Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 24
August 21, 2025
PEACEMAKER’s Season 2 Premiere Reveals David Denman’s Mystery Character
We knew Peacemaker would serve as reunion for James Gunn and Brightburn star David Denman. We just didn’t know exactly what that would look like until the show’s season two premiere. DC Studios wouldn’t reveal who The Office star was actually playing until the show aired. Now we know why they kept it a secret. The unexpected arrival of Denman’s character marked a big emotional moment for a major character.
HBO Max
Christopher Smith made a shocking discovery in Peacemaker‘s season two finale. It all began on a cold night when he didn’t want to let Eagley outside to fly. Instead John Cena’s superhero opened up his portal to the Quantum Unfolding Storage Area, an enormous extradimensional room he can access via a secret door introduced in season one. In there he saw an unfriendly alien from a parallel world come and go. But when Eagley refused to come back, Smith had to go looking for him. What he found was a rack of Peacemaker helmets kept outside one of the QUSA’s many doors. Curiosity got the best of him and tried his own passcode. It worked, and inside he found a mansion he fled when he saw a friendly version of his dad Auggie still alive.
Later in the episode, a drunk, high, depressed Smith went back to the alternate dimension. He explored the mansion more before going outside on the porch. A truck then pulled up and a tall, imposing man got out. Smith instinctively knew who it was, a grown version of his older brother Keith.
HBO MaxIn his own world, Cena’s Smith had accidentally killed his brother when their white supremacist, piece of shit father made them bare knuckle brawl as children for entertainment. In this parallel world their father Auggie was a good, loving dad who’d raised good boys. Together they’d become the celebrated and beloved superhero group known as the Top Trio.
Seeing his brother alive overwhelmed Peacemaker, who foolishly stayed and talked with his not-dead family for far too long. But it was hard to blame him. In this world not only was his horrible father a loving one instead, Keith was still there. Chris adored his older brother as a kid. Keith was responsible for his love of heavy metal. Even during their ill-fated figth the boys were having fun. Chris was only fighting because his father encouraged them both. He never meant to kill Keith with that fateful punch that cause the boy’s fatal seizure.
HBO MaxKeith’s death haunts Chris. His father never took any responsibility and instead blamed his innocent, traumatized son. Keith’s death also inspired his younger brother’s quest for peace, as Christopher swore he would never let anyone die for no reason again. He would only kill in the name of peace.
At least that’s what happened in his world. In that other dimension, Auggie and his boys fought for everyone. Brave and noble heroes of a world that loves Peacemaker, a man who happily fights next to his older brother.
HBO MaxThat version of Peacemaker is now dead. The Top Trio doesn’t know it, but it just became a duo. Maybe. There’s a world where a sad, lonely, joke of a hero lives. He only ever wanted a loving family. A loving family that included his big brother, the exact thing he just discovered through a door to another world.
No wonder DC Studios and James Gunn kept David Denman’s character a secret. The arrival of his Keith Smith was a powerful, emotional moment that wouldn’t have worked as well if we knew it was coming. It will also impact everything that follows in Peacemaker season two. There’s only one Christopher Smith left, just as there’s only one Keith.
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FALLOUT Season 2 Trailer Easter Egg Breakdown
Just like many fans of Prime Video’s Fallout series, I am vibrating out of my skin with excitement now that the second season’s trailer has debuted. Gamers and viewers alike have been digging through the trailer to excavate every little detail to tide us over until December—myself included! Here are all the Easter eggs I found in my totally normal amount of rewatches.
Dinky!!!Dinky the Dinosaur stands tall and proud over (the ruins of?) Novac, a settlement that players could live in during the events of Fallout: New Vegas. Lucy stands in Dinky’s mouth with her sniper rifle, exactly where New Vegas companion Craig Boone stood to watch over Novac. Lucy then nails an enemy slo-mo V.A.T.S.-style, referencing the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, a mechanic that has existed in Fallout in some capacity since the very first entry in 1997.
The Tops, Gomorrah, and the Lucky 38We don’t really see 2296 New Vegas–-but we do see 2077 Las Vegas, through the eyes of Cooper Howard. The Lucky 38 is a stunningly close approximation of its video game counterpart. The Stratosphere-inspired hotel and casino is one of the most iconic locations in the game series’ long history, and to see it so beautifully rendered in live-action is a treat.
Prime VideoIn Fallout: New Vegas, the presidential suite of the Lucky 38 is where the Courier (the player character in New Vegas) and their companions throw up their feet when not roaming the wasteland. We see a shot of Mr. House in the penthouse of course, speaking to Cooper from his chair in front of a wall of green computer screens of varying sizes. It’s a well-known room for New Vegas fans; this is where Mr. House dispenses quests and wisdom (kind of) to the Courier.
