Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 376

STRANGER THINGS Needs to Kill More People, Says Gaten Matarazzo

It feels like Stranger Things has been a phenomenon for as long as we can remember. But now, our favorite party is all grown up, and the time has come for the series’ last chapter. Stranger Things 5 will be the Netflix hit’s final season, but we have no doubt that these concluding episodes will have a ton of meat on their bones.

Fans are readying themselves for heartbreak in Stranger Things 5, but one star is angling for even more suffering for all and sundry. Speaking at MegaCon Orlando, which we saw via Variety, the actor behind the beloved character of Dustin, Gaten Matarazzo, revealed one way he thought the series could improve. He shared, “It might sound messed up but we should kill more people. This show would be so much better if the stakes were much higher, like at any moment any of these kids can kick it. I feel like we’re all too safe.”

Netflix

There is some wisdom here, regarding the show’s main characters, anyway. Fans of Stranger Things‘ more minor characters have suffered for seasons. Still, with the final season of Stranger Things on the horizon, we could be heading for a blood bath.

One way or the other, let’s roll for initiative and head back to Hawkins one more time. Here’s everything we know about Stranger Things 5.

Stranger Things 5‘s PlotNetflix

Stranger Things 4 ended with a bang as the Upside Down erupted right into the middle of Hawkins. Although everyone came together to try to stop Vecna, the villainous monster, who is actually One, who is actually Henry Creel, succeeded in merging his evil world with the reality every day people inhabit. The party managed to injure Vecna and seemingly save Max from his clutches. However, the fallout remained apocalyptic. In the final moments of the season, the Upside Down’s ash arrives to cover everything, and a full-out war with the monstrous creatures of the dark world seems imminent.

Netflix

While we don’t know much about Stranger Things 5 yet, we assume it will have just a little to do with how Stranger Things 4 ended. The Duffer brothers haven’t provided many plot specifics but have offered several teases about Stranger Things 5. Among other bits, they shared that the action will remain centered in Hawkins and that likely we’ll see an eight-episode season. Additionally, the Duffers have noted that Will Byers will take a central role in the final season.

Finally, the series’ creators describe Stranger Things 5 as follows, “Five, the way we see it, is kind of a culmination of all the seasons, so it’s sort of got a little bit from each… Whereas before, each season was so [distinct]… [Season] 3 is our big summer blockbuster season with big monsters, and [Season] 4 was the psychological horror. Five, the way we see it, is kind of a culmination of all the seasons, so it’s sort of got a little bit from each. I think that what we’re trying to do is go back to the beginning a little bit, in sort of the tone of 1.” Or, “Season 5 is like if season 1 and 4 had a baby. And then that baby was injected with steroids.” Make of that what you will.

Behind the Scenes

Of course, the Duffer brothers, Matt and Ross Duffer, will once again take the helm of Stranger Things 5. Additionally, long-time Stranger Things director Shawn Levy will return to direct at least one episode of the season. Superstitiously, the Deadpool 3 director likes to take on episodes three and four if he can.

Stranger Things 5‘s CastRoss Duffer

All our favorite characters and actors will be back for Stranger Things 5. We know for sure that Joyce Byers, Jim Hopper, Mike Wheeler, Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers, Eleven, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, Will Byers, Karen Wheeler, Stever Harrington, Robin Buckley, and Murray Bauman will be back. (And with them, their respective actors.) Sadie Sink’s Max survived season four and should return with the rest. We, of course, are still holding the torch for the surprise resurrection of Joseph Quinn’s Eddie Munson. Stranger Things takes place in a supernatural world, after all. And it just wouldn’t be a good season without one Erica Sinclair.

Netflix

When it comes to new faces, we know that Linda Hamilton has joined the cast of Stranger Things 5. But her role remains a secret for now.

Stranger Things 5‘s Release DateNetflix

Stranger Things 5 does not yet have a release date, but it will not arrive in 2024.

Originally published on January 4, 2024.

