John Wick: Chapter 4 is about to continue the story that began in the original John Wick film in 2014. Keanu Reeves headlines the franchise as the title character, a former hitman who was dragged back into his former profession. And so far, John’s return to his old world is not going very smoothly. For repeatedly daring to defy the rules of the criminal underworld, John Wick has been marked for death by the very organization that he served for years.

But are the rules of the underworld? The three previous John Wick films have offered only brief and tantalizing glimpses of a world that resembles our own, but is in fact very different.

There’s a hierarchy in place that controls almost everything that John comes into contact with, as well as an apparent unwritten pact with the general public that keeps anyone on the outside from directly acknowledging that their lives are governed by something more than they can perceive.

Ahead of John Wick: Chapter 4, we’re taking a look at everything we know about the rules of John Wick’s world of assassins. And it won’t even cost you a gold coin.

World of Violence

There’s a particularly telling scene in John Wick: Chapter 2 in which a gun fight between John and a vengeful Cassian is almost ignored by the civilians around them. The ordinary people aren’t immune to the violence around them, but they seem to be turning an intentional blind eye to it. This may be the unofficial agreement between the underworld and the civilians who live outside of it. The ordinary people pretend not to notice the underworld killers, and in turn, they are largely left alone by the truly dangerous individuals who kill for a living. It’s an implicit admission that the police and government mean nothing in this world. The real power lies in darkness.

Additionally, it’s pretty notable just how many assassins there are anywhere at any given moment in the world of John Wick. Supposedly, hired killers are hard to find in the real world, but apparently not so in this mythos. There is such an abundance of guns for hire in these movies that they can seemingly fill up a park at a moment’s notice! It must be a pretty popular vocation in this world.

Live By the Coin

As seen in the first three movies, almost all transactions in the underworld are done via gold coins which are untraceable and unlinked to the currency of any world government. To anyone on the outside, they may appear to be simple coins of moderate value. However, their true worth seems to be far greater than the amount of gold they contain. A single gold coin can cover an assassination, or criminal missions. They are also exclusively used by the underworld guests of the Continental Hotel, which offers complete sanctuary from any outside threats.

John and others have been known to keep these coins on their person at all times. No bank could be trusted with the coins, nor would ordinary civilians understand their true purpose. The real currency of the underworld is favors, and that’s what the coins have come to represent.

Honor Every Marker

John Wick: Chapter 2 established that there are two unbreakable rules of the underworld. The first unbreakable rule is that every marker must be honored, no matter the price. It is literally a blood oath medallion, and the pact is sealed with a bloody thumbprint from the person who requested the favor. When the return favor is complete, the holder of the medallion will add their own bloody thumbprint to it as a sign that it has been honored.

Within Chapter 2, John’s attempt to return to his retirement was thwarted by Santino D’Antonio, the crime boss who helped John earn his freedom from Viggo Tarasov five years before the events of the first film. John had been able to escape the consequences of that promise because he was truly out of the game. By taking his vengeance on Viggo and his son, Iosef, John was effectively out of retirement and once again bound by the oath.

Winston warned John there was no other option: “You dishonor the marker, you die. You kill the holder of the marker, you die. You run, you die.” The pull of a blood oath marker is so strong that John went out of his way to retrieve a marker that he held over Sofia Al-Azwar early in John Wick: Chapter 3. Even then, Sofia only reluctantly aided John while he was on the run.

Everything is Continental

The other unbreakable rule of the underworld is simple: “No killing on Continental grounds.” The hotel staff are quite serious about this rule. In the first film, Winston executed Ms. Perkins for trying to kill John in the hotel. And in the second movie, John found himself in hot water for the same crime when he killed D’Antonio inside the hotel. In fact, that’s the primary reason why John is still in danger two movies later.

But what is the Continental? It’s a sanctuary for the underworld, and also a high-end hotel chain for ordinary visitors. Although the movies primarily deal with the New York Continental, there is also a Continental hotel in Italy in Chapter 2, and Sofia was the manager of the Continental in Morocco in Chapter 3. It is truly a home away from home for hired killers, with unique amenities including black market medical attention, body armor, gun service, and even pet service courtesy of the New York concierge, Charon.

Although the Continental hotels appear to be autonomous from outside control, they are also integral to the underworld in several ways. The Continental is apparently the source of the gold coins used for currency, and the basement features a command center where criminal contracts are sent out through intentionally outdated computers that can not be hacked. It was from there that John was declared “excommunicado”, which revoked his Continental privileges and protections for killing D’Antonio. Regardless, Winston liked John enough that he gave him a head start of one hour before this went into effect at the beginning of Chapter 3.

Underworld Authority

As established in Chapter 2, the underworld is ruled by the High Table, a council of crime lords from around the world that includes representatives from the Camorra, the Yakuza, the Triad, the Bratva, Cosa Nostra, and more. There are only 12 seats at the High Table, which is why Santino D’Antonio wanted John to murder his sister, Gianna D’Antonio, so he could assume her place in the organization. And once John went through with the mission, Santino placed a hit on him to cover up his own involvement with Gianna’s death.

Although the High Table prefers to remain in shadows, they did dispatch the Adjudicator (pictured above) in Chapter 3 to punish Winston for giving John a head start. The Adjudicator acted with the full authority of the High Table by attempting to strip the Continental away from Winston and by hiring additional killers to target John.

There is only one power in this world with more authority than the High Table: The enigmatic Elder glimpsed in Chapter 3. John went to great lengths to find the Elder and beg his forgiveness. And the price of John’s absolution was his ring finger, his wedding ring, his eternal fealty to the High Table, and the death of Winston. John willingly gave up the first three, but he ultimately refused to kill Winston.

Unfortunately for John, Winston was all too eager to shoot him once he received an offer for reinstatement from the Adjudicator. Either Winston did it to reclaim what was his, or it was his way of offering John mercy and even a remote chance of survival when he fell off the roof of the Continental. There’s a degree of ambiguity there that could go both ways, but it’s an open question of whether John can ever trust Winston again.

And that’s where John Wick: Chapter 4 will pick up. John has angered the powers that be and set the world of assassins against him. Fortunately, for John, he’s not alone in this fight. The Bowery King has also vowed revenge on the High Table, and John’s greatest battles lie ahead.

Analyzing the Baba Yaga: The Psychology of John Wick

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It’s become clear that it’s M3GAN’s world and we’re just living in it.

The horror film M3GAN became a true sensation in the past few months. Well, it became a sensation twice, really. The first time was when the film’s initial trailer was released and became a huge viral breakout, launching a ton of memes and tributes to the film’s killer doll and the oh-so memorable dancing she did before showing off her murderous skills. As for the second time, that was when M3GAN was actually released in theaters just as the year began. Unlike other situations where an aspect of a movie goes viral, only for the film itself to fall flat or disappoint at the box office, M3GAN lived up to the hype, scoring strong reviews and becoming an instant hit when it opened in January.

M3GAN arrives on Blu-ray this week and, as with the recently released Digital version, it’s titled M3GAN UNRAT3D VERSION, containing both the PG-13 theatrical cut and an unrated version which restores several F-bombs and moments of blood and gore that were removed to secure that PG-13.

Fandom spoke to both M3GAN screenwriter Akela Cooper and one of the film’s stars, 11-year-old Violet McGraw (“Cady”), about what it was like seeing the trailer take on a life of its own, the appeal of M3GAN as a character (and a doll for kids), the film crossing lines most mainstream horror films won’t, and where they’re hoping to take the already-announced sequel.

A TRAIL3R TO R3M3MB3R

M3GAN wasn’t a Marvel-type film where many were following every piece of news about its production and eagerly awaiting the first trailer and it’s fair to assume most people hadn’t even heard about the movie until the day that first trailer was put online. But once they saw it, it was clear a chord had been struck in a big way.

Akela Cooper recalled that she’d been given a heads up that the trailer was going to be released beforehand, “And then all of a sudden, it was about an hour after the trailer had dropped, and my phone just starts blowing up with all of my friends going, ‘Have you seen this? Have you seen the memes?!’ I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And then I got on Twitter qnd it was like, ‘Holy s**t!’ It was trending and everyone had already started doing the Beyonce cuts [of M3GAN’s dance]. And I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this is really nice. People like the trailer! I need to get back to work.’ But then I kept getting notifications and texts from people. It just kept building. And it was way bigger than I thought this was going to be. By the end of the day, obviously, the gay community had made it their thing as well. And it’s like, ‘Wow, this has taken over the zeitgeist in less than a day, pretty much. Okay, we have  something here.” She added, “It was a really good Tuesday, I will say that!”

Said Violet McGraw, of the reaction to the trailer, “I was really happy about it. I just loved how viral the dance got on TikTok. I thought it was really funny, because I was not expecting it to go that viral at all. But it was really cool and I loved the trailer so much. After I saw the trailer, I’m like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I can’t wait to see the full movie!’ After working on something for so long, it’s so cool to see it all come together at the end.”

3V3RYON3 LOV3S M3GAN

M3GAN’s popularity went beyond the memes though. People seemed to genuinely love what they were seeing of the character, which was cemented when the film opened. M3GAN is the villain of the story to be sure, but like plenty of horror icons before, the audience also was, essentially, rooting for her. So what was it about her that clicked in?

Said McBride, “Maybe her singing got some people and also her dancing was amazing, but I feel like a lot of it, or part of it, is maybe her cool style and the way she talks and the way she’s just so lifelike. M3GAN’s personality in general… I feel like I was kind of cheering on M3GAN maybe a little bit at some parts. I love M3GAN and I can definitely tell that the fans probably love her a lot for those reasons.”

“I think overall, M3GAN is a fun character,” said Cooper. “And you can kind of relate to someone who just says ‘I tried following the rules and that didn’t work. So I’m gonna take matters into my own hands.’ We’ve all had those thoughts but never followed up on them, hopefully. But also, it’s the look, and kudos to [director] Gerard Johnstone and the production team for that design. And obviously, Jenna Davis as the voice, we got incredibly lucky with the casting. It was really smart casting on their part as well to hire an actress who did a voice that sounded like something a preteen would sound like and is trying to be your friend. It’s all of those elements that just came together and had everyone go, ‘Yeah, I want M3GAN in my life.”

Amusingly, despite playing a character who learns the hard way just how dangerous M3GAN could be, McGraw said, “I actually would love my own M3GAN in real life. I think that would be really fun.”

At only 11 years old, Violet McGraw is already quite a horror veteran, given her previous roles in The Haunting of Hill House and Doctor Sleep, while her sister, Madeleine McGraw, is a young Blumhouse horror movie star as well, thanks to last year’s The Black Phone. Noted Violet, of how a M3GAN would fit into her life, “I don’t want to replace anyone! I don’t want to replace my sister. Me and my sister are very close and we play with each other. We always hang out a lot, and I would never let her replace any of my family members. But having a M3GAN in real life would be really fun. Like if my sister goes away to travel or something, I can play with M3GAN and do things like that. And me and my sister also love to make our pretend movies and we film them, and M3GAN would be a part of it and we can pretend she’s a real person. I think I would definitely want my own M3GAN.”

SH3’S GOT TH3 LOOK

Cooper was not in New Zealand for the film’s production and hadn’t seen what M3GAN looked like until producer Judson Scott showed her a photo after the film wrapped. As she recalled, “My very first reaction was, ‘Dude, she looks like a deranged sorority girl!’ And he’s like, ‘She does! Isn’t it great?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, it is great. Wow!’

Although there were many ways M3GAN was brought to life, including through animatronics, much of the time she was played on set by Amie Donald, a New Zealand child actress and dancer. Said McGraw, “I loved working with Amie so much. We still keep in contact, we still text each other to this day. And she’s so sweet and so talented, and because we’re best friends in real life, it really helped me work with her when she was in the full Megan thing because me and her are best friends and M3GAN and Cady are best friends. It was actually really cool getting to see her all M3GAN’d up. It was weird and a little scary at first because she looked so real. It was a little creepy. But I worked with her for three months, so I definitely got used to it and it was really fun.”

Cooper recalled how she began to feel very confident about how both the movie in general and M3GAN herself were working when she viewed a rough cut for the first time. “Just seeing her in action…. I took my friend. It was a rough cut and usually rough cuts are bad. They’re not good. They’re ‘rough’ for a reason. But halfway through, I look at my friend and go, ‘Am I crazy? Or is this actually really good?’ He’s like, ‘It’s really good.’

Cooper’s last collaboration with M3GAN producer James Wan, Malignant, didn’t make a lot at the box office but quickly became a cult horror favorite. Now excited that M3GAN had turned out so well, Cooper noted, “I thought it was going to be another cult hit, like Malignant. And I was like, ‘Yes, gonna have another cult hit. It’s gonna be great for horror fans. Awesome!’ And then it blew up.”

M3GAN’S MURD3RS

M3GAN crosses a couple of lines most horror movies don’t, as the title character kills both a dog and a child by the end of the film (okay, maybe she didn’t technically kill Cady’s bully, Brandon, but she rips his ear off and makes it clear she intends to kill him before he falls into the road trying to escape her and gets hit by a car).

Cooper said she felt it would really show what a threat M3GAN was to have her do these things, noting, “I do have pets! But yeah, this is a way to show that this movie isn’t f**king around. We are breaking this rule. And then I’m like, ‘Well, if I’ve killed a dog, what’s the other one we’re not supposed to do?’ And a giant pet peeve of mine in horror movies is that when you have children in danger, you just instinctively know [they’re safe]. They’re probably not going to kill them,” noting Guillermo del Toro’s Mimic as one of the occasional exceptions.”

“[Mimic] was kind of an inspiration. ‘I’m gonna kill him. I’m gonna make him a bully. He’s a little s**t, but I’m gonna kill a kid.’ That again, the movie is not f**king around. And it worked. When Gerard was on set, he also learned that those were sacred cows that we weren’t supposed to be doing because even the crew was like, ‘All right, I guess we’re gonna kill this kid today?’ So yeah, I don’t know if I’ll do it again in the future… But I could!”

As the bonus features on the Blu-ray show, as a trained dancer, Amie Donald was able to do most of M3GAN’s surprising physical moves herself – not just her famous dancing but also the accompanying flip M3GAN does in the dancing scene. And when it came to the scene where she chases the doomed Brandon, she was able to run on all fours.

In fact, McGraw named the filming of Brandon’s death as one of the highlights of the shoot for her. As far as Donald running on all fours, McGraw said, “It was really cool. Amie is so talented. I could not believe she did that! It was really fun actually filming in the forest and they had a bunch of this fake smoke and it just felt very intense. I was so excited to see how it was going to turn out in theaters. When I was filming it, I’m like, ‘Oh, this is probably going to be one of my favorite scenes, is when she kills the bully.’”

TH3 UNRAT3D R3L3AS3

M3GAN was originally intended to be an R-rated film but when the studio saw the response to the trailer, they decided to change it to a PG-13, having Johnstone and the cast reshoot some of the kills in order to remove some of the gorier and bloodier bits.

Cooper was very happy the unrated version of M3GAN was now part of its home release, allowing all the kills to be seen in their original form, noting one of favorites was the death of Ronny Chieng’s in the unrated version.  “I love the David kill. It’s a good kill where she just stabs him with the shredder sword or whatever that thing is. There’s blood all over the elevator and then she slits a dude’s throat.”

Compared to other, notably graphic horror films, Cooper pointed out that the unrated cut of M3GAN wasn’t incredibly gory, but said she felt, “It is effective to show what she’s capable of. When they cut it back to PG-13, I was like, ‘Okay, I get it. I really do get it. But I certainly hope they release an unrated version.’ And they have!”

Cooper added, with a laugh, “I have had a lot of people tell me that they’ve actually watched the unrated version on Peacock with their kids. Like, okay, that is your choice as a parent! You probably would have been able to take them to an R rated screening at a theater but people might have looked at you funny. It’s different in the privacy of your own home.”

S3QU3L TIM3

It was easy to guess M3GAN would get a sequel after it opened so well, but Universal still acted notably fast, officially announcing M3GAN 2.0 would be released in January 2025 just a couple of weeks after the first film opened.

Cooper is once more writing the script, while McGraw and Allison Williams (“Gemma”) are both returning for 2.0. McGraw was delighted she’d be playing Cady again, telling Fandom, “I’m so excited to see what M3GAN does next. I’m totally in for a surprise too, because I don’t know anything yet. I may have a little bit of a theory but yeah, I’m super excited.”

Cooper was keeping quiet on plot details for now, but having now seen the first film resonate in the way it did, she remarked, “When it comes to what audiences liked and responded to, it’s the characters. It’s Gemma. It’s Cady. It’s M3GAN. And so that’s the focus of building the sequel – coming up with a good story that involves the three of them and platforms them and gives them a new story and new character development that’s fun and within the world. That’s what we’re focusing on and that’s what we’re making sure we get right before anything else.”

In the climax of M3GAN, Cady takes control of Gemma’s early robot, Bruce, using it to battle M3GAN. So does McGraw want a rematch? “Oh my gosh, that would be so much fun to come face to face with M3GAN again. I feel like fans would really like that too. But we’ll see what happens!”

M3GAN UNRAT3D VERSION is available now on Digital and Blu-ray.

‘M3GAN’ Made Star Allison Williams Scrap Her AI Assistant

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Fandom can exclusively reveal that two incredibly notable and beloved Force-users will be united in action figure form in the new Star Wars The Black Series 6-inch Luke Skywalker & Grogu 2-pack.

It was a huge surprise when none other than Luke Skywalker appeared in The Mandalorian Season 2 finale, but still, it could have been a one off appearance of the legendary Jedi Master. Instead, we would see the character again in an expanded role in the sixth episode of The Book of Boba Fett, “From the Desert Comes a Stranger.”

In that episode, to help him hone his skills and understand the ways of the Force, Grogu trains with Luke. We see the two go through several Jedi training methods together, which reflect Luke’s own growth, as now he is providing the same mentorship to Grogu he once received from Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda.

