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Netflix Reveals the Cast of THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY TV Series

Earlier this month, Ellen Page became the first cast member of The Umbrella Academy, Netflix’s TV series adaptation of the bizarre superhero comic by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. The show is adapting the first storyline from the book, which followed the adoptive family of superheroes reunited as adults in the wake of their father’s death. With production of the series expected to begin soon, Netflix has set the rest of the main cast, which includes a familiar face from Game of Thrones and one of the leads of Hamilton‘s touring production.

So let’s meet them, shall we?

Tom Hopper as Luther Hargreeves/Spaceboy

Dickon Tarly lives! At least on this show. Tom Hopper’s Game of Thrones stint may have been short, but he’s landed the leading role as far as The Umbrella Academy goes. Luther was the strongest member of the team, but his head was attached to the body of a Martian gorilla to save his life. It’s not clear if that aspect of his character will make it into the show, but we wouldn’t bet against it.

David Castañeda as Diego Hargreeves/The Kraken

Think of the Kraken as The Umbrella Academy‘s Batman. Diego was the rebel among his adoptive siblings, and he definitely doesn’t get along with Luther. As the Kraken, Diego dispenses his own brand of justice as a vigilante, and he’s extremely athletic. But his actual power is his ability to hold his breath. Prior to landing this role, David Castañeda had a recurring role on Jane the Virgin, and he is set to co-star in the sequel to Sicario, Soldado.

Emmy Raver-Lampman as Allison Hargreeves/The Rumor

The Umbrella Academy will be Emmy Raver-Lampman’s first television role, but she has previously toured with the Broadway shows Hamilton and Wicked. Raver-Lampman’s character, Allison Hargreeves, has the ability to literally change reality by lying. That’s why she sometimes resorts to using a pad of paper to convey her thoughts rather than risk using her powers.

Robert Sheehan as Klaus Hargreeves/The Seance

As his codename “The Seance” implies, Klaus’ powers include the ability to speak to the dead. And it may actually be impossible for Klaus to die himself, which is part of the reason that he’s a drug addict. Robert Sheehan is portraying Klaus on the series, and he’ll also be starring in Peter Jackson‘s upcoming adaptation of Mortal Engines.

Aidan Gallagher as Number Five

Aidan Gallagher is the former star of Nickelodeon’s Nicky series, and he’s got a pretty intriguing role as Number Five, the only member of the team who still looks like a child. Number Five was sometimes called “The Boy” by his adoptive father, and he has the ability to travel through time. However, his aging has been permanently frozen, and he appears to be 13-years old. In the comic, he is also one of the deadliest assassins alive.

The Umbrella Academy is slated to premiere in 2018 on Netflix.

What do you think about the cast? Let us know in the comment section below!

Want More Umbrella Business?

Here’s more information on Ellen Page’s role.
And here’s the creators talking about influences.
Finally, the original details about the show.

Images: Dark Horse Comics/Netflix

New LORD OF THE RINGS Funko Pop! and Mystery Minis Journeying Our Way

With a potential new television series set on Middle-earth coming in the next few years on Amazon Prime, a lot of folks have been revisiting the now-classic Lord of the Rings movie trilogy lately, and getting reacquainted with their old friends from the Shire once again. And now the good folks at Funko are bringing some classic Lord of the Rings characters to the Pop! vinyl figures family, as well as an all-new batch of Tolkien-esque Mystery Minis.

Among the Mystery Minis are Frodo Baggins, his Hobbit buddies Samwise, Merry, and Pippin, Aragorn, Gollum, Saruman, and Galadriel, with the Witch-King of Angmar, Lurtz, and Eowyn available only at Hot Topic locations. Meanwhile, at Barnes and Noble, you’ll be able to find Galadriel (Glow variant), Frodo Baggins (Clear variant), and Gimli (Gold variant).

Coming in January, an all-new wave of Lord of the Rings Pop!s arrive, with the addition of characters like Gollum, Lurtz, Merry and Pippin, and rounding out the series, Aragorn. Gollum has a chase figure, featured with one of the many fish he catches in the stream. The Gollum variant is a rarity of 1-in-6. Maybe the coolest of all of these is the extra-sized Pop! of Treebeard the noble Ent.

