Television
While its big-name acquisitions make headlines, Amazon isn’t just buying up established franchises. There is some original content coming to the streaming service too – like Outer Range, a neo-Western supernatural mystery starring Josh Brolin as a Wyoming rancher who is fighting for his land and family, while dealing with a mysterious void that has opened on his property.
Also starring the likes of Imogen Poots, Lili Taylor and Will Patton, the eight-episode first season of Outer Range starts streaming on Amazon Prime Video from next week, 15 April.
Yes, yes, we know we’ve already highlighted the first image set from Gentleman Jack Season 2, as well as the BBC trailer, but we’re excited, alright? Now we have a new trailer and “cross the pond” release date for the period drama – which is centred on real life 19th Century Yorkshire landowner, mountaineer, entrepreneur and lesbian Anne Lister, played by Suranne Jones. Sophie Rundle co-stars as Ann Walker, a wealthy heiress and Anne’s emotionally complicated wife.
Gentleman Jack Season 2 comes to HBO Max on August 25. The series arrives on BBC One and the BBC iPlayer this Sunday, 10 April.
Although they tugged a plot thread loose in the final episode of Season 1, fans may have been wondering how The Flight Attendant Season 2 would play out in reality. Now we know. Here’s our first look at the wildly unpredictable comedy-drama-thriller, which sees air stewardess Cassie Bowden (The Big Bang Theory’s Kaley Cuoco) getting her life together even as she moonlights as a CIA asset. Of course, she’s soon entangled in more international intrigue.
The Flight Attendant returns on 21 April, with Cuoco joined by the likes of Zosia Mamet, T.R. Knight, Rosie Perez, Michelle Gomez, and Sharon Stone.
As monarchs, mages, and beasts of the Continent compete to capture her, Geralt takes Ciri of Cintra into hiding, determined to protect his newly-reunited family against those who threaten to destroy it. Entrusted with Ciri’s magical training, Yennefer leads them to the protected fortress of Aretuza, where she hopes to discover more about the girl’s untapped powers; instead, they discover they’ve landed in a battlefield of political corruption, dark magic, and treachery. They must fight back, put everything on the line — or risk losing each other forever.
Jason Momoa is set to star in, write, and executive produce Apple’s eight-episode historical epic Chief of War. The series centres on the unification and colonization of Hawaii from an indigenous point of view. Momoa already stars in Apple’s dystopian See. More here.
Another Apple drama on the way is White Darkness, with Tom Hiddleston. The limited series, overseen by Pachinko’s Soo Hugh, and Mark Heyman, is based on the non-fiction book by David Grann, about an adventure-obsessed family man and ex-soldier, who sets out to cross Antarctica on foot. More here.
Film
We love ourselves a WWII-set movie so here’s Operation Mincemeat, which focuses on the hard-to-swallow true story of Allied efforts to deceive the Axis powers about the Sicily invasion. It falls to two intelligence officers, Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfadyen), to create the most inspired and improbable disinformation strategy of the war, starting with a single corpse. Also starring are Kelly Macdonald, Penelope Wilton, Johnny Flynn, and Jason Isaacs.
Operation Mincemeat hits South African cinemas on 6 May after getting a wider UK release this Easter.
It’s been on and off for decades now, but a Crow reboot is finally happening. Based on the indie comic, IT star Bill Skarsgard will step into the role of Eric Draven, a man resurrected by a crow to exact revenge on the gang who brutally murdered him and his fiancé. Rupert Sanders, who helmed Snow White and the Huntsman and Ghost in the Shell, will direct the supernatural thriller. Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter FKA Twigs is also lined up to appear.
1994’s The Crow is a cult classic that starred (and was notoriously responsible for the death of) Brandon Lee. Filming of the remake starts in June. More here.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow is stepping back behind the camera for the first time since 2017’s Detroit, for Netflix’s Aurora. Based on David Koepp’s novel, the survival thriller centres on an estranged family dealing with the aftermath of a solar storm that knocks out most of the world’s power supply. More here.
Gaming
And just like that… Monkey Island and Max Payne are coming back. Surprise announcements landed this week for both beloved franchises of yesteryear.
In the case of Monkey Island, after two secret years in development, Return to Monkey Island, the follow-up to the Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, is out this year. Series co-creator Ron Gilbert is leading the project, with fellow creator Dave Grossman. Dominic Armato, the original voice of Monkey Island protagonist Guybrush Threepwood, is back as well.
Return to Monkey Island is a collaboration between Ron Gilbert’s Terrible Toybox studio, Lucasfilm Games, and Devolver Digital. More here.
The situation with Max Payne is a little different. We’re not getting a new entry in the noir-ish action-adventure series inspired by the stylish action of John Woo movies. Rather, players can look forward to a two-in-one remake – for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S – that combines Max Payne 1 and 2. So it’ll be interesting to see whether they use Remedy’s Sam Lake, from the first game, or professional actor Timothy Gibbs, featured in Max Payne 2, as Max’s model.
Remedy, the studio behind the first two Max Payne games, will develop the remake using their proprietary Northlight game engine. The game’s development budget will be financed by partner Rockstar Games. Just don’t expect to play a next-gen retooled Max Payne this year. It’s still in the “concept development stage.” More here.
Far less of a surprise is the news that a new Tomb Raider game is in the works at Crystal Dynamics. During the 25 Years of Tomb Raider celebrations last year, developers at the studio mentioned their efforts to “unify the [franchise] timelines,” but left it at that. Now we know the upcoming title will be built on Unreal Engine 5 instead of Crystal Dynamics’ proprietary tools.
Just two weeks ago, The Witcher developers CD Projekt also revealed they were moving away from their in-house engine to harness Unreal 5 for their 4th entry in the franchise. More on the Tomb Raider news here.
Just in time for the Easter holidays, play iconic card game UNO… like a Viking. Introducing another unexpected collab from Ubisoft, this time with Mattel, in the form of the UNO Valhalla DLC. Sadly this Assassin’s Creed tie-in is digital only, but in a first for UNO, it makes the board part of the gameplay. Explore, collect resources, battle against other players, and play all your cards to follow Eivor’s path to glory – and prove yourself worthy of a place in Valhalla.
UNO Valhalla DLC is purchasable now for all consoles and PC.