Rory McCann Takes Up Ray Stevenson’s Character In AHSOKA

rory mccann as the hound in game of thrones

Scottish actor Rory McCann, likely best known for playing Sandor ‘The Hound’ Clegane on HBO’s Game of Thrones, will inherit late actor Ray Stevenson’s character for season two of the Star Wars series Ahsoka.

Stevenson, who passed after a brief illness in May 2023 mere months before the series premiered, played the Force-sensitive mercenary known as Baylan Skoll in the show. Ahsoka centres Rosario Dawson’s titular character, Ahsoka Tano, who teams with a former apprentice in order to stop the Empire from reforming. Skoll and his apprentice, Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), present obstacles to Ahsoka’s goals.

We don’t yet known when McCann will make his Ahsoka debut as Baylan Skoll. While the second season is confirmed to be in development, a shoot start date has not been announced, nor has a release date. Dave Filoni was the showrunner of season one, and is returning in the same role.

Rory McCann, who was friends with Stevenson, was most recently seen in Gladiator II, with credits that include Hot Fuzz, Jumanji: The Next Level, and the recent Knuckles Paramount+ series. Future roles for the Scottish actor also include the action-thriller Tornado, in which he’ll star opposite Jack Lowden, Takehiro Hira, and Tim Roth.

Stay tuned for updates.

IN THE LOST LANDS Trailer Adapts George R. R. Martin’s Short Story

milla jovovich and dave bautista in the trailer for in the lost lands

Director Paul W. S. Anderson, known for high-entertainment genre movies like Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, and Event Horizon, is back with In the Lost Lands, an adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s short story starring Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista. The trailer for the pic has just been released.

In the film, “A queen, desperate to find happiness in love, takes a daring step: she sends the powerful and feared witch Gray Alys (Milla Jovovich) to the “Lost Lands” to give her the magical gift of turning into a werewolf. With the mysterious hunter Boyce (Dave Bautista), who supports her in the fight against dark creatures and merciless enemies, Gray Alys roams an eerie and dangerous world. And only she knows that every wish she grants has unimaginable consequences…”. Anderson directs from a script he co-wrote with Constantin Werner.

The film hails from Vertical and Constantin Films. Also producing are Jeremy Bolt (Resident Evil), Anderson, Jovovich, Bautista, and Jonathan Meisner through their production company Dream Bros Entertainment and Werner.

On his blog last year, author George R.R. Martin called the upcoming film adaptation “dark and twisted and atmospheric, and a lot of fun.”

In The Lost Lands releases in cinemas on March 7th, 2025. Watch the trailer below:

Trailer Drops For Sci-Fi Horror COMPANION

sophie thatcher in companion trailer

The first full-length trailer for Companion has dropped, the new genre movie from Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema. The film stars Heretic and Yellowjackets actress Sophie Thatcher as a sex bot seeking bloody vengeance, in a tale that combines horror, sci-fi and dark comedy.

The film marks the directorial debut of Drew Hancock, who also wrote the script. Barbarian’s Zach Cregger produces. Rupert Friend, Harvey Guillen, Lukas Cage, Megan Suri, and Jack Quaid also star.

“The silver lining of showing the audience [that] this is a movie about a robot is it’s a way to kind of get ahead of anyone dismissing it as another robot movie,” Hancock states in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “Because it’d be so easy to just be like, ‘This is M3GAN,’ or, ‘This is the Megan Fox movie [Subservience].’ It’s a little different to be like, ‘No, this is a robot movie, but it’s not like any other robot movie that’s out right now.’ It’s not A.I. gone wrong, it’s A.I. gone right.”

The director continues to explain: “It’s a movie about self-discovery and, at its core, is a breakup movie about this woman finding empowerment through discovery of self.”

Companion releases in cinemas on January 31st, 2025. Watch the trailer below:

AMERICAN PSYCHO Author Calls Austin Butler Remake “Fake News”

american psycho star austin butler in bikeriders

Here’s a relatively boring, yet odd, conspiracy theory: though it was reported late last year that Austin Butler would be playing the role of Patrick Bateman in a new movie adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho for Luca Guadagnino, those reports are now being disputed by none other than Bret Easton Ellis.

