We’ve got a shiny new trailer for Star Trek: Section 31, the long-awaited spinoff film that brings back Michelle Yeoh’s magnificent Phillipa Georgiou from Star Trek: Discovery. The film will give us the backstory for Georgiou’s evil Mirror Universe counterpart, where she was a despotic emperor who murdered millions of her own people.
As previously reported, Yeoh’s stylishly acerbic Georgiou was eventually written out of Discovery, but fans took hope from rumors of a spinoff series featuring the character. That turned into a spinoff film, and we’ll take it. Miku Martineau plays a young Phillipa Georgiou in the film. Meanwhile, Yeoh’s older Georgiou is tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets as part of a black ops group called Section 31, while dealing with all the blood she’s spilled in her past.
Any hardcore Star Trek fan will tell you that Section 31 was first introduced as an urban legend of sorts in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Apparently Ira Steven Behr—who came up with the idea of a secret rogue organization within Starfleet doing shady things to protect the Federation—took inspiration from Commander Sisko’s comment in one episode about how “It’s easy to be a saint in paradise.” The name is taken from Starfleet Charter Article 14, Section 31, which allows Starfleet to take extraordinary measures in the face of extreme threats—including sabotage, assassination, and even biological warfare.
The Wheel of Time returns to Prime Video in March.
Prime Video released a one-minute teaser for its fantasy series The Wheel of Time at CCXP24 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The series is adapted from the late Robert Jordan‘s bestselling 14-book series of epic fantasy novels, and Ars has been following it closely with regular recaps through the first two seasons. Judging from the new teaser, the battle between light and dark is heating up as the Dragon Reborn comes into his power.
(Spoilers for first two seasons below.)
As previously reported, the series center on Moiraine (played by Oscar-nominee Rosamund Pike), a member of a powerful, all-woman organization called the Aes Sedai. Magic, known as the One Power, is divided into male (saidin) and female (saidar) flavors. The latter is the province of the Aes Sedai. Long ago, a great evil called the Dark One caused the saidin to become tainted, such that most men who show an ability to channel that magic go mad. It’s the job of the Aes Sedai to track down such men and strip them of their abilities—a process known as “gentling” that, unfortunately, is often anything but. There is also an ancient prophecy concerning the Dragon Reborn: the reincarnation of a person who will save or destroy humanity.
In S1, Moiraine befriended a group of five young people—Egwene, Nynaeve, Rand, Mat, and Perrin—whose small village has been attacked by monsters called Trollocs, suspecting that one of the young men might be the prophesied Dragon Reborn. She was right: the Dragon Reborn is Rand al’Thor (Josha Stradowski) whose identity was revealed to all in the S2 finale. That second season was largely based on story elements from Jordan’s The Great Hunt and The Dragon Reborn. We don’t yet know which specific books will provide source material for S3, but per the official premise:
Severance returns to Apple TV in January for its sophomore season.
Severance was one of the most talked-about TV series of 2022, receiving widespread critical acclaim. We loved the series so much that Ars staffers actually wrote a group review so that everyone could weigh in with their thoughts on the first season, pronouncing it “one of the best shows on TV.” Needless to say, we have been eagerly awaiting the second season next month. Prime Video just released the official trailer at CCXP24 in São Paulo, Brazil and it does not disappoint.
(Spoilers for first season below.)
In the world of Severance, people can completely disconnect their work and personal lives. Thanks to a new procedure developed by Lumon Industries, workers can bifurcate themselves into “innies” (work selves) and “outies” (personal selves)—with no sharing of memories between them. This appeals to people like Mark (Adam Scott), who lost his wife in a car crash and has struggled to work through the grief. Why not forget all that pain for eight hours a day?