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INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE Season 2 Gets Release Date, MAYFAIR WITCHES Adds to Cast

AMC is bringing back its Anne Rice Immortal Universe series in 2024, and has revealed new casting updates for its two flagship shows, Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches. It’s possible a third series is coming, too. The news was announced at the TCA press tour, via The Hollywood Reporter.

Mayfair Witches Season 2 Cast AdditionsAMC Networks

Mayfair Witches has already started production on an eight-episode second season in New Orleans, with the addition of Alyssa Jirrels as a series regular, playing Moira Mayfair. She’s lead character Rowan Fielding’s (Alexandra Daddario) cousin and a mind reader. She blames her family and the entity called Lasher (Jack Huston) for the death of her sister Tessa (Madison Wolfe). Ted Levine joins as recurring guest star Julien Mayfair, the father of Cortland Mayfair. Also coming on board is Thora Birch as Gifford Mayfair, a self-deprecating tarot card reader and bohemian.

Lights, camera, action. Production has begun on #MayfairWitches Season 2! pic.twitter.com/pNdRlLKTKu

— Anne Rice's Immortal Universe (@Immortal_AMC) February 6, 2024

In the original Witching Hour novel, Julien Mayfair is a major character in the Mayfair family tree. However, the description sounds like the series will reimagine him. Moira Mayfair might be a stand-in for Mona Mayfair, a major character introduced in Rice’s second Mayfair novel, Taltos. There is a Gifford Mayfair in the novels as well, but she’s barely referenced. This sounds like a totally new character with the same name. The series returns later this year on AMC and AMC+.

Interview with the Vampire AMC Networks

Meanwhile, Interview with the Vampire has revealed the release date for season two, which drops its first episode on May 12. They’ve also added some cast members. David Costabile (Breaking Bad) has joined the cast in a guest star capacity as Leonard, a seasoned TV personality who has a run-in with titular interviewer Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Additionally, recurring guest stars this season include Roxane Duran as Claudia’s vampiric “mother” Madeleine and Bally Gill as someone called “Real Rashid.” We imagine this is the person who inspired the vampire Armand’s human alias in season one.

Commence the countdown. #InterviewWithTheVampire pic.twitter.com/k3clwx5fty

— Anne Rice's Immortal Universe (@Immortal_AMC) February 6, 2024

Talamasca Nerdist

AMC has also started work on a series about the Talamasca. John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) is currently writing a script for this potential third series. The Talamasca is an ancient psychic order who were chroniclers of all things supernatural. Anne Rice introduced them in her third vampire novel The Queen of the Damned. She later greatly expanded upon the order in her Lives of the Mayfair Witches series, and their origins were finally revealed in the 2014 novel Prince Lestat.

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Warner, Fox, and Disney Create Streaming Cable, We Mean a Joint Streaming Sports Venture

If the streaming world isn’t enough to give you a headache yet, get ready for this twist. Fox Corp., Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney are coming together to reinvent the wheel. And by the wheel, we mean cable. Yes, these companies are launching what Variety terms a “joint streaming sports” venture, but it sounds a lot like plain old cable to us. Except this time, it’s in app form. Apps and streaming were meant to disrupt cable, but more and more, they are just becoming it. And this latest union seems to be the most salient example to date.

HBO

In what we at Nerdist have christened cableless cable, we’ll soon see an app that, get ready, combines streaming sports offerings from different networks. Variety shares that this move would “make all [three networks’] sports programming available under a single broadband roof, a move that will put content from ESPN, TNT and Fox Sports on a new standalone app.” And additionally, “Subscribers would get access to linear sports networks including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV and ESPN+, as well as hundreds of hours from the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL and many top college divisions.”

Netflix

There’s no news about the pricing for this new joint venture, but we bet whatever the cost is, we’ll see it increase sooner or later. (And don’t even think about sharing your password!) We also don’t know yet what the app will be called, only that the “service would have a new brand.” Each company, it seems, will own a third of the new product. Between them, Fox Corp., Warner Bros. Discovery, and Disney will be able to offer viewers access to much of the NHL, MLB, and NBA. Only the NFL will seemingly remain uninvolved… for now. But we feel like the siren song of this cable streaming business will soon spread to all sports.

