Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 222

Ncuti Gatwa Says DOCTOR WHO Season Three Will Film in 2025

Doctor Who will be back on our screens soon with more Fifteenth Doctor goodness. Fans are also ready to see Ncuti Gatwa’s stylish Doctor come back for season two (also known as season 14) in 2025 on Disney+. The introduction of a new companion and presumably a slate of new villains makes it an exciting time for this series. And, for those who were wondering if the Fifteenth Doctor will regenerate any time soon, don’t bet on it. In an interview on The Graham Norton Show, Ncuti Gatwa (accidentally?) revealed that he will shoot a third season of Doctor Who in 2025. (Thanks to RadioTimes for bringing this to our attention.)

BBC/Disney+

“It is all going well,” he said. “We did the second series this year, the Christmas special is coming up, and we are filming a third series next year.” This doesn’t quite line up with showrunner Russell T Davies recent comments to Doctor Who Magazine, where he said that a season three renewal wouldn’t come until after season two’s debut. Of course, things change quickly in the TV world and the official renewal could be on the way. It seems that if anyone would know whether there’s another season coming, it would be the lead of the show. Fingers crossed for more Fifteenth Doctor!

The post Ncuti Gatwa Says DOCTOR WHO Season Three Will Film in 2025 appeared first on Nerdist.

THE BIG BANG THEORY Spinoff Will Have Three Returning Cast Members

The Big Bang Theory (the show, not the actual theory) is rather divisive among the geeky and nerdy folks in the world. The long-running sitcom made some people feel seen in mainstream culture, while others raised an eyebrow at how it portrays nerds. Either way, The Big Bang Theory is a part of pop culture history, ending in 2019 with a whopping 12 seasons under its belt. And it did give fans a prequel spinoff, Young Sheldon, which is already six seasons into its story. Obviously, people dig this universe. As of April 2023, another spinoff of The Big Bang Theory was in the works at .

Warner Bros. Television

Now, it seems the series is taking another step towards happening because there’s casting news. According to Variety, The Big Bang Theory spinoff is adding Brian Posehn (Bert Kibbler, a geologist at Caltech), Lauren Lapkus (Denise, the assistant manager of Stuart’s comic book store and his eventual love interest), and Kevin Sussman (comic book store owner Stuart Bloom) to its cast. Still, we will have to see if the show gets an official greenlight to come to our TV screens.

Warner Bros. Television

According to a press release, The Big Bang Theory executive producer and creator Chuck Lorre is developing this comedy spinoff project. Lorre has an overall deal with Warner Bros. Television to craft content. We don’t know the details about this The Big Bang Theory spinoff just yet, though. So it remains to be seen if it will introduce an entirely new slate of characters or focus on a character we already know. We aren’t exactly sure which wed prefer.

Maybe there will be a few Bazinga moments in the mix. We shall see… More news on this The Big Bang Theory spinoff project is sure to come sooner rather than later.

Originally published April 12, 2023.

The post THE BIG BANG THEORY Spinoff Will Have Three Returning Cast Members appeared first on Nerdist.

THE OFFICE Spinoff Series Expands With Four New Cast Members

Pop culture has long warned us about the perils of spending too much time inside an office. Yet Hollywood can’t stop spending time in one. And now, it’s official. Peacock has picked off The Office spinoff and given it a series order. We officially have some details about The Office spinoff’s plot and cast members.

One thing is for sure. There are a lot of people who will star in this series. According to Variety, the latest are Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Tim Key, and Eric Rahill. We don’t know anything about their characters quite yet but we should be getting more information soon.

The new iteration of #TheOffice at Peacock has found four more cast members.

Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Tim Key and Eric Rahill have all joined the untitled series. https://t.co/coQLxLbs19

— Variety (@Variety) October 10, 2024

We previously learned from Palisadian-Post that The Office spinoff added Melvin Gregg, Chelsea Frei, and Ramona Young to its growing cast. I personally loved Gregg in The Blackening and know he will be hilarious in this.

Peacock/The CW/Lionsgate FilmsThe Office Spinoff’s Setting and PlotNBC

We finally have some more information about The Office spinoff. Variety reveals that this series is “a new mockumentary show with a new cast set in the same universe.”