It’s no spoiler to say that things went… badly in S1 as a result of this process. As Ars Deputy Editor Nate Anderson noted at the time, “The show isn’t just bonkers—though it is that, too. It’s also about the lengths to which we will go to dull or avoid emotional pain, and the ways in which humans will reach out to connect with others even under the most unpromising of circumstances.” In the process, Severance brought out “the latent horror of fluorescent lights, baby goats, cubicles, waffles, middle managers, finger traps, and ‘work/life balance.’ Also cults. And vending machines. Plus corporate training manuals. And talk therapy. Oh, and ‘kind eyes.'”
The first season ended on quite the cliffhanger, with several Lumon employees activating an “overtime contingency” to escape the office confines to get a taste for how their “outies” live—and some pretty startling secrets were revealed. S2 will naturally grapple with the fallout from their brief mutiny. Per the official premise:
Lee Jung-Jae returns as Player 456 in the second season of Squid Game.
The 2021 Korean series Squid Game was a massive hit for Netflix, racking up 1.65 billion viewing hours in its first four weeks and snagging 14 Emmy nominations. Fans have been longing for a second season ever since, and we’re finally getting it this year for Christmas. Netflix just released the official trailer.
(Spoilers for S1 below.)
The first season followed Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-Jae, seen earlier this year in The Acolyte), a down-on-his-luck gambler who has little left to lose when he agrees to play children’s playground games against 455 other players for money. The twist? If you lose a game, you die. If you cheat, you die. And if you win, you might also die.
“The grotesque spectacle of Squid Game is where it gets most of its appeal, but it resonates because of how relatable Gi-hun and the rest of the game’s contestants are,” Ars Senior Technology Reporter Andrew Cunningham wrote in our 2021 year-end TV roundup. “Alienated from society and each other, driven by guilt or shame or pride or desperation, each of the players we get to know is inescapably human, which is why Squid Game is more than just a gory sideshow.
In the S1 finale, Gi-hun faced off against fellow finalist and childhood friend Cho Sang-woo (Park Hae-soo) in the titular “squid game.” He won their fight but refused to kill his friend, begging Sang-woo to stop the game by invoking a special clause in their contract whereby they get to live—but do not get the prize money. Sang-woo instead stabbed himself in the neck and asked Gi-hun to take care of his mother. Wracked with guilt, Gi-hun was about to fly to America to live with his daughter when he spotted the game recruiter trying to entice another desperate person. He didn’t get on the plane, deciding instead to try and re-enter the game and take it down from the inside.
In addition to Reeves, new cast members include Krysten Ritter as Director Rockwell; Alyla Browne as Maria, a young girl from Shadow’s past; and Sofia Pernas, Cristo Fernandez, James Wolk, and Jorma Taccone in as-yet-undisclosed roles. Sonic 3 will also introduce the Chao creatures of Chao Gardens.
A tragic backstory
Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are captured. YouTube/Paramount Pictures
It’s no surprise that Carrey is back once again as “Eggman” Robotnik, and this time, he’s playing a dual role: Robotnik and the character’s grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, a genetic engineer who created Shadow while trying to cure his daughter Maria from a deadly disease. In the games, Shadow suffers from past trauma associated with Maria’s death; the two were close friends.
When she is killed by the Guardian Units of Nations (GUN), Shadow sets out for revenge before remembering his promise to Maria to prevent the destruction of the world. He eventually becomes an anti-hero ally to Sonic. We already knew that the third film would probably feature Shadow, thanks to a mid-credits scene in Sonic 2 informing us about the discovery of a secret research facility for something called “Project Shadow.” (Director Jeff Fowler once worked as a character animator, and Shadow was one of his first jobs.)
It’s clear from the new trailer that Shadow is in his early villain phase here. The trailer opens with Sonic and pals in a kid-friendly eatery, where one child mistakes Tails for Pikachu—before they are rudely attacked. Cut to Robotnik Sr. intoning, “It’s time, Shadow”—time for revenge. The trio is captured by the Robotniks, but they escape and end up in the Wachowskis’ living room, and naturally the couple joins them on a super dangerous top-secret mission. We see a flashback to Shadow’s friendship with Maria as well as Sonic and Shadow getting ready to throw down (“This ends now”). The smart money, as always, is on Team Sonic.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 opens in theaters on December 20, 2024.