Gomorrah and the Tops, two of the game’s three casinos that are open to the public, are also in the trailer, both looking pretty game accurate in their own right. No sign of the Ultra-Luxe, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the show pulls off the hat trick.
Just Outside of New Vegas, Freeside Seems to Have Changed.Freeside is the rest of Vegas that Mr. House has not yet deemed worthy of being part of his post-war ‘utopia’. During the events of New Vegas, Freeside is loosely patrolled and controlled by the Kings, a gang of men who all dress as Elvis and operate out of an Elvis impersonation school. Their leader is simply referred to as “The King.” During the trailer, however, we can spot Lucy and Cooper doing battle with some feral ghouls in suspiciously King-like outfits. Freeside seems to have taken a downturn since we last visited in 2281. It has been fifteen years, after all. Anything could have happened.
Prime VideoSpeaking of Freeside—a quick freeze-frame on the defenestrating Ghoul/Cooper confirms the presence of another iconic Fallout: New Vegas location: the Atomic Wrangler. It’s a seedy casino that provides booze, chems, and sex workers to the good people of Freeside. The sign as alight in the trailer, so if nothing else, the Atomic Wrangler still survives.
The Wrangler being a confirmed destination means we may get to see other familiar faces from the game. The Garret twins, the owners and proprietors of the Atomic Wrangler, provide plenty of quests and information as the Courier earns money to pass the 2,000 cap credit check at the New Vegas gate.
In fact, one of the tasks the Garrets bestow upon you is to find an, ahem, ‘escort’ who happens to be a ghoul and a cowboy. Weird coincidence.
Hey, Speaking of Cooper—
Prime VideoGoing back over 200 years, we see Cooper Howard in power armor. There’s snow all around him. Operation: Anchorage occurred from 2066-2077, the year that Cooper’s parallel plot in the past takes place. For the uninitiated: Alaska became a contested area between the Americans and the Chinese during the Great War. In January of 2077, the US successfully annexed Alaska. In one of Fallout 3’s DLC campaigns, players could enter a virtual reality simulation of war-torn Anchorage and play through the action themselves, granted with a massive dose of propaganda.
Mr. House
Prime VideoMr. House, portrayed in his season one cameo by Rafi Silver, has been recast with Justin Theroux, likely in conjunction with the character’s more prominent role in the plot of season two. What might even say a pivotal role—reflected in Cooper’s words when Lucy asks him why her father would go to New Vegas:
“You wanna know why the world ended? It started here. With one man.”
In the game, House claims to have protected Vegas from the brunt of nuclear armageddon—which makes it interesting that Cooper insinuates the opposite.
The Brotherhood of Steel is stronger than everWe see not one, not two, not three, but four Brotherhood airships sailing over the Mojave, as Maximus and an unknown individual in power armor race through the desert below on foot. Fans of the show will know Caswennen, the airship we saw last season, and fans of Fallout 4 are all-too familiar with the Prydwen, but where did these two other ships come from? That’s assuming either of the ships I just named are actually the ships in the air.
Prime VideoJust how many chapters of the Brotherhood are there?
In Fallout: New Vegas, the Brotherhood is in shambles. They sit in their Hidden Valley bunker after falling to the New California Republic. With a dramatically weakened NCR, it seems the Brotherhood has grown unchecked in the Mojave. Is one of these behemoth ships the Prydwen, depicted in Fallout 4 and under the command of the East Coast Brotherhood? Will the story of Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 brush up against the story of the western wastelands for the first time?
Caesar’s Legion Is Still Here—and Caesar Might be Too.We get one shot of the genocidal Hegelian slavers, and it seems like they’re preparing for war. This implies that, canonically, Caesar’s Legion is still in the Mojave following the events of Fallout: New Vegas. Speculation is running wild as to whether season two will touch on the battles of Hoover Dam, and the Legion’s bloody war with the NCR. Our boys in Legion reds look a bit better armored than their Fallout: New Vegas predecessors, with a few M1 lookalike helmets scattered amongst the repurposed football gear. Have they grown stronger in the past decade and a half?
Prime VideoWe only see the back of Caesar’s head in the brief glimpse, but keen eyes have pointed out that the ears don’t necessarily not match the ears of Macauley Culkin. Prime has already confirmed Culkin will join the cast in Fallout’s second season. But could this Caesar even be the same Caesar from New Vegas? There are a few paths in the game that lead to Caesar surviving to fight another day—not because of any warfare, ironically, but because of a malignant brain tumor growing in his evil little head.