Additionally, the logline for The Office spinoff is as follows:

The documentary crew that immortalized Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch is in search of a new subject when they discover a dying historic Midwestern newspaper and the publisher trying to revive it with volunteer reporters.

Very interesting indeed.

Lisa Katz, president of NBCUniversal Entertainment shares “It’s been more than ten years since the final episode of ‘The Office’ aired on NBC, and the acclaimed comedy series continues to gain popularity and build new generations of fans on Peacock. In partnership with Universal Television and led by the creative team of Greg Daniels and Michael Koman, this new series set in the universe of Dunder Mifflin introduces a new cast of characters in a fresh setting ripe for comedic storytelling: a daily newspaper.”

The Office Spinoff’s CastHBO

Star Wars‘ Domhnall Gleeson and The White Lotus‘ Sabrina Impacciatore are the first performers to join The Office spinoff’s cast. The Hollywood Reporter says Gleeson and Impacciatore have signed on for a possible new sequel show to the smash hit NBC series, which remains as popular as ever thanks to streaming.

More About The Office Spinoff

This new version of The Office is in development from original series creator Greg Daniels and Michael Korman. Reports of a potential The Office spinoff first came to light last September. Daniels then put together a writing room in January. But there’s still a long way to go for it before it airs.

NBC

With two established stars joining the show, though, it feels closer than ever to filming. Impacciatore is an Emmy-nominated actress, and Gleeson is known around both this world and the galaxy far, far away as the detestable General Armitage Hux. Does that mean Gleeson could be stepping into the Michael Scott-equivalent role on this new series? (He did just star opposite Steve Carrell on FX’s The Patient.) Or could the show opt to have Impacciatore play the show’s boss? That only happened for the first time ever on any country’s version with Australia’s The Office last year. And she does have the necessary managerial experience thanks to White Lotus…

Or could neither of these two be the boss? Might they be the new Jim and Pam instead? Dwight and Angela? To find out we’ll have to go to the one place pop culture keeps telling us is terrible for us to be, even if it’s fun to watch others go there.

Originally published on April 29, 2024.

The post THE OFFICE Spinoff Series Expands With Four New Cast Members appeared first on Nerdist.

PEAKY BLINDERS Movie Brings Back Sophie Rundle’s Ada Shelby Along with Other Returning Cast

Fresh off his Oscar win for Best Actor in Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy will star in a feature film follow-up to hit period crime drama Peaky Blinders. We saw the news at Deadline. The series initially ran from 2013-2022. True to form with British productions, that nine years encompasses six seasons with a total of 36 episodes. Incredible. Anyway, series creator Steven Knight has written the script and Tom Harper will direct. Harper previously directed the final three episodes of the show’s first season.

Along with Cillian Murphy, several other cast members are returning, including Sophie Rundle, who plays Ada Shelby, Ned Dennehy (Charlie Strong), Packy Lee (Johnny Dogs), and Ian Peck (Curly). Newcomer Jay Lycurgo will join the cast in an undisclosed role.

The Peaky Blinders movie is moving forward pretty quickly because it is officially in production. The show’s social media pages shared that Murphy is back as Tommy Shelby and he looks ready to stir up more mess.

By order of the Peaky Blinders… Tommy Shelby is back.

Cillian Murphy and Steven Knight are reunited on set as production officially starts on the upcoming Netflix film. pic.twitter.com/vI8pKrLINW

— Peaky Blinders (@ThePeakyBlinder) September 30, 2024

Warner Brothers/Legendary Pictures

In addition to Murphy’s return, the Peaky Blinders film will also star Rebecca Ferguson, who recently starred as Lady Jessica in Dune and Dune: Part Two. As Deadline reports, her role is currently undisclosed.

Netflix

When asked about the project—which had been kicking around for a bit awaiting the official greenlight—Murphy had this to say. “It seems like Tommy Shelby wasn’t finished with me. … It is very gratifying to be recollaborating with Steven Knight and Tom Harper on the film version of Peaky Blinders. This is one for the fans.”

