culture

teaser-for-hellboy:-the-crooked-man-brings-the-low-budget-horror-vibes

Teaser for Hellboy: The Crooked Man brings the low-budget horror vibes

“smells like death” —

Hellboy creator Mike Mignola co-wrote the screenplay based on his short story from comics.

Hellboy: The Crooked Man is based on a 2008 limited series by Mike Mignola and artist Richard Corben.

It has only been a few years since David Harbour starred in the 2019 reboot of the Hellboy film franchise—a critical and box office failure, although Harbour’s performance earned praise. But via Entertainment Weekly, we learned that there’s a new reboot coming our way: Hellboy: The Crooked Man. The project wrapped filming in May and now has a teaser—inexplicably released in 480p—giving us our first glimpse of star Jack Kesy’s (Claws, Deadpool 2) take on Mike Mignola’s iconic character.

It’s definitely a very different look and vibe from the previous big studio releases. Director Brian Taylor (Crank) is clearly leaning into the low-budget folk horror genre for this, but will fans embrace a bargain-basement Hellboy reboot—even one co-written by Mignola himself?

Mignola based his script on a 2008 Hellboy limited series he created, with artwork by Richard Corben. That story features a younger Hellboy wandering in the Appalachian Mountains in 1958 after “finishing up some stuff down South.” He meets regional native Tom Ferrell, coming home after decades away. When he was young, Tom was initiated as a witch and has returned to atone for that, even though he has never actually practiced magic—apart from a magical “witch-bone” he carries with him.

Tom and Hellboy team up to protect a young witch named Cora from having her soul reaped by the Crooked Man, aided by a blind pastor, the Reverend Watts. The Crooked Man was an 18th-century war profiteer named Jeremiah Witkins. Witkins was hanged for his crimes but returned from Hell and became the resident devil in those parts. Witkins wants Cora’s soul, and he also covets Tom’s witch-bone, but his evil machinations prove to be no match for Hellboy.

Jack Kesy steps into the role of Hellboy, following in the footsteps of Ron Perlman and David Harbour.

Enlarge / Jack Kesy steps into the role of Hellboy, following in the footsteps of Ron Perlman and David Harbour.

Ketchup Entertainment

The new film seems to hew fairly closely to the source material—understandably so given Mignola’s direct involvement. Per the official premise: “In the 1950s, Hellboy and a rookie BPRD (Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense) agent, stranded in rural Appalachia, discover a small community haunted by witches, led by a local devil with a troubling connection to Hellboy’s past: the Crooked Man.”

In addition to Kesy, the cast includes Jefferson White as Tom Ferrell; Adeline Rudolph as rookie BPRD agent Bobbie Jo Song; Joseph Marcell as Reverend Nathaniel Armstrong Watts; Leah McNamara as Effie Kolb; Hannah Margetson as Cora Fisher; and Martin Bassindale in a dual role: Trevor “Broom” Bruttenholm, founder and head of the BPRD and Hellboy’s adoptive father, and Jeremiah Witkins, aka the Crooked Man.

The teaser opens with some scenic shots of Appalachia as Hellboy makes ominous comments in a voiceover about “evil” lurking and how the forest “smells like death.” It doesn’t take long for that evil to make itself known, as a levitating woman is bitten by a snake, plagues of insects and other creatures wreak havoc, and Hellboy is assured that “all your friends are gonna die.” The poor quality of the teaser is unfortunate and frankly does not instill tons of confidence, but I like the folk horror vibe; some of those scenes look hella scary. Tonally, the teaser feels a bit like The Blair Witch Project meets The Conjuring or The Witch.

What it doesn’t feel like is the Hellboy we have come to know and love. Look, diehard fans are still mad that Guillermo del Toro never got to complete his planned trilogy after the massive success of Hellboy (2004) and Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008). Originally titled Hellboy III: Dark Worlds, the project was canceled due to lack of financing, and the fans haven’t forgotten… or forgiven.

Lionsgate tried to reboot the franchise instead with Harbour in the titular role, but that film turned out to be one of the biggest flops of 2019. Director Neil Marshall actually disowned the film, calling it “godawful” and “the worst professional experience of my life.” He had pitched the project as a darker, R-rated horror version of Hellboy, but studio interference meant he had very little creative control in the end. Now it’s Taylor’s turn to bring us his own darker, horrific R-rated vision, working on a smaller scale—if nothing else, it hopefully reduced the aforementioned studio interference. There’s not yet a release date, but we’ll see how it turned out soon enough.

Listing image by Ketchup Entertainment

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it’s-a-showdown-with-sabretooth-in-latest-deadpool-and-wolverine-trailer

It’s a showdown with Sabretooth in latest Deadpool and Wolverine trailer

“Ground and pound until he makes no sound” —

“People have waited decades for this fight. It’s not gonna be easy.”

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman star in Deadpool and Wolverine.

It’s safe to say that Marvel Studios’ Deadpool and Wolverine is one of the most hotly anticipated releases of the summer. We’ve had a teaser and full trailer, and now the studio has released a second one-minute trailer with a surprise appearance bound to delight X-Men fans everywhere. It’s none other than Sabretooth, played by the same actor, Tyler Mane, who portrayed the character in 2000’s X-Men. And he’s got a score to settle with Wolverine.

As previously reported, Ryan Reynolds found the perfect fit with 2016’s Deadpool, starring as Wade Wilson, a former Canadian special forces operative (dishonorably discharged) who develops regenerative healing powers that heal his cancer but leave him permanently disfigured with scars all over his body. Wade decides to become a masked vigilante, turning down an invitation to join the X-Men and abandon his bad-boy ways. The first Deadpool was a big hit, racking up $782 million at the global box office, critical praise, and a couple of Golden Globe nominations for good measure. Deadpool 2 was released in 2018 and was just as successful.

Deadpool and Wolverine reunites Reynolds with many familiar faces from the first two films. Morena Baccarin is back as Wade’s girlfriend Vanessa, along with Leslie Uggams as Blind Al; Karan Soni as Wade’s personal chauffeur, taxi driver Dopinder; Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead; Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus; Shioli Kutsuna as Negasonic’s mutant girlfriend, Yukio; Randal Reeder as Buck; and Lewis Tan as X-Force member Shatterstar.

