Apple TV+ announced that their acclaimed sci-fi comedy Murderbot has been renewed for a second season. The news broke just ahead of the season one finale, which premiered July 11th on the streaming platform.
A rogue security unit searches for the meaning of life in the show based on the bestselling book series The Murderbot Diaries (which won Best Series at the Hugo Book Awards in 2021) by Martha Wells, who serves as consulting producer. The Apple TV+ and Paramount Television Studios project how was created, written, and directed by Academy Award nominees Chris & Paul Weitz (About a Boy).
The 10-episode series follows a self-hacking security android (Alexander Skarsgård) who is uninterested in and horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable “clients.” Murderbot must hide its free will as it reluctantly joins a new mission protecting scientists on a dangerous planet when all it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out its place in the universe.
“We’re so grateful for the response that Murderbot has received, and delighted that we’re getting to go back to Martha Wells’s world to work with Alexander, Apple, CBS Studios and the rest of the team,” said the Weitz duo.
“Chris, Paul, Alexander and the entire ‘Murderbot’ team have delivered a brilliantly original, addictive, witty and vibrant adaptation that has captured the imagination of audiences everywhere,” said Matt Cherniss, head of programming at Apple TV+. We can’t wait to unveil what’s next for Murderbot and, of course, ‘Sanctuary Moon’ in season two.”
The season one ensemble cast also includes Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian (Late Night with the Devil), Sabrina Wu (Joy Ride), Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones, and Tamara Podemski.
The line-up for FrightFest 2025 has been announced and it’s packed with eagerly awaited shockers and fresh blood.
The peak of every horror fan’s calendar opens with the UK premiere of James DeMonaco’s The Home and closes with the UK premiere of Kurtis David Harder’s Influencers, the sequel to the 2023 Shudder fave Influencer.
The Home
The line-up includes several returning directors, such as Erik Bloomquist with Self-Help, Simon Rumley with Crushed, the Adams family’s spiritual sequel to Hellbender, Mother of Flies, Joe Begos’ Jimmy and Stiggs (which comes from Eli Roth’s distribution company and will be the first screening with additional Roth footage!), and Neil Marshall returns with the world premiere of the 4K restoration of The Descent – with some of the original cast in attendance.
Also hitting the main screen are the UK premiere of The Toxic Avenger, the superb reimagining of the Troma classic, A Serbian Documentary, which focuses on the controversial movie, Toshiaki Toyoda’s Transcending Dimensions, Seth Daly’s The Rows, Mercedes Bryce Morgan’s Bone Lake, Terry Castle (daughter of the legendary William Castle) offers serial killer thriller What She Doesn’t Know, the McManus Brothers’ Redux Redux, Gerard Johnson’s Odyssey, and Bamboo Revenge.
The Toxic Avenger
Also screening are Cognaitive, Hold the Fort, Marshmallow, Night of Violence, and Flush. There are world premieres of Chris Marrs Piliero’s Appofeniacs, Jeffrey Primm’s 213 Bones, Vatanyu Ingkaviat’s Tomb Watcher, and Ritesh Gupta’s The Red Mask.
The Discovery strands feature some excellent titles from both emerging and established artists from around the world. There’s Borderline, starring Samara Weaving, Patrick Rea’s Super Happy Fun Clown, Keith Boynton’s The Haunted Forest, and Andrew Mudge’s The Arborist.
Borderline
More world premieres include Gabriel Carrer’s Death Cycle, Matt Stuertz’s Human, Tim Cruz’s Don’t Let the Cat Out, Pig Hill, Blood Shine, the debut from Raven Carter, Noseeums, James Ross’ Parasomnia, Dani Barker’s Five.
More films from the US include Kombucha, DW Medoff’s Your Host, The Mannequin, In a Cold Vein, Cover, The Only Ones, Paul Bunnell’s A Blind Bargain, The Other People, and Will Canon’s The Confession.
UK entries include Bambi: The Reckoning, and Matt Harlock’s Blockhead.
Bambi: The Reckoning
The First Blood strand presents four world premieres: Tom Pickering’s He Kills at Night, Luke Tedder’s The Caretaker, Healing Andy, and Natasha Tosini and Stephen Staley’s The Haunting at Jack the Ripper’s House.
