance, people were hugging each other, people were congratulating each other. We were so thrilled to have a classic, larger-than-life 'Star Trek' villain."

Villainy?

"Star Trek," of course, often gets a lot of traction by being more morally nuanced than a "hero/villain" dynamic would allow. There are plenty of scary, cruel, and destructive characters throughout the franchise, but most of them are depicted as fully realized people with motivations and belief sets that stand counter to our own. Villainy is an exciting dramatic tool, but it doesn't have much of a place in the usually staid, diplomatic world of "Star Trek."

Terry Matalas wanted to address this by saying that Vadic did indeed have her motivations, having been filled with justified wrath over being a tortured prisoner of war. In Matalas' words, she "has her own story and reasons to sympathize with her as well. [...] She has very personal reasons, but she also answers to a higher power, let's just say."

Matalas was also comfortable with Vadic's behavior on "Picard," as she links up to the established canon. As a Changeling, Trekkies will be able to understand her motivations better than if she were in it for novel reasons. Fans of "Deep Space Nine" will have many years of backstory to draw on as well as a new mystery to solve: Why did the Changelings come out of hiding, what is their plan, and how deep does the conspiracy run? 

Three episodes of "Picard" remain. The answers to these questions are forthcoming. 

Read this next: 13 Reasons Why Deep Space Nine Is The Best Star Trek Show

The post Amanda Plummer's First Day As Star Trek: Picard's Vadic Had The Cast On Edge appeared first on /Film.

In season 3 of "Star Trek: Picard," the original crew from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" have returned to help their old friend Jean-Luc (Patrick Stewart) in one last great adventure. Enterprise engineer and Starfleet museum operator Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) has ended up back in the thick of things against his will after Picard came to him for help along with one of his daughters, Sidney (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut). Sidney steers the helm of the U.S.S. Titan and is quite a bit different from her dear dad, but the other La Forge daughter is a chip off the old block. Alandra not only works with her dad at the museum, she's also an engineer. What's more, she's played by LeVar Burton's real-life daughter, Mica Burton. 

Mica managed to get the gig without involving her dad at all, and seeing the two of them onscreen together is truly lovely. There's real love and a genuine father-daughter relationship behind the fictional one, and that's pretty darn cool. In a recent interview with Collider, she explained that there are some traits she picked up from watching her dad that ended up becoming a part of her character as well. 

It's All In The Hands

When asked about the similarities between Alandra and her dad compared to her sister Sidney, Mica explained that at least one similarity was intentional on her part: 

"A mannerism I picked up from my dad on set that he didn't notice until he saw the first picture of us in uniform together, is that I hold my hands exactly how he holds his hands in front of him and behind him. And I think that is kind of who Alandra is. She so much looks up to her father that she so much wants to be like him, but also envies Sidney for having the courage to be somewhat different. But I think that both sisters have their own little mini versions of Geordi in themselves."

What's interesting is that Geordi tends to stand in similar positions to the military stance for "at rest," with his feet shoulder-width apart and his hands folded either in front of him or behind him at waist level. It makes sense that he would default to that stance, because once you learn it, it becomes your default. (There's a reason it's "at rest," because it's a pretty comfortable way to stand!) Starfleet is kind of an intergalactic military, after all. It's easy to spot the similarities in the way that Mica and Geordi both stand, but there's plenty more in common between all three Starfleet La Forges.

Stellar Sisters

One thing Geordi clearly instilled in his daughters is a willingness to stand up for what they believe is right, even when it's not always easy to do so. Sidney went her own way in Starfleet, becoming a pilot instead of following in her father's footsteps and working in engineering, and both daughters demand that he allow them to help with Picard's mission. They're not afraid because they've heard all of the tales of their father's heroism, and both are looking to do some heroic things themselves. 

While it's probably pretty hard for Geordi to see his daughters put themselves in the line of fire the same way he once used to (and still does, if Picard comes knocking), he has to be proud of what incredible young women he's helped to raise. One thing that's nice for Mica and LeVar is that he never has to pretend to be proud of her, because it's all real. 

New episodes of "Star Trek: Picard" premiere Thursdays on Paramount+. 

Read this next: 12 Reasons Why The Original Series Is The Best Star Trek Show

The post Mica Burton Copied A Signature Geordi La Forge Move For Star Trek: Picard appeared first on /Film.

Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" is now widely regarded as one of the best superhero films of all time, particularly for its gruesome update of Batman's ultimate villain, the Joker. Heath Ledger delivered a jolting take on the villain in question, one that's overshadowed every Joker performance before or since. Surprisingly though, not everyone was in love with Ledger's update: Jack Nicholson, who played the villain in Tim Burton's "Batman," was reportedly "furious" over it. He's understandably protective over the role, telling MTV in 2007, "The Joker comes from my childhood. That's how I got involved with it in the first place. It's a part I always thought I should play."

Though Nicholson always had a connection to the character, and even wanted to portray the Joker again in a sequel, it was Burton who first inspired him to take the part in the 1989 film. "Tim Burton's a genius," the actor said. "That's why I did the movie. I did the movie based on a single conversation with him."

'[The Joker] Should Have A Humorous Dark Side To Him'

For Nicholson, there was a clear appeal to working with Tim Burton, and it began with their shared history in animation. Burton's tenure with Disney's animation division is well known, but Nicholson also got his start as an office assistant for MGM Animation. As a result, they both had "similar ideas" about their version of the Joker. "Tim said [the Joker] should have a humorous dark side to him," Nicholson explained. That's pretty much the common thread that unites every Joker performance, but Burton's direction was apparently the secret ingredient.

"I don't think they ever really captured Tim Burton's spirit [since he stopped being involved]," Nicholson continued. "They kind of drove the franchise into the ground." One has to wonder what the actor thought of Joel Schumaker's sequels, or whether he's seen any other Joker performances since. It's been 15 years since Heath Ledger took his place as the Clown Prince of Crime, and the role has been recast three times over — through Jared Leto, Joaquin Phoenix and Barry Keoghan, respectively. 

