The Boys remains one of Amazonâs biggest shows and remains as the big counter offering for those that have reached a certain limit with current superhero fare. While it revels in the mockery of DC and Marvelâs ongoing history alongside an unsubtle political mockery, the show also has a lot of heart with its many characters trying to just survive in a confusing world. Back in August, many were excited when the show announced that Jeffrey Dean Morgan is set to join the cast in an unknown role for Season 4. That wasnât all, as we now have even more casting news.
The biggest reveal is that Rosemarie DeWitt will be playing the mother of Jack Quaidâs Hughie. Simon Pegg is also set to return to reprise the role of his dad, which was a fun in-joke given that Hughie in the original The Boys comics looked quite a bit like the famous Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz actor. Theyâve also added Elliot Knight and Rob Benedict in unknown roles, but thereâs always a good chance they are some of the new superheroes joining the fray of Eric Kripkeâs superhero satire.
Itâll be exciting to see what the new season has to offer, especially after everything that unraveled with Soldier Boy. Jensen Ackles was a fan-favorite last season and the series will definitely continue on that with this season. DeWiittâs addition as Hughieâs mother opens some interesting storytelling potential and perhaps we get to spend more time with the character.
After the live-action take on Aladdin proved to be yet another success for Disney, a sequel was officially announced as being in development back in February 2020. Unfortunately, since then, things have been relatively quiet regarding Aladdin 2. While promoting his latest project, Amazon Freeveeâs Hotel for the Holidays, Mena Massoud, who plays Aladdin, was asked to provide an update on the project, and it seems as though the sequel has stalled out a bit.
âI donât know that there is movement. There was a change with the writers, and they are working on a brand new draft. Thatâs all I know. If âAladdin 2â happens, thatâs fantastic. I think it should happen,â he said. âDan Lin and Jonathan Eirich of Rideback Productions, who do the âLegoâ movies and âAladdin,â want to make sure they get this right. So if we do see âAladdin 2,â itâs not going to be based off the animated version at all. This is going to be a brand new original story.â
The Aladdin sequel doesnât appear to be the only project undergoing changes. Billy Magnussenrevealed back in May that the Disney+ spinoff centered around his character, Prince Anders, was still in development but undergoing rewrites. âItâs in development. We are in the stages of rewrites right now, and itâs still moving forward,â the actor revealed at the time.
Aladdin, which was a misfire among critics, was a box office success for Disney having earned $1.05 billion at the worldwide box office. The film, directed by Guy Ritchie, starred Massoud, Naomi Scott and Will Smith.
Back in July, it was revealed that Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries) had teamed with Universal Television to adapt a trio of novels from bestselling author, E. Lockhart. One of the titles Plec had optioned was We Were Liars, which sheâll be adapting for the small screen with Carina Adly MacKenzie (Roswell, New Mexico). Now, it looks like the series has found a home with Deadline reporting Amazon has picked up the series.
Per the outlet, Amazon Prime Video is now developing the project and has set up a mini writersâ room. Plec is set to write the first episode, while MacKenzie is set to write the second episode. The duo will produce the series alongside Emily Cummins, E. Lockhart and Universal Television.
We Were Liars is described as a tragic love story and amnesia thriller that is set on a privately owned island off the coast of Massachusetts. It features a âbeautiful and distinguished family,â and a âbrilliant, damaged girlâ and a âpassionate, political body.â The book has become a TikTok phenomenon and has been on the New York Times bestsellerâs list for the past twenty-two months. The book was first published in 2014.
Season 2 of Amazonâs Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has added seven new cast members. The streamer announced on Thursday that Gabriel Akuwudike (Hanna), Yasen âZatesâ Atour (The Witcher), Ben Daniels (The Crown), Amelia Kenworthy, Nia Towle (Persuasion), and Nicholas Woodeson (Rome) have all joined the series for Season 2. As of now, itâs unknown which roles theyâll be playing. Also joining the cast for Season 2 is Sam Hazeldine (Peaky Blinders) who will take over the role of Adar from Joseph Mawle this season.