Knight added: “I’m genuinely thrilled that this movie is about to happen. It will be an explosive chapter in the Peaky Blinders story. No holds barred. Full-on Peaky Blinders at war.” No idea when the movie will come out, but rest assured, those blinders will peak one more time.

Originally published on June 5, 2024.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

The post PEAKY BLINDERS Movie Brings Back Sophie Rundle’s Ada Shelby Along with Other Returning Cast appeared first on Nerdist.

The Marvel Comics History of AGATHA ALL ALONG’S Nicholas Scratch and Salem’s Seven

[image error]

In Agatha All Along, we’ve learned that Agatha Harkness once had a son named Nicholas Scratch. Apparently, a child she traded to gain access to the Darkhold. However, what actually occurred is still a mystery. As of episode five of Agatha, we know that the spirit and energy of Nicholas Scratch is still out there somewhere. At least according to that Ouija board on the Witches’ Road. But who is Agatha’s son Nicholas Scratch in the comics? Is he good, or is he evil? He actually has a fairly complex history, directly tied into a group of characters currently wreaking havoc on the show, Salem’s Seven.

Marvel ComicsThe First Appearance of Nicholas Scratch, Son of Agatha Harkness

In the comics, Nicholas Scratch is the son of Agatha Harkness, born to her centuries ago, just as in the show. But he’s definitely not a good guy. We don’t actually know who his father is, but some think that he’s the son of Satan himself. This is because he channels his powerful magic through an object he calls the Satan Staff. Was it a gift from dear old dad? Wolverine creator Len Wein and iconic artist George Perez created Scratch, and he first appeared in 1977’s Fantastic Four #185. He was enemies with not only Marvel’s First Family, but also with his mother Agatha herself.

Marvel Comics

The name Nicholas Scratch is a combination of two nicknames for the Devil, “Old Nick” and “Old Scratch.” Fans of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix may also remember the name Nicholas Scratch was the name of the handsome young warlock she was enamored with. Marvel’s version has your standard magical powers, like teleportation, telepathy, mind control, and creating illusions. In the Marvel Universe, he was part of a secret colony of witches and warlocks in Colorado called New Salem, hidden deep in the Rocky Mountains.

Agatha and Nicholas Scratch: Mother and Son, and Eternal EnemiesMarvel Comics

Scratch’s mother Agatha was also once a part of this society, but left for the mortal world, which the witches of New Salem considered a betrayal. He kidnaps his mother and puts her on trial, but she escapes with the help of the Fantastic Four. He also attempted to possess the body of Franklin Richards, the powerful mutant son of Reed and Sue Richards. Eventually, Nicholas Scratch was exiled into the Dark Realm dimension. He escaped several times, coming into conflict with the Avengers, particularly the Scarlet Witch, and the Thunderbolts. For a time, he served Doctor Strange’s mortal foe, Dormammu of the Dark Dimension.

Salem’s Seven, the Children of Nicholas Scratch in Marvel ComicsMarvel Comics

Although a powerful warlock, no doubt inheriting a degree of power from his mother, Scratch had an army of his own—Salem’s Seven. In the Marvel Comics, Salem’s Seven are all actually the children of Scratch, each from an unknown mother. The Salem’s Seven each had different magical powers. Brutacus can transform into a lion-like creature, while Gazelle changes into a deer-like being with super speed. Hydron can transform into a fish-like humanoid who controls water. The aptly named Reptilla changes into a humanoid form made of snakes, and Scratch’s son Thornn is a demonic creature with massive horns. Vakume can fly and control air and wind. Finally, there’s Vertigo, the eldest daughter, who can literally give someone vertigo. Their designs are very ‘70s, to say the least.

Salem’s Seven Reimagined for Agatha All AlongMarvel Studios

In the MCU, Salem’s Seven have been almost totally reimagined visually. They are now the children of the witches that Agatha killed in Salem, way back in 1693, who have made it their immortal life’s work to get revenge on Agatha for her crimes. They dress in all black, and transform into animals, but not animal/human hybrids. Also, they are clearly not the children of Nicholas Scratch. But all has not been revealed. Nicholas Scratch might be out there pulling the strings. And the Salem’s Seven might be working with him to take down Agatha. So they might not be his children in the literal sense, but they could be his “children” figuratively. We expect to see more of both Salem’s Seven and Nicholas Scratch before Agatha All Along finishes its run.

