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Showrunner Jonathan Kasdan on bringing George Lucas and Ron Howard’s beloved fantasy back to life on the small screen. Plus, meet new star Ruby Cruz. PG. 10
James Cameron’s epic sequel is almost here. We explore the pioneering production and chat with the new cast. PG. 18
It’s coming. 2023 is on the way with a packed calendar of entertainment to look forward to. Our mega preview delves into the best of films, TV, games, books and comics, with exclusive interviews and insights.
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IT’S WITH ABSOLUTE pleasure that I introduce the first issue of our Den of Geek UK magazine. Den of Geek was founded in the UK, so it feels right to be able to bring our print edition home. And what better issue than our massive 2023 preview, which is a roadmap of everything you need to look out for next year in the world of movies, TV, Games, Comics, and Books—the heartland of Den of Geek? This quarterly magazine can be found in comic book stores across the UK (see PG. 13 for the complete list), or you can subscribe using the code on the right to get your copy straight through the door. The UK team has also been out and about at events in 2022 including the London Action
The cast and creators of The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself join Den of Geek on stage at MCM Comic Con in October 2022.
Festival and MCM Comic Con. We’re excited for more in 2023 (see you there?). On a personal note, I love print. I love flatplanning, I love “page furniture”, I enjoy a chat about paper stock: I am a total print nerd. So to have the magazine finally in the hands of our UK readers is a big deal for me. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed making it.
Rosie Fletcher, UK EditorEngage! Picard heads up our 2023 preview issue with an exclusive look at the return of the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew with Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, and showrunner Terry Matalas.
Willow showrunner Jon Kasdan on the 34-year journey to bring the hero back to screens.
BY ROSIE KNIGHT
YEARS BEFORE HIS triumphant and game-changing Star Wars trilogy, George Lucas had an idea for a sprawling fantasy story about an aspiring sorcerer and a prophesied hero. But it wouldn’t be until over a decade later that he began to bring that story to life. Starring Return of the Jedi’s Warwick Davis, the Ron Howard helmed Willow was an epic fantasy yarn. Although it failed to set the box office on fire, it captured the imaginations of young viewers
everywhere. One of them was eight-year-old Jon Kasdan, who still remembers watching the film for the very first time at the historic Village Theater in Westwood, Los Angeles. “My memory is so specific of seeing the movie [there] that I begged, pleaded, and finally convinced Disney to let us have our premiere at the Village,” Kasdan tells Den of Geek in the lead-up to the show’s debut.
Willow opens with one of the scariest scenes in family movie history
as the evil Queen Bavmorda orders the murder of the kingdom’s baby girls in order to stop a prophecy. Eventually, the precious prophesied baby is saved by a courageous kitchen maid who smuggles her out of the castle. But while the child, Elora Danan, is safe, her saviour is hunted down by Bavmorda’s nightmarish Death Dogs. It’s the sequence that sucked Kasdan in, thanks to the brilliant practical work that brought it to life. “It was just more tactile and
real than anything I’d seen like that before. It suddenly made the movie very dangerous in a great way where I was riveted.”
After the massive success of Lucas’ previous movies, young Kasdan—like many Willow fans—expected a sequel. But it wasn’t until years later that he realized why it hadn’t emerged. “I was just a little too young to understand that, oh, this thing isn’t performing the way Star Wars and Indiana Jones do.” But that didn’t stop his love for the
movie from growing on rewatch after rewatch, eventually leading to a life-changing realisation. “As time went on, the VHS stayed with me, and Val [Kilmer] grew in my memory as this iconic image of what a cool guy was. It just seemed like the opportunity existed to continue the story, to keep it going.”
That would become more of a reality for Kasdan in 2012 when Disney acquired Lucasfilm. “My dad [Lawrence Kasdan] got involved very
early, like within the first few months. And my fantasies for what the company could be immediately turned to, ‘Great, we can make some more Willow.’” That might have seemed like a long shot, but while he was working on Star Wars: Episode VII and Solo, Kathleen Kennedy let slip to Kasdan that George Lucas also harbored an ambition to continue the story of Willow. “She should never have told me because I never let it go.”
Speaking of Solo, it was on that project where Kasdan met Ron Howard and Warwick Davis, who he quickly brought into his scheme to bring Willow back to the screen. “She
was suddenly confronted by three people conspiring for more Willow. The timing of it was perfect for the launch of Disney+. That was the only place this could have happened.”
When it came to continuing the story from the 1988 film, there was an obvious answer for Kasdan, and it all came down to the cherubic baby at the centre of Willow. “That was my whole argument to everyone. And it’s echoed in the ancillary novels that emerged in the late ’90s. But the question the movie begs is, ‘What happened to Elora Danan?’”
The eight-episode season aims to answer that question as Davis’ Willow is called upon by Kit (Ruby Cruz), the daughter of Madmartigan (Val Kilmer) and Sorsha (Joanne Whalley), to find her twin brother. But as they embark on that quest, the party must locate Elora and help her become the prophesied hero she was sworn to be. Getting to bring Davis back into the role of reluctant mentor and powerful
THAT WAS MY WHOLE ARGUMENT. THE QUESTION THE MOVIE BEGS IS ‘WHAT HAPPENED TO ELORA DANAN?’”
warlock was monumental for Kasdan. “The most emotional moment on the set was Warwick’s first costume fitting when he came out of the dressing room in that cloak for the first time and we saw him fully made up… you couldn’t not connect that to your childhood in a powerful and profound way.”
Kasdan teases that he has bigger ideas and is planning for more seasons of Willow if this one lands with fans and Disney+ viewers. “We are building a plan to continue the story, and hopefully, it ends in a way that demands more because we think this is a fun world, and the threats that we’re setting up in season one aren’t resolved by the end of it. But I also hope that within itself, the season is satisfying because it also excites you to see what happens next.”
Whether that happens or not is yet to be seen, but Kasdan does know one thing: the moment he’s most excited for viewers to experience when they finally watch the sequel show. “Willow training Elora in magic! In the script I wrote, there was a line where it says, ‘Music comes in, begin training montage.’ And let’s face it, this is the whole reason we made the series.’”
Willow is out now Disney+ and you can watch the original film there too.
Do you have a defining memory of the first time you watched Willow?
I got cast in the middle of the pandemic, so I was alone a lot of the time. I wanted to have a grand viewing of it like this is a big deal, I need to really soak this in. It was such a fun time that it hooked me immediately. How contemporary Madmartigan is in such an old-timey feeling world. How absolutely heartwarming it was. I definitely cried! Then I ended up watching it with Erin [Kellyman] and some of the other cast members, which was really special.
What made you feel most connected to Kit?
There are so many differences and similarities between me and Kit. I think the biggest similarity, though, is that she’s thrown into this whole new world. She’s faced with the realities of life and the hardships of what all-encompassing change brings you. And I think I felt similarly. I was starting this new chapter of life and this project that was so unknown, in a whole new environment with all new people.
How did it feel to have Warwick as your mentor?
There are so many similarities between the story and what was happening on set. It was so funny. And definitely having Warwick, who knows this world inside and out and has grown with this world, was so helpful. He is definitely the heart of the original and this series.
Joanne is a real-life warrior! She is so incredible! I love her to pieces. She is so strong, so sure of herself. And so exactly what I needed her to be. Such a wise figure on set, and she knew how to take care of herself and helped us take care of ourselves.
It feels really good to finally be able to share with people what we’ve made. I feel like this is almost the best part. It’s not about you anymore, it’s about everyone else, it’s about how it makes other people feel. It’s the most amazing thing in the world.
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Jenna Ortega was born in California in 2002 and is the fourth of six children. She is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent, and has talked proudly of her great-grandmother migrating from Mexico and requiring her daughters to learn perfect English. Ortega is also an advocate for immigrants’ rights and the Pride Over Prejudice campaign, which speaks out against anti-immigrant policies.
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Ortega has been acting since she was six years old. She was discovered after her mother posted Jenna reading an actor’s monologue on Facebook. Early roles include parts in Iron Man 3 and Insidious: Chapter 3. Ortega gained wider attention by playing Young Jane on Jane the Virgin
Ortega has appeared in four horror-adjacent projects this year alone: Scream, X, Studio 666, and Wednesday. She adores the genre but doesn’t know if she’s fully earned scream queen status. Ortega told Vulture, “It feels wrong to even take that title because I think I have a few more projects to go.”
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Ortega landed the role of Wednesday Addams while shooting X. Her first audition with series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar was after a night of screaming bloody murder on location. Ortega later said folks have called her Wednesday since she was little because of her dark, dry sense of humour.
5 To prepare for Wednesday, Ortega took cello, fencing, and Italian lessons. But she did not perfect her look until the first day of shooting when Tim Burton spent three hours working with hair stylists. He precisely placed her fringe, hair-sprayed it and asked Ortega not to move her hair for a week.
A woo ooh! Ken Plume’s exhaustively researched guide to the 2017-2021 revival of Disney’s beloved DuckTales is packed with exclusive information, rare illustrations, and insights from the creative staff. A gorgeous Deluxe Edition ups the ante even more by including a gilded copy of the book and accompanying slipcase, the bonus DuckTales Guidebook tome, and a replica of Uncle Scrooge’s trusty ten-cent piece.
(Dark Horse Books. Standard Edition: $49.99/Deluxe Edition $99.99)
Billing itself as “a century of practical effects,” Howard Berger and Marshall Julius’ must-have book celebrates the creative legends who have changed the pop culture landscape through their hugely innovative makeup designs in beloved film and TV projects spanning Hollywood history—including iconic projects like The Shape of Water (whose director, Guillermo del Toro, provides the introduction) and 1982’s influential gorefest The Thing. CGI? Who needs it when the effects look this incredible? (Welbeck Publishing Group. $39.95)
Is this your ring? This black rhodium-plated sterling silver ring of the Black Panther mask comes in sizes 6 to 13 and includes the phrase “Wakanda Forever” written in Wakandan glyphs along the ring band. Truly a piece of jewelry fit for royalty. (RockLove. $99.99)
Super7’s ReAction figures have always been amazing, but the company has taken things into another dimension (another dimension…) with this two-pack of toys based on the kaiju characters from the Beastie Boys’ legendary “Intergalactic” music video. (Super7. $50)
Godzilla, but make it fashion! The Crunchyroll Loves x Godzilla III clothing line will have you skree-onking with joy over its awesomely cool wearable merch showcasing the King of the Monsters. Case in point: this MechaGodzilla hoodie that makes us want to spend a week watching kaiju classics. (Crunchyroll. $64.95)
The following products make for perfect gifts for anyone in your life… and yeah, you’ll probably want some of this stuff for yourself as well!
Crunchyroll’s Chainsaw Man is a gory good time, but its sweet, complex characters are a greater secret weapon than its blood-soaked blades.
BY DANIEL KURLANDNew anime hits emerge every year, but staggering levels of love have surrounded Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man. The anime’s inaugural season has already become one of Crunchyroll’s biggest 2022 additions. Audiences have been quick to commend the anime’s ultra-violent atmosphere as it chronicles Denji’s journey as the blade-wielding monster known as Chainsaw Man. However, beneath the grisly gore and
heightened aesthetics, there’s a real heart and humanity to Chainsaw Man’s characters and their world.
Chainsaw Man’s Denji is a powerful protagonist who takes down incredible Devils. He’s also a dejected, debt-stricken loner who views every free day as a blessing. Simple pleasures like loose change for a can of soda feel like miracles to Denji, and Chainsaw Man truly celebrates the beauty of the little joys
that make life worth living, albeit juxtaposed against delirious displays of supernatural violence. Some anime characters are driven by an altruistic desire to avenge loved ones, protect their community, or eliminate evils, yet Denji’s motivation to be good is the endlessly juvenile desire to “cop a feel.” Somehow this puerile passion manages to humanize the character and speak to his humble nature in a world that’s full of grandiose demons.
Power, another central Chainsaw Man character with a blood-thirsty Devil background, is driven by the simple need to protect her cat, Meowy. This demonic individual learns to love through the unadulterated joy of animals. Chainsaw Man conjures similar feelings between Denji and Pochita, his dog-like Chainsaw Devil. In an anime that’s obsessed with blood and guts, there’s also an overwhelming passion for pets that’s rare to see. These larger-thanlife personalities are immediately grounded through this deeply human quality.
Most demon-hunting anime feature some central police force of esteemed exterminators. Chainsaw Man is no different in this regard, with its focus on the association of Public Safety Devil Hunters who have big-picture goals to wipe out all of the Devils and save society. However, Chainsaw Man examines this massive corporate conglomerate through its distinct employees so that the audience bonds with this group on a personal, human level. They’re not just a nebulous company who are supposed to be trusted and praised.
Chainsaw Man is an absolute delight that doesn’t disappoint when it comes to action, horror, and wild worldbuilding, but the anime makes sure that its characters and their emotional truths always come first. Any anime can wield numerous chainsaws and bathe in demon viscera, but Chainsaw Man makes sure that these extreme elements have a healthy foundation to build upon. You can’t spell “Chainsaw Man” without “Man”, after all.
Football anime BLUELOCK has become a suprise fan favourite.
Football anime sensation BLUELOCK is one of Crunchyroll’s latest fast-paced bursts of adrenaline that celebrates sports.
BLUELOCK tells the story of Yoichi Isagi, a conflicted high school football player who’s suddenly thrust into the opportunity of a lifetime. Isagi can lead Japan’s national football team as their star striker, but the only catch is that he just needs to defeat 299 equally determined football savants.
