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Newstime: The Stories You Might Have Missed This Week

Written by Cristian Stanic, Kieren Henfling, Nikita Binetti & Terry Phillips -

From film to TV, comics to gaming and everything in between, here’s what you might have missed in pop culture news this week.

TV

Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has weighed in on the show’s ending, but been cryptic as to whether or not his final books will follow on with what happened in HBO’s finale.

Meanwhile, fans have one chance left to revisit Westeros via full-length documentary Game of Thrones: The Last Watch, which chronicles the making of the show’s final season. Australian viewers can catch the doco on Foxtel from next Monday.

HBO has dropped a new trailer for Westworld season three, revealing the addition of Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul to the series. Filming for the show is still underway, and we aren’t expecting to see it back on our screens until 2020.

From Westeros to Middle-earth, Game of Thrones writer and co-executive producer Bryan Cogman has been tapped by Amazon to serve as a consultant for their Lord of the Rings series. Cogman started off as an assistant to Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, before quickly moving through the ranks and ultimately penning one of the show’s final episodes.

In other epic fantasy news, the long anticipated prequel series, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, now has an official release date. Keeping faithful to the original 1982 Jim Henson classic, the new series has forgone CGI in favour of using traditional Henson Company puppetry. Netflix will unleash all 10 episodes on August 30.

Netflix is also turning up the heat for the season return of Stranger Things, this week dropping a new teaser in preparation for its July 4 release date for season three.

Also on the Netflix front, season five of the sci-fi anthology show Black Mirror is set to return with a three-episode season on June 5, and will feature a little Avengers injection with Falcon’s Anthony Mackie and Mantis’ Pom Klementieff joining the cast of the third episode, Striking Viper. A trio of new trailers were released, teasing the various directions the season will take.

In a recent interview with Collider, director McG has revealed that his latest project is a TV series for Disney+ based on the 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger action-comedy True Lies. James Cameron, who directed the original film, is set to produce the new series, but there is no word on whether or not Arnie himself will be coming back for the show.

According to Deadline, the Disney+ Falcon & Winter Soldier series will be six episodes long, and they have signed Kari Skogland as the series director. Skogland is no stranger to popular TV series, having directed for The Walking Dead, House of Cards, Penny Dreadful, The Punisher and The Handmaid’s Tale, just to name a few. Rumours are also circulating that the series will see the return of Captain America: Civil War characters Sharon Carter and Helmut Zero.

FILM

Vanity Fair has released a new look at Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker, which includes some first-look images at the Knights of Ren, and the new characters Zorri Bliss (Keri Russell) and Allegiant General Pryde (Richard E. Grant).

Linda Hamilton returns as Sarah Connor in the epic first trailer for Terminator: Dark Fate. This latest Terminator sequel sees James Cameron back in the seat as producer and is directed by Deadpool’s Tim Miller. The film is a direct sequel to T2: Judgement Day, and ignores everything else that came after it.

Grey’s Anatomy star Alex Landi has thrown his hat into the ring to take on the role of kung-fu superhero Shang-Chi in Marvel’s upcoming movie, after a recent interview in which he expressed his desire to become Marvel’s first Asian superhero. Currently, Dave Callaham, who most recently worked on Wonder Woman 1984, has been tapped to pen the script.

Early this morning, Star Trek fans got their first taste of the new Picard spin-off, which seems to pick up right where we left off in ‘All Good Things’ 25 years ago.

Never one to sit still, John Wick’s Keanu Reeves has not only signed on for John Wick 4, which we can expect it to arrive on May 21, 2021, but he’s still got the new Bill and Ted to finish before then.

In addition to reprising John Wick, Keanu has also recently expressed his desire to return to the role of DC’s Master of the Dark Arts, John Constantine. Out of all the characters he’s played in the past, he has noted that Constantine was the one he “just had a blast” playing.

And Toy Story fans will be excited to check out the newest trailer for the upcoming film, giving a sneak peek introduction to Keanu Reeve’s daredevil character, Duke Kaboom.

Despite numerous attempts, video game adaptations still continue to prove themselves tough nuts for Hollywood to crack. Let’s hope the latest game to get the big screen treatment can do it right, as the Just Cause video game series is the next in line to make the leap from console to movie theatre. John Wick writer Derek Kolstad has been tapped to write the screenplay, and filming is expected to begin next year.

Jason Blum has revealed via Twitter that he is currently working on a follow up to last year’s Halloween sequel.

GAMING

In gaming this week (or maybe still film?), Sony has announced that they are creating their own studio, PlayStation Productions, to turn some of their biggest games into films and TV shows.

Over at Nintendo, some mad genius has gifted Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fans the ultimate mod in Shaggy.

If you want more of a GoT fix but don’t wanna pick up those incredibly heavy and daunting books, good news! George R.R. Martin confirmed this week that he has done “consulting” work for a video game developer in Japan! The rumours suggest Martin is working with From Software, the team behind Sekiro, Dark Souls, and Bloodborne, on a new game.

A new report reveals that Aussies spent more than $4 billion on gaming in 2018, which was 25% more than the year previous.

ANIME

Some disappointing news for Attack on Titan fans this week, with the announcement that the show will be ending after this current season. Ending with Studio WIT, that is. WIT says that they are no longer going to be producing the show, but, similar to what happened with One Punch Man, there’s no way a property as big as AoT isn’t going to be snapped up by another studio.

Aggretsuko, the instant classic Netflix anime about an angry working-class red panda letting off steam with death metal karaoke, is finally getting a second season, and in less than a month! Set your reminders for June 14.

COMICS

Celebrated Batman writer Tom King will reportedly depart his stint on the comic book series earlier than expected. It’s expected King will wrap up before the end of the year, despite previously stating his story would take more than 105 issues.

Napoleon Dynamite is getting a sequel in comic book form! IDW Publishing will be releasing a four-issue series by writers Carlos Guzman-Verdugo and Alejandro Verdugo, along with artist Jorge Monlongo. Releasing in September, the series will take place after the events of the film and will focus on Pedro’s run as student body president and the gang dealing with some allegations as to the legitimacy of Pedro’s election.

On the Marvel side of things, a brand new Conan the Barbarian series, Exodus, is coming this year, set to tell the never before told story of how Conan first ventured from his home into the wilderness. The series will follow a 15-year-old Conan as he learns to survive in the harsh icy conditions of his homeland. The series will be written and illustrated by Loki artist and Supa-Star alumnus Esad Ribic.

Also on the Marvel front, a new documentary, X-Men: The Seminal Moments, has been released. The series will chart the most important events in X-Men history, from their origins all the way to the modern era.

 

COLLECTIBLES

Lego Ideas is celebrating its 10-year anniversary by searching through its archives and highlighting previously unapproved sets; a selection of which fans can now vote on, with one being released in 2020.

In honour of Marvel’s 80th anniversary, Funko will be releasing figures of both Namor the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch, both of whom made their debut in 1939.

Godzilla tends to get a bad wrap, something these seriously adorable and chubby Q Edition Figures are looking to fix. TOYREVIL have done some sleuthing to find out where they’re available to purchase.

Adelaide

November 2-3, 2024

Adelaide Showground

Brisbane

November 8-10, 2024

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre

Melbourne

March 29-30, 2025

Melbourne Showgrounds

Gold Coast

April 12-13, 2025

Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre

Sydney

June 21-22, 2025

Sydney Showground Olympic Park

Perth

June 28-29, 2025

Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre

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