The post The Marvel Comics History of AGATHA ALL ALONG’S Nicholas Scratch and Salem’s Seven appeared first on Nerdist.

Mubi Obtains Distribution Rights for Documentary Filmed in GRAND THEFT AUTO

Film distributor and streaming service Mubi has acquired the Subscription Video on Demand distribution rights for Grand Theft Hamlet, a documentary about two out-of-work actors attempting to put on a production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. However, there’s a twist: the entire production is in the video game Grand Theft Auto.

Mubi

Husband and wife duo Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls wrote and directed the film, which premiered at and won the documentary feature jury award at South by Southwest’s Film & TV Festival. The film will also premiere in the United Kingdom at the British Film Institute’s London Film Festival on Oct. 15. The actual production of Hamlet within the game won The Stage Innovation Award in 2023.

Crane is a stage actor with a career spanning over 20 years. He currently plays the lead, Harry Potter, in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child‘s West End production. Crane also appeared in Ridley Scott’s Napolean as Jacques-Louis David.

Grand Theft Hamlet is Grylls’ first feature-length documentary. Although, her previous short documentary, Peter and Ben, was also screened at South by Southwest. Grylls’ has directed and edited documentaries for the BBC, BFI Doc Society, The Guardian, etc. She is also the co-founder of the Birds Eye View Film Festival, which aims to uplift filmmaking from women and non-binary people.

Mubi

In January 2021, during the pandemic lockdown, actors Sam and Mark became engrossed in playing GTA to escape the confines of social isolation. GTA allows players to explore an open world and do everything from the game’s namesake and stealing cars to competing in a tennis match. While exploring GTA, Sam and Mark found a theater and considered staging a production in the game. Grand Theft Hamlet follows this journey. The concept stands in stark contrast to the usual objectives of the game, which makes it intriguing.

Mubi obtained U.S. distribution rights for Grand Theft Hamlet‘s theatrical release and global rights for streaming. Mubi has recently attempted to broaden its theatrical scope. Most recently, they distributed Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance. Additionally, Mubi just signed a multi-territory deal for Challenger‘s director Luca Guadagnino‘s upcoming film starring Daniel Craig, Queer. A24 will be distributing the film in the U.S., but Mubi secured the rights for the film in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Latin America, Germany, Turkey, India, etc.

The post Mubi Obtains Distribution Rights for Documentary Filmed in GRAND THEFT AUTO appeared first on Nerdist.

Henry Cavill Joins VOLTRON Live-Action Movie Cast

You truly can’t keep a good giant-robot-lions-that-become-a-gianter-robot-guy series down for long. A couple of years following the conclusion of Voltron: Legendary Defender, a live-action movie from Red Notice director Rawson Marshall Thurber began development in 2022. Several studios were in a bidding war for rights to the film with Amazon MGM emerging victorious. Two years later, we have some casting news and it is big. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Henry Cavill will star in the upcoming live-action Voltron movie.

Universal Pictures

He’s starring opposite newcomer Daniel Quinn-Toye, who leads the film and will presumably play Keith, the pilot of the Black Lion and leader of the Voltron Force. We don’t know who Cavill is playing for sure, but it is not likely another member of the Force considering that they are on the younger side. Perhaps he will be an antagonist of some sort or Samuel Holt, the father of Pidge.

DreamWorks Animation/Netflix

A Voltron movie seemed like it was destined to happen eventually, given the nostalgia-driven market that has given rise to films in recent years like Netflix’s Gundam movie and the continued Transformers franchise. However, Voltron has much more in common with Power Rangers than either pure anime or pure American animation; in the early ’80s, Ted Koplar and World Events Productions obtained the rights to two completely separate Toei Animation series.

World Events Productions/Toei Animation

Beast King GoLion ran from 1981-1982. WEP edited, trimmed, and redubbed it to become the first season of Voltron in 1984. After the show proved a massive success but no more GoLion episodes existed, WEP then adapted the unrelated series Armored Fleet Dairugger XV which aired from ’82-’83. They were similar enough; GoLion had teens riding in giant robot lions which formed together to create a massive mecha warrior. Dairugger XV had teens driving in super cars that would then combine into a giant mecha warrior. The writers made season one take place way further in the future than season two; it made sense!