Captain America: Brave New World is star Anthony Mackie’s first cinematic appearance as the new Captain America.
Marvel Studios dropped a full-length trailer for Captain America: Brave New World at the first ever Brazil D23 fan event this weekend. This is star Anthony Mackie’s first cinematic appearance as the new Captain America after the Phase Four 2021 TV miniseries, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The event also featured a special look at Marvel’s forthcoming Thunderbolts* film, followed by a new trailer.
As previously reported, it’s the fifth film in the MCU’s Phase Five, directed by Julius Onah (The Cloverfield Paradox) and building on events not just in F&WS but also the 2008 film The Incredible Hulk. Per the official premise:
After meeting with newly elected US President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.
In addition to Mackie and Ford, the cast includes Liv Tyler as the president’s daughter, Betty Ross, and Tim Blake Nelson as Samuel Sterns, both reprising their roles in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk. (Ford replaces the late William Hurt, who played Ross in that earlier film.) Carl Lumbley plays Isaiah Bradley, reprising his F&WS role as a Korean War veteran who had been secretly imprisoned and given the Super Soldier Serum against his will, enduring 30 years of experimentation. (He told Sam he couldn’t imagine how any black man could take up Captain America’s shield because of what it represented to people like him, and one could hardly blame him.)
Rosa Salazar plays Rachel Leighton, Danny Ramirez plays Joaquin Torres, and Shira Haas plays Ruth Bat-Seraph. Giancarlo Esposito will also appear as Sidewinder, the alter ego of economics professor Seth Voelker, who gains the power of teleportation via a cloak (a gift from the Egyptian god Set) and forms a criminal organization called The Serpent Society in the comics.
Jude Law stars as Force-user Jod Na Nawood in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.
It’s no secret that the new spinoff series, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, was inspired by the 1985 film The Goonies. Executive Producer Kathleen Kennedy (who co-produced The Goonies) has publicly confirmed as much. The latest trailer really leans into that influence: The series feels like something not created specifically for kids, but rather telling a story that just happens to be about kids going on an adventure.
As previously reported, the eight-episode standalone series is set in the same timeframe as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. Per the official premise:
Skeleton Crew follows the journey of four kids who make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet, then get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy, crossing paths with the likes of Jod Na Nawood, the mysterious character played by [Jude] Law. Finding their way home—and meeting unlikely allies and enemies—will be a greater adventure than they ever imagined.
Jude Law leads the cast as the quick-witted and charming (per Law) “Force-user” Jod Na Nawood. Ravi Cabot-Conyers plays Wim, Ryan Kiera Armstrong plays Fern, Kyriana Kratter plays KB, and Robert Timothy Smith plays Neil. Nick Frost will voice a droid named SM 33, the first mate of a spaceship called the Onyx Cylinder. The cast also includes Fred Tatasciore as Brutus, Jaleel White as Gunther, Mike Estes as Pax, Marti Matulis as Vane, and Dale Soules as Chaelt. Tunde Adebimpe and Kerry Condon will appear in as-yet-undisclosed roles.
Dune: Prophecy will premiere on HBO and Max on November 17, 2024.
New York Comic-Con kicked off today and among the highlights was an HBO panel devoted to the platform’s forthcoming new series, Dune: Prophecy—including the release of a two-and-a-half-minute trailer.
As previously reported, the series was announced in 2019, with director Denis Villeneuve serving as an executive producer and Alison Schapker (Alias, Fringe, Altered Carbon) serving as showrunner. It’s a prequel series inspired by the novel Sisterhood of Dune, written by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, exploring the origins of the Bene Gesserit. The first season will have six episodes, and it’s unclear how closely the series will adhere to the source material. Per the official premise:
Set 10,000 years before the ascension of Paul Atreides, Dune: Prophecy follows two Harkonnen sisters as they combat forces that threaten the future of humankind, and establish the fabled sect that will become known as the Bene Gesserit.