There will also be exclusives of course, like a Barnes & Noble clear “Invisible” version of Gollum, and Toys ‘R Us will have an exclusive Aragorn as King Elessar from The Return of the King. You can check out images of the new wave of Lord of the Rings in our gallery down below.

Are you stoked for this new addition to your Lord of the Rings collection? Be sure to let us know down below in the comments.

Images: Funko

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You Can Now Play Tetris on Facebook Messenger

Good news for everyone who’s been fruitlessly hunting for the Game Boy they swear they left somewhere in the attic (it’s either under the Ninja Turtle action figures or the stack of long overdue library books): you can finally play Tetris without one thanks to Facebook. (No word yet on Dr. Mario.)

CoolGames has launched an in-Messenger version of the classic stacking game—all you have to do is connect your Facebook account, and you’re in. There’s a marathon mode where you stack as long as you can until you lose, and, of course, a social component where you can challenge friends to play and see how you rate against them on the public leader board.

There’s also a guide that shows you where each piece will drop if left in its current position which, for me, taints the spirit of the game just slightly. Although I can still find a way to mess it up by dropping the piece as fast as possible and ticking it over on accident at the last second.

Other games available through Facebook’s Instant Games platform include Galaga, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and more.

This is one of the least surprising places Tetris has popped up in its 33-year history, especially considering its hidden on the dashboard layout of some Russian-made cars, which seems like it would lead to an epidemic of distracted driving.

Of course, Threshold Entertainment planned to shoot a Tetris movie…that’s meant to be a full sci-fi trilogy…in China this year, but we’re still waiting to see if they got all the pieces aligned to make it a reality.

Need More Nerd News?

A Super Mario cereal is coming!
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Image: CoolGames

There’s a New POKÉMON Cafe Coming to Japan in 2018

After two decades, the popularity of Pokémon shows no signs of slowing down. But Japanese fans of the long-running video game series will soon have a tasty way to embrace their love for the franchise: a brand new Pokémon-themed cafe is coming to Tokyo early next year.

Via Kotaku, the new Pokémon Cafe will be connected to the upcoming Pokémon Center shop in the Takashimaya Department Store Nihonbashi. The Pokémon Company also offered up a first at the cafe’s logo, and announced that it is expected to open in March 2018.

Unlike the previous Pokémon cafes that popped up in Japan, this will be a permanent attraction. Of course, we’re looking forward to seeing the Pokémon-themed food and drinks that will emerge from the new incarnation of the cafe. As noted in a previous Kotaku report, one of the earlier Pokémon cafes went all-in on Pikachu-inspired menu items, including a burger bun, a mango pudding, and curry rice made to resemble Pikachu’s head. But with so many different Pokémon to choose from, we’re hoping that the new cafe won’t limit itself to the franchise’s most identifiable character.

The Pokémon Company also released some early concept art for the Pokémon Cafe, and it seems to be a fairly restrained design that doesn’t overdo its signature theme. But it does appear that Pokémon art and collectibles will be on display within the cafe.

Are you interested in making a trip to check out the Pokémon Cafe? And which characters would you like to see represented on the menu? Choose your Pokémon and share your thoughts below!

Images: The Pokémon Company

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Star Wars‘ John Boyega busts a move for Jimmy Fallon!
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Benicio del Toro’s THE LAST JEDI Character Defines Being Chill in New Photo

Despite the recent deluge of new commercials and teasers for The Last Jedi, one new addition to the galaxy far, far away has mostly remained out of sight thus far: Benicio Del Toro‘s ethically dubious computer expert DJ. But a new photo of the character shows that even if DJ will find himself in the middle of an epic battle between the Resistance and First Order, that doesn’t mean he’s going to lose his chill in the process. Possibly because he can’t lose.

Empire magazine shared a new image of Del Toro’s character along with some insights into how much he can or cannot be trusted. He looks cool, calm, and collected in his comfortable long coat and loose fitting clothes, and that devil-may-care vibe seems appropriate for a character described as “morally ambiguous.”

