Magazine - Jupiter X Templates

THE LAST OF US Debuts First Look At Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey In Lead Roles

A first look at the high-profile series adaptation of the Sony Playstation franchise, HBO’s The Last of Us, debut Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in the lead roles.

From Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann (who wrote and directed the video game), the story takes place two decades after civilisation as we know it has crumbled. Joel Miller (Pascal, best known for his performances in The Mandalorian, Wonder Woman 1984, and Narcos) is a hardened survivor tormented by his past, who is hired to smuggle 14-year-old Ellie (Ramsey, who delighted Game of Thrones fans with her scene-stealing turn as Lady Lyanna Mormont) out of a totalitarian quarantine zone. Ellie is immune to the Cordyceps brain infection that continues to ravage the country, and may provide the answers needed to create a vaccine. In keeping with the video game canon, the character is a lesbian.

Filming began July of this year, and is due to finish June 2022; the first season is expected to debut later that year. The Last of Us is said to be the largest television production in Canadian history, and marks HBO’s first time adapting a video game to TV. Beyond Druckmann, original game composer Gustavo Santaolalla also returns to score the series. HBO recently revealed its first look at the series adaptation, featuring Pascal and Ramsey with their backs to camera, looking upon old plane wreckage. See it below:

Thoughts? Feelings? Let us know, and stay tuned for further updates as we get them.

The Last of Us

D&D ANNOUNCES REVISED RULES & SPACE HAMSTERS

D&D Celebration 2021 wrapped up yesterday with the announcement that a revised, fully backwards compatible version of the Dungeons and Dragons rules will be launched for 2024. It has been described as ‘the next evolution’ of the core rulebooks. This is not unusual for the game; popular iterations of the rules usually get compatible ‘revisions’ that update rules errors and expand material without over-hauling everything or alienating players.

The news, scant as it is, has come as a relief to many gamers. Fifth Edition D&D is hugely popular and is the rules-set best known to modern gamers. The announcement means that the game we are all familiar with isn’t about to radically change anytime soon, but it is likely that streamlined, more accessible books are on their way. This update will coincide with the 50^th anniversary of the game. No official name has been announced, but it is expected to be a 5.5 edition rather than a sixth edition.

At the same panel, it was announced that a new setting book will be launched in 2022. We know that at least a number of ‘classic’ settings from previous editions are planned, as are some wholly new settings. That however, isn’t the big news. A draft version of the alt-art cover for one of the new setting books shows Boo, the iconic miniature space hamster from Baldur’s Gate.

In the video game Baldur’s Gate, the hero Minsc has a hamster that he claims is his best friends, and that’s a miniature version of giant, cosmic rodents. The presence of Boo on a cover implies that the setting book could be one of a number of things; It could be the cover of Spelljammer book – the space hamsters come from this sci-fi fantasy setting that mixes normal D&D fantasy with enormous space-faring wooden craft, musket wielding hippo-men and star-eating dragons. Spelljammer was last seen during the 90s, as part of the game’s second edition.

It could be the cover of a Dragonlance book – the race of space hamsters are said to be the inventions of Tinker Gnomes, mad inventors unique to Krynn, the world the classic D&D setting Dragonlance is set in. Dragonlance was part of the game’s first edition.

It could be another book set in the Forgotten Realms, which is where Minsc and Boo are from, or the new book could set the pair up as wanderers across the D&D’s various planes of reality. At this point, it’s all wild speculation, but we’re looking forward to the future reveal.

DOCTOR WHO’s New Showrunner Is… Russell T Davies

We’ve known since July that lead writer Chris Chibnall is set to leave Doctor Who, alongside current Doctor Jodie Whittaker, after the upcoming Series 13 and 2022’s series of specials. While we’re still awaiting news on who will take over Whottaker’s role at the helm of the TARDIS, the BBC have now announced that Chibnall’s replacement will be none other than Russell T Davies.

This comes as a big surprise, because in Doctor Who’s timey-wimey fashion, its new showrunner is also its old one. Davies brought the show back in 2005 after it had been off air for sixteen years, and over four series with Christopher Eccleston and then David Tennant as the Doctor, he led the show to unprecedented success as a global phenomenon and ratings hit. In the years since leaving the show, Davies has been the writer behind award-winning dramas A Very English Scandal, Years and Years, and It’s A Sin.

