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The appearance of Boba Fett in The Mandalorian season two was a welcome yet surprising return. After all, the last time Star Wars fans had seen the bounty hunter was when he unceremoniously fell into a Sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi. Now, the opening episode of his own spin-off series, directed by showrunner Robert Rodriguez and written by Jon Favreau, takes a pensive approach to fill in the gaps of Fett’s past. However, it does slow the pace and gets in the way of moving Boba Fett’s story forward in the present.

“Stranger in a Strange Land” (a nod to the Robert A. Heinlein 1961 sci-fi book maybe?) wastes no time reminding viewers of the traumatic events Fett (Morrison) has been through. Giving new meaning to the water bed, he sleeps in a rejuvenating bacta tank and dreams of both his watery “birthplace” of Kamino and the moment he picked up his father Jango’s helmet after he was killed by Mace Windu during the Battle of Geonosis. More importantly, Fett dreams of his escape from the Sarlacc’s belly on Tatooine, which is a slight departure from the Star Wars Legend narrative by having him burn his way out with his flamethrower and, upon breaking through the desert surface, is left for dead by Jawas after they steal his armour.

Meanwhile, in present-Tatooine, Fett with his right-hand-Shand (Ming Na Wen) are discovering that the transfer of power to him as the new crime lord of Mos Espa isn’t going to be as swift as his murder of former boss Bib Fortuna. It’s a surprisingly humorous scene where the early kinks in Fett’s underworld takeover are laid bare. They struggle to understand some locals paying tribute without a protocol droid, are awkwardly reunited with a former employer and are greeted by an arrogant representative for the mayor who makes clear Mos Espa’s government authority would not be bending the knee. In fact, the mayor expects the new crime lord to submit instead or expect a less friendly delegation to return. “Should I kill him?” Fennec asks matter-of-factly, but as much as Fett’s brutality has preceded him, he’s taking a far more measured approach to leadership rather than ruling with an unforgiving Beskar fist.

This is how the flashbacks begin to inform the more practical bounty hunter we see today. Tusken Raiders had captured Fett after his Sarlacc escape but he soon earned their respect by protecting one of their younger members from a Goro-looking beast rising up from the sand in ferocious fashion. It’s a short and sweet bit of action that gives a fun nod to the way Princess Leila killed Jabba on the desert planet and showcases the brute strength, quick thinking and heroism of Fett. But, as we know from The Mandalorian Season 2 opener, these nomadic people are far less barbaric than the prequel series painted them. Their qualities of loyalty, bravery and respect are those Fett hopes to be known for. He doesn’t want to follow the slimy trail of the Hutt clan, with their airs of superiority and torturous conduct. “I’m not being carried around the streets like a useless noble,” he tells Shand as they head to a cantina called The Sanctuary. “Jabba ruled with fear. I intend to rule with respect.”

Of course, the people of Mos Espa are creatures of habit and this attitude is seen as a weakness rather than a strength. An attack on the streets by ninja-looking assassins tests their authority as they’re kettled in by laser shields and spears. It’s a tightly delivered street fight, and our antiheroes take a fair few knocks before Fett gets to blast someone with his arm rockets and Shand flexes her muscles with a short-but-dynamic parkour chase across roofs to secure an assailant alive for questioning. Jabba’s former pig-looking guards, the Gamorreans, also get a chance to prove to their new boss their lives were worth saving.

Wen shines as the cunning enforcer and martial artist who will hopefully have her skillset challenged with more formidable fight choreography. She delivers her lines with ruthless indifference but her deference to Fett can be keenly felt. The bounty hunter has been long seen as the more stoic character but Shand is playing that role now and it works well against Fett’s more pragmatic command.

There’s almost a world weariness to Morrison’s depiction of a man that has been through the ringer and onto a redemptive path with a more idealistic outlook. The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch proved just how three-dimensional a Jango clone could be, whose personality was informed by their individual experience. Morrison’s grounded delivery and dry humour fleshes out a formerly unreadable character.

The same can be said of Ludwig Goransson’s score, first heard in “The Tragedy” episode of The Mandalorian, directed by Rodriguez, and delivered in this series with a guttural, primal blend of human voices, powerful drum beats and strings. As a New Zealander of Maori descent, Morrison’s influence seems to have expanded the diversity of the Star Wars beyond the aesthetic and into the symphonic.

Dedicating so much to Fett’s backstory certainly deepens our understanding of his character evolution but that means plot development is limited. There aren’t many wow moments; the fight sequences are restrained and not as elegant as previously seen in the legacy sequels and The Mandalorian, but the introduction of a potential ally in the form of Twi'lek Madam Garsa Fwip (Jennifer Beals) does add intrigue. “Stranger in a Strange Land” is a fun and assured opener teasing even more obstacles and threats Fett will face in order to consolidate power while reinforcing the legend of Morrison’s iconic bounty hunter.

Greg Tresan and Jacqui Johnson appear on our Zoom call on either side of a couch, upon which two adorable golden retrievers are sitting nicely at attention. Tresan playfully asks me if I can tell which of the two is Jolt, aka Lucky the Pizza Dog from Marvel’s Hawkeye.

Having watched the first two episodes at the time of our interview, I tentatively pick the dog on the left. I’m wrong. The right-hand dog is Jolt, while on the left is her sister and “double,” Eevee. On a Zoom call with an admittedly shaky connection, they could be twins, despite being two years apart in age.

Johnson, Jolt and Eevee’s owner and handler, never intended for either dog to go into showbiz. She initially chose both dogs as puppies to train in agility and obedience, as well as to be family dogs along with their mother, Annie. Johnson tells me she has two little boys, and her rule was that she picked the pups, but the kids got to name them. So the boys named them after Pokemon: Eevee of course, and Jolt is short for its thunder-based evolution, Jolteon.

It was through Johnson’s work with both dogs in agility that she met Tresan, who along with his wife Carol owns the kennel and dog gym Atlanta Dogworks, as well as Animal Casting Atlanta. Johnson brought her dogs to the gym to jump and train, and Tresan saw Jolt’s potential, eventually suggesting that she try some acting work.

Tresan has a history working with bigger productions to cast their animals – it was through him that Stranger Things got its Chester, WandaVision got its Sparky (who also made a brief guest appearance on our call), and Venom found Gemini. When Jolt and Johnson auditioned for Hawkeye, however, they had no idea of the scope of what they were auditioning for at first due to Marvel’s secrecy. When the pair showed up for auditions – which took place remotely due to COVID-19 – Johnson initially assumed the role was for a cameo in a kids’ show or something like that.

Though Tresan showed a number of dogs for the Pizza Dog role, it was ultimately narrowed down to Jolt and two others, including Cruiser, who plays Chester in Stranger Things. Over a video call, Johnson put Jolt through her paces, showing off her obedience, agility, and retrieval skills. And conveniently, Jolt came with a dog double in Eevee, too. But Tresan says what ultimately sold Jolt as Pizza Dog was her overall look and vibe as an adorable golden retriever.

“Pizza Dog is – I don’t want to say it’s iconic, but it’s part of the canon for Marvel stuff, and it was visually already there in the comic,” he says. “So I think that they had something very strong in mind.”

On the set of Hawkeye, Johnson tells me it was a lot of “hurry up and wait.” Jolt spent a lot of days chilling in her dog bed or in a kennel waiting for her turn in front of the camera. Eevee was kept on hand specifically in case Pizza Dog was needed for two things at the same time, and did actually double for Jolt in the show. And yes, Pizza Dog’s eye injury in the show is CG – Tresan tells me they scanned the dog every time they went out to film to get the look just right.

Once Jolt was in the spotlight, her training really came into play. Tresan tells me that she had to learn some new tricks for Hawkeye, though he can’t talk specifically about what they were. And there were some challenges, too. “You can see from the action there was a lot going on. When a dog’s running loose in the middle of 5th Avenue, it’s a pretty big deal.”

"It’s a special skill to be able to release your dog to somebody else and make them their dog for the moment."

More specifically, he cites the difficulty of keeping a dog focused on a set full of hundreds of people, all of whom are, naturally, very excited to hang out with a cute and friendly dog.

“When you bring a dog like this on set, the big challenge is to keep people from petting the dog. Because everyone wants to have a moment with the dog, which, from my perspective as an animal wrangler, is really difficult. Just constantly looking to somebody for attention can be very distracting and doesn’t look good on camera… When we bring the dogs to set, we bring them to be somebody else’s dog. They’re not supposed to be our dogs. It’s a special skill to be able to release your dog to somebody else and make them their dog for the moment.”

He points out one specific scene in episode 3, “Echoes,” when Clint and Kate take Pizza Dog for a walk in the park. Tresan recalls that Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton/Hawkeye) previously described the walk as difficult to film because Jolt kept getting distracted by squirrels. But, Tresan insists, it wasn’t the squirrels that were the problem – it was Johnson.