BLUELOCK takes the typical excitement of a football anime and combines it with the addictive serialized elimination tactics of a battle royale or death game series.
BLUELOCK finds strength through its unconventional exploration of football, but its approach is indicative of anime’s growing ability to use sports as a subversive storytelling tool. Anime can celebrate the nitty-gritty details of these sports in a realistic manner or take them to the opposite extreme with exaggerated versions
that could only be possible in anime.
There is no shortage of series that explore soccer, but anime covers every recreational pastime imaginable, from synchronized diving to ping-pong to skateboarding. No sport is too subdued for an anime makeover. Anime understands the potential of these sports’ markets, whereas Western animation has failed to capitalize on this trend. Sports-based series are an effective way to bring in an audience of existing athletes, but some anime even increase interest in the activity and create new fans.
BLUELOCK is just one of the many sports anime that Crunchyroll has to offer.
Start watching brand-new series Chainsaw Man and BLUELOCK at www.crunchyroll.com
SPY x FAMILY
Airs: Weekly on Saturdays
Think Mr. and Mrs. Smith meets Modern Family SPY x FAMILY is a perfect blend of espionage and slice of life family sweetness. Two top spies must pretend to be the perfect couple and loving parents to an unsuspecting orphan in this twist on the family sitcom.
Mob Psycho 100 III
Airs: Weekly on Wednesdays
Mob Psycho 100 III brings back everyone’s favorite humble heroic psychic for more supernaturally surreal shenanigans. Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama possesses intense psychic abilities that could reshape reality, but Mob’s priorities revolve around his sub-par social status and teenage woes. The perfect balance of earnest adventures and apocalyptic antagonists.
My Hero Academia Season 6
Airs: Weekly on Saturdays
The superpowered theatrics of Izuku “Deku” Midoriya reach unprecedented heights as My Hero Academia’s heroes and villains clash in all-out warfare. Six seasons in, the Paranormal Liberation War arc pays off on years of growing conflict. There’s always lighthearted fun to be had in this subversive superhero series, but season six pushes the show into dark, mature territory.
To Your Eternity Season 2
Airs: Weekly on Sundays
To Your Eternity is a fascinating twist on fantasy and survivalist storytelling that’s almost like what would happen if Hayao Miyazaki were to direct The Revenant. An abandoned boy struggles to survive in a barren world alongside a wolf that just so happens to be a supernatural shapeshifting deity. Season two catapults the timeline forward nearly half a century in a powerful meditation on legacy.
Avatar became famous for its revolutionary filmmaking technology
epic sequel approaches
CGI.
IT’S NO SURPRISE that the sequel to Avatar is going to have mind-blowing visuals, but when the script for sequel Avatar: The Way of Water was complete, even the movie’s producer had doubts about their ability to film it.
“When we first started developing the script for The Way of Water, we really tried to do it without thinking about the ‘how,’ right?” recalls Jon Landau, the producer of Avatar and
BY CHRIS FARNELLits upcoming sequels. Once the script was done, Landau’s reaction was: “Oh my gosh, how do we do this?”
In case the scope of that project wasn’t enough, the crew wasn’t just shooting one Avatar sequel but two whole movies and the first act of the fourth one. It was an epic undertaking, but combining the shoot across nearly three films also had its advantages. “It’s like making one long miniseries,
and there are great production advantages to doing it that way,” says Landau. “If we have a scene that takes place in John’s office in movies two, three, and four, we can go pre-light John’s office once, shoot it once and strike out of it once. If we did it as three movies, we’d pre-light it three times.”
Avatar made a big splash in 2009 with the level of technology it used for motion capture and filming in 3D, and The Way of Water builds on that—
but, as its first
cinemas, we learn there’s more to it than expensiveClockwise, from left: Sam Worthington returns as Jake Sully; the eldest Sully son Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) with his mother, Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña); villain Quaritch (Stephen Lang) in his new avatar form; Jake and Neytiri ride into the sunset.
most noticeably in its pioneering underwater mocap techniques. But as Landau points out, the actors’ performances were at the centre of everything.
“It starts with the closeup. If you don’t find the characters compelling, it doesn’t matter what technology you throw at them,” Landau insists. “So we said, let’s make the fidelity of our performances even better than they were in the first movie.”
Instead of recording the actors’ faces with one high-definition camera, director James Cameron and his crew
would use two. Then, utilising technologies such as deep learning, effects firm Wētā FX delved deeper into understanding what the actors were doing.
“They don’t drive a performance from the skin on the outside,” Landau says. “They drive a performance from the muscles on the inside.”
While Avatar is a franchise heavily associated with motion capture and green screen, more traditional filmmaking techniques weren’t totally abandoned. “We had more physical sets on the sequel than on the first movie,” says Landau. The production took over Stone Street Studios in Wellington, New Zealand and another 250,000-square-foot facility filled with sets, as well as additional locations in Auckland.
“Our sets are big, and we have an incredible design team that does those,” Landau says. “Brendan Cowell, who [plays] the captain of the Sea Dragon [mothership], was on a 60-foot boat on a motion base, and it was real, it was tactile.”
But whether on a motion capture stage (called a “Volume”) or a physical set, it was the actors who drove the story. “A moment between Bailey Bass and Kate Winslet sort of sums it up,” says Landau. “The young actors were a little bit nervous about Kate Winslet coming in. Kate knew of Bailey, and the minute she saw Bailey, she said something to the effect of, ‘Come give your mother a hug,’ because she plays her mother. We talk about the Avatar family. It’s a movie about family, but we are a family.”
Avatar: The Way of Water opens Dec. 16.
Tell us a little bit about your character, Tsireya.
Bailey Bass: I’m so excited for people to meet her. She is a super strong free diver. She’s similar to Neytiri from the first film, which was an honor to play. She is the daughter of Ronal [Kate Winslet] and Tonowari [Cliff Curtis], who are the leaders of the Metkayina clan, and she gets close with the Sully kids and helps them learn about the Metkayina environment.
You’ve done Interview with the Vampire as well; how were the filming experiences different?
Avatar: The Way of Water was my first time being on a movie set. I had very little experience with
film, and I was a sponge. I didn’t know anything else, so I just grasped all of it.
So when I went to do Interview with the Vampire, I looked at my co-stars, and I’d always ask them, “Is this normal?” Because motion capture is my normal. I had to learn standing, doing an eye line. And when you do mocap, you don’t have to hold your tears for a closeup. We just get to experience everything full out. We get to live everything to the fullest moment.
Do you have a favorite memory from filming the movie?
My favorite moment was filming scenes with Kate [Winslet]. One of the first times I saw her, we were in the tank, and we were training, and she walked up, and we saw her above us on the deck, and I was just like, she has a power in her when she walks, and you see that in all the characters she plays. It was wonderful playing that with her.
How would you describe Spider?
He was a human that was born on Hell’s Gate but orphaned there, and he grew up alongside the Sully family and considers himself one of the Na’vi people. But he obviously has his limitations.
What was it like filming as a human among Na’vi?
I had to do everything twice. For the first two years, I did performance capture with the actual cast there with the dots and the tight suits. And then another two years, I had to do it live-action but without the cast there. So I was in New Zealand, just me. There would be a group of actors wearing tight blue suits, and then on the top, it’d basically be a torso and head of a Na’vi. So it’s actually 10 feet tall, with arms controlled by sticks.
How did you find the difference between filming on live-action
sets and the more virtual environments?
All of my stuff was live-action. But as I did two years of performance capture, Jim [Cameron] would always joke that the first two years were basically just a giant rehearsal for me.
Being in performance capture was very easy. When you’re surrounded by other people that have big imaginations, it’s easy to just pretend that this grey block is a giant log with bioluminescent plants. And then, in New Zealand, with the live-action stuff, the sets were giant and obviously incredibly detailed. So there’s no imagination
She is the youngest of her family, a lot like me. She really wants to be helpful, which sometimes leads to bad things, but it’s all good intentions, and she has a big heart. She will do anything for her family, who she loves more than anything, and for her home, Pandora.
We were filming in this “Volume,” which is this gray high-tech stage that has approximately 60 cameras mounted over it, and we were also wearing these performance capture suits. Then we have our head-rig —a helmet with a camera attached to it that’s capturing our facial expressions and performance.
Jim [Cameron] and his team made a whole different technology, performance capture underwater. It was a big part of our training, learning how to free-dive so that we could hold our breath and feel comfortable acting underwater and still connect to the emotion of the scene.
I looked forward to days in the tank because I love the ocean and I love to swim. My mom watched me going in with wires and my helmet, and she was like, “My daughter’s going to be zapped.”
Exploring the long tradition of spooky stories at Christmas.
IN THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE, dinner had ended, and the company retired to the drawing room. They gathered around the fire as the parson, who sat in a high-backed oak chair, proceeded to tell of goblins and ghosts. The squire, not a superstitious man himself, listened intently as the parson spoke about the crusader who rose from his tomb for a nighttime ride. The old porter’s wife added to the tale with her own of the crusader’s march on Midsummer Eve when fairies became visible.
Such was Christmas Night at Bracebridge Hall, England, in the early 19th Century.
The story set in the fictional manor was written by American author Washington Irving and published in 1820 in the fifth installment of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent This was less than three months before the world was introduced to the Headless Horseman in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, prior to the start of the Victorian era—when Charles Dickens was only seven years old, and 23 years before Ebenezer Scrooge changed his ways on Christmas Day.
Irving’s English countryside story reminded readers of the idea of the paranormal and Christmas connection, but he didn’t invent it.
Before it was “Christmas”, it was midwinter, solstice, Saturnalia, Sol Invictus, and Yule. It was the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It represented death and rebirth and was a time when the veil between worlds was thin. And it took place around 21 December.
AARON SAGERS PARANORMAL POP CULTURE EXPERT
Spooky stories told during the winter had already been documented in fiction by 1589, when Christopher Marlowe wrote of the season’s tales of “spirits and ghosts” in The Jew of Malta. Shortly thereafter, Shakespeare wrote of a sad story best for winter, “of sprites and goblins”, in 1623’s The Winter’s Tale—nearly two decades ahead of Oliver Cromwell banning, or trying to, Christmas celebrations in 1644 during the English Civil War. Meanwhile, in the colonies, the Puritans rejected the pagan trappings and revelries of Christmas. Stephen Nissenbaum, author of The Battle for Christmas, writes that from 1659 to 1681, Massachusetts made public celebrations of the holiday a criminal offence carrying a fine. Notably, Captain John Smith of Jamestown celebrated the holiday in 1607, but festivities in America weren’t widespread. Christmas wasn’t even a national holiday until 1870.
By the time Irving came to write of English Christmas traditions, which also involved “mumming” and hanging mistletoe, it was a romanticised notion and not likely observed with much fanfare outside the countryside. In industrial areas, 25 December was another work day.
But Irving’s story nonetheless connected with Charles Dickens. In
his book Dickens, Peter Ackroyd writes the author had lived an idyllic life in the country until that happy existence abruptly ended, and his father was sent to a debtor’s prison when young Charles was just 12. So Irving’s Bracebridge—a setting familiar to Dickens and based on the real-life Watt Family at Astor Hall—must have stirred up nostalgia for his childhood loss.
In time, Dickens and Irving became friends, and the former credited the American author with influencing his own Christmas writings. A Christmas Carol, In Prose: Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, was published 19 December 1843, but Dickens’ previous work, The Pickwick Papers, had already included a story about a Christmas Eve with ghost stories, reminiscent of Irving’s “Old Christmas”. He likewise
introduced a proto-Scrooge in “The Story of the Goblins Who Stole A Sexton” in 1836 as a chapter of Pickwick.
If Irving’s successful Sketch Book reminded English readers of the ghost story tradition, Dickens’ blockbuster hit made it mainstream. Like any good creator, he gave the audience more, writing four additional Christmas
books featuring goblins and ghouls and several essays on the topic— many of which involved supernatural elements, and promoted Dickens’ “Carol Philosophy” and themes of generosity.
Though Dickens didn’t create the idea of Christmas ghost stories, he helped make them quintessentially British. Victorian magazines and newspapers took to publishing these themed stories for holiday fireside reading, and readers ate it up. Not surprisingly, other authors wanted in on the trend, even if they didn’t echo the Carol Philosophy.
This popularity of ghost stories at Christmas was aided by the fascination with the paranormal and the rise of Spiritualism in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. As seances and the use of spirit boards
became more in vogue, so did the holiday trend.
After Jesus and Santa, Dickens gets a lot of well-deserved credit for how we celebrate Christmas. He helped remind the urban English population of the good ol’ days of Christmases of yore and popularized the holiday as a secular charitable observance —and he even coined the phrase “Merry Christmas”.
But next time you read about Jacob Marley’s spectre and the three Christmas spirits who visited the miserly Scrooge, keep in mind that Charles Dickens’ creations are also haunted by the author of The Headless Horseman, Washington Irving.
Find more of Aaron’s weird adventures from UFOs to hanted houses at DenofGeek.com/paranormal
DICKENS DIDN’T CREATE THE IDEA OF CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES, HE HELPED MAKE THEM QUINTESSENTIALLY BRITISH.”
In 2021, during the filming of Star Trek: Picard season two, Jonathan Frakes was working behind the camera as a director, making sure that Alison Pill’s transformation into a new kind of Borg Queen made sense. In between shots, showrunner Terry Matalas confronted Frakes with a jarring question: “Are you ready to play Riker?” Frakes was caught off guard. He was always ready to play Riker. In 2020, he returned as Will Riker in the first season of Picard and cameoed as the voice of Riker in Lower Decks. What was going on? “I didn’t know what he was talking about. I told him I’d be happy to,” Frakes says. “But then, Terry said, ‘No, are you really, really ready to play Riker? Are you ready to bring Riker back?’”