Lucy In a Vault-Tec Child’s Bedroom.
Prime VideoThere are a few fun easter eggs here. In-game items from Fallout 4 appear in the room. Giddy-Up Buttercup, the ultimate in equestrian electronics, stands next to the bed—a junk item from Fallout 4, passionately collected by a ghoul named Arlen Glass. On the desk are Sugar Bombs, the best cereal for your post-apocalyptic mornings, or illegal Jet lab!
Why is Lucy here? Is it a flashback, dream sequence, night in a friendly Vault? Or…trapped in the Vault-Tec facility that we see Hank McClaine stomping through in the trailer?
Hey, It’s Victor!
Prime VideoOur favorite cowboy Securitron (and, notably, the only one we know of) has come to life on screen, a perfect clone of his Fallout: New Vegas model. New Vegas starts off with a BANG—in the form of you getting shot in the head in the opening cutscene. You’re left in a shallow grave, until Victor rolls up and digs up your not-quite-a-corpse.
This could be another hint that Mr. House is currently in power, at least in some capacity. You learn later in New Vegas that Victor, like all Securitrons in the Mojave, is strictly under House’s control.
I can’t wait to see what will happen next.Fans are blown away after the trailer by just how true to the game the bright lights of New Vegas are. Jonathan Nolan has thus far treated the game series with reverence, and that has never been so vibrantly on display as the Lucky 38 towering over the Vegas nightlife.
Just remember: the house always wins.
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PEACEMAKER Namechecked Blüdhaven, Does This Hint That Nightwing Exists?
According to James Gunn, In the DCU, the big cities found in our own real world don’t exist. So no New York City, no Los Angeles, no Chicago, etc. In their place are Metropolis, Coast City, and yes, Gotham City. But Peacemaker name-dropped another prominent DC Comics city in season two, one that heavily hints toward one of DC Comics’ most famous heroes. The city is Blüdhaven and that hero is Nightwing. When Peacemaker finds the door to the alt-reality where his brother is still alive, he says “Aren’t you supposed to be in Blüdhaven?” If this city exists in the alt-reality, then it surely does in our Peacemaker’s world.
So what exactly is the significance of a Blüdhaven mention in the DCU? Writer Chuck Dixon created this Gotham-adjacent city as the home base of one of DC’s most popular heroes, Nightwing. So does this namedrop confirm this very popular character’s existence in the new DCU? We think it just might.
DC ComicsBlüdhaven first appeared in Nightwing #1 in 1996. This is where the now-adult Dick Grayson, Batman’s original Robin sidekick, relocated to get out of the shadow of his mentor. The city was said to be located in the State of New Jersey, between Gotham and Atlantic City. It was originally a whaling town, founded mainly by German immigrants. On Peacemaker, they pronounce the city’s name by using Germanic phonetics, so “blewd-hayven.” However, most DC fans pronounce it as “Blood-haven.” Which honestly just sounds cooler and more ominous. The other sounds like a beverage you’d drink at Oktoberfest.
DC ComicsMany Gotham City criminals who were run out of town by Batman went on to set up shop in Blüdhaven, most famously, the brute known as Blockbuster. In many ways, Blüdhaven is ever more crime-ridden than Gotham. Even if the criminal element is a little more low-rent. Still, so many criminals usually means Nightwing often has his work cut out for him. It was in Blüdhaven that Dick Grayson became a beat cop, and most recently, once he inherited billions from Alfred Pennyworth, it is where he created a foundation to help the city’s less fortunate. He also made it home base for his own superhero team, the Titans.
Does this automatically mean Nightwing is part of the DCU already? And does Blüdhaven already have its own superhero protector on patrol? We don’t know, but now it’s definitely not out of the question. The proposed Batman: The Brave and the Bold movie is about the Dark Knight taking on his young son Damian Wayne as the new Robin. Early comments Gunn made about the film suggest the Bat family would play a role in the film. So it might include Nightwing, too. If Bruce Wayne is old enough to have a teenage son, then he’s old enough to have adopted Dick Grayson as his first Robin, who could now be old enough to be Nightwing.
DC ComicsThe upcoming animated film, Dynamic Duo, is all about Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, the first two heroes named Robin. It’s unclear if that movie takes place in the DCU or not. But if it does, that’s another indication that Nightwing may already exist in the DCU. Here’s hoping this namedrop of Blüdhaven means that the former Boy Wonder will appear soon in James Gunn’s new DCU. Remember, the last time we saw a version of Dick Grayson on the big screen was in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin. So we think it’s high time this iconic character got some form of cinematic redemption.
