And that’s a wrap! Before we jump into two weeks’ worth of standout news from the worlds of TV, film, comics and games, just a note that today will be our last day of posts until the new year. We’re taking a break until 3 January.

On that note, I and the team want to wish everyone happy holidays, a replenishing rest (if you’re getting one the next few days), and a great start to 2023. It’s been a year to say the least, but thank you for finding time in the chaos to read and support the site.

Film

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Despite Black Adam setting up his return as the character, Henry Cavill won’t be back as Superman as James Gunn has plans for a new younger Superman saga. Cavill made the announcement on his Instagram account. The silver cloud to this news, and the fact that The Witcher Season 3 will see Cavill’s departure as monster hunter Geralt, is that Cavill can move onto another of his passion projects: a live-action Warhammer 40K series (and possibly even film) for Amazon.

Related to the end of the Snyderverse era of DC movies, audiences won’t get to see direct sequel Black Adam 2 with Dwayne Johnson, although Johnson may still have a part to play in the DCU in future. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman filmmaker Patty Jenkins has released a statement to set the record straight about Wonder Woman 3. She did not kill the project by walking away over script issues, and is still open to collaboration once Gunn and Peter Safran nail down their plans for the DC Cinematic Universe.

We’ve been tracking Barbie since the star-studded cast and crew started coming together together. Starring Margot Robbie as Barbie, and Ryan Gosling as Ken, and with Little Women and Lady Bird filmmaker Greta Gerwig handling directing and co-writing duties, we sensed this was something special – and not just a straight-up safe tribute to the iconic Mattel doll.

Barbie’s first trailer confirms it, leaning hard into parody and embracing the ultra-pink Barbie aesthetic while throwing in some easter eggs for Barbie fans too. The trailer dropped with a fresh set of HD images from the movie, which show off additional cast members like Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa and Issa Rae. Barbie releases in cinemas on 21 July next year.

It’s been a year since we got our first look at Across the Spider-Verse, the sequel to Academy Award-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Back then, though, the animated superhero tale was supposed to release in October 2022, before being pushed back to early June 2023.

Anyway, here’s the official trailer for the next chapter in the Spider-Verse saga, where Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) is reunited with Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld), and catapulted across the Multiverse. There he encounters a team of Spider-People charged with protecting its very existence, but clashes with the other Spiders – led by Oscar Isaac’s Spider-Man 2099. Across the Spider-Verse will be followed by Beyond the Spider-Verse, releasing on 29 March 2024.

Out 17 March next year is 65, a sci-fi thriller that sees space pilot from the future, Mills (Adam Driver) crash on a mysterious world. Except the planet isn’t that unfamiliar ultimately, as it turns out it’s Earth… from 65 million years ago. Mills and the only other crash survivor, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), must make their way across an unknown terrain riddled with dangerous prehistoric creatures in an epic fight to survive. The pedigree behind 65 includes the writers of A Quiet Place, and horror master Sam Raimi as one of the film’s producers.

You can’t keep a good Ghostface down. We knew Scream VI, AKA Scream 6, with the next generation of teens in peril, was coming. Well, the slasher comes to cinemas on 10 March 2023, and sees the four young survivors (Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Chad Meeks-Martin), leave Woodsboro for a new life in New York City. Also back is Courteney Cox’s journalist Gale Weathers for what is being touted as the most gruesome and creatively vicious Scream yet.

You always have to pay attention to whatever filmmaker Christopher Nolan is up to, and his next is historical thriller Oppenheimer, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Cillian Murphy plays theoretical physicist Oppenheimer, “Father of the Atomic Bomb” – a man in the unenviable position of having to risk destroying the world in order to save it. The rest of the ensemble cast includes Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey, Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Dane DeHaan, Alden Ehrenreich, and Matthew Modine. Shot with IMAX cameras, Oppenheimer releases on 21 July 2023. Against Barbie!

Series

On the series renewal and cancellation front, it’s been a busy period.

We heard a few weeks back that Westworld was being denied a fifth and final season to wrap up its story, but now HBO Max subscribers are being denied the opportunity to watch the series at all, as it’s been pulled from the streamer. The same goes for Victorian super-powered series The Nevers (brought to life by Joss Whedon), which had the plug yanked before the release of its already-filmed Season 1 Part 2. As a sidenote: while these shows are leaving HBO Max (to save on residual payments to the cast and crew), they likely will appear on other Warner Bros. Discovery viewing platforms. Also, raunchy 70s-set comedy, Minx has been cancelled, reversing an earlier decision where its second season was greenlit. Again, filming has pretty much finished, so it may be shopped around to other outlets.

Dead at Netflix after one season: comedy Blockbuster and YA supernatural fantasy The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself. Despite its passionate and vocal fanbase, viewership numbers for Season 2 were not enough to ensure that supernatural actioner Warrior Nun would be resurrected for a Season 3. At least at Netflix.

In more positive news, the following shows are on the distant horizon: Amazon has ordered a series based on the God of War game series. Meanwhile, Netflix is still trying to find its live-action anime hit, this time with an adaptation of My Hero Academia, an ensemble cast tale of a “quirk-less” boy who attends a high school full of future superheroes.

As for existing favourites, “Lord of the Flies with teen girls” tale Yellowjackets, which returns with its second season on 24 March 2023, has already been given the thumbs up for Season 3 to sustain momentum. Over at Netflix, the eight-episode Season 2 of Shadow & Bone, based on Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse fantasy book series, drops on 16 March 2023. Oh, and back to Yellowjackets, here’s the first official look (courtesy of Entertainment Weekly) at Lauren Ambrose as adult Van, who joins the cast in Season 2.

Every iteration of the title character in Doctor Who has their own unique personal aesthetic. This past week, the BBC released a first official look at the 15th Doctor, played by Sex Education’s Ncuti Gatwa. Just as important to the series is the Doctor’s companion, and for the next run of episodes they’ll be Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson.

Oh, and in one final TV news tidbit, South African viewers will be able to watch highly anticipated video game adaptation The Last of Us as episodes are released overseas. Thanks to streaming service Showmax, which has a content partnership with HBO, viewers can enjoy weekly episodes of the post-apocalyptic survival series, from 16 January.

Comics & Books

It has been a very rough year for indie comics publishers. With upheaval involving Valiant, Oni and Action Lab back in August, we can now add that AfterShock Comics has filed for bankruptcy. This after a long period of stalling on payments owned to its indie creators and other debtors. Some notable comics published under the AfterShock banner include Animosity, Insexts and Babyteeth.

Gaming

In a first for South Africa, a gaming talent show is in the works, thanks to a partnership between NAG (New Age Gaming, the OG South African gaming publication and organisers of rAge) and Trace Studios.

A spin-off of The Ultimate Braai Master, The Ultimate Game Master will be a competitive game show where amateur gamers from all walks of life team up in pairs and compete for the title of Ultimate Game Master. Contestants will play across multiple platforms and game titles. The series will be distributed globally after initial broadcast in South Africa.

Wrapping this post on a positive/intriguing note: Now owned by Embracer Group, after Square Enix sold off its Western IP, Tomb Raider has a new publisher as well. Well, at least for the next, as-yet-untitled game in the series (made now using Unreal Engine 5). When it eventually releases, Amazon Games is on board to publish the single-player adventure for multiple platforms.

The official Tomb Raider account released this statement:

We are excited to announce that Crystal Dynamics has partnered with Amazon Games on the next major entry in the Tomb Raider series, which will continue Lara Croft’s saga in a single-player, story-driven multiplatform adventure. Amazon Games will support & publish globally!

Read more about the announcement on the Amazon Games blog here.