We’re also getting some characters drawn from various films under the 20th Century Fox Marvel umbrella: Pyro (Aaron Stanford)—last seen in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand—and Jennifer Garner’s Elektra, who appeared in the 2003 Daredevil film as well as 2005’s Elektra. Along with Sabretooth, the mutants Toad and Dogpool should be on hand to make some trouble. New to the franchise are Matthew MacFadyen as a Time Variance Authority agent named Paradox and Emma Corrin as the lead villain. There have been rumors that Owen Wilson’s Mobius and the animated Miss Minutes from Loki may also appear in the film.

  • The battle is going pretty well and this dynamic duo wants to know: “Who’s next?”

    YouTube/Marvel Studios

  • “Oh. My. God. Sabretooth.” Our feelings exactly.

    YouTube/Marvel Studios

  • Deadpool calls for a timeout because Wolverine “looks ridiculous” with all those weapons sticking out of him.

    YouTube/Marvel Studios

  • Wolverine is not amused.

    YouTube/Marvel Studios

  • Battle!!!

    YouTube/Marvel Studios

Marvel released a two-minute teaser for the new movie during the Super Bowl in February, featuring the trademark cheeky irreverence that made audiences embrace Reynold’s R-rated superhero in the first place, plus a glimpse of Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine—or rather, his distinctive shadow. And yes, Marvel is retaining that R rating—a big step given that all the prior MCU films have been resoundingly PG-13. Marvel dropped a full trailer in April that was chock-full of off-color witticisms, meta-references, slo-mo action, and a generous sprinkling of F-bombs. (But no cocaine! Wade promised Kevin Feige!)

This latest trailer has a lot of the same footage as that April trailer until the 26-second mark. That’s when Wolverine growls, “Who’s next?” after battling a horde of foes. Who should jump into the fray with an answering growl but Sabretooth. We are all Deadpool when he exclaims, “Oh. My. God.” Sabretooth breaks out his claws and asks Wolverine if he’s ready to die. That’s when Deadpool calls a timeout to pull a few weapons out of his frenemy and offer a few tips on how to defeat the other mutant, to Wolverine’s annoyance.

“People have waited decades for this fight,” Deadpool insists. “It’s not gonna be easy. Baby knife. Shoot the devil, you take him down. Side control. Then full mount, and you ground and pound until he makes no sound because he’s dead. OK, good luck, I’m a huge fan.” We’ll have to wait a few more weeks to find out if Wolverine takes any of that advice.

Deadpool and Wolverine hits theaters on July 26, 2024.

Listing image by YouTube/Marvel Studios

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the-world’s-toughest-race-starts-saturday,-and-it’s-delightfully-hard-to-call-this-year

The world’s toughest race starts Saturday, and it’s delightfully hard to call this year

Is it Saturday yet? —

Setting the stage for what could be a wild ride across France.

The peloton passing through a sunflowers field during the stage eight of the 110th Tour de France in 2023.

Enlarge / The peloton passing through a sunflowers field during the stage eight of the 110th Tour de France in 2023.

David Ramos/Getty Images

Most readers probably did not anticipate seeing a Tour de France preview on Ars Technica, but here we are. Cycling is a huge passion of mine and several other staffers, and this year, a ton of intrigue surrounds the race, which has a fantastic route. So we’re here to spread Tour fever.

The three-week race starts Saturday, paradoxically in the Italian region of Tuscany. Usually, there is a dominant rider, or at most two, and a clear sense of who is likely to win the demanding race. But this year, due to rider schedules, a terrible crash in early April, and new contenders, there is more uncertainty than usual. A solid case could be made for at least four riders to win this year’s Tour de France.

For people who aren’t fans of pro road cycling—which has to be at least 99 percent of the United States—there’s a great series on Netflix called Unchained to help get you up to speed. The second season, just released, covers last year’s Tour de France and introduces you to most of the protagonists in the forthcoming edition. If this article sparks your interest, I recommend checking it out.

Anyway, for those who are cycling curious, I want to set the stage for this year’s race by saying a little bit about the four main contenders, from most likely to least likely to win, and provide some of the backstory to what could very well be a dramatic race this year.

Tadej Pogačar

Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia and UAE Team Emirates won the Giro d'Italia in May.

Enlarge / Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia and UAE Team Emirates won the Giro d’Italia in May.

Tim de Waele/Getty Images

  • Slovenia
  • 25 years old
  • UAE Team Emirates
  • Odds: -190

Pogačar burst onto the scene in 2019 at the very young age of 20 by finishing third in the Vuelta a España, one of the three grand tours of cycling. He then went on to win the 2020 and 2021 Tours de France, first by surprising fellow countryman Primož Roglič (more on him below) in 2020 and then utterly dominating in 2021. Given his youth, it seemed he would be the premiere grand tour competitor for the next decade.

But then another slightly older rider, a teammate of Roglič’s named Jonas Vingegaard, emerged in 2022 and won the next two races. Last year, in fact, Vingegaard cracked Pogačar by 7 minutes and 29 seconds in the Tour, a huge winning margin, especially for two riders of relatively close talent. This established Vingegaard as the alpha male of grand tour cyclists, having proven himself a better climber and time trialist than Pogačar, especially in the highest and hardest stages.

So this year, Pogačar decided to change up his strategy. Instead of focusing on the Tour de France, Pogačar participated in the first grand tour of the season, the Giro d’Italia, which occurred in May. He likely did so for a couple of reasons. First of all, he almost certainly received a generous appearance fee from the Italian organizers. And secondly, riding the Giro would give him a ready excuse for not beating Vingegaard in France.

Why is this? Because there are just five weeks between the end of the Giro and the start of the Tour. So if a rider peaks for the Giro and exerts himself in winning the race, it is generally thought that he can’t arrive at the Tour in winning form. He will be a few percent off, not having ideal preparation.

Predictably, Pogačar smashed the lesser competition at the Giro and won the race by 9 minutes and 56 seconds. Because he was so far ahead, he was able to take the final week of the race a bit easier. The general thinking in the cycling community is that Pogačar is arriving at the Tour in excellent but not peak form. But given everything else that has happened so far this season, the bettors believe that will be enough for him to win. Maybe.