At the time, it didn't seem like Nicholson didn't enjoy any of the Caped Crusader's films after "Batman Returns," and though he hadn't completely written Nolan's films off, he wasn't in a huge rush to check out "The Dark Knight," either. "I'm not inclined to watch it because of what I said. But if it's a good movie, I'll catch up with it somewhere." Probably depends on how well the Los Angeles Lakers are doing. 

Read this next: Joker's Wild: Ranking The Cinematic Versions Of The Clown Prince Of Crime

The post The Simple Reason Jack Nicholson Became The Joker For Tim Burton's Batman appeared first on /Film.

Scientists think they've found a way to harvest more electricity from plants, a finding that could ripple out to other renewable energy technologies.

To be a part of the "Star Wars" legacy that George Lucas created is the ultimate dream for so many performers who grew up watching the original trilogy. If an actor gets to be a part of this vast galaxy of creatures and characters, that feeling of total elation, however, is probably quickly eclipsed by the fear of revealing anything about the clandestine project you're working on. 

For tentpole films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Lucasfilm, there's so much riding on keeping everything top secret that it's a wonder actors are even allowed to promote these projects at all. For example, a few months before "Rogue One" came out, one of the actors accidentally let out a huge spoiler that gave away a major character's death. Once audiences actually saw the dark ending for "Rogue One" where everyone perishes thanks to a massive blast from the Death Star, that accidental reveal didn't seem so disastrous. 

Diego Luna also got in trouble on the "Rogue One" press tour, but not in the way you might think. While trying to avoid saying anything about the plot that led directly into "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope," Luna kept mentioning that he's always wanted to touch Jabba the Hutt. "The texture of Jabba is something I need to discover," he jokingly said during the original promotion for the film. The combination of Luna and Jabba was apparently too exciting for the internet to handle, and the memes and speculation turned his cute, but admittedly weird, aside into a viral sensation. According to Luna, those words have been haunting him ever since.

Maybe We Should Stop Asking Diego Luna About Jabba The Hutt

For what it's worth, Diego Luna's fascination with touching the skin of Jabba the Hutt sounds exactly like something a kid would think about watching "Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi" for the first time. Jabba is one of the greatest puppets ever made — no wonder Luna would want to rub his belly! 

Luna likely wishes he never said anything about touching Jabba because he's been asked about it constantly over the years. When the actor was on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in March 2020 promoting Netflix's "Narcos: Mexico," Fallon tried to get any information out of him about the then-upcoming "Rogue One" prequel series, "Andor." Luna expertly avoided that question, only to have Fallon play a clip of him gushing over Jabba during the "Rogue One" press tour. "It suddenly started to feel like I was in love with Jabba. It's not, I'm sorry!" Luna said to Fallon. "I am not in love with Jabba. That was one big mistake I made." Luna also shared that everyone started sending him countless Jabba gifts — further evidence that he can't escape his innocent, off-the-cuff comment about Jabba's squishiness. 

Baby Yoda a.k.a. Grogu was on everyone's minds when Luna appeared on Fallon, and Luna fell even deeper into the sarlacc pit when the late-night host asked him if Jabba would cameo in "Andor."  "I hope baby Jabba," Luna quipped. "It's all about babies." The internet was already way ahead of him, and Baby Jabba the Hutt was born.

What's The Best Possibility For Andor And Jabba To Meet?

After Princess Leia strangled Jabba on his own sail barge in "Return of the Jedi," fans eventually saw Jabba's Palace again in the teaser for "The Book of Boba Fett" after the season 2 finale of "The Mandalorian." The events of "Andor" occur roughly 14 years before the events of "The Mandalorian" and "The Book of Boba Fett," so Jabba would look roughly the same as he did in "Return of the Jedi." If a cameo occurs in season 2 of "Andor," Diego Luna could have the chance to make contact with a massive Jabba puppet that resembles the creature from his childhood. "Andor," however, is a much more grounded "Star Wars" show focusing on the forgotten heroes that sparked the Rebellion, so one could argue that Jabba wouldn't fit in well in the story that they're trying to tell. 

It would make more sense to have Cassian Andor and Jabba appear in animated form in something like "Star Wars: Visions" or in a one-off comic book issue, just to appease fans and finally bring Luna's long national nightmare to a close. Officially, StarWars.com even got in on the fun in 2019, asking Luna if any progress had been made. "I mean, I didn't put it in the contract again because I'm an idiot," Luna remarked. "But I really hope so. I'm just here to do that. I'll do everything else to just touch Jabba."

More recently, /Film's Ethan Anderton also followed up with Luna toward the end of the first season of "Andor" for any updates on the matter. "I don't think it's happening," Luna admitted. "I don't think it's happening, but I got over it. I've done so much fun stuff so far that I don't need that anymore." Do we? 

Read this next: Andor Character Guide: Meet The Cast Of The Rogue One Prequel Series

The post The Star Wars Legacy Character That Andor's Diego Luna Can't Escape appeared first on /Film.

Now, we don't know what the residual details are like for any of the actors in James Cameron's "Avatar" films, but considering both movies are currently in the top 5 highest-grossing films in history, everyone on screen is likely getting a pretty nice payday for their participation. Getting to appear in any of the "Avatar" films would be a dream come true for plenty of folks, but Michelle Rodriguez — who played combat pilot Trudy Chacón in the first film — has no interest in returning to the beautiful world of Pandora. In case you've forgotten, Chacón was a sympathetic figure to the Na'vi in "Avatar," and ends up sacrificing herself during an extremely emotional moment in the final battle to help save the extraterrestrial humanoids of the moon jungle.

In most movies, death marks the end of a character's journey, but James Cameron doesn't limit his storytelling with silly constraints like mortality. As we've already seen with Stephen Lang's character Colonel Miles Quaritch, reincarnation is possible in the world of "Avatar." While the mortal body can be destroyed, memories and brain functions can be transferred to a new body, so theoretically, anyone in the "Avatar" world can make a return. However, during an interview with Vanity Fair ahead of the release of Rodriguez's new movie, "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves," she stood firm that Trudy Chacón won't be one of them ... despite pleas from Cameron himself.