In a statement to the press, Vernon Sanders, head of global television for Amazon Studios, noted the success of Rings of Power and what is still yet to come in Season 2. âSince its premiere, âThe Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Powerâ has been bringing audiences together to experience the magic and wonder of J.R.R. Tolkienâs magnificent Middle-earth,â he said. âTo date, season one is the top Original series for Prime Video in every region and has been viewed by over 100 million people worldwide, a truly global hit that speaks to the universal nature of powerful storytelling. We welcome these wonderful actors to our âfellowshipâ and look forward to telling more incredible Second Age stories in season two.â
Production on Season 2 of The Rings of Power is currently underway. The Rings of Power currently stars Morfydd Clark as Galadriel, Ismael Cruz Cordova as Arondir, Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn, Charlie Vickers as Halbrand, Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo, and Markella Kavenagh as Nori Brandyfoot.
Daredevil: Born Again is preparing to head into production in February and amid rumors of street-level heroes such as White Tiger appearing in the show, comes a very interesting addition to the cast. According to insider Daniel RPK, Michael Gandolfini has landed a role in the streaming series.
The 23-year-old Gandolfini made a name for himself by playing a young Tony Soprano, a role previously held by his later father, James, in HBOâs The Many Saints of Newark. Gandolfini doesnât have many credits to his name as his acting career only began in earnest following his fatherâs death in 2013. He recently had a role in the Jodie Turner-Smith and John Cena film The Independent and will next be seen in the Joaquin Phoenix film, Disappointment Blvd.
Gandolfiniâs role in Daredevil: Born Again has not been revealed but we can add that his character is described as an ambitious and earnest risk-taker with a very Staten Island-esque persona. Given that description, itâs possible Gandolfini is playing an up-and-coming mafioso, given the islandâs ongoing reputation as a home for organized crime. Should that be the case, one intriguing possibility for the role could be Richard Fisk, the son of Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin. Richard has often been a thorn in his fatherâs side and has often tried to take his place atop organized crime.
Ready for some well-being and re-centering? Try yoga! Want a snarky, scathing criticism of the commercialization of yoga and its devolution into a mainstream social media contest for followers? Watch season 2 of Namaste, Bitches, a comedic web series from Creator and Director, Summer Chastant.
Chastant stars in the series as yoga instructor Sabine, whoâs been teaching at What Up Dog Yoga Studio for six years and is eager to for a promotion to Senior Teacher. Tania Verafield reprises her role as Gina, now an unemployed yoga instructor crashing on Sabineâs couch, whoâs beginning to spiral down a rabbit hole of wild conspiracy theories. When yoga studio owner Beth (Christina Piazza) asks Sabine to mentor her young niece and help her become a better instructor, Sabine accepts the role despite misgivings with Holly (Rebekah Kennedy), who will clearly stop at nothing to gain her own following of yoga enthusiasts.
Rebekah Kennedy as Holly and Summer Chastant as Sabine in Namaste, Bitches.
Sabine confronts Gina about her conspiracy theories and finally gets news about the Senior Teacher position sheâs been longing for. But sheâs in for a wicked surprise! Murphyâs Multiverse has an exclusive look at episode 4, âDownward Facing Twerkâ here first.
Chastant launched season one of Namaste, Bitches in 2015, showcasing the underbelly of the yoga scene in Los Angeles. The story is close to home for Chastant, who taught yoga for over a decade in New York, but was forced to adapt her yoga practice after moving to California to pursue her acting and directing career. In a phone discussion earlier this month, Chastant said she had a more alignment-focused practice valued by a population who moved more. New Yorkers walk, take the stairs, walk to the subway, and valued that slower, aligning-focused practice. Vehicle-bound Californians, however, were looking for a workout. She found yoga practices attached to crystal meditation rooms and sound bathsâwith a much bigger focus on âenergyâ healing. When I asked her what she thought about those practices, Chastant laughed and explained âI appreciate people who appreciate them.â
Chastant, a certified yoga teacher, was concerned with the yoga communityâs embrace of certain conspiracy theories during the pandemicâparticularly with QAnon and its anti-vaccination movements which seemed to resonate among a subset of yogaâs cult-like followers looking for nontraditional healing. She confronts those trends and cancel culture in season two of the series. Guru Seasonal (Katarina Morhacova) serves as a sort of stand-in for the god-like yogis who are no longer questioned by their followers but blindly followed to dire ends. When someone dares to speak out? Theyâre canceled, never to be mentioned again amongst yoga practitioners. This worried Chastant, who urges people to be wary of any situations where people stop asking questions of their leaders. âDo your research!â she says playfully, parroting the QAnon catchphrase.
The yoga instructors of What Up Dog embrace Guru Seasonalâs conspiracies as cult-like followers.