Empire magazine shares a new image of Benicio Del Toro’s DJ in #TheLastJedi. https://t.co/xy6wllQVaU pic.twitter.com/Ego4NHX6B0

— Dunc T'racen (@clubjade) November 30, 2017

Del Toro’s DJ is a slicer: a highly skilled computer expert adept at extracting stolen information from systems. Basically, the Star Wars equivalent of an illegal computer hacker. So just because DJ will be working with the Resistance in the film doesn’t mean they should entirely trust him. Del Toro compared DJ to a knife, saying, “If you grab him by the blade, he’ll cut you. If you grab him by the handle, he can be very, very useful.” (That’s a great lesson to remember for both computer hackers and actual knives.) He also said the character reminds him of a Dickens character, or someone who came “straight out of a Bob Dylan or Tom Waits song, or even a Dostoyevsky novel.”

We’re gonna guess he’s not exactly a ray of sunshine then. Even if he looks so damn cool in the few pictures of him we’ve seen.

These descriptions of him being a kind of lone wolf out for himself, along with his laid back pose in the photo, lend to comparisons with Han Solo. Still, there’s something about those comments from del Toro that make us think DJ will not prove as dependable as Han Solo once did in the fight for the galaxy. And coupled with the concerns about how much Resistance leader Admiral Holdo can be trusted, we’re starting to worry about how bad things could get for the good guys here when two people working for them might be double agents.

What do you think? Is DJ likely to play a dirty trick on the Resistance? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

Images: Lucasfilm

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Sidekick with Matt Mira #8: Kumail Nanjiani and Nick Wiger

Host Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, Portlandia, and Adventure Time) discusses the making of his film The Big Sick and tests his mettle in our X-Files quiz. The laughs continue as guest Nick Wiger (Doughboys podcast and writer for @midnight) sermonizes on California fast food before a debate on the merits of Rogue One breaks out.

Subscribe to Alpha to watch Sidekick with Matt Mira and get a free 30 day trial! 

Breaking Down Everything from the AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Trailer

Today Marvel finally ended our long national nightmare and gave us the first trailer for Avengers: Infinity War, and somehow it did the impossible and exceeded our insane expectations. On today’s Nerdist News Talks Back we shared our reactions to the intense, loaded teaser and broke down everything we saw–and didn’t see–in it, along with our biggest theories for what could happen.

Host Jessica Chobot was joined today by producer Jason Nguyen, Mothership writer Amy Vorpahl, and Nerdist editor Kyle Anderson, and they started with their one word reaction to what they saw. But which moment surprised them the most? Who were we most excited to see? Was it one of the older Avengers or one of the newer members of the team? How excited are we Spider-Man has his spidey sense? And do we think Vision is the character most likely to be killed by Thanos?

Speaking of the Mad Titan and his missing hat, was he threatening enough here? What did we make of Proxima Midnight and her spear-throwing skills? Could the movie end up having too many villains? And does Wakanda make sense as a locale for one of the film’s biggest battles?

Iron Man is also sporting the arc reactor in his chest here for the first time since Iron Man 3, does that mean Doctor Strange could introduce some good old-fashioned time travel in this film? Would we like to see that so it helps fix the timeline issues introduced by Spider-Man: Homecoming? Should he use it to age Groot up a few more years?

But what about Black Widow’s new wig? Is this her best ever? Do we prefer Cap with the beard or without? Does this trailer have us more hyped than we were before? Did it also get us more excited to see Black Panther?

But a new trailer also means new theories, like whether it could be Hulk himself in that Hulkbuster Armor, and the possibility Tony Stark will save Spider-Man by putting him in his suit and sending him to safety. Could Captain America end up with the Energy Shield to replace his old one? And might we see Thanos in that helicopter from his first comic book appearance?

As always we want you to tune in and be a part of the conversation with us every weekday at 1:00 p.m. PT when Nerdist News Talks Back airs live on our YouTube and Alpha channels. We might have waited forever for this trailer, but we still don’t get to see the movie until May, so help us pass the time by talking about it until then.

We still want to hear your thoughts on the trailer though and our reaction to it, so talk back to us in the comments below.

Images: Marvel

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AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Teaser Trailer Breakdown!

“Get this man a shield!” The battle for the Infinity Stones has finally come to Earth in the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Infinity War. And if fans were expecting a simple rehash of the footage that debuted last summer then they were probably very happy to see a much broader look at the beginning of the end for the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. Today’s Nerdist News is giving you a shot-by-shot breakdown of the Infinity War trailer and unpacking what we know so far.