World Events Productions/Toei Animation

However, there was no denying the Lion Force season was the more popular with kids and especially toy shelves. After the 52-episodes of Vehicle Force finished airing in 1985, World Events Productions commissioned 20 more episodes of brand new Voltron episodes featuring the GoLion characters and mechas.

The series would come back a few times. First in 1998 until 2000 as Voltron: The Third Dimension, then as Voltron Force from 2011-2012. DreamWorks Animation and Netflix teamed up for Voltron: Legendary Defender in 2016 and the series found new life. Its fandom rivaled the popularity of the original series. Combining elements of both the original Voltron series and the excised elements of GoLion, Legendary Defender proved to be a space opera with heart, humor, and copious action.

DreamWorks Animation/Netflix

No word on what elements Thurber will borrow from any of the various versions of Voltron over the years. But time has proven it’s the original series, the GoLion designs and the American-rewritten characters and story that are the most popular. Sorry to all you Vehicle Force fans out there, but when you say “Voltron,” people think lions.

Originally published on March 23, 2022.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post Henry Cavill Joins VOLTRON Live-Action Movie Cast appeared first on Nerdist.

New KARATE KID Movie Reveals Official Title and Logo

Cobra Kai‘s final season is not the end for The Karate Kid franchise. A new featured film starring familiar faces will soon continue the martial arts story on the big screen. Who else will join Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan in this latest chapter? How will it connect different eras? And who will bring it to the screen and when?

We will get those answers soon, likely at NYCC 2024. The official Karate Kid movie account on X posted about its upcoming panel and seems to reveal the film’s new title and logo. It is Karate Kid: Legends, which makes sense with returning characters.

The new #KarateKidMovie is kicking things off at #NYCC. Join us at the Empire Stage at the Javits center on Friday, October 18th 7:00PM-8:00PM. pic.twitter.com/WxxqoiwKW8

— Karate Kid Movie (@KarateKidMovie) October 10, 2024

One thing is for sure: Ralph Macchio is a little nervous about being opposite of Jackie Chan. Cobra Kai actor Jacob Bertrand told GamesRadar+ that Macchio said it was intimidating to fight against the martial arts legend.

“[Macchio] said that Jackie Chan still moves like he’s a 20-year-old, and it’s really scary to fight with him,” Bertrand said. “But you know, he’s obviously a master and is so cool to work with. He was just talking about being nervous to fight Jackie Chan, ’cause Jackie Chan is freaking Jackie muh-fricking Chan. But he said the fights went super well and that all his stuff was great, and I’m stoked for the movie.”

We love when friends give us some secondhand inside scoops.

Here’s everything we know about the next Karate Kid movie so far.

Title

The original film was titled The Karate Kid but we are not 100% certain what this new film’s official title will be. With our luck, it will have the same title but perhaps they will just go with Karate Kid.

Karate Kid‘s Plot

Sony Picture’s still-untitled Karate Kid featured film will see Ralph Macchio (Daniel LaRusso) and Jackie Chan (Mr. Han) return to the franchise, in a story that combines their different eras of The Karate Kid movies. The studio has not yet released an official synopsis for the film. Sony has only said it will “continue the mythology of the original franchise.”

Early reports indicate it will take place on the East Coast rather than in California, and that it will center on on a teenage from China “who finds strength and direction via martial arts and a tough but wise mentor.”

Behind-the-ScenesThe Karate Kid, Columbia

Jonathan Entwistle (I’m Not Okay with This) will direct. The screenplay comes from Rob Lieber (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day).

Cobra Kai co-creator Jon Hurwitz is not involved with the film. He also confirmed the movie is not connected to his TV series.

Karate Kid‘s CastLucasfilm

In addition to Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan, the film will also feature the great Ming-Na Wen. And after announcing the movie with a global talent search for its young star, Sony picked American Born Chinese‘s Ben Wang as its new martial arts student.

DisneyKarate Kid‘s Release Date

The newest Karate Kid won’t take long to reach theaters. It will premiere on May 30, 2025.