“It was really cold out and she was wearing this red down coat with a hat, and she looked like many, many other people that were going through the park. So at a certain point I said she had to disappear so Jolt would stay focused. But unfortunately, everyone was dressed like Jacqui. So [Jolt was going,] ‘Is this my mom? Is this my mom?’”

With Hawkeye wrapped, both dogs are back to their usual business – agility, diving (once the winter months are over), and being adorable family dogs. As Jolt rolls over on the couch and shows us all her fuzzy belly, Johnson describes their life at home. Eevee, she says, is “just sunshine and rainbows,” while Jolt is, in real life just as in the series, a massive “food hound.” In fact, she was particularly easy to train because of her incredible food motivation: treats, Cheezits, pepperonis, anything sounds good to her.

Even pizza? I ask. Yes, especially pizza. In fact, Tresan says pizza is “an intrinsic part of their training” even if they don’t use it very often.

So yes, Jolt is eating real pizza in Hawkeye, and she’s loving every second of it. They didn’t want to do too many takes of her eating the real thing, Tresan says, since it’s not great for dogs to have a ton at once, but he adds that the first piece she ate on camera “went down really fast.”

"She can get into some trouble, but that’s why I kept her."

And even outside of training, Johnson says, Jolt finds ways to get her jaws around some pie.

“There was one time my neighbor brought me a very large pizza over,” she says. “I put it on the counter. Was going to get the mail, say goodbye to the neighbor, I walk back in and see Eevee and their mother Annie at the door waiting for me to come in, and I don’t see Jolt. So I walk in the house, and next thing I know the entire large pizza is gone, minus half of a slice, because someone jumped up on the counter to eat the entire pizza.”

Her love of pizza combined with Jolt’s birthday occurring on the same day as the premiere of Hawkeye feels almost like doggy destiny, and Johnson agrees as Jolt looks up at her with a massive, ornery grin. Johnson responds with a gentle nose boop.

“She can get into some trouble,” she continues. “But that’s why I kept her. She was the puppy who always escaped, but when she escaped she’d come and find us and be like, ‘Hey, what are we doing?’ She’s my troublemaker.”

For Jolt fans, Hawkeye is likely not the last we’ll see of her. Johnson runs an Instagram account of Jolt’s adventures with her family that’s taken off since Hawkeye, and Tresan says he thinks Jolt “has a movie in her.”

What’s Jolt’s dream role? Johnson suggests it’d be cool if “we had some kind of Air Bud or Homeward Bound theme going.” But Tresan wants to see something original. He suggests a Scorcese film, “I think they need to be in some dramatic role.” But given Jolt’s love of action, Tresan eventually settles on a hypothetical John Wick 5.

As our call concludes, Eevee wanders off the couch and returns, moments later, to deliver Johnson a random piece of plastic. Johnson then demonstrates the best way to get Jolt to look at the camera – simply look at her and ask, “Are you hungry?” Jolt’s eyes light up, her ears perk up, and she lifts her head to attention. Then, no pizza to be found, she leans in to give Johnson kisses as treats are distributed to all.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW for Marvel's Hawkeye's Season 1 Finale!!!

Vincent D'Onofrio, the actor who surprised fans when his villainous character Kingpin appeared in Hawkeye, has confirmed that his character is the same one that was first introduced in Netflix and Marvel's Daredevil series.

Speaking to Screen Rant, D'Onofrio shared not only that he was playing the same character - with slight differences - in both Daredevil and Hawkeye, but also how Marvel was able to connect the dots between the two to make it happen.

"I think from my point of view, like a lot of the Avengers stuff, a lot of the MCU stuff, they tried to connect as many dots to the original canon as they can, and some dots are just not possible to connect," D'Onofrio said. "And that's what we've done with connecting to Daredevil and vice versa. There's some dots [that] are connected.

"Like in the Hawkeye show, Fisk is obviously physically stronger and can take more physical abuse. But the key to his being an interesting character, in my mind, will always be the fact that he has this emotional life that grounds him, that makes everything work, as far as I'm concerned."

D'Onofrio continued to discuss how they were able to "sell that character" to the wider MCU audience and how it was all due to keeping "him based in that emotional life."

"We can sell that character in so many facets," D'Onofrio said. "Story-wise we can sell it, if we keep him based in that emotional life. And I know that the writers, and the producers, and me, and everybody involved in the Hawkeye show, we were all on the same page about that.

"I have to say that they're very collaborative people and – not only to mention awesome people, very nice – but the producers, like I said, the writers and the directors were all just thrilled to work with so we kept along those lines. And I think that's what will continue to make the character interesting if there's anything next for me to do."

His last line is very interesting as the end of Hawkeye's first season saw Alaqua Cox's May Lopez/Echo seemingly shooting Kingpin and ending his reign of terror. However, we don't see him actually being shot as it cuts away, and that definitely leaves room for something beyond the obvious to have happened.

For those familiar with the comics, a certain storyline that we won't spoil here gives one possible option for the future of Kingpin and a way for D'Onofrio to continue playing the beloved character.

In an interview with Deadline, D'Onofrio makes it seem that even he doesn't know the true fate of Kingpin.

"I hope he didn’t die,” D’Onofrio said. “I’m with the fans, I want to keep playing this part. My hope is that we continue.”

In the same interview, D'Onofrio also opened up about getting the unexpected call from Marvel boss Kevin Feige to return to Kingpin and his shock that Daredevil ended when it did.

"I didn’t know that Daredevil was going to end when it did, I thought it was going to continue for a few more years,” D’Onofrio said. “There was a lot to explore there, there were many facets of my character to explore.”

Lastly, he was asked about Laura Barton's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Rolex watch and what it meant for the overall story. Unfortunately, he's "in the same boat" as all of us at the moment.

"I’m trying to figure it out like everyone else,” D'Onofrio admitted. “I’m in the same boat: I really need more information.”

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Hacker turns critical Java exploit Log4J into profit to mine Raptoreum using HP's AMD-based 9000 EPYC server hardware.

Russia's Sber finds the domestic Elbrus-8C CPU platform to be unacceptable for modern banking workloads.

Bauhutte Japan's device provides 15-point massage for the hands of tired gamers' and includes optional heating functionality.

Pfizer's COVID-19 antiviral pill will already have some competition in the US. As the Associated Pressreports, the Food and Drug Administration has given emergency use authorization for Merck's Molnupiravir pill. The treatment limits replication of SARS-CoV-2 by inserting "errors" in the virus' genetic code while an infection is relatively young, ideally preventing mild or moderate cases from becoming severe in high-risk patients.

The medicine might not get as much use as Pfizer's Paxlovid, however. Merck's offering will only be available to those 18 years or older versus 12 years for Pfizer's, as there are concerns it might affect bone and cartilage development in younger patients. There are also warnings against using it during pregnancy or while attempting to conceive — the FDA said people should use birth control both during and after treatment, with women waiting days and men waiting three months.

Molnupiravir also doesn't appear to be as effective as Paxlovid. While Pfizer's solution reduced hospitalization and death by as much as 90 percent, Merck's only managed 30 percent. This pill may become the secondary option, particularly in situations where Paxlovid isn't available. Both companies' products are expected to remain effective against the virus' Omicron variant as they don't target mutating spike proteins.

Still, this might become another useful tool for minimizing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. Pfizer's pill will be the most readily available when the US is ordering enough to treat 10 million patients, but there will be enough of Merck's drug to address 3.1 million. Even if the effectiveness is limited, that could spare hundreds of thousands of people from the worst the disease has to offer.

Vodafone has turned the first text message into a non-fungible token (NFT). It sold at a Paris auction house this week for €132,680 ($150,000) worth of Ether. The company will donate the proceeds to the United Nations Refugee Agency to support forcibly displaced people.

Just over 29 years ago, Richard Jarvis, then a director of Vodafone, received the first text message from programmer Neil Papworth. Suitably enough, given that it was sent in December, the SMS read "Merry Christmas." Although the content of the text message wasn't exactly exciting, it laid the foundation for the next several decades of communications.

The anonymous auction winner will receive a copy of the communication protocol for the SMS, as CNN notes. They'll also get a certificate of authenticity and a digital frame that displays an animation of a phone receiving the message.

It's yet another telecommunications landmark that has been turned into an NFT. Also in December, Jimmy Wales sold an NFT of the first Wikipedia edit at auction for $750,000. Earlier this year, Tim Berners-Lee minted the web's source code as an NFT and sold it for charity.

Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment has released a first look at authentic sets that are part of its Game of Thrones Studio Tour at Linen Mill Studios in Banbridge, Northern Ireland. The destination attraction will open February 4, 2022. Tickets, which must be purchased in advance of visits, are now available to buy at this official website.

In a release, chief executive of tourism for Ireland Niall Gibbons, said: "Over the past decade, Northern Ireland has welcomed fans from around the globe to the 'real-world Westeros'--home to the stunning landscapes, coastlines, and mountains that have featured in some of the show's most memorable scenes... the new Game of Thrones Studio Tour will give fans a fantastic opportunity to go behind the scenes and be immersed in the sets, props and costumes used in the series. It will bring the Seven Kingdoms vividly to life, in the place where it all began." Many of the fantasy show's rural locations were filmed in Northern Ireland, including the Kings Road, the Iron Islands, and Winterfell.