The 2-pack includes 2 figures and 9 entertainment-inspired accessories including a lightsaber and training ball with blast FX. Fans will also note the figure comes with the case holding Yoda’s lightsaber, which Luke presented to Grogu, along with a wrapped gift from Din Djarin that would represent a big choice for Grogu.

The Luke Skywalker & Grogu 2-pack will retail for $44.99 and be available fall 2023. Pre-orders begin on Wednesday, March 22 at 1 pm ET at Hasbro Pulse, Amazon and most major retailers. You can find more Mando Mania product reveals at starwars.com.

Check out more photos below!

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One assumes that plenty of filmmakers who make a project for Disney ponder the possibility that just maybe, in success, their movie could be turned into a Disney Parks theme park attraction. Of course, it’s unlikely they consider that if it does happen, it could be around 40 years after their film opened.

Such is the case with 1982’s TRON, which told the story of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) and his journey into a computer world, fighting in video games where the stakes were very real, alongside a sentient computer program turned warrior named Tron. TRON wasn’t what you’d call a small movie – it was, in fact, incredibly ambitious and groundbreaking in terms of technique and its early use of computer animation and effects – but it wasn’t a huge hit when it opened. However, TRON has proven to have quite the afterlife, with an ever loyal and continually expanding fanbase leading to periodic resurgences and expansions of the franchise, all of which has now resulted in the opening of TRON Lightcycle / Run at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom park.

At the recent media event for the new attraction, TRON director Steven Lisberger observed, “Everything about TRON has been unique from the beginning and it doesn’t stop being unique. That’s the one of the most thrilling parts about it. And so the fact that we had to wait 40 years for this ride, it’s just more unique TRON. And I will say, if people want to complain about wait times… we waited 40 years!”

LOVE THOSE LIGHTCYCLES

There are a lot of different cool aspects to the world of TRON, but if you were to pick one to turn into ride, as Walt Disney Imagineering’s Jerold Kaplan (Executive Ride Project Engineer) put it, “You watch TRON and of course you want to ride that lightcycle.” Which is why it’s no surprise the lightcycle is indeed the core of the attraction, even if it wasn’t in the name.

One of the most iconic aspects of the original film and nearly all iterations of the franchise since, the lightcycle makes a big impression the second you see it. Added Kaplan, “Even if you’re not familiar with the TRON story, just being able to ride on a lightcycle in that kind of a unique riding position is really a thrilling experience.”

That aforementioned unique riding position is because the lightcycle is, like in the films, a form of actual cycle and requires you to sit on it accordingly. Rather than a traditional roller coaster seat, you straddle the bike, putting your knees in a bent position so your knees are resting against pads, as you lean forward. The only Disney attraction I’ve experienced anything similar for is Flight of Passage in Animal Kingdom’s Pandora: The World of Avatar, but this feels even more notable both as far as the position you’re getting into and how you’re secured to keep you safe for the fast-moving ride that follows.

You’re locked into place, compete with a back piece that, in a fun touch, displays your Identity Disc – one of many elements on the vehicles that lights up in that distinct TRON manner (while you obviously can’t see your own back, unless you’re seated in the front row, you can see the lit up discs on the riders ahead of you).

Steven Lisberger recalled knowing the lightcycles were working early on while making the original TRON. “When I first saw the lightcycles actually rendered, I can remember seeing it for the very first time with a bunch of guys on the TRON team and it was unbelievable. We knew what we were supposed to be looking at but we still couldn’t believe it when we saw it.”

When it came to translating the lightcycle into a theme park attraction, Walt Disney World’s Steven Miller (Senior Manager, Corporate Social Responsibility) noted, “We always talk about unique ride vehicles and unique experiences and this certainly lends itself to that. That sensation is unlike anything and it’s one of the fastest coasters that you’re gonna find at any Disney park.”

One person impressed by the new TRON ride was Tron himself, actor Bruce Boxleitner, who played both Alan Bradley and the title character in both TRON and the 2010 sequel, TRON: Legacy. Shortly after going on Lightcycle/Run for the first time, Boxleitner told Fandom, “I’ve never moved that fast in my life. I’m 72 years old, and I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ As I was walking up to it, it felt like I was on a film set… When it took off, it was a blur.”

He added, with a laugh, “I’m not a big roller coaster guy but I had to do this. It was a matter of honor. I’m the original Tron! It was thrilling in every sense of that word. Scary. Fun. All of those things. It just blew me away. And you know, when you’re watching it go by, it looks a tad slower. When you’re on that thing, boom, it’s like being shot out of a cannon.”

THE PRESENTATION

The one frequent complaint I had heard about TRON Lightcycle / Run before my visit was that many felt the ride was over too quickly. And indeed, now that I’ve been on it, I would agree with that. It is definitely on the shorter side for a coaster-based attraction of this sort and it’s hard to not wish it lasted longer. There’s a great sequence near the end where screens are used to visualize the lightcycles of an opposing team racing alongside you and I would have loved to have gotten a bit more of that, along with some other elements.

However, I ultimately thought the entire experience was terrific and well worth guests time for a couple of reasons. First is that while the ride is a short one, it’s certainly exciting and thrilling, complete with its initial launch – which takes you outdoors for a brief portion – and then as you hurtle back inside and through various gates needed to complete and finish the race. The ride vehicle and how you sit on it like it’s an actual bike really add to the feeling that you are very much racing forward.

But the other reason Lightcycle / Run is successful is the entire way it’s presented and specifically the attraction building and the crucial role it serves in transporting you into the world of TRON. TRON is notable for its very striking and iconic aesthetics, both from the original film and the expanded and updated version presented in TRON: Legacy.

The entire show building for Lightcycle / Run factors in those visuals, with the conceit being, as Miller explained, that you’re able to go into the Grid itself thanks to TRON: Legacy’s Sam Flynn. Said Miller, of the attraction’s storyline, “This takes place after TRON: Legacy. So this is a gateway into the Grid, the second one that Sam has created.” The first gateway? The earlier version of the TRON attraction, named TRON Lightcycle Power Run, which opened in 2016 at Shanghai Disneyland.

There is a fantastic moment in the queue where you are “digitized” and transported to the Grid, done via a wonderful reveal of what is ahead of you and just how large the interior of the building is – and how effective the lighting and large scale design (and the great music from TRON: Legacy) is at making you feel like you’re in TRON. It’s a moment that brought forth audible gasps from guests during my times going through the queue.

Miller is himself a lifelong TRON mega-fan and has introduced the films to his children, which made it particularly fun for him to bring his family to the attraction. “That moment when you first get digitized and transported to the grid, that reveal… It is such a thrill. I will never forget their faces. They were screaming with excitement.”

Lisberger said, with a chuckle, that TRON Lightcycle / Run is “More thrilling than I ever imagined it would be. But I have to say, being an old man, it’s too intense for me. But I survived it.” But he also noted, admiringly, “It’s a beautiful ride… And I like the fact that when one walks in, one feels really small. You know, when you go on the internet, you’re really small. It’s a huge creation of mankind, the digital domain and the internet. And the ride captures that; the strength and the power and the beauty of that creation. It’s all there in that ride.”

TRON Lightcycle / Run is the first significant addition to Tomorrowland at Magic Kingdom in quite awhile and also dramatically changes the visual landscape of the area, with TRON now sitting right by Space Mountain as two dramatic and distinctive structures. Said Lauren Niederhiser (Senior Project Controls Estimator), “Very specifically, the architecture of the [TRON Lightcycle / Run] canopy and the architecture of Space Mountain melded so well together it really added to the skyline of tomorrow. We’re really proud of that juxtaposition and how it all came together.”

Miller also appreciated how the two show buildings tell a story about the evolution of theme park attractions, noting, “It’s amazing to see the technology and how much it has evolved from the Space Mountain days when they were using this computer controlled track and it was the first of its kind. It was really the next phase of Walt Disney World [after it opened], which was Tomorrowland adding Space Mountain and the PeopleMover and Carousel of Progress and all these other attractions… they really built that out. Now to have it advanced even so much more here is great.”

In fact, the Walt Disney World Railroad train, which circles the entire park, also runs right through where the two large Tomorrowland attractions sit and Miller added, “I love the juxtaposition between not only TRON Lightcycle / Run and Space Mountain but then the steam train that goes right by. It’s just a nice mixing of technology. All different, unique thrills and all different, unique ways to look at Walt Disney World.”

One other important note about the visuals of TRON Lightcycle / Run: If you can go on it at night, I would say that is preferable. It’s a fun ride anytime of day and the interior of the queue (which has no windows, naturally) looks awesome regardless, but the outside canopy looks so much more impressive at night all lit up. In addition, the early portion of the ride where you travel outside feels more intense at night with the lighting adding to the ambiance, including the way the canopy actually changes colors as you pass through it. Obviously, it can be a whole other hurdle to make your schedule fit (or even to guarantee you can get on) at night, but if you can do it, it does enhance the experience.

TRON’S (ACTUAL) LEGACY

TRON has continued to gain fans through the decades, something Boxleitner thinks has to do with how forward thinking it was. “It’s a world we’re actually living. Look at the rise of the video game, and how lifelike they are now. Look at how fast that technology has come about since Pac-Man and Donkey Kong and things like that. We had those arcade machines. I always say that Hollywood, when [TRON] came out, didn’t quite know where to put it. But those kids pumping quarters into arcade machines got it and they got it immediately. Well, now they’ve all grown up,” as he noted that he realized the filmmakers behind TRON: Legacy, including director Joseph Kosinski, had almost all grown up loving the original.

He described TRON as “sort of a little Alice in Wonderland story of somebody thrust into another world, but it predicted what we’re living now and the age of information and the [evolution of the] computer itself.” He nodded to my iPhone, adding, “What you’re recording me on! And we didn’t have those things.”

TRON: Legacy Co-Producer Justin Springer – who has continued to help oversee the franchise in other projects since – agreed, noting, “Steven [Lisberger] was thinking so far ahead in 1982 that people are just starting to understand it now. And so it keeps it relevant. And then I also just think it’s such a unique aesthetic. It’s not like anything else, no matter what superhero movies come out or other sci fi franchises hit the movie theaters or find their way into the parks, TRON does still feel as distinct from those things. And so it’s it’s very adoptable, identifiable style that I think kind of pops into people’s imaginations.”

THE FUTURE

Lightcycle / Run is not the only new addition to TRON about to debut, as April also sees the release of the new video game TRON: Identity from developer Mike Bithell, who had his own deep admiration for the series. Said Bithell, of working in the TRON universe, “You can close your eyes, you can imagine what TRON looks like. You would often think that those are the easiest worlds to translate. But what happens when you’re looking at something like that is you realize the immense craft that went into that. It’s actually kind of easier to build new stuff in a world that’s less well designed. This is such an immaculately designed world, but Legacy specifically is a visual kind of starting point for this [game]. You chip away at it, and you realize, oh, there are layers of clever on every frame.”

As beloved as TRON is, there are always going to be people who have yet to see the films, particularly kids. Walt Disney Games’ Heidi Vargas, who is part of the TRON: Identity team, remarked, “TRON: Legacy was my first introduction to the brand and the film franchise, and it made me want to explore everything else that was out there. And hopefully, folks will come to the parks and ride the ride and want to find something else and new and exciting to explore on their own. Having the game available next month, it’s just so exciting that everything’s sort of working out. We’re providing someone who maybe is brand new to the franchise something that they can explore and really delve into.”

Of course the question then becomes (or remains, to be fair)… what about a new TRON movie? There has been talk of a third TRON ever since Legacy opened but recently, there were reports that the project – referred to as TRON: Ares and with Jared Leto attached to star last we heard – could potentially finally go into production relatively soon.

When I asked Springer about these reports, he smiled and replied, “It’s closer than it has been, but that’s kind of always the case. But we’re working on it. I’ve wanted to make another TRON movie for a long time and now does feel like the time. It does feel like there’s more in the zeitgeist around some of these ideas that TRON explores, so it’d be a great time to be able to do one. I feel like there’s a lot of stories and themes that could allow us to kind of comment on what’s going on.”

However, Springer cautioned, “There’s a lot of stuff that has to come together. And we’re also trying to put all the pieces together and make that possible. When we made TRON: Legacy, we had to find a reason for it to need to exist beyond what Steven had already done. And I think with any other film that we make, we’re all trying to pass that test ourselves with it. Why does this have a reason for being now? Why do we need to go back to this world? That’s why it’s taken a while. We’ve been trying to answer that question. We want to make sure we have something that satisfies ourselves.”

Lisberger, who was a producer on TRON: Legacy, said they also had to keep in mind other films and series influenced by TRON and not wanting to repeat elements of those, remarking, “You know, the TRON story has actually become kind of a genre over the years. Our new invention has now caught up with us and how are we going to deal with that? And so it raises the bar even higher to be relevant. But there are aspects of TRON I think that are unique to TRON that enable us to explore storylines in a way that other films can’t.”

TRON Lightcycle / Run is currently operating in a limited soft opening capacity at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom through April 2 and officially opens on April 4.

Star Wars on Disney’s New Cruise Ship Includes Caged Porgs and Tasty Drinks

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I have to begin this article on a somber note, acknowledging the recent death of the great Lance Reddick, who sadly passed away on Match 17, just a couple of weeks after I spoke to him and his co-stars at the John Wick: Chapter 4 junket. You’ll see a couple of quotes from Reddick below, who brought his innate aura of confidence and authority you felt throughout his work to the role of Charon in the John Wick films and will be greatly missed.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is quite an accomplishment, filling its 169 minute running time with some truly phenomenal and jaw-dropping action sequences that are amazing to behold. The Wick series has proven to be an especially impressive franchise, with three crowd-pleasing hit films in a row and a new one that seems poised for even greater success and is already boasting some terrific reviews.

Read on for what Keanu Reeves, franchise director Chad Stahelski and returning cast members Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, and Laurence Fishburne had to say about what has kept the series so popular, the backstories of the supporting characters, and the psyche of Mr. John Wick.

MAKING WICK TICK

Fandom recently asked clinical psychologist Dr. Drea Letamendi to provide a psychological profile of John Wick, based on what we’ve seen of the character in the first three films and his notably laser focused and lethal approach. This is, after all, a guy who’s now going into his fourth film of what is a rather insane killing spree – albeit of other contract killers and criminals – all of which was motivated by the death of his dog in the first film.

At one point, Dr. Drea wrote, of John Wick’s neverending body count:

Wick’s wiring becomes more attuned to dissociation, emotional numbness, cognitive narrowness, and neutrality toward violence, all allowing for improved meticulousness for the craft. The lifestyle, however psychologically hazardous, makes him sharper, faster, better.

Told some of Dr. Drea’s analysis, Keanu Reeves replied, “I would say that the dissociative practices or wiring occurred in his youth and childhood and upbringing. I would counter that he doesn’t have emotional numbness completely. So I would say that he’s compartmentalized. Obviously, because of his passion, his love for his wife, I feel that he is very emotional but I believe that this other character, John Wick, does operate a… not dissociative, but there is dumbness or… I don’t know, it gets tricky. So I agree and I disagree. It would be a conversation. But not wrong!”

Dr. Drea had noted that you see John Wick’s lighter side (relatively speaking) in his bond with characters like Winston and Charon and, of course, through his love of dogs, from the tragically murdered Daisy to the unnamed dog who’s accompanied him on several adventures now and how that latter trait reflects the positive attributes of pet therapy. Reeves said he enjoyed playing those moments and elaborated on his mention of John Wick as a separate identity, observing, “I actually think of the character as two characters. I feel like there’s John the man, the husband. And then there’s John Wick the assassin. And I think that these two parts of this person, this character, have not been synthesized. And I feel like John Wick: Chapter 4 is about that synthesizing… That integration.”

Said director Chad Stahelski, of John’s state of mind, “I think sometimes emotional numbness can also have the reciprocal side of being overly attuned to emotion. And that can be a driving force as well. I think John Wick is in a little bit of a conundrum about what he really wants, and what the effects of that [are]. I think he’s slightly blind to the ramifications or consequences. As you can tell in this movie, it’s about consequences.”

Stahelski elaborated, “John thinks he’s the hero of his own story, but what he’s doing is disrupting other people’s lives and people pay the consequences for his actions. What is that? Narcissistic? Is that psychopathic? We always laugh when we’re doing another scene with John like, ‘Okay, how are we making him look like the jerk this time?’ Because that’s really what he does, it’s just Keanu does it in such a charming way you forget that this is really because he kind of overreacted in the first movie and he couldn’t deal with grief a certain way. So yeah, that’s probably an interesting psychological assessment.”

UPWARD TRAJECTORY

The John Wick series is a rarity in Hollywood, beginning as a relatively small first film that found success to a franchise where each film has made more than the previous one.

Replying to a fan question from CinderHella2024, asking if the John Wick team were surprised by the nearly decade-long popularity they’ve maintained, Stahelski replied, “Completely shocked. Keanu and our little creative team,  we just try to make movies that we want to see. We draw from films we love. Samurai films, westerns… and the fact that we throw it all together and other people like it is kind of tripping us out a little bit. Like who are all you crazy people? We’re very fortunate, but still can’t believe it. You never know. John Wicks don’t come across very well on paper. Kill 80 people for a puppy, ninjas on motorcycles… Let’s have him ride a horse through Brooklyn and then we’ll do it in a desert and then we’ll throw him down 200 stairs. Those don’t ever seem like great ideas when you’re pitching them so you never know how it’s going to come out.”

Ian McShane, who’s played Continental Hotel manager Winston since the first film, remarked, of John Wick’s popularity, “I think you’re always surprised. It was a terrific independent-type movie with a lot of good actors, a great script, and it was an exciting thing and we did it and that was it. Two years later, here we go again. And then suddenly, two years later, there we go again,” noting he and Reddick had just also finished work on the spinoff film Ballerina as well.