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from-infocom-to-80-days:-an-oral-history-of-text-games-and-interactive-fiction

From Infocom to 80 Days: An oral history of text games and interactive fiction

Zork running on an Amiga at the Computerspielemuseum in Berlin, Germany.

Enlarge / Zork running on an Amiga at the Computerspielemuseum in Berlin, Germany.

You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building.

That simple sentence first appeared on a PDP-10 mainframe in the 1970s, and the words marked the beginning of what we now know as interactive fiction.

From the bare-bones text adventures of the 1980s to the heartfelt hypertext works of Twine creators, interactive fiction is an art form that continues to inspire a loyal audience. The community for interactive fiction, or IF, attracts readers and players alongside developers and creators. It champions an open source ethos and a punk-like individuality.

But whatever its production value or artistic merit, at heart, interactive fiction is simply words on a screen. In this time of AAA video games, prestige television, and contemporary novels and poetry, how does interactive fiction continue to endure?

To understand the history of IF, the best place to turn for insight is the authors themselves. Not just the authors of notable text games—although many of the people I interviewed for this article do have that claim to fame—but the authors of the communities and the tools that have kept the torch burning. Here’s what they had to say about IF and its legacy.

Examine roots: Adventure and Infocom

The interactive fiction story began in the 1970s. The first widely played game in the genre was Colossal Cave Adventure, also known simply as Adventure. The text game was made by Will Crowther in 1976, based on his experiences spelunking in Kentucky’s aptly named Mammoth Cave. Descriptions of the different spaces would appear on the terminal, then players would type in two-word commands—a verb followed by a noun—to solve puzzles and navigate the sprawling in-game caverns.

During the 1970s, getting the chance to interact with a computer was a rare and special thing for most people.

“My father’s office had an open house in about 1978,” IF author and tool creator Andrew Plotkin recalled. “We all went in and looked at the computers—computers were very exciting in 1978—and he fired up Adventure on one of the terminals. And I, being eight years old, realized this was the best thing in the universe and immediately wanted to do that forever.”

“It is hard to overstate how potent the effect of this game was,” said Graham Nelson, creator of the Inform language and author of the landmark IF Curses, of his introduction to the field. “Partly that was because the behemoth-like machine controlling the story was itself beyond ordinary human experience.”

Perhaps that extraordinary factor is what sparked the curiosity of people like Plotkin and Nelson to play Adventure and the other text games that followed. The roots of interactive fiction are entangled with the roots of the computing industry. “I think it’s always been a focus on the written word as an engine for what we consider a game,” said software developer and tech entrepreneur Liza Daly. “Originally, that was born out of necessity of primitive computers of the ’70s and ’80s, but people discovered that there was a lot to mine there.”

Home computers were just beginning to gain traction as Stanford University student Don Woods released his own version of Adventure in 1977, based on Crowther’s original Fortran work. Without wider access to comparatively pint-sized machines like the Apple 2 and the Vic-20, Scott Adams might not have found an audience for his own text adventure games, released under his company Adventure International, in another homage to Crowther. As computers spread to more people around the world, interactive fiction was able to reach more and more readers.

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new-trailer-for-alien:-romulus-just-wants-to-give-us-a-big,-warm-face-hug

New trailer for Alien: Romulus just wants to give us a big, warm face-hug

No one can hear you scream —

Beware abandoned space stations “haunted” by xenomorphs.

Director Fede Alvarez promises to bring the sci-fi franchise back to its horror roots with Alien: Romulus.

We got our first look at Alien: Romulus, the ninth installment in the sci-fi franchise, in March with a brief teaser. That footage showed promise that horror director Fede Alvarez (Don’t Breathe, Evil Dead) could fulfill his intention to bring this standalone film back to the franchise’s stripped-down space horror roots. Now we have the full trailer, and we’re pretty confident he’s kept that promise. It looks as gory, intense, and delightfully terrifying as the seminal first two films in the franchise.

(Spoilers for Alien and Aliens below.)

As previously reported, Alien: Romulus is set between the events of Alien and Aliens (and is not related to FX/Hulu’s Alien prequel series slated to premiere next year). That is, after Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo, destroyed the killer xenomorph and launched herself into space in the ship’s lifeboat—along with the ginger cat, Jonesy—and before she woke up after 57 years in hypersleep and battled more xenomorphs while protecting the young orphan, Newt (Carrie Henn). Per the short-and-sweet official premise: “While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”

Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla, Pacific Rim: Uprising) stars as Rain Carradine, Isabela Merced (The Last of Us) plays Kay, and David Jonsson (Murder Is Easy) plays Andy. Archie Renaux (Shadow and Bone) plays Tyler, Spike Fearn (Aftersun) plays Bjorn, and Aileen Wu plays Navarro. But we aren’t likely to see iconic badass Ellen Ripley (immortalized by Sigourney Weaver) in the film. At this point in the timeline, she’s in the middle of her 57-year stasis with Jonesy as her escape shuttle travels through space toward her fateful encounter with a xenomorph queen.

The teaser offered little more than panicked calls for help (“Get it away from me!”), piercing screams, and a shot of a gore-spattered wall, along with a few frenetic shots of panicked crew members fleeing the alien xenomorph that is no doubt delighted to have fresh hosts in which to hatch its deadly offspring. There was also some special footage screened at CinemaCon in April featuring the expected face-huggers and chest-bursters.

The new trailer opens with ominous heavy footsteps (which punctuate the footage throughout) as Tyler asks Rain if this is really where she wants to spend the rest of her life. It’s unclear which place “this” refers to, but Rain definitely wants to escape, and Tyler has found what he claims is their “only ticket out of here”: becoming space colonizers, one presumes.

Cue the spooky “haunted house in space” vibes as Rain, Tyler, and their fellow colonists explore the aforementioned derelict space station—and get far more than they bargained for, including being attacked by face huggers. We also get a shot of Navarro’s horror as a chest-burster hammers against her rib cage. Kudos to whoever edited this trailer to remove the sound for the final 30 seconds, right after lettering spells out the classic tagline (“In space, no one can hear you scream”). It makes Rain’s final quiet line (“Are you sure you wanna do this?”) and the sudden burst of screaming at the end that much more effective.