Join host and the lost member of the Infinity Watch, Jessica Chobot, as she runs down all of the big moments from the Avengers’ next adventure. And there’s nothing we love more than a literal callback! It’s no coincidence Tony Stark still has the flip phone that Captain America gave him at the end of Civil War. If there was ever a time to bring in the Secret Avengers, it’s now!

It’s good to see that Black Panther and the nation of Wakanda will apparently be playing bigger roles than we realized in this film, just a few months after Panther’s solo flick. That shot of Cap’s renegade Avengers running alongside Black Panther and his army already seems destined to be one of the most memorable shots in the movie. But this trailer was full of scenes like that, and we’re incredibly excited to see it all come together.

While the natural assumption was that Infinity War would largely adapt the Infinity Gauntlet storyline, it seems to be borrowing a lot from Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers, including the Black Order/Children of Thanos. We got a glimpse of Proxima Midnight as she seems to take on a bearded Captain America, and she’s not the only one of Thanos’ children who can give Gamora or Nebula a run for their money. Everything about this movie looks epic, and we’re dying to see more.

That’s right, the Guardians of the Galaxy are here! But if Thanos is this difficult to stop with just two Infinity Stones, then how much more powerful can he get before he has them all? We’ll find out when Infinity War opens on May 4, 2018.

What do you think about the first teaser for Avengers: Infinity War? Assemble in the comment section below!

Images: Marvel Studios 

Bryan Fuller, Michael Green Exit AMERICAN GODS (Report)

I don’t think the most powerful of gods could’ve foretold this one: American Gods‘ showrunners, Michael Green and Bryan Fuller, have exited the series, according to a new report from Deadline.

Nerdist has reached out for comment from Starz and FreemantleMedia, but had yet to hear back at the time of publication. We will update this story as more information becomes available.

Fuller and Green have a long history working with Neil Gaiman on the adaptation of his iconic novel to television. As the former put it, they’ve continued to expand Gaiman’s world beyond the page and even inspired the author as he works on the sequel. To see the two series co-creators bow out when it’s been reported that half the scripts were already completed is certainly a shock. According to the report from Deadline, Gaiman may hop on as co-showrunner, but the search for a new head of the series is already underway.

There’s no reasoning behind the exit, though Fuller and Green are notorious for their ambitious workloads. Last year while working on Gods, Green also released several films, including Blade Runner 2049, Logan, and Murder on the Orient Express. As for Fuller, he is currently working on an adaptation of Amazing Stories for Apple.

What do you think of this development? How does it make you feel about season 2? Let us know in the comments below!

Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor, creator/host of Fangirling, and resident Khaleesi of House Nerdist. Find her on Twitter!

NEED MORE FROM THE GOD SQUAD?

Read our interview with Fuller and Green about what they had planned for season 2!
Here’s Neil Gaiman explaining what it was like to expand his story.
And this VFX reel beautifully explains how the world of the dead comes to life.

Images: Starz

FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Live-Action Movie Gets a Music Video

For the better part of two decades, fans of Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist have followed the journey of Edward and Alphonse Elric, a pair of brothers whose lives were upended by an alchemical experiment gone wrong. Next month, a Fullmetal Alchemist live-action feature film will finally come out in Japan. As part of the build up for the movie, Misia has released a new music video for her song from the film’s soundtrack.

Via Anime News Network, Misia’s song is called “Kimi no Soba ni Iru yo,” which roughly translates to “I’m by your side.” That’s an appropriate theme for both the song and the movie, as Misia seemingly steps into the role of Edward, and helps Alphonse put himself back together in his armored form. As fans for the series already know, Alphonse’s entire body was lost to an accident, and his soul is bound to the armor. Edward and Alphonse’s ongoing quest is to find a way to restore their human bodies.

Alphonse also gets a chance to show off some of his offensive capabilities in the video, while Misia takes Edward’s powers of transmutation for herself and appears to enter the Gate of Alchemy; which leads to God’s domain and it is said to be the source of all alchemical knowledge.

Fullmetal Alchemist will be released in Japan on Friday, December 1. It will eventually get a limited U.S. release, but a premiere date has not yet been announced.

What did you think about Misia’s new Fullmetal Alchemist music video? Let us know in the comment section below!

Images: Misia

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