Added McShane, “Shows develop their own kind of momentum and this did, but I think that’s mostly due to Keanu and Chad being so involved,” adding he felt the scripts had also maintained the beloved qualities of the first one. “It’s a difficult thing to do, but I think they’ve managed it pretty well over the decade that we’ve been doing it.”

Laurence Fishburne joined the John Wick series with the second film, reuniting with his Matrix co-star Reeves in his role as the Bowery King. For his part, the actor said he wasn’t that surprised by John Wick finding such a loyal audience, “Because I know that Keanu and Chad and their whole team, they set an intention that with each movie that they would make, they would raise the stakes just a little bit more every time and try to do something that was a little unexpected, was a little better than the last time. And they’ve been successful at that. And this movie is really the payoff of all the hard work from 1 to 2 to 3. This movie… It’s huge.”

When Reeves heard me say the Wick films keep gaining in popularity, he didn’t want to jinx the fourth film, saying, “Hopefully it gains in popularity, because we made it with love, and we hope that people appreciate what we did, because it’s for you… and us! But yes, absolutely surprised. And grateful.”

BEFORE JOHN

Winston, Charon, and the Bowery King are among a very small circle John Wick has been able to turn to for help as it seems nearly every other assassin on Earth – and in the John Wick world, wow are there a lot of assassins – has tried to kill him. The nature of the films and their focus on John’s predicaments and the thrilling way he gets out of them mean there’s not a ton of time to get details about the supporting players, with small details sprinkled in for the audience to ponder.

Said Lance Reddick, of what he’s observed about Charon, “Here’s what’s really interesting about that. On my first day of the first film – I always say ‘my first day on the first film’ but I worked one day on that film! – but the first thing that Chad came up to me [to say] in terms of direction, he just said that you always want to get the sense that no matter how genteel and poised Charon is that if something went down, he could reach under the desk and grab a shotgun and take care of business. Interestingly enough, I had been thinking about that before we started shooting. So when he said that to me, it was kind of a nice confirmation. So when the opportunity actually came up for that to happen in John Wick 3, it was not only a pleasant surprise, but it just felt very much in character.”

McShane said he felt it only made sense that if you run a hotel for assassins you’d need to have your own skills, grinning as he told Reddick that, when it came to Charon and Winston, “Charming as they are, you have to the exterior of Ricardo Montalban [in Fantasy Island] and the interior of Bruce Lee.”

A younger Winston will be seen in the upcoming series The Continental, played byColin Woodell , though McShane said he knew nothing about that version. However, McShane and Reddick noted that they’d actually discussed the history between their characters, with Reddick explaining they both agreed it went back decades.

Said McShane, “They are a formidable duo, but they don’t have to prove anything. That’s the great thing. They don’t have to show off. We run the hotel. ‘Anything you need?’ So it’s kind of like surface charm, but don’t f**k with what’s below, you know?”

We know little about the Bowery King’s background but it does stand out that he managed to survive an assassination attempt by eventual ally John Wick, which Fishburne said certainly seemed to identify him as “A pretty tough motherf**ker.”

Beyond that, Fishburne said he hadn’t pondered much of his character’s backstory, explaining, “I don’t need to spend a whole lot of time thinking about any of that, really, as a supporting player in this thing. Particularly with this Chapter 4, my job is to set the table for what you’re about to experience. So I have that sort of Dante-esque kind of poem I start with and bring you into the world, reintroduce you to John, with the full intention of letting you know that he’s ready, he’s strong, he’s prepared and there will be there will be lots of whoopass going on.”

CHAPTER 4‘S STUNNING SEQUENCES

The action sequences in John Wick: Chapter 4 are incredible and involve so many different elements – including tons of actors, stunt performers, sets, props, and much more – it’s rather astounding to behold.

Responding to a fan question from kikisbinky about what the most challenging scene was to pull off, Reeves replied, “First of all, the challenges are the gifts, right? And I would just say the whole thing. There was such an ambition with the vision and the hope for what we could do. And so with the training and the physicality of the role, and that it took place over seven months of filming it, it was just being able to do it day after day.”

Stahelski agreed the film, start to finish, was quite a challenge but did think one sequence stood out, namely a scene that finds John fighting a ton of opponents at Paris’ Arc de Triomphe both on foot and behind the wheel of a car.

Said Stahelski, “Just having that many vehicles, that many people, that many stunts, a dog and gunfire in the middle of all this traffic is always a little tricky. People forget that Keanu is driving that car and he is at 45-50 miles an hour and that is oncoming traffic. And Keanu is weaving through those stunt drivers. Granted, we have certain ways to differentiate what lane to stay in. But the penalty of missing is pretty epic. It is a head on collision at 35-40 miles an hour. So you’re a little puckered up behind the monitor going, ‘Don’t miss, don’t miss, don’t miss!’”

John Wick: Chapter 4 opens March 24.

Analyzing the Baba Yaga: The Psychology of John Wick

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I’ll admit, I wondered how much of a spoiler warning to put at the top of this article, given the huge cameo in Shazam! Fury of the Gods was given away a week before the film opened by Warner Bros. themselves in widely seen commercials for the film. Still, even with that cat out of the bag for those who saw the ads or heard about them, the fact that Wonder Woman appears in the movie is a big deal.

After all, Wonder Woman is one of the most famous DC Comics heroes – or from comic books in general, really. Gal Gadot once more dons the Wonder Woman costume, making her first appearance since Wonder Woman 1984, even as questions swirl about a potential cameo in The Flash and then if we’ll ever see her as the character beyond that, given it’s unclear how much of the current DCEU will be retained once we get the new films and TV series produced for the updated DCU that is being planned by James Gunn and Peter Safran. Superman and Batman will be played by new actors, but could Wonder Woman still look the same given it seems like Aquaman will, given his film opens after The Flash’s in-univese reset?

We shall see! In the meantime though, we have Wonder Woman’s appearance in Fury of the Gods, something the cast and filmakers were quite excited about, especially after the fifrst Shazam! film had an intended cameo from Henry Cavill as Superman fall through and turn into a gag where you never see Superman’s face.

NEEDED: ONE GOD

Director David F. Sandberg revealed that the plan to include Wonder Woman in Fury of the Gods did not come about late in the process, noting, “Right from the start, she was in the script.” That said, he admitted, “I didn’t really believe that it was gonna happen. Because on the first movie, we were supposed to have Superman show up at the end. And then when we shot it, it was like, ‘Okay, well, [Henry Cavill’s] not going to be able to get here so we’re gonna have to shoot it with a stand in and then we’ll pick up the pieces we need.’ And then that never happened so we had to make do with the stand in footage, which turned out kind of fun. But for this one, it felt like we can’t get away with another headless cameo. It has to be real.”

However, Sandberg then feared history was repeating itself, “Because when we were shooting most of that scene, we did it with a stand in because she wasn’t available to do it at the time. So it’s like, ‘Okay, we’re never gonna get her.’”

As Fury of the Gods’ co-screenwriter, Chris Morgan, noted, the idea of having Wonder Woman appear felt natural because “She’s one of the last Gods out there, so it’s very relevant that she’s there at that point of the movie.” Indeed, in the film, Wonder Woman literally saves Shazam’s life, bringing Billy Batson and his alter ego back from the dead by way of being the daughter of Zeus – the same Zeus who provides the Z in Shazam’s name and is part of the source of his powers. Wonder Woman is able to restore both those powers and Billy’s life along with them in one fell swoop.

Sandberg said that while they were waiting to hear if and when Gadot would shoot the scene, “I started thinking about Plan B.” Earlier in the film, Helen Mirren’s god, Hespera – one of the daughters of Atlas – perishes, but Sandberg said he pondered, ‘Can we bring Hespera back? We need some sort of God!’ But then [Gadot] actually did it, which I was very happy about.” He added, with a grin, “It’s good that we are able to show her at the end so we don’t piss people off.”

SHE’S A WONDER

Wonder Woman is one of those rare comic book characters whose mainstream fame, simply as a pop culture touchstone, goes far beyond those who read comic books or even the many who go to comic book movies. A ton of people have some sense of who the character is, even if they’ve never actually seen one of her stories told.

As far as including a character that notable in their film, Zachary Levi (“Shazam”) said he was thrilled, remarking, “You know, we got a little taste of it in the first one but ended up having a headless Supes, which was what it was, but to bring a bonafide other superhero, a Justice Leaguer, into the mix, and that Gal was down to do it… As a fan of comics myself, who wants to make movies that are delighting other comic book fans, DC fans, I love that. I love that we were able to give that because that’s stuff that we our minds get blown for.”

Most of the cast learned about the plan for the cameo from the script, with Grace Caroline Currey (“Mary Bromfield / Super Hero Mary”) saying, “Oh my gosh, I remember when I read it in the script and I was like, ‘Wait a second. Wait, no… Wait, what? We are??’ It was really exciting.”

D.J. Cotrona (“Super Hero Pedro”) referred to Wonder Woman as “The definition of iconic. It’s interesting, because we obviously are connected to and touch on the Greek gods in our property. And DC, and Comic books in general, are our new Greek gods in a way that we use in entertainment and as reference and DC has this pantheon of gods. You have Superman, you have Wonder Woman, and everybody that kind of branches off. So to have one of the greatest icons in all of comic book history come at such a pivotal point for our story and to interact with all of our characters and get us out of a tough situation was very, very cool.”

There have been some online rumors that Wonder Woman was going to have a larger role in Fury of the Gods at one point, but Sandberg said that was incorrect, explaining, “It was always just a cameo at the end. I don’t know where all sorts of rumors come from because it was always going to be a Shazam! movie first and foremost. And I think she would have stolen a lot of the thunder, so to speak, if she had been a part of the whole movie.”

WONDER HONSOU

Gal Gadot’s cameo is the payoff to an earlier scene in the movie in which Billy dreams he’s on a date with Wonder Woman, which delivers two big sources of comedy. The first is that as Billy speaks to her, Wonder Woman’s face is never shown, nor does she speak, in a clear nod to the “Headless Supes” from the first movie, making it seem like this will now be an ongoing bit through the Shazam! films, rather then ever actually having a big guest appearance. As Sandberg put it, he felt them actually having Gadot appear in the film’s conclusion, “Enabled ourselves to poke fun at the first movie and the headless cameo a little bit.”

Beyond that in-joke, things get to a far more surreal place when the Wizard, needing to contact Billy, hijacks his dream and appears as the head on Wonder Woman’s body – giving us the unexpected visual of Djimon Honsou with the body and costume of Wonder Woman.

Many of the cast agreed this was a standout scene for them, with Cotrona recalling,. “Somebody showed me a monitor clip when they were shooting that on the day, just like a two second clip, and I was just laughing because it’s so funny, visually.” He added that he loved how, “The scene just goes on and on and he’s giving this very serious exposition…”

Said Currey, “It’s one of my favorite scenes. When I read the script I was like, ‘This is hilarious. I am so glad we’re going here.’”

While Honsou didn’t don the full Wonder Woman costume to film his portion, he did need to have her flowing locks and Ross Butler (“Super Hero Eugene”) smiled, recalling, “I remember seeing him on set that day and I could not [believe it]. He comes out of this black SUV that took him to set and he’s just sweeping his hair back. We’re like, ‘Djimon!?’”

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now playing.

Shazam Cast Debate Who the Most Powerful Members of the Family Are

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This is an updated version of an article originally published Oct 14, 2020. 

Mario is one of the most famous characters in video game history for good reason. This humble plumber was the hero of Donkey Kong in 1981 and was elevated to title status with 1983’s Mario Bros., where we also learned her had a brother named Luigi. But things really changed, and the character’s legendary status was cemented, with the release of Super Mario Bros. in 1985.

With Mario about to return to the big screen — following less than stellar results in live-action in 1993 — in a much-anticipated animated new film, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, we’re looking back at times that Mario, in addition to saving the Mushroom Kingdom, has ended up elevating and evolving gaming itself.

Heroic Beginnings

Much more than a mascot, Mario is one of the reasons that home consoles exist as we know them today. Prior to the release of Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, the video game industry was in turmoil. Largely due to the marked success of Atari and other home consoles in the early 1980s, tech manufacturers began to flood the market with various games and systems, even ordering double or triple the projected sales for some of their games. The bubble finally burst in late 1983, leaving people to believe that home gaming was over, and that kids would have to move back to arcades — in fact, plenty of analysts assumed that the NES would be a massive failure at its American launch.

The release of Super Mario Bros. flipped this expectation on its head. The launch of the game, and particularly the coveted ‘Nintendo Seal of Quality’ calmed investors and gamers that questioned the diminishing quality of games in the ’80s. Between the game’s expert platforming design and endearing soundtrack, it became a massive hit, and Nintendo ended up with 98% of the video game market share after its release.

The Super Mario series itself went on to solidify many of the practices we see in games, particularly in Nintendo’s game design. Through the remainder of the ’80s, Nintendo refined both Mario’s character and the Mushroom Kingdom’s, adding familiar enemies like Shy Guys and Bob-ombs, while also introducing faces like the Koopalings and Princess Daisy. This wide cast of characters would set the stage for Nintendo’s vast library of spinoffs, taking Mario and friends through sports, education, and even medicine. They also inspired other developers to follow suit, like Sega’s introduction of Knuckles and Tails to Sonic the Hedgehog’s games.

1996…. The Future!

Mario’s 2D games have received their own re-releases throughout the years, but when it was time for Super Mario Bros.’ 35th anniversary in 2020, the focus steered towards Mario’s 3D games. This wasn’t shocking, given those games have often been quite influential in their own right. Super Mario 64, the first chronological game in the 2020 3D collection, had a massive impact on games. Besides being a notable early example of a game being extremely ‘hyped’ in terms of pre-release, it was also the first first-party Nintendo game to render Mario in full, 3D glory.

It helped to flesh out the Mushroom Kingdom, allowing Mario to travel throughout both the castle and its surroundings through the game’s paintings. It’s also the first game ever to feature a moveable 3D camera, cleverly designed to be handled through Lakitu’s movements. This, combined with an open world, gave Mario a level of freedom and maneuverability that was revolutionary for platformers at the time. Mario had always been one of Nintendo’s test series to show the new capabilities of their systems; Super Mario 64 was Nintendo’s announcement that the Nintendo 64 was going to be the future.

Motion Controls Galore

Just as Super Mario 64 made a statement about the N64, 2007’s Super Mario Galaxy was similarly used to show the graphical and motion capabilities of the Nintendo Wii. Galaxy featured several ideas that Shigeru Miyamoto and the rest of the Mario team toyed with in previous tech demos, and even in some special levels in 2002’s Super Mario Sunshine. The tactile movability was brand new in Mario games, and introduced the idea of letting the player manipulate the environment as they controlled Mario. The use of gravity mechanics was far different from anything we’d seen the mustachioed hero do to date, and combined with his penchant for jumping, it was, naturally, a success. The game also introduced best girl Rosalina, and her army of adorable Lumas. Super Mario Galaxy was so popular, it was one of the only 3D Mario games to receive a direct sequel; even 64 and Sunshine couldn’t pull that off!

The next time Nintendo used the series to show off its hardware, it released some of its best entries into the Mario franchise. The Wii U saw innovations in how Nintendo wanted fans to manipulate the environments of Mario games. 2015’s Super Mario Maker allowed fans to create custom Mario levels using proprietary Nintendo developer tools, which both introduced new ideas for levels and catapulted Mario into the eSports space. Super Mario Maker and its sequel introduced Mario to massive new audiences on Twitch, which previously only saw Mario popularity during new releases or speedruns. Nintendo even introduced its own competitive scene for the game, one of the rare times it has actively supported pro competitive play.

Mario’s adventures through the Mushroom Kingdom and beyond helped to shape Nintendo as we know into the modern era and their current system, Nintendo Switch, and games like Super Mario 3D World. It’s an innovative, creative company that commits itself to testing new ideas and technology with each new iteration.

In a speech at GDC 2011, Shigeru Miyamoto said, “It isn’t about ‘games’, for me, personally, and it never really was. It was about creating something- anything- far bigger than yourself.”

Mario’s use, not just as a mascot, but as a pioneering character means that for many of us, our formative gaming years have been touched in some way by his mustachioed smile. As Miyamoto said, Mario is bigger than him and, honestly, bigger than just his own stories and adventures. Through several decades now, Mario has seen us through the revival of home gaming, the movement from 2D to 3D graphics, and the integration of motion controls and new, immersive mechanics.

Visiting the Mushroom Kingdom in Real Life at Universal’s Super Nintendo World

The post How Mario Changed (And Keeps Changing) Gaming appeared first on Fandom.

As John Wick: Chapter 4 arrives, Fandom asked clinical psychologist Dr. Drea Letamendi to provide a profile for the notoriously skilled assassin at the center of the John Wick series. Read on to for Dr. Drea’s analysis!

He is known as Baba Yaga, or, the Boogeyman. John Wick’s unmatched talent for killing has earned him the reputation of an elusive, feared, and almost supernatural figure at an international level. He is an expert strategist, master marksman, and efficient hunter. When he got into the business, Wick’s motivations were not unlike the pursuits of any mercenary in the mob: killing is profitable. It’s just a job.

Wick is typically quiet-mannered and unexpressive. When he’s off the clock, he does not seek fights, and avoids unnecessary conflicts. If a stranger brazenly confronts him at a gas station, Wick will rebuff the man and drive away. And while he may be aware of his virtuoso reputation and even find some self-worth in his professional achievements, Wick’s desired outcome is efficiency. Finesse. Objectivity. Like most hired hitmen, it’s not personal. But when Wick experiences a string of meaningful losses, his urge to slaughter goes into overdrive. He is unwilling to stand down until he achieves a self-defined personal justice, no matter how bloody. Once someone as proficient and unstoppable as Wick is fueled by psychological injury, the result is a dangerous, formidable antihero.