Alien: Romulus hits theaters on August 16, 2024.

20th Century Studios

Listing image by 20th Century Studios

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scholars-discover-rare-16th-century-tome-with-handwritten-notes-by-john-milton

Scholars discover rare 16th-century tome with handwritten notes by John Milton

“Wow. Bingo!” —

Poet crossed out one racy passage, deeming it “an unbecom[ing] tale for a hist[ory]”

Annotation by John Milton citing Spenser on the recent history of Ireland

Enlarge / John Milton citing Spenser on the recent history of Ireland in his 1587 edition of Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles. Note Milton’s italic e, hooks and curls on letters and distinctive s’s.

Phoenix Public Library

John Milton is widely considered to be one of the greatest English poets who ever lived—just ask such luminaries as John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Samuel Jonson, and Voltaire, who once declared, “Milton remains the glory and the wonder of England.” But while Milton’s own books continue to be widely read and studied, there are only a handful of books in collections today known to have been part of his personal library.

Add one more title to that small list, as scholars recently discovered a copy of Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland in the Phoenix Public Library, containing handwritten notes in Milton’s distinctive hand. This makes the volume extra-special, since only two other books once owned by Milton also contain handwritten notes. The scholars detailed their findings in a new article published in the Times Literary Supplement.

Holinshed’s Chronicles is a hugely influential and comprehensive three-volume history of Great Britain, first published in 1577; it was followed by a second edition in 1587. A London printer named Reginald Wolfe started the project and hired Raphael Holinshed and William Harrison to help him create a “universal cosmography of the whole world.” Wolfe died before the book could be completed, and the project was eventually scaled down to a history of England, Scotland, and Ireland, complete with maps and illustrations.

The Chronicles is perhaps best known today as the primary source for William Shakespeare’s history plays, as well as Macbeth and parts of King Lear and Cymbeline. But plenty of other writers found it to be a useful resource, including Edmund Spenser, Shakespeare’s contemporary, Christopher Marlow, and John Milton. Milton is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost, but he also wrote many other poems and prose; references to Holinshed’s Chronicles abound in the latter, including Of Reformation (1641), The History of Britain (1670), and Milton’s commonplace book (essentially a personal journal).

Milton refers to ‘the booke of Provenzall poets’ discussing Richard the Lionheart's poetry and mistresses.

Enlarge / Milton refers to ‘the booke of Provenzall poets’ discussing Richard the Lionheart’s poetry and mistresses.

Phoenix Public Library

Real estate magnate and philanthropist Alfred Knight purchased an 1857 edition of Holinshed in 1942 from Beverly Hills, California, bookseller Maxwell Huntley for $38.60—including shipping to Phoenix, where Knight lived. It was added to Knight’s extensive rare book collection particularly focused on what the authors of the TLS article term “Shakespeareana.” Knight also owned a first edition of Paradise Lost and a 1697 first edition of Milton’s collected prose. He bequeathed his collection to the people of Phoenix under the care of the public library.

In March, Arizona State University hosted a forum at the library, and custodians brought out the Holinshed—consisting of two bound tomes incorporating the original three volumes—so those in attendance could examine it. Aaron Pratt of the University of Texas was among the attendees and noticed that an “e'” in handwritten notes in the margins seemed familiar. “I was like, ‘God, there’s no way in hell this is true, but it kind of looks like this stupid way Milton writes ‘e,’” Pratt said. Early on, Milton used the letter epsilon for his e’s (ε), but sometime in the late 1630s, he switched to using an italic e.

Naturally, Pratt was intrigued and examined the handwritten marginalia more closely, finding “scratchy brackets” with notations that looked very much like ones known to be written by Milton in a Shakespeare First Folio discovered in the Philadelphia Free Library in 2019. He and co-author Claire Bourne of Penn State, who was also in attendance, excitedly began comparing the annotations in the Holinshed and the folio.

Bourne then texted photographs of the handwriting to co-author Jason Scott-Warren, director of the Cambridge Center for Material Texts in England. Scott-Warren was the one who had verified Milton’s handwriting in the Shakespeare folio in 2019. Known to be conservative in his assessments, Scott-Warren compared the handwritten Holinshed notes to Milton’s handwriting in two of the poet’s handwritten manuscripts. He confirmed that the Holinshed handwriting was indeed Milton’s with an exclamatory, “Wow. Bingo!

Raphael Holinshed's lewd anecdote about the mother of William the Conqueror, Arlete. Milton crossed out the passage with a diagonal line and added a note:

Enlarge / Raphael Holinshed’s lewd anecdote about the mother of William the Conqueror, Arlete. Milton crossed out the passage with a diagonal line and added a note: “an unbecom[ing] / tale for a hist[ory] / and as pedlerl[y] / expresst.”

Phoenix Public Library

In addition to the italic e, the Holinshed notations contain the poet’s distinctive hooks and curls on certain letters, as well as his unevenness in forming lowercase s’s. Textual analysis between the marked Holinshed passages and Milton’s Commonplace Book also indicates the poet owned this particular copy. More than 90 percent of references to Holinshed correspond to marked passages in the Knight Collection copy of the second bound volume. And several of the handwritten notes in the latter cite other books scholars know were once part of Milton’s personal library.

Of particular interest is where Milton crossed out a particularly racy passage about the mother of William the Conqueror, Arlete (Herleva), mistress of Duke Robert I of Normandy. The anecdote describes how the duke noticed Arlete dancing and brought her to bed, whereupon she tore her dress rather than allow him to lift it himself because “it would be immodest for her ‘dependant’ garments to be ‘mountant’ to the duke’s mouth.” Milton added a note decrying the anecdote as “an unbecom[ing]/ tale for a hist[ory],” in a style more fitting to peddling wares on the street. “Milton is renowned as an enemy of press censorship, but here we see he was not immune to prudishness,” said Scott-Warren.

As for the provenance of this copy of Holinshed, the authors note that most of Milton’s personal books were sold in batches around the time he died in 1674, but there’s no record of the Holinshed for over a century. The volumes were rebound in red leather with marbled endpapers around 1800, and historian and collector William Maskell signed the book and made his own notes starting around 1847. While most of Maskell’s books were sold at various auctions, it seems the Holinshed remained in the family’s private collection until it showed up in Beverly Hills in 1942.