The Fourth Time Is Not The Charm

As Michelle Rodriguez explained during the interview, the last time she crossed paths with James Cameron, he pitched her the idea of her character making a return in the future "Avatar" sequels — considering some of the folks who died in the first film came back for "The Way of the Water." Rodriguez was not on board, and reportedly told him, "You can't do that — I died as a martyr." It's honestly refreshing to hear that she cares enough about the integrity of Trudy Chacón's story to make sure her death continues to mean something, but Rodriguez's disinterest in coming back from the dead is also rooted in the fact she's done it three other times in her career:

"I came back in 'Resident Evil,' I wasn't supposed to. I came back in 'Machete,' I wasn't supposed to. I came back with Letty [in the 'Fast & Furious' movies], I wasn't supposed to. We can't do a fourth [time], that would be overkill!"

The frequency in which Rodriguez plays characters who die only to pop up in later films just because is pretty wild once it's spelled out. "I don't understand, it's so weird," Rodriguez told the publication. "I guess they don't know what to do with the girl who doesn't have a boyfriend." Look, she has a point. Rodriguez doesn't personally subscribe to any labels, but she has publicly confirmed that she isn't straight, and often plays canonically queer or single, queer-coded characters in action films. If you ask me, it's a testament to her talent as a performer because she consistently plays characters the audiences love and are devastated to lose.

Read this next: The 10 Most Visually Beautiful Scenes In Avatar: The Way Of Water

The post Michelle Rodriguez Turned Down Avatar Sequels Because She's Done Coming Back from the Dead appeared first on /Film.

There are a lot of memorable characters who orbit the central study group on the NBC comedy series "Community," but few had the ability to send everything into chaos quite like Señor Ben Chang. The character starts out as the study group's Spanish teacher, but eventually ends up becoming one of the series' biggest antagonists. Played with bottomless energy by actor Ken Jeong, Chang is one of the most ridiculous characters in sitcom history. His arc over the six seasons (and upcoming movie) of the series is one of the most extreme of the entire cast, and that's pretty incredible considering Troy (Donald Glover) ends up sailing the globe with LeVar Burton.

In a Reddit Ask Me Anything, series creator Dan Harmon explained that while Chang was fantastic in the authority position of a professor, he was just too great to relegate to the realm of teaching forever. Instead, Harmon and the writers decided to use Chang like another famous sitcom character: Henry Winkler's The Fonz from "Happy Days"!

An Agent Of Chaos

The AMA took place between the second and third seasons, when Chang had gone from being a Spanish teacher to a student at Greendale, taking Anthropology with the study group and wreaking general havoc. When Dan Harmon was asked about Chang's change in power, he replied:

"I think that Chang's craziness did function better in a position of authority. I didn't want to have everyone keep taking Spanish after year 1 so I thought I'd see what would happen if we took the lid off and just let him be like the Fonz, there when you need him."

Harmon then went on to explain that Chang would be in a place of authority over the study group at some point in season 3, which is a bit of an understatement given that Chang takes over the entire school near the end of the season. The idea of using Chang "like the Fonz" is an interesting one, however, because Chang operates as a wild card that appears whenever the story needs a true agent of chaos. The study group can be plenty chaotic, but they have distinct personalities and character rules that can't be broken without sacrificing who they are. Chang, on the other hand, can do anything.

No Sharks To Jump, Just Monkey Gas

On "Happy Days," the Fonz was the ultimate wild card, showing up whenever things got a little too wholesome around 1950s Milwaukee. He started as a side character, but his popularity made him get more and more screen time as the show went on, much like Chang. One of the most (in)famous episodes of "Happy Days" featured Fonzie jumping over a shark on water skis, spawning the phrase "jumping the shark." (When a series "jumps the shark," the idea is that they've started to reach irrelevancy and are doing more extreme things to appease viewers.) Ben Chang never jumped a shark, but he did hold an entire community college hostage, live in the vents of the school, and end up being chased out of his home by poisonous "monkey gas." Honestly, Chang started out so totally wild that there really wasn't any way he could jump the shark, because it was jumped from the moment he appeared onscreen teaching Spanish.

It will be interesting to see where Chang has ended up after all of these years in the "Community" movie that's in the works ... but you can almost guarantee that it will be wonderfully bizarre.

Read this next: 12 Underrated Sitcoms That You Should Check Out

The post Community's Dan Harmon Used Chang The Same Way Happy Days Used The Fonz appeared first on /Film.

A Pew Research Center survey finds many people in support of a government ban on the social media app.

Documents show that Russian IT company NTC Vulkan was requested to develop offensive tools for government-backed hacking group Sandworm.

The post Leaked Documents Detail Russia’s Cyberwarfare Tools, Including for OT Attacks appeared first on SecurityWeek.

15 years after recruiting Tony Stark for the Avengers Initiative in the post-credits scene for "Iron Man," Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury is finally getting the spotlight to himself in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's long overdue for the beloved character, who's been constantly stuck playing second fiddle to Earth's Mightiest Heroes and other major do-gooders in the franchise, most notably Steve Rogers and Carol Danvers. Admittedly, the latter's 2019 solo film, "Captain Marvel," featured Fury as a co-lead opposite Brie Larson as the titular cosmic superhero in something of a 1990s-styled buddy action-comedy throwback (one that took place in the actual '90s, no less). Still, for as much as that movie plays like a backdoor Nick Fury origin story, its whole vibe doesn't really befit someone as morally grey and ethically flexible as SLJ's super-spy/agent.

The Fury-led "Secret Invasion" series, on the other hand, may yet fulfill the promise of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" by tapping deeper into the cynical, disillusioned mindset of '70s paranoia thrillers in the vein of "The Conversation" and "Three Days of the Condor." Loosely adapted from writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Leinil Francis Yu's 2008 Marvel comic book storyline, the show will pick up with Fury in the aftermath of "Avengers: Endgame," at a point when the grizzled soldier is understandably struggling to process everything that went down in that film. 

