Due to some fundamental technical difficulties, like not having power for two days, we’re going to keep this week’s pop culture news recap pretty short, spotlighting only the biggest news (to us).
Television
We have a release date and trailer for Gentleman Jack Season 2. The BBC and HBO co-production, spearheaded by Sally Wainwright, continues the true story of Anne Lister (Suranne Jones), a 19th Century Yorkshire landowner, entrepreneur, adventurer, diarist, and, oh, lesbian. Season 2 centres on the resistance to Anne’s coal mining plans and her relationship with wealthy heiress Ann Walker (Sophie Rundell) as the pair move in together.
Gentleman Jack Season 2 returns next month, in April. If you want to see what the fuss is about (and you’re in a permitted region), you can watch the first episode of Season 1 for free here.
Also dropping this past week was the first trailer for Ms. Marvel, which brings the teenage heroine into the Marvel Cinematic Universe – albeit with an altered power set from the comics. Iman Vellani stars as Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel, a 16-year-old Pakistani-American high school student from Jersey City who fangirls over Captain Marvel, and dreams of being a superhero. That wish becomes a reality when she gains the ability to harness cosmic energy and create constructs with Nega-Bands.
The six-episode Ms. Marvel starts streaming June 8 on Disney+.
The live-action Resident Evil Netflix series has a release date, updated plot synopsis, and new set of teaser posters. While the eight-episode series will reportedly jump between pre- and post-T-Virus outbreak timelines, the official summary is:
“Year 2036 – 14 years after a deadly virus caused a global apocalypse, Jade Wesker fights for survival in a world overrun by the blood-thirsty infected and insane creatures. In this absolute carnage, Jade is haunted by her past in New Raccoon City, by her father’s chilling connections to the Umbrella Corporation but mostly by what happened to her sister, Billie.”
Lance Reddick plays iconic franchise figure Albert Wesker, while presumably Ella (Charlie’s Angels) Balinska is daughter Jade.
Resident Evil starts streaming July 14. More here.
This one slipped entirely under the radar. The Time Traveller’s Wife is a series adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s bittersweet sci-fi romance – previously made into a film starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams.
Doctor Who veteran Steven Moffat is the showrunner on this tale, centred on an artist (Rose Leslie) whose husband Henry (Theo James) randomly jumps through time, disappearing for ages, due to a genetic disorder.
The Time Traveller’s Wife comes to HBO Max in May, in the form of six episodes.
Film
And the monopoly of Amazon continues. It was announced in May last year that Amazon was in talks to acquire Metro Goldwyn Mayer, and the deal has now officially gone through. For $8.45 billion, Amazon Studios and Prime Video now have access to over 4,000 film titles – including the James Bond franchise, the Rocky franchise and multiple classics like Basic Instinct, Silence of the Lambs, Poltergeist, and more. No word yet on when any of these will be available for streaming on Amazon’s services.
Two fan and critics’ favourites dominated at this year’s Annie Awards, the animation industry’s big accolades ceremony. Netflix’s family sci-fi comedy The Mitchells vs. the Machines scored eight wins including Best Animated Feature, while League of Legends adaptation Arcane, also on Netflix, won nine. More here.
In casting news, Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney has joined the cast of Madame Web, Sony’s next entry in its live-action Spider-Verse franchise. Dakota Johnson plays the title character. Meanwhile, the star of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, Austin Butler is lining up to play Feyd-Rautha, the villainous nephew of Stellan Skarsgard’s Baron Harkonnen, in Dune Part 2. This pits him, including in a one-on-one duel, against Paul Atreides, played by Timothée Chalamet.
Gaming
Ooooh. Following the lead of Before Dawn and The Dark Pictures Anthology (well, it’s also is made by Supermassive Games) is upcoming The Quarry, a mo-cap horror survival tale where nine teenage counselors are plunged into an unpredictable night of horror on the last night of summer camp.
Basically The Quarry is a next-gen interactive horror movie with co-op play options, shaped entirely by your choices. The all-star cast includes David Arquette, Ariel Winter, Brenda Song, Justice Smith, Miles Robbins, Ted Raimi, Lin Shaye and Lance Henriksen.
The Quarry releases on all platforms June 10. You can read more about it, and preorder, here.