There’s a pair of films from Australia: Alice Maio Mackay’s The Serpent’s Skin, and Parish Malfitano’s Salt Along the Tongue, while from New Zealand there’s Callum Devlin’s The Weed Eaters.
From Canada, there’s the world premiere of Jay Reid’s Sick Puppy and Ava Maria Safai’s Foreigner.
Other European entries are Above the Knee, from Viljar Bøe, who was at FrightFest a few years back with Good Boy, and Juan Alberacin’s El Instinto (Instinct).
FrightFest wouldn’t be the same without some documentaries, and this year there’s Captured Souls: In Conversation with Graham Humphreys from director Chris Collier, Alaric S. Rocha’s mockumentary Where is Juan Moctezuma?The Degenerate: The Life and Films of Andy Milligan, and Andreas Zerr’s Sane Inside Insanity: The Rocky Horror Phenomenon.
Sane Inside Insanity: The Rocky Horror Phenomenon
This year there are also two animated movies: Lauris Abele and Raitis Abele’s Dog of God from Latvia and the Korean film Gill from Jae-huun Ahn.
Co-director Alan Jones comments: “FrightFest in its 26th year remains the UK’s Number One destination for genre fans. The 2025 event will be epic in every sense, celebrating the inventive, transgressive and diverse. So, join us for an event that has consistently remained in the Top Ten of The World’s Best Fantasy Festivals list”.
Influencer
FrightFest takes place at The Odeon LUXE Leicester Square from Thursday, August 21st to Monday, August 25th. Full passes are on sale from noon on Saturday, July 12th. Day passes and single tickets on sale from noon on Saturday, July 19th. Head over to www.frightfest.co.uk for more information.
Night at the Museum is back for another mayhem-filled outing! 20th Century and Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps are reportedly revisiting the franchise, which originally starred Ben Stiller as the overnight security guard at the Natural History Museum where, thanks to an ancient Egyptian artefact, the exhibits come alive at night.
Tripper Clancy, best known for Stuber, will be writing this new entry. Plot details for the reimagining are currently under mummy wraps, though Deadline reports that “the film is said to be a new story set at the museum with all-new characters.”
The original film was released by 20th Century Fox in 2006 and was followed by 2009’s Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Secret of the Tombin 2014. Rami Malek, Robin Williams and Owen Wilson were among those starring. Following Disney’s acquisition of Fox in 2019, the studio moved to further expand the franchise with Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again, an animated feature produced by Levy for Disney+, which was released in 2022.
Clancy is also known for having written the Die Hart franchise (not a typo, this is the Kevin Hart-starring series). He also co-created a Varsity Blues reboot for Quibi and has written for Pixar, among others.
Ryan Murphy’s true crime-based Netflix series Monster has previously profiled Jeffrey Dahmer and the Menendez Brothers. Season 3, which releases soon, will centre on Ed Gein. Now, Variety reports that the fourth season will focus on the infamous Lizzie Borden.
The news comes despite the fact that no official Season 4 renewal has been announced yet. Monster Season 3 also hasn’t yet set a premiere date.
Borden lived in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. In 1892, she was accused of mutilating and murdering both her father and her stepmother with an axe at their shared home. Borden was eventually acquitted of the crimes, but the brutal nature of the murders attracted nationwide attention and contributed to Borden’s infamy in popular culture.
The grisly murders also inspired a great many books, both studies and fiction; Fall River Legend (1948), a ballet by Agnes de Mille; an opera titled Lizzie Borden (1965), by Jack Beeson and Kenward Elmslie; and one catchy, if not wholly accurate, nursery rhyme: “Lizzie Borden took an axe/ And gave her mother forty whacks;/ And when she saw what she had done/ She gave her father forty-one.” There were also a number of television and feature film adaptations of Lizzie’s story, includingLizzie Borden Took an Axestarring Christina Ricci, or the 2018 feature Lizzie starring Chloë Sevigny.
The creepiest of the Addams family returns to the scene of the crime in the official trailer for Wednesday Season 2. Viewers will return to Nevermore Academy on August 6th, when Netflix release Part 1 of the new season, followed by Part 2 on September 3rd.