With Doctor Who currently struggling to retain its past popularity, many fans are glad to have his steady hand back on the helm. With BBC Studios partnering with Bad Wolf to produce, Davies will lead the show once more starting with its 60th anniversary year in 2023, and seems to have committed for more series after that.

Of his new gig, Davies says:

“I’m beyond excited to be back on my favourite show. But we’re time-travelling too fast, there’s a whole series of Jodie Whittaker’s brilliant Doctor for me to enjoy, with my friend and hero Chris Chibnall at the helm – I’m still a viewer for now.”

Chris Chibnall adds:

“It’s monumentally exciting and fitting that Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary will see one of Britain’s screenwriting diamonds return home. Russell built the baton that is about to be handed back to him – Doctor Who, the BBC, the screen industry in Wales, and let’s be honest everyone in the whole world, have so many reasons to be Very Excited Indeed about what lies ahead.”

Get In Loser, We’re Going To Beacon Hills! TEEN WOLF Returns.

Tyler Posey as Scott McCall in Teen Wolf MTV series

Jeff Davis, executive producer of the 2011 Teen Wolf series about an awkward teen who turns into a werewolf after being bitten a day before sophomore year, is returning to the franchise with a new project.

The show’s original cast, which includes Tyler Posey, Dylan O’Brien (The Maze Runner franchise), JR Bourne, Holland Roden, Tyler Hoechlin (Superman & Lois), Shelley Hennig, Dylan Sprayberry, Melissa Ponzio and Linden Ashby, are in talks to return for a movie sequel over at Paramount+, to be once again produced by Davis. Davis will also serve as showrunner for a new series called Wolf Pack, based on Canadian author Edo Van Belkom’s “Wolf Pack” book series.

As reported by Deadline, the initial synopses for the projects are as follows:

Teen Wolf movie: A full moon rises in Beacon Hills, and with it a terrifying evil has emerged. The wolves are howling once again, calling for the return of Banshees, Werecoyotes, Hellhounds, Kitsunes, and every other shapeshifter in the night. But only a Werewolf like Scott McCall, no longer a teenager yet still an Alpha, can gather both new allies and reunite trusted friends to fight back against what could be the most powerful and deadliest enemy they’ve ever faced.

Wolf Pack: Based on the book series by Edo Van Belkom, Wolf Pack follows a teenage boy and girl whose lives are changed forever when a California wildfire awakens a terrifying supernatural creature and drives it to attack a highway traffic jam beneath the burning hills. Wounded in the chaos, the boy and girl are inexplicably drawn to each other and to two other teenagers who were adopted sixteen years earlier by a park ranger after another mysterious wildfire. As the full moon rises, all four teens come together to unravel the secret that connects them – the bite and blood of a werewolf.

Updates as we get them!

Teen Wolf

Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Seth Rogen In… SUPER MARIO BROS.?

Super Mario Bros. adapted into film starring Chris Pratt

You read that right: a total all-stars slate has been announced for none other than Illumination and Nintendo’s new animated film based on the world of Super Mario Bros. Necessary? No. Wanted? Undetermined. But it’s coming to you whether you want it or not.

Chris Pratt (MCU, Jurassic World) is to voice Mario, Any Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Split, and Edgar Wright’s upcoming Last Night in Soho) is Princess Peach, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Charlie Day will voice Luigi. Rounding out the cast is Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong (we’ll give the studio this one, that’s pretty perfect voice casting), Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong, Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, and Sebastian Maniscalco as Spike. When we said all-star, we weren’t exaggerating.

The animated film will be directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who previously collabed on Teen Titans Go!, from a screenplay by The LEGO Movie 2‘s Matthew Fogel. Super Mario Bros. is slated for a US release on December 21st, 2022.

In all fairness, few people wanted a LEGO movie adaptation, and look how that turned out. Perhaps Super Mario Bros. will be a similarly pleasant surprise. It’s only the latest in an increasingly popular trend seeing studios adapting games, toys, etc. into movies: everything from the truly bonkers (Uno, as in the card game) to the intriguing (Barbie, from Margot Robbie, Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig). Wonder what Martin Scorsese’s thoughts are on whether a film based on the toy brand Hot Wheels constitutes “cinema”…

Super Mario Bros.

MUPPETS HAUNTED MANSION Reveals Official Trailer!

