If you’re in a country with an Easter Monday holiday, now’s your chance for a leisurely catch-up of the past week’s biggest pop culture announcements and trailers. We’re cherry picked the standout news below.

Film

Along with new trailers for The Fantastic Four: First Steps (in cinemas 25 July) and 28 Years Later (out 20 June), this past week provided looks at two upcoming movies from acclaimed filmmakers.

Directed by Mike Flanagan, and based on the novella by Stephen King, The Life of Chuck is a non-chronological celebration of life, centering on decidedly everyman Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz (Tom Hiddleston). Bouncing between genres and stuffed full of stars (plus the usual Flanagan collaborators), The Life of Chuck enjoys a wider cinema run from 13 June.

Eddington is the latest effort from Hereditary and Midsommar filmmaker Ari Aster, reuniting him with A24 and his Beau Is Afraid star Joaquin Phoenix. Pitched as a dark, modern Western, Eddington sees a standoff between a sheriff (Phoenix) and mayor (Pedro Pascal) in small-town New Mexico during the COVID pandemic. Their conflict spreads through the community as neighbour is pitted against neighbour. Also starring are Austin Butler and Emma Stone.

Eddington releases on 18 July.

Actor Ryan Gosling is heading back to space yet again, following First Man and upcoming Project Hail Mary, and he’s doing so in A Galaxy Far, Far Away. At Star Wars Celebration Japan, it was announced that Gosling is starring in Star Wars: Starfighter for Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy. Gosling will play a brand-new character for the film, which is set approximately five years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and which sounds very much like a replacement for Patty Jenkins’ aborted Rogue Squadron movie.

Star Wars: Starfighter is currently set to make its big screen debut on 31 May 2027.

Series

We have mixed feelings about a lot of TV news this week, starting with the Season 2 date reveal for Netflix’s The Sandman – which has been tainted by the sexual assault allegations against Neil Gaiman, creator of the influential comic on which the series is based.

The Sandman Season 2, which is also the show’s final season, will be based on The Sandman collections Seasons of the Mist and Brief Lives, and is set a few weeks after the events of Season 1. However, as Dream (Tom Sturridge) sets out to rebuild his destroyed kingdom, the past returns, along with the rest of his family, known as the Endless: Death (Kirby), Desire (Mason Alexander Park), Despair (Donna Preston), along with Destiny (Adrian Lester), Delirium (Esmé Creed-Miles) and the mysterious The Prodigal (Barry Sloane).

Volume 1 of The Sandman Season 2 releases on 3 July with six episodes, following by Volume 2 and its five episode haul on 24 July.

Other series related news:

  • Check out the Season 2 trailer for Poker Face, the all-star mystery-of-the-week series from Rian Johnson, starring Natasha Lyonne. The show returns to Peacock on 8 May.
  • With the passing of Ray Stevenson in May 2023, his role of Baylan Skoll in Star Wars spin-off Ahsoka was recast, and filled by Game Of Thrones’ Rory McCann. Star Wars Celebration provided a first look at McCann in the part.
  • Amazon has picked up a live-action Pacific Rim series, acting as a prequel to the mecha-vs.-kaiju blockbuster film franchise jumpstarted by Guillermo del Toro. Bird Box and Shadow and Bone’s Eric Heisserer is writer and executive producer on the