This announcement comes amid a flurry of activity within the overall GoT franchise. Recently, Steve Conrad (Patriot, Perpetual Grace LTD) was announced as writer and executive producer of the prequel series Tales of Dunk and Egg, and more on the spilled-tea side of things, a new book about HBO has revealed that Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin was unhappy with the original series' final three seasons.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Lionsgate Movies has announced in a new teaser video that John Wick: Chapter 4 will be hitting theaters on March 24, 2023. Until this news, John Wick 4 was expected to be released May 2022, following a previous delay.

The video doesn't give away much of what to expect from the fourth movie in the action franchise other than confirmation of what will hopefully be the movie's release date. We know John Wick 4 will pick up the story after the shocking events at the end of the third movie, where Wick was shot and seemingly left for dead by Winston, who is able to regain his role as manager of the Continental as a result. But Wick survived and plans to bring down the feared underworld authority the High Table, potentially with the help of the Bowery King.

In recent interviews, actor Keanu Reeves revealed to Collider that John Wick 4's opening sequence will take place in the desert, and with his character riding a horse. Director Chad Stahelski has also said that the movie won't have a happy ending, saying the character has killed 300 people and is "f***ed for the rest of his life… it's just a matter of time."

Continue Reading at GameSpot

The latest Diablo IV quarterly update blog has just released jam pack with new information and also some brand new gameplay and videos to watch. Check out different character abilities, combat animation differences, lighting effects, buff effects, and much more. See timestamps below for specific sections.

Warning: Full spoilers for the entirety of The Witcher: Season 2 on Netflix, particularly the finale, "Family," follow...

Now that you've made your way through all eight episodes of The Witcher's second season let's unpack the revealing and action-filled finale, "Family," and clarify what it all means.

Given the sheer amount of twists and turns here, it might be best to start at the finish and then work our way backwards. So let's kick things off with...

Emperor Emhyr var Emreis is Ciri's Father

The final beat of "Family" is the arrival of the much-spoken-about "White Flame" of Nilfgaard to Cintra. Teased for half the season, Emperor Emhyr made his grand entrance, revealed that HE was the one who had Francesca's elven newborn killed (and also that he was onto Cahir and Fringilla's bulls*** about taking credit for it), and then turned and faced the camera so that fans could see he was an older version of - yup - "Duny," the former hedgehog'd "Urcheon of Erlenwald."

And for viewers who may have forgotten what Ciri's father looked like back from Season 1, the Season 2 finale had just given us a face refresher for actor Bart Edwards, who we'd just seen minutes earlier as part of Ciri's dream prison at the hands of Voleth Meir and her possession.

This answers why Nilfgaard knew about Ciri's specialness before everyone else - a question that was also just posed, said aloud, right before this. What we haven't been told though is why thought-to-be-dead Emhyr — after everyone presumed he perished in a shipwrecked watery grave alongside Ciri's mom, Pavetta — ditched his former life and reinvented himself? Most likely it has to do with Ciri and the fact that he, as her pops, knew she inherited her mother's powers.

Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri: A New Family

Right before the Emhyr scene, Geralt tells Vesemir that he can't hide Ciri at Kaer Morhen anymore, as too many people are now gunning for her. They'll have to go on the run. Geralt allows now-powerful-again Yennefer, whom he hasn't fully forgiven, to come along so that she can help train Ciri in the ways of magic, helping her control her Chaos.

After realizing that the monoliths are gateways to other spheres (since Istredd posited a few episodes earlier that the Conjunction of the Spheres was not a merging but instead a type of cosmic swipe-left, momentarily allowing these worlds to cross-pollinate), and that Voleth Meir (who arrived because of the Conjunction) just wanted to use Ciri to go home, Geralt then entertains the idea that Ciri, as a surrogate daughter of sorts, is what he and Yennefer need — the "something more —" to succeed as a fated couple.

The dragon Villentretenmerth said that he and Yen were made for each other, but there had to be an extra ingredient added to their cocktail of just randomly hooking up for decades. A larger purpose. And that's Ciri.

Oh, and Jaskier's with them too. But for how long?

Dijkstra's Owl is Philippa Eilhart

This won't mean too much to viewers just yet, but fans of the Witcher stories/books/games will undoubtedly know the name Philippa Eilhart, revealed to be played by Cassie Clare in the Season 2 finale. Yes, all the kingdoms have their magical advisors and Phillipa is the Chaos consort for King Vizimir of Redania.

Graham McTavish'a Dijkstra might be Vizmir's spymaster and head of Redanian Intelligence, but Philippa is the scheming sorcerer here, and Dijkstra's favorite spy due to her ability to hide as a barn owl and pass information back to him from hundreds of miles away (like how Ciri has Elder Blood). It would also appear that he can see through her eyes when she is in owl form.

A quick line of dialogue also revealed that Dijkstra was Jaskier's secret benefactor, for all of the bard's "Sandpiper" elven refugee smuggling, once again illustrating how Dijkstra plays all sides and loves a Continent in the midst of confusion and calamity.

Francesca Findabair is on a Warpath, Knows About Ciri

After losing her baby in the most brutal way — the pain of which helped feed and fuel Voleth Meir's freedom (since the baby was part of a "wish") — elven sorceress Francesca, thinking Redania is to blame, magically kills all the newborns in Redania and now has designs on fully starting war with humanity.

After her men capture a snooping Istredd, Francesca and former elf king Filavandrel also now know about Ciri being "Hen Ikeir" - aka "Elder Blood." A descendent of Lara Dorren (who was all over this season, first told in storybook shadow form by Nivellen and then actually seen by Ciri in a vision, played by Niamh McCormack) and the one foretold in Ithlinne's Prophecy (which is kinda/sorta an end of the world scenario).

So now there's one more faction after Ciri.

Lydia is Deformed, Though We Still Don't Know the Identity of her Master

Speaking of those hunting Ciri, the shadowy figure pulling the strings behind Lydia and "Fire F***er" Rience is still unknown to us, though we saw his back while meeting with the two of them in a tavern. What we did see however was Lydia's hideously ravaged face, the aftermath of her trying to use the Witcher potion, made from Ciri's blood and stolen from Kaer Morhen.

Did any of the potion work for her -- like, does she have enhanced abilities -- or was it totally wasted and only successful in melting half of her face? She did seem to communicate with her boss telepathically, however.

The Princess Die-aries

In a brief scene, the Kings of the North, absent Redania's King Vizmir, are told about Ciri by Tissaia - and thusly decide to have Ciri bumped off.

The world would just be a better place without her, as whoever captured her could lay claim to Cintra. So King Foltest — along with the queen of Lyria, king of Aedirn, and the king of Kaedwen — decide to put a bounty on Ciri's head. That's yet another headache for Geralt to deal with in Season 3.

The Wild Hunt, Baby

Mentioned a few times (sightings have been reported across the skies of The Continent), and then seen by Ciri in one of her many visions, The Wild Hunt appeared, in true physical form, after Ciri, Geralt, and Yen were transported to a seemingly dead and desolate world (the realm of the the Aen Elle, perhaps).

The Wraiths of Mörhogg (as they're known in Skellige) rode up to the trio, eager for Ciri to join their ride. Eredin, elven king of the legendary Wild Hunt, spoke to her before they were all whisked back to Kaer Morhen. "Child of the Elder blood, join our hunt!"

Geralt, now knowing that Ciri has been marked for something, thanks to the grim interest taken by both Voleth Meir and the Wild Hunt (who are this series' Thanos), decides to flee with Ciri and live life on the road.

Taking Down the Deathless Mother

Before all of those aforementioned revelations, "Family" dealt with the showdown between Geralt, Yen, and the witchers of Kaer Morhen - and the "Deathless Mother" Voleth Meir, who is basically the witchers' first-ever enemy and maybe even the reason witchers were created in the first place.

Spoken of by Vesemir himself back when Ciri first arrived at Kaer Morhen and snooping around, Voleth Meir — who killed one of the first witchers, Klef — wreaked havoc until the witchers bound her deep in the forest. "Some say she still calls to the unfortunate souls unlucky enough to cross her woods," he tells Ciri in Episode 2 (right as Yen, Fringilla, and Francesca all enter her lair).

Well, the witchers would once again square off with their oldest enemy after Voleth Meir possessed Ciri, and then killed several of them in their sleep. From there, cornered, Voleth-Ciri creates a monolith in the middle of the keep, erupting out of the Medallion Tree. Vesemir, enraged over the "sons" he just lost at Ciri's possessed hand, wants blood. Specifically, he wants to kill Ciri to stop the Deathless Mother. Other witchers agree, with only Geralt, of course, pleading with them to not give into anger and to consider a course that removes the demon from Ciri.