"Even Nick Fury can be shaken, you know?" said Jackson, speaking with Vanity Fair as part of the publication's first-look exclusive for the show.

'It's Part Of His Vulnerability Now.'

The last time we saw him in "Spider-Man: Far From Home," the real Nick Fury was chilling on a Skrull spaceship while his Skrull buddy Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) pretended to be him back on Earth. "He's up there trying to process what the f**k happened, you know? And what his place in the world is. The death of Iron Man, the death of Black Widow, with that stuff going on he just kind of checked out," Samuel L. Jackson explained.

Fury's vulnerable state of mind is further reflected in his appearance, as "Secret Invasion" finds the character operating without his trademark eyepatch. It's not that the vision in his damaged eye has been restored, either. Where "Captain Marvel" turned his blinded orb into something of a joke that poked fun at Fury's sense of pride (revealing that, contrary to rumors that he lost his eye doing something really macho, the truth is he simply annoyed an irritable Flerken disguised as an adorable orange cat), "Secret Invasion" repurposes it as a symbol of his emotional trauma and uncertainty post-"Endgame." Here's how Jackson put it:

"He just doesn't wear the patch. The patch is part of who the strong Nick Fury was. It's part of his vulnerability now. You can look at it and see he's not this perfectly indestructible person. He doesn't feel like that guy."

Between digging deeper into Fury as a character (including his shadier dealings in the past) and a global conspiracy plotline that involves shape-shifting Skrulls attempting to quietly secure high-ranking positions of power around the world, "Secret Invasion" has the potential to be one of the more compelling MCU entries this side of "Endgame." We'll see how everything shakes out when the show premieres June 21, 2023, on Disney+.

Read this next: MCU Jokes That Didn't Age Well

The post Why Nick Fury Doesn't Wear His Signature Eyepatch in Marvel's Secret Invasion appeared first on /Film.

I hate to be the one to inform you of this, but Bill Skarsgård has revealed he will not be returning to the role of Pennywise for the upcoming "It" prequel series, "Welcome to Derry."

"Yeah, we'll see what they come up with and what they do with it. As of now, I'm not currently involved with it," the actor explained during an interview with Jake's Takes. "If someone else gets to do it, my advice would be: Do it your own. Make it your own. Have fun with it. What I found pleasurable about that character is how abstract he was."

Is this a super sad but understandable choice for Skarsgård, considering the actor shouldn't be unfairly imprisoned by his most famous character? Most rational folks would say yes here, and I definitely agree. Skarsgård is a great performer, and it obviously wouldn't be doing his skills justice to force him into Pennywise servitude forevermore just because he did a good job in the role. We didn't do it to Tim Curry, either, so we probably shouldn't do it to him. He made his mark on the character and his portrayal will always be remembered for being a worthy successor to Curry's version — and who knows, maybe one day, perhaps he'll give the Stephen King villain another spin.

That being said, is this turn of events actually a good thing, given that it builds upon the ever-shifting nature of Pennywise's illusive persona? Majorly. After all, that's Pennywise's whole game. The entity is a shape-shifter by nature, and his ability to tap into the specificity of his victims makes him scarier than most. It stands to reason that giving him a whole different physicality in the form of a new actor will only serve that concept further.

The Pennywise That Could've Been

One thing this situation is not, my friends, is a dealbreaker. No, ma'am. There are too many great actors out there we don't know — and ones we do with un-mined Pennywise potential — to rest our hats on BIll Skarsgård entirely. Allow yourselves to take a walk back in time with me to the early 2010s, when recently disgraced "True Detective" director Cary Fukunaga was set to helm the "It" movie adaptations.

In June 2012, Fukunaga signed onto the film, replacing David Kajganich as director. He worked alongside the former directorial head, as well as Chase Palmer, who went on to garner a screenwriting credit for the final 2017 version of the first "It" film. Fast forward to May 2015, nearly a year ahead of when principal photography was set to begin in summer 2016: It was revealed that Will Poulter would take on the role of Pennywise after Fukunaga was reportedly highly impressed by his audition for the villainous clown. And for a blissful 21 days, we lived in a world where Poulter — then a scrappy and extremely promising young actor who had, at the time, made some flashes in "We're The Millers" and "The Maze Runner"— would get a chance to show us just how horrifying he could become. I, personally, was very hopeful.

Alas, before the month drew to a close, Fukunaga had dropped out of the project, allegedly due to budget cuts at New Line Cinemas (although the director has maintained that the separation was more due to compromises in his artistic vision he wasn't willing to make). Poulter stayed attached to the project until April 2016, when it was reported that he had also dropped due to scheduling conflicts. A gutting moment to us perpetual Loser Club members everywhere.

Could The Pennywise That Never Was... Return?

In September 2017, Andy Muschietti, who wound up directing both of the "It" movies, opened up about Will Poulter's departure during an interview with Deadline. Interestingly enough, it had less to do with scheduling conflicts than originally advertised. "Will basically expressed a feeling that he had slowly disengaged from playing that character, that was so dark and terrifying," the director told the outlet. "It was a personal decision I respected, but I was eager and willing to find my own Pennywise, and that's what we did."

This all being said, Poulter has since then dipped his toe into horror in a major way with his role in 2019's Ari Aster sophomore feature "Midsommar." He's definitely excelled in the comedic relief side of horror films, but maybe he's still got the itch to go back and explore the genre in a different, darker way. He didn't actually get to do that with "It" at the end of the day, and whatever preparations he did while attached to the role clearly never came to real fruition — so maybe it remains a goal unfulfilled for him.

All I'm saying is, Will, if you're reading this, consider asking your agent to at least get you the script for "Welcome to Derry," because your Pennywise is a horror white whale at this point. There's something so malevolent about a Poulter-version of this character, and it just goes to show that Pennywise the entity is best served when shifting between faces. Either way, a change of pace is due for the clown .. so let's stay true to this character and get Poulter in there; It's what Derry needs.