With season two, Chastant took on directing and producing duties in addition to starring in the series. She says it was definitely more work, but directing allowed her to execute the vision she had for the show while writing it. She hopes the series can continue to evolve, perhaps even into a feature-length film. Chastantâs recent project, Plug, placed in the Austin Film Festival. Plug tells the story of a teenage girl who, after the death of Kurt Cobain, must confront her own tragic past in order to fulfill her dream of being the lead singer in a band.
You can catch up on Namaste, Bitches on YouTube now. All six episodes of season one are available now, as well as episodes 1-3 of season 2. Episodes 4-6 of season 2 will be available on December 2.
This afternoon at 2:30 PM ET, Disney will begin a 3-hour and 20-minute long panel at CCXP â22 in Brazil where it is expected to show off a significant amount of its 2023 slate from across its major brands. 20th Century Studios, Disney, Disney Animation, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios and Pixar are all expected to have a presence during the panel. Hereâs an idea of what to expect.
20th Century Studios
The only question here is if Fox will show off anything other than Avatar: The Way of Water. The film is just 2 weeks away from release and press screenings begin early next week. Star Zoë Saldaña and producer Jon Landau are scheduled to be at the event and are likely to show off some footage from the film.
Thanks to Collider, we know that Disneyâs live-action The Little Mermaid will be front and center during their portion of the studioâs portion of the panel. The film, headed to theaters on May 26, 2023, stars Halle Bailey as Ariel and looked to be a visual spectacle when a teaser trailer of it was shown at D23. Given the May release, itâs possible a new trailer might be unveiled at CCXP.
Disney Animation
As of publication, not much about the animation panel has trickled out. Itâs possible, however, that the animation studio might show off the upcoming Disney Plus film, IwĂĄjĂș, and its next theatrical release, Wish.
Lucasfilm
It looks like Lucasfilm will be showing off at least 3 projects from its slate: Willow, which just launched this week on Disney Plus, The Mandalorian Season 3 and Indiana Jones 5. Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni are set to join the panel virtually and discuss Mando S3, which is reportedly streaming in February. A trailer for the third season was unveiled about 2 months ago, so itâs possible a new trailer, complete with an expected release date, might emerge from CCXP. As exciting as that will be, expect Indy 5 to take up a big chunk of Lucasfilmâs time. A trailer for the new film, complete with the title, has been cut and is waiting to roll out. Is today the day?
Marvel Studios
Kevin Feige does not do panels unless he can bring something special to the mix. Heâll be on stage in Brazil and will be joined by Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania director Peyton Reed and stars Paul Rudd,Evangeline Lilly and Jonathan Majors, whose Kang the Conqueror, a major piece of the Multiverse Saga plans, will be introduced in the film. The film comes out in just over two months on February 17, 2023, and a new trailer for it was just screened at an event in Singapore. Feige is bringing it with him and the only question is whether or not itâll leave the screens at CCXP or be exclusive to the event. Itâs very likely itâll be playing in front of Avatar: The Way of Water, so even if it doesnât get into the wild today, weâll all see it soon.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 will also get some attention at the panel, especially with Saldaña already in Brazil. Like Quantumania, new footage of it was shown in Singapore, so a trailer or some footage will be shown. The public has yet to see anything from the film, which is now just 6 months away from its May 5, 2023 release. While Marvelâs marketing window has been shorter recently, the same logic from above applies: they probably want this trailer in theaters with Avatar: The Way of Water.
Loki Season 2 was also part of the panel in Singpore and the footage shown there featured Majorsâ Kang the Conqueror. Fortunately, Majors is already there, so expect him to give an update on Loki and perhaps introduce a new trailer. The series comes out after Quantumania, sometime in the Summer of 2023, so its unlikely an exact release date will be given.
Marvel Studios is also likely to at least talk about Secret Invasion and The Marvels, both of which are set for 2023 releases. At this point, it doesnât seem likely that any major new announcements should be expected but rather just a showcase of 2023âs projects.
Pixar
Pixar will absolutely be showing off Elemental, the Peter Sohn-helmed film which is slated for a June 16, 2023 release. Hereâs the official synopsis from Disney.com:
Disney and Pixarâs âElementalâ is an all-new, original feature film set in Element City, where fire-, water-, land- and air residents live together. The story introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.
Of course, there could always be surprises rolled out during such a long panel and Murphyâs Multiverse will be doing out best to share everything with you as it happens!