All of this comes to a head when Voleth-Ciri begins throwing monolith-monster after monolith-monster at the witchers, causing more death and destruction. Ciri, meanwhile, is trapped in a type of mind prison, a memory of a banquet, where she's reunited with not only her grandmother and Mousesack, but her parents.

The battle ends with Vesemir realizing that his rage and sorrow was only adding to Voleth Meir's power, Ciri deciding that she needed to return to what was real, and Yennefer, feeling guilty about inadvertently causing all of this, sacrificing herself to become the Deathless Mother's new vessel.

When the dust clears, Voleth Meir/Yen is banished back through the monolith, and Geralt, Yen, and Ciri return from the other world, Yen is alive and her powers have been restored.

So that's the basic lay of the land for the end to The Witcher's stunning second season. There was a boss fight, a family formed, a glimpse of the show's endgame, and the introduction of powerful new players. What did you love the most about the finale, "Family?" And what are you most excited about for Season 3? Let us know down in the comments.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home!

The mid-credits scene for Spider-Man: No Way Home features none other than , picking up where we left him in the post-credits scene of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. What does this mean for the future of Eddie Brock and the symbiote? And how is this all heading towards the Tom Holland Spider-Man/Tom Hardy Venom crossover we’ve so long been wanting to see? Let’s break it down.

What Happens in the Spider-Man: No Way Home Venom Mid-Credits Scene?

Eddie and the symbiote are still in the same tropical hotel location we last saw them after they were suddenly whisked away from their universe and into the MCU thanks to Doctor Strange’s wayward spell. Eddie tries to get some details about this place from the cabana barman and is astounded to hear there are many superheroes that populate this world. Remember, in his world Venom is the only superhero we know of so far. Suddenly, Eddie and the symbiote are transported, presumably back to their home universe, or at the very least out of the MCU, along with the rest of Spider-Men and Spider-Villains sent home by Dr. Strange’s spell.

The big question is, how did they get there in the first place? Because the initial botched spell only applied to people who knew that Peter Parker was Spider-Man, we have to assume that means this version of Venom also knew Peter Parker. And that means that the Venom from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 that knew Peter Parker is somehow connected to Tom Hardy’s Venom or is potentially just the same Venom, hence being ripped from his universe and dumped into a resort town in the MCU.

Venom told Eddie in the post credits of Venom: Let There Be Carnage that symbiotes have traveled far and wide across the cosmos and the multiverse, so it’s entirely possible the film versions of Venom have some kind of shared knowledge through their experiences in different universes. WandaVision also introduced the idea of a Nexus Being to the MCU. Could Venom, like Scarlet Witch, be one of these anchor-like beings, sitting across the multiverse who can impact the flow of time?

Further complicating things is what Venom and Eddie left behind when they went back… a small trace of black symbiote goo.

What Does the Leftover Venom Goo Mean?

Even though Eddie and the symbiote are no longer in the MCU, they left a small piece of the symbiote behind. Maybe it’s a piece of Venom that somehow DOESN’T know Peter Parker or maybe they were just drunk enough that it’s like symbiote slobber left on the bar. Either way, that little blob may lead to a big crossover between Spider-Man and Venom.

In the comics, the Venom symbiote is known to spawn new symbiotes, and that may be what we’re seeing here. Although, usually the spawns are different colors (Carnage is red, Lasher is green, etc.) and go on to take their own names and develop their own personalities. So given how the symbiote goo was black, it’s likely this is all going down a different path.

Perhaps the symbiote copied itself and now there’s a Venom symbiote in the MCU. The symbiote did express an interest in Spider-Man when it licked the TV screen in the previous post-credits scene, and Eddie/Venom said they wanted to go find Spider-Man in New York right before they were zapped away in this scene, so it’s likely this new symbiote will track down, and bond with, Peter Parker.

As Spidey fans well know, this would lead to the black costume saga where Peter wears the alien symbiote and dons his iconic black suit. In the comics, the alien suit gave Spider-Man enhanced powers but also brought out his darker side, leading Peter to shed the suit in order to save his humanity. Whereas originally the discarded suit found Eddie Brock and bonded with him to create Venom, we may be seeing the reverse where Venom’s spawn creates the black-suit Spider-Man.

Will There Still Be a Spider-Man/Venom Crossover?

Even though No Way Home sends Edde and the symbiote back to their world, there’s still the opportunity for a Spider-Man/Venom crossover. If Peter does indeed come into contact with the new symbiote, then he would likely try to track down where it came from and it would only be a matter of time before he realizes it came from another universe, which could put Peter and Eddie on an inevitable collision course. It would take another act of powerful magic (or science) for them to cross worlds and meet again, but as we just saw, Marvel has no shortage of such things. The Loki TV series hopped between universes with ease and ended with “the sacred timeline” branching out once more, so that may be a sign that crossing universes will become a bit more common going forward.

Taking a step back and looking at Sony’s future plans for the Spider-Man franchise, Sony executive producer Amy Pascal said they’re already working on a new trilogy of Spider-Man films. Holland has explained how the three solo Spider-Man films formed an arc that began with Homecoming, continued with Far From Home, and is now concluded with No Way Home, so what comes next will be something new. If this mid-credits scene is any indication, Sony’s new direction is to embrace their fledgling universe of Marvel characters from the world of Spider-Man. This would mean a crossover between Spider-Man and Venom, but it may not stop there. The upcoming Morbius film starring Jared Leto seemingly takes place in the same world as Venom, and the Morbius trailers show Dr. Michael Morbius meeting Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes/Vulture, so the crossover could see even more Marvel characters than just Peter and Eddie.

Speaking during the Sony presentation at CCXP Worlds 2021, Leto said, "In the film version of Morbius that we're bringing to you now, he's also a part of a much larger universe. If you've seen the last Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer, you know the multiverse has officially opened -- and there's all kinds of opportunities for villains to meet up, thrive and maybe even nurture their more sinister intents.”

Basically, it’s all but confirmed that Spider-Man will meet Venom eventually, and run-ins with Morbius and Vulture seem likely as well, but from the way the No Way Home mid-credits scene ended, it looks like Peter will be meeting the symbiote first. At the very least, the symbiote bonding with Spider-Man would finally justify giving Venom his signature white spider chest emblem, which is something fans have been eager to see on the big screen.

But what do you make of this No Way Home scene? Let us know your best theory in the comments. And be sure to check out our Spider-Man No Way Home review, our No Way Home ending explained, and our biggest WTF questions about the movie. And catch up on why What If? is now essential MCU viewing while you're at it!

The Characters of The Witcher Season 1

Whether Netflix's The Witcher really is the streaming services' Game of Thrones is up for debate, but one thing both shows unquestionably have in common is a huge cast of characters that span multiple countries, factions, and generations. This guide covers as many of the major characters from The Witcher Season 1 that we could fit, most especially those who will matter to Season 2.

Geralt of Rivia

• Played By: Henry Cavill
• Game Appearances: The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Witchers
• Who Are They? Our hero and protagonist, the main character of the Witcher books, games, and Netflix series. A legendary monster hunter and Witcher.

Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon - Ciri

• Played By: Freya Allan
• Game Appearances: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Witchers, Northern Kingdoms/Cintra
• Who Are They? Princess of Cintra, daughter of Calanthe and Duny, granddaughter of Pavetta. In the first season, we see Ciri sneak out of her castle repeatedly as a child, mostly running away from the black knight, Cahir. She is found by Geralt, who unintentionally claimed her by the Law of Surprise (Repayment for a deed in the form of something the person has but does not yet know about).

Yennefer of Vengerberg

• Played By: Anya Charlotra
• Game Appearances: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers
• Who Are They? Born into poverty with a congenital hunchback, Yennefer was recruited by Tissaia de Vries to become a sorceress. She fell in love with Geralt, possibly as a result of a wish made to a djinn.

Queen Calanthe

• Played By: Jodhi May
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1
• Associated Factions: Northern Kingdoms/Cintra
• Who Are They? Grandmother to Ciri, Queen of Cintra. When Duny/Urcheon, the man with the hedgehog face, claims her daughter's Pavetta's hand in marriage by the Law of Surprise, Calanthe refuses and her untrained magical powers manifest. Geralt and Mousesack intervene, and Calanthe relents. As a reward, Geralt invokes the Law of Surprise in jest. Died during Nilfgaard's sacking of Cintra.

Cahir Mawwr Dyffryn aep Ceallach

• Played By: Eamon Farren
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Nilfgaard
• Who Are They? The Black Knight of Nilfgaard. Was tasked with kidnapping Ciri during the sacking of Cintra, but her Chaos (untrained magic) manifested when she screamed, creating a chasm between them that allowed her to escape.

Stregobor

• Played By: Lars Mikkelsen
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers
• Who Are They? A high-ranking member of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers who was hunted by Renfri in the first episode of Season 1 and who appears throughout the series.

Mousesack

• Played By: Adam Levy
• Game Appearances: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1
• Associated Factions: Northern Kingdoms/Cintra
• Who Are They? Court druid and advisor to Queen Calanthe, mentor and father figure to Ciri. Died during Nilfgaard's sacking of Cintra.