Successful Killers

Risk is a necessary evil in the assassin lifestyle. Successful contract killers see what they do as their occupation, toward a profitable end, so they view their acts as self-sacrificing, committed, principled, and financially justified. Wick is consistently cool and collected when he works. He carries the attributes identified in real-life assassins. For one, he lacks a conscience. Despite even his most gruesome or extreme killings, he does not regret his decisions. Wick can grow wary, even exhaust himself, but he is as resolute at the end of the mission than at the beginning. The finality of his work is not a mystery or fantasy: he does it and moves on.

Professional killers must also be cunning and think outside of the box in order to achieve their goals. Wick’s unconventional features are the reason he’s gained a reputation. His most talked about feat is killing three men with a single pencil. He’s extremely knowledgeable and can outsmart his opponents. A related feature of successful contract killing is adaptability. Wick has an ability to improvise different tools to get the job done (pencils, cars, furniture, anything can be converted into a deadly weapon).

Two critical features exhibited by most professional assassins include risk-taking and restlessness. Typically, John is unfazed by high stakes and dangerous situations. He may enter conditions that are highly precarious and is willing to outlast his opponent. As far as restlessness, Wick craves drama and excitement in the form of physicality and close combat.

Like other assassins, Wick found the conditions of his early life meaningless, and channeled all of his strengths and interests toward attuning a repertoire of hunting and slaying. When he first joined the mob, Wick was using the name Jardani Jovonavich. Only a few in the syndicate were aware that he was forced to ditch his old name and switch to the moniker Jonathan Wick. When Wick worked, he was emotionless. Unreadable. Feeling neither sustainable joy nor sadness, and indifferent to death, Wick spent most of his adult life with few interpersonal attachments aside from cold, impersonal loyalties of criminal organizations. Assassins tend to have fragile and superficial connections to people and things, because they know the lifestyle requires them to sever or abandon attachments frequently and fast. They typically have no significant others in their lives, so they set themselves up to have little to lose and a lot of freedom. Real-world research shows that hitmen operate best when they “compartmentalize” or detach themselves from others, especially their victims. They bury their feelings quite adeptly, seeing people as mere targets, jobs, or a means to an end.

“The bodies [Wick] buried that day laid the foundation for what the organization is today.” – Viggo Tarasov

Like switching his name, Wick is able to compartmentalize and switch emotions as well. He’s able to recognize his work as grisly and bad, but can separate the moral gruesomeness from his sense of self. Wick does not perceive himself as a bad guy; he just does what’s necessary for the job. Thus, when Wick informs his employer Viggo Tarasov, the leader of the Tarasov Mob, that he’d like to get out of the business for good, he’s willing to satisfy Tarasov’s last request. Viggo sends Wick on a nearly impossible if not suicidal job: kill all of Viggo’s enemies in a single night. And Wick is successful in completing his part of the deal, consequently elevating the Tarasov mob as a criminal empire.

Someone, or Something, to Love

When Wick leaves the business, his home life is quiet, safe, and gentle. Showing love and affection for his partner, Helen, seems to come naturally. Shortly after marrying, Helen buys Wick a vintage car, which will become a symbol of their unity.

Five years after they are married, Helen succumbs to a terminal illness. Wick is at her side when she dies. Losing a spouse this way can be considered traumatic even if the death was anticipated. It isn’t necessarily the specific nature of the death that makes it traumatic, but how the event was interpreted by the survivor. Did he perceive it as cruel? Undeserved? Preventable? Helen’s passing occurred in the protected environment of a hospital room but still had the capacity to shock, terrify, and overwhelm Wick’s worldview.

The death of a loved one is considered traumatic if it occurs without warning, if it is untimely, involves violence, suffering, or bodily violation, or if the survivor regards the death as unfair and unjust. Research shows that PTSD, for instance, can indeed occur after a person experiences losing someone close to them to terminal illness. Furthermore, as the surviving partner, having to make medical decisions about treatment options, life support, and posthumous bodily integrity can prolong or deepen Wick’s traumatic experience. His response to the trauma is a reasonable one, as he displays an affectionate and loving goodbye, and celebrates Helen’s life by holding onto her belongings, saving videos depicting their time together, and contemplating their companionship.

Wick’s grief, though it begins in an unremarkable way, happens to be the beginning of a psychological spiral. When he abandoned the mob and his life as an assassin, Wick thought he could start over. Like changing his name and compartmentalizing violence itself, Wick believed he could create a world for himself that would be predictable, fair, and fulfilling. He believed he was in control of his life by securing a loving partner, a safe home to share, and a chance for a long future together.

The values of family, togetherness, safety, and trust were new priorities for Wick, who let go of a life of constant violence, bloodshed, contingencies, and risk. Losing his wife to an illness introduces a threatening concept and raises doubts that his life, no matter how he engineers it, will be gratifying. The most significant revelation is Wick’s ability to form an attachment to someone not based in affectless blood oaths but in reciprocal tenderness. This life experience would not be discarded like a body—this one becomes integrated into Wick’s worldview. Because the attachment is ripped away from him unfairly and with randomness, Wick knows he must find a way to reconcile his traumatic grief without guns and blades.

Rage Therapy: Does it Work?

Shortly after Helen’s death, Wick is surprised by a delivery. It’s a final gift from his wife, a puppy named Daisy. Still gutted, but a bit eased, Wick doesn’t hesitate to care for the dog.

“You still need something—someone—to love.” – Helen’s note to John

The morning after he receives his new puppy, Wick drives over to a private airport field. Security on post waves him in with a familiar nod; this is a habit. Wick spends the morning speeding across the runway, performing tactful and controlled maneuvers with his car. The acceleration and sharp turns would be risky were it handled by anyone other than Wick. His recklessness is mechanical. Almost automatic. But it’s a display of someone unhinged. Explosive. Adrift. Wick engages in this activity to get his heart pumping, to feel alive, to reach the high of the adrenaline he used to savor before retirement. It’s a release of pent-up rage—he uses his car to channel grief-related guilt, loneliness, and even physical pain into something accessible—and the tension, shakiness, and fear are completely controlled.

Driving recklessly with the intent to spike mood is considered an adrenaline dump, a method to achieve a satisfying feeling for a depressed or understimulated brain. Wick knows too well that extreme peaks of adrenaline will be followed by the chemical cooldown of the compound known as dopamine. After a reckless episode, he’ll feel a short-lived wave of pleasure and peace. A comfy fog that will wrap him up, that will ease and soften the edges of his anguish.

Wick’s display of violent energy can also be a form of emotional catharsis. And it’s for sale. Since the pandemic, the emergence and profitability of “break rooms” and “rage rooms” can be telling. One company whose slogan is, cheekily, “take it out on us!” offers a padded studio where clients can whack and destroy old printers, computer equipment, and furniture. They’re armed with pipes, bats, sledgehammers, and given items to break such as glass bottles. Another popular company offers stacks of cheap dishware patrons can throw against a wall. In these safe and permissible environments, clients indulge their destructive desires through timed, performative “episodes.” Rage rooms have become a socially acceptable if not trendy way to relieve stress, but do they actually work?

While smashing things can feel powerful, there is scientific evidence that violent cathartic “activity” fails to dissolve hostility in general. Destructive behavior doesn’t address the underlying issues within someone’s psyche, and in some cases, rowdy rampages may even perpetuate tendencies for further violence. Studies examining rage behavior show a positive correlation with more extreme and anti-social forms of violence. Findings even demonstrate higher levels of measured aggression in people who had supposedly vented their anger than in those who had done nothing at all with their anger.

It should be noted that a more formal version of rage rooms, “rage therapy,” is an alternative practice promoted in the wellness industry that involves the intentional and safe release of intense negative emotions. Typically facilitated by an anger management counselor, rage therapy can offer a temporary relief of pent-up anger and may even provide a small boost of empowerment, self-confidence, and uninhibition. A safe item (like an inflatable bat or raw eggs or paint) serves as an object that not only helps externalize an unresolved emotion, but can give control back into someone’s hands.

Rage therapy is considered a comparatively safe alternative to high-risk and impulsive behaviors that distressed people may indulge in, such as excess substance use, binges, instigation of fights, and serious self-injury such as cutting. And with someone like Wick who has a high pain tolerance and can easily sustain serious wounds, considering how to disentangle emotional pain from physical pain is critical.

Regarding rage rooms, commodifying violent expression is hardly an adaptive way to teach us how to handle unresolved trauma or distress. It should be noted, however, that an abundance of research shows that people who are likely to feel overwhelmed with emotions like anguish and shame can benefit from harmless physical actions like squeezing oranges, dunking our face in a bowl of ice water, or simply tensing and relaxing our muscle groups. These activities can calm and subvert the impulse to self-harm or engage in more destructive behavior toward ourselves or others.

Bottom line, if someone is willing to smash a plate instead of engaging in non-suicidal self-injury (e.g., cutting oneself with the intent to allay emotional pain), rage therapy can be considered a win. Therapists will note that healthier outlets such as dancing, singing, painting, gardening, sculpting, and other whole-body movements are ultimately less dangerous and serve to upregulate positive emotions, not negative ones. Being the murder machine he is, it is likely that Wick’s recklessness serves as a habit than anything actually curative.

Double Jeopardy 

While he’s grieving, Wick experiences a second, compounding traumatic loss. Unexpectedly, his house is raided by Viggo’s son, Iosef. In the middle of the night, the gang of intruders brutally attack Wick and abuse his dog. Wick is severely beaten to unconsciousness, and wakes up to discover his pet’s limp body. His prized car is stolen, his house ransacked, and his heart is shattered. Wick feels as if he’s lost everything, and this isn’t unrealistic to feel. When we deal with multiple losses, it is called cumulative grief. Wick isn’t given a chance to heal from one loss before facing another. He is experiencing a mix of painful and conflicting emotions: sadness, outrage, numbness, loneliness, rage, all at once.

“When Helen died, I lost everything…That dog [gave me] some semblance of hope…an opportunity to grieve unalone.” – John Wick to Viggo Tarasov

Most of the trauma psychotherapists see in our offices is interpersonal trauma, which occurs in the context of attachment relationships. Other types of trauma, such as car accidents, natural disasters, and random violence can certainly be difficult to overcome, but tend to resolve on their own. The thing about interpersonal trauma is that it messes with our brain’s wiring related to human connections. The more Wick experiences violence and loss inflicted by other people, the more he will emotionally detach and dissociate.

Gun violence specifically leads Wick to form a barrier between himself and his assailants. He is not in the present moment with others, furthering his ability to dehumanize or disconnect with them. And, as vengeance for his dog’s abuse pulls him back into the life of professional killing, Wick will then continue to absorb interpersonal violence, perpetuating a cycle of detachment and desensitization. Continued exposure to extreme violence is like doubling down on this neurobiological mechanism, in as much as Wick’s wiring becomes more attuned to dissociation, emotional numbness, cognitive narrowness, and neutrality toward violence, all allowing for improved meticulousness for the craft. The lifestyle, however psychologically hazardous, makes him sharper, faster, better.

Pet Therapy

Close relationships are by far one of the strongest predictors of good mental health. According to decades of research, companionship is the second most important factor leading to lifelong contentment. Friendships, intimate relationships, and even casual exchanges give us a sense of well-being, belongingness, and opportunities for validation. Social isolation is a stressor. Even 1-2 relationships are significantly better than none at all. People with few or no close relationships tend to show longstanding or chronic “fight or flight mode” when studied. They have higher levels of cortisol, more inflammation, and more medical problems. Bonds matter.

Can pets offer the same benefits as human companions? Our attachments to pets are relatively good for our health. Studies show that dogs can reduce depression and ease loneliness. Simply spending time with pets can raise levels of “feel-good” brain chemicals such as oxytocin and dopamine. And interacting with pets through petting or playing has been shown to decrease levels of cortisol in humans. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), dogs are particularly helpful because of their unremitting attention to humans: “Dogs know how to sit with humans and be loving.” In fact, animals can even teach humans about mindfulness, which is the practice of attention, intention, compassion and awareness. Animals do this innately.

“It wasn’t just a puppy.” – John Wick

Caring for an animal can also be healing. Studies show that even the smallest gesture such as feeding fish can lead to a pet owner taking better care of themselves. Tending to an animal gives structure to someone who may be grieving, and elicits feelings of compassion and affection outside of themselves. For clarification, there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that pets can treat mental illness but it is very possible that pet ownership can augment or strengthen health outcomes by improving a sense of responsibility, igniting feelings of connection, and restoring purpose in life.

Pet therapy, the formal use of trained animals—typically in hospital settings—involves structured sessions in which patients co-regulate with animals by holding, petting, and talking to them. With only a few sessions, pet therapy can lead to decreased stress levels, lowered anxiety, and improved patient satisfaction in their treatments. And over time, formal pet therapy can lead to higher energy, better self-esteem, and improved social skills.

John acquires his second dog when he stumbles into a veterinary hospital to tend to his wounds. He rescues a pit bull who is scheduled to be euthanized, and although Wick is on the run and still healing from gunshot wounds, the brief bonding with this new friend is genuine and immediately reparative.

It isn’t uncommon for animals to serve as transitional objects for adults. A transitional object is an item used to provide psychological comfort, especially in unusual or distressing situations. It can be soothing because of something called quasi-relational regulation. Relational regulation is the desired feeling of warmth, contentment, and security that result from interacting with or even just thinking about other people. Some things that we do for relational regulation include texting or calling someone, meeting up with someone, and engaging in shared hobbies with someone.

Quasi-relational regulation occurs from interacting not with a loved one, but with the activities, animals, ideas, or objects that remind us of them. This might include imagining what our favorite character in a series might say to us, anticipating future connection such as planning a trip with someone, wearing certain clothes to connect to safe interaction with someone, or holding objects that remind us of someone safe and loving. Wick’s transitional objects include Daisy, his first dog, and his unnamed replacement pup, but may also include his vintage car, a prized possession that reminds him of his wife.

Delivering a Message

Wick ultimately believes that hunting down the men who stole his car and killed his dog will bring him retribution. Furthermore, having a direct hand in their deaths seems to be important to him. But does achieving vengeance truly bring emotional resolution? Will Wick feel mended or find peace from this violence? Sadly, no matter how exhilarating it may feel, viciousness rarely plays out like a remedy. One reason for this is that we tend to overestimate the relief we think we’ll feel when we punish someone who’s wronged us—we’re far too optimistic. And revenge may seem like it could be satisfying to us because of what is known as “comparative suffering,” the karma-like concept that witnessing our offender getting their comeuppance restores an emotional balance to the universe. Humans are fixated on evening the score as a way to reestablish moral justice. The High Table, as a society of professional mercenaries, subscribes to such a balance, and generally survives on the principles of commitments and stated loyalties, principles and rules, and purchasing power to enact the consequences of violations.

“Whoever comes, whoever It Is, I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them all!” – John Wick

A far more effective strategy for gaining emotional equilibrium is termed the “understanding” type of revenge. That is, revenge can feel successful when our offender understands why the act of vengeance occurred in the first place. Before he kills them, Wick needs his assailants to recognize the weight of their crimes. And, among the community, there is a fair amount of trivialization of those crimes—a car, a dog, who cares? When it comes to Wick, the point is that they took the last connections of his wife away from him. Indignance, ego, and disrespect are all a part of Iosef’s conduct, so Wick will not stop his rampage until his offender truly gets it. Put another way, unacknowledged revenge will feel no better than none at all. Real revenge isn’t just payback; it is about delivering a message.

The Lone Gunman

As an abiding member of the organization, it’s characterologically unlike Wick to break the sacred rule of the Continental Hotel, where no assassinations are allowed. Killing Santino D’Antonio at close range on safe ground not only reveals that Wick is putting his ego above the organization, but that he’s willing to endure the aftermath of excommunication and even death to prove his point. Winston, the New York Continental manager, has no choice but to place a bounty on Wick, but gives him one hour to evade an immediate ambush. While retreating, Wick seeks The Elder, the elusive crime leader who serves above the High Table, to request atonement for his transgression.

“Why do you seek to live?” – The Elder

Seen as a dead man already, Wick is given one last chance to reaffirm his service to the High Table. The Elder asks him to explain his willingness to live, and Wick’s response is about his wife. “To remember us,” he asserts. Wick believes that as long as he lives, he keeps the memory of Helen alive. Existing is the one and final way that their time together can have a place in the world. Wick’s decision to reclaim favor with the High Table is not about ego, but about his healing. The Elder tasks Wick to terminate Winston, but when Wick infiltrates the hotel, both he and Winston lay down their weapons, refusing to engage in a stand-off.

When Wick teams up with Winston and his concierge Charon to defend themselves inside the confines of the Continental, there’s an exchange of positive energy amidst the chaos of bullets and explosions. Between these colleagues exist a level of trust, understanding, and shared motivation: fight the High Table and its oppressive machinery. This new commitment upregulates Wick’s positive emotions, awakening the flow of adrenaline that may explain how he survives the unlevel ambuscade. And—stick with me for this one— for assassins, this is play. A collaboration is a healthy outlet. This social synchronicity (shared, interactive emotions) can be reparative for Wick. Play involves any imaginative, stimulating, and self-directed activity and is removed from the set of rules expected or set for us. Benefits include promoting optimism, taking on other perspectives, thinking outside of the box, and growing fond of others.

Despite depleting an entire army of assassins, Wick finds himself caught by the Adjudicator, with Winston leveraging the option to reclaim his hotel. It’s likely that when Winston appears to betray Wick by shooting him on the roof of the Continental, he knows he’s essentially giving his gritty friend a slim chance to live. Wick sustains a gunshot wound and falls several stories to the ground, but as he is the Baba Yaga, miraculously manages to survive an otherwise deadly ending to this chapter.