Jenna Ortega returns as Wednesday, who must navigate family, friends, and old adversaries, propelling her into another year of delightfully dark and kooky mayhem. Armed with her signature razor-sharp wit and deadpan charm, she is soon plunged into a new bone-chilling supernatural mystery.
Emma Myers, Steve Buscemi, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Luis Guzman, Isaac Ordonez, Joy Sunday, Billie Piper, Luyanda Unati Lewis-Nyawo, Moosa Mostafa, Georgie Farmer, Victor Dorobantu, Evie Templeton, Owen Painter, Noah B. Taylor, and Hunter Doohan also star.
Guest stars on the upcoming season will also include Jamie McShane, Joanna Lumley, Joonas Suotamo, Fred Armisen, Christopher Lloyd, Thandiwe Newton, Heather Matarazzo, Haley Joel Osment, Anthony Michael Hall, Frances O’Connor, and Lady Gaga as Rosaline Rotwood, an enigmatic Nevermore teacher who crosses paths with Wednesday.
Series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice) also return as showrunners. Exec producer Tim Burton directs four of the eight forthcoming episodes, with The Umbrella Academy‘s Paco Cabezas and Angela Robinson helming two more, each.
Slaterverse Pictures and Black Fawn Films have released the first look and 5 stills from their highly anticipated horror film The Undertone. The film stars Nina Kiri (The Handmaid’s Tale), Michèle Duquet (The Virgin Suicides), and Kris Holden-Ried (The Umbrella Academy). The first look at the film accompanies the announcement that The Undertone will have its World Premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 27th in Montreal, Canada.
The Undertone marks the feature film debut of writer/director Ian Tuason.
“Having been born in Montreal and having showcased my VR horror short at Fantasia in 2016, premiering my first feature here feels like the perfect homecoming,” says Tuason. “I can’t wait to scare the hell out of the best horror audience I’ve ever seen.”
The official synopsis is: The host of an ‘all-things-creepy’ podcast moves into her mother’s house and begins to receive anonymous recordings of a couple spiralling into madness. As she plays them, she realises the woman’s story is a mirror of her own and each new recording scratches at her sanity, drawing her into a fate she cannot escape.
Global sales for The Undertone will be handled by the newly launched world sales division of Black Fawn Distribution, led by the film’s executive producer Chad Archibald (Black Fawn Films / Black Fawn Distribution).
“The Undertone taps into something hauntingly primal. It’s eerie, deeply personal, and truly unshakable,” states Archibald. “As Black Fawn Distribution continues to grow, our goal is to back filmmakers with clear, uncompromising visions. The Undertone delivers on every level and we’re proud to be presenting Ian’s impressive feature film debut at Fantasia and to the global market.”
The Undertone is produced by Dan Slater and Cody Calahan and is executive produced by Chad Archibald, Daril Fannin, Brit MacRae, Anthony Eu, Douglas Lee, Al Akdari, Charles Bern, Matthew Sterling, David Sproat and Ian Tuason. The production is a first-time collaboration between Black Fawn Films, Slaterverse, and Kino Studio.
Homeownership isn’t all it’s cracked up to be in the new teaser trailer for the action-horror-comedy Hold the Fort, which will premiere later this month at the Fantasia International Film Festival.
Per the official synopsis on the film’s Kickstarter page: “After moving to the suburbs, a young couple finds themselves trapped in an epic battle between their new homeowners association and an onslaught of monsters from hell!
“Lucas and Jenny are getting settled in their new home when Jerry Klein, the HOA president, knocks on their door. He invites them to the neighbourhood’s annual “Equinox Party.” Jenny is reluctant but Lucas, ready to embrace suburban life, excitedly accepts. But this is no ordinary party…A banner hangs at the clubhouse’s entrance: Welcome to the Equinox. Please don’t die.
“There are talks of a portal to hell, dangerous mythical creatures, copious amounts of moonshine, and a legendary gun-wielding hero, McScruffy. Lucas, thinking this is all a joke, hesitantly mingles with the other party guests when the inevitable happens…
“The portal to hell opens… And the first monsters attack.”