Originally published March 8, 2024.

.youtube-embed{padding-bottom:56.25%!important;position:relative;overflow:hidden}.youtube-embed a,.youtube-embed iframe{display:block;width:100%;height:100%;position:absolute}.youtube-embed iframe{border:0}.youtube-embed img.youtube-cover{-o-object-fit:cover;object-fit:cover;height:100%;width:100%;cursor:pointer}.youtube-embed img.play-button{width:66px;position:absolute;left:46%;top:0;bottom:0;margin:auto;cursor:pointer}@media only screen and (max-width:499px){.youtube-embed img.play-button{left:45%;width:60px}}@media only screen and (max-width:425px){.youtube-embed img.play-button{left:44%;width:60px}}@media only screen and (max-width:375px){.youtube-embed img.play-button{left:43%;width:56px}}@media only screen and (max-width:345px){.youtube-embed img.play-button{left:42%;width:50px}}.youtube-embed .progressive-img{-webkit-filter:blur(10px);filter:blur(10px)}.youtube-embed .progressive-img.loaded{-webkit-filter:none;filter:none;-webkit-transition:-webkit-filter 1s ease-out;transition:-webkit-filter 1s ease-out;-o-transition:filter 1s ease-out;-moz-transition:filter 1s ease-out;transition:filter 1s ease-out;transition:filter 1s ease-out,-webkit-filter 1s ease-out}.youtube-embed .kskdDiv{display:none!important}

The post New KARATE KID Movie Reveals Official Title and Logo appeared first on Nerdist.

CADDO LAKE’s Creators Explain the Mysteries and Ending of Their Eerie New Movie

Your new favorite twisting-and-turning mystery has arrived. Caddo Lake is now streaming on Max, and it’s perfect for the autumnal season. But is magic or madness at play in the wild world of Caddo Lake? We guess you’ll have to tune in to find out. But to help shed light on some of the secrets at the core of this eerie new film, Nerdist spoke to Caddo Lake‘s writer and director duo, Celine Held and Logan George. From making the lake a character to how they determined the unexpected paths the movie would take (hint: a big whiteboard was involved), Held and Logan take us deep into the heart of Caddo Lake.

Max

You can read the full interview below—spoilers begin at the spoiler warning.

Nerdist: Caddo Lake begins by having the viewer really wonder if there’s a kind of magic or madness in play in the film. How important was it for you to strike that balance early on, and which way were you hoping for viewers to lean first?

Celine Held: Magic or madness? I love that. I think we want them to lean toward madness at first, if I were to pick.

Logan George: Yeah, you have to start laying some of the groundwork for what satisfies the genre. What we’re setting up, though, we can’t really tell you that we’re setting up, but there’s a lot of groundwork that you have to lay for the payoffs that come later. And within that, you also have to infuse the story with the tone and tension of where you’re going to get to. So it was a really delicate balance in the beginning of finding out how to communicate that, but also do the exposition necessary for what the story requires.

Max

I was really curious about what brought you to set the movie in Caddo Lake. What did you feel this specific setting added to your overall narrative?

Held: The whole movie came from the setting of Caddo Lake.

It was like the other opposite way around that you’d normally write a movie. I found a photo of this lake on Reddit in May 2020. We weren’t doing anything else. Shout out to the “EarthPorn” subreddit! And so we just borrowed my mom’s car from Pittsburgh and drove down to Texas. We lived there for a couple of months, and we wrote this awful first draft. Came back to Brooklyn, then got out a giant whiteboard after we gave it to our producer, and she was like, this is awful. And so we got out this giant whiteboard, and we’re like, okay, let’s figure this out because there’s something here. We’d been kind of talking about this idea for a while. It was COVID, so it was also in a response to COVID in a lot of ways.

George: And not being able to see our families. My mom had died in 2019, and so months later, Celine was talking about this conversation she’d had with her and these memories that she was telling Celine about. And I was like, I’ve never heard this story. This doesn’t even sound like my mom. This is wild. And it sort of prompted this idea of “how well do you really know your parents?” They’ve lived this life before you were born, and can you ever really understand that aspect of ’em? So infused with the location built the story.