When fans see Star Trek: Picard season three, they will understand what Matalas meant. It’s not just Riker that has been brought back; it’s the whole bridge crew of Enterprise-D. And unlike the two previous seasons, Picard season three is such a Next Generation comeback that even calling the series “Star Trek: Picard”, for some, might scan as a misnomer. “In my mind, I would’ve called it ‘Star
Trek Legacy,’” Matalas says. “I mean, it is truly a Picard story. He is the focus. But the spirit of it is different than seasons one and two, just because of what it is.”
So what is Picard season three? A Next Generation reunion? A backdoor pilot to another Star Trek series? A 10-hour-long TNG feature film? A love letter to fans of ’90s Trek? The answer is all of these things, and something new, too. At New York Comic Con in 2022, Patrick Stewart said that the journey that concludes in season three has left him “fulfilled way beyond anything that I had imagined.” And when fans see it, they will almost certainly feel fulfilled in a way they may not have imagined, either.
Without spoiling anything major, the first character we see in this season’s premiere is Gates McFadden’s Dr. Beverly Crusher. For fans who have seen the trailers, this isn’t a surprise, and Matalas has been teasing this fact for nearly a year. But for McFadden herself, the idea that her character would open the new season was thrilling. “I loved the very first scene. I mean, to me, that was so much fun to get to do that. To be active and fighting. I loved it!”
Because Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher had an on-again/ off-again tempered romance in The Next Generation, one significant aspect of the new season focuses on what happened between these two in the years since we last saw her. Although Matalas confirms that Picard season three is set “at least a year-and-a-half to two years” after the second season and begins “in the 25th century”, the amount of time that has passed in the real world since fans have seen
Beverly and Jean-Luc together is pretty much the exact same amount of time that has gone by in the fiction. The last TNG film, Nemesis, came out on December 9, 2002, and Picard returns on February 16, 2023. Twenty years and two months later, Dr. Crusher and Jean-Luc are speaking to each other again.
“As an actor, you can’t help but bring the changes in you into that performance,” McFadden explains. “We have all become closer over the years, and so to have a chance to act again together in the same roles… it was extraordinary to me that it could even happen. It was quite wonderful to be looking into Patrick’s eyes or Jonathan’s and know that there’s so
much love, as well as laughter and bonding, between all of us.”
Star Trek: Picard has, in a sense, had three captains. In its first season, the showrunner was one of the show’s co-creators, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon. In season two, Akiva Goldsman (who’s also worked on Discovery and Strange New Worlds) helped craft what Terry Matalas calls the second season’s “psychological, emotional story”. But for season three Matalas was handed the keys to the starship. And it was his vision and passion for The Next Generation that became the overall
IT WAS IMP O RTAN T TO ME TH AT THIS SE AS ON TRE ADS NE W G ROU N D, BU T A L SO F E E L S LI KE A CO N TI N UATION O F T HE STO RI ES A ND A RCS S E T U P 30 YE ARS AGO.
mission statement. “Terry Matalas is pretty great as far as I’m concerned,” McFadden says. “There was sort of a generational difference. He grew up watching [TNG], and he had a certain kind of respect for the characters who weren’t captains. He really listened to all of our ideas, and we absolutely felt encouraged to talk about everything.”
Previously a production associate on Voyager and Enterprise, Matalas is likely best-known to genre fans as the visionary behind SyFy’s TV version of 12 Monkeys. That critically acclaimed series is both a cult fan favourite and an impressive showcase for Matalas’ unique writing skills. You may think you’re familiar with certain time travel tropes, but the way that Matalas unpacked those ideas in 12 Monkeys was both refreshingly new and simultaneously classic. And his approach to the canon and tone of Star Trek is similar. For Matalas, if it’s not broken, then don’t fix it.
“I just felt like Picard season three needed to feel like it fit into this universe,” Matalas says. “It was very important to me, first and foremost, that it treads new ground, but [also feel] like a continuation of the stories and arcs set up 30 years ago. There’s a fine line between fan service and just honouring the universe that you’re in. So, I just went full tilt at the things that mattered to me.”
Some of the things that matter to Terry Matalas matter to longtime Star Trek fans, too. This is why the new season will not only feel different but look and sound different from the earlier seasons of Picard. “I love the old Next Gen font. I’ve missed titles on episodes and seeing them and going, ‘Hmm, I wonder what that means…?’ And the music was extraordinarily important to me.”
While the first two seasons utilised composer Jeff Russo, this one makes a sonic change by bringing in Stephen Barton, composer on the video game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the final two seasons of Matalas’ 12 Monkeys.
“If we were going to say this is the last Star Trek: The Next Generation film, or 10 of the last Star Trek: The Next Generation movies—because all the episodes are very different—then it needed to sound like that, too,” Matalas says. “And that required Stephen Barton. Then, later in the season, the score gets so massive as the story grows that we had to bring in some help from Frederik Wiedmann, who’s a brilliant composer as well. I grew up with legends [like] Jerry Goldsmith and James Horner. Not to mention Dennis McCarthy and Cliff Eidelman. All those Trek composers have nods.”
What Matalas does by talking about the new musical score for this season is reveal what the show feels like without spoiling it. When fans watch the first four episodes, this feeling will be apparent right away, but also, if everyone has done their jobs right, not jarring or noticeable at all. From the font to the music to the uniforms to the structure and the dialogue, what Matalas has accomplished is to make Picard season three feel like we’ve simply picked up with a TNG storyline already in progress.
“He really gets Next Gen,” Frakes says of Matalas’ writing in season three. “Without blowing too much smoke up Terry’s ass, he’s a wonderful writer. And the stuff he gave me to do was exciting. I know that Gates felt the same way, and I think LeVar [Burton] did, too.” That said, just because the entire crew is back, don’t expect this season to be one big prolonged TNG
hug. Good writing comes from conflict, and Frakes points out that at a few points, “Terry wrote Riker in conflict with Picard, which I thought was quite exciting”.
Like all the TNG cast members, Frakes was part of the last group of Star Trek actors to be cast by the late Gene Roddenberry himself. But Frakes’ association with the Trek franchise has extended way beyond the end of TNG in 1994. After directing eight episodes of TNG, Frakes helmed the feature films First Contact (1996) and Insurrection (1998). Since then, Frakes’ work behind the camera on Star Trek has become perhaps even more influential than his acting. Counting Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Discovery, and Picard, Frakes has directed over 20 Trek episodes. He has also directed the upcoming Strange New Worlds crossover episode with Lower Decks, airing in 2023, which he thinks could be a “proof of concept” for a live-action Star Trek comedy series, should such a thing ever happen.
For this season of Picard, Frakes directed two episodes, and those episodes are full of tense conflict between familiar characters, something that will take Trek fans on a fascinating and surprising journey. “Roddenberry was, for some reason, opposed to conflict,” Frakes recalls.“It was a peculiar ask back in the day, but he wanted everyone to get along. Not so much with Terry. He’s really stirred the pot. Conflict, which, as we know, is an absolute necessity in drama.”
The characters of TNG will be boldly taken where they’ve never been taken before, even if it just means speaking their minds to each other for a change. For Gates McFadden, this real sense of human drama is what made Picard season three so different.
For her, the contrast between Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002 and Picard now is simply the amount of care and time spent on the entire cast. “What a world of difference,” McFadden says. “I felt all the characters were so honored in this season of Picard.”
But Matalas’ love of Star Trek lore isn’t solely connected to The Next Generation. The big news is, of course, the return of the cast from that beloved series, but Picard season three is also a sequel to Deep Space Nine In fact, huge events from the story of Deep Space Nine play a big part in the plot, not just because Worf (Michael Dorn) has returned. “I think that’s important to Deep Space Nine fans to feel seen,” Matalas says. “It’s a continuation of Voyager too, of course, with Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) in our show. If you’re going to be in this time period, there’s such a rich opportunity to honour what came before.”
Although this has been billed as a “final” Next Generation adventure,
none of the cast or Matalas are quite ready to say that this is really the end. Many fans have speculated that Picard could easily lead into a spin-off show set in the 25th century, focused on Seven and Raffi (Michelle Hurd). “I would love nothing more,” Matalas says. “Please send your letters to Paramount+ and Secret Hideout.”
Frakes teases that the ending of Picard season three is also begging for more adventures set in this era of Star Trek. “As you’ll see by the end of the season, it’s ripe for a continuation of some version of what we’ve established in the show. Not more Picard, but certainly, Next Gen is alive and well.”
Is it possible then, in a few years, that we could get a new series, simply titled “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” with some of the classic TNG actors on board in a new and exciting format? To hear it from the cast, Picard season three doesn’t have to be a one-off reunion. It could be the beginning of a comeback. “We are obviously so ready to do it and in a really good place to do it,” McFadden enthuses. “We’re just getting started.”
As season three begins, Jean-Luc Picard feels more confident and less broken than in seasons one and two. He felt new again... I think the primary reason for that is that his relationships—important relationships—have been transformed. I’ve always felt that one of the things that Picard most appreciated about the job he had [on the Enterprise] was the number of times that the unexpected occurred. And I think that excited him very, very much. In season one, he realised quite early that he was still accessible to those who needed help or some kind of protection, which is what he was principally motivated by through the seven years of Next Generation
There’s a lot of tension between Jean-Luc and Beverly Crusher this season. Would you say this season redefines that relationship?
Well, there was a lot of personal tension that was always there. Jean-Luc always admired her, and she, him, in equal measure. But there have always been issues in the past where Picard thought maybe she wasn’t behaving appropriately. And, of course, there had been the makings of a romance, which didn’t seem that it was going to work out. But [this season], we learn that life-changing things have actually happened for Beverly Crusher and Jean-Luc Picard. His fury about the way in which
Picard and Riker share warm moments but this reunion won’t be pure sentiment.
Beverly has lived with this unexpected event led to some of the most interesting scenes that I played. The scenes I have with Gates in season three are among my favourites because they were emotionally naked, both of them… and vulnerable. I don’t think we’d ever seen both of them at the same time at that stage.
You have some very intense scenes with Jonathan Frakes, too. It’s an illustration of how strongly both of them feel and the intensity of how that relationship developed. There were some very warm and lovely scenes between the two of them because they love one another and adore each other. But you see, when we learn that Picard was perhaps not right in the choices he was making, that was important to me. That made Picard more human. It made him somebody who, to our surprise, could allow his feelings at times to overwhelm him in a dangerous and negative way.
The Next Generation crew is a family to so many people. But this isn’t really a family reunion, is it? You’ve got that absolutely right! [Laughs]. It is not. It is not a reunion sequel, and this is one thing that I wanted to make clear. I didn’t want the show to be just sentimental; Oh, we all love one another, and here we are again, playing poker and raising our glasses and so forth. I mean, I love every single one of my comrades from that show. I can’t get enough of them or see enough of them. But what the writers and producers have done with Picard is to create this different individual living in a different world than the one that we had been so familiar with in The Next Generation
The world has been hit by an epidemic. An epidemic of ghosts. They started appearing in the late ’60s; they are real, they will kill you if they touch you, and they are almost impossible to see—except, for some reason, to teenagers. This is the world of Lockwood & Co.
As you can imagine, by the 2020s, this has led history down a very different path.
“Society has changed completely. Technology has not evolved in the way that we experience it today,” says showrunner Joe Cornish. “There
was a huge wave of terror, and then there was this discovery that metal and salt and water could repel ghosts. So these industries around ghost prevention grew up, and then it was discovered that young people could detect and see ghosts more clearly than adults.” RELEASE DATE: SKY ATLANTIC/NOW, JAN. 16
The result is a world of rival anti-ghost agencies—some large corporations, some tiny local Dickensian-looking operations— where children and teens fight ghosts with metal swords, salt bombs, and magnesium flares.
It is based on the books of Jonathan Stroud, and it’s clear talking to Cornish that he’s a fan.
“Jonathan Stroud has built on that concept and really thoughtfully constructed the repercussions of what happens when ghosts are endemic
If you haven’t had your fill of zombies, HBO is getting into the undead game with The Last of Us, an adaptation of the 2013 video game. Pedro Pascal stars as Joel, a survivor tasked with escorting teenager Ellie, played by fellow Game of Thrones alum Bella Ramsey, out of the quarantine zone and across the United States, as she may be the key to developing a vaccine for the Cordyceps brain infection. The first season will consist of nine episodes written by Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin and game developer Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann.
— NICK HARLEY
and lethal,” Cornish says. “And he’s built this brilliant pseudoscience around that idea. He’s invented lots of different types of ghosts [and a] taxonomy of the supernatural methods to fight them.”
Watching Lockwood & Co., the subtle worldbuilding stands out. It’s a modern, 21st-century world, but one where the trains are filled with people reading magazines, not phones.
“That was one of the things that attracted me as somebody who was a teenager in the ’80s. That was a
RELEASE DATE: NETFLIX, JAN. 27
pre-digital world, and Lockwood & Co. is set in a world where the digital revolution never really happened,” Cornish says. “So we wanted to, in some ways, invoke the world of youth culture as it used to be before the Digital Revolution, when there were printed magazines and newspapers and live gigs, and you met face to face rather than through a telephone. We try to give everything this tactile, physical feel because that helps make the ghosts more real as well.”