But ultimately, for us, it’s not so much about sports but about the implications this has for the wider world of streaming. How long is it until other types of content come together on one app… in different channels… in cableless cable? It feels like not very long at all. It will feel like the ultimate irony to call streaming channels, which once so voraciously discussed cutting cords, cable. But… Time is a flat circle.

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Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer Share Awkward FRIENDS Reunion in Uber Eats Ad

We know the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers will each have a game plan for this year’s Super Bowl. But it’s starting to feel like every marketing team’s big game commercial is following the same one. MTN DEW and Paramount+ aren’t the only companies trying to sell a product on the backs of famous actors having fun with their old roles. Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer are getting in on the Super Sunday action with an Uber Eats ad that also doubles as a very awkward Friends reunion.

Uber Eats wants you to know it will be there for you for almost any reason. To get that message across, its silly new “Don’t Forget Uber Eats” commercial suggests, that to remember you can order almost anything from the delivery company and not just food, you need to forget something else. (Yes, fellow olds, that WAS a Married… with Children gag.)

While the ad features other famous faces—including power couple David Beckham and former “Pepper Lady” Victoria Beckham—it’s centered around Aniston. She’s the one who suggests making room for new information in your head by moving old information out. Unfortunately for David Schwimmer the previous knowledge she cleared out of her brain were all her memories of working with him for 10 years.

Uber Eats

Does this qualify as another twist in the Ross-Rachel relationship? We’d like to get a ruling from Aniston herself, but what does she know? She can’t argue they were on a break because she doesn’t remember that arc at all.

That’s too bad. Not for the reason you think, though. It’s too bad she didn’t erase the memory of that Rachel and Joey romance instead. We know we’ve been trying to forget about it for years. If Uber Eats could somehow deliver on that dream we’d never forget what the company can do.

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Nicolas Cage Dreams of a STAR TREK Role That Puts Him on the Enterprise

Lifelong Trekker Nicolas Cage has long professed a desire to actually be in Star Trek. Last year, when he was asked about being in Star Wars, he fully showed his allegiance to Starfleet. At the recent Saturn Awards, at which Cage won best supporting actor for his roles as Dracula in Renfield, Screen Rant asked again about his desire to be a part of the Star Trek galaxy. Judging by his response, which you can read below, he has not changed his stance. He does have one condition, however. He wants to be on the bridge of the starship Enterprise.

There were a couple of phone calls. I don’t know, I’d have to see a script. It would have to be something that I could really add my flavor to; have some pop and some spark. I wouldn’t want to just do anything, because I have so much love for the franchise. I want to be on the Enterprise. Ideally, I’d have to be on the Enterprise in some capacity. I don’t want to be floating in space on a satellite! I want to be on the bridge, but they have to bring it to me.

Lionsgate/ Paramount

We can’t say we blame Mr. Cage here. If we were going to be in a Star Trek film, we’d want a role on the Enterprise too. Besides, Nicolas Cage is too big a star to just get the part of “random Klingon #4” in the background. We think there are plenty of established roles in the canon that Cage could play in a Star Trek feature. We assume it’s a film he wants and not a Trek TV series, as the actor has gone on record that he’s not a “TV guy” but a film actor. Now, someone just beam this guy up already.

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PARKS AND REC’s Aubrey Plaza and Nick Offerman Reunite Atop Dragons in MTN DEW Commercial

It’s officially Super Bowl week. For sports fans that means we’ll soon see which team is crowned champion of the National Football League. For everyone else it means watching a bunch of very expensive commercials featuring famous celebrities. Sometimes those ads are memorable and sometimes they’re a big (game) disappointment. How can companies avoid the latter? Simple: reunite two popular stars of a beloved show. That’s what MTN DEW did for its new campaign. It stars ray of sunshine Aubrey Plaza having a Baja Blast even before she rides atop a dragon opposite her Parks and Rec costar Nick Offerman.