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doctor-who’s-sparkling-new-season-feels-like-a-fresh-return-to-form

Doctor Who’s sparkling new season feels like a fresh return to form

Now in its 61st year —

Russell T. Davies and stars Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson weigh in on the new adventures.

black man and pretty blonde woman examining a strange contraption

Enlarge / Ncuti Gatwa is the Fifteenth Doctor, and Millie Gibson is his new companion, Ruby Sunday, in new season of Doctor Who.

Disney+

A new season of Doctor Who is almost upon us, featuring Ncuti Gatwa’s first full run as the 15th Doctor, with a shiny new companion. It’s also the first time Doctor Who will stream on Disney+, after the platform acquired the international broadcasting rights. That could translate into a whole new generation of fans for this beloved British sci-fi series.

(Spoilers for “The Power of the Doctor,” “The Giggle,” and “The Church on Ruby Road” below.)

Here’s a brief summation for the benefit of those who may not have kept up with the more recent seasons. Russell T. Davies—who revived the series in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor—has returned as showrunner. Davies lost no time introducing a few new twists. When it came time for Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor to regenerate, fans had expected Gatwa to be introduced. Instead, the new Fourteenth Doctor was played by former Tenth Doctor David Tennant, reuniting with former companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) for three specials.

The third special was called “The Giggle.” During the climactic battle, the Doctor was shot. But instead of the usual regeneration, the Fourteenth Doctor “bigenerated” instead, resulting in both a Fourteenth Doctor and Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, a separate physical entity. Tennant’s incarnation settled into a comfy retirement with Donna and her family, while Gatwa’s newly regenerated Doctor headed off for a fresh set of adventures. In the Christmas special, “The Church on Ruby Road,” he picked up a new companion: Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson. The eight-episode new season kicks off this weekend with the Davies-penned “Space Babies” and “The Devil’s Chord.” Davies wrote six out of the eight episodes, in fact, closing out with “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” and the finale, “Empire of Death.”

Doctor Who is now in its 61st year, and this is Davies’ second stint as showrunner. Yet the new season feels as fresh and energetic as ever in terms of its storytelling. Davies attributes this to the format. “Because it is an anthology show, every week it’s a different show, a different script,” Davies told Ars. “Often it’s a different writer. He lands at a different place, a different time, a different planet. And very often he lands in a different genre. That demand means I can’t sit back. The audience wants a new punch. You want that cold open where you’re surprised and shocked and taken aback and thrilled and delighted to be going to meet The Beatles, or to find yourself under an alien dome, or to be racing through the streets of London in a thriller. All I have to do is meet the ambition of the show and keep running with it. That’s my job.”

Davies:

Enlarge / Davies: “All I have to do is meet the ambition of the show and keep running with it.”

Disney+

Furthermore, the sheer scope of the show pretty much guarantees a vast wellspring of new ideas. “You literally have the whole of time and space and within that you can tell so many different stories,” said Davies. “World War II is often a very evocative setting for Doctor Who. The Victorian era is very evocative. Somehow, it matches that wooden TARDIS in ineffable ways, so it’s been to certain locations more than once. But that’s so rich. You can think of a thousand World War II stories. You can think of a thousand Dickensian stories. And equally, Doctor Who can be completely unafraid of reinventing its own history. It’s actually seen the destruction of Atlantis three times. So, the territory always remains fertile.”

Gatwa had some very big shoes to fill when he took on this iconic character, and he pulls it off with great charisma and style. He credits the writers and production staff, as well as Gibson, with helping him craft his unique take on the Doctor. Gatwa told Ars that his greatest challenge was portraying the character’s wisdom. “I’ve always had a baby face,” he said—so much so that he was often told at drama school that he just couldn’t portray more mature characters. He found the answer in the Doctor’s regenerations. “He’s reborn each time,” said Gatwa. “He’s seeing things with new eyes, like [picking up a bowl of berries], ‘This is the best bowl of berries I’ve ever had!’ That youthful energy ended up being really helpful in terms of accessing other traits, like his wisdom.”

The elements Gatwa brings to the role also drive much of the writing, per Davies. “His skill and talent, it makes me run faster because all you ever want in life is a limitless actor and also a fearless actor,” he said. “There is nothing he can’t do. Milly, too; she has a kind of bounce and energy. It’s not just the depth of their emotions, it’s their technical comic skills. It’s my job to showcase that.” Davies also tried to make sure he challenged Gatwa and Gibson in some way on a daily basis by having them do something they’d never done before, whether it be a new stunt, an exciting confrontation with a villain, or a heartbreaking personal scene.

Doctor Who’s sparkling new season feels like a fresh return to form Read More »

the-boys-s4-trailer-brings-us-more-bloody-mayhem-and-“homelander-on-ice”

The Boys S4 trailer brings us more bloody mayhem and “Homelander on Ice”

Homelander still sucks —

“You will no longer be beloved celebrities. You will be wrathful gods. Show me a little wrath.”

The long-awaited fourth season of the Prime Video series, The Boys, premieres on June 13, 2024

Last summer’s Hollywood strikes delayed a number of releases, among them the fourth season of Prime Video’s The Boys. We’re longtime fans of this incredibly violent, darkly funny anti-homage to superheroes, and thus are thrilled to see there’s finally an official trailer for S4. It’s filled with the bloody mayhem we’ve come to expect from the show, as well as a tantalizing glimpse of the chief villain, Homelander (Antony Starr), performing in what appears to be an ice skating extravaganza.

(Spoilers for prior seasons below, especially S3.)

As I’ve written previously, the show is based on the comic book series of the same name by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. The Boys is set in a fictional universe where superheroes are real but are corrupted by corporate interests and a toxic celebrity-obsessed culture. The most elite superhero group is called the Seven, operated by the Vought Corporation, which created the supes with a substance called Compound V. The Seven is headed up by Homelander, a violent and unstable psychopath disguised as the All-American hero. Homelander’s counterpart as the head of the titular “Boys” is Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), a self-appointed vigilante intent on checking the bad behavior of the Seven—especially Homelander, who brutally raped Butcher’s wife, Becca (Shantel VanSanten), unknowingly fathering a son, Ryan, in the process..