Jaskier (Dandelion)

• Played By: Joey Batey
• Game Appearances: The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Himself and himself only
• Who Are They? The bard who always seems to find himself in trouble. Retains his original Polish-language name, Jaskier, from the books. Jaskier translates roughly to Buttercup in English, and CD Projekt Red re-named him Dandelion for the games. In the show, he's best known for the absolute banger "Toss a Coin (To Your Witcher)."

Tissaia de Vries

• Played By: MyAnna Buring
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers
• Who Are They? Recruits and serves as a mentor to Yennefer along with many other sorceresses. Participated in the Battle of Sodden Hill.

Vesemir

• Played By: Kim Bodnia
• Game Appearances: The Witcher, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1 (Technically) & 2
• Associated Factions: Witchers
• Who Are They? Geralt's mentor and father figure to the Witchers of Kaer Morhen. He appeared briefly in Season 1 with a stand-in actor, but will be portrayed by Kim Bodnia in Season 2. In the games, he appears in the first and third Witcher games as a mentor to both Geralt and Ciri.

Istredd

• Played By: Royse Pierreson
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers
• Who Are They? A sorcerer whose primary work is as a scholar studying ruins at Aretuza, where the Brotherhood of Sorcerers convenes and educates future sorcerers and sorceresses.

Vilgefortz

• Played By: Mahesh Jadu
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers
• Who Are They? An ambitious sorcerer in the Brotherhood of Sorcerers. Participated in the Battle of Sodden Hill.

Triss Merigold (pictured center)

• Played By: Anna Shaffer
• Game Appearances: The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers
• Who Are They? One of the sorceresses of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers and friend of Yennefer and Geralt. Helped Geralt rescue Princess Adda of Temeria, daughter of King Foltest. Participated in the Battle of Sodden Hill that capped off Season 1. Triss is Geralt's primary love interest in the first two Witcher games, and one potential love interest alongside Yennefer in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Duny/Urcheon

• Played By: Bart Edwards
• Game Appearances: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
• Show Appearances: Season 1
• Associated Factions: Northern Kingdoms/Cintra
• Who Are They? Father of Ciri. He shows up, cursed with the appearance of a hedgehog, claiming Princess Pavetta's hand in marriage. His status is unknown at this time.

Pavetta of Cintra

• Played By: Gaia Mondadori
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1, Season 2 (flashback)
• Associated Factions: Northern Kingdoms/Cintra
• Who Are They? Princess of Cintra, the daughter of Queen Calanthe, and mother of Ciri. Marries Duny after Queen Calanthe attempts to prevent their marriage.

Fringilla

• Played By: Mimi Ndiweni
• Game Appearances: None
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Brotherhood/Lodge of Sorcerers
• Who Are They? A member of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers at the same time as Yennefer, who is assigned by the Brotherhood to Nilfgaard.

King Foltest of Temeria

• Played By: Shaun Dooley
• Game Appearances: The Witcher, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
• Show Appearances: Season 1 & 2
• Associated Factions: Northern Kingdoms/Temeria
• Who Are They? King of the Northern kingdom of Temeria, father to Adda. Geralt and Triss Merigold cured his daughter of a curse that turned her into a Striga, a monster that eats living flesh. King Foltest figures significantly into the first Witcher game, which features Adda's curse as a quest, and then appears in the second game before being assassinated.

This post contains spoilers for Hawkeye.

Without saying a word, Yelena Belova made her intentions against Clint Barton clear at the end of Hawkeye’s fourth episode. She is uncharacteristically stoic after her mask is removed and all she offers is a shake of the head toward the arrow Kate Bishop is pointing at her head. Florence Pugh’s arrival is not unexpected as the Black Widow end credit sequence puts Yelena on a collision path with the man she believes is responsible for her sister’s death. But a lot has changed since we last saw her, and Yelena’s deadpan delivery doesn’t make an appearance until she sits down for an all-American dinner with the young woman who could’ve taken the shot. The shared macaroni meal in Hawkeye Episode 5 highlights Pugh and Hailee Steinfeld’s ability to sell the humor and hit the emotional beats. Watch out, Marvel has a new potentially unstoppable duo.

For Kate, Hawkeye is a symbol of hope and heroism that provided solace after the death of her father. Learning to be like him was a coping mechanism, which also gave her a semblance of control. On the other end of the spectrum, Yelena’s fury has been weaponized and purposefully directed at Clint. Valentina puts a target on his back in the Black Widow end credit scene and “Ronin” reveals that Kingpin and Kate’s mother are pulling the strings. At least this is what Yelena believes to be the source of her mission. Boxed macaroni is a comfort food binding force that draws out the comedy and tragedy enveloping both characters — despite their opposing positions

It's clear we are in for a good time when Yelena lets out an enthusiastic “Hi!” after Kate throws a bottle of hot sauce at the intruder’s face. This initial back and forth in the burned-out shell of Kate’s apartment reinforces Yelena’s lack of boundaries. She doesn’t see anything weird about cooking this snack (or entering uninvited) and offers a look of mock horror when Kate points out that she tried to kill her. Not only does she defend herself against this charge, but she also has some observations of her own. She doesn’t have an issue with the charred decor, however, she is aghast that Kate only has one fork and quips “this is not cutlery” about her takeout utensils. “You’re so hostile. I’m not going to hurt you. I promise,” she reassures before quickly realizing her fists are full of dangerous objects — not to mention her other accessories. Nothing is as convincing to Kate as the simple fact that she would be dead already if Yelena intended on killing her.

After this initial macaroni banter and a quick check-in with Clint, directors Bert and Bertie wisely spend the next seven uninterrupted minutes showcasing how deftly Pugh and Steinfeld can switch between the inherent comedy of this scene and the emotional reservoir that fuels both characters. Between mouthfuls of cheesy pasta, Yelena excitedly points out it is her first time in New York, and her time is limited due to the business nature of this trip. She wants to tick the landmark boxes like the Empire State Building, the “new and improves Statue of Liberty,” and the Rockefeller Center. Kate doesn’t know how to take Yelena’s enthusiasm, which she reads as insincere at first but Yelena loves American Christmases — she did live here as a child after all. In Black Widow she espoused the benefits of a multi-pocketed jacket and here she delivers the same level of passion for Manhattan’s best-known spots.

Yelena’s desire to hit these famous sights also speaks to the opening flashback scene, in which her plan to free the many Widows from mind control will culminate in a trip to the Big Apple to see her big sister. “You and Natasha will be reunited and go live your Sex and the City fantasy in New York,” Sonya lightly teases Yelena but this pop-culture-fueled comment speaks volumes. Within minutes of Yelena’s vacation plans being spoken out loud, five years have passed in the blink of an eye and her sister is dead. Cosmopolitans, Magnolia Bakery, and going for brunch in Manhattan is a wish that can never be fulfilled. While Carrie Bradshaw doesn’t eat mac and cheese straight from the pot, this is the closest to a girls’ night that Yelena has experienced in the city, and this gratitude she shows Kate for it is sincere. Wanda Maximoff took refuge in American sitcoms and Yelena is drawn to another cultural TV touchstone.

It takes a few beats before the Clint-shaped elephant in the room comes up. Kate’s discomfort is palpable and offers sightseeing recommendations that might not mesh well for a “blood-thirsty vigilante type.” Yelena is tickled by this description before the tone shifts toward the sinister as Yelena lists off everything she knows about her. The assassin has done her research and is confused by Kate’s desire to protect the man who killed her sister. This family tree revelation is met with genuine shock, and while Yelena punctuates the conversation with laughter, she is deadly serious when the idea of collateral damage is broached.

As far as two-handers go, this one is sublime. It taps into the visceral emotions while also pointing to the larger mystery of who hired Yelena and turned her grief into a weapon. Kate’s visible cuts and bruises, and her wide glassy eyes point to her naivety but she does raise a valid point about the motives of those who want Clint dead. Later, when Yelena tracks down the person behind the order, Kate is once again in for a rude awakening as her mother Eleanor is meeting none other than Kingpin.

In some respects, Yelena is now in the older sister position with the dynamic presented during the macaroni scene. Pugh and Steinfeld skillfully walk the line between comedy and tragedy — they are both Oscar nominees after all — adding weight and effortless charm to the material. While they are on opposite ends of the Clint spectrum it appears they are being manipulated by the same hand. Yelena’s actions are anchored by the snap and what she lost, whereas Kate’s experience dates back to the 2012 attack and the death of her father. A loss that could be less to do with the aliens and more to do with her mother’s business relationship with the nefarious Kingpin. Unanswered questions are stacking up before next week’s finale, but it is clear that Kate and Yelena are partner material even if they come from two different worlds.

For more, read how Hawkeye is finally giving Black Widow the eulogy she deserves, and stay tuned weekly for our Hawkeye reviews.