"Welcome to Derry" is slated to stream on HBO Max, but has yet to lock down a firm premiere date.

Read this next: All 59 Stephen King Movies Ranked From Worst To Best

The post Bill Skarsgård Won't Return as Pennywise for It Prequel Series, But This Could Be a Good Thing appeared first on /Film.

The FDA is asking medical device manufacturers to provide cybersecurity-related information when submitting an application for a new product.

The post FDA Announces New Cybersecurity Requirements for Medical Devices appeared first on SecurityWeek.

Organizations rely on Incident response to ensure they are immediately aware of security incidents, allowing for quick action to minimize damage. They also aim to avoid follow on attacks or future related incidents. The SANS Institute provides research and education on information security. In the upcoming webinar, we’ll outline, in detail, six components of a SANS incident response plan,

Stirring parents up into a paranoid mob is an American tradition, and it's one of our lousiest. The poorly-researched anti-comic book tome "Seduction of the Innocent" led to a public comic book burning in the 1950s and decades of oppressive self-censorship within the publishing world. Violent video games like "Mortal Kombat" were accused of corrupting our children in the 1990s, leading to congressional hearings and a video game rating system.

That these waves of mob mentality are almost universally viewed, years later, as embarrassing ignorance and/or obvious manipulations doesn't seem to stop the cycle from starting up, over and over again. Apparently, nobody ever learns anything. Even when we finally admit that there was nothing terribly sinister about the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons — which was also accused of corrupting kids for many years — and transform it into a family-friendly fantasy movie (for the second time), we find ourselves entrenched in even more harmful frenzies over topics which are clearly little more than shameful scare tactics.

But it's worth remembering that, for a while, the historical moral panics we laugh at today were treated very seriously, and were themselves a part of the cultural landscape. And one of the more curious examples is the film "Mazes and Monsters," which gave us Tom Hanks's first starring role in a movie and taught us that to play Dungeons & Dragons was to play with madness and murder.

No Time To Dice

Tom Hanks wasn't a nobody when he made "Mazes and Monsters." He'd already made his big screen debut in a small but scene-stealing role in the (pretty danged good) slasher "He Knows You're Alone," before co-starring in the briefly popular, but ultimately flash-in-the-pan sitcom "Bosom Buddies," about two men who dress as women so they can live at an affordable hotel that doesn't allow male tenants. In a couple of years, he would be headlining hit comedies like "Bachelor Party" and "Splash." But in the middle, he LARPed his way into terror.

Based on a novel by Rona Jaffe, which was inspired by only somewhat-true events, "Mazes and Monsters" stars Hanks as Robbie, a college student whose brother ran away from home and whose parents hate each other. He was kicked out of his first college for playing too much Mazes and Monsters — the film's fictionalized version of Dungeons & Dragons — and he promises his parents he won't ever play the game again.

This lasts about one day because he quickly finds a notice on a bulletin board -- oh geez, do we have to explain bulletin boards? Try to imagine Twitter on physical media, it was kinda like that -- where a group of M&M enthusiasts (the game, not the candy) are looking for another player. They then proceed to peer pressure the living hell out of Robbie until he finally agrees to join them. Just say no, Robbie! Just say no!

But for a while, Robbie is able to balance his school work, his role-playing games, and even a romance with one of his fellow players, Kate, played by Wendy Crewson ("Air Force One"). Yes, it was the college experience of his dreams... until LARPing turned it into a nightmare.

The World According To LARP

It turns out that, according to the movie "Mazes and Monsters," every single person who's attracted to role-playing games is suffering from extreme mental health issues and/or is the product of a "broken" home. All of Robbie's fellow players are experiencing various forms of psychological strife, including the teenage super-genius Jay Jay, played by Chris Makepeace ("Meatballs"). When Jay Jay finds out that Robbie and Kate are dating, he considers ending his own life in a nearby cavern that's off-limits to students because it's, you know, really cavernous. But instead, he decides to invent a live-action role-playing (LARPing) element for their favorite game and fill the deadly cave with skeletons and other gimmicks.

Unfortunately, when Robbie enters the cavern, he experiences a traumatic hallucination of a giant monster, and even though he's supposed to be playing a peaceful cleric, his first reaction is violence. This, combined with his abandonment issues, leads him to experience vivid dreams where a godlike version of his missing brother tells him to live out the life of his Mazes and Monsters character, break up with Kate, isolate himself from his friends, and pursue a dangerous quest. When Robbie's friends discover that he's disappeared, and figure out that he believes he's his role-playing character, they immediately ditch the evidence that they were LARPing and tell the police they think he's trapped in the caverns.

Except he's not. After a very, very long time, we learn that Robbie actually fled to New York City, where he's attacked in an alley, kills a man, and tries to get to the top of the World Trade Center in pursuit of his quasi-religious quest. And somehow it gets worse.

Hanks For Nothing

"Mazes and Monsters" ends with all of Robbie's friends growing into better people — symbolized by their rejection of role-playing games — and visiting Robbie at his home, where they discover to their horror that his mental health has deteriorated, and he thinks he's a cleric all the time. With no denouement suggesting he'll ever improve, the implication is that Dungeons & Dragons — sorry, Mazes and Monsters — is just too dangerous for sensitive kids. And by extension, probably for anyone.

It must be said that the cast of "Mazes and Monsters," especially Tom Hanks, are taking this material seriously. When Robbie tells Kate about his missing brother, you can catch a glimpse of the dramatic talent that would eventually make Hanks one of the most respected actors of his generation. But this film was clearly produced to capitalize on a wave of paranoia, a condescending melodrama for parents to watch and cluck their tongues at, "knowingly."

Never mind that the real incident Rona Jaffe's story was based on, in which a college student named James Dallas Egbert III disappeared in the steam tunnels underneath Michigan State University, allegedly as a result of a role-playing game, turned out to be misreported. Egbert played Dungeons & Dragons but that wasn't the motivation for his disappearance. He was a troubled youth who attempted self-harm in the steam tunnels due to a variety of mental health issues. Then he stayed with a series of friends and moved to a different city. Tragically, he later took his own life. But there was no evidence that his death had anything to do with games.