All our favourite streaming services look to be taking the Halloween season very seriously this year – Amazon has their second season of Welcome to the Blumhouse movies scheduled to begin October 1st, Netflix has the fang-tastic looking vampire flick Night Teeth on October 20th, and Disney+ have two high-profile specials lined up, one set in the Galaxy far, far away, and the other featuring the return of the Muppets themselves!

LEGO Star Wars: Terrifying Tales debuted its trailer a few weeks ago (watch it on YouTube), but today sees Disney+ reveal the first look at Muppets Haunted Mansion, a new movie that will see Gonzo the Great and Pepe the King Prawn challenged to survive a night in the titular spook-filled property made famous by the studios’ theme parks. Some may frown at the corporate synergy at work, but we have much fondness for both the Muppets and the five-decades-old Haunted Mansion attraction itself, so we’re more than happy to tag along on the adventure!

One disconcerting issue that the new footage does raise, however… if all Muppets aside from Gonzo and Pepe are ghosts, who killed them, and will that ever be addressed in canon?

Enjoy the trailer below and mark October 8^th in your diaries…

In other Haunted Mansion news (now there’s a sentence that might fill a few with dread), Disney are also looking to return to it in another big-screen movie from director Justin Simien, featuring an all-star cast that so far has nabbed Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson, LaKeith Stanfield, and Tiffany Haddish. Read more about that project in our most recent article on it here.

Disney muppets The Haunted Mansion

Aliens Attack In Apple’s Sci-Fi Series INVASION

Sam Neill in Invasion series poster from Apple Studios

Apple TV+ has premiered its full trailer for Invasion, its sci-fi series inspired by HG Wells’ “War of the Worlds”, from Oscar and two-time Emmy nominee Simon Kinberg (X-Men, The Martian, Deadpool) and Hunters creator David Weil.

In Invasion (which bares no relation to the 2005, William Fichtner-starring show of the same name), Earth is visited by an alien species that threatens humanity’s existence. Events unfold in real time through the eyes of five ordinary people across the globe as they struggle to make sense of the chaos unravelling around them – from rural America to metropolitan Japan, Invasion looks to be a character-driven ensemble show in the spirit of Heroes and Sense8.

The show stars Sam Neill as Jim Bell Tyson, a rural American lawman, Golshifteh Farahani as Aneesha Malik, a mother to two young children, Shioli Kutsuna as Mitsuki Yamato, an aerospace engineer, Shamier Anderson as Trevante Cole, a soldier stationed in the Middle East, and Billy Barratt as Caspar Morrow, a British schoolboy – these are presumably our five central characters.

“My fellow citizens of the world, what I have to say to you is not something I was ever prepared to say,” states the American President in an international address, played over the trailer.

“As many of you know by now, we are suffering from inexplicable and seemingly unrelated incidents, ranging from power outages, to the destruction of infrastructure and homes. We now believe these incidents are not unrelated but are in fact connected. What is being visited upon our Earth is not of our Earth.”

From war zones to city-wide blackouts, to alien sightings, outer space explosions and cryptic communications, it’s nothing we’ve not seen a thousand times before. Yet with the talent attached both in front of and behind the camera, perhaps Invasion can bring something new to the well-served alien invasion genre.

Apple TV+ will premiere the first three episodes of Invasion on October 22nd. Watch the official trailer below:

Apple TV+ Invasion

STAR TREK Cast and OXVENTURE Join the D&D Celebration

Cast members from Star Trek: Discovery in Anthony Rapp, Mary Wisemann, Blu del Barrio, Ian Alexander will play D&D as part of Wizards of The Coast’s D&D celebration event. The DM will be everyone’s favourite Andoran, Noah Averbach-Katz. They will be joined by Star Trek the Next Generation’s Will Wheaton. The whole game will be streamed online on Friday September 23^rd at 19:00 British Summer Time via Twitch.

Fans of UK D&D streams will also be well catered for as well. Oxventure and High Roller’s have teamed up to produce a unique show. The dashing heroes of High Rollers and the haphazard Oxventurers Guild will join forces to escape capture. Featuring Luke Westaway, Andy Farrant, Mark “Sherlock” Hulmes, Kim Richard., and Rhiannon Gower. Johnny Chiodini will be the DM, so expect chaos.

Other highlights of the weekend will include a D&D musical, some panels on the art of DM-ing and an early look at the keenly anticipated Strixhaven setting.