We explore this world through the
eyes of agents Anthony Lockwood, Lucy Carlyle, and George Karim.
“The greatest thing about the book is the characters and the relationships at the centre of it,” Cornish tells us.
Before coming to Lockwood & Co., Cornish made an alien invasion film, Attack the Block, and a movie about Arthurian myth, The Kid Who Would Be King. Very different stories, but for some reason, they all feature children and young people fighting monsters with swords.
“I know. It’s weird, isn’t it?” Cornish admits.“I’d better do something that doesn’t have young people with swords next…,” he begins, before trailing off as he remembers he’s making Attack the Block 2.
“I guess I like stories about the younger generation fighting against the older generation and also against authority, because I like that spirit of rebellion,” he says.
He also has childhood memories awash with ’80s VHS horror, which clearly informs his work.
“I could go down the road and rent Zombie Flesh Eaters and The Exorcist and Texas Chain Saw Massacre aged 11,” Cornish points out. “We were exposed to all this shit incredibly young.”
That, combined with the introduction of the PG-13 rating— meaning you could have swearing in E.T. and Raiders of the Lost Ark’s exploding heads—made a big impact on Cornish.
“They felt really visceral and impressive as a young person. You were watching spectacular, grown-up, freaky shit,” he recalls. “There’s a lot of that in everything I do.”
RELEASE DATE: TBC, APRIL
The Walking Dead may have been put to rest in November, but the zombie series’ spinoffs continue to lurch on. The newest of the bunch, The Walking Dead: Dead City, will be the first direct sequel to the parent series. Premiering in April 2023 on AMC, The Walking Dead: Dead City will follow reluctant former rivals Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan) as they return to a Manhattan cut off from the mainland and housing both the living and the dead. The Walking Dead: Dead City brings new meaning to “the city that never sleeps.” — NH
For many genre fans, there’s no more formative figure in our collective consciousnesses than Sarah Michelle Gellar, iconic lead of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the woman who taught us all how to fight back against monsters of both the fictional and all-too-human varieties (and drop some very quotable one-liners in the process).
Now, 25 years later, she’s about to take a leading role on another show that aims to use its scary setting as a backdrop to explore frighteningly human themes and real-world issues.
The Buffy star will return to supernatural TV this January on Wolf Pack, a horror-tinged drama that Gellar says “isn’t what people expect” from her or creator Jeff Davis (before anyone asks, this show is definitely not set in the same universe as Davis’ other horror drama, Teen Wolf and there are no plans to connect the two shows in any way).
Wolf Pack follows the story of teenagers Everett (Armani Jackson) and Blake (Bella Shepard) as their lives are forever changed in the aftermath of a California wildfire that awakens a terrifying creature. The specifics of how Gellar’s character— an arson investigator named Kristin Ramsey—figures into all this are being kept under wraps, but we’ve seen clips of her wielding a gun, searching through a darkened forest, and interrogating the kids about what they’ve seen.
Describing the series as “deliberate” in its storytelling and “cinematic” in its appeal, Gellar says she was “blown away” by its first season, which contains “plot twist after plot twist.”
Den of Geek caught up with Gellar during the last week of filming to talk about what drew her to Wolf Pack, what to expect from the show’s “phenomenal” season, and why its horror-tinged take on anxiety feels so timely.
Clearly, Wolf Pack has to be something special to get you to come back to TV in this genre again. What drew you to this particular show?
It was a couple of things. I’ve said this before, but initially, I had no intention of saying “yes” [to it]. It’s really hard when you’ve done something like Buffy. Because it’s not that I’ve avoided genre, it’s just that I can’t top that. So it has to be either something that’s so different or equally good [as Buffy], or all of those things have to sort of come together. I love genre, but it has to fit. So I read [the script] and was like, “Oh gosh, it’s really good.” And I’d heard such amazing things about Jeff Davis over time. The way he spoke about the show he wanted to make and the audience he wanted to go after and the things I would get the opportunity to do, both behind the scenes and in front [of the camera], it really just was one of those opportunities that I couldn’t pass up.
Describe Wolf Pack in a sentence or two.
I would say it’s really scary. I think that’s the one fun thing that I haven’t really gotten to dip my toe in too much. I did I Know What You Did Last Summer Scream is funny. Grudge is scary. But I haven’t gotten to tell those fun stories. The other thing that really got me, and I didn’t say this earlier about Jeff, but one of the ways he got me was the stories he wants to tell.
Buffy utilised monsters to represent the horrors of adolescence. Now, we
live in a very different world, and Jeff is using monsters to deal with anxiety and depression and isolation, and all those emotions that young kids and adults are already feeling. Add the pandemic, and it’s tenfold. And to me, that’s when scary stories work the best; when they’re really telling a secondary story [underneath]. What it’s like to be so isolated these days, and what does someone’s pack look like?
Nowadays, it’s harder and harder to meet your pack because so much is digital. I loved that exploration. It really made me think.
Your character, Kristin Ramsey, is an arson investigator. What can you tell us about her journey over this season?
Very little! And that’s on purpose. I’m the mystery. I can tell you a lot about each of the other characters, but I’m the one that you’re like, “What?” It just seems like I’m all business, and I have a mission, and I’m on it. But fire is one of the scariest horrors. It really is. And fire is the backdrop for us. [The show] all takes place during the California wildfires and [explores] what that does to the earth and how we’re treating our planet.
As you said, the mental health aspect of this story feels so
important right now. Do those issues of isolation and that idea of finding your pack apply to Kristin too?
Absolutely. The one thing I will say is: You have to bear with this because this is episodic television where everything gets explained. [But] you have to get through the eight episodes to understand. But it definitely takes a minute. Every episode will give you some pieces, but until you get to eight, you can’t connect the dots.
There’s an obvious bond between you and your younger castmates. How does it feel to be the mentor figure this time?
Rodrigo [Santoro, who plays park ranger Garrett Briggs] and I joke about that a lot. Because he and I, both growing up, were always the youngest on set. He was like the young stud, and I was always the baby. Everybody was always older. And we joke, we look around, and we’re like, “Oh wait, we’re the old ones now.”
You’re the Giles now!
I’m the Giles. A little bit different, but yes, and definitely behind the scenes, I’m the Giles. I’ve gone through so much, and you hope that the younger age groups you work with are open to hearing and learning. And this group
is just that. It’s like they’re sponges, and they listen.
Which story of the young crew do you think will resonate most with viewers?
It’ll resonate differently based on what your experience is. Everett has grown up with massive anxiety that his parents don’t understand; they think medication is the answer. And for some, it is, but there’s a reason why you have that anxiety, and you need to get to the bottom of it, and you have to feel supported. Blake is the one who’s gone in the other direction. She has no digital footprint, no computer, no phone. I think that’s such an interesting journey. Harlan, too, is trying to have his parent understand him, even though they lead very different lives. And for Luna, she’s the one who’s really searching for her pack. She’s the one that just really feels like she’s always been different and lonely. Her journey is the one most kids will have at least experienced. But I think bits and pieces of them all.
You’re an executive producer on Wolf Pack—how has that
experience been different from other things you’ve done?
I’ve gotten to work very hard on the other side of the camera, which is important to me because I know a lot. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve sort of earned that, and I have a lot, I think, to bring to the table. A lot of times, people will give you a title—but they don’t want to hear what you have to say. Jeff welcomes it. It’s such a partnership.
I would like to! We have a really cool story to tell, and it’s different than this [season]. It’s almost like, in streaming this [season] is like a prequel. We have to get everything here so you can go on and tell the story. But I’d be up for season two. Normally, at the end of a season, I’m so burnt out, I’m like, “Never again.” So it’s a good sign I’m saying I would do it.
Why should fans be excited about this show?
Wolf Pack is something new. Yes, it's a horror show, yes, it has blood, and yes, it has romance, but it also has a lot more real issues in it than I feel like horror allows these days.
Tell us about Everett and his journey.
Everett’s a teenager with a lot of social anxiety and not a lot of friends. But he gets bitten and ends up finding his friend group and his pack in a very unlikely way. And [while] he’s given these supernatural abilities, he still has to deal with his anxieties because they’re still there whether or not he has super strength.
How did you build bonds on and off the screen with your Wolf Pack castmates?
As clichéd as it is, we feel like a pack off-screen the same way that we do on-screen. We haven't gone a day without hanging out with each other. I really do believe that the bond that we've created is going to make the show 10 times better.
Which character would you play if you couldn’t play Everett?
Either Harlan or Austin. Austin is a very brooding, intense personality. But I love Harlan, too. He starts off very lighthearted, and he just doesn't give a shit, and he gets really fun dialogue.
What was it like working with Sarah Michelle Gellar?
Crazy. Amazing. I was very shocked [that she was involved]. But if she's in on it, in my opinion, we're good.
With Anne Rice’s book series as a launching point, Mayfair Witches promises to be one hell of a broomstick ride. Alexandra Daddario stars as Dr. Rowan Fielding, a gifted neurosurgeon adept at uncovering clues beneath the surface. Initially, the house she rents appears to be merely haunted until Rowan is revealed to be the “13th Witch” in a multigenerational tradition that carries severe responsibilities.
“It’s really about family and dysfunctional family at the end of the day,”
Daddario tells us. “Then you add this dose of magic and take everything to a crazier place.”
Mayfair Witches is AMC’s second transfusion from the late writer’s work after Interview with the Vampire and shares more than blood relations. Both shows may prove risqué for TV, and not only for their occult ties, which are complicated, to put it mildly.
“I didn’t find out my relationship with Rowan until I read episode seven,” Harry Hamlin tells us, and he plays the patriarch of the family, Cortland Mayfair. Sorcerers must keep their secrets, but there isn’t enough closet space at Mayfair House for all the skeletons.
Created by Michelle Ashford and showrunner Esta Spalding (best known for creating On Becoming a God in Central Florida), season one of Mayfair Witches runs to eight episodes. Set and filmed in New Orleans, with Mayfair House sitting in its historic Garden District, the most mysterious item in the house is a family curse.
“Lasher is a dark entity spirit that was conjured up by the first Mayfair Witch,” says Jack Huston, who plays him. “It is inherited by the next in line.” The creation is altered from the book, and details are kept tightly under wraps, but the actor promises: “We’ve done something fun with it.”
Rice fans are possessive of her works and notoriously fierce when adaptations stray from the source
material. Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches promises it has not taken sinful liberties. “We’ve paid such respect to the novel but have room for artistic licence,” says Huston.
The cast understands the significance of Rice’s works and takes pleasure in infecting a new audience. “Before there was Twilight, there was Anne Rice,” says Tongayi Chirisa. He plays Ciprien Grieve, an amalgamation of two book characters affiliated with the ancient scholarly order of the Talamasca: Aaron, who studies the family, and Michael, who is a major catalyst for Rowan’s revelations in the first novel. “Ciprien’s mission is to observe supernatural events and only intervene if somebody is in trouble,” Chirisa says. “When Ciprien meets Rowan, they go through this journey of who she is.”
Rowan is one of Rice’s most complex and morally ambiguous characters, born with the gift of discernment. “This woman is really strong, empowered, and independent in her real life,” Daddario says. “But she is also a mess.”
RELEASE DATE: TBC, 2023
The world of witchcraft accommodates all these qualities on the page, with room to grow. “It’s very female-centric and empowering,” Hamlin says. “Rice writes about these very powerful women who find their power, their inner strength, and that happens in this show.”
But at what price? These are not the cartoonishly satanic witches of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and owe nothing to Bewitched Like The Vampire Chronicles, The Mayfair Witches is unapologetic in its portrayal of the dark abuses of powers. “Are these people good or evil?” Daddario posits. “Quite frankly, neurosurgery is very witchlike to me.”
Witches have historically been scapegoats for vile world events, and Rice’s practitioners definitely tilt toward dark magic, but they are only reflections in a broken mirror. As Daddario asks, “What’s better than witches and vampires as metaphors for the human condition?”
BY NICK HARLEY
RELEASE DATE: SPRING
Comic fans may be familiar with Marvel’s Secret Invasion, which found the shape-shifting Skrulls attempting to conquer Earth. The secret will be out for MCU fans when this six-episode series from Mr. Robot’s Kyle Bradstreet crash lands. Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury will combat a rogue sect of Skrulls led by Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Gravik.
RELEASE DATE: FALL 2023
An official revival of X-Men: The Animated Series is coming in the form of X-Men ’97. The original series ended with Professor X departing for the Shi’ar homeworld, leaving the X-Men in the company of Magneto. Will Magneto’s view of humanity influence the X-Men, or the other way around? We’re excited to find out.
RELEASE DATE: SUMMER 2023
After debuting in Hawkeye, Alaqua Cox will reprise her role as Maya Lopez for her very own series. From former Better Call Saul writer Marion Dayre, Echo finds Maya returning to her hometown to come to terms with her past and reconnect with her Native American roots.
RELEASE DATE: FALL 2023
Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams made her MCU debut in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and now she’ll headline her own sixepisode series. Poet, playwright, and screenwriter Chinaka Hodge will shepherd the series, which finds Riri facing the repercussions of the events in Wakanda Forever and squaring off against Anthony Ramos’ The Hood.
RELEASE DATE: WINTER 2023
The scene-stealing supervillain at the heart of WandaVision is getting her own series. Kathryn Hahn reprises her role as wicked witch Agatha in Agatha: Coven of Chaos. Aiming to reveal more about the history of this powerful character, the show also features Joe Locke and Aubrey Plaza.