If you're like most people, when you start up Halo Infinite's multiplayer and hit the "quick play" button, you're hoping for one thing: Slayer mode. Thus far, all four-on-four modes have been lumped together, but that's about to change with tomorrow's playlist update. At long last, you don't have to play Oddball four times in a row.

As shared on Reddit and Twitter, 343 Industries adjusted its update plans in response to players' feedback. Instead of waiting to release a larger Slayer-focused update after the holidays, the team will have a basic Slayer playlist ready for tomorrow, December 14. You'll be able to choose from standard Slayer, free-for-all, Fiesta Slayer, and Tactical Slayer. Only two of those were in the game already, and of those two, only standard Slayer has remained as a permanent part of the quick play rotation.

The update doesn't stop there, however. It will also remove some of the most-specific challenges to make the battle pass less frustrating, as well as adjust the requirements for other challenges--including the weekly challenge, which is currently a pretty annoying one to finish. There will also be new challenges for the added playlists, as well as a challenge category based on accumulated player-score that 343 says is a "small initial step" toward XP based on overall performance.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

A user on Reddit has shared details on how to improve the mining performance of the RTX 3080 TI LHR.

Anne Rice, the Gothic author who wrote Interview With the Vampire alongside over 30 other novels, has died at the age of 80.

As reported by The New York Times, her son Christopher Rice wrote on his mother's Facebook page that she died from complications after a stroke.

"Dearest People of Page," Christopher wrote. "This is Anne's son Christopher and it breaks my heart to bring you this sad news. Earlier tonight, Anne passed away due to complications resulting from a stroke. She left us almost nineteen years to the day my father, and her husband Stan, died.

"The immensity of our family's grief cannot be overstated. As my mother, her support for me was unconditional - she taught me to embrace my dreams, reject conformity and challenge the dark voices of fear and self-doubt. As a writer, she taught me to defy genre boundaries and surrender to my obsessive passions.

"In her final hours, I sat beside her hospital bed in awe of her accomplishments and her courage, awash in memories of a life that took us from the fog laced hills of the San Francisco Bay Area to the magical streets of New Orleans to the twinkling vistas of Southern California. As she kissed Anne goodbye, her younger sister Karen said, 'What a ride you took us on, kid.' I think we can all agree.

"Let us take comfort in the shared hope that Anne is now experiencing firsthand the glorious answers to many great spiritual and cosmic questions, the quest for which defined her life and career. Throughout much of her final years, your contributions to this page brought her much joy, along with a profound sense of friendship and community.

"Anne will be interred in our family's mausoleum at Metairie Cemetary in New Orleans in a private ceremony. Next year, a celebration of her life will take place in New Orleans. The event will be open to the public and will invite the participation of her friends, readers and fans who brought her such joy and inspiration throughout her life."

Anne Rice was relatively unknown before she turned a short story she wrote in the 1960s into Interview With the Vampire in 1974 - her first published novel and one that would change her life forever. While critics weren't initially positive on her story, the public couldn't get enough.

It quickly became a best seller and Rice would go on to write over a dozen follow-up novels in her Vampire Chronicles series, and her work is widely regarded as bringing the popularity of vampires into the modern era.

In 1994, Interview With a Vampire was adapted for the big screen, and Neil Jordan directed Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Kirsten Dunst in a film based on Rice's own screenplay.

While she found success in the world of vampires, she wasn't afraid to explore other types of stories. She wrote everything from a story about the careers of two castrati in Cry to Heaven to an erotic series known as the "Sleeping Beauty" novels under the name A.N. Roquelaure.

She was also a hit with her fans, who she said made her look like the most boring one in the room.

“When I go to my signings,” she told the ABC News program “Day One” in 1993, “I’m the most boring person there. Everybody else is dripping with velvet and lace, and bringing me dead roses wrapped in leather handcuffs, and I love it.”

Anne Rice was born Howard Allen O'Brien on October 4, 1941, in New Orleans. She had been named after her father, Howard, and would adopt the name Anne by the time she was in first grade.

Her mother died when she was 15, and her father remarried and moved their family to Texas. It was there, at her high school, that she would meet her future husband Stan Rice. After an "intense correspondence" in college, Stan would propose to Anne by mail.

They married in 1961 and Stan passed away in 2002. Rice is survived by their son Christopher and her sisters Karen O'Brien, Micki Jenkins, and Tamara Tinker.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

It’s official – Charlie Cox will remain the MCU’s Daredevil, Marvel boss Kevin Feige has confirmed. He just won't say when we'll see that return.

During an interview with CinemaBlend, Feige revealed that fan-favourite Charlie Cox will be back as Marvel’s Daredevil:

“If you were to see Daredevil in upcoming things, Charlie Cox, yes, would be the actor playing Daredevil,” he said. “Where we see that, how we see that, when we see that, remains to be seen.”

Cox played the blind lawyer-turned-superhero Matt Murdock in the hit Netflix series, Daredevil. But with the series cancelled after a three-season run, it looked as though his time as Daredevil had run out. Now, it looks as though Daredevil will be back.

But where will he appear next? And will his co-stars be along for the ride? Karen Page (played by Deborah Ann-Woll) and Foggy Nelson (played by Elden Henson) helped keep Cox’s Murdock grounded during the hit TV series. And with Vincent D’Onofrio as the big bad Kingpin, you have to wonder whether these guys will show up when Cox eventually returns – especially after hints that Kingpin is back in Hawkeye.

Cox has previously discussed his legacy as Daredevil and doesn’t want to let the fans down.

“You don’t want to taint what you’ve already got,” he explained. “If we never come back, you’ve got these three great seasons — and our third season was our best-reviewed. So, the trajectory was up. I am tremendously proud and grateful for what we have.”

The rights to Daredevil recently returned to Disney, making an upcoming appearance far more likely. And with rumours that Charlie Cox would be back in Spider-Man: No Way Home, we may see him back as Matt Murdock sooner rather than later.

“It's certainly not with my Daredevil,” Cox said, denying the rumours. “I'm not involved in it. If that's true, it's not with me. It's with another actor.”

Despite those protestations, it looks as though Charlie Cox’s time as the Man Without Fear is far from over. Where we see him next, remains to be seen.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

The first trailer for Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse's sequel has landed, showing off what the next chapter in Miles Morales' animated adventure might entail – and it's a tale that will be spread across two parts.

Sony's sequel, which is officially titled Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, will be releasing October 7 in 2022, meaning it's just under a year away. The end of the trailer, however, teases that this film is just 'Part One', meaning that the multiverse-hopping movie will be setting up a follow-up that's due to arrive in 2023.

The rule of three dictates that any successful movie needs a full trilogy, and that logic applies especially firmly to the Spider-Man IP. We've seen three Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies, as well as three Tom Holland flicks (including No Way Home), and another live-action Spider-Man trilogy is in the works at Marvel too.

Check out the film's first teaser below:

The trailer is only a couple of minutes long, but follows on directly from the end of 2018's Into The Spider-Verse, with Spider-Gwen dropping out of a portal into Miles' bedroom.

Miles hurriedly tidies away the more childish toys strewn across the place, protesting that he's grounded and can't run off adventuring – all very high-octane action.

The trailer picks up, though, as we see Miles soaring through a portal into another universe, where he's pursued by Oscar Isaac's Miguel O'Hara – also known as Spider-Man 2099, a different iteration of Spidey from the future.

We saw this (rather muscular) character briefly in the end-credits scene from Into The Spider-Verse, conversing with an AI voiced by Greta Lee (Russian Doll, The Morning Show). In the scene, Miguel is given a "gizmo" that can help him make an "autonomous multiverse jump", seemingly to find and round up more versions of Spider-Man. And it looks like that's just what he says in the next film.

---

Analysis: Sony's hold on Spider-Man tightens

2018 was really the year when Sony made it's mark on Spider-Man, with both the acclaimed Spider-Verse film and the release of Venom – which also got a sequel, Let There Be Carnage, this year. Given the dominance of the MCU in all things superhero, it's great to see some separate parties tackle beloved characters from a different angle.

We already know some tidbits beyond what's revealed in the trailer. For one, we know that Jake Johnson's (New Girl) take on Peter B. Parker from the first film will return, while Issa Rae (Insecure) will be voicing an iteration of Spider-Woman. It'll be one big happy Spider-Family.

The villain has, so far, been kept under wraps, though there are plenty of possibilities from across the multiverse that Sony could drawn from. There have been rumors of The Spot making an appearance – a villain yet to appear in any Spidey films, but who has a dimension-hopping origin story that would fit right in here.

• Everything we know about Marvel’s Phase 4 plans 

Hawkeye star Jeremy Renner learned basic American Sign Language in an effort to welcome his new co-star, Alaqua Fox.

During an interview with Disney’s D23 Magazine (via The Direct), 24-year-old Hawkeye star Alaqua Cox revealed how Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld made her feel welcome.

“I remember meeting Jeremy on my first day of work on-set; I was a nervous wreck, as this was my very first acting job,” she said. “He then complimented me in American Sign Language (ASL), which comforted me.”