“America’s sweetheart” is having definitely having a good time everywhere she goes in MTN DEW’s new promo. Well, she’s having a “blast” in the exact way you’d expect Aubrey Plaza to go through life. But the “good” times really take off at the end of the ad when she goes full Game of Thrones by riding a dragon. As Daenerys learned, though, you’re better off having someone ride with you, and that’s what Plaza does when her former Parks and Rec boss joins her in the skies.

This commercial isn’t just a (Baja) blast for fans of the NBC sitcom. Plaza told Variety she was “dying” over the chance to work with Offerman again. “It was so fun because I love Nick so much,” she said, “And even though we’re not playing our characters in Parks and Rec it does feel in some way like a little April and Ron reunion and I feel like in some alternate universe, this is exactly what they would be doing. So it all made sense to me.”

MTN DEW

Ron Swanson would definitely love owning a dragon if he lived in Westeros. April Ludgate would also definitely burn down King’s Landing for no reason if given the chance, so that checks out. As does our theory that reuniting sitcom stars is always a win to make a winning Super Bowl commercial.

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LABYRINTH and THE DARK CRYSTAL Are Back on Digital Platforms

Shout! Studios is making Jim Henson fans’ fantasy a reality. Actually, it’s combining two fantasies into one. It’s bringing both Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal back to digital. And not only are these The Jim Henson Company classics back, they’re now available to purchase together for the first time ever.

As of February 6, Movie lovers around the world can rent or buy the two classic films.
Shout! Studios has partnered with The Jim Henson Company for what they call the “definitive digital releases” of both Henson’s 1986’s Labyrinth and his beloved 1982 movie The Dark Crystal which he co-directed with Frank Oz.

Fans can find both fantasy films on major digital entertainment platforms everywhere. They’ll be sold separately, or you can get them together in a single bundle.

To celebrate Shout! Studios gave each film new digital key art and a trailer. But those who get their digital copies at APPLE iTunes will also get a bunch of great digital extras. They include:

Labyrinth

Commentary with Brian FroudReordering Time: Looking Back on LabyrinthThe Henson LegacyRemembering The Goblin KingAnniversary Q&AInside The LabyrinthOriginal Theatrical TrailerOriginal Teaser TrailerOriginal TV Spot

The Dark Crystal

Commentary with Brian FroudThe World of “The Dark Crystal”Storyboard TrackThe Myth, Magic and the Henson LegacyLight on the Path of CreationShard of IllusionDeleted Funeral SceneOriginal Skeksis LanguagePhoto GalleriesShout! Studios/The Jim Henson Company

If you’ve never seen either you should immediately correct that. If you don’t trust generations of loyal fans, Shout! Studios also provided an official synopsis for each film.

Labyrinth:

Labyrinth, starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly, was originally released in 1986. The film is an unforgettable fantasy adventure that follows Sarah Williams (Connelly) as she makes her way through the labyrinth of the Goblin King Jareth (Bowie) in search of her little brother Toby. A mainstay of the fantasy genre with its spectacular visual effects and ground-breaking animatronics, LABYRINTH is of special interest to David Bowie fans worldwide as the film contains original songs written and recorded by Bowie especially for the film.

The Dark Crystal:

Travel back in time to the faraway planet of Thra where evil Skeksis are in control and the Gelfling Jen, the last of his kind, is sent on a quest by the peaceful Mystics to find the missing shard that will restore balance and heal the world.

This news is a fantasy come true for longtime fans of these movies. That will also be true of people discovering them for the first time. They just don’t know that yet.

Originally published on January 17, 2024.

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Could Ennis Be the Real Carcosa in TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY?

True Detective‘s first season, which mixed a police procedural with metaphysical themes and cosmic horror, centered on a hunt for the Yellow King. The show’s human killer and his cult took inspiration from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, which itself originated with Robert W. Chambers’s collection of short stories The King in Yellow. The HBO series, Lovecraft’s supernatural entity, and Chambers’ deadly play that drove people to madness are all connected and build off one another. But before the advent of True Detective and the rest, they all began with Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Inhabitant of Carcosa.”