Having discovered he had a son, Homelander turned Ryan against Butcher in S2, which ended with a bloody showdown that saw the demise of Becca as well as the mutilation of Homelander’s supe squeeze, Stormfront (Aya Cash), who turned out to be a Nazi disguised as a “patriot.” (She committed suicide in S3.) Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott) and Starlight (Annie Moriarty) successfully blackmailed Homelander into loosening his bullying stranglehold on the Seven. Meanwhile, the government cleared the Boys of all wrongdoing after they were publicly smeared as terrorists. A disillusioned Hughie (Jack Quaid) decided to try to fight the Seven through politics rather than violence and went to work for Congressperson Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit)—but he didn’t know she’s actually a super-powered assassin with her own murderous agenda.

The third season introduced us to “Payback,” the name of an earlier Vought group of superheroes, loosely based on Marvel’s Avengers. Payback members include Eagle the Archer (Langston Kerman), who appeared in S2 of The Boys . He’s the one who recruited the Deep (Chace Crawford) and A-Train (Jessie T. Usher) to the Church of the Collective before the cult turned against him. By S3 he’d quit the superhero gig and was trying to become a rapper. We also met Soldier Boy (Jensen Ackles) and Crimson Countess (Laurie Holden), and an entire episode was devoted to one of the comic’s most shocking storylines: Herogasm, in which the Boys infiltrated Vought’s annual superhero party, which turned out to be just one long weekend of kinky sex and drug use on a secluded island.

The third season ended with Homelander killing one of Starlight’s supporters who attacked Ryan during a rally—and rather than being roundly condemned, the crowd cheered wildly, and Homelander realized just how few constraints there were on his psychopathic behavior. Soldier Boy (who turned out to be Homelander’s biological father) ended up in government custody, Maeve was presumed dead but actually just lost her powers, and Annie/Starlight left the Seven to join forces with The Boys. As for Butcher, he had been juicing with V24, a version of Compound V that temporarily gave humans super powers—at a price. By season’s end, Butcher realized he was dying.

That brings us to the fourth season. Per the official premise:

The world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son and his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.

The trailer opens with a presumably doomed Butcher doing some soul-searching about how he’s lived his life. “All I see are the messes I’ve made,” he says while we’re shown the scene where Ryan leaves with a smirking Homelander. “And I ain’t got time to fix it.”  He figures he has a chance to do one thing right but he needs The Boys’ help to succeed.

Meanwhile, Homelander is flaunting his power, insisting that the country “is corrupt beyond repair.” His plans for the country’s “salvation” naturally involve violence: doing terrible things “for the greater good.” So the Seven must now stop being beloved celebrities and instead become “wrathful gods.” Not everyone is on board with Homelander’s strategy, notably A-Train and Ashley Barrett (Colby Minifie), but there’s not much they can do to stop the Supes from rounding up any recalcitrant humans and putting them in camps—or declaring “hunting season on Starlighters.”

Humanity’s only hope appears to rest in Butcher’s discovery of a virus that can kill Supes, first introduced in the spinoff series, Gen V. But first they’ll have to fight off violent superpowered chickens and livestock that have been injected with Compound V—and somehow avoid turning into the very evil they’re trying to defeat.

The first three episodes of The Boys S4 premieres on June 13, 2024, on Prime Video, with subsequent episodes airing each week until the finale on July 18, 2024.

Prime Video

Listing image by Prime Video

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It’s Star Wars Day and we have a new trailer for The Acolyte to celebrate

May the Fourth Be With You —

“The Jedi justify their galactic dominance in the name of peace. But that peace is a lie.”

“No one is safe from the truth” in new trailer for The Acolyte.

It’s Star Wars Day, and to mark the occasion, Disney+ has dropped a new trailer for Star Wars: The Acolyte. As previously reported, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the Galactic Republic and its Jedi masters symbolized the epitome of enlightenment and peace. Then came the inevitable downfall and outbreak of war as the Sith, who embraced the Dark Side of the Force, came to power. Star Wars: The Acolyte will explore those final days of the Republic as the seeds of its destruction were sown.

The eight-episode series was created by Leslye Headland. It’s set at the end of the High Republic Era, about a century before the events of The Phantom Menace. Apparently Headland rather cheekily pitched The Acolyte as “Frozen meets Kill Bill.” She drew on wuxia martial arts films for inspiration, much like George Lucas was originally inspired by Westerns and the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa. Per the official premise:

In Star Wars: The Acolyte, an investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems…

In addition to Lee (best known from Squid Game) and Stenberg (Rue in The Hunger Games), the cast includes Manny Jacinto (Jason on The Good Place) as a former smuggler named Qimir; Dafne Keen (Logan, His Dark Materials) as a young Jedi named Jecki Lon; Carrie-Ann Moss (Trinity in The Matrix trilogy) as a Jedi master named Indara; Jodie Turner-Smith (After Yang) as Mother Aniseya, who leads a coven of witches; Rebecca Henderson (Russian Doll) as a Jedi knight named Vernestra Rwoh; and Charlie Bennet (Russian Doll) as a Jedi named Yord Fandar.

In addition, Abigail Thorn plays Ensign Eurus, while Joonas Suotamo plays a Wookiee Jedi master named Kelnacca. Suotamo portrayed Chewbacca in the sequel trilogy of films (Episodes VII-IX) and in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Also appearing in as-yet-undisclosed roles are Dean-Charles Chapman, Amy Tsang, and Margarita Levieva.

The first trailer dropped in March, in which we saw young padawans in training; Indara battling a mysterious masked figure; learned that somebody is out there killing Jedi; and were told that there is a growing sense of darkness. This latest trailer reinforces those themes. The assassin, Mae (Stenberg), once trained with Master Sol (Lee), and he thinks he should be the one to bring her in—although Master Vernestra correctly suspects Mae’s killings are a small part a larger plan, i.e, the eventual return of the Sith.