Much like her character in the hit Marvel TV show, Alaqua Cox is deaf – bringing the Marvel hero Echo to life in the new Hawkeye show, as well as its upcoming spin-off. And Renner wasn’t the only one to help Cox fit in.

“Hailee also spelled out her name to me in ASL at the studio where we were doing our stunt training sessions,” she said. “I thought it was sweet of them putting in efforts to learn basic ASL to communicate with me. It means a lot to me as a Deaf person.”

Cox explained that Renner and Steinfeld’s efforts to use ASL really highlighted how serious Marvel is when it comes to diversity and inclusivity.

“I'm amazed with Marvel because they are doing such a great job with diversity and representation,” she said. “It means so much to me because I feel like kids with all types of cultures and disabilities deserve to have more role models that look like them, to inspire and empower the next generation. I'm so grateful to have this opportunity because I am one of the examples.”

Echo is now the second deaf character to enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after Eternals hero Makkari (played by Lauren Ridloff) made her big screen debut in October.

Additionally, Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye has experienced hearing loss during his Avengers days, with Marvel explaining that his disability helps keep him human.

“It's the realistic nature of having him being a human being with no superpowers. He does get injured,” said executive producer Trinh Tran . “It's that human element that we wanted to bring forth. That they can get hurt, it can be life and death in some of the experiences that they get themselves involved in. He does put ice packs on him at the end of the mission. We wanted to show that 'behind the scenes', a part of which is the hearing loss that he has.”

Alaqua Cox will star in Echo – the upcoming Hawkeye spin-off coming to Disney+.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

In the biggest roadblock yet to NVIDIA’s proposed acquisition of Arm, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced this afternoon that the regulatory body will be suing to block the merger. Citing concerns over the deal “stifling the innovation pipeline for next-generation technologies”, the FTC is moving to scuttle the $40 billion deal in order to protect the interests of the wider marketplace.

The deal with current Arm owner SoftBank was first announced in September of 2020, where at the time SoftBank had been shopping Arm around in an effort to either sell or spin-off the technology IP company. And while NVIDIA entered into the deal with bullish optimism about being able to close it without too much trouble, the company has since encountered greater political headwinds than expected due to the broad industry and regulatory discomfort with a single chip maker owning an IP supplier used by hundreds of other chip makers. The FTC, in turn, is the latest and most powerful regulatory body to move to investigate the deal – voting 4-0 to file the suit – following the European Union opening a probe into the merger earlier this fall. The

While the full FTC complaint has yet to be released, per a press release put out by the agency earlier today, the crux of the FTC’s concerns revolve around the advantage over other chip makers that NVIDIA would gain from owning Arm, and the potential for misconduct and other unfair acts against competitors that also rely on Arm’s IP. In particular, the FTC states that “Tomorrow’s technologies depend on preserving today’s competitive, cutting-edge chip markets. This proposed deal would distort Arm’s incentives in chip markets and allow the combined firm to unfairly undermine Nvidia’s rivals.”

To that end, the FTC’s complaint is primarily focusing on product categories where NVIDIA already sells their own Arm-based hardware. This includes Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) for cars, Data Processing Units (DPUs) and SmartNICs, and, of course, Arm-based CPUs for servers. These are all areas where NVIDIA is an active competitor, and as the FTC believes, would provide incentive for NVIDIA to engage in unfair competition.

More interesting, perhaps, is the FTC’s final concern about the Arm acquisition: that the deal will give NVIDIA access to “competitively sensitive information of Arm’s licensees”, which NVIDIA could then abuse for their own gain. Since many of Arm’s customers/licensees are directly reliant on Arm’s core designs (as opposed to just licensing the architecture), they are also reliant on Arm to add features and make other alterations that they need for future generations of products. As a result, Arm’s customers regularly share what would be considered sensitive information with the company, which the FTC in turn believes could be abused by NVIDIA to harm rivals, such as by withholding the development of features that these rival-customers need.

NVIDIA, in turn, has announced that they will be fighting the FTC lawsuit, stating that “As we move into this next step in the FTC process, we will continue to work to demonstrate that this transaction will benefit the industry and promote competition.”

Ultimately, even if NVIDIA is successful in defending the acquisition and defeating the FTC’s lawsuit, today’s announcement means that the Arm acquisition has now been set back by at least several months. NVIDIA’s administrative trial is only scheduled to begin on August 9, 2022, almost half a year after NVIDIA initially expected the deal to close. And at this point, it’s unclear how long a trial would last – and how long it would take to render a verdict.

Amazon has released a new teaser for Season 4 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The sublime period dramedy will be coming back with new episodes on February 18, 2022.

Production on Season 4 began in New York back in January this year--and while on-set Instagram posts from series star Rachel Brosnahan didn't reveal much (big floppy hats are pretty common on the show), this new clip gives many clear indications of where things are headed for the fictional burgeoning stand-up comedian. Feeling the influence and ambition of her pal Lenny Bruce, Miriam "Midge" Maisel is now seeking to become a headliner and "change the business." Check out the clip below.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel began in 2017 and is the story of Miriam "Midge" Maisel's quest to push against gender norms of the 1950s to become a stand-up comedian. This act of following her heart precipitates a divorce and further inspires those around her--especially her family and in-laws--to question if they're living the lives they really want to.

Continue Reading at GameSpot

Rostec introduces a unique self-destructible USB flash drive.

Amazon Prime Video’s expansion into the fantasy genre has been unusually slow for a high-profile streaming platform. While its competitors, including Netflix, have churned out numerous big-budget fantasy shows and movies, Amazon’s large-scale offerings have been few by comparison.

But that’s about to change. With two high-cost (and potentially high-stakes) fantasy shows releasing in the next year, Amazon is going all-in on trying to compete with Netflix shows such as The Witcher and Shadow and Bone. With its Lord of the Rings adaptation not arriving until September 2022, though, Amazon is pinning its hopes on another fantasy series to deliver a telling blow to its rivals: The Wheel of Time.

Based on Robert Jordan’s beloved high fantasy book series of the same name, The Wheel of Time could be the streamer's next big ‘must-watch’ series. But, given its unwieldy lore, multiple narrative threads, and seemingly infinite number of characters, fans have wondered if the 14-strong novel series’ story could ever be adapted in a precise way.

• Here's 5 things we learned about The Wheel of Time at its world premiere
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If you’re one of those fans, allow us to put your mind at ease: Amazon’s The Wheel of Time is a wonderfully realized adaptation of Jordan’s sweeping and imaginative source material. It captures the richness of the books’ fantastical world, expansive plot and morally complex characters, and does so while retaining the core essence of what has made The Wheel of Time novels so popular.

Set in an unnamed world – though it’s routinely known as the Randlands or World of the Wheel – The Wheel of Time follows the adventures of Moiraine (Rosamund Pike), a powerful sorceress who belongs to an all-female organization known as the Aes Sedai.

Alongside her Warder Lan Mandragoran (Daniel Henney), a bodyguard who’s intrinsically linked to her by the One Power that she can wield, Moiraine embarks on a quest to find the Dragon Reborn, a mighty warrior and the only individual who can stop the Dark One from consuming the world.

When her mission leads to a village known as the Two Rivers, which is soon attacked by the Dark One’s forces, Moiraine realizes that one of five young adults must be the Dragon reincarnated. Leading the quintet – Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski), Egwene al’Vere (Madeleine Madden), Nynaeve al’Meara (Zoe Robins), Perrin Aybara (Marcus Rutherford) and Mat Cauthon (Barney Harris) – on a world-spanning journey to determine who the Dragon is, Moiraine must also work out if that individual will save everyone from the Dark One, or join his side and destroy life as they know it.

And that’s as plainly as The Wheel of Time’s plot can be described. Simply put, The Wheel of Time is a dense, expansive narrative: multiple storylines intersect at various junctures, thousands of characters come and go within Jordan’s 14 tomes, and numerous locations are toured at a somewhat breathless pace. And that’s before you take into account the books’ rich and unique approach to magic-users and other fantasy elements.

So it’s pleasing that Amazon’s adaptation has streamlined the novels’ labyrinthine story and worldbuilding as much as possible. From the opening minute of the series’ premiere, we’re treated to a summary of events, courtesy of Pike’s Moirane, that precede The Wheel of Time’s overarching plot. It’s only brief, but it instantly sets the scene for what’s currently at stake in the Randlands, and means that audiences don’t have to sit through a lengthy preamble about its past.

The removal of filler material makes for tighter storylines, too. Dispensing with lengthy walks to inns and other locales, which would ordinarily slow the plot down, allows Amazon’s adaptation to capture the richness of the novels without getting stuck in the minutiae; their inclusion may be vital for the novels, but such content is unnecessary for TV.

The show’s weaving narratives also alternate at a reasonable pace. Episodes don’t get bogged down in one storyline for too long, which keeps things ticking (pun intended) along nicely, and gives us plenty of time to learn about the series’ main characters – including their personality types, strengths and weaknesses, and where their moral compasses lie.