Emily Watson co-stars as Valya Harkonnen, leader of the Sisterhood, with Olivia Williams playing her sister, Tula Harkonnen. Mark Strong plays Emperor Javicco Corrino, while Jodhi May plays Empress Natalya, and Sarah-Sofie Boussnina plays Princess Ynez.
The cast also includes Shalom Brune-Franklin as Mikaela, a Fremen woman who serves the royal family; Travis Fimmel as Desmond Hart, “a charismatic soldier with an enigmatic past”; Chris Mason as swordsman Keiran Atreides; Josh Heuston as Constantine Corrino, the illegitimate son of Javicco; Edward Davis as rising politician Harrow Harkonnen; Tabu as Sister Francesca, the Emperor’s former lover; Jihae as Reverend Mother Kasha, the Emperor’s Truthsayer; Faoileann Cunningham as Sister Jen; Chloe Lea as Lila; Jade Anouka as Sister Theodosia; and Aoife Hinds as Sister Emeline.
Ana de Armas stars as dancer/assassin Eve Macarro in From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.
John Wick fans hoping for a fifth film in the hugely popular action franchise will at least be able to return to “Wick-World” next year with the release of a spinoff film, Ballerina, set between the events of 2019’s Chapter 3—Parabellum and Chapter 4 (2023). (The full title is the decidedly unwieldy From the World of John Wick: Ballerina.) Lionsgate just dropped the first trailer, and it has all the tight action choreography and eye-popping visuals we’ve come to expect from the franchise—including a cameo by none other than the Baba Yaga himself (Keanu Reeves).
(Spoilers for John Wick Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 below.)
Parabellum found Wick declared excommunicado from the High Table for killing crime lord Santino D’Antonio on the grounds of the Continental. On the run with a bounty on his head, he makes his way to the headquarters of the Ruska Roma crime syndicate, led by the Director (Anjelica Huston). That’s where we learned Wick was originally named Jardani Jovonovich and trained as an assassin with the syndicate. The Director also trains young girls to be ballerina-assassins, and one young ballerina (played by Unity Phelan) is shown rehearsing in the scene. That dancer is the main character in Ballerina, now played by Ana de Armas.
Screenwriter Shay Hatten sold a spec script featuring the ballerina character to Lionsgate in 2017 and ended up contributing to the Parabellum screenplay and serving as lead writer on Chapter 4. While Chad Stahelski has directed all four John Wick films, for Ballerina the studio brought on Len Wiseman (the Underworld franchise). But Stahelski is still a producer on the film and worked closely with Wiseman on those all-important action sequences.
Winston (Ian McShane) recruits a young Eve as a child.
YouTube/Lionsgate
She loves the ballet.
YouTube/Lionsgate
Sharon Duncan-Brewster plays Nogi, who trains Eve and the others to be assassins.
YouTube/Lionsgate
Firearms training.
YouTube/Lionsgate
Lance Reddick makes his last (posthumous) appearance as Charon.
YouTube/Lionsgate
Winston still looking suave.
YouTube/Lionsgate
The young assassin in action.
YouTube/Lionsgate
John Wick (Keanu Reeves) finally makes an appearance.
YouTube/Lionsgate
Huston returns as the Director, Ian McShane is back as Winston, and Lance Reddick makes one final (posthumous) appearance as the Continental concierge, Charon. New cast members include Gabriel Byrne as main villain the Chancellor, who turns an entire town against the titular ballerina, Eve Macarro (de Armas); Sharon Duncan-Brewster as Nogi; Norman Reedus as Pine; and Catalina Sandino Moreno and David Castaneda in as-yet-undisclosed roles.