On a recent episode of his podcast, the writer suggested: “I have a feeling it’s fake news. I heard from somewhere, from someone, that there are no contracts. Austin Butler hasn’t signed anything to play Patrick Bateman. Luca doesn’t have a deal. Scott Burns, who is supposed to write the screenplay, doesn’t have a deal either.” The author continued, “From various sources that I have, this is just fake news that was put out there to see how an audience is going to react. If it does exist, I’m not involved. I have nothing to do with this. I might get some money if they do this, but I am not involved creatively on any level, and that is all I know.”

The hypothetical film is said to be a new adaptation of the novel and not a remake of the 2000 film by Mary Harron that starred Christian Bale. In American Psycho, “a wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.”

At this point, who knows what’s true. Get the Scooby Gang on this.

Jacob Elordi To Star In Ridley Scott’s THE DOG STARS

jacob elordi in saltburn

Ridley Scott‘s thriller feature The Dog Stars may have found the star to replace Paul Mescal: Priscilla and Euphoria‘s Jacob Elordi. The actor is reportedly in early negotiations to replace Mescal, who had previously been set to star in the 20th Century Studios film, an adaptation of Peter Heller’s 2012 apocalyptic novel written by Mark L. Smith and Christopher Wilkinson.

Set in Colorado after the world’s population has been ravaged by a pandemic, The Dog Stars centres on a civilian pilot living on an abandoned airbase with his dog and an ex-Marine he has befriended. When a mysterious transmission comes through on the radio while he is flying his 1956 Cessna, it sparks a hunt for the provenance of the sound in hopes of a better life.

Mescal, who would have been reteaming with Ridley Scott after working together on Gladiator II, reportedly had to drop out of the pic due to being busy with Sam Mendes’ four-film Beatles project. Though unconfirmed, Mescal will reportedly be playing Paul McCartney.

Jacob Elordi is also busy, set to star in the Prime Video series The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and in the upcoming features Wuthering Heights and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein.

Jason Momoa To Play Lobo In SUPERGIRL

jason momoa to play lobo in supergirl: woman of tomorrw

Aquaman star Jason Momoa is getting a new role in Peter Safran and James Gunn’s relaunched DC movie universe. The actor will appear in Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow as Lobo, the alien bounty hunter who first appeared in the comics in 1983.

Jason Momoa has long expressed his desire to portray the character, having stated on the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom press tour: “So Lobo was… I collect comics, and I don’t do so much anymore, but he was always my favorite, because I’m like, ‘Hello? It’s the perfect role.’ I mean, listen. If they called and asked me to play him, it’s a f*ck yeah. I haven’t received that call, so I don’t want to put any fake news out there, but if they ever call me and ask me to play, or ask me to audition, I’m there.”. The actor posted a screenshot of the quote to his Instagram, simply captioning it, “They called.”

There have been numerous attempts to bring Lobo to the big screen in the past, but the only time it was realised was for the small screen, when Emmett J. Scanlan played Lobo on the SyFy series Krypton. Created by writer Roger Slifer and artist Keith Griffen, Lobo first appeared in Omega Men No. 3, a blue-skinned, cigar-smoking alien with superstrength and healing powers.

Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow arrives in cinemas from June 26th, 2026, and stars Milly Alcock as the titular superhero.

Shooting Wraps on THE REMEDY

The eagerly awaited next film from Alex Kahuam, The Remedy, has completed filming. Alex’s previous films, Forgiveness (2021) and Failure! (2023) both successfully screened at FrightFest, thrilling audiences and making the director plenty of new friends.

Director Alex Kahuam, Tim Granaderos, and Doug Jones

The synopsis for The Remedy is:
A troubled young man is a caregiver for both his terminally ill mother and his mentally ill sister. When he makes a desperate attempt to save his mom, he unleashes a supernatural entity that feeds on human flesh.

Starring in The Remedy are Timothy Granaderos (13 Reasons Why) followed by: London Thor (Gen V), Doug Jones (Shape of Water), Chris Mulkey (Whiplash), and Jenny O’hara (Devil).

The film is expected to screen at festivals later in the year. Watch this space for more details.

PACIFIC DRIVE Game Gets TV Series Treatment From James Wan

pacific drive video game

Ironwood Studios’ supernatural survival-horror video game Pacific Drive became a surprise hit when it was released earlier this year. It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that James Wan’s Atomic Monster banner has acquired the rights to develop Pacific Drive as a television series.