CONTINUING IN THE recent tradition of live-action remakes of its animated classics, Disney is hoping that this new version of the 1989 Oscar-winning musical will repeat the billion-dollar box-office success of The Lion King, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast. Rob Marshall (Chicago, Mary Poppins Returns) directs this reimagining, with Grammy-nominated singer Halle Bailey starring as Ariel, the mermaid princess who’s fascinated by life above the water and who falls in love with a human, Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King). The film’s young rising stars are backed by some A-list support, including Melissa McCarthy (as the villainous sea witch, Ursula), Javier Bardem, and Awkwafina.
Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicks off with the third outing for Marvel’s tiniest superhero duo. Last seen as part of the army that took on Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly return as size-shifters Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne in a new adventure that will raise the curtain on the MCU’s next big bad: the fearsome Kang the Conquerer (Jonathan Majors). Quantumania sees Scott and Hope joined by Scott’s now-teenage daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton), and original Ant-Man and the Wasp, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), as they inadvertently venture deeper than ever into the Quantum Realm—the strange sub-atomic universe briefly explored in the first two movies. There, they meet Kang, who offers to help the heroes escape the minuscule world to “give them more time”—presumably to prepare for his inevitable invasion of Earth in Phase Six’s
One of the main criticisms leveled at Marvel’s Phase Four was that it all felt a bit aimless, introducing a whole raft of new characters without offering much in the way of a coherent larger arc. With the post-Endgame
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3
RELEASE DATE: MAY 5
This final chapter of James Gunn’s Guardians trilogy catches up with Marvel’s ragtag space crew in a post-Thanos universe. Gamora (Zoe Saldaña) is now riding with the Ravagers, while the Guardians, led by a heartbroken Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), take on the powerful cosmic being Adam Warlock (Will Poulter).
RELEASE DATE: FEB. 17
groundwork now laid, though, Quantumania looks set to change that, mainly thanks to Majors’ multiversal menace—a variant of Loki’s He Who Remains. Eagleeyed fans have already pointed out that Kang’s tech, glimpsed in the first trailer, bears more than a passing resemblance to ShangChi’s ten rings and Ms. Marvel’s mysterious bracelet.
Kang won’t be the only new face in Quantumania, though. Deadpan movie legend Bill Murray will make his MCU debut as an as-yet-unnamed “bad guy,” and we’ll also get the first big-screen sighting of classic Marvel foe M.O.D.O.K., in what returning director Peyton Reed calls a “bigger, more sprawling movie.”
RELEASE DATE: JUNE 23
Next year finally sees the release of The Flash—the first film centred on Ezra Miller’s superhero speedster. Michael Keaton returns as a multiversal Batman and Supergirl arrives.
AFTER A TRICKY couple of years, there are signs that the DC Extended Universe might just be finding its groove again, thanks to Black Adam’s modest success, Henry Cavill’s return as Superman, and the new franchise leadership team of James Gunn and Peter Safran. Hoping to maintain that momentum is the DCEU’s next big-screen installment, Shazam! Fury of the Gods—a sequel to 2019’s coming-of-age action-comedy that saw troubled teen Billy Batson (Asher Angel) gaining mystical powers and turning into his superheroic grown-up alter-ego, Shazam (Zachary Levi).
In this second outing from returning director David F. Sandberg, it’s Billy’s (mis)use of those powers—the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury—that earns the wrath of the deities who bestowed them upon him. It also pits him and his similarly superpowered foster family against the villainous Daughters of Atlas—Helen Mirren’s Hespera and Lucy Liu’s Kalypso—who plan to unleash a devastating weapon upon the world. Cue wisecracks aplenty, city-leveling smackdowns, fire-breathing dragons, and more.
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 17
RELEASE DATE: JUNE 2
Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) returns to navigate the psychedelic wonders of the multiverse in this animated sequel—an ambitious follow-up with new Spider-people including Oscar Isaac’s Spider-Man 2099, Daniel Kaluuya’s Spider-Punk, and Issa Rae’s Spider-Woman.
RELEASE DATE: JULY 28
Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers gets her own team in this cosmic sequel, which sees the mega-powered Avenger joined by an adult Monica Rambeau (WandaVision’s Teyonah Parris) and teenage mutant Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel’s Iman Vellani). Samuel L. Jackson returns as Nick Fury, while Candyman’s Nia DaCosta directs.
RELEASE DATE: AUG. 18
Cobra Kai star Xolo Maridueña stars as Jaime Reyes, aka Blue Beetle, DC’s newest big-screen hero—a teen whose encounter with an alien scarab wraps him in superpowered armour.
RELEASE DATE: OCT. 6
Sony continues to build out its Spider-Man Universe with this solo outing for Spidey villain Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron TaylorJohnson), who’s out to prove he’s the world’s best hunter.
RELEASE DATE: DEC. 29
After his hugely successful first adventure, Jason Momoa’s Atlantean hero returns in this James Wan-directed sequel.
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 3
Michael B. Jordan steps back into the ring—and into the director’s chair—for this third round, in which his boxing champ Adonis Creed faces off against troubled childhood pal Damian (Jonathan Majors).
IF YOU HAVE AN IDEA about what a Barbie film might entail, it might be time to think again. For a start, it’s directed by Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women) and written by Mumblecore maestro Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Marriage Story), so we’re likely in for a more subversive take on the pop-culture legend. The film’s cast offers another inkling that everything might not be as it seems in this particular Barbie world. Oscar-nominated A-listers Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling head up the ensemble as Barbie and Ken, with Shang-Chi’s Simu Liu, Insecure’s Issa Rae, Assassination Nation’s Hari Nef, and new Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa reportedly playing variants of the two iconic characters. Will Ferrell, meanwhile, has been cast in a role that’s rumored to be the CEO of a Mattel-like toy company. Our guess? Much like the Ferrell-starring The LEGO Movie, we could be in for an unexpectedly and hilariously meta adaptation.
RELEASE DATE: JULY 21
Dunkirk helmer Christopher Nolan revisits World War II in this ambitious biopic of J. Robert Oppenheimer, otherwise known as the “father” of the atomic bomb. Cillian Murphy plays the eponymous physicist, and he’s backed by a typically starry, Nolanesque ensemble including the likes of Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, and Gary Oldman.
RELEASE DATE: FEB. 24
Based on a wild true story, Elizabeth Banks’ thriller pits a smalltown community against a killer bear that has ingested a duffel bag full of coke.
RELEASE DATE: APRIL 21
Director Taika Waititi tackles this sports comedy, in which Michael Fassbender’s coach tries to improve the fortunes of the infamously terrible American Samoa soccer team.
RELEASE DATE: APRIL 14
A modern-day take on the Dracula myth, Renfield tells the story of, erm, Renfield (Nicholas Hoult), infamous henchman to the vampiric Count D (Nicolas Cage), who decides to quit his job when he falls in love with a New Orleans traffic cop (Awkwafina). The Lego Batman Movie’s Chris McKay directs this bonkers-sounding horror-comedy.
BASED ON SUZANNE COLLINS’ recent prequel novel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes takes us back 64 years to tell the origin story of the future President of Panem, Coriolanus Snow (played by Donald Sutherland in the previous Hunger Games movies). Set long before Snow’s descent to the dark side, this dystopian YA adventure finds a young Coryo (rising star Tom Blyth) trying to make a name for himself in the Capitol via his first encounter with the titular “games”. West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler co-stars as the tribute who’s mentored by Coryo, while Viola Davis, Jason Schwartzman, and Peter Dinklage lend some solid support.
Keanu Reeves is back as the eponymous man in black for this fourth chapter in perhaps the unlikeliest franchise of recent times. Who would have thought, when the modestly budgeted John Wick was released in 2014, that a story of a one-man army brutally avenging the death of his dog would cut through into the pop-culture consciousness, kickstarting both the ‘Keanuaissance’ and a much-loved action series that has so far raked in well over half a billion dollars at the box office?
The success of the John Wick franchise is, in part, down to its committed, charismatic leading man and the slick direction of stuntman-turned-helmer Chad Stahelski, both of whom are returning for this new installment. It’s also down to the absolutely wild set pieces, jaw-dropping fight choreography, and high-profile guest stars, and the ante seems to have been upped on all fronts: from the samurai sword-fu witnessed in the trailer to the series debut of Hong Kong action legend Donnie Yen (Hero, Ip Man, Rogue One) and Japanese A-lister Hiroyuki Sanada (most recently seen in Bullet Train).
But what of the film’s plot? Well, when we last saw John at the end of Chapter 3 – Parabellum, he wasn’t looking in great shape: having been betrayed and shot by his pal Winston (Ian McShane), Wick narrowly escaped by taking a tumble off a very high rooftop. Now, the miraculously robust assassin is even more pissed off and, with an even bigger bounty on his head, is joining forces with the vengeful Bowery King (Reeves’ The Matrix co-star Laurence Fishburne) to take down the remainder of the criminal organization known as the High Table.
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 24
RELEASE DATE: JUNE 6
Pixar’s high-concept ’toon follows the journey of an unlikely pair—the fiery Ember and watery Wade—in a city where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents all live together.
John Wick: Chapter 4 looks set to continue the same formula that has made the series such a success, offering more exhilarating action while fleshing out the mythology of the assassin underworld. And the filmmakers must be confident about Chapter 4’s chances—word is that Chapter 5 is already in the works. But just how much juice does John Wick have left in the tank? Reeves says he’s up for going “as far as my legs can take me, [and] as far as the audience wants to go”.
RELEASE DATE: JULY 14
Tom Cruise is back with more crazy stunts in this seventh adventure for IMF agent Ethan Hunt, the first of a two-parter directed by Chris McQuarrie.
RELEASE DATE: AUG. 11
Neill Blomkamp (District 9) retells the true story of a teenage player of the titular videogame who fulfils his dream of becoming an actual professional race car driver.
RELEASE DATE: SEP. 22
Stallone, Statham and their pals reunite for another all-star action extravaganza. New cast members include Megan Fox and 50 Cent.
RELEASE DATE: JUNE 30
Fifteen years after Kingdom of the Crystal Skull nuked the fridge, Harrison Ford’s iconic archaeologist returns for another crack of the whip. James Mangold (Logan, Ford v Ferrari ) takes over from Spielberg in the director’s chair, while Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, and Indy stalwart John Rhys-Davies join Ford’s grizzled hero on-screen.
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 10
After the success of this year’s Scream, this sixth entry in the postmodern slasher franchise follows the survivors of the previous bloodbath as they attempt to start a new life in NYC. Sadly, Scream queen Neve Campbell won’t be returning, but Courteney Cox and Hayden Panettiere will be.
IF 1993’S SUPER MARIO BROS. proved anything, it was that a live-action adaptation of the much-loved video game franchise probably wasn’t a good idea. In fact, the original movie was such an epic flop that Nintendo was reluctant to licence its dungaree-wearing hero for another film adaption. Step forward Illumination, the studio behind the Despicable Me, Minions, and Sing movies, who managed to persuade Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto that they were the team to right the mistakes of the past. Now, 30 years later, Mario’s second big screen outing is a colorful, computer-animated extravaganza.
As with any high-profile animation worth its salt these days, The Super Mario Bros. Movie comes with a suitably A-list voice cast. Chris Pratt lends his tones to Mario, the pint-size plumber who finds himself transported to the Mushroom Kingdom, where he winds up helping Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) in her fight against the invading King of the Koopas, Bowser (Jack Black). Horrible Bosses’ Charlie Day co-stars as Mario’s brother, Luigi, while Keegan-Michael Key and Seth Rogen offer vocal support as Toad and Donkey Kong, respectively. Here’s hoping they can all help give Mario and co. a cinematic power-up.
Shyamalan returns with this psychological horror, adapted from Paul Tremblay’s celebrated 2018 novel, The Cabin at the End of the World. Pennyworth’s Ben Aldridge and Mindhunter’s Jonathan Groff star as a couple on a vacation in the woods with their adopted daughter, who are visited by a quartet of strangers warning of an oncoming apocalypse. Previous Shyamalan collaborators Nikki Amuka-Bird (Old) and Rupert Grint (Servant) co-star, as does Dave Bautista, whom the filmmaker cast after being impressed with his “powerful [and] still” turn in Blade Runner 2049
RELEASE DATE: MAY 19
The tenth Fast & Furious movie sees Brie Larson and Jason Momoa joining Vin Diesel and the Fast “family” for more high-octane thrills.
RELEASE DATE: FEB. 10
DATE: FEB. 3
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 31
RELEASE DATE: DEC. 15
Timothée Chalamet takes over from Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp as eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka in this prequel to Roald Dahl’s classic children’s tale, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Following Wonka’s pre-factory adventures, this new take is directed by Paddington’s Paul King and co-stars Keegan-Michael Key, Rowan Atkinson, Sally Hawkins, and Olivia Colman.
Magic Mike helmer Steven Soderbergh returns to the series with this third chapter in the story of Channing Tatum’s eponymous stripper.
RELEASE DATE: AUG. 4
Kill List’s Ben Wheatley was an unlikely choice to direct this Jason Statham-vs-a-giant-shark sequel—can he elevate it past standard blockbuster fare?
RELEASE DATE: JUNE 9
A sequel to series reboot Bumblebee, this ’90s-set robots-in-disguise adventure is inspired by the beloved ‘Beast Wars’ franchise strand.