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PEACEMAKER Season 2 Introduces Batman Villain White Rabbit into the DCU
In the first episode of season two of Peacemaker, we see John Cena’s titular hero go to a secret location in an abandoned toy store. He goes there to audition for membership in Maxwell Lord’s Justice Gang, the same team from Superman. And it doesn’t quite go how he’d hoped. But we did get a little DC Easter egg in that scene. Actually, “Easter egg” is the most apt description. Because we see a costumed applicant leave the tryouts in tears, and it’s a relatively obscure Gotham City character, White Rabbit.
Played by actress Brey Noelle, White Rabbit looks just like her comic book counterpart, wearing sexy “Playboy Bunny” lingerie and giant rabbit ears. She doesn’t get any speaking lines, but she’s crying and distraught, probably because of something that Guy Gardner said. Also, for likely not making it to the team roster either. But this ridiculous-looking character actually does have DC Comics origins.
DC ComicsWhite Rabbit She first appeared in 2011’s Batman: The Dark Knight #1, in a story by writer Paul Jenkins and artist David Finch. This was part of the publisher’s infamous New 52 reboot that year. Her true name was Jaina Hudson, the daughter of a wealthy Gotham City diplomat and his wife, a former Bollywood actress. At the age of 9, Jaina moved from India to Gotham, where she eventually became a rich socialite and dated Bruce Wayne briefly.
DC ComicsIt turned out, she had the power of Bio-Fission, meaning she could duplicate herself, reproducing “like a bunny.” Her White Rabbit persona actually became Caucasian and platinum blonde, which is fairly problematic, as that is her “sexy” persona. After causing problems for Batman a few times, she joined the Wonderland Gang, thanks to her Alice in Wonderland-inspired appearance. Eventually, the White Rabbit just recombined with Jaina. Nevertheless, she continued to make sporadic appearances here and there in the DC universe.
DC ComicsIn the comics, White Rabbit is almost always presented as a Batman villain, and not a superhero. Of course, most of the female Gotham baddies became heroes or antiheroes eventually, like Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Poison Ivy. So it’s not far-fetched to assume White Rabbit could go down the same career path. And one of her last appearances in the comics back in 2023 even hinted at that shift. No doubt, DC was hoping she’d became as popular as the other sexy “Gotham City Sirens.” But she never quite clicked in that way. In her most recent appearances, her costume is slightly less objectifying.
DC ComicsWe’re pretty sure that the version of White Rabbit we see in Peacemaker is just supposed to be a one-time gag, and we’ll likely never see her again. After all, she didn’t even get to speak a single line of dialogue. But who knows? In this new DCU, anything is possible. James Gunn might want to bring her back for more than just a cameo later in the season. Some forgotten Batman villains got glow-ups thanks to their outside comics media popularity. We’re talking about former “loser” status villains like Kite-Man, or even Condiment King. Maybe Peacemaker will ensure the same fate for White Rabbit in the future.
Peacemaker season two drops new episodes every Thursday on HBO Max.
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How PEACEMAKER Season 2 Changed the Justice League Cameo from Season 1
Peacemaker season two just did the most DC Comics thing ever. In the “Previously On” intro before the first episode begins, we witness the moment from the season one finale where the Justice Gang arrives too late to help Peacemaker and pals thwarted the alien invasion. We see the shadowy silhouettes of Superman, Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific, Guy Gardner, and presumably Supergirl arrive as Peacemaker walks by and tells them off, already having saved the day. Hawkgirl and Guy trade a few quips, and Superman and the rest say nothing.
HBO Max/DC StudiosOf course, Peacemaker season one fans will remember things differently. Back in 2022, it was the Justice League, specifically Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ezra Miller’s Flash, who showed up and cracked jokes instead. This is all James Gunn’s cheeky way of saying “Everything from season one happened as you remember it, except it was the Justice Gang, not the Justice League, who showed up at the end.” Funnily enough, this is the most DC Comics approach to storytelling that Gunn could have taken. Because DC did this exact same thing regarding its own history a lot in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
In the 1985 event series Crisis on Infinite Earths, the then-fifty-year-old DC Universe continuity was massively changed. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman had their histories greatly altered in new reboots. However, some of the old DC continuity remained. So, there still was a Justice League of America. Only some characters, specifically Wonder Woman, were no longer part of its early history. So when post-Crisis comics retold the formation and early years of the Justice League? Now, they’d show the same classic adventures, but with Black Canary in the place of Wonder Woman in the story.