Qimir doesn’t seem to be a Jedi fan, claiming that their “peace is a lie.” Meanwhile, Mae receives encouragement from Mother Aniseya and her coven of witches, who look like they are draining the life of a young Padawan at one point.  “Destiny is not decided for you by an anonymous force,” Mother Aniseya tells Mae. “If you want to pull the thread and change everything, then pull it.”

The first two episodes of Star Wars: The Acolyte debut on Disney+ on June 4, 2024.

Disney+

Listing image by Disney+

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inside-shogun:-how-visual-effects-brought-17th-century-feudal-japan-to-vivid-life

Inside Shōgun: How visual effects brought 17th-century feudal Japan to vivid life

a visual feast —

VFX supervisor Michael Cliett on the importance of historical accuracy in the show’s VFX.

FX/Hulu's <em>Shōgun</em> is a stunning new adaptation of the bestselling 1975 novel by James Clavell.” src=”https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/shogunTOP-ALT-2-800×533.jpg”></img><figcaption>
<p><a data-height=Enlarge / FX/Hulu’s Shōgun is a stunning new adaptation of the bestselling 1975 novel by James Clavell.

FX/Hulu

FX/Hulu’s new historical epic series, Shōgun, based on the bestselling 1975 novel by James Clavell, has met with both popular and critical acclaim since its February premiere, drawing over 9 million views across all platforms in the first six days alone. The storytelling, the characters, the stellar performances, the expert pacing all contribute to that success. But it’s also a visually stunning achievement that brings 17th-century feudal Japan to vivid life, thanks to masterful visual effects that have been woven in so seamlessly, it can be challenging to distinguish between the CGI and the real footage.

The novel is a fictionalized account of the key players and events in 17th-century feudal Japan that ultimately led to the naming of a new shōgun (central ruler), Tokugawa Ieyasu, and the advent of the Edo period. The climactic event was the October 21, 1600, Battle of Sekigahara, in which Tokugawa defeated a coalition of clans led by Ishida Mitsunari. Clavell’s novel also includes a fictionalized version of an English navigator named William Adams, aka Miura Anjiin (“the pilot of Miura”), who was the first of his nation to reach Japan in 1600, eventually becoming a samurai and one of Tokugawa’s key advisers.

Clavell’s epic saga was a blockbuster success, selling over 6 million copies by 1980. The author changed the names of all the main characters, purportedly to “add narrative deniability,” and despite some inevitable inaccuracies and authorial liberties, the novel is breathtaking in scope, chock-full of encyclopedic period details. In fact, Shōgun is often credited with introducing an entire generation of Western readers to Japanese history and culture. “In sheer quantity, Shōgun has probably conveyed more information about Japan to more people than all the combined writings of scholars, journalists, and novelists since the Pacific War,” an editor named Henry Smith wrote in 1980.

It was also just a cracking good read and perfect fodder for the miniseries craze that hit broadcast TV in the late 1970s and early 1980s, driven by the runaway success of 1977’s Roots. A nine-hour miniseries adaptation of Shōgun ran over five nights in September 1980, starring Richard Chamberlain as John Blackthorne and Toshiro Mifune as Lord Yoshii Toranaga, the fictional characters based on Adams and Tokugawa, respectively. It, too, was a massive success, driving even more sales of Clavell’s novel, although the reception in Japan was far more negative.

Hiroyuki Sanada stars as Lord Yoshii Toranaga, a character based on the historical figure Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Enlarge / Hiroyuki Sanada stars as Lord Yoshii Toranaga, a character based on the historical figure Tokugawa Ieyasu.

FX/Hulu

Fast-forward to 2018, when FX announced that it had made a straight-to-series order for a new adaptation of the novel, created by Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo. This time around, Cosmo Jarvis (Peaky Blinders, Raised by Wolves) stars as Blackthorne, while Hiroyuki Sanada (The Last Samurai, John Wick: Chapter 4) plays Toranaga. It’s been described as “a Game of Thrones set in 17th century Japan,” although calling it a 17th century Japanese Godfather also captures the essence of the new series.

This new incarnation of Shōgun opens in 1600. Japan’s Taikō died the year before, leaving five regents equally responsible for protecting his heir until the child comes of age. Toranaga is one such regent, but his rival, Lord Ishido (Takehiro Hira), conspires with the other three to have Toranaga impeached, with the ultimate goal of double-crossing his co-conspirators, killing the child, and ruling himself. Meanwhile, Blackthorne’s ship, Erasmus, wrecks on the shore of the coastal village Ajiiro, where Portuguese Catholic priests try to turn the local samurai against the Protestant survivors.

Blackthorne finds himself embroiled in this hotbed of political intrigue when Toranaga takes a shine to him, envisioning a key role for the English pilot in Toranaga’s own secret machinations. There is a scheming local lord, Kashigi Yabushige (Tadanobu Asano) trying to play both sides; a charming Spanish sailor named Vasco Rodrigues (Nestor Carbonell, Lost) who befriends Blackthorne; and the alluring translator, Toda Mariko (Anna Sawai), who finds herself torn between her loyalty to Toranaga and her Catholic faith—not to mention a growing attraction to the foreign Anjin.

The responsibility for putting together all those seamless visual effects fell to VFX supervisor Michael Cliett, whose extensive credits include Falling Skies, iZombie, Arrow, The 100, and Serenity. Cliett and his team spent a grueling three years agonizing over every historical detail. “It was all worth it, all the blood, sweat, and tears,” Cliett told Ars. “I’m so proud of the show and I’m so grateful at the reception that it’s gotten, the recognition of our hard work. I’m grateful to have been part of it.”

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uhf-in-uhd:-weird-al’s-cult-classic-movie-will-get-its-first-4k-release

UHF in UHD: Weird Al’s cult classic movie will get its first 4K release

MY MOP! —

For those of you just joining us, today we’re teaching poodles how to fly.

  • Weird Al’s Rambo parody was a drop in the bucket amidst all the other jokes in the film, but it’s among the most memorable.

    Shout Factory

  • This is the promotional image for the collector’s edition with all its physical knickknacks.

    Shout Factory

Believe it or not, it’s been 35 years since Weird Al’s quotable cult classic UHF first came out. Right on time for that anniversary, Shout Factory will release an UltraHD Blu-ray of the movie. This will be the first time it has ever been available in 4K.