But then, why let the truth get in the way of a moral panic? "Mazes and Monsters" touches on the psychological issues of its characters, but it spends so much time demonizing a tabletop game that it never explores those struggles fairly, or realistically. It's a scare film and not a very good one. It would have probably languished in obscurity like so many other flash-in-the-pan TV movies if Hanks hadn't become one of the biggest actors in the world.

Read this next: Fantasy Box Office Bombs That Deserve A Second Chance

The post Tom Hanks's First Lead Role Was in a Movie About How Dungeons & Dragons Will Destroy Your Children appeared first on /Film.

The post Kill Boksoon – Netflix Review (4/5) appeared first on Heaven of Horror.

The “GB_2 Development Team” has released a brand new version of the No VR Mod for Half-Life: Alyx. Moreover, the team released a brand new gameplay video that showcases the mod in action, and we highly recommend watching it. According to the team, Version 4 allows you to fully play the first six chapters without … Continue reading Half-Life: Alyx NoVR Mod Update #4 is available for download →

The post Half-Life: Alyx NoVR Mod Update #4 is available for download appeared first on DSOGaming.

"The Gaurdian reports on a document leak from Russian cyber 'security' company Vulkan," writes Slashdot reader Falconhell. From the report: Inside the six-storey building, a new generation is helping Russian military operations. Its weapons are more advanced than those of Peter the Great's era: not pikes and halberds, but hacking and disinformation tools. The software engineers behind these systems are employees of NTC Vulkan. On the surface, it looks like a run-of-the-mill cybersecurity consultancy. However, a leak of secret files from the company has exposed its work bolstering Vladimir Putin's cyberwarfare capabilities. Thousands of pages of secret documents reveal how Vulkan's engineers have worked for Russian military and intelligence agencies to support hacking operations, train operatives before attacks on national infrastructure, spread disinformation and control sections of the internet. The company's work is linked to the federal security service or FSB, the domestic spy agency; the operational and intelligence divisions of the armed forces, known as the GOU and GRU; and the SVR, Russia's foreign intelligence organization. One document links a Vulkan cyber-attack tool with the notorious hacking group Sandworm, which the US government said twice caused blackouts in Ukraine, disrupted the Olympics in South Korea and launched NotPetya, the most economically destructive malware in history. Codenamed Scan-V, it scours the internet for vulnerabilities, which are then stored for use in future cyber-attacks. Another system, known as Amezit, amounts to a blueprint for surveilling and controlling the internet in regions under Russia's command, and also enables disinformation via fake social media profiles. A third Vulkan-built system -- Crystal-2V -- is a training program for cyber-operatives in the methods required to bring down rail, air and sea infrastructure. A file explaining the software states: "The level of secrecy of processed and stored information in the product is 'Top Secret'."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Almost no one can put away drinks like the debaucherous gang from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," but legendary baseball player Wade Boggs would give them a run for their money. In the season 10 premiere, the dive bar owners hop on a cross-country flight to tackle Boggs' record of 70 beers in transit. The actual number is disputed — Boggs himself claims it's even higher than legend would have us believe — but the episode's premise remains hilarious.

"[Boggs] was famous for baseball, he was also famous for the amount of beer he could drink," series co-creator and star Charlie Day explained to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show when the episode first aired. "Supposedly, when they would have these cross-country flights, he would drink on average 40 to 50, some say 70 beers. So our characters are trying to break that record in the episode ... and then see if we can hit a baseball the next day, cuz not only would he drink 70 beers, but then he'd go, like three for four."

Day's co-star and co-creator Glenn Howerton doesn't remember exactly who thought that Boggs' triumph would make a great story, but he knows that the story inspired what Vice and many fans would agree was a stand-out episode among all 15 seasons (and counting). "I think somebody was talking about the legend of Wade Boggs and how he drank 126 beers on a cross-country flight, and we realized it would be a great episode to try and break that record," Howerton told Vice in 2019.

You may have already noticed a discrepancy in the number of beers that Boggs reportedly drank. As it turns out, Day and Howerton both had it wrong.

Some Say His Record Is 70 Beers, But Boggs Told Day The Real Number

Wade Boggs himself makes a cameo in "The Gang Beats Boggs" as a hallucination that motivates Charlie to win the competition. When the baseball legend was on set, Charlie Day finally got the true record straight from the boozehound's mouth. "Well, he told me that the actual number," Day revealed to Jimmy Fallon. "He pulled me aside and he was like, 'Charlie, really it was 107.'"

Much to the dismay of Aussies everywhere, Boggs' record puts to shame the legend of the 52-beer-flight set by Australian baseball player David Boon, per Fox Sports Australia.

It might seem like an impossible number, but luckily for us, Boggs also walked Day through the logistics. As it turned out, not all 107 beers were consumed on the plane. "So he would come to the airport about 12 deep," Day explained, "and then he'd be on the plane just firing 'em back, and then they'd have the layover, then they get there, and then they would go out that night."

It would be silly for Boggs to appear on the show without a beer in hand, so he and Charlie crack open a cold one together. Union rules forbid alcohol on-set but, according to Day, it might not have been water that Boggs was knocking back.

"He was great, although I'm pretty sure he was drinking actual beer when we were filming," Day told Fallon. "Because we all had prop beer, but I noticed at one point, he's drinking now."

Howerton Explains The Writing Process

"The Gang Beats Boggs" was a huge creative breakthrough for Glenn Howerton who, by season 10 of the series, was finding it increasingly difficult to think up episode ideas that felt unique and exciting. "This episode is just so funny to me," he told Vice. "It always makes me laugh. We were deep into the series at that point — I think it was season 10 — and this episode felt fresh. It felt new."