That tale, about a man who finds himself in a strange and ancient land, is where the realm of Carcosa, the home of the Yellow King, first came to life. Now, it might be back, but not merely as the chosen name of a Louisiana cult’s home. Bierce’s strange wilderness of cold and darkness might be the actual setting for True Detective: Night Country, because Ennis, where people see the dead, might actually be Carcosa.

HBO

Bierce’s “An Inhabitant of Carcosa” (which you can read here) opens with a man ruminating on the very nature of death. He then realizes he’s in a strange wilderness after “a sudden chill wind” revives his senses. He’d been sick, and he fears he ran from his bed and loved ones in a fit of delirium. After he calms down, he notices it is cold, though he doesn’t feel cold himself. The man then walks down a paved road, finding “weatherworn” gravestones he describes as relics. (All of these descriptions of Carcosa may start to sound very similar to True Detective fans.)

The eerily quiet land’s complete lack of life also makes him wonder if he’s going mad until he comes across wild animals, a lynx and owl, who both ignore him. As does a wild-looking, half-naked bearded man wearing animal skins and carrying a torch. After begging the stranger for information, the bearded man only briefly speaks in “a barbarous chant in an unknown tongue” before walking away.

HBO

The story’s main figure then notices it’s night even though he can see just fine. Up above him, he also recognizes real constellations of stars. Finally, he sits under a giant tree whose roots are “held enclosed in its grasp,” a decaying gravestone slab. It was placed there ages ago, and the old tree grew up around it and consumed it.

Only when another wind blows away twigs and leaves from the stone does he realize exactly what it is. It’s his grave bearing his name, his date of birth, and his date of death. The man is terrified when a “level shaft of light” from the rising sun then illuminates the tree as a “chorus of howling wolves” salutes the dawn. That’s when he finally knows the truth of where he has been this whole time: “these were ruins of the ancient and famous city of Carcosa.”

The original Carcosa, a place that still inspires writers to this day, shares the same stars as the realm of the living. It’s both of this world and not of this world, blurring the lines between the natural and the supernatural. “Ancient” Carcosa is also a place without warmth, a land where no living person should be, yet those who walk there seem unaffected by the cold. And, most importantly, that dark and desolate wilderness where the Sun seems to hide until moments of revelation, is the realm of the dead. Carcosa is their home, and even if they’ve just arrived there, they seem to have always been there. It’s as though time doesn’t exist in the ancient city.

Bierce’s land of Carcosa sounds exactly like True Detective: Night Country‘s Ennis. That might be because, unlike the show’s first season, where everything that happened was ultimately rooted in reality, and in the acts of human monsters rather than of supernatural forces, Ennis is actually the famous city of Carcosa.

HBO

People in that Alaskan town don’t just contemplate the nature of death all the time. They actually see the dead in the darkness. Residents live among the ice and snow as though it cannot touch them, just as they can see in the dark. Wild animals, like a one-eyed polar bear, wander among the desolate plains as though humans aren’t there. The strange spiral that brings death wherever it’s found is also older than the ice itself. It’s like an old gravestone that predates a giant tree that took root around the stone, for Ennis rose up around that spiral and what it represents. That town at the edge of the world is also where people caught between life and death, people like Travis Cohle and Julia Navarro who had strange connections to the afterworld, wander out alone into the cold as though it’s calling them home.

And people who leave are drawn back to Ennis—a place full of lonely people cut off from their loves ones and unsure how they ended up there—like the dead are inevitably drawn to Carcosa.

If True Dective‘s Ennis really is Carcosa, it would explain all of the strange phenomena taking place there. It would explain why Annie K. dreamt of an ancient spiral, one tied to death and pain everywhere, that ultimately led to her murder. It would also explain why so many people see the restless dead, including Trooper Navarro. Her mother is calling for her from beyond the grave. And it would reveal why no one ever truly leaves Ennis, not even in death. They remain there suffering and unable to move on with their lives. It’s like they’re stuck in a desolate land of the dead where nothing can thrive.