It’s fair to say that Dungeons & Dragons, the grandfather of modern roleplaying games, has stood the test of time. In fact, the beloved tabletop franchise still leads the field as it approaches its 50th anniversary in 2024. What better time, then, to launch another big-screen adaptation? After all, the roundly panned first attempt, 2000’s Dungeons & Dragons, hardly did the game justice—a box-office bomb and critical dud, it often crops up on various “worst films of all time” lists.
Adapting something as precious to fans as D&D carries with it a huge amount of pressure, but luckily for the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, the cinematic bar has been set very low. Filmmaking duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley seem to be trying a completely different tack here, though, eschewing the earnest fantasy approach for something altogether more humorous—well, what else would you expect from the directors of Game Night and the Vacation reboot?
They’re also showing the source material the respect it deserves with an A-list cast—including Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, and Hugh Grant—and vastly more accomplished visual effects. And while the story is new, Goldstein and Daley picked the brains of D&D publishers Wizards of the Coast to ensure that they stayed faithful to the game. Hence why the film’s first trailer, which
debuted at 2022’s San Diego Comic-Con, is stuffed with various beasties and locations that fans will know and love, from the fearsome Mimics, Owlbears, and Gelatinous Cubes, to the Underdark realm and the walled city of Neverwinter. Not to mention plenty of dragons.
The story sees Pine’s loveable rogue Edgin, a Han Solo-esque Bard, and his merry band of thieves —Holga the Barbarian (Rodriguez), Forge the Rogue (Grant), Xenk the Paladin (Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page), Simon the Sorcerer (Detective Pikachu’s Justice Smith), and Doric the Tiefling (It’s Sophia Lillis)—as they embark on a quest to right a previous wrong and stop a mythical evil from engulfing the Forgotten Realm. If rollicking high-fantasy with a healthy side of wisecracking is your thing, it looks like D&D has you covered.
RELEASE DATE: NOV. 3
The second installment of Denis Villeneuve’s epic Frank Herbert adaptation sees Timothée Chalamet’s Paul bent on revenge against those who wronged his family.
RELEASE DATE: SEP. 15
Kenneth Branagh is back as Hercule Poirot in this take on Agatha Christie whodunnit, Hallowe’en Party. Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan and Tina Fey are among the suspects.
RELEASE DATE: APRIL 21
The Hole in the Ground’s Lee Cronin spins a new tale within the Evil Dead universe, as the Deadites are unleashed in LA.
15 TITLES THAT MAKE 2023 ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING YEARS IN RECENT VIDEO GAME HISTORY.
BY MATTHEW BYRD
RELEASE DATE: MAY 12
In 2017, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild quickly entered the “best game ever” conversation and hasn’t left that discussion in the five years since. Now, the Zelda team faces the daunting task of delivering a worthwhile sequel to that game-changing epic. We don’t know much about Tears of the Kingdom, but we do know that it will feature the same open-world design and survival gameplay elements that made Breath of the Wild such a hit. Honestly, the promise of a bigger and better Breath of the Wild is more than enough to make this one of 2023’s most anticipated games.
RELEASE DATE: TBC
RELEASE DATE: TBC
Street Fighter V debuted six years ago to a mostly mixed reception. Over those years, though, Capcom updated that game in ways that showed how great a modern Street Fighter game could be. Now, they look to restore the franchise to its full former glory with Street Fighter 6. While the game looks to please the fighting franchise’s most hardcore fans, it’s the new accessibility features and action-adventure world exploration elements that make it so intriguing. Can Capcom do the almost impossible and make a Street Fighter game that appeals to new players and veterans alike?
(Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows)
Thanks to their work on the Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises, developer Bethesda Game Studios has established itself as the most famous RPG studio in the world. With Starfield, BGS looks to deliver its most epic RPG experience yet.
Starfield tasks players with exploring the nearly infinite depths of a galaxy in peril. Jokingly referred to by some as “Skyrim in space,” that very description captures exactly why millions of fans are excited about Starfield’s potential. It could not only be the ultimate BGS experience but also the kind of game that will keep you busy for all of 2023 and beyond.
RELEASE DATE: JAN. 24
Forspoken tells the tale of a young woman named Frey who is mysteriously transported to the magical land of Athia. Now faced with the burden of being an unexpected saviour, Frey must master a series of newfound abilities that allow her to fluidly navigate a mystical world she could have never imagined. In some ways, Forspoken is the latest in a proud line of RPG experiences from publisher Square Enix. Yet, it’s the many ways that this free-flowing open-world action game eschews the very genre traditions that Square Enix has established that make it one of 2023’s most promising projects.
(PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows)
RELEASE DATE: JAN. 27
You’ll have a hard time finding a survival horror game more beloved than 2008’s Dead Space, still acclaimed for its nearly perfect blend of atmosphere, action, and jump scares. With this remake, developer EA Motive looks to retain Dead Space’s best qualities while evolving those same aspects for a more modern age. That’s a tough task, but the recent Resident Evil remakes have shown that even the best horror games can be improved upon in surprising ways.
(Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X and Series S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows)
RELEASE DATE: FEB. 10
For years, Harry Potter fans have asked for an open-world RPG that lets them live out their dreams of attending Hogwarts. Hogwarts Legacy looks to make that dream come true. Set hundreds of years before the events of the novels, Hogwarts Legacy’s biggest draw is the chance to explore the school, attend classes, make friends, and grow your powers as you battle dark wizards and other evil forces.
RELEASE DATE: TBC
Don’t be fooled by the name. Final Fantasy XVI may be the latest entry into gaming’s most famous RPG franchise, but this game looks to change just about every aspect of the series. With its cinematic style and action-orientated combat, Final Fantasy XVI certainly doesn’t seem to be a “traditional” Final Fantasy game at the outset. Yet, this game looks to carry on Final Fantasy’s most important tradition: changing the way we play, discuss, and evaluate the entire RPG genre.
RELEASE DATE: TBC
(PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows)
RELEASE DATE: TBC
As the name of the game suggests, the Justice League has gone rogue, and it’s up to the Suicide Squad to stop them. Can the likes of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, and King Shark really stop Superman and Batman? The odds don’t look good. Developed by the legendary team at Rocksteady Games (the studio behind the Batman Arkham titles), Kill the Justice League may be the most promising entry in a truly stacked lineup of upcoming superhero titles.
(Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows)
RELEASE DATE: TBC
A direct sequel to its cult classic predecessor, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will ask players to venture deeper into the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone in order to seek treasure, battle mutants, and survive against seemingly impossible odds. It won’t be a game for the faint of heart, but those who played 2007’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl know that developer GSC Game World is uniquely capable of crafting horror environments that are as terrifying as they are captivating.
(PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5)
For decades, developer Team Ninja has been one of the premiere names in action gaming. Now, the studio behind Ninja Gaiden and Nioh returns with one of its most ambitious titles yet. Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty looks to evolve the “Soulslike” gameplay concepts that Team Ninja experimented with in Nioh. While Wo Long will feature many of that emerging genre’s design trademarks, its fast-paced action and historical mythology visual design elements play to the strengths of the game’s almost unimpeachable developers. This could easily end up being the most exciting new property of 2023.
RELEASE DATE: TBC
(PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows)
A lot has changed in the 10 years since Diablo III’s release. Not only has a new series of action-RPG titles competed to steal Diablo’s genre crown, but changes and controversies at Diablo developer Blizzard have left many doubting if the studio has what it takes to make a Diablo game worthy of the series’ once untarnished name. Yet, everything we’ve seen of Diablo IV suggests the game is on the path toward redemption. Between its dark tones and deeper gameplay, Diablo IV looks to directly address Diablo III’s biggest criticisms and establish a new era for this once proud franchise.
(Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows)
The town of Redfall, Massachusetts has been overrun by vampires, and it’s up to you and your co-op partners to hunt the creatures of the night in this open-world FPS game. Redfall will remind some of the incredible Left 4 Dead series, but the ace up this shooter’s sleeve is the fact it’s being developed by none other than Arkane Studios. Best known for immersive sims like the Dishonored games, Arkane’s experience in crafting captivating atmospheres should elevate this horror shooter above its competition.
RELEASE DATE: TBC
(PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Amazon Luna, Microsoft Windows)
RELEASE DATE: TBC
Few franchises have evolved more over the last 15 years than Assassin’s Creed. Different eras, heroes, and gameplay mechanics—every game features its own flavors. However, Assassin’s Creed Mirage will take the franchise back to its roots. Its Middle-East setting and reduced role-playing mechanics are all part of Ubisoft Bordeaux’s deliberate attempt to make a smaller and more “traditional” Assassin’s Creed game.
(PlayStation 5) RELEASE DATE: TBC
In 2018, developer Insomniac Games delivered the definitive Spidey video game experience with Marvel’s Spider-Man. And while Insomniac has kept this highly-anticipated sequel behind closed doors so far, what little we know about this project is more than enough reason to be excited. From the addition of Venom to the chance to see Miles Morales and Peter Parker join forces, Spider-Man 2 could be one of the greatest Spider-Man adaptations that we’ve seen in any medium.
(PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, Microsoft Windows)
RELEASE DATE: TBC
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order was one of the most surprising Star Wars adaptations of the last decade—a challenging, mature action game that featured some truly compelling pulls from the depths of Star Wars’ lore. Set five years after the events of the first game, Survivor continues the adventures of Jedi Cal Kestis as he continues to evade the Empire while balancing the need to survive against his responsibilities.
Superman has been pretty busy lately. The Man of Steel has spent the last year in the far reaches of space, helping to liberate the alien Warworld from its vicious dictator, an adventure that nearly killed him several times over. But things are changing once again for Superman in 2023. The Last Son of Krypton is back on Earth in Action Comics, continuing under writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and a team of artists, and a brand new Superman series beginning in February from writer Joshua Williamson and artist Jamal Campbell.
While Action Comics under Johnson spent much of the last year focusing on new characters and concepts, we
can expect some more familiar faces in new situations now that the Man of Steel is back in Metropolis.
“Action Comics is defined by the words ‘Super-Family,’” Johnson tells us. “It’s all about the entire cast. When I first came onto the series, DC let me do this crazy event that takes him so far out of his comfort zone… Put him in a new costume surrounded by a new cast, and just completely different than what he usually does. Now that we’re going back to the iconic Metropolis setting with the iconic cast… I wanted to show every character in the SuperFamily and define what makes them all different, show the personality of each character and kind of define them in a way that might not be clear to all the readers.”
While Johnson is now a seasoned veteran of the Man of Steel’s world, Williamson has been busying himself in other corners of the DC Universe, notably with a long, beloved run on The Flash and the massive Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths story. But he’s looking to have a little “fun” in Metropolis.
“I just want to tell a really fun, iconic Superman story,” Williamson says. “I love to grab all of the pieces of the mythology; I want to touch on every little thing. For me, the book is very much a story about Superman helping people while stopping villains and having a lot of fun doing it. Working with Jamal Campbell has been amazing. Part of the tone comes from the kind of work that Jamal does, which is thoughtful, emotional storytelling. I would say the closest comparison I could probably make might be Superman: The Animated Series in terms of some of the tone that I’m going for.”
Two of Superman’s most recognizable villains will be front and center in the Superman titles now in Lex Luthor and Metallo. But recent issues of Action Comics have already shown that Metallo isn’t what he once was, depicting a different, almost tragic take on the character than we’ve come to expect.
“We’ve got this metahuman who is basically just a brain in a robotic
body powered by Kryptonite, and now he’s a prisoner,” Johnson says. “They’ve put him in this body that’s practically like a crash test dummy that’s barely functional. How do they keep him prisoner but still have enough decency to at least let him have a body of some kind, so he’s not just a brain in a jar? I want people to feel sorry for him. I mean, he’s done horrible things, but now he’s living a sad, pathetic existence you wouldn’t wish on anyone. But we’re going to see him become more and more the Metallo that we recognize… and then see him also kind of upgrade in a way that we haven’t seen.”
As for Lex Luthor, it seems we’ll be seeing a lot of him in both books. “Lex is almost like a co-star of the book,” Williamson says. “Lex has finally come to the conclusion that the world needs Superman. What has to happen for him to get there? The way he reacts to that realisation is, ‘Okay, fine, if the world is going to have Superman, they’re going to have my Superman,’ so that’s a big part of what we’re doing going forward.”
And it sounds like that’s only the beginning. Action Comics has already been reintroducing the New Gods to Metropolis, while Williamson teases the arrival of villains like Parasite, Silver Banshee, and Brainiac over in Superman. Superman’s “neverending battle for truth and justice” may not be getting any easier, but it’s certainly going to be more exciting than ever.
You can listen to our full interviews with the writers of Captain America: Cold War and The Amazing Spider-Man on Marvel Standom, available wherever you get your podcasts.
You can listen to our full interviews with both Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Joshua Williamson on DC Standom, available wherever you get your podcasts.
Spinning out of the events of the Steve Rogers-focused Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty and the Sam Wilson-starring Captain America: Symbol of Truth, Cold War promises a new look and mission for Bucky Barnes, the return of Nomad, and much more. Cold War (and Sentinel of Liberty) co-writer Jackson Lanzing promises that “every thread in both books is tied together and pays off” with a story that spans 80 years of Cap history.
Ever since Zeb Wells and John Romita Jr. kicked off their run on The Amazing Spider-Man, there has been a central mystery about something Peter Parker did that has upended his life and his mental health. While the “Dark Web” event will occupy Spidey’s time beginning in January, writer Zeb Wells promises we’ll learn more in 2023. “The six issues after [“Dark Web”] we’ll be dealing with what Peter did… Then we will have brought everyone up to speed.”