Attendees at Cinemacon in April were treated to a teaser trailer; much of that footage seems to be in the trailer. We see Winston recruiting a young orphaned Eve with some scenes of her learning boxing, martial arts, and gun and knife skills. She’s looking for her father’s killer and naturally encounters some opposition, requiring her to fight a lot of nasty people, some armed with flamethrowers. Finally, she comes face to face with Wick, asking how she can start doing what he does. His response: “Looks like you already have.” De Armas looks fierce as hell and up to the physical challenges of her role. We’re looking forward to this one.
From the World of John Wick: Ballerina hits theaters on June 6, 2025.
Are you not entertainment? We’ve got a shiny new trailer for Gladiator II.
When the first trailer for Gladiator II dropped in early July, it racked up more than 180 million views in its first 48 hours, so clearly there’s an audience for Ridley Scott’s long-awaited sequel to his 2000 blockbuster Gladiator. And no wonder; as I noted at the time, the film “promises to be just as much of a visual feast, as a new crop of power players (plus a couple of familiar faces) clash over the future of Rome.” We’ve now got a shiny new trailer, and I stand by that initial assessment—especially since this trailer confirms what had previously been hinted about the protagonist’s biological father.
(Some spoilers for Gladiator below.)
Gladiator II centers around Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal), son of Lucilla and former heir to the Roman Empire, given that his father (also named Lucius Verus) was once a co-emperor of Rome. Lucius hasn’t been seen in Rome for 15 years. Instead, he has been living in a small coastal town in Numidia with his wife and child. Like Maximus before him, he is captured by the Roman army and forced to become a gladiator after the death of his family. Per the official premise:
Gladiator II continues the epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome. Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.
Pedro Pascal plays Marcus Acacius, a Roman general who trained under Maximus, tasked with conquering North Africa. Although the young Lucius once idolized Maximus, Marcus Acacius apparently will be a symbol of everything Lucius hates. Connie Nielsen reprises her Gladiator role as Lucilla, who does not recognize her son when she first sees him fighting in the arena as a gladiator. But she figures it out, since we see her urge Lucius to “take your father’s strength. His name was Maximus, and I see him in you.”
Derek Jacobi also returns as Senator Gracchus, who is opposed to growing corruption in the Roman court. Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger play young co-emperors Geta and Caracalla. Denzel Washington rounds out the cast as Macrinus, an arms dealer who keeps a stable of gladiators. Tim McInnerny plays Thraex, Alexander Karim plays Ravi, and Rory McCann plays Tegula.
Gladiator II hits theaters on November 22, 2024, in the US. Internationally, it will premiere on November 15, 2024. Scott recently said that he is already developing a third film, Gladiator III, which would also star Mescal as Lucius. So we already know Lucius will survive, which might be why Scott has compared the ending of this film to The Godfather: Part II (1974).
Florence Pugh heads an assembly of misfits in Marvel’s Thunderbolts*.
Marvel Studios has dropped an extended teaser trailer for the final feature film in its Phase Six slate: Thunderbolts*, now with a mysterious asterisk to the title. The studio has touted the film as having a different tone from other recent MCU offerings—thanks in part to hiring “a crew of indie veterans who sold out” to make the film—and judging from the teaser, it looks like they just might deliver on that.
As previously reported, Thunderbolts* is a follow-up of sorts to 2021’s Black Widow. It’s directed by Jake Schreier and stars Wyatt Russell as US Agent/failed Captain America from TheFalcon and the Winter Soldier, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Contessa Valentina Allegra, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, David Harbour as Alexei/Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster, and Lewis Pullman as Bob/The Sentry.
In addition, Geraldine Viswanathan plays Valentina’s assistant, Mel, and Harrison Ford will appear as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, aka Red Hulk, aka the US president. (Ford’s character will also appear in February’s Captain America: Brave New World.) Laurence Fishburne and Rachel Weisz will reprise their MCU roles as Bill Foster and Melina Vostokoff, respectively.