A connection between Carcosa and Ennis would also explain why the Tuttle family cult, worshippers of the Yellow King who adopted that spiral as their own, was funding scientists’ strange research there in True Detective: Night Country. They hoped to unlock the secrets of eternal life. They believe they can find those secrets buried deep in the land of the dead. It’s the same the land of their god where an ancient monster of death just awoke.

HBO

If Ennis actually is Carcosa—say rather than just a normal place where fumes from an unsafe mine cause hallucinations—it would also reveal that the supernatural element of the True Detective‘s first season were actually real all along, too. Rust Cohle was the only person who had visions in the show’s debut story. He also once lived in Alaska with his father Travis, the same specter who guided Rose to those frozen scientists in Night Country.

The Yellow King’s follower, the murderer Reggie Ledoux, welcomed Rust to “Carcosa.” The killer also called the detective a “priest” of the Yellow King. And that was before Night Country connected Rust to the ancient town in Bierce’s story.

Maybe Reggie was right. Maybe time is a flat circle, just as it seems to be in Bierce’s land of the dead. If that’s true, Rust was always and forever already in Carcosa. Same as the people of ancient Ennis who live alongside the dead who call it there forever home.

Eventually, we all go to Carcosa. When we do, like the man in Bierce’s tale, will we learn we’ve always resided there? The people of True Detective: Night Country suffering in the cold and darkness might be in Carcosa already.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow him on Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

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WELCOME HOME, FRANKLIN Trailer Finally Gives a Classic PEANUTS Character the Spotlight

It’s exciting anytime we get a new Peanuts special. Charles M. Schulz’s cadre of youngsters are still as beloved as ever. But their next adventure is extra special because it’s long overdue. Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin will finally put the spotlight on a kid who has been overlooked for far too long. And the film’s trailer promises a touching origin story that will have long-time fans racing to watch how Franklin found his lifelong friends.

Welcome Home, Franklin looks like a sweet story that celebrates the very best of Peanuts. It will also show us how Franklin, Peanuts‘ first Black character, became a member of the group after some initial trouble adjusting to his newest home. Here’s the special’s official synopsis from Apple TV+:

The origin story for one of Peanuts’ most beloved characters, the special follows Franklin as he moves to a new town and navigates new friendships. Franklin’s family is always on the move with his dad’s military job, and everywhere he goes Franklin finds support in a notebook filled with his grandfather’s advice on friendship. But when Franklin tries his usual strategies with the Peanuts gang, he has trouble fitting in. That’s until he learns about the neighborhood Soap Box Derby race – according to his grandfather, everyone loves a winner! He’s sure that winning the race will also mean winning over some new friends. All he needs is a partner, which he finds in Charlie Brown. Franklin and Charlie Brown work together to build a car and in the process become good buddies. But as the race nears, the pressure mounts – can their car and their newfound friendship make it to the finish line? 

Apple TV+

Did you pick up on that A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving reference? Not only will this special finally put the spotlight on Franklin, it will also let him sit on the same side of the table as his friends. Talk about correcting a long overdue problem!

This new Peanuts story comes from Emmy-winning director Raymond S. Persi (The Simpsons, Wreck-It-Ralph). Robb Armstrong (Jump Start) co-wrote with Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, and Cornelius Uliano. It’s based on an original story by Armstrong and Scott Montgomery (The Snoopy Show).

Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin drives onto Apple TV+ on Friday, February 16. 

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Henry Cavill WARHAMMER 40,000 Live-Action Franchise Gets Update, ‘Now Properly Rolling’

“Life comes at you fast.” Well, sometimes, it comes at you faster than a proverbial speeding bullet. That was certainly the case for Henry Cavill last year. In a whirlwind only Superman himself could keep up with, the actor quickly went from two high-profile jobs to none. First, he was back as the Man of Steel in the DCEU. But right after his cameo in Black Adam, he was out as Geralt of Rivia on Netflix’s The Witcher. Only, ultimately he was also out as Clark Kent. Don’t feel too badly for Cavill, though. Another idiom now applies to his roller-coaster career: all’s well that ends well. His next series will turn his personal passion into a paying gig. Henry Cavill will headline Amazon Studios’ Warhammer 40,000 live-action franchise. And a year after its announcement, we finally have an update on this project.