We’ve taken the schedule for this Weekend’s D&D Celebration and converted the times to British Summertime, so UK fans can join in the fun; the event is scheduled around American timezones, hence the ‘Morning Welcome’ starting in the afternoon for Europeans.

Updates and information can be found via https://dndcelebration.com/schedule

Day One: Thursday September 23^rd

Midnight – Opening Ceremony

Day Two: Friday September 24^th

15:45 BST – Morning Welcome

16:00 BST – High Rollin’ Oxventure

18:00 BST – Intro to Adventurers League

19:00 BST – Disco Does D&D

21:00 BST – The Great Dragon Tourney

23:00 BST – The Feywild: The Wicked & Whimsy

00:00 BST – Players of the Yon

Day Three: Saturday September 25^th

15:45 BST – Morning Welcome

16:00 BST – Hermes Heist

18:00 BST – My First Character

19:00 BST – Strixhaven In Session

20:00 BST – The Slapstick Hunt

22:00 BST – Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons Revealed

23:00 BST – DM Roundtable: Immersion

00:00 BST The Circus of Sound, A D&D Musical.

Day Four: Sunday September 26^th

15:45 BST – Morning Welcome

16:00 BST – How To Play Draconic Villains

17:00 BST – Demystifying Session Zero

18:00 BST – Outlaws & Obelisks: Slowdown Showdown

20:00 BST – Ask The Sage Live

21:00 BST – The Dungeon and The Dragon

23:00 BST – DM Challenge Announcement

23:30 BST – Future of D&D

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN Remake Gets Full Series Order

Let The Right One In Gets 10 Episode Series Order Showtime

Finally, a Let The Right One In series has been just received a 10-episode order from Showtime and is due to go into production early next year, Deadline reports. Starring Demián Bichir, Anika Noni Rose, Grace Gummer, Madison Taylor Baez, Kevin Carroll, Ian Foreman and Jacob Buster, the series is inspired by both the bestselling 2004 novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist and the critically acclaimed 2008 Swedish film adaptation.

From showrunner Andrew Hinderaker, the vampire drama is described as an exploration of human frailty, strength, and compassion. Let The Right One In centres on Mark (Bichir) and his daughter Eleanor (Baez), whose lives were turned upside down when Eleanor was turned into a vampire. Now eternally locked in at age 12, she struggles to stay hidden, going out only at night while her father does his best to provide her with the human blood she needs to stay alive.

Let The Right One In 2008 Swedish film

This show has had a long and tricky road: originally developed in 2015, it later moved from A+E Studios to TNT, where a pilot was ordered and cast but never went to production. Tomorrow Studios then shopped it to Showtime, which ordered a pilot episode – as you can see, we have the receipts. Years later now, we’re at least promised a first season.

The series also marks the third time that Lindqvist’s novel has been adapted: first and most successfully in 2008, then again as the 2010 U.S. remake, Matt Reeves’ Let Me In – which, let’s be honest, we could have done without. Let’s see whether this series can be more than a play-by-play remake of the Swedish film.

Let The Right One In

Megan Fox And Alfie Allen Rule The City Of Angels In NIGHT TEETH

I See You director Adam Randall’s sophomore outing has received its full trailer: Night Teeth will be streaming from October 20th on Netflix. Written by Brent Dillon and with A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Bob Shaye serving as executive producer, Night Teeth stars Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (Bumblebee, Alita: Battle Angel), Debby Ryan (Netflix’s Insatiable), Lucy Fry (Bright, Vampire Academy), Alfie Allen (Jojo Rabbit, Game of Thrones) and Megan Fox (Till Death, Jennifer’s Body).

The official synopsis states:

“To earn some extra cash, quirky college student Benny (Lendeborg, Jr.) moonlights as a chauffeur for one night. His task: drive two mysterious young women (Ryan and Fry) around Los Angeles for a night of party hopping. Taken captive by his clients’ charm, he soon learns that his passengers have their own plans for him – and an insatiable thirst for blood. As his night spins out of control, Benny is thrust into the middle of a clandestine war that pits rival tribes of vampires against the protectors of the human world, led by his brother (Raúl Castillo), who will stop at nothing to send them back into the shadows. With sunrise fast approaching, Benny is forced to choose between fear and temptation if he wants to stay alive and save the City of Angels.”

The trailer teases gore, murder, sexy vamps, and mansion parties as the gang paints the town red. What more could you possibly want for Halloween month?