What happens if you combine Ferris Buellerâs Day Off, Mean Girls, and add a splash of Ghost Whisperer? Well, you get Darby and the Dead. The story of Darby Harper (Riele Downs), a young teenage girl who has the ability to see the dead. After a tragic accident sees the most popular girl in school pass away (Auliâi Cravalho), Darby is forced with an unlikely tag-along as she tries to make sure her frenemy manages to pass on but gets more than she initially bargained for.
The main concept is a fun idea to give the usual high school storylines an additional layer beyond the usual drama, but the film by Silas Howard is quite keen on trying to throw in as many ideas as possible. In addition to the âwackyâ element of Darby seeing the dead, we also have her actively breaking the fourth wall throughout the story. It seems to imply we are also part of her gift, but it can sometimes be more distracting than anything else. Yet, it does also add some levity of social commentary regarding popular culture in high school. It only suffers from trying a bit too hard to replicate Ferris Bueller.
One thing you canât deny though is that the film has heart. Itâs cheeky self-awareness be more a way to make use of the storyâs trappings and build upon its characters. Darby is the main focus and the story doesnât shy away from showing her as a flawed but well-meaning person. The story manages to find that balance that doesnât turn it into a cautionary tale of popularity, but rather just showcasing that trying out new things is okay. Even with some of the usual story beats at play, the focus of this story and Darbyâs development makes up for it in many ways. In times of resisting change, thereâs something sweet of a story simply saying you donât have to be popular but you shouldnât close yourself off from the living either.
As revealed in the trailers, Darby and the Dead features a lot of inspirations, especially from the many high school films that released throughout the years. But, one can easily tell that Ferris Buellerâs Day Off plays a big inspiration in how Darby Harper breaks the fourth wall throughout her misadventure with the dead. Actress Riele Downs had the challenge of not only speaking to the deceased but also the audience and it seems it took some time getting used to.
As revealed during the official press conference for the film, Downs shared what it was like trying to communicate with the camera and âneeding to play all these different beatsâ with whoever she had to interact in a specific scene. Sheâs an introverted character that is quite outspoken and that took some time to adapt to for Downs.
Honestly, it was maybe a little difficult to adapt to at first, just, like, how much dialogue there was and needing to play all these different beats, and to Auliâiâs characters who was not supposed to even be visible by other people. So, a lot of different dynamics happening, but it became natural pretty quickly, believe it or not. I guess maybe being more of an introverted slash introspective person that sort of, you kind of live that out in your life anyway I guess a little bit.
Riele Downs
Adding the fact that she can see the dead that arenât visible to others lends the film a certain unique challenge. Weâve seen the fourth wall being broken by quite a few characters, as it became popular once again with the arrival of Deadpool but it does add a unique take with Darbyâs ability. So, itâll be interesting to see how she brings it to life when Darby and the Dead release son Hulu on December 2nd.
If youâve ever wondered just how ambitious the plans are of James Cameron, he recently revealed that he could make up to six sequels of the 2009 box office breakout. Yet, that isnât all as weâre also getting a graphic novel by Sherri L. Smith thatâll be published by Dark Horse Comics. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, they sat down with James Cameron to talk about his ambitious plans and the discussion of a potential streaming series. In it, he reveals that heâs open to the idea of exploring Pandora in a series, but itâll take at least ten years to get to that point.
The problem with these CG characters is that theyâre so cost- and labor-intensive that it really doesnât work for TV. Now, come back in 10 years, with a lot of machine deep learning. Insert it into our pipeline, which we hope to do, over time. We might be able to get to a TV schedule, but it doesnât interest me right now
James Cameron
It makes sense that itâll take quite a bit of time for these types of CG characters in a fully digital world to be able to work in a live-action series. Eeven as impressive as She-Hulk was with their work, the budget for a series of the scale of an entire species being digitally rendered would push any show beyond its budget. Even Avatar: The Way of Water reportedly has a budget upwards of $400M. So, itâll already take quite a bit to make this film get its money back and thatâs already a big undertaking for a more lucrative business model that isnât dependent on subscriber growth.
Of course, thereâs always alternatives that could be taken. Avatar as an animated series would offer a way for him to tell more stories without the restraints of fully rendered CG in live-action. Though, it also depends on if James Cameron is a fan of his project being showcased in that format. No matter what direction an Avatar series might go, itâll very likely make its home on Disney+ given these films are now under Disneyâs watchful eye since the 20th Century Fox purchase. For now, weâll have to wait another decade before we might truly find out.
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