Henry CavillAmazon Studios Acquires Rights to Warhammer 40,000, Henry Cavill to Star and Produce Franchise

In December 2022, Amazon Studios confirmed the news was true. It acquired the rights to Games Workshop’s wildly popular miniature universe Warhammer 40,000. The deal includes future shows, movies, “and more.” The arrangement, a first-of-its-kind agreement, didn’t go small with its leading man. The newly available Cavill will both star in and executive produce the Warhammer franchise. Considering his well-established love for the hobby, it’s hard to think of anything that will help Henry Cavill overcome his disappointment at no longer being Superman.

“I have loved Warhammer since I was a boy, making this moment truly special for me. The opportunity to shepherd this cinematic universe from its inception is quite the honour and the responsibility,” said Cavill in a statement about joining the Warhammer world. “I couldn’t be more grateful for all the hard work put in by Vertigo, Amazon and Games Workshop to make this happen. One step closer to making a nigh-on lifelong dream come true.” 

Games Workshop Shares Cavill’s Live-Action Warhammer 40,000 World Is ‘Now Properly Rolling’

After a year of quiet about the project, we finally have some movement on Cavill’s Warhammer 40,000 franchise. In a blog post, Games Workshop gave a very positive update about the current status of the live-action franchise.

It shared:

Back in December last year we announced Games Workshop and Amazon Studios had signed an agreement in principle to work together to bring the Warhammer 40,000 universe to screens, big and small.

Well, today we have an update, and it’s one we’ve all been longing to hear. We’ve now signed the full agreement and the next stage can begin!

Joyful news, indeed. No specifics on the Warhammer 40,000 projects were shared, but it sounds like both TV and movie outings are on the table. Games Workshop notes, “Now comes the fun part: working out all the creative details with our partners and getting the first script written and into production. What Warhammer 40,000 stories should we tell first? Should we kick off with a movie or a TV show? Both?!”

That sounds very ambitious, and we have a feeling that we’ll start with just one. But it will be in good hands because, “An elite band of screenwriters, each with their own particular passion for Warhammer, is being assembled to help bring the setting and characters you love to the screen. This illustrious group will be championed by Henry Cavill, who stands ready to take his place as executive producer – bringing his pen, sword and/or spear to the project.” Interestingly, Cavill is mentioned in his capacity as an executive producer, but not necessarily as an actor. We feel it’s still likely that Cavill will take his place as the star of one Warhammer 40,000 property or another. Who could be better?

In addition to this, Cavill himself recently shared, “Warhammer is progressing very well. Big things are happening, and we are very excited.” He also offered, “It is the greatest privilege of my professional career to have this opportunity… I can’t say too much, again, it’s early days, still. But to have this opportunity to bring it to the screen, and be at the tiller so it can be faithful, is key to me.”

It sounds like any Warhammer 40,000 projects will be in great hands with Cavill. We appreciate just how much the actor is excited. Cavill even has the videos of him nerding out over Warhammer miniatures to prove his love.

When Can We Expect a Warhammer 40,000 Movie or TV Series to Release?

Ultimately Games Workshop reminds us, “It’s not unusual for projects to take two to three years from this point before something arrives on screen. Still, things are now properly rolling, and you can bet we’ll bring you all the latest updates and cool snippets as soon as we’re able.”

More About Warhammer 40,000

Warhammer 40,000 takes place in the “far future, where humanity stands at the edge of what might be its brightest future, or its darkest age. The threats to humankind’s empire are many—traitors driven by the fires of ambition, alien empires sworn to reclaim the stars, and the corruption of reality by malevolent gods.”

Sounds like a place that could really use both a witcher and a super man. Now it has both. Congratulations to Cavill and all the other fans of the Warhammer 40,000 world.

Originally published on December 16, 2022.

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