Problematic Heroism

John Wick’s melodramatic relentlessness creates a mood we can’t help but get carried away with. He’s an agitator. A fighter. A defender of dogs. But Wick’s story is easily a hyperbolic projection of our shared psyche, permission for the audience to indulge in our wishes to overpower and subdue our enemies. The reality is that traumatic injury feels so horrible and cuts so deep that the fantasy of targeted attacks becomes readily playable in our minds. We feel deserving to spatter our shame, guilt, hopelessness, and rage. So much so that we may not notice that the franchise is a glorified, grandiose portrayal of a mass shooting by a retaliating, disgruntled employee.

What we can glean from Wick’s story is the power and inspiration of self-agency. Nothing can be as liberating as knowing our actions are self-generated, controlled, and directed by our own phenomenal will. Wick’s ability to infiltrate deeper into the organization, to ascend through the elusive hierarchy and face its leader, to subvert its rules and negotiate re-entry into the elite assassin syndicate, profoundly elicits our yearning to take control back in the face of pervasive harms. Wick resists being debilitated by his enemies and instead assesses what he can control—and what he can’t—which is an effective way to manage trauma.

Personal agency isn’t simply about emotional perseverance but also the mental harnessing of our strengths. Wick leverages his expert skills—persistence, survivalism, improvisation—to cling on to the single remaining memento that gives him his humanity. He may have broken nearly every bone in his body to protect it, but his loyalty is toward himself alone.

The post Analyzing the Baba Yaga: The Psychology of John Wick appeared first on Fandom.

Don’t try this at home!

Unless you’re playing a WWE 2K game, of course – then you can straight-up pulverize your friends. The good news is that the latest entry in the series, WWE 2K23, will happily scratch that DDT itch.

Before you step into that ring, Fandom is here to give you a guide to the new and returning mechanics and features so that when taking up the challenge, you’ll be power-bombing your pals in EZ Mode.

The post EZ Mode | WWE 2K23 appeared first on Fandom.

Leave it to Australia to put a fun twist on the apocalypse. The end of the world has had a resurgence in pop culture recently, and Prime Video’s Class of ‘07 is the latest — and one of the greatest, IMO — instalment. Here’s the TL;DR on Class of ‘07: an apocalyptic tidal wave hits during the 10-year reunion of an all-girls high school. Now stranded from the rest of the world — and unsure if the rest of the world is even still alive — the girls must find a way to work together to survive. As if the end of the world wasn’t enough, they’re also stuck on an island with their high school bullies and their ex-best friends who they haven’t seen in 10 years.

It’s a premise we haven’t seen before, made even fresher by the Australian cast and creators, including Emily Browning and Caitlin Stasey. And true to Aussie television form, it’s hilarious with moments of darkness lobbed into the mix to keep things from ever being too saccharine or irreverent. Here’s why we’re loving Class of ‘07 and why it should be your next show to watch.

IT’S HILARIOUS

When I watched the trailer for Class of ‘07, my jaw was on the floor. I knew vaguely that it was a comedy about a high school reunion gone wrong but I didn’t know that half of the school would literally fall into the sea during the party. And that’s only the start! The girls’ rescue and survival efforts quickly spiral. They collectively panic at 4am, sign off their giant “HELP” messages with doodles of breasts, raid the teacher’s supply of confiscated junk food and punch each other in the tit when they’re angry. And there are many more moments that made me genuinely laugh out loud that are too good and too surprising to spoil for you here.

IT’S GOT A GREAT CAST

Class of ‘07 centres on the strained friendship between Zoe (Emily Browning), Amelia (Megan Smart) and Saskia (Caitlin Stasey). They’re all fantastic in the roles, especially Stasey, who plays the ex-high school mean girl with such charm that you never really know if she’s really a changed woman or if she’s secretly still awful. Relative newcomer Smart is also fantastic as Amelia, who’s the emotional core of the show. And Browning’s Zoe breaks up the tense moments with a witty one-liner or a funny facial expression. Together with the supporting cast, which includes Steph Tisdell, Chi Nguyen, Emma Horn, Sarah Krndija and Claire Lovering, the women of Class of ‘07 hold everything together even during the most outrageous moments.

IT ACKNOWLEDGES THAT HIGH SCHOOL IS CHALLENGING FOR EVERYONE

This is quite literally the underlying plot of the show. Main characters Zoe (Emily Browning) and Amelia (Megan Smart) were best friends in high school but had a mysterious falling out. For them, the worst part of the apocalypse is being stuck with each other, as they both blame the other for their friendship breakup and neither knows the truth about why it really happened. This is especially true for Amelia, who was taken out of school for secretive reasons — but we don’t have to know why it happened to know it messed her up.

Interestingly, Class of ‘07 also explores the hidden ways high school can mess us up. Saskia (Caitlin Stasey) was the popular girl at school and quickly slips back into the mean girl role after the disaster. But even she says, “This school f**ked me up in ways that I don’t think you could possibly imagine.” I’m sure no matter what you thought of high school, you’d also hate being stuck back there with your classmates.

IT’S VERY AUSTRALIAN

Here’s a list of Australian jokes and references I counted in the first few episodes of Class of ‘07:

• Wish chips
• Vegemite
• Saying “here if you need” in netball.
• Meat pies from the school canteen
• Abbreviating every word over 5 letters (Zoe calls the apocalypse “the poco”)

IT’S A FEMINIST APOCALYPSE STORY

In addition to food shortages and power outages, the girls are also struggling with depression, anxiety, birth control, hormone injections for IVF and more. It’s refreshing to see a show address things like feminine hygiene and mental health, especially since almost everyone would experience them during a real life apocalypse.

“Don’t for a second underestimate the pain of being back here,” Saskia tells the girls in a rousing motivational speech. “All of our teenage baggage has floated to the surface and now we’re stuck with the people we thought we’d know forever until boys and jobs and forks in the road got in the way.”

Even their survival plan is to divide and conquer, and they establish a society that, for the most part, looks out for one another. Class of ‘07 is a testament to female friendship and the amazing things women can achieve together — even during the end of the world.

Class of ‘07 is now streaming on Prime Video. Start your free 30-day Prime Video trial today.

The post 5 Reasons We Love the All-Female Apocalyptic Comedy Class of ‘07 appeared first on Fandom.

Hey yoooooooooou, Honest Trailers!

We’re going all the way back to 1985 this week for a movie that was, as Cyndi Lauper promised, good enough for Gen X kids and should be good enough for you! But does The Goonies actually hold up? Let’s get Honest about it…

Honest Trailers | The Oscars 2023 (The Best Picture Nominees)

The post Honest Trailers | The Goonies appeared first on Fandom.

HBO’s The Last of Us brought Naughty Dog’s acclaimed video game to the TV-watching masses, serving up a stellar series that was a hit with fans and critics alike. It was also a ratings smash, constantly growing its numbers week over week so that the season finale, “Look to the Light” was the most-watched Sunday episode (there’s a ratings exception listed below).

The story of Joel and Ellie and their cross-country trek through a ravaged wasteland, in a world decimated by a fungal infection that’s transformed most of humanity into monsters, captivated audiences by focusing more on the human characters than the “zombies,” which at this point in the story, 20 years into the apocalypse, were relegated to certain areas of the landscape. But that doesn’t mean the show was devoid of action either, it was just balanced out with a tone of heart and nuance from the cast.

With the first season of The Last of Us wrapped, let’s look at some of the most-searched pages from Fandom readers from the overall run.

The Seasonal Champs

Episode-wise, the winners for Season 1 were Episode 3, “Long, Long Time” – which was highly acclaimed and garnered a lot of attention for straying from the main journey and delivering a beautiful love story – and Episode 5, “Endure and Survive” – which not only had the most “Infected” action of the season but also debuted on a Friday, which allowed it to become an outlier the most-watched episode of the season by default.

The Top 5 most successful pages for all of Season 1, though, break down as follows…

1. The Infected
2. Bill
3. Ellie
4. Bloaters
5. Frank

Within these five you can see evidence of Episodes 3 and 5 being popular, as Bill and Frank from “Long, Long Time” has an entire backstory spooled out for us and Episode 5 giving us a monstrous “Bloater,” which is the rarest and most dangerous version of an Infected human. The Infected themselves were at the top, which makes sense for several reasons. Some who played the games did wish the show had more of the Infected appearing, to be sure. But as far as zombie shows go, the horrifying Cordyceps takeover of civilization, which is based on real science, is something new to behold for those who never played the games and many would want to know how it all works.

Don’t worry, Joel fans, our reluctant, grieving hero (or anti-hero) came in a 6 on the list, so just outside of the Top 5. The seventh entry was intriguing though since it was the “Rat King” from the game’s sequel – think Bloater but ten times worse.

Human Nature

If one were to break down the top-searched page by episode though, there are some interesting results. Humans truly were the name of the game, despite the Infected being the overall winner for the season, page-wise. After the first two episodes, where fans were probably getting the lay of the Cordyceps land given this fresh take on the zombie genre, the rest of the season mostly had human characters as the standouts.

Here are the top pages per episode…

Episode 1: The Infected

Episode 2: The Infected

Episode 3: Bill

Episode 4: Henry

Episode 5: Infected

Episode 6: Tommy Miller

Episode 7: Riley Abel

Episode 8: David

Episode 9: Ellie Williams

If you go by episode you can figure out the reasoning for these results. Episode 3 was focused on Nick Offerman’s Bill, who was a character in the game but got a much bigger and satisfying stage here while Episode 4 gave us our introduction to Henry. Episode 5 went back to the Infected, because of the huge massacre at the end (and the Bloater) but then the remaining chapters all went back to people, all of whom got to take on a major role for at least an episode.

It’s also fun to see Ellie, as a character, become the top page for the finale. It may have to do with that episode giving us her birth origin, which also explained why she was immune to the Cordyceps infection. It’s something fans theorized about for years but was never answered in either Last of Us game.

Expanding on themes and characters from the game is what the HBO series was all about, not just delivering the same story beats. And that’s evident from the fastest growing Top Pages…

1. Bill
2. Henry
3. Sam
4. Frank
5. Federal Disaster Response Agency

Four out of the five pages here are characters from the game who were given deeper layers and backstories on the show. Readers really wanted to dig into them more and, possibly, see how their TV versions differed from the game ones.

The post The Last of Us’ Season 1 Had Fans Digging Deeper into Game Characters appeared first on Fandom.

Scream VI SPOILER WARNING. Major events from the film, including the killer’s identity and the film’s ending, are discussed below! 

…We really mean it! 

Scream VI has arrived, and in the process, once more proven the enduring strength of the popular horror franchise. After last year’s successful fifth movie revived the series after eleven years of dormancy, VI opened even better, breaking the record for biggest opening weekend for any Scream to date with $44 million.

On the heels of that terrific opening, I spoke to Scream VI directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, who comprise two thirds of Radio Silence Productions alongside Scream VI Executive Producer Chad Villella. We discussed some of the big plot points from the film and where the story ultimately went, from the first-ever use of three killers working together in the series to the surprise of all six of the returning characters – including newer characters Sam (Melissa Barrera), Tara (Jenna Ortega), Chad (Mason Gooding), and Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and legacy characters Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and  Kirby Reed (Hayden Panettiere) – making it through the film alive.

The filmmakers also discussed hidden audio cameos – something they included quite a bit of in the last installment as well – plus the continuing fan interest in one perpetually offscreen character, along with much more in our full spoiler chat below.

Fandom: So I’ll admit I’m gave myself a slight pat on the back, because I said to a couple of people the week before I saw Scream VI that I felt like there would probably be more than two killers for the first time in this one. Nothing had been telegraphed from the trailers or anything, I just had this feeling it felt like it was time. Was it the same feeling for you guys? 

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Yeah! I mean, we read it in the script when [Guy Busick] and Jamie [Vanderbilt] wrote that and we had that experience of reading it for the first time and going, ‘Oh, I see what you’ve done here. I like it!’ Because I think whether we were conscious of it or not, it did feel like ‘Hey, that’s a great way to take this’ and there’s no reason not to do it. Because we’ve seen the two [killers], we’ve seen the one, we’re basically expecting one of those. Let’s go a different direction. And then you get there and it’s, ‘Well, of course!’ But you have to get there.

Fandom: Even before the “There’s three of them” reveal, the scene when Chad is seemingly killed and actually getting to see two Ghostfaces in full costume and mask working together – which we previously only got the tiniest tease of in the first fakeout opening of Scream 4 – to film that sequence, was there a thrill to it on set? 

Tyler Gillett: Yeah, we talk about those sort of moments where on the page you just go, ‘Oh, this is gonna be a thing! This feels special.’ That was definitely one of them. And part of what felt so special… Maybe special is not the right word, but there was something profound about Chad getting just absolutely brutalized as well. Mason is just such, like, a force for good that shooting that scene, it was hard. Even though we knew we knew he was going to survive! He was air quotes ‘dying’ and it f**king hurt. It was hard to shoot. It was really hard to shoot. We’ve talked a lot about the ripple effect of that moment. There was a version where we could have had him [only] stabbed twice and had the same outcome. But you need to feel like, Jesus, we’re in the third act and it’s gonna be tough. It’s gonna be a lot. Everyone’s gonna be put to the test. But yeah, that was a moment that we knew to take considerable care with. Like the double knife wipe, all of that stuff. It felt like, f**k, if you’re gonna do this thing with two Ghostfaces, you have to do it right. You have to do it justice.

Fandom: Well, I can tell you there was a massive cheer for the double knife wipe from the Thursday night crowd at the AMC Burbank 16. Now, all six of the returning characters make it through this thing… 

Tyler Gillett: A twist on a twist!

Fandom: How much did you debate if they’d all survive or not?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: There was lots of debate. At the end of the day, the thing that we kept going back to was we wanted to make kind of a secret feel good movie and that we wanted this to be a movie that you can watch over and over and always get that good feeling at the end – which I know is a crazy thing to say about Scream Roman Numeral Six. But for us, it was a big part of this. And there were definitely moments later on in post [production] where it was like, ‘All right, we’re pulling too many punches. We’ve got to cut one of these [characters] loose’ and we really fought hard to keep them because we were like, ‘I don’t think we do.’ On the first viewing, you’ll have that feeling of, ‘Really??’ But mileage varies on that and the characters are aware of it, which keeps it in line within the guardrails for us. Because the movie is able to comment on it and kind of have fun with it. And at the end of the day, with us watching the movie 150 times in the last three months, it really makes it a movie that you can kind of… It can become a comfort movie in the way that we always want movies that are comfort movies. Again, I know that’s crazy to say about Scream Roman Numeral Six.

Fandom: When I spoke to Melissa [Barrera] about the ending, she told me she felt that Sam’s struggle with her inner Billy Loomis and just how dark she might go is not a settled issue. Was there a version of this where maybe she left with his mask and didn’t discard it?

Tyler Gillett: No, that was always going to be the final shot of the movie. I think that the idea that that darkness is still in her though is right. Melissa has the right interpretation of that. We talked about how if Scream 5 was her kind of being willing to recognize and embrace that in herself, then this movie is her being willing to share that with her sister, with the person that she loves. This idea that you can’t really have togetherness until you understand each other’s darkness. Part of what our identities are is that dark place that we’re afraid to share and one of the moments that we really love in the movie is that moment when Tara gives her sister the look before Sam stabs Bailey in the eye. And it’s a moment of understanding, it’s a moment of Tara saying, ‘I get it. I get you and it’s okay.’ And obviously it’s heightened and f**king insane and it ends with some dude getting stabbed in the brain but that felt like a really cool evolution of that idea. There’s definitely, we think, more to be done with that darkness.

Fandom: Sam and Tara’s mom is notable by her absence for two movies in a row. Although, honestly, so is their dad, when you think about it – the man who initially thought he was Sam’s dad, that is. 

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: It’s like Peanuts.

Fandom: [Laughs] Yes, exactly! How much discussion have you guys had about their mom and who she is? I will add, by the way, on Fandom’s Scream Wiki, their mom was the number nine most popular page this past weekend. 

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: That’s crazy! She has to be up there with the most popular characters who don’t exist. There was a big scene with her in the original script for Scream 5.

Tyler Gillett: It was a good scene.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Yeah. And it was basically Sam having… There was a little reckoning between them. It was a really good scene, but it got cut for a myriad of reasons. And I’m genuinely not even sure how everybody knows her name is Christina and where that came from. We’ve talked about her a lot in terms of the effect she has on the sisters, you know, but in terms of seeing her in something, I mean… It’s wide open, I guess! People seem to be excited for Christina Carpenter.

Fandom: Yes, they are! So the name Christina is correct?  

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: That’s correct. That was the name in the script [for the fifth movie], yeah.

Fandom: That reminds me how you guys have now made it onscreen canon that Billy’s mother’s full name is Nancy Loomis, which I read was first in Kevin Williamson‘s Scream 4 script, right? 

Tyler Gillett: Yep!

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: And also Sidney living on Elm Street.

Tyler Gillett: That was in the first [movie’s] script.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Sidney living on Elm and we made it in 5 a thing people knew.

Tyler Gillett: Yeah, it was a piece of trivia which is never stated in the movies.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: It’s in Kevin’s script, though, yeah. In the original script.

Fandom: To your credit, as much as I’d love to see Sidney Prescott again, this movie felt complete without her. Can you say how she would have fit in if Neve [Campbell] was in the film? Because the way the movie is now, I ask, ‘Where would Sidney have even come into this?’

Tyler Gillett: It was early enough in the process that we were navigating all of this that things didn’t have to change dramatically. Structurally, the script was in a really solid place. It was like a bit of an off ramp and you kind of get a little bit of a sense of Sidney and her life, but there wasn’t a hugely sort of pivotal different path for the story. It was about the Core Four and their relationship. I think, at the end of the day, our job in the absence of that character was to make sure that you still really felt something meaningful and dramatic and significant and emotional with the Core Four. That was the thing to dig into and that became the assignment of this movie. Make the audience care about those characters the way that Wes and Kevin made us care about Sidney, Gale, and Dewey.