Held: The location was a thousand times more than that photo gave us. It was way and above what we thought.

George: All the people on Caddo Lake, the people who live in this part of the world, and the myths that surround the lake were also all invaluable in building it.

Max

The lake is really a being of its own in Caddo Lake. What did you want the character of the lake to feel like throughout the film?

Held: I think it was funny, we made that producer we were talking about, she and our cinematographer, who we work with all the time, Kara Durrett and Lowell Meyer. We made them come down and we were like “Come down to the lake,” while we were there initially. And his initial response was “Spooky, spooky.” And I never felt that. I never felt like that spooky that he was feeling.

George: He kept saying, “There’s a trope of the cypress trees, spanish moss blowing in the wind, that’s like Louisiana Bayou-type murder crime.” And so we recognize all that, but we do feel like that aesthetic only gets you so far. So we just try to incorporate the specificity of this lake and the actual history of the lake and…

Held: How big it is.

George: How big it is, the specifics of all the names, and a lot of the people who live off there, they have cameos in the film and stuff. So I think that was sort of how we had to bridge the gap.

Held: We learned as much as we could about Caddo Lake. We learned all the names like Starr Ditch, Goverment Ditch, Carter’s Chute, and Alligator Bayou, these places that then feel like we know like the back of our hands, as much as we can.

[image error]

As we got into it, I was delighted to find that there was really magic at play. I was very happy when this really intense time travel eerie element occurred. I feel that creating a coherent system of time travel is one of the hardest things a film can ask of itself. How did you decide about the details of your version of it in Caddo Lake?

Held: We didn’t want anyone to be the mastermind, so we didn’t want any older version of a character to be the puppet master pulling the strings.

George: That felt like sort of the new way in. Is there enough cultural cache around time travel, the way there is on ghosts or aliens, that we can tell a time travel story, but this one is just of nature. This is a natural phenomenon, and our characters are just sucked into it.

Max

Held: We also were inspired by that mountain that all those Monarch butterflies traveled to in Mexico every year; that felt really specific. And those sheep in Bangladesh that walked in circles for like 10 days, these wild occurrences of nature that feel like, why? What are these animals? What are these bugs? What does the earth know that we can’t figure out? And it felt like that place could exist on Caddo Lake. So, in creating this massive maze of the film, it was honestly, again, the whiteboard that saved us.

Did you know you were writing the scariest scene in fiction when Ellie is trapped in different dimensions and hears her phone ringing, but she can’t get to it?

Held: That’s amazing. We did not know that was so scary, but now, in retrospect, yes.

Max

I found it interesting that Paris and Ellie never meet in Caddo Lake, and I thought that was really a fascinating facet of it. Why did you choose for their path to never cross?

Held: There was a version where they could, of course there was.

George: Yeah, it is tricky. We talked about it…

Held: But they didn’t know who each other were.

George: It was part of the wish-fulfillment aspect of the story and how it felt, considering the grief and the loss that’s part of the story. And because of the mechanics of time travel and how it all has to be predetermined, these things have to go a certain way. We always knew what would happen to Paris. And so it felt important that they were never going to get that aspect of wish fulfillment from each other. I mean, there’s a world where it could have happened, but we’ve made a choice for them never to overlap because it’s almost the expectation, and we wanted to go in a different direction.

Max

Yes, Caddo Lake, and its ending, are really bittersweet. I feel like some wounds are healed, and some wounds are healed, but they still hurt, and others kind of stay open. What were you kind of hoping the viewers would take away from that bittersweetness?

Held: The line that we came up with for the ending, “They didn’t mean to leave us.” That was kind of the beginning of understanding what Ellie would understand at the end. And we felt like it stood for more than just time travel. It stands for death and grief and that no one really means to leave us. So we hope that you leave this thriller horror, this wild film, that you want to call your mom.

Caddo Lake really accomplished that. Another line that really stuck with me was that nature built this place. I think we touched on it a little, but I guess what were you really trying to convey in that very evocative moment?