DC ComicsThe post-Crisis DC landscape had to do this “It happened, just not the way you remember it” approach with a metric ton of characters. Mainly because DC Comics rebooted its three biggest characters, causing a ripple effect throughout their own timeline. Some forty years later, DC Comics is still trying to untangle the mess they made for themselves. Comics like The New History of the DC Universe are still attempting to make sense of it all. And now the cinematic DC universe is having to do the very same thing.
Obviously, some things from the old DCEU are still canon to this new DCU. Movies like The Suicide Squad and plain old Suicide Squad seem to remain a part of the history. But they deleted just about everything else. No Man of Steel, BvS, Wonder Woman, Shazam, Aquaman, or their respective sequels count any longer. So did the DCEU suffer a massive multiversal Crisis of its own, one that we just never saw play out? We suppose that if we wanted to make 2023’s The Flash an event that changed history, that might work. However, the end of that movie showed Ezra Miller as Barry Allen still in this rebooted reality, not to mention George Clooney as Bruce Wayne. And we know that’s not likely to be canon in the current DCU.
DC Studios/HBO MaxUltimately, this approach will be a far less painful headache for the DC Studios than it was for DC Comics. From what we can tell, Peacemaker is the only major “active” element from the old DCEU still in continuity. We suppose the two adjacent Suicide Squad projects merit inclusion due to their proximity to him. And we suppose Gunn may include Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn eventually, although that means her Joker is still Jared Leto, and we’d just rather….not go there. In the end, James Gunn handled this continuity issue the best way possible, by just making it fun. Sometimes, that’s enough.
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Apple TV+ Sets New Price Hike, Raises Cost By 30%
It’s that time again, the time for a streamer to raise its prices. The latest price hike comes from Apply TV+, which has raised its cost by a full 30%. This marks Apple TV+’s third price increase since it launched. And while that’s well behind other streamers that seem increase their subscription costs almost weekly, it’s still not amazing. The last time Apple TV+ had a price hike, it doubled its prices. This time, it’s increasing costs by 30%. Will no one let the consumer live? 
Apple TV+
In its latest subscription cost increase, Apple TV+ has raised its prices from $9.99 to $12.99, a $3 increase per month. Apple TV+ is quick to remind you that its one of the few streamers that hasn’t shoved ads into every possible corner of its programming. And that IS true. However, it really feels like enough is enough with these streaming cost increases.
Apple TV+ additionally notes in its defense, “Since it launch, Apple TV+ has expanded its deep library of hundreds of Apple Originals, with thousands of hours of premium programming across genres and brand-new releases weekly — all ad-free. Subscribers can explore a rich offering of thrilling dramas, epic sci-fi, feel-good comedies and live sports.”
Apple TV+Indeed, we are sure Apple TV+ has increased its offerings since its launch. And we know first hand that it has some good programming, including Severance, which we at Nerdist absolutely adore. (And we’re not the only ones, the show received a staggering 27 Emmy nominations this year.) Additionally, we have great interest in Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus which releases on November 7th. But basically every streamer uses its content as a reason why its cost increases are justified. Apple TV+ is not special in that regard when it comes to its price hike. And at some point we have to ask… is it really that it costs so much more to make good TV than it did last year, or are these streamers just trying to get every cent they can. And we feel like we may know the answer.
The Apple TV+ price increase comes into effect on August 21 for new customers and within 30 days for existing subscribers.
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Karen Gillan Joins HIGHLANDER Reboot as the Love of Henry Cavill’s Life
“There can be only one,” unless we’re talking about Highlander. In that case Hollywood will just keep making new versions again and again. Now we know for sure it will very soon. A big screen reboot, starring Henry Cavill as its titular Immortal, will be John Wick director Chad Stahelski‘s next film.. But that’s not the only job he’s taking on. Lionsgate has also tasked him with overseeing both the John Wick franchise and the new Highlander franchise he’s launching.
Cavill will go up against Dave Bautista, who will play the immortal villain known as The Kurgen in the Highlander reboot. It’s a fan-casting dream come true for many folks. Conversely, Karen Gillan will join the fray as Heather, “MacLeod’s mortal wife and the love of his life.” We can’t wait to see this dynamic romance come to life.
NetflixIn late 2023 Stahelski said his Highlander reboot was still in development. Not long after, Deadline reported Lionsgate was definitely “moving forward” with the project. Now we know it will be Stahelski’s next feature film.