Fandom: In the subway sequence, obviously you’ve got people dressed as a bunch of very iconic horror villains and you’ve got fun stuff like the girl dressed like Grace from your film Ready or Not. Oh, and my wife and I both loved hearing the voices chanting ‘Evil dies tonight!’

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Hey, you caught it!

Tyler Gillett: Hell yeah!

Fandom: We did! But is there something else I should be looking for or listening for next time I see this movie? 

Tyler Gillett: Yeah, lots of things.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Plenty! You know, it’s funny, with the subway specifically, we always find ourselves catching things in it. How many times have we, during the edit, been like, ‘Hey, wait, was that… Oh my god, I didn’t even know that made the cut!’ You know, it’s that kind of thing. Because we had this much and then [only] this much makes the cut but, still, there’s a ton on the periphery. It is everywhere.

Tyler Gillett: There are other fun Easter egg things that are vocal specific. Tim Robinson cameos in the movie as the voice of Paul 2.0, Quinn‘s off-camera boyfriend [heard behind a door in Quinn’s introduction scene].

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Akiva Shaffer, one of The Lonely Island guys…

Tyler Gillett: He’s the voice of the Ghostface on the train that sort of fake scares Mindy.

Fandom: Oh, the one who leaps out and grabs the seat? 

Tyler Gillett: ‘Sorry!’ Yeah, that’s him.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: [Radio Silence partner] Chad Villella is one of the newscasters.

Eric Goldman: Am I right that one of the masks on the subway is meant to be the unmasked Jason from Jason Takes Manhattan?

Tyler Gillett: Oh, the swampy dude? I don’t know what that mask is from..

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: I don’t either. I’m not sure. I think that was off the shelf…

Tyler Gillett: Yeah, a bargain bin.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: A portion of the costumes are just generic stuff that a consumer could get. We wanted to make sure that it wasn’t all really well made horror icons. [Costume Designer] Avery Plewes was really making sure that they felt lived in and real and not like the costume designer version of them.

Fandom: Well damn, I’m still going with my dream of it being unmasked Jason. 

Tyler Gillett: Let’s just say yes!

Fandom: Congratulations on your big opening weekend! Look, I’m no Hollywood studio exec, but I think you’re getting that greenlight on another movie soon. I know you couldn’t tell me anything storywise yet but how much have you thought about where you’d want to take the next installment of this?

Tyler Gillett: That is so fully not up to us and we are fine with that. Guy and Jamie hold the keys to the kingdom and I imagine their brains are hard at work on what could be next. But we know as much as everybody else knows, which is zip. Just that this movie had a great opening weekend and people seem to really love it, which we’re  just absolutely amazed and tickled by. We hope that there’s Scream forever, man.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: To be clear, not a movie called Scream Forever.

Tyler Gillett: No, no, definitely not.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: We definitely don’t want that.

Fandom: Let me ask you a couple of specifics on plot minutiae here that I’ve been curious about. We know there were nine masks from the previous killers but we don’t get all nine accounted for. Like we learn that one left behind was used by both Charlie and Jill but there’s not one mentioned for each of them. I don’t think Amber‘s mask is mentioned and Mickey‘s isn’t, right?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Mickey’s is not.

Eric Goldman: Do you guys know where all nine ended up?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: This is the discussion that was ongoing during the process. This movie, the mystery of it, was a really fun part that we wanted to make sure was really at the forefront of the story. And we had little places to mention, ‘Oh, the Mickey mask!’ And it just felt forced. It was like, oh, you don’t need it. While technically, it’s the correct information, it feels convoluted, right?

Tyler Gillett: Like then there are questions [about it].

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Yeah, you lose the thread and it starts to become… It just feels not like a mystery, it starts to feel more like fanservice. So we cut all that stuff.

Fandom: It seems like Detective Bailey is the one who committed most of the murders but that Quinn killed Gale’s boyfriend. But I wondered, did Ethan kill anyone? Or was he technically not a murderer when he died, even though he was helping Bailey and Quinn?

Tyler Gillett: We talk about Ethan killing Paul 2.0. That’s one that we think could have been either Ethan or Bailey. The idea that Ethan has just been sort of hanging out in Quinn’s closet, hiding, waiting for the right moment to step out.

Fandom: So maybe he didn’t make his econ class after all is what you’re saying?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: [Laughs] Yes!

Tyler Gillett: Yeah, and Jack [Champion] was in the costume for some of that. In the photo that gets airdropped to their phones, that’s actually Jack in the Ghostface costume.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: And walking in [to Quinn’s room as Danny sees him]. He did all that.

Tyler Gillett: We like to find moments to put them in the Ghostface costume. And Jack is such a mega Scream fan. Literally every week, he was like, ‘Can I wear the costume? Can I pop in and wear the costume for this scene?’

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: The sweetest. Oh my God, he’s so sweet.

Fandom: Did Richie do the drawings of the previous films’ victims that we see throughout the shrine?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Those are Richie Kirsch originals.

Eric Goldman: Ahh, see, there will be an underground market for those. 

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: Yeah, get those rare Richie sketches! And we had Jack [Quaid] really be a part of this one, which is really special to us and I think to him too. He obviously gave us the video [of young Richie] that’s in the movie, but he also did all the voiceover from the fan films. Every time it’s a Ghostface, that’s Jack Quaid doing it. We thought it was really cool to have him play that part in this.

Fandom: I know we’re about out of time but I wanted to mention the whiteboard where you see photos of all nine previous killers from the entire series. As a fan of the series, I thought to myself ‘I’m so happy all these actors cleared using their likeness!’

Tyler Gillett: Us too, man!

Eric Goldman: [Laughs] So you were glad you didn’t have to, say, obscure the photo of one of the killers in some weird way?

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin: It got a little hairy!

Tyler Gillett: But yeah, we love that. We love a good murder wall. We talked about how, ‘Oh man, this is a moment for us as filmmakers.’ And Jamie and Guy too, to have a whiteboard with a bunch of suspects and crime scene photos, we’re suckers for those scenes and love how that ultimately turned out.

Click below to see the cast of Scream VI weighing in on the more spoilery aspects of the story, including Dermot Mulroney explaining the unusual manner in which he found out he was playing the killer while still not knowing which character he was playing.

Scream VI Cast Talk Spoilers: Who the Killer Was, Who Survived, and More

The post Scream VI Directors Spoiler Chat: The Killer, Survivors, and More Hidden Cameos appeared first on Fandom.

Warning: Full SPOILERS for Scream VI follow… 

The sixth Scream movie sliced and diced its way into theaters this past weekend, scaring up the biggest box office opening for the long-running mystery slasher franchise to date. And Fandom readers showed up in full force for this Big Apple-set scarefest, helping the Scream Wiki spike a whopping 81% over the movie’s opening days.

Scream VI gave us the return of the Carpenter sisters, Sam and Tara – played by Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega – along with Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding’s siblings, Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin as they find themselves, a year after the latest Woodsboro killings, being stalked by new Ghostface in New York while three of them attend college.

Franchise Rules Rule

Going hand in hand with those who bought tickets and helped this movie thrive during its opening weekend, the Scream Wiki saw a 38% growth in traffic compared to what it got when 2022’s Scream opened.

Not too bad for the first Scream movie in history to not feature central player and final girl Sidney Prescott, played by Neve Campbell. Courteney Cox was back as Gale but the 2022 film had the legacy benefit of having all three of the Day One Scream team.

It should be said though that Scream 5 did have a higher trend rate – up 112% – but that makes sense, since it was the film that awakened a dormant franchise after over a decade.

Final Spot for the Final Girl

Breaking down the Top 10 most-searched pages from the Scream Wiki from this past weekend and you’ll see some interesting things…

1. Ethan Landry
2. Samantha Carpenter
3. Billy Loomis
4. Quinn Bailey
5. Scream VI
6. Wayne Bailey
7. Tara Carpenter
8. Richie Kirsch
9. Christina Carpenter
10. Sidney Prescott

Yes, Sidney beat out Gale, as far as the legacy characters go, even though Gale’s in the new movie and Sidney quite notably isn’t. Gale does come in a few notches later, at 13, but clearly interest is still high in Ms. Prescott, as fans wait to see if she’ll return for a future installment (and it’s also possible that some folks, before they saw the movie, wanted to know if Sidney was in the film after all, in a cameo or such).

It’s a bit surprising that Hayden Panettiere’s Kirby Reed didn’t crack the Top 10 (it was close, at 12), considering how much of a fan-favorite she was in Scream IV and that many people may not have known going in that she was fully back for Scream VI  – maybe even not being aware of the YouTube thumbnail Easter egg from 2022’s Scream that let us know Kirby was still alive.

Other characters not featured in the Top 10 but still getting notable attention were previous Ghostfaces Amber at #14, Stu at 15, and Jill at 19, which is a nice selection from the past movies. This makes sense, given Scream VI directly deals with the history of the Ghostface identity and references every single previous killer by name.

Mystery Mom

Not surprisingly, Sam and Tara both made the Top 10 mix as they more firmly became co-leads of sorts for Next Gen Scream. Sam was at the center of the last film and you could see a lot of interest in the characters strongly connected to her, including both her dad, Billy Loomis, and “new Billy” Richie Kirsch, her boyfriend who was revealed as one of the killers in the last film. Both of those characters may be dead in Scream VI but they still make a lot of impact. Going back to Tara, who had a smaller role in the fifth film, it’s also worth noting of course that Jenna Ortega blew up between the release of the last two Scream films thanks to Wednesday.

As for Richie Kirsch — and Jack Quaid, who both donated old home movie footage of himself and recorded new V.O. for some crucial moments in Scream VI’s conclusion — the whole Kirsch family was a huge Top 10 hit! And by that we mean Richie, as a previous Ghostface, but also the THREE new Ghostfaces out to get Sam in the new film. Richie’s secret brother Ethan, played by Jack Champion, was the true champion of these searches, taking the top spot, though his sister, Quinn, and their revenge-minded father of the year, Wayne, also made big showings at 4 and 6. The family that slays together, stays together.

But these aren’t the only connected family members we want to discuss here.

Look at the number nine most clicked on page on the wiki from this past weekend: Christina Carpenter! Some may be asking who Christina even is, given the name hasn’t been said on screen. Well, this is the second movie in a row to mention, yet not actually introduce, Sam and Tara’s mom. The one who was Billy Loomis’ high school fling while he was still dating Sidney, resulting in Sam’s birth. The storyline of 2022’s Scream had Christina detached (and out of town) while Scream VI had her estranged from both of her daughters completely.

Anyhow, this off-screen matriarch is now building up some big buzz not only on the potential future casting front, should we finally meet her, but on the potential future Ghostface front, should we finally meet her. Because come on, you know it’s a possibility!

Scream VI Cast Talk Spoilers: Who the Killer Was, Who Survived, and More

The post Scream VI Has Fans Searching Past, Present, and (Possible) Future Ghostfaces appeared first on Fandom.

We break down episode nine of The Last of Us, “Look for the Light,” as Season 1 came to an end with a gripping finale that found Joel making a big choice about Ellie. Merle Dandridge, who plays Marlene, weighs in on her character’s showdown with Joel, and we discuss Ashley Johnson‘s appearance as Ellie’s mom, Anna.

The Chat With Us is a weekly The Last of Us after show from GameSpot and TV Guide, powered by Fandom.

Are We Safe From the Real World Parasite that Inspired ‘The Last Of Us’?

The post The Last of Us Finale Breakdown: The Great Joel Debate and Merle Dandridge Q&A appeared first on Fandom.

Note: FULL SPOILERS follow for Scream VI. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, beware, as this article discusses major details from the end of the film. 

Scream VI has hit theaters and proven in the process that the series continues to have a big following 27 years after it began, with the new film opening with a record opening weekend for the franchise, bringing in over $44 million at the domestic box office.

A new Scream movie of course means new killers, new victims, and new twists and turns. Read on for what four of the cast – Melissa Barerra, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, and Dermot Mulroney – told us about what the film ultimately had in store for their characters and what it could mean for the future of the series.

Here’s your last SPOILER warning!  

KILLER REVEAL

The Scream films have almost always had a pair of two killers working together, with Scream 3’s solo killer Roman Bridger as the only exception. Scream VI shakes up this tradition by having a team of three different killers for the first time in the franchise, as we learn Detective Wayne Bailey (Dermot Mulroney), Quinn Bailey (Liana Liberato), and Ethan Landry (Jack Champion) were all the killers and that they are in fact the family of Richie Kirsch (Jack Quaid), one of the killers in 2022’s fifth Scream film. It was Detective Bailey who orchestrated this new round of murders, aimed at ultimately killing Samantha Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and her sister, Tara (Jenna Ortega), in retaliation for Sam killing Richie.

Scream movies are notoriously secretive productions, even for their own cast members at times, but Mulroney explained to Fandom that he was informed he was being sought out to play this film’s primary killer from the start – with some major caveats regarding the specifics (or lack thereof) of what exactly he was being told.

As the actor recalled, “When I got the offer to play Bailey, they sent me part of the script. And they said, ‘We need to tell you this, but nothing more… You’re the bad guy. But you can’t tell anybody!’”

Even knowing he was being asked to play the true villain, Mulroney only had an early portion of the script to go by and more importantly, he recalled, “They cleverly didn’t tell me what part I was playing! And then they sent me the script in three parts.”

Mulroney said he then spent several days trying to figure out which part it would be, while waiting for more pages to arrive, recalling, “I’m reading it thinking, ‘A dad? Oh, a psychiatrist, is that part they want [me for]?’ He chuckled, remembering thinking, “There’s this random detective part. That couldn’t be it.’ Then I go by until the third act arrives about on the fourth day and then I read the end. So I didn’t know how and I didn’t know who, but I knew that I was him. They wouldn’t tell me what I was playing!”

Mulroney has been keeping his role as the killer a secret for so many months that now that he was being told he could finally discuss it, he admitted it’s hard to let down his guard. “They said that I was… the spoiler part… I have trouble saying it!”

Added the actor, “It was a fun way to learn for sure. So it was its own face reveal. It got revealed at the end and it was my face. I was very surprised!”

TWIN MAGIC

When Mindy Meeks-Martin discusses the rules for a long-running franchise in Scream VI, she notes that these days, pretty much any character can die, and it certainly seems like twin siblings Chad and Mindy have a lot to worry about. And indeed, Mindy is stabbed in the stomach at one point though we quickly see she is (by Scream standards) relatively okay. But Chad is rather brutally attacked in the film’s climax, when, in a franchise first, we see two completely costumed Ghostfaces – revealed as Ethan and Quinn shortly after – working together, as they stab him multiple times.

However, at the end, we learn Chad has miraculously survived, as we see him being put in an ambulance, to the relief of Mindy, Sam, and Tara. This marks his character continuing a path as a clear parallel to Dewey Riley in this respect, as Dewey was also left for dead at the end of both of the first two Scream movies, only to be taken out, still alive, on a stretcher at the very end.

Jasmin Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding celebrated the Meeks-Martin twins making it through another Scream movie alive with a high five when I mentioned it. Gooding then joked, of his character’s extreme injuries, “A Chad must be immortal. He is some sort of Eldritch God,” as his onscreen sister replied, with a grin, “I don’t understand it!”

Added Gooding, “He is impervious. He’s boosted his vitality stat, if you’re an RPG fan, so high that any sort of like…” with Savoy Brown interjecting, “He takes a lot of vitamins and Ashwagandha.”

Gooding recalled how filming Chad’s final scene in Scream VI was tricky because he wanted to reflect what the character had gone through while still being asked to convey he would, presumably, live to fight another day. “It’s funny, we filmed the scene where I’m coming out of the [theater] and into the ambulance. And we did it a few times and they were like, ‘Mason, it’s got to look like he might survive. So can you just liven it up a little bit?’ I was like, ‘Yeah! You stabbed me so many times though, I don’t know how much I could [do]…’

Said Savoy Brown, “You can’t really be cracking jokes. You hit the perfect balance! It was very moving and believable. You heard it here first. Mason Gooding. Moving. Believable!”

STABBY SAM 

In Scream VI, Samantha Carpenter is still struggling with her concerns about how much she might follow in the murderous footsteps of her father, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). She hasn’t gone out and killed innocent people to date, to be sure, but the way she brutally retaliated against Richie when he tried to kill her – stabbing him 22 times and then slicing his throat – was, well, rather extreme.

In the new film, she still is hearing Billy’s voice in her head goading her on and once more, by the end, she unleashes hell against a new group who target her and her sister, showing off her special talent for someone stabbing multiple times in an impressively quick manner first against Ethan (though it is Tara and Kirby Reed who finish him off) and then – while wearing her father’s Ghostface mask and robes, no less – against Bailey, who she stabs over and over again before plunging a knife into his eye. Quinn being taken out by Sam with a gunshot to the head feels rather merciful by comparison!

The final moments of Scream VI reveal Sam has taken Billy’s mask with her from, though in the end, she drops it and leaves it behind as she walks off with Tara. So should we feel like Sam has truly moved beyond her concerns about her true nature or is there always going to be a part of her wrestling with that? Barrera said, for her part, “I think that’s always going to be a part of her.”

In that moment, Barrera explained, “I think her dropping the mask at the end symbolizes her choosing her sister, her love for her sister and her family, over the darkness,” before pausing and adding, “For now.”

Added Barrera, “I think the beauty of the Scream movies is that anything can happen. And so if we’re lucky enough to get to do another one, then we’ll see…”

Based on the terrific opening weekend box office of Scream VI, It’s looking almost certain we will indeed have that opportunity.

The ‘Stab’ Franchise: The History of Scream’s Movie Series Within a Movie Series

The post Scream VI Cast Talk Spoilers: Who the Killer Was, Who Survived, and More appeared first on Fandom.