There’s no official synopsis yet, but the studio describes the film as “an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits.” It’s basically the MCU’s version of The Suicide Squad; in fact, James Gunn was originally attached to direct Thunderbolts but bowed out after making The Suicide Squad because he felt the projects were just too similar.
Enlarge/ “Look at you. So adorable.” Valentina Allegra de Fontaine assembles the Thunderbolts.
Marvel Studios
The three-and-a-half-minute teaser trailer appears to be similar to the footage shown to attendees at San Diego Comic-Con. It opens with Yelena visiting Alexei, who initially thinks it’s a DoorDash order. Alexei is clearly not doing well despite insisting that he has plenty of work and is “so full, so filled.” But Yelena confesses feeling empty despair since Natasha Romanoff (Black Widow) died in Avengers: Endgame, despite throwing herself into her assassination work. As she describes herself as drifting and lacking purpose, we see Bucky and US Agent looking similarly depressed.
We see Yelena doing her work with impressive efficiency until she walks into what appears to be a trap. As she battles US Agent and Ghost, they stumble upon a nebbishy Bob lurking in the background—and then the room locks down. Cue Valentina shown at a fancy gala as she ruminates about the long-standing belief in good guys and bad guys. “But eventually you come to realize that there are bad guys and there are worse guys, and nothing else,” she says. Naturally she wants all those depressed assassins and antiheroes for her own warped version of the Avengers.
There’s plenty of action and lots of wisecracking humor, including an amusing shot of Bucky removing his arm from the dishwasher and reattaching it. And unlike Alexei’s “bulletproof-ish” car, Bob turns out to be truly bulletproof (thanks to a hefty infusion of super soldier serum).
Robert Pattinson’s character didn’t read his contract’s fine print in Mickey 17, director Bong Joon-ho’s latest film.
It has been five long years since director Bong Joon-ho’s film Parasitetopped Ars’ list for best films of the year, whose prior work on Snowpiercer and Okja are also staff favorites. We’re finally getting a new film from this gifted director: the sci-fi comedy Mickey 17, based on the 2022 novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. Judging by the trailer that recently dropped, it feels a bit like a darkly comic version of Duncan Jones’ 2009 film Moon, with a bit of the surreal absurdity of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil (1985) thrown in for good measure. And the visuals are terrific.
Ashton’s inspiration for the novel was the teletransportation paradox—a thought experiment pondering the philosophy of identity that challenges certain notions of the self and consciousness. It started as a short story about what Ashton called “a crappy immortality” and expanded from there into a full-length novel.
Ashton told Nerdist last year that Bong’s adaptation would “change a lot of the book,” but he considered the director a “genius” and wasn’t concerned about those changes. The basic premise remains the same. Robert Pattinson plays the space colonist named Mickey Barnes, who is so eager to escape Earth that he signs up to be an “expendable” without reading the fine print.
Expendables are basically disposable employees (aka “second-hand baloney boys”). If they happen to die on the job, their consciousness is uploaded to a new body, and the cycle starts all over again. When a multiple unexpectedly survives while on an expedition to colonize the ice world Niflheim, Mickeys 17 and 18 discover that the policy in such cases is to exterminate all the multiples, and they must fight for their right to keep existing.
In addition to Pattinson, the cast includes Steven Yeun as Berto, Toni Collette as Gwen Johansen, Mark Ruffalo as Hieronymous Marshall, Naomi Ackie as Nasha Adjaya, Holliday Grainger as Red Hair, Angus Imrie as Shrimp Eyes, and Steve Park as Agent Zeke. Anamaria Vartolomei, Thomas Turgoose, Patsy Ferran, and Daniel Henshall have also been cast in as-yet-undisclosed roles. Perhaps one of them plays the person in the giant pigeon costume who briefly appears in the trailer.
Mickey 17 hits theaters in the US on January 31, 2025. It will premiere in other countries on January 28, 2025. Ashton penned a sequel, Antimatter Blues, which was published last year, so maybe Bong Joon-ho will adapt that one, too.