A NEW YEAR MEANS A CHANCE TO GET INTO NEW COMICS. HERE’S WHAT’S LAUNCHING IN JAN.
BY JIM DANDENEAUON SALE: JAN. 10
The DC Universe is about to transform after the eruption of the Lazarus Volcano, “spewing dangerous and transformative chemicals into Earth’s atmosphere. As these Lazarus clouds rain down upon the planet, people across the globe begin to develop strange new abilities, watch their already-extraordinary abilities change, and witness a whole host of chaos, unlike anything the DCU has experienced before”.
This DC event starts in Lazarus Planet: Alpha, written by Mark Waid and Gene Luen Yang, with art by Riccardo Federici, Billy Tan, and more. It continues through February with a series of weekly one-shots touching every corner of the DC Universe.
ON SALE: JAN. 18
A name like this demands satire, and that’s what we’re getting from Scott Burman and Eric Nguyen. Nathan Garin, a U.S. Army Captain, believes he’s the prophesied savior of a Japanese village, but Japanese-American teacher Todd Parker knows the truth: Garin is a brutal, drunken idiot. And it’s up to Parker to warn the villagers of Garin’s true nature. This should be hilarious.
Need more Wanda Maximoff in your life after Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness? Marvel Comics has what you need. Writer Steve Orlando and artist Sara Pichelli bring you a series about what happens when Wanda has “pledged all her power to help others who are languishing at their lowest”. Of course, when that power is chaos magic, nothing is as it seems.
ON SALE: JAN. 11
Eisner Award winner Kelly Thompson teams with artist Meredith McClaren for a new book that promises “Blade Runner style mixes with SAGA-esque drama in a delectable fantasy/sci-fi blend as two Black Cloaks try to solve the murder of a beloved prince in Kiros, the last city in the known world, before his murder tips the city into war”.
ON SALE: JAN. 31
We’re all familiar with the Batman family, from the various Robins and Batgirls to Nightwing, Red Hood, and more. And we all know Batman is (usually) a member in good standing of the Justice League. But he’s got another team, known as the Outsiders, and this book from writer Andy Diggle and artist Karl Mostert (which spins out of the events of Lazarus Planet) puts them front and centre once again.
Kasia Nie take the reins of an all-new Janet van Dyne story just in time for her triumphant big screen return in February’s Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. “When an old enemy threatens Janet and her fellow Wasp, Nadia, seemingly against his will, the Van Dynes will have to confront the ghosts in their shared history to get to the bottom of the mystery”.
ON SALE: JAN. 17
The latest in a series of selfcontained stories about Gotham’s most terrifying villains, this special from writer Joshua Williamson and artist Howard Porter, focusing on the baddie who famously broke Batman’s back, takes us into the future, promising “an epic saga set throughout Bane’s life, expanding on the hopes, dreams, regrets, and failures of one of DC’s most legendary villains”.
ON SALE: JAN. 18
Joe Kelly and Ken Niimura, the team that brought you the heartrending I Kill Giants, are back with what promises to be another challenging, emotional, genre-bending tale. This one is the tale of Jim Sargent (“Sarge”), a “grizzled, old-school detective” who finally gets the chance to solve a decades-old murder case, but the break comes “on the eve of his unwelcome retirement”. To complicate things further, “Sarge must drag his anxiety-riddled adult son, Michael, along for the ride or risk losing the lead forever”.
ON SALE: JAN. 11
Award-winning artist/writer Matt Kindt brings us a story billed as “John Wick meets Wes Anderson”. A regular guy named Jay picks up the wrong phone and is forced to bumble his way through Russian hit squads and assassins, slowly convincing himself he’s a powerful sleeper agent. Kindt’s unique indie art makes this hook a good one. Quite frankly, it’s stunning that Wes Anderson hasn’t tried this before, but this might be a great template.
MR. SINISTER HAS BEEN AT THE CENTRE of the X-Men universe for the last few years, and it looks like this is all coming to a head in this 56-page one-shot from writer Kieron Gillen, artist Lucas Werneck (and more) that promises “a horror timeline that makes ‘Age of Apocalypse’ look like the X-Men Swimsuit Special”. That’s a pretty specific set of references if you’re a ’90s comics kid, but we’ll take it.
ON SALE: JAN. 25
2023
BY NATALIE ZUTTERRELEASE DATE: JUNE 6
This is not a drill—a new Imperial Radch adventure will soon be upon us! A decade after Ancillary Justice was published comes a new book set in the same universe. Although Translation State is a standalone with new characters (a nonhuman translator, a diplomat on a 200-yearold cold case, a stranger welcomed into a long-lost family), it expands the high-stakes and constantly evolving peace treaty between humans and the dangerous alien Presger from the original trilogy.
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 9
Last year’s The Unbroken adroitly explored the impacts of colonialism in epic fantasy (here, a North Africainspired setting) through Touraine, a Qazāli child conscripted into the Balladairan army and now an accomplished soldier. Torn between the empire that shaped her and her own personal ties to the rebel uprising in Qazāl, Touraine chose the revolution. But her struggles to rebuild this nation and explore its magic bring her back to love interest, Luca, who is trying to usurp the Balladairan throne from her own usurper uncle. The stakes are even higher in this second installment of the Magic of the Lost trilogy.
This trippy, poignant debut bends and blends three lifetimes through time travel but also through fandom: even though Bo (8) has lost his mother, Brandon (28) has lost (and gained) a job, and Blue (48) has lost (and regained) his ability to speak, they are united by their unconditional love for a fictional nostalgic ’80s detective show called Raider.
RELEASE DATE: MARCH 23
RELEASE DATE: FEB. 2
Annalee Newitz brings their expansive imagination and meticulous worldbuilding to an Earth-like planet called Sask-E and the centuries-long terraforming experiment to transform it into a new home for humanity. But the tension between the Environmental Rescue Team and Sask-E’s original inhabitants from a volcano city will ripple down for generations into a struggle over ownership of this potential future world.
RELEASE DATE: FEB. 7
The second installment of the Indian Lake horror trilogy sees Final Girl Jade Daniels and serial killer Dark Mill South both escaping prison—she released, him seeking revenge in the form of a Friday the 13th massacre. But 36 hours before then, December 12, 2019, will see the pre-Christmas rematch between these two modern horror icons from My Heart is a Chainsaw
RELEASE DATE: APRIL 6
Known for the cozily romantic Greenhollow novellas, Emily Tesh’s debut novel is a razor-sharp space opera ideal for fans of Ender’s Game. Raised in a military cult in a space station, Kyr would sacrifice her life to avenge a long-dead Earth, but Gaea Station would rather force her to bear more soldiers. Instead of her potential being wasted as a womb, Kyr must prove herself as a warrior.
The latest delicious darkness from the author of Nothing But Blackened Teeth follows a vicious mermaid who, after murdering her husband, finds an unlikely travel companion in a plague doctor. But the discovery of a village full of ageless children, overseen by surgeons calling themselves saints, may be too dark and gory of a fairy tale even for these outcasts.
RELEASE DATE: MAY 2
RELEASE DATE: FEB. 16
Mexican Gothic weds genderswapped Bluebeard in this Gothic fantasy about a man who believes perhaps too much in fairy tales, for when he marries the enigmatic heiress Indigo MaxwellCastañeda, he agrees never to delve into her past. But upon returning to her childhood home, the bridegroom can’t help but pry into the mysteries of the house and the loss of Indigo’s best friend, Azure.
RELEASE DATE: MAY 30
The first fantasy novel in over a decade from the author of the beloved Murderbot novellas resurrects Kai, once the most powerful demon… until he was murdered, his consciousness imprisoned, and his magic extinguished. Awakening into a world that has changed without him, Kai finds an ally in a lesser mage as he harnesses his pain magic for revenge.
RELEASE DATE: JAN. 12
This fantasy duology follows two women who, despite their class differences, both wish to harness forbidden elemental powers. However, if spoiled aristocrat Nehal wants to become a waterweaver, she’ll have to work with humble bookshop owner Giorgina and a radical women’s rights group.
From outer space to another time and place, these are the best sci-fi games of the Den of Geek era.
(2019)
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is not only a love letter to the bygone days of LucasArts’ single-player action-adventure titles and RPGs; it’s a masterclass in modern game design. Developer Respawn intelligently took a few cues from Dark Souls and beloved Metroidvanias to craft a Jedi video game that feels both challenging and expansive.
Fallen Order’s story is also surprisingly well-told. In fact, it’s one of the best Star Wars adventures of the Disney era. It not only digs deep into Jedi lore only hinted at in the movies but also shows us what life is like under the ruthless grip of the Empire — JOHN SAAVEDRA
Even after Resident Evil 4 turned out to be a blockbuster, horror gaming fans continued to doubt that an action game could ever be as scary as a slow-burn survival horror title. However, Dead Space showed that the ability to shoot a gun tends not to matter when you’re too terrified to even aim the thing properly. Dead Space’s all-time great sound design and incredible monsters all contribute to the one aspect that often defines the best sci-fi horror: the sense that you’re alone in a hostile environment where death feels inescapable. —
MATTHEW BYRDThe best thing about No Man’s Sky is the sense of discovery it evokes. You have an entire galaxy to explore, and thanks to the game’s impressive procedural generation, it’s impossible to say exactly what each new planet will look like (or what creatures might call it home).
That set-up puts you in the driver’s seat of your own sci-fi odyssey. Maybe you decide to journey to the centre of the galaxy. Maybe you just hang out in a backwater solar system cataloging the local fauna. Anything is possible in this massive sandbox.
— CHRIS FREIBERG
As the culmination of Bungie’s military sci-fi trilogy, Halo 3 further refines the formula that brought the first two installments so much success. It also turns the tables on both the Marines of the UNSC and the alien Covenant to reveal the Flood as the trilogy’s real villains. But there’s also a much more intimate story waiting for players in this saga of galactic warfare, as Master Chief reckons with the loss of Cortana after leaving her behind in enemy territory in order to save humanity. Their reunion leads to a third act on a space-station-creating structure capable of wiping out all sentient life in the galaxy. — JS
The granddaddy of first-person shooters still feels as relevant as ever in its most recent release. While many modern FPS titles embrace slower and more methodical gameplay, Doom Eternal plays more like a frantic rhythm game. Learning to balance constant movement while managing your alternating arsenal is the only way to survive this ballet of beautiful, gory carnage.
Eternal delves deep into series lore by offering some unique twists on its own versions of heaven, hell, and the cybernetic monstrosities that dwell in all realms. — CF
There have been many Alien games over the years and frankly, most of them aren’t very good. Even the better ones tend to stray pretty far from the source material. But the genius of Alien: Isolation is how close it sticks to Ridley Scott’s original cinematic masterpiece.
While you do have some weapons at your disposal in Isolation, stealth and evasion are ultimately the only ways to survive. This is a tense, claustrophobic, and downright terrifying experience that expertly illustrates that not everything in the far reaches of space will be happy to see humans as we venture into the stars. — CF
The first Nier game was a subversive masterpiece that, for all its fantasy trappings, was actually a stealth sci-fi story. Nier: Automata builds upon that blend of genres to blindside gamers just as effectively.
The game starts with an almost cliched story of combat androids defending the last human survivors against invading alien robots, but it soon introduces twists that make players question everything they’ve experienced. The result is a narrative that earns a place among other robot-themed greats, such as Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot Each subsequent New Game+ playthrough introduces new insights and spins on Nier: Automata’s themes and plot.
— AARON GREENBAUM
Death Stranding is certainly not actionpacked, and it’s not even all that thrilling to play. In a way, though, it recalibrates our expectations as gamers, forcing us to appreciate the simple act of traversal in ways that no game ever has before.
That is the genius of creator Hideo Kojima. He dares to frustrate players and even risk boring them, all in the name of creating a strange, gnarled, unconventional experience you won’t find anywhere else. By the time the game’s story is complete, it’s revealed to be an unlikely tale of hope as well as an ode to the power of love and empathy. —
BERNARD BOO
The original Dead Space combined the isolation and claustrophobia of Ridley Scott’s Alien and John Carpenter’s The Thing Dead Space 2 expands on that brilliant combination.
Like the first game, Dead Space 2 weaponises lighting and sound design to keep players on edge. Even though its controls are more fluid and responsive, the game’s sprawling space station still feels dangerous, especially since the game’s enemies can pop out of any air vent. The source of those creatures is so unfathomable that it will give you chills. — AG
If you were to travel back in time to the ’90s and show Horizon Zero Dawn to a bunch of kids, their brains would melt. It’s just a dream sci-fi game in so many ways.
It’s difficult to overstate how imaginative, colourful, and fun Horizon’s game world is. It doesn’t skimp on the storytelling, either. Uncovering the truths behind the narrative’s apocalypse and the people who caused it makes the socially relevant campaign riveting from beginning to end. Aloy, voiced brilliantly by Ashly Burch, is also one of the best protagonists in modern gaming. — BB
In The Last of Us, an outbreak has turned the world into a veritable hellhole. Miraculously, developer Naughty Dog managed to use that hopeless set-up as a way to explore the psyches of its main characters (Joel and Ellie) with an unprecedented level of intimacy.
Every in-game action supports and is informed by the story. Each kill means something because the monsters are humans whose minds and bodies have been overtaken. The Last of Us features a level of nuance and sophistication that elevates it above other all-time great games. — BB
Fallout: New Vegas’ detailed post-apocalyptic world is populated almost entirely by memorable characters that feel like they could only really exist in this compelling sci-fi universe. Even still, the true star here is the game’s dynamic storytelling.