The Shazam Family – or Shazamily if you prefer – are back in Shazam! Fury of the Gods, a sequel to the hit 2019 film. This time out, teenager Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and his adult superhero alter ego, Shazam (Zachary Levi), are being actively joined in superhero adventures by Billy’s five foster siblings, who he shared his powers with at the end of the first film. But trouble is on the horizon in the form of a trio of ancient goddesses (Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, and Rachel Zegler) who lay original claim to that power and now intend to take it back for themselves, with potentially dire consequences for humanity.

In a series with so much centered on characters gaining and possibly losing immense power, we wondered, if these kids were to reach their full potential, who would be the most powerful member of the Shazam Family and asked the community at Fandom’s DCEU Wiki in a poll – and then ran those results by the cast of the film.

Read on for what the cast and filmmakers had to say about those power levels, Fury of the Gods pitting two sets of siblings up against each other, the stealth horror moments the Shazam films include, and the potential future of the franchise, as the DCEU transforms into the DCU.

WHO’S GOT THE POWER? 

Let’s not mince words here. Billy Batson, AKA Shazam himself, dominated our poll, getting 82% of the vote by the time we spoke to the cast. That’s probably not too shocking though, considering he’s the title character. So really, the big race was to see who fans felt could end up as the second most powerful member of the family after Billy.

Though Zachary Levi was amused to hear his character had so firmly come in first, he replied, “In fairness, I’m the source of the powers, so I guess I would probably have an edge, but at least how I read it in the comics — and I think the way that we’re trying to represent it — is that each one of the rest of the Shazamily have one of those powers kicked up a little bit more.”

Returning Director David F. Sandberg agreed, noting that while they discarded the earlier idea to have each family member only retain one of Billy’s powers, “They have their specialties. Darla‘s the fastest, Pedro‘s the strongest, Mary‘s the smartest…”

The cast meanwhile, had a lot of different thoughts about who would rank as the one who could be the most powerful after Billy, many jokingly arguing for themselves, though several noted Freddy’s huge desire to be a great superhero as giving him a leg up. Said Adam Brody (“Super Hero Freddy”), of Freddy, “He’s thirsty for it! he’ll put in the work and the training” and Meagan Good (“Super Hero Darla”) agreed, “He wants to learn. He wants to reach his full potential.” Levi noted there were pros and cons to Freddy’s passion though, remarking, “That can be a little bit of a kryptonite too because maybe you’re wanting it too much. But he’s got the know-how about it because he’s already been studying all the superheroes.”

Ultimately, on the poll, it was Mary who came in second after Billy, with Freddy following in third. Joked Grace Caroline Currey (“Mary Bromfield / Super Hero Mary”), when hearing this, “I think the suit kind of probably subconsciously [helped]. People were like, ‘She’s next! She’s also red! She’s also powerful!“

Currey’s costars and her director could see why she won though, with Sandberg noting, “It feels like Mary’s the smarter, more responsible one. It feels like she could really use her full potential better.”

FAMILY V FAMILY

The Shazam family’s opponents in Fury of the Gods are the Daughters of Atlas, an imposing group of goddesses made up of Hespera (Helen Mirren), Kalypso (Lucy Liu), and Anthea (Rachel Zegler). As their name implies, this trio are sisters and Ross Butler (“Super Hero Eugene”) remarked, “You have two families going up against each other and that just ups the stakes, because not only are we a team, we’re family,” adding he especially liked that the Shazam family are not blood relatives but represent a chosen family.

The Daughters of Atlas have some notable differences from the Shazam family – certainly in terms of life experience – but Lucy Liu felt there were innate similarities as well, pointing out both groups represented “The sibling kind of hierarchies that are there,” noting, of her big screen big sister, “Like if Helen was here, we’d differ to her!”

Rachel Zegler added there were some interesting parallels between the two opposing families, saying to Liu, “You feel like your sisters are slipping away and you start gripping on really hard and it turns out not great. And Billy is doing kind of the same thing because he feels like everybody wants to go do their own thing and he’s gripping really hard.”

Zegler felt you could make additional direct character comparisons, remarking, “I feel like Freddy is Anthea and I feel like [Kalypso] and Billy are very similar. And then I feel like Hespera and Mary, there’s parallels.” When Liu said she loved these correlations, Zegler jokingly replied, “Yeah, I saw the movie… twice!”

Said Angel, of the echoes between the two sibling groups, “We both have one goal and that is to do what’s best for our families,” adding he wouldn’t describe the Daughters as evil. “I would say but they’re doing what’s best for them and we’re doing what’s best for us. And we’re both opinionated and we both have our own things that we think are right.”

Sandberg agreed you are meant to at least understand the Daughter’s perspective, explaining their presence in the film came from discussing how the Shazam family’s powers come from Gods and mythological characters. The A in Shazam in fact stands for Atlas, and Sandberg asked, “So what if they want those powers back because they were stolen from them? And that gave them such a good motivation, the villains, because you can understand that. Yeah, Shazam didn’t steal them, it’s not his fault. But they don’t really belong to him. They were stolen by someone else.”

Screenwriter Chris Morgan noted, “In the first film, Billy was so desperate to find a family and now in this film he’s terrified of losing them while he’s pitted up against the Daughters of Atlas, who have kind of had that happen. They’re a glimpse into the future a little bit. Long ago, there was a great war and a wizard stole their powers, their legacy, their world, the lives of their loved ones, and now they’ve waited and they want to get it back and not even so much for revenge, but just to restore what they believe is rightfully theirs. There’s a little bit of analogue back and forth with what Shazam is going through and where they are coming from.”

Though other storylines were considered, Morgan’s fellow screenwriter, Henry Gayden, explained, “In the end, these villains were the best way to tell a story about a character who didn’t believe he deserved his powers, because that’s exactly the perspective of our villains. And also like Chris said, they’ve experienced loss. And that is something that Billy is contending with because he is terrified of losing his family.”

THE HORROR

The Shazam films are made for audiences of all ages and built around a wish fulfillment storyline of a kid becoming a superhero but the first film surprised some with moments that were darker and more horror-adjacent than many expected – though the resume of Sandberg prior to Shazam!, which included Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, should have been a tip off. This continues in Fury of the Gods, particularly in its third act, which involves mythological creatures who show just how vicious they are. While avoiding R-rated territory,there’s a genuine feeling of terror creeping in.

Levi said he loved that Sandberg was able to find ways to lean into his horror roots in the films, including some direct Easter eggs like an appearance by Annabelle herself (glimpsed in a pediatrician’s office in Fury of the Gods). Beyond that, he added, “You’re not going to take the genre out of the man, you know what I mean, and I think that’s part of the reason why they wanted to bring David onto direct the first one and now this one. There’s got to be an edge to this. It can’t just be a bunch of kids goofing off and being silly or you kind of lose the plot a little bit with that. It might be fun, but it’s got to have some kind of weight, it’s got to have some kind of danger and and I think that when you’re able to bring somebody like David in who already has such a great eye for the macabre and for the genre for all that it brings that extra little bit of edge and darkness that that you need to balance it.”

Currey noted that Sandberg has used Jurassic Park as a reference for how scary they are able to go and D.J. Cotrona evoked films like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, saying, “it reminds me of some of Jim Henson‘s stuff, which was incredibly beautiful and fantastic for kids but they also had this very dark edge. And it’s something about that balance that is really, really fun and special.” Butler chuckled, noting, “There are jump scares in the second movie that are insane.”

Said Lucy Liu, “I think there’s a nice layer of darkness in the movie and I think it doesn’t really reach that point until the last part of it. And that’s kind of the secret [ingredient]…  I think the connection that David makes with darkness and comedy really brings to life Shazam.”

Jack Dylan Grazer (“Freddy Freeman”) felt similarly and said he felt a lot of admiration for Sandberg, stating, “He never ceases to amaze me as a director, as a creative, as an imaginator. He finds a seamless way of combining and creating something between comedy and horror. That’s so natural to him. He does it in a way that doesn’t break the themes. It’s not a jarring halt. It actually feels very consistent.”

Said Sandberg, of including those beats, “I love that stuff, because you need to have a real sense of threat and danger. And I just really love monsters and horror moments like that and I always want to get as much as possible of that.”

Gayden — who wrote both films – noted he always feels encouraged to include those horror-tinged moments in the Shazam scripts, knowing Sandberg is directing. As Gayden put it, “He’s so good at that. And it’s so invaluable to the tone of the movies, because I think if we didn’t have that it would veer a little too much into sentimental or treacly or comedy. He really grounds the movie with those moments. That is one element that I don’t think we could replicate with another director.”

Good was one of several cast members to recall their surprise seeing the boardroom scene in the first Shazam, in which Sivana (Mark Strong) throws his own brother out of a window to his death before unleashing the brutal incarnations of the Seven Deadly Sins to massacre everyone in the room, his father included. Good joked that her first thought was, “‘Are we allowed to do this? There’s kids in here!’ But when you think about it, the stuff that we watched when we were kids… We were watching Halloween 4 and all kinds of stuff. I think that’s such a wonderful aspect to it, because it does remind you that it’s also for adults. And it is something that I think that it kind of takes it to the next level and pushes the envelope a little bit.”

Adam Brody remarked, “You want a director to have passion and lean into their love and their instincts and you know he’s not playing at it. He loves that genre. It comes so naturally to him and he’s at home if he can paint with that brush a little bit, so I love it.”

THE FUTURE

Though it was filmed awhile back, Shazam! Fury of the Gods is now opening as huge changes are occuring behind the scenes for Warner Bros. and DC, with James Gunn and Peter Safran taking over as the heads of DC Studios and fashioning a big new gameplan for the rechristened DC Universe, or DCU, which will take the place of what was formerly known as the DC Extended Universe.

It’s known these changes will involve some recasting – new actors will be playing Batman and Superman in the DCU, rather than retaining Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill – though not everything is changing, since even after this summer’s The Flash, which is the film that is expected to provide an in-universe “reset,” we’ll get the already filmed Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, with Jason Momoa back in the title role. And perhaps even more notably, given it’s not a project produced before he and Safran took over, Gunn has announced Viola Davis will continue to play Amanda Waller in the DCU.

All of which leaves the Shazam films and cast in flux, as it is certainly possible they could continue on as this current incarnation of the family but there is no confirmation yet on whether they will. The cast have the same questions we all do, but Ross Butler remarked, “The Shazam universe has so many so many places we can go.”

In Fury of the Gods, we get some glimpses at the huge hall of doors beneath Shazam family’s lair, all of which lead to different realities, and Butler added, “With the hall of doors, literally there is an infinite universe of what we can do. And all of our characters… We’re such a big ensemble, and they’re all so different. I really hope that we do continue. There’s a lot to mine.”

Said Sandberg, of his conversations with the new regime, “They’ve told me that since Shazam has been kind of separate – the story hasn’t really been intertwined with the rest of DC – that there’s nothing in these movies that interfere or contradict anything they’re planning as they go forward. So you could make more Shazam movies. It could still exist in the universe. We’ll see!”

Shazam! Fury of the Gods opens March 19.

The Flash Trailer Has Fans Batty for Michael Keaton’s Batman and a New Supergirl

The post Shazam Cast Debate Who the Most Powerful Members of the Family Are appeared first on Fandom.

Note: Full SPOILERS follow for You Season 4 Part 1 and Part 2. 

Netflix’s You isn’t just a show that makes you sound extremely creepy whenever someone asks you what you’ve been watching lately (“Oh, I’ve been watching You”). The pulpy thriller has garnered a devoted fan base that kept the show alive during its transition from Lifetime to Netflix, and has kept it running for four seasons. As one of those devoted fans, I’ll admit to being a bit surprised by the show’s longevity. When I finished watching the first season, I was left shaken up, compelled, and impressed by the balance of soapy drama and gripping tension.

But when I heard that the show had been renewed for another season, I was more than a little confused. It was a great season of television, but it also felt relatively complete, like something best suited to a one-off limited series. But I tuned in and continued to watch as one season turned into two, three, and most recently four, and I let You prove me wrong. As You has progressed, I’ve taken notice of how it’s shifted and evolved over time – what it discarded when it didn’t work, and what it embraced and explored on a deeper level. You began with a premise that was highly entertaining, but seemed to leave little room to grow. But as it has progressed, it has not only lived up to the promise of its first season, it has blossomed into something far bolder and more interesting.

Where It Started 

The show began with an introduction to Joe Goldberg (or Will, as he’s known at first), a charming, bookish man with a secret penchant for destructive obsession. He stalks and later romances Guinevere Beck, a young writer that he manipulates into a relationship. Over the course of Season 1, Joe’s behavior grows more dangerous and erratic as he commits horrific acts, all while justifying them to himself with love or a desire to protect Beck from those that might wish her harm. But Joe is every inch an unreliable narrator, and his fragile justifications crumble as Beck discovers his true nature. Tense, dramatic, and at times crossing over into overt psychological horror, the first season of You rockets toward a stomach-dropping finale that cements Joe as a monster, no matter how much he tries to play the tortured romantic.

It also left off with a lingering question: how the hell do you follow a season of television that ended with most of its main characters dead and its murderous lead walking away from the wreckage unscathed?

All You Needs Is Love

The answer arrived with Season 2, which saw the show following the same basic formula as Season 1: Boy meets girl, boy stalks girl, boy does some murders and locks a few people (sometimes the girl in question) in a glass cage. Swap New York for Los Angeles, aspiring writer Guinevere Beck for Erewhon-style grocery chain heiress Love Quinn, and a predatory therapist for a predatory comedian, and the show’s second verse started out pretty much the same as the first. But just like Joe Goldberg himself, there is more going on here than meets the eye. The quirky, free-spirited Love has hidden depths that are just as dark as Joe’s, depths he gets a glimpse of toward the end of the season when Love murders his ex and confesses that she was stalking him and murdering people on his behalf the entire time. Love is to Joe as Joe was to Guinevere Beck in Season 1. This also, notably, marks the series’ first major deviation from its source material. Things play out quite differently for Love and Joe in Hidden Bodies, the novel that Season 2 was based on. This change not only caught fans of the book by surprise, but it added a welcome injection of drama and intrigue to the series as a whole.

Frequently, Joe has the upper hand on You, staying one step ahead of his love interests and potential victims. Throughout the show’s first season, he had several near-misses where someone almost had him pinned down, almost got an advantage over him, only for him to turn the tables at the last minute. In Season 2, however, the audience is treated to the sight of Joe stripped of his usual power. He is truly taken by surprise, and thrust into the role he has reserved for his unsuspecting objects of affection. The hunter, without even noticing, became the hunted. This subversion of expectations, both the audience’s and Joe’s, makes for a delicious twist. Even better, Joe makes the surprising decision to let Love live, to marry her and raise a child together. With the reveal of Love’s true nature, the show gave the audience a brief taste of what happens Once again, the show left itself with the seemingly impossible task of continuing the story past this shocking plot point, without letting itself become stale and predictable.

New Territory

Season 3 took Joe out of the city and into the wealthy suburban community of Madre Linda, surrounded by tech money and mommy bloggers as he and Love attempted to play out a fantasy of domestic bliss. This season saw Joe in an unfamiliar environment, not just geographically speaking. Finally, the audience got a glimpse at Joe after he got everything he claimed to want: a home, a family, and somebody to love who loved him too. But it didn’t make him happy. Despite her name, Joe was unwilling to love Love. Season 3 sacrificed some of the slow burn of the first two seasons in favor of roiling domestic drama, with a killer twist.

Love and Joe fight, cheat, try couple’s therapy and swinging alike, and they also occasionally kill people. The ups and downs of their tumultuous marriage, paired with the destructive old habits that refuse to die (no matter how high their body count gets) lend Season 3 a unique flavor that sets it apart from the previous seasons. From Love’s outbursts taking on an extra bit of Mama Bear rage – her killing an anti-vaxxer for giving her baby measles, for example – to Joe’s usual box of stalker trophies serving as evidence of his infidelity, the show retains its leads’ unique dysfunctions while also casting them in a new light. Writing a compelling follow-up to Season 2 was a tough challenge, but it was one that the show managed to rise to, and even surpass.

One of the things that allows You to continue topping itself successfully is its rich character work. Each season comes with a fresh ensemble of vibrant secondary characters, from Season 2’s precocious Ellie Alves to the breakout stars of Season 3, Sherry and Cary. But one of the saving grace of seasons 2 and 3 is, without a doubt, Love Quinn. Love took the show to unforeseen heights, both as a compelling character in her own right and as a perfect foil to Joe himself. His inner monologue throughout Season 3 is spent calling Love “crazy” and “a killer,” even though she has never done anything he hasn’t also done time and time again. In Love, Joe was forced to take a long, hard look in the mirror, staring down all of the parts of himself he is so desperate to pretend do not exist. Eventually, he couldn’t bear looking any longer, and chose to shatter the mirror rather than accepting the truths he saw there. So, Joe killed Love, faked his own death, and burned his old life to the ground.

The Latest Chapter

This brings us to the just-completed Season 4, a new chapter for Joe, or Jonathan, as he’s known in his new life. In London, working a cushy teaching position at a university, with no remaining ties to his former life, Joe has convinced himself that this time he’ll really be a different man. No, but really this time. Sure, he’s said that several times now, but surely his insistence on compartmentalizing the darker parts of himself and just pretending they don’t exist will work out just fine for everyone. You Season 4 could have been a retread of old ground, but instead it was the show’s most ambitious season yet.

Season 4 spent its first half throwing Joe into his self-proclaimed least favorite genre, a whodunnit style murder mystery where a faceless killer picked off a group of wealthy friends one by one, taunting him from afar. In spite of his protests, Joe finally got to play the role he spent the first three seasons wanting to play: the good guy, the tortured hero trying his best to fight the forces of evil at any cost. Sure, sometimes he had to do bad things to get the job done, but it was all in the service of a noble cause. The shift in tone and genre was refreshing, but also felt a little bit too convenient. After years of monstrous behavior, now Joe was going to be let off the hook and given permission by his circumstances to double down on seeing himself as a fundamentally good person? It just didn’t seem fair.