For Howerton, the best stories are about the journey, not the destination. Half of the gang doesn't even make it to Los Angeles, and only Mac and Charlie manage to leave the airport. Once Charlie proves that he can hit a baseball, thereby successfully besting Boggs' record, he and Mac head directly back to Philly. "Interestingly enough, [this is] another episode where we're just trying to get from here to there," Howerton added. "It's all the s*** in between that's so interesting and fascinating to me."

Howerton, Charlie Day, and co-creator Rob McElhenney write a lot of the show themselves, but this episode was written by their long-time collaborators Dave and John Chernin, who also co-created the briefly lived comedy series "The Mick" starring "It's Always Sunny" alum Kaitlin Olson. Howerton broke down the show's writing process for clarity:

"We break the stories as a writers' room, and then writers get assigned episodes or we go off and write it. Then the very final part of the process is that me, Rob, and Charlie punch up and rewrite the whole thing. Some require very little rewriting and some require a lot, and I don't remember where that one was. But I know Dave and John are f***ing brilliant, so my guess is we didn't rewrite that one all that much."

How The Gang Got Boggs On Board

Charlie Day said that the "It's Always Sunny" creators were tentative to reach out to Wade Boggs because they were unsure if he would like the episode premise and, if he didn't, they would have to scrap it entirely. "We reached out to him like, 'Is he going to be okay with this?'" the "Horrible Bosses" star recounted on The Tonight Show. "And he was like, 'I'll do it.'"

Glenn Howerton "doesn't remember exactly" how they got the ball player on board, but it probably had something to do with Rob McElhenney. "What usually happens is that Rob reaches out to these people, because he's just the most persuasive of us," he admitted to Vice. "He's just a good salesman."

Boggs' family may have also played a part in convincing him to make a cameo. "It's Always Sunny" appeals mostly to a younger audience, which means that while older celebrities may not have heard of the series, they often have children in the target demographic.

"A lot of times, when something like that goes through it's because, like, Wade Boggs' kids were fans of the show," Howerton explained. "I feel like that's how it's been a lot for us. We can never get the person — but it's always their kid who's like, 'Dad, you have to do this.'"

Whether it was McElhenney or a younger Boggs relative that persuaded the baseball player to participate,"It's Always Sunny" fans, baseball fans, and beer enthusiasts alike are forever indebted to them. It might not be as exciting as drinking 107 beers on an airplane in real life, but it sure is fun to watch.

Read this next: The 15 Best Comedy Duos Of All Time

The post The Origin Of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia's Wade Boggs Episode appeared first on /Film.

A new "comprehensive toolset" called AlienFox is being distributed on Telegram as a way for threat actors to harvest credentials from API keys and secrets from popular cloud service providers. "The spread of AlienFox represents an unreported trend towards attacking more minimal cloud services, unsuitable for crypto mining, in order to enable and expand subsequent campaigns," SentinelOne security

3CX confirms investigating a security breach as the cybersecurity community is sharing more information on what appears to be a sophisticated supply chain attack.

The post 3CX Confirms Supply Chain Attack as Researchers Uncover Mac Component  appeared first on SecurityWeek.

An Azure Active Directory (AAD) misconfiguration leading to Bing.com compromise earned Wiz researchers a $40,000 bug bounty reward.

The post Microsoft Cloud Vulnerability Led to Bing Search Hijacking, Exposure of Office 365 Data appeared first on SecurityWeek.

Multi-cloud data storage, once merely a byproduct of the great cloud migration, has now become a strategy for data management. "Multi-cloud by design," and its companion the supercloud, is an ecosystem in which several cloud systems work together to provide many organizational benefits, including increased scale and overall resiliency.And now, even security teams who have long been the holdout

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Sometimes you just don’t know what you’re missing. For years I thought I was a maximally efficient suitcase-packer, and scoffed at packing cubes. How could they possibly improve upon what I’m already doing? But one day I got a set, and realized I’d been living like a fool. If you’d like to have a similar experience, …

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A Manhattan grand jury has issued the first-ever indictment of a former US president. Buckle up for whatever happens next.

Water pumping systems made by ProPump and Controls are affected by several vulnerabilities that could allow hackers to cause significant problems.

The post Unpatched Security Flaws Expose Water Pump Controllers to Remote Hacker Attacks appeared first on SecurityWeek.

In the climactic scene of "The Mandalorian" season 3, episode 3, "The Convert" -- a "Brazil"-influenced, Coruscant-set cautionary tale about the machines of power and the stubbornness of evil -- poor Dr. Penn Pershing has been betrayed, while acting with good intentions. Now he's strapped to a table, about to be brainwashed by a feared former Imperial tool called the "mind flayer." In the depths of his terror and despair, he pleads for mercy with the Mon Calamari doctor, telling him: "It was a trap!"

You know, like Admiral Ackbar? Remember when Admiral Ackbar said "it's a trap!" in "Return of the Jedi"? And people liked that line, and when internet memes were invented it became a meme? It's just like the meme, except now someone is saying it to a Mon Calamari character instead? Isn't that funn-- Oh, Dr. Pershing just got his brain fried.

The latest chapter of "The Mandalorian," "The Pirate," drops in another unpopped popcorn kernel of fan service when Greef Karga and pirate king Gorian Shard have an argument about Gorian's reasons for attacking Nevarro. When Gorian accuses Greef of gunning down his minions in the street, Greef retorts: "He shot first." 

Remember, like when Han shot first? And then George Lucas went back 20 years later and re-edited the scene so that Greedo shot first? And then "Han shot first" became a whole thing? Now a "Star Wars" show is joking about the "Han shot first" thing!

In isolation these Easter eggs wouldn't be cause for much complaint, thuddingly unsubtle though they might be. But in "The Mandalorian," they're symbolic of how a once-promising show has tragically fallen prey to its parent franchise.

This Is The Way

Let's address something right up front: if you're a hardcore "Star Wars" fan and you've seen everything the franchise has to offer, including the animated series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" and "Star Wars Rebels," and even the kids' game series "Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge" where Kelleran Beq made his debut, "The Mandalorian" season 3 may be delivering everything you could possibly want from a "Star Wars" series. This one is going out to my fellow filthy casuals, who enjoyed the "Star Wars" movies well enough but have only seen them once or twice, and are fairly ignorant of the canon beyond that. 