New Vegas has this way of making you feel like every choice you make is the only way to experience this morally ambiguous adventure where right and wrong are often less important than what feels right to you in the moment. There are great quests around every corner in New Vegas, and it’s up to you to summon the courage needed to complete them. —MB
Portal was a tough act to follow. Its gameplay mechanics were as fun as they were clever and benefited from the game’s inimitable aesthetic and morbid sense of humour. By some miracle, though, Valve managed to outdo itself with Portal 2
Portal 2’s story shatters and subverts players’ expectations and makes this game a true classic. Stephen Merchant’s performance as the stammering Wheatley is unbelievably good, and in the third act, the story somehow becomes more interesting than the gameplay (which is saying a lot). The solo campaign is essential, and the two-player co-op mode is just as wonderful (and way cuter). — BB
(2007)
While BioShock is a very polished horror shooter, the game’s real draw is its aquatic, failed utopia setting, spiritually ripped out of a pulp science fiction novel.
That setting plays host to an all-time great narrative filled with political messages, audio logs, and environmental storytelling. Every piece of the game’s plot and gameplay furthers the overarching questions about what happens when ideals and reality clash. It all leads to a plot twist that tears down the interactive medium of video games and its tropes. — AG
For Mass Effect 2, BioWare took the lessons it learned from the all-time great first game and made a sequel that was better in almost every single way.
Here, a mysterious alien faction seeks to enslave and eradicate humanity, and it’s up to the crew of the Normandy to stop the destruction of all humankind. Once again, BioWare delivers an epic sci-fi storyline for the game’s heroes, but it’s actually the more intimate moments between Shepard and their crew that make this game special. It’s a choice-based RPG experience that’s still very hard to beat so many years later. —JS
If you haven’t tuned into the films of S.S. Rajamouli yet, it’s time to get your mind blown. The Indian filmmaker’s cinematic events are outrageously entertaining, filled with eye-popping cinematography and over-the-top action sequences. The spectacle is so over-the-top, in fact, that you’ve got to park your brain way outside the cinema. Heck, give your keys to the valet with a fat tip, or else Rajamouli’s flagrant disregard for the laws of physics might offend you. But if you can suspend your disbelief for a few hours, you’re in for a rollicking treat. Rajamouli makes gloriously panoramic cinema on such a
Director S.S. Rajamouli has made some of the most bombastic, visionary, expensive, and profitable Indian blockbusters to date. As his latest epic, RRR, makes a bid for the 2023 Academy Awards, Den of Geek catches up with this maverick filmmaker.Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr. as Raju and Bheem, the stars of action epic RRR
gigantic scale that it begs to be seen on the big screen. This is unabashed and unapologetic fun.
With a budget of 550 crore (US$69 million), Rajamouli’s movie, RRR, released in March 2022, is India’s most expensive film to date. It is also India’s fourth top box-office earner ever. RRR’s overwhelming popularity had fans feeling it was a sure bet for India’s Best International Feature Film candidate at the 2023 Academy Awards, but it was snubbed for a lesser-known film, Chhello Show. “Almost everyone knew that if RRR was sent as the Indian selection for the Oscars, we had a very, very big chance at making it through,” concedes Rajamouli, “but it didn’t happen”.
Undeterred, promoters are now launching a major campaign to get RRR nominated in the other categories, including Best Picture, Director, and Original Screenplay (Rajamouli wrote the film with his father and fellow filmmaker, V. Vijayendra Prasad). “We are not the kind of people who get slowed down by hindrances and obstacles,” declares Rajamouli. “We will just go forward, and we’ll do the best we can do and see”.
In 2009, when Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars, it felt as though Indian cinema had finally arrived in the global spotlight.
“Bollywood,” the portmanteau of Hollywood and Bombay, entered the industry vernacular. Bombay is the old name for Mumbai, the city that has become a capital of the Indian film industry. However, Bollywood produces films in Hindi, which is just one of well over a dozen languages spoken in India. That sliver of Indian film production also comprises less than half of the nation’s cinematic output. India’s second most popular language on screen is Telugu. Consequently, there’s another industry portmanteau: Tollywood. Although
Tollywood produces fewer films than Bollywood, it has racked up many of the country’s biggest box-office draws, several of which can be credited to S.S. Rajamouli.
RRR is a historical fantasy based loosely on two real-life Indian rebels, Alluri Sitarama Raju (1897–1924, played by Ram Charan) and Komaram Bheem (1900–1940, played by N.T. Rama Rao Jr., a.k.a. NTR). Although these folk heroes never met, RRR imagines that they united to fight
against British colonialism in the 1920s. RRR stands for Roudram Ranam Rudhiram in Telugu, which means “Rage War Blood”—but it has been translated to English as the alliterationpreserving “Rise Roar Revolt”. It’s also a play on the three popular filmmakers involved: (R)ajamouli, (R)am Charan, and Rama (R)ao Jr.
The enormous scope of Rajamouli’s action appears in one of the earliest scenes of RRR. To establish Raju’s (a.k.a. Ram—note that this is an abbreviation of Raju’s middle name Sitarama, as well as the name of the actor portraying him) hardcore character, he is introduced at the Anangpur Police Outpost as it is being besieged by a massive mob of enraged protestors (and massive is an understatement here). When a thrown rock shatters a photo of King George V, the commanding officer orders that the perpetrator be arrested. Ram storms into the crowd alone, battling hundreds of rioters with only his lathi baton. It’s a staggeringly violent action sequence, the magnitude of which dwarfs all previous cinematic one-versus-many fight scenes. Ram proceeds to beat his way through the horde with terrifying resolve and superhuman strength.
“It is a kind of dream for every human being to do things that are beyond the scope of a human being,” Rajamouli explains. “But I feel at the same time, giving a superpower also takes away the vulnerability of the character.” Rajamouli says that his characters remain human and vulnerable, so when Ram battles through the violent mob, “He can lose at any time”.
RRR gained worldwide exposure through Netflix, which Rajamouli views as both friend and foe. “I’m a filmmaker who grew up in cinemas and who thinks of stories in terms of cinema halls and theatres,” the director says. Rajamouli films are so cinematic they demand to be seen on the big screen. But he can’t deny the impact of Netflix, where RRR was in the top 10 for 15 consecutive weeks. “I want my film to be released in the theatres first, do fantastic business
There is nothing like Baahubali. If you only ever see one Tollywood film, this should be it. Baahubali is an epic sword-swinging fantasy packed with opulent sets, ostentatious costumes, and eye-popping CGI special effects. But be warned—this film ends on a wicked cliffhanger that demands a sequel.
This sequel holds the record of India’s second highest-grossing film. Ironically, given its subtitle, Baahubali 2 is a prequel, digging deep into the backstory that sets up Baahubali. The final battle delivers one of the most bizarre yet thrilling fort sieges ever imagined. The ridiculous use of archery and catapults, plus a Cuisinart chariot, make for incomparable action awesomeness.
Magadheera stars Ram Charan from RRR and is attributed as the breakout role that catapulted him to superstardom. In many ways, Magadheera is a precursor to Baahubali with its outrageous CGI architecture, inside-out flashback storytelling, and absurd fight choreography enhanced by copious buckets of digital blood.
Maryada Ramanna is a smaller movie, a remake of Buster Keaton’s 1923 silent film Our Hospitality It’s a Romeo and Juliet-style action-romcom with some sparse violence that’s brutal, mostly due to contrast. There’s also goofball humour, including a talking bike that only the audience hears. It’s quirky yet engaging, with an over-the-top climax.
Eega translates as “The Fly,” but unlike the classic horror films of the same title, this is actually more of a romcom. Awkward Nani (aptly played by an actor named Nani) is brutally killed and reincarnated as a fly to take revenge. Surprisingly entertaining, the CGI fly even does his own Tollywood dance number.
there, then go on to the streaming platform and reach more audiences who want to watch it again and again in the comfort of their homes.”
RRR is an epic bromance adventure film, Tollywood style. The film’s hero, Bheem, is a Gond tribesman gone undercover to rescue a girl taken by the British. Ram serves the British police on a mission to track down the undercover tribesman. Unaware of each other’s adversarial roles, the two bond while rescuing a fisherboy from under a bridge where a tanker train explodes. It’s another preposterous action spectacle, an impromptu trapeze stunt where Bheem and Ram fly through, spilling fire whilst dangling from a found rope.
Flying is a common theme in Rajamouli films. “I remember having dreams of flying as a very young kid,” he recalls. “And I remember seeing my village from a top angle. So now I wonder how did I conceive that? So I think at the base of it all, my action sequences have some kind of flying [element] to them.”
Beyond the ludicrous action, RRR shares other ingredients that
are signature to Rajamouli films: themes of loyalty, honour, and karma, expansive panoramic cinematography, sanguineous fight choreography, poignant songs, and, of course, exuberant dance numbers. Often mocked by those unfamiliar with Indian cinema, films of this genre are measured by the quality of their dance numbers. There is no separation between action and musicals here, and Rajamouli is a master of the form.
However, RRR only has two major dance sequences: an incendiary dance battle between the heroes and the Brits and a joyful end-credits dance sequence where the director himself joins in. The exhilarating dance battle is choreographed to the chart-topper “Naatu Naatu,” and its signature hook step dance went viral. Like all Indian superstars, both NTR and Charan are
renowned for their dancing skills, so fans eagerly anticipated seeing them dance together.
“But the way it was woven into the RRR story is what made even the Westerners really root for them and really, really enjoy the song and dance,” says Rajamouli. He confesses that maybe someday he should try to make a film without a dance number, but that won’t happen soon. “It’s such a strong tool in racking up the audiences’ emotions that I don’t think I will let go of it easily.”
Another signature of Rajamouli’s filmmaking style is allusions to Indian classics. Ram is a reference to Lord Rama of one of India’s most beloved love stories, the Ramayana, and Bheem is an allusion to Bhima from India’s
S.S. RAJAMOULI,It is a kind of dream for every human being to do things that are beyond the scope of a human being... giving a superpower also takes away the vulnerability of the character.”
DIRECTOR
other legendary epic, the Mahabharata Ram’s fiancée in the film is Sita (Alia Bhatt), as well as historically, just like in the Ramayana. This epic tale has been shared throughout Asia in different forms. In the Ramayana, Sita is abducted by the demon Ravana and the deity Lord Rama must rescue her with the help of the magical monkey god Hanuman, who acts as a messenger while Sita is imprisoned.
This is parallelled in RRR, only Bheem is the messenger, and the modern character Ram is incarcerated. It is also symbolic in RRR when Ram eventually takes a bow from a statue because within the Ramayana, Lord Rama’s bow figures prominently. As for Bheem and the Mahabharata, Bhima was renowned for having the physical strength of 10,000 elephants, which is why Bheem exhibits superhuman strength throughout RRR
When the battles rage, Ram and Bheem become incarnations of these legendary heroes, justifying their superhuman abilities to informed audiences. Nevertheless, Rajamouli doesn’t believe unfamiliarity with Indian religions and legends presents any hindrance. “I feel whether you know the epic or you don’t know the
epic, when you’re watching this story, if you connect with the character, which almost everyone does, you flow with the emotion of the story. I don’t think in a good story, the cultural barriers ever exist.”
RRR has caught some flak in the Western press for its excessive depiction of British villainy. It’s a point that Rajamouli is quick to defend. “First of all, RRR is not a historical film,” the director clarifies. “And it’s very clear, even if you can’t read the full disclaimer, in the beginning, the way we start the film itself will make you understand this completely fictional account where there is no political agenda or political propaganda in the film. It is just an emotional tale about these two people.”
Despite being based on historical characters and the oppressive history of British colonization and the East India Company, Rajamouli reminds us that “there were many officials, many British people who have done a lot of service to the country”. And there’s one character in the film who is intended to partially redeem some members of the British Empire: Bheem’s love interest, Jenny (played by Olivia Morris).
Says Rajamouli: “It doesn’t mean that my intention is to tell the whole world that all British are villains. No, absolutely not”.
Ultimately, Rajamouli refrains from giving any kind of political message in his films. For him, it’s all about entertainment. In fact, he’s sometimes saddened when people talk less about entertainment. “It’s just the entertainment that you provide and nothing else?’ they say, as if entertainment is a little thing, but for me, providing entertainment is a sacred job.” He hopes his films provide a few hours for people to just forget their daily troubles and rejuvenate themselves, and then go back to their lives. “I really take my job seriously, providing entertainment for the people who pay their hard-earned money and time to come and watch my film.”
RRR is available to stream on Netflix.
1. Strange World gave the filmmakers a chance to really live up to the film’s name. “We had an opportunity to create our own environment, our own world with its own laws and creatures,” recalls director Don Hall. “Rocks aren’t rocks, trees aren’t trees, grass isn’t grass.”
2. “If you saw the scripts early on it gave me the allowance to just go, ‘Oh, they fight a monster,’” says writer Qui Nguyen. “I don’t even describe said monster.” From that script, the story artists would dream up a monster and from that Nguyen would layer more detail into the script.
3. The chase up in the air over a living bridge of “goblinswills” described by Hall as resembling “flying sushi,” was invented by artist Kevin Nelson. “It gave us something that we felt like we’d never seen before,” says Hall.
4. “When Don pitched me the story, he likened it to Indiana Jones and National Lampoon’s Vacation,” Nguyen says. “So it had this amazing adventure feel and a lot of heart.”
©Eiichiro Oda/Shueisha, Toei Animation