Releasing July 2 but pre-ordering now, the disc will include a new 4K scan of the original 35mm negative, along with audio commentary from Weird Al and Jay Levy, the film’s director.

It will also come bundled with a standard HD Blu-ray that includes the film in that older format along with a bunch of special features, including video of a 2014 Comic-Con panel on the movie, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes videos, and some other assets. Some of those return from the movie’s last physical edition, which was a 25th anniversary HD Blu-ray, but not 4K.

There will be deluxe editions that include some physical collectibles, including an 18×24-inch poster of the “original theatrical artwork,” as well as a new, same-sized poster of new poster art made for this edition. You’ll also find 10 scratch-and-sniff stickers alongside a guide with time prompts for using them, plus some stickers “designed to replicate vintage vending machine prism stickers from the late ’80s and early ’90s” and a Spatula City fridge magnet. Add to that a 6-inch “UHF Remote Control Stress Relief Collectible.” All that stuff is limited to 1,000 units.

For an even smaller number of units of the collector’s edition (500), there will be five UHF-themed hard enamel pins.

The set is available in four tiers priced at $40, $53, $76, and $130, which is a mess, but if you’re not interested in collecting all the physical doohickies, it’s that first price for just the movie that you need to know.

UHF was released in 1989, and it was parody musician Weird Al’s first movie starring role and writing credit. Conceived as a series of bits that would allow him to satirize films in the same way he was known for satirizing songs, it, unfortunately, was a box office flop. It gained a small and passionate cult following on VHS throughout the ’90s.

Another movie written in part by Weird Al, Weird: The Al Yankovich Story, was released on Roku’s streaming channel in 2022. It was a very different kind of movie. Instead of rapid-fire spoofing numerous films like UHF did, it spoofed the musical biopic genre, with Daniel Radcliffe playing Weird Al in a heavily fictionalized account of his life.

The limited-run nature of this UHF release suggests that while the film still has its cult following, it remains outside the mainstream. Its fans probably like it that way, though.

Listing image by Shout Factory

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dead-boy-detectives-turns-neil-gaiman’s-ghostly-duo-into-“hardy-boys-on-acid”

Dead Boy Detectives turns Neil Gaiman’s ghostly duo into “Hardy Boys on acid”

Solving paranormal mysteries with panache —

Supernatural horror detective series has witches, demons, and a charming Cat King.

Edwin (George Rexstrew) and Charles (Jayden Revri) are the Dead Boy Detectives, ghosts who solve paranormal mysteries.

Enlarge / Edwin (George Rexstrew) and Charles (Jayden Revri) are the Dead Boy Detectives, ghosts who solve paranormal mysteries.

Netflix

For those eagerly anticipating the second season of Netflix’s stellar adaption of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels, Dead Boy Detectives—the streaming plaform’s new supernatural horror detective series—is a welcome return to that weird magical world. Co-showrunner Steve Yockey (Supernatural), who created the series, aptly describes it as “the Hardy Boys on acid.” You’ve got vengeful witches, demons, psychic mediums, cursed masks, foul-mouthed parasitic sprites, talking cats—and, of course, the titular ghostly detectives, intent on spending their afterlife cracking all manner of mysterious paranormal cases.

(Some spoilers below, but no major reveals.)

Sandman fans first encountered the Dead Boys in the “Seasons of Mist” storyline, in which the ghost Edwin Paine and Charles Rowland meet for the first time in 1990. Edwin had been murdered at his boarding school in 1916 and spent decades in Hell. When Lucifer abandoned his domain, Hell was emptied, and Edwin was among the souls who returned to that boarding school. Charles was a living student whom Edwin tried to protect. Charles ultimately died and chose to join Edwin in his afterlife adventures. The characters reappeared in the Children’s Crusade crossover series, in which they decided to become detectives.

“As far as I was concerned, this was obviously the ultimate, the finest, most commercial idea I had ever had: two dead boys and a detective agency, you’re there,” said Gaiman during a virtual media event. “Nobody else saw it. It was just this mad conviction that sooner or later, there would be somebody out there in the world who would pick up one of these comics, read it, and see the same thing. Little did I know that baby Steve Yockey was out there waiting to be infected.”

Yockey championed the project from the start. “I fell in love with the comic when I was very young and I was going through a personal loss, and I found it weirdly comforting in a psychedelic way,” he said. It’s thanks to Yockey that the Dead Boys popped up in a S3 episode of Doom Patrol when he was a writer on that series. The characters proved so popular that HBO Max ordered a pilot for a Dead Boy Detectives series in 2021. The project subsequently moved to Netflix. Per the official premise:

Meet Edwin Paine (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri), “the brains” and “the brawn” behind the Dead Boy Detectives agency. Teenagers born decades apart who find each other only in death,  Edwin and Charles are best friends, ghosts… who solve mysteries. They will do anything to stick together—including escaping evil witches, Hell and Death herself. With the help of a clairvoyant named Crystal Palace (Kassius Nelson) and her friend Niko (Yuyu Kitamura), they are able to crack some of the mortal realm’s most mystifying paranormal cases.

“I knew the things I wanted to hang onto in the adaptation were the relationship between the boys and Death, because that drives our action, and also this sense of, don’t wait until you’re looking death in the face to start living,” said Yockey. For his co-showrunner, Beth Schwartz, it was the close friendship between Edwin and Charles, forged out of their painful pasts, that cemented her love for the series. “It’s this horrible tragedy when you really think about it,” she said. “It’s these two boys who didn’t get to live past their teenage years. But because of that tragedy they created this amazing friendship.”

The Dead Boys came out of the Sandman canon, but that series was at Netflix, while Yockey was initially developing Dead Boy Detectives for HBO Max, So Gaiman and Yockey essentially “filed off the Sandman serial numbers” for their early scripts, per Gaiman. When the series moved to Netflix, the streaming platform’s only request was to set the story back in the Sandman universe. Charles and Edwin are evading Death to solve mysteries in their afterlife, so naturally, Kirby Howell-Baptiste makes a cameo in a pilot scene penned by Gaiman, reprising her role as Death. One other Endless makes an appearance late in the season, and eagle-eyed fans might spot nods to the original Sandman artwork in the set design.

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