"The Mandalorian" season 1 threw its arms wide open and welcomed in everyone: hardcore fans, filthy casuals, and your dad who has never watched a "Star Wars" movie and is only half-watching this show. All you really need to know to start watching is that there used to be a big evil Empire and now there's not, and even if you don't know that you can pick it up along the way from context clues. Mandalorians had been seen before in the "Star Wars" universe, but Din Djarin's covert is unique and follows its own set of rules that, conveniently, need to be explained to the audience. 

After the disappointment of "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," which concluded the sequel trilogy by clinging anxiously to the original trilogy's skirts, "The Mandalorian" felt bold and fresh and interesting. Once the series premiere closed with that indelible image of the tough lone wanderer reaching out to the adorably ugly green baby in the floating crib, everyone was hooked.

Is This The Way?

Somewhere in the middle of "The Mandalorian" season 2, the show seemed to grow concerned that the Lone Wolf and Cub weren't enough by themselves; they needed deeper ties to the rest of the franchise. Bo-Katan Kryze and Ahsoka Tano showed up (to find out more about those characters, watch 200-plus episodes of the "Star Wars" animated shows, plus the "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" animated film). Somehow, Boba Fett returned (to find out how Boba Fett returned, watch "The Book of Boba Fett"). And then the crowning jewel: Luke Skywalker himself, appearing via a body double, a digital simulation of Mark Hamill's voice, and a digital simulation of Mark Hamill's face.

Oh, you thought that watching "The Book of Boba Fett" was just a suggestion? Nope. Anyone naïve enough to try watching "The Mandalorian" season 3 immediately after the second season will experience the whiplash of Din Djarin and Grogu's heart-rending goodbye, followed by the two of them being back together again with zero explanation. Even the "Previously on..." recap omits the explanation of how and why Grogu returned. To catch up on the adventures you missed, you'll need to watch episodes 5-7 of "The Book of Boba Fett." Just don't expect to see much of Boba Fett in those episodes.

It might be years before we get the tell-all book about exactly what went wrong with "The Book of Boba Fett," and how it led to the show mostly dropping Boba Fett halfway through and turning into a weird mini-season of "The Mandalorian." Perhaps it simply proved too difficult to write a whole TV show about a legacy character who only had four lines of dialogue in the original trilogy. But whatever the reason, it meant that "The Mandalorian" went from gently nudging viewers towards other "Star Wars" shows to making one of those shows mandatory viewing.

Error 404 Way Not Found

The common retort to complaints that "The Mandalorian" doesn't really seem to be about the Mandalorian any more is, "well, they didn't say which Mandalorian." And it's true, double meanings are part of the show's personal brand. The episode title "The Convert," for example, refers both to Dr. Pershing as a convert to the New Republic, and Bo-Katan as a new convert to the Children of the Watch. Based on what we can from this odd, disjointed season so far, the titular Mandalorian of "The Mandalorian" season 3 is Bo-Katan, not Din Djarin.

That's not necessarily a bad concept. "The Wire" also drew criticism when it completely shifted its focus in season 2, but it was part of the overall design for the series, which is now considered one of the best TV shows ever made. However, "The Wire" season 2's new main characters were fully developed inside "The Wire." There isn't an animated series in the "Wire" cinematic universe featuring a Frank Sobotka origin story that you can watch for extra credit. 

As far as "The Mandalorian" is concerned, Bo-Katan Kryze hasn't actually done all that much. She teamed up with Din Djarin for a couple of missions in season 2, sulked on a chair until season 3 arrived, and then sulked on a chair some more. Grogu eventually dragged her away from the chair to help rescue his dad, and she went for a swim and saw a mythosaur. There was the weird dinosaur bird episode. And now the Armorer has proclaimed Bo-Katan to be the Mandalorian who will unite all other Mandalorians and restore Mandalore to its former glory. It's not unearned in the wider context of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" and "Star Wars Rebels," but it feels very unearned in "The Mandalorian."

Meanwhile, Din Djarin has been reduced to just kind of hanging out in the background (where he's presumably fuming about the Armorer giving Bo-Katan a Get Out Of Helmet Free card just three episodes after he had to go to Mandalore, almost get desiccated by a cyborg, and then almost drown in his quest to be "redeemed" for removing his helmet). 

Friendship Ended With Mando, Now Andor Is My Best Friend

Perhaps there's some unspoken rule that there can only be one great standalone "Star Wars" TV show at any given time. If that's the case, I'm happy to leave "The Mandalorian" and take "Andor" in exchange. Based on current trends, Grogu's first full sentence is probably going to be "got a bad feeling about this, I have" -- but at least we have Stellan Skarsgård delivering his "I've made my mind a sunless space" monologue. 

The only prominent legacy character in "Andor" is Mon Mothma, but crucially her storyline never feels like it's resting on the laurels of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" (a show that "Andor" creator Tony Gilroy probably hasn't watched). Instead, it gives her a rich and complex arc that's integral to the broader theme of the show: exploring the reasons why people from all walks of life choose to rebel against the Empire, and what price they pay for that choice.

You can, feasibly, go into "Andor" without having seen anything else that the "Star Wars" galaxy has to offer, and follow the plot without feeling like you're missing out on any vital details. Hell, if you don't have time to watch the whole show, episodes 4-6 and 8-10 independently function as self-contained stories about a grand heist and a prison break, respectively.

Yes, it's a bit surprising that a prequel to a prequel to the very first "Star Wars" movie is the most accessible and self-contained story the franchise has to offer. And yes, "Andor" reportedly has the lowest viewership out of all the "Star Wars" show on Disney+. But who cares? It was created with a two-season plan and season 2 is already filming, so ratings have no power over "Andor" any more. Besides, no one watched "The Wire" either.

Read this next: Every Star Wars Project Currently In Development

The post Star Wars Is Ruining The Mandalorian appeared first on /Film.