That isn’t to say that there aren’t some pacing issues. The Wheel of Time quickly and unnecessarily jumps from one instance to the next in some cases, particularly before and during action sequences. While this can be attributed to the editing process, it’s still disorienting on occasion.

While much of the novels’ padding has been removed, Amazon’s adaptation can also feel a tad ponderous at times. But, sometimes it needs to be. The show’s plot will likely be difficult to follow for viewers who haven’t read the books, so some scenes require lots of exposition to keep audiences in the loop. This slow-burn approach, then, is necessary in some cases, but The Wheel of Time’s problem is that it does this in some scenes where explanations aren’t essential, which can sometimes make it feel like a drag.

As much as Amazon’s adaptation has retained plenty of the novel series’ elements, it takes some creative liberties with its story arcs. The show’s first season doesn’t only adapt the first book, The Eye of the World; it also draws from the second novel, The Great Hunt, and tweaks the timeline of when certain events occur, where particular characters are introduced, and what role they play in proceedings. Such alterations may divide The Wheel of Time’s fan base and, ultimately, some may not fully endorse – or may be disenchanted by – the direction that the show takes. 

The Wheel of Time is a wonderfully realized adaptation of Jordan’s sweeping and imaginative source material

Still, Amazon’s adaptation has to appeal to established fans and newcomers alike. With the series’ chief creative team wanting to tell a story that general audiences can enjoy as much as diehards, some plot revisions are unavoidable, regardless of how unfaithful some fans may think they are. And, for the most part, they fit seamlessly into the primary plot, which makes them less noticeable.

As for the aforementioned action scenes, The Wheel of Time’s sequences are anything but family friendly. Battles are brutal, ferocious, and lend a grittiness to proceedings that some fantasy shows are reluctant to lean into. Some are particularly hard-hitting – one lengthy, barbaric fight sequence in episode one may startle viewers in its gratuitousness – and give rise to shocking moments that certainly leave their mark.

Such surprises aren’t solely reserved for the show’s fights, though. The Wheel of Time subverts audiences’ expectations throughout, delivering frequent emotional story beats and shocks that showcase the internal and external power struggles between its main characters and within the wider world. 

The events that Moiraine and company endure – and there are plenty of them – make the characters relatable, though, especially the Two Rivers’ quintet. Rand, Egwene, Nynaeve, Perrin and Mat are plucked from relative obscurity, and thrust into a situation where the stakes couldn’t be higher. As an audience, we can’t relate to that specifically, but we can sympathize with characters who have the weight of expectation placed on them. And their predicament illustrates how different people will, or won’t, rise to the occasion. These are people torn between their quaint lives and their supposed importance to the entire world, so the pressure is bound to tell one way or the other.

Understandably, there’s a naivety about these individuals, so it’s easy to overlook some of their less-informed decisions. There are moments, however, where the likes of Mat, Rand or even Lan make impulsive choices that are out of character – they don’t make sense to the wider narrative and feel like ill-placed plot devices and, like some of the show’s pacing, it’s off-putting.

Thematically, The Wheel of Time is a series that’s reflective of modern-day society, too. Despite its fantasy-based, medieval aesthetic, its exploration of geopolitics and distrust are particularly resonant. Reincarnation, the concept of yin and yang, the cyclical nature of time itself in the series’ world, and the legacy we leave behind are also examined in great detail, painting a picture of a fictional world that draws on real-world historical influences as well as real-life issues that are prevalent today.

What we think

The Wheel of Time is a sweeping and visually striking coming-of-age tale that feels like a fitting tribute to Jordan’s works. It’s much more than a fantasy show, too, with dashings of romance, a serving of underrated comedic moments, and a torrent of drama that delivers a moving, pulsating and compelling entry-point to the late author’s vibrant but intricate fictional world.

The expansive nature of Amazon’s adaptation is where it really shines, though. The production’s sheer scale and scope is Game of Thrones- and Lord of the Rings-esque, and it’s clear that The Wheel of Time takes particular cues from them, including its political, horror and action sensibilities; there’s even a bathtub scene to rival The Witcher, such is the range of fantasy shows that The Wheel of Time has taken inspiration from.

To simply describe The Wheel of Time as a clone of any of the above, though, is to do it a disservice. It’s very much its own series, even if comparisons to George R. R. Martin and J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendary book series, and subsequent big- and small-screen adaptations, are merited. There’s a richness and lived-in vibe to The Wheel of Time’s world, and it’s so vast that there are bound to be spin-off shows if Amazon’s mainline series is a hit among fans.

Sure, it may seem like your typical action-packed, thrilling story about good versus evil, but it’s much more than that below the surface. With the jury still out on Amazon Prime’s Lord of the Rings adaptation, even before it launches next September, the streaming service could use a big-budget, state-of-the-art fantasy show in its back catalog – and The Wheel of Time definitely fits the bill.

The Wheel of Time’s first three episodes will launch exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, November 19. Subsequent episodes will be released weekly.

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Astronauts at the International Space Station added a new item to their dine-in menu last weekend after whipping up a batch of tacos using the first-ever chile peppers grown in space.

NASA astronaut Megan McArthur shared photos on Twitter of what she called her "best space tacos yet," consisting of fajita beef, rehydrated tomatoes and artichokes, and Hatch chile, which has been growing at the ISS since July. She said the crew sampled the red and green chile before getting creative with their new ingredients in the kitchen.

Friday Feasting! After the harvest, we got to taste red and green chile. Then we filled out surveys (got to have the data! 😁). Finally, I made my best space tacos yet: fajita beef, rehydrated tomatoes & artichokes, and HATCH CHILE! https://t.co/pzvS5A6z5u pic.twitter.com/fJ8yLZuhZS

— Megan McArthur (@Astro_Megan) October 29, 2021

NASA's ISS Research account also celebrated the occasion, noting that the crew had conducted "one of the most challenging station plant experiments to date." As part of the Plant Habitat-04 investigation, a team of scientists planted seeds of Hatch chiles — a type of pepper found in New Mexico's Hatch Valley — and observed their growth over time.

The crew aboard the ISS were able to taste the fruits of their labor on Friday, and collected data about the red and green chiles. "The investigation involved microbial analysis to improve understanding of plant-microbe interactions in space and the crew's assessment of flavor, texture, and nutrition of the first peppers grown in space," NASA said in a statement.

While the experiment tempted the tastebuds and spiced things up at the Space Station, NASA hopes astronauts will be able to expand the number of crops they can grow in space during future missions. According to CNN, the chile trials are ongoing, with Crew-3 astronauts reportedly launching to the ISS this week ahead of a second harvest later in the month.

Some of the chiles will be sent back to Earth for analysis, much like the red romaine lettuce and various other veggies that astronauts have cultivated in space. Assuming the cargo isn't lost on its journey back to Earth, the chile peppers will likely end up being offered as a nutritious alternative to the meal replacement bars that NASA once developed for missions.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Good Omens Season 2 has officially kicked off production, with several familiar faces returning to the series alongside David Tennant and Michael Sheen.

The cameras have started rolling on the second season of Amazon's fantasy drama, Good Omens, with production now underway in Scotland. A number of key cast members from the show's first season are returning to support Tennant and Sheen, who are reprising their respective roles as the demon Crowley and the angel Aziraphale for the next chapter.

Some cast members returning for the show's sophomore season are reprising their roles while others are said to be playing new characters, however, those characters haven't been outlined just yet. The actors on board for Season 2 include Paul Adeyefa, Michael McKean, Gloria Obianyo, Miranda Richardson, Maggie Service, Reece Shearsmith, and Nina Sosanya.

Originally based on Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's bestselling novel, the new season will explore storylines that go beyond the original source material to illuminate the uncanny friendship between Aziraphale and Crowley, who'll be "getting back to easy living amongst mortals in London's Soho when an unexpected messenger presents a surprising mystery."

Neil Gaiman, who has an overall deal with Amazon Studios, is an executive producer on the series and will co-showrun along with executive producer Douglas Mackinnon, who will also direct. Rob Wilkins, John Finnemore, and BBC Studios Productions' head of comedy Josh Cole will also executive produce, with Finnemore serving as co-writer alongside Gaiman.

"We get to have new adventures with old friends, to solve some extremely mysterious mysteries, and we encounter some entirely new humans (living, dead, and otherwise), angels, and demons," Gaiman said of Season 2. "I took pleasure in inviting people back, wherever we could, some in the roles they played originally, some in new parts written just for them."

"Having a company of players reuniting for this second season of Good Omens is like bringing a family back together, this time in Scotland," Mackinnon added. "Our team is being enriched with new talent on both sides of the camera so I am excited to be at the helm for six more episodes of what we hope will be heavenly entertainment."

The seeds for a follow-up season seemed to have been planted in Good Omens' first season finale, which saw Aziraphale and Crowley successfully thwart the end of the world before they engaged in a final conversation together that hinted at an even bigger apocalypse to come: the inevitable war between angels and demons fighting against humanity.

Good Omens will stream exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide at an as yet unconfirmed date.

Adele Ankers is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.