The Game Award-nominated indie title created by Cassandra Dracott is described as “a retropunk-style driving and survival game set to an experimental electronic music soundtrack that challenges players to escape a surreal and abandoned exclusion zone with their car as their only companion in the dark and chilling world… each excursion into the wilderness brings unique and strange challenges as you restore and upgrade your car from an abandoned garage that acts as your home base. Gather precious resources and investigate what’s been left behind in the Zone; unravel a long-forgotten mystery while learning exactly what it takes to survive in this unpredictable, hostile environment.” The game puts players behind the wheel of a station wagon stranded in a supernaturally-afflicted 1990s Pacific Northwest, where players must weather radioactive storms, sentient dumpsters, and other dangerous obstacles.

James Wan and Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Rob Hackett will executive produce the TV series, along with Jeff Ludwig of The Menagerie Productions. The series has not been picked up by a streamer or network.

Stay tuned for more news and updates on this adaptation as we hear!

NYX UK Brings the Terror into the New Year

A host of channel premieres, some classic exploitation, unmissable sci-fi and a celebration of John Carpenter’s birthday will kick 2025 in fine style on NYX UK, the free-to-air channel dedicated to horror and genre films and TV.

There are twelve Channel premieres this month, including two standout directorial debuts: Jackson Stewart’s impressive adventure fantasy Beyond The Gates, starring genre favourites Barbara Crampton, Brea Grant, and Graham Skipper, and Padraig Reynolds’ glossy and shocking Rites Of Spring, starring the award-winning actor AJ Bowen. There’s also the premiere of Robbie Banfitch’s outstanding experimental found-footage horror The Outwaters.

The Outwaters

There are also a further eight feature film channel premieres this month, including such sci-fi cult classics as Contamination, Luigi Cozzi’s former video Nasty, and tea-time screenings of Brit favourites The Day Of The Triffids, the original movie released in 1962 and The Earth Dies Screaming, directed by the legendary Terence Fisher in 1964.

Fans of ‘70s horror/fantasy exploitation can savour the unsavoury delights of Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS Girl Slaves of Morgana Le Fay and the nunsploitation drama Flavia the Heretic.

More contemporary devilish delights include the channel premieres of Chilean Vampire chiller Eternal Blood and Hong Kong psychological horror-thriller Forest Of Death.

Beyond the Gates

NYX UK also celebrates the Horror Master John Carpenter’s birthday on Thursday Jan 16th, with his most iconic film Halloween, followed at 11pm with a screening of his underrated supernatural shocker The Ward, starring Amber Heard.

Plus, on Thursday January 30th, at 7pm there’s the launch of Galveston’s Cavern of Creeps, a wickedly entertaining horror-comedy series where Galveston, a snarky demon on a quest to unleash the apocalypse, ends up bonding with Jack, a clueless but lovable horror movie enthusiast. Each episode features the duo diving into horror classics, B-movie treasures, and forgotten gems, while dealing with supernatural antics and laugh-out-loud subplots that mirror the films they’re watching. Season One kicks off with The Giant Gila Monster, and the nine episodes will be broadcast on subsequent Thursday nights.

NYX UK is available on Freeview 271, Channelbox App, Distro TV, and TCL TVs.

Mason Gooding To Return In SCREAM 7

mason gooding in scream franchise

Mason Gooding is confirmed as the first returning member from the Scream franchise’s so-called Core Four. Gooding will reprise his role as Chad Meeks-Martin in Scream 7 for Spyglass Entertainment and Paramount Pictures.

Also set to star in Scream 7 is franchise returnee Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, alongside new cast members Isabel May, Celeste O’Connor, Asa Germann, Mckenna Grace and Sam Rechner. Kevin Williamson, who penned the original Scream film in 1996, is directing the new film from a script by Guy Busick.

Of the Core Four who revitalised the Scream franchise in 2022, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega will not be returning, while there has been no confirmation on whether Jasmin Savoy Brown will appear in Scream 7. Barrera was fired from the franchise following social media posts addressing the Israel-Hamas war, and Ortega exited due to pursuing other projects. Christopher Landon, who was due to direct the instalment, also stepped away following news of these exits.

Back in March, Gooding addressed the production delays, cast shakeups, and creative overhauls, stating to Variety: “If it could make money, I guarantee, they’re making it. It’s all about keeping up with what feels like is the best movie for the fans. ‘Scream’ doesn’t exist without the people who enjoy is as much as they do. … If people want it, they will certainly try their best to see it happen.”

Mason Gooding will next be seen opposite Rachel Zegler in the A24 apocalypse comedy Y2K, before featuring in Heart Eyes opposite Olivia Holt.