George: I think we as storytellers don’t want to tie the story up in a perfectly neat bow so that when the film’s over, you can sort of compartmentalize it and be like, okay, cool, I saw that. So there’s a lot about the aspects and the nature of how time travel works in the story that is left open to interpretation. Those things are not explicitly spelled out. But in watching the whole film, it felt important that someone gave voice to sort of the origin of this strange experience, that this isn’t coming from a manmade device or anything. And that Ellie walks away from the experience and has that kind of understanding that she can take home with her and that the audience, in turn, can sort of take that as well.

Max

What did you feel was the smallest time travel hint that maybe viewers might have missed out on while watching Caddo Lake?

Held: There are a bunch at the beginning, so when on a rewatch you’d see a lot of little pieces. I think

George: I dunno if I want to give any away…

Held: I could say that. Well, yeah, I mean a hint of what’s to come is the thing that gets tied up in Paris’ boat motor—the reason why they originally can’t leave is that Ellie’s yellow rope gets caught in the motor.

George: Yeah, maybe the bridge too. The bridge is explicitly seen. You see it in different timelines, way before the reveal. And so to an astute viewer who sees that, maybe they could start to get an inkling of what’s going on.

Caddo Lake is streaming now on Max.

The post CADDO LAKE’s Creators Explain the Mysteries and Ending of Their Eerie New Movie appeared first on Nerdist.

STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS Season 5 Trailer Sends Us on Big Final Adventures

Star Trek: Lower Decks is gearing up for its fifth and final season. While the show’s ending is making a lot of fans sad, there are a few bright spots to note. In a world where many streaming shows are getting cancellations after only one or two seasons—sometimes before people can even watch them—this show got a few seasons. And, instead of any weird cliffhangers or unresolved plots, there will be finality to all the characters’ stories. We get a taste of what to expect in the trailer for Star Trek: Lower Decks. 

This animated series is such a delight and fans will miss it for sure. Check out this brief synopsis for Star Trek: Lower Decks to go along with the trailer: 

 In season five of Star Trek: Lower Decks, the crew of the U.S.S. Cerritos is tasked with closing “space potholes” – subspace rifts that are causing chaos in the Alpha Quadrant. Pothole duty would be easy for Junior Officers Mariner, Boimler, Tendi and Rutherford… If they didn’t also have to deal with an Orion war, furious Klingons, diplomatic catastrophes, murder mysteries and scariest of all: their own career aspirations. This upcoming season on Paramount+ is a celebration of this underdog crew who are dangerously close to being promoted out of the lower decks and into strange new Starfleet roles.

What Is the Premiere Date for Star Trek: Lower Decks Season Five? Paramount+

The fifth and final season will premiere on Paramount+ with two episodes on October 24. Then,  new episodes of the 10 episode season will drop every Thursday leading up to the series finale on December 19.

.youtube-embed{padding-bottom:56.25%!important;position:relative;overflow:hidden}.youtube-embed a,.youtube-embed iframe{display:block;width:100%;height:100%;position:absolute}.youtube-embed iframe{border:0}.youtube-embed img.youtube-cover{-o-object-fit:cover;object-fit:cover;height:100%;width:100%;cursor:pointer}.youtube-embed img.play-button{width:66px;position:absolute;left:46%;top:0;bottom:0;margin:auto;cursor:pointer}@media only screen and (max-width:499px){.youtube-embed img.play-button{left:45%;width:60px}}@media only screen and (max-width:425px){.youtube-embed img.play-button{left:44%;width:60px}}@media only screen and (max-width:375px){.youtube-embed img.play-button{left:43%;width:56px}}@media only screen and (max-width:345px){.youtube-embed img.play-button{left:42%;width:50px}}.youtube-embed .progressive-img{-webkit-filter:blur(10px);filter:blur(10px)}.youtube-embed .progressive-img.loaded{-webkit-filter:none;filter:none;-webkit-transition:-webkit-filter 1s ease-out;transition:-webkit-filter 1s ease-out;-o-transition:filter 1s ease-out;-moz-transition:filter 1s ease-out;transition:filter 1s ease-out;transition:filter 1s ease-out,-webkit-filter 1s ease-out}.youtube-embed .kskdDiv{display:none!important}

The post STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS Season 5 Trailer Sends Us on Big Final Adventures appeared first on Nerdist.