That first feature will only be the start. This news comes as part of a larger deal with Lionsgate. The studio has also put the John Wick director in charge of the assassin franchise. He will have “creative oversight” of the popular series. Stahelski will also fill the same role for his budding new Highlander franchise. He will lead both properties across film, television, and other mediums. (Yup, it might not be long before Highlander returns to TV.)
“I am pleased to be able to grow my relationship with Lionsgate in this new oversight role for the John Wick universe and its further expansion,” said Stahelski in a statement. “John Wick is so close to my heart and to be able to continue shepherding it will be a blast for me. I’m so happy to also be launching another franchise with Highlander, a world that is so rich with engaging stories to be told.”
20th Century StudiosPrevious reports said his first Highlander film will also have a big-time budget topping $100 million. These new films will also touch upon elements long-time fans know and love about the franchise. During an interview last year Stahelski told Josh Horowitz, “Our story engages a lot of the same characters and stuff like that. But we’ve also brought in elements of all the TV shows, and we’re trying to do a bit of a prequel, a setup to The Gathering. So we have room to grow the property.”
Star Cavill additionally noted to the Happy Sad and Confused podcast, “Obviously, I watched [Highlander movies] when I was a lot younger, and have since rewatched. But also the TV show. I really enjoyed the lore behind it. That sense of a tragic warrior, with more of a story to tell than just a cool guy with a cool sword doing cool things. And this goes even deeper into that.”
Exactly how much the new rebooted franchise will connect to the previous Christopher Lambert Highlander show and movies is still unknown. The exact nature of Cavill’s role on the show, which we first reported on in 2021, is also unclear. Although, most likely, he’ll be playing the rebooted Immortal Connor MacLeod. What we do know, for now, is that Russell Crowe has come aboard the reboot. He’ll play the role of Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez, made famous by Sean Connery in the original 1986 movie. Additionally, Industry star Marisa Abela has joined the cast as well.
As for the rest, we bet it won’t be that much longer until we find out more about the Highlander reboot.
Originally published on August 29, 2023.
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CRITICAL ROLE Campaign 4 Reveals Cast, System, World, and More
The time has come, the Walrus said… to get more details about Critical Role Campaign 4. Critical Role recently broke the internet by announcing that longtime Game Master, Matt Mercer, would be stepping down from his ten-year position. Instead, Critical Role Campaign 4 will have the talented Brennan Lee Mulligan at its helm. This announcement immediately incited a flurry of questions. Would Matt Mercer still be involved in Campaign 4? What would the cast of Critical Role Campaign 4 look like? What world would it take place in? What kind of game would it be? Well, Critical Role wasn’t telling… YET. But now we have answers to all these questions and more. And yes, to ease your fears, Matt Mercer WILL be a player in Critical Role Campaign 4. Huzzah!
Will Matt Mercer Be in Critical Role Campaign 4?We just said so, didn’t we? Yes! For the first time in 10 years, Matt Mercer will participate in a Critical Role campaign as a PLAYER. We’re excited to see what he does.
Critical RoleWho Is in the Full Cast of Critical Role Campaign 4?But Matt Mercer isn’t the only player in Critical Role Campaign 4. Joining him in the cast are Critical Role founders Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham, alongside Luis Carazo, Robbie Daymond, Aabria Iyengar, Whitney Moore, and Alex Ward. Of course, Brennan Lee Mulligan joins as Game Master.
Critical RoleWhat Game System Will Critical Role Campaign 4 Use?Critical Role Campaign 4 has revealed that it will be played using Dungeons & Dragons (2024 rules), as well as some homebrew from Darrington Press’s own Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins. Very exciting stuff! We can’t wait to see what the homebrew brings us.
Critical RoleMarisha Ray, Creative Director, co-founder, and cast member of Critical Role shares of Critical Role‘s system choice for Campaign 4, “When creating the worlds that we build and explore in all of our content at Critical Role, we have always held strong to the belief that we should use the system that best supports the story we want to tell. We are certainly spoiled for choice when it comes to TTRPG systems that the cast knows and loves, so we are very excited to explore more of both Daggerheart and Dungeons and Dragons in our near (and hopefully distant) future.”
Or as Matt Mercer shares in the video above, “Daggerheart or D&D, we say ‘Both!'”