Well, as always, things with Joe were not exactly as they seemed. “Detective” Joe Goldberg, and the serial killer he was playing cat and mouse with, were one and the same. “It was all in his head!” is a twist that can feel hackneyed, but in this case the execution of it allowed the show to pivot in a new, ambitious direction once more. After four seasons of cognitive dissonance, of Joe hurting countless people while still seeing himself as “a good man who did a bad thing” and never learned from it, Joe finally made the choice to embrace his killer instinct. By the end of the season, Joe is a completely different person. Not just in name, or location this time, but as a man who is no longer lying to himself, and is far more dangerous for it.

With each new season, You has stretched itself a little bit further, gotten a bit more comfortable playing with its format and shifting into a very different show than it was in its first season. Though some fans of the show will likely be frustrated to see it veering so far off of its original path, I’m thrilled to see a show making big, bold swings (even if they don’t always hit). In a media landscape filled with remakes and reboots attempting to recapture the lightning in a bottle of their predecessors, You boldly plays with its own formula and refuses to take refuge in the familiar.

From the streets of New York, to a Hollywood romance, to Suburban Nightmare, dark London fairytale, and now, an American Psycho style climb to the top of the social ladder, Joe and You itself have both come a long way. I can’t wait to see where the show goes next, because now that Joe has reached the highest possible heights? There’s nowhere to go but down, and I hope the show manages to continue to top itself while simultaneously finally getting to see him fall.

Richmond ‘Til I Die: How Ted Lasso Reflects the Club / Supporter Relationship

The post Netflix’s You Has Outgrown its Original Premise in All the Right Ways appeared first on Fandom.

As much as I hate to admit it, the first time I saw the crowd in the pub in Ted Lasso lustily chanting “wanker ” at the TV, I saw myself in them.

Nobody likes to see the ways in which passion over something as cosmically meaningless as sports turns you into the worst version of yourself, but the characters I identified most with in that first season weren’t Ted or Rebecca or Roy Kent — it was the locals at the pub, holding onto their friends and living and dying by every pivotal second of the match. For more than a decade, I’ve been entrenched, for better or worse, in the soccer supporter community in my hometown of Chicago, and in that time, I’ve wrecked plenty of articles of clothing from banner painting, rode a 16-hour bus roundtrip in one day for an away match, laughed, cried, and have made a lifetime of incredible memories with people I’m proud to call friends.

I’ve also seen the symbiotic (and sometimes parasitic) relationship that forms between a club and its supporters—the good, the bad and the messy. When Ted Lasso premiered, I was interested in what role, if any, the supporters of AFC Richmond would play in the story, and if they would be more than comic relief or a footnote. While I know every country and every club is different and the American experience does not necessarily reflect the experiences of lifelong English football faithful, the show definitely gets some core aspects of that relationship right.

Seven Nation Army 

In one of the early scenes of the first season of Ted Lasso, owner Rebecca Welton, still trying to tank the fictitious AFC Richmond, bemoans the state of its loyal fanbase despite their mediocre performance: “The local community is getting behind the team no matter how badly they play.” In addition to real elements of real-life supporters culture the show depicts, like Manchester City supporters singing “Blue Moon” and doing the Poznań, AFC Richmond’s supporters begin the show as very loud set dressing, and over time, we see glimpses of the important relationship between a club, its most passionate fans, and the larger surrounding community, without whom none of this would matter at all.

At the outset of the first season, the Richmond faithful act as a Greek chorus, albeit one that mostly shouts “Wanker!” in unison. They’re there for flavor and function, to remind you that there’s stakes and this all matters to someone, heightening the excitement of the action on the pitch or the outrage at Ted’s initial ineptitude. Even the opening credits feature graffiti scrawled onto the red and blue chairs of Nelson Road, left by supporters demanding they “Relegate Rebecca” and other such declarations. As Ted’s, and by proxy our, connection to Richmond deepens throughout the show, we get more intimate moments with supporters, like in one charming sequence set to “L-O-V-E,” where an elderly couple in the stands shares how the club is a part of their love story.

When we’re introduced to our first named supporters, the broad, laddish trio of diehards Baz, Paul and Jeremy and straight-talking pub landlady Mae, they also serve more or less as story devices — the good cop-bad cop dynamic between the short-fused Baz (whose first greeting to Ted is, naturally, a terse “piss off, wanker”) and gentler Paul provides comic relief; Mae, as the old-timer, is there to offer real-talk advice Ted, and by proxy the audience, as outsiders to the world of AFC Richmond, what’s happening.

While the show, which is primarily for an American audience who may or may not have intimate knowledge of English soccer, relies on some broad stroke and stereotyping with the way the diehards are portrayed – not just with the regulars at the Crown & Anchor but also with Jamie Tartt ’s s**tty dad and his fellow boorish, entitled Man City supporters – there are nuggets of truth. Although most supporters of most clubs would not get the level of casual access AFC Richmond’s diehards seem to have to Ted and Coach Beard down the pub and instead usually have to settle for word-vomiting their grievances over Twitter, the extensive levels of Backseat Gaffer syndrome are definitely real, as is the possibility of supporters turning on a dime, from cheering Ted on, back to “wanker,” then to “wanker” again (but this time with affection). The adversarial relationship between fans and coaching staff should feel familiar beyond just soccer, and the show is rather tongue in cheek about it – at one point, Baz lambasts Paul for humanizing Ted during a rough match.

Just Can’t Get Enough

Throughout the first two seasons, we also catch glimpses of how deep the club’s roots run in the community and the fixation on club traditions and lore, further coloring that relationship. A plot point in Season 2 revolves around Earl Greyhound, Richmond’s beloved mascot. In the Crown & Anchor, Mae spins a tale for the players and staff about a World War I-era curse, and this sequence holds a lot of weight – the story centers around ill-fated young Richmond supporters who were shipped off to war under false pretenses, a reminder that this a community with real people who have suffered real losses and paid with their lives for their devotion. It also precipitates an intense moment of bonding for the players and coaches with their own sacrifice ritual, culminating in a singalong of “Richmond ‘Til I Die.”

And then there’s Ted’s overt friendliness, which inadvertently further ties the club to the community. He takes Trent Crimm The Independent to Ollie’s family’s restaurant. He books the busker he passes on the regular for the AFC Richmond gala and everyone has a blast. He develops a rapport with Shannon, an adept young footballer, who stunts on him and predicts his one-liners with equal skill.

You’ll Never Walk Alone

The turning point in Ted Lasso’s depiction of the supporter-club relationship comes toward the end of Season 2 with the episode “Beard After Hours. ” Following Richmond’s pummeling in the FA Cup semifinal, a forlorn Coach Beard seeks solace at the Crown & Anchor, and befriends Baz, Paul and Jeremy, on the condition that they can’t talk about the match. They hang on Beard’s every word even when the conversation turns to trips to Vegas and existentialism, and a night of shenanigans ensues.

It’s never explicitly stated why the lads always watch the match at their local pub rather than try to actually make an appearance in the stands. It’s likely a combination of things, including loyalty to Mae, but “Man City,” where we see Jeremy walk into the pub for the FA Cup Quarterfinal in a bootleg kit he bought from “some dodgy geezer outside the stadium,” and “Beard After Hours,” where they place a pool bet in a swanky pub in mostly coins, both imply that the reasons are financial. This is perhaps one of the aspects of the club/supporter relationship in Ted Lasso that feels the most unfortunately true — sport is a nasty capitalist business, and there’s a whole lot of money in soccer, especially in the Premier League. As ticket prices have increased over time, many supporters groups have organized protests, and there’s a prevailing sentiment that the game is becoming less affordable and accessible even for devoted fans. The pub and its regulars provide an important narrative function and sense of place, and the scenes are a delight, but they also illuminate the ways sports fandom can be a matter of haves and have nots.

As the wild evening of “Beard After Hours” winds down, Beard sends the lads, with permission, for a late-night private visit to Nelson Road. The grounds staff lead them through an ominous secret tunnel, and then the floodlights go up, ushering in a joyful montage of them frolicking on the pitch, scoring bangers and doing their best choreographed, dramatic goal celebrations, all set to “We Are the Champions.” The way the show sets up this scene, from the purgatory of the tunnel to the bright, shiny Promised Land of the green pitch, complete with the most cartoonishly triumphant sports anthem, makes for one hell of a payoff. We see three guys, rolling around in the grass, hoisting each other up on shoulders, lost in the thrill of the thing they love and being together.

In this scene, Ted Lasso gets something else right about the supporter experience — not to beat a dead meme, but sometimes the real trophy is the friends we made along the way. Paul, Baz and Jeremy have watched every AFC Richmond match together at the pub for presumably years, celebrated triumphs and weathered disappointments, pulled darts from out of each other’s arms, all while their mutual love of the club strengthened a beautiful friendship. In their ecstasy, I saw my friends and I, singing and jumping in the away stands in Minneapolis and Denver and Louisville, or beer-warm and hugging in front of a bar TV, a triumphant chant starting with one person and bouncing off the walls. What makes all of the agony of squandered seasons, of heartbreaking losses and dashed hopes, of petty supporter infighting, of institutional betrayal worth it, all the wretched things loving this game will throw at you, is the people you share it with, and in that way, the lads may be stock characters, but they get at a real heart of the matter.

Ted Lasso is a show about many things, but one of those is how our torrid love affair with this stupid round ball game and people who wear a specific colored shirt while playing it brings out the best and worst in us. It makes us mean and cynical and entitled, but it also gives us those childlike moments of wonder and dreaming. It bonds us to something larger than ourselves, and not just in the metaphorical, rah-rah sense, but in real, material ways, both depicted on the show (the support behind Sam’s protest of a polluting sponsor) and IRL, from Liverpool and Everton’s Fans Supporting Foodbanks to St. Pauli supporters’ refugee outreach. It makes us superstitious and obsessed with tradition, but also more connected to our community, to our neighbors, to our friends, to lifelong love stories.

That lifelong, very human connection is one thing Ted Lasso gets right about the supporter/club relationship, even when it’s just shown in broad strokes and punchy bits for comic relief. We pack the pubs and stands, shoulder to shoulder and arm in arm, ready to have our hearts broken again, and ready to Believe.

Ted Lasso Season 3 premieres Wednesday, March 15 on Apple TV+.

Origin Story: Who’s Who in Gotham Knights

The post Richmond ‘Til I Die: How Ted Lasso Reflects the Club / Supporter Relationship appeared first on Fandom.

Ever since his introduction way back in 1939, Batman has not only protected the citizens of Gotham City, but inspired some of them to join in his crusade against evil. Dick Grayson was first, debuting as Robin in 1940, but scores have followed in his footsteps, many of whom are getting the spotlight in the upcoming CW series Gotham Knights, as well as the recent (but unrelated) video game of the same name.

In the new TV show, Turner Hayes (Oscar Morgan) discovers not only that his adoptive father has been killed, but also that he was Batman. The list of suspects rounded up by District Attorney Harvey Dent (Misha Collins) include a trio of young thieves — Harper Row (Fallon Smythe), Cullen Row (Tyler DiChiara) and Duela Doe (Olivia Rose Keegan) — who claim they were paid to break into the deceased’s office, but did not kill him. After Tyler is also taken in, the kids begin to realize that there’s a conspiracy against them and they just so happen to be right! When up against the wall and things look bleak, Carrie Kelley (Navia Robinson) comes out of nowhere to save them, revealing that she had been Batman ‘s partner.

Now, this group of fugitive kids — plus Stephanie Brown (Anna Lore) — need to clear their names and find out who really killed Batman. Luckily for them, they have full access to the Batcave and its many wonders to solve the season’s mystery. Before the series even starts, though, we’re looking into these characters and their comic book roots to both set the stage and maybe even find a few clues of our own!

Turner Hayes

So far, very little is known about Turner Hayes, a seemingly original character at the center of Gotham Knights who has no direct comic book counterpart (unless there’s a twist in the works, of course). However, just because the name is new, does not mean the concept is. In fact, the aforementioned Dick Grayson was adopted by Bruce Wayne after his parents died in a circus accident. Wayne did the same for the second Robin, Jason Todd, as well and has brought any number of other sidekicks into his family over the years, whether legally or not. One Robin — Damian Wayne — was in fact Batman’s biological son, while Damian’s mother is Talia al Ghul. Damian, who is set to make his live-action debut in the film The Brave and the Bold, also has been known to favor a sword, a weapon Turner has been shown to wield.

Of course, the major difference between all of Batman’s comic book partners and Turner is that Hayes did not directly train under his father or any other highly skilled fighters. That means that though Turner may have some natural abilities, his fighting and detecting skills have not been tirelessly honed like many of his counterparts. This would put him at a significant disadvantage if he were working on his own, but luckily he’s got some new friends watching his back… but can he trust them?

Harper Row 

From what we’ve seen so far, Harper Row seems to be, if not the leader of the group, the mouthpiece. We see her defending herself and her sibling to District Attorney Dent and showing a great deal of initiative, all of which echoes her character from the comics who debuted not too long ago in 2011.

In the comics, Harper and Cullen grew up with an abusive, alcoholic father named Marcus who would break things. Given their environment, Harper became very protective of her little brother, but also learned how to fix things. Over the years, she developed a talent for dealing with electronics and electrical systems. She eventually put those skills to use to get a job which helped support her and Cullen after they emancipated themselves from their dad. Eventually, Harper came across Batman’s custom alterations to the city’s electrical grid and later saved the Caped Crusader’s life.

Though she would eventually retire from the costume hero lifestyle, Harper did spend time going by Bluebird, using her skills to join in on the war on crime. You can already see how she looks out for Cullen in the first glimpses of the series and it seems like she will be using her own brand of genius to work alongside the others.

Cullen Row

While it seems like the eldest Row sibling is being translated directly to the small screen, it will be interesting to see what the writers choose to do with younger sibling Cullen. In the comics, he is a gay teen constantly dealing with homophobic bullies who didn’t stop terrorizing him until Batman intervened.

Unlike his sister, the affable Cullen did not go down the costume hero route, though he has had more than a few encounters with supervillains. His mind was briefly taken over by the Mad Hatter, he dated a member of the Royal Flush Gang and even fell under the thrall of new-villain-on-the-block Punchline.

In a departure from the source material, the TV version of Cullen is transgender and tired of playing by other people’s rules. The younger Row also appears to be taking a more active role by breaking into Bruce Wayne’s office with Harper and Duela. We’re intrigued to see in what ways the Cullen of Gotham Knights gets in on the action.

Also, it has been noted that Turner will find himself working with the children of his father’s enemies to solve the murder. When it comes to the likes of Duela and even Stephanie Brown, that makes sense. However, Marcus Row — while definitely a criminal — does not rate as one of Batman’s villains. With that in mind, don’t be surprised if the writers pull a switcheroo and make Marcus one of the more well known members of the Rogue’s Gallery Poppa Row or at the least more reminiscent of their kind.

Duela Doe

Considering she’s also known as Joker’s Daughter, it should come as no surprise that Duela has always been something of a chaotic character. After revealing herself to the world in 1976, Duela claimed to be the offspring of everyone from the Joker and Catwoman to Scarecrow and Penguin. Even though she modeled herself after the Clown Prince of Crime, it was assumed for a while that this one-time Teen Titan was actually Two-Face’s daughter.

Even further down the line, she turned out to be from an alternate reality where her folks were The Jokester and Three-Face, heroic versions of the well-known Bat-villains Joker and Two-Face. A more recent take on the character positioned her as a disturbed young woman who came across the Joker’s sliced-off face in the sewers below Gotham, started wearing it and took charge of a group of underground dwellers.

The Gotham Knights writers clearly have plenty of source material to draw from in creating their version of Duela. So far, we know that she was born in Arkham Asylum, reportedly to the Joker and an as-yet-unnamed mother, maybe Harley Quinn? Duela seems to have embraced her family’s more maniacal nature, though for now she’s fighting on the side of the heroes. Don’t be surprised, though, if both her allegiances and origins come into question as the show plays out.

Carrie Kelley

One of the most interesting pulls from the comics for the show comes in the form of Carrie Kelley. In the trailer, she explains that her partner Batman referred to her as “his little robin,” a clear reference to Batman’s many costumed cohorts. However, this particular bird does not come from the usual nest, but an alternate reality established in the seminal Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, a series that helped infuse the medium with darker, realistic elements. In that world, an older, far more grim and gritty version of the dark detective returned to crimefighting and enlisted the help of teen Carrie Kelley. Together they took on the likes of Joker and Superman.

Though Carrie is part of one of the most famous, historical and beloved stories in the history of the medium, she only has a handful of other appearances and mainly in the sequels to Dark Knight Returns. That means the writers can nod to that version of the character while also drawing from any of the other Robins. However it breaks down, the name is a nice acknowledgement of Carrie as the first female to fill the role of Robin.

Stephanie Brown

Gotham Knights also features the second female Robin, Stephanie Brown, though she’s far more well known as Spoiler. The character emerged in the early 90s and began a relationship with Tim Drake during his time as Robin. She struggled to gain Batman’s acceptance thanks in part to the fact that her dad was the villain Cluemaster. In fact, it was the discovery of her father’s secret identity that inspired Stephanie to become a vigilante in the first place.

The character dips in and out of the footage we’ve seen so far, but it seems like she’s already friends with Turner as the series begins and he trusts her enough to show her the Batcave. Stephanie has been described as a computer whiz who is also adept at puzzles. Maybe that’s because of her dad Arthur (Ethan Embry), the charismatic host of a local trivia game show who works very hard to keep the addictions of his wife Crystal (Sunny Mabrey) a well-kept secret. If Arthur isn’t already the Cluemaster as the series kicks off, it sounds like he will be before long, which could inspire his daughter to fight on the side of right. How that will result in Turner bringing her into the fold, will be an interesting reveal.

Gotham Knights premieres March 14 on The CW.

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