The horror-comedy hails from writer-director William Bagley, based on a story by Scott Hawkins. Chris Mayers, Haley Leary, and Julian Smith star.
Beyond its debut at Fantasia on July 16th, Hold the Fort does not yet have a release date. Watch the teaser below:
Neil Druckmann, who co-created and directed The Last of Us video games, will take a step back from the HBO series adaptation for Season 3. Though he has been hands-on throughout the first two seasons of the Bella Ramsey and Pedro Pascal-starring post-apocalyptic show, Druckmann will reportedly neither write nor direct any Season 3 episodes. He will, however, continue to serve as a co-creator and executive producer.
“I’ve made the difficult decision to step away from my creative involvement in The Last of Us on HBO. With work completed on season 2 and before any meaningful work starts on season 3, now is the right time for me to transition my complete focus to Naughty Dog and its future projects, including writing and directing our exciting next game, Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, along with my responsibilities as Studio Head and Head of Creative,” he said in a statement Wednesday. “Co-creating the show has been a career highlight. It’s been an honor to work alongside Craig Mazin to executive produce, direct and write on the last two seasons. I’m deeply thankful of the thoughtful approach and dedication the talented cast and crew took to adapting The Last of Us Part I and their continued adaptation of The Last of Us Part II.”
He ended his statement by saying he is looking forward to “HBO and PlayStation Productions continuing Ellie and Abby’s story next season.”
Further to Neil Druckmann, executive producer and writer Halley Gross, who co-wrote The Last of Us Part II and was involved in the adaptation’s second season, will also be exiting the series.
Season 3 is expected to continue the story from the sequel game The Last of Us Part II, and is expected to centre Kaitlyn Dever’s Abby.
Amazon MGM Studios’ adaptation of Rebecca Yarros‘ dragon-filled novel Fourth Wing is eyeing a big-name new showrunner, with news that Agatha All Alongand WandaVisioncreator Jac Schaeffer is in discussions to board the romantic fantasy series project. She would also serve as writer and executive producer.
Schaeffer would succeed Moira Walley-Beckett, who recently departed the series after being tapped to pen the adaptation this time last year.
More have also been added to the producing team, as Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy’s Amazon MGM Studios-based Kilter Films (who were behind the series Fallout, for one) has joined Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society. The latter has been on board since Amazon MGM secured the rights to The Empyrean book series in 2023, along with Premediated Productions.
Planned as a five-book series, with Fourth Wing (2023), Iron Flame (2023) and Onyx Storm (2025) as the first three titles, Yarros’ series follows twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail as she abandons her dreams of becoming a Scribe, at her mother’s demand that she become a dragon rider. Violet therefore enters the brutal ranks of Basgiath War College, which trains up-and-coming riders through a ‘Graduate or Die’ method.
Most recently, Schaeffer directed and executive produced the pilot for Disney+’s Holes reboot.
Cynthia Erivo, hot off her Academy Award nomination for Wicked, is teaming up with Michael Bay and Brad Fuller of Platinum Dunes to adapt the sci-fi action thriller Saturation Point for Universal Pictures. Minnie Schedeen will write the script, based on the novella of the same name by Adrian Tchaikovsky.
In the book: “Doctor Jasmine Marks is going back into hell. The Hygrometric Dehabitation Region, or the “Zone,” is a growing band of rainforest on the equator, where the heat and humidity make it impossible for warm-blooded animals to survive. A human being without protection in the Zone is dead in minutes.
“Twenty years ago, Marks went into the rainforest with a group of researchers led by Doctor Elaine Fell, to study the extraordinary climate and see if it could be used in agriculture. The only thing she learned was that the Zone was no place for people. There were deaths, and the programme was cut short.
“Now, they’re sending her back in. A plane crash, a rescue mission, a race against time and the environment to bring out the survivors. But there are things Marks’s corporate masters aren’t telling her. The Zone keeps its secrets, and so does Doctor Fell…”
Erivo will produce via her Edith’s Daughter banner, along with Solome Williams. Alex Ginno will executive produce and oversee Saturation Point for Platinum Dunes.