RELATED ARTICLE
Why CRITICAL ROLE’s Video Game DISPATCH Is a Surprising Yet Smart Move for an Expansive FutureWhat World Will Critical Role Campaign 4 Take Place In?Critical Role Campaign 4 will be leaving Exandria behind and heading to the new world of Aramán in a West Marches-style approach to gameplay. For those unfamiliar, a West Marches approach is one that prioritizes exploration of a world and player-driven narratives. It offers the players much more agency in their gameplay than other approaches to TTRPGs. Brennan Lee Mulligan reveals, “The West Marches campaign style is effectively a shared world with more adventurers that are player characters than can fit at the table in one session. And also, on a storytelling level, it really maps the form of fantasy storytelling that people are intimately familiar with and know and love.”
Critical RoleAs for the world of Aramán, the setting of Critical Role Campaign 4, well, we don’t know too much about it yet, but we feel eager to find out. Mulligan does share with us, “This is a world very much in conversation with Exandria. And so much of that story is about mortals and their relationships with gods and gods and their relationships with mortals. I talked to Matt, I went, ‘What is a relationship to divinity that would be based in the same logic and principals of everything we know and love about Exandria, but where they made a radically different choice. So we see the gods make a decision to put themselves and their role in the cosmos over the well-being of the mortals. And the mortals responded by then banding together themselves. Gods and mortals fight a terrible war, with many mortals staying loyal to the gods in that conflict. But the gods are defeated and killed, oops!”
Critical RoleAnd that leads us to Aramán, 70 years after that revolution and “what we’re dealing with is that magic is wild, chaotic, and unpredictable, it doesn’t work like it used to. The issues of the afterlife, where do the souls of the dead go now that gods do not part the souls to various afterlives?
RELATED ARTICLE
Roll With CRITICAL ROLE’s Sleek and Stylish Residuum Dice SetWhat Will the Story of Critical Role Campaign 4 Be?Game Master Brennan Lee Mulligan introduces us to the story of Critical Role Campaign 4, sharing, “In the world of Aramán, there exists a growing darkness in the shadow of revolution. 70 years ago were the Shapers cut down, those seven lords of creation that saw fit to cast their children into shadow and ruin forever. Now, a new age, a new conflict arises, and our heroes must rise to the task.”
Critical RoleDetails aside, Mulligan shares that he boiled down his storytelling into five parts: “Swords: conflict, combat, bravery, danger. Family: Deep relationships, the nature of deep bonds of love. Death: Finality. Magic: The fundamental premise of Fantasy that anything is possible. And kissing. That one’s just kissing. People like kissing. And those five brought together create what we want in fantasy storytelling.”
Do We Know Anything About Critical Role Campaign 4‘s Characters?We don’t yet know any specifics about the characters of Critical Role Campaign 4, except that they will divide into three categories: “Soldiers, Schemeres, and Seekers.”
Critical RoleA release reveals that bit of character information, alongside a reveal that the cast listed above won’t all be playing together all the time. Critical Role shares that the first four episodes of Campaign 4 “will act as an Overture, introducing and weaving all 13 cast members through intersecting scenes before the story splits into three smaller tables – the Soldiers, Schemers, and Seekers – for the rest of the campaign, with overarching themes and genres tying them altogether.”
This system, shares Brennan Lee Mulligan, will give us “an expanded view of the world through different tables that mix and match.” But the challenge of it is “to take an enormous party of epic heroes across multiple adventures concurrently, on a scale and size I have never attempted before.”
Critical RoleIn the end, Critical Role Campaign 4 divided people by the particular playstyle they were interested in engaging with. In the end, Critical Role formed the three tables, “Soldiers, Schemers, and Seekers.” The Soldiers, Brennan Lee Mulligan shares “The Soldiers table are the people who are interested in a traditionally charged combat and conflict-driven story mode—where the non-violent answers were few and far between.” Meanwhile, “The Seekers are people that tie directly into lore, cosmology, magic, big questions around problems facing this universe that are in the weave of the dance between divinity and arcane, and magic, and demons, and fairies, and dragons, and these big kinds of questions. It’s very classical fantasy.” And finally, “The Schemers table is very much set in intrigue, espionage, skullduggery, and relationships with each other and other NPCs and instituations and the machinations of power. Their adventuring looks like cloak and dagger. There are enemies right here in your hometown, and they are moving against you as we speak.”
Critical RoleCurious and curioser. We think we’ll love the Schemers. But we can’t help but wonder what the Seekers are seeking.
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CRITICAL ROLE Sets Global Tour for 2026, ‘ECHOES OF EXANDRIA’ Heads to EuropeWhen Will Critical Role Campaign 4 Release and How Can You Watch It?
Critical RoleWe will get the answers to all our questions (and probably more questions) about Campaign 4 when it releases in October. Critical Role shares that “Campaign 4 will premiere with instant access on Beacon.tv as well as streamed to Critical Role’s YouTube and Twitch channels on October 2, with the VOD available for everyone the following Monday and podcast episodes available in two parts: the first one week after the premiere, and the second on the following Tuesday. Beacon members will also get exclusive access to all episodes of Critical Role Cooldown for Campaign 4, where the cameras keep rolling and you get a front row seat to the cast’s post-show reactions.”
In the meantime, you can go back to the beginning with Critical Role‘s very first episode, ever. And stay tuned for any new announcements by keeping an eye on Critical Role’s website or Instagram at @Critical_Role.
The post CRITICAL ROLE Campaign 4 Reveals Cast, System, World, and More appeared first on Nerdist.
POKÉMON LEGENDS: Z-A Reveals New Mega-Evolution: Mega Victreebel
Pokémon Legends: Z-A surprised fans when it announced it wouldn’t have any new Pokémon for trainers to discover. Finding out which new Pokémon are in a new Pokémon game is one of fans’ favorite aspects of releases, after all. But avid lovers of new kinds of Pokémon don’t have to despair too hard. Because even though there are no brand new kinds of the creatures in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the game is very heavily focused on the idea of Mega-Evolution. And there will be new Mega-Evolved Pokémon to look forward to in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. And honestly, that’s basically the same thing. One Pokémon picking up a new Mega-Evolved form is Victreebel. You can check out its fine new form below.
We kind of love how Mega-Evolved Victreebel just thumps along like a big balloon. And this Victreebel looks almost nothing like the normal form of the Pokémon—so that’s a lot of fun. While regular Victreebel resembles more of a jug-plant, its Mega-Evolution flips that vision upside down. And, as most Mega-Evolutions are, Mega-Evolved Victreebel is literally shiny. We stan.
The Pokémon CompanyFor those not in the know Pokémon Legends: Z-A reminds us that “Mega Evolution goes beyond the limits of standard Evolution, imparting even greater power by temporarily unleashing a Pokémon’s hidden energy. Pokémon will change their appearance when they Mega Evolve—and certain ones may even change types—but they’re still your same trusty partners!”
The Pokémon Company
The Pokémon CompanyIn this case, it seems like Mega-Evolved Victreebel will pick up stinky powers sure to defeat any foe and will truly lean into its poison-type side. But hey, the poison cloud has stars in it, so at least its a pretty stinky cloud.
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Catch Every Pokémon World Championships 2025 Announcement HereAlong with Mega-Evolved Victreebel, Pokémon Legends: Z-A will bring us Mega Lucario, Mega Absol, Mega Altaria, Mega Sableye, Mega Gardevoir, Mega Ampharos, Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Charizard X, Mega Charizard Y, and more. We can’t wait to see what other new Pokémon receive Mega-Evolution forms when Pokémon Legends: Z-A releases on October 16.
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THE PITT Season 2 Teaser Trailer Promises Only a ONE Year Gap Between Seasons
Okay, The Pitt might not be exactly nerdy. But we know many of you nerds are watching it avidly. It seems like everyone unanimously agrees that The Pitt is one of our best new shows. And we have to join them in that assessment. What else is great about The Pitt, you ask? Aside from its captivating suspense, excellent acting, and true-to-life writing? Well, you won’t have to wait two years between seasons. Yes, The Pitt season one released on January 5, 2025, and The Pitt season two will release on January 2026. That truly makes it a high-fantasy show if you ask us. You can check out the teaser trailer for The Pitt season two below.
The synopsis for The Pitt shares “THE PITT is a realistic examination of the challenges facing healthcare workers in today’s America as seen through the lens of the frontline heroes working in a modern-day hospital in Pittsburgh.” All of those words are absolutely true. But it’s hard to convey in a few sentence just how aptly The Pitt captures the truth of our realities. It brings a whole new meaning to the words gritty and brutal. And we love/hate to see it.
HBO MaxBut if there’s one thing The Pitt can understand, it’s pacing—pacing in a season and pacing without. HBO Max shares alongside The Pitt season two’s trailer, “The critically acclaimed series, which has garnered 13 Emmy nominations, will return for season two in January 2026.” Which, as we said, is a modern medical miracle of its own. These days most acclaimed series require a two year wait for their next season, a move which makes it hard to really capitalize on momentum and grow a fanbase.
We’re glad to see HBO Max is leaning into The Pitt‘s power and popularity and bringing it back quickly. The Pitt season two trailer brings us into a brand new day of work for our favorite heroes and we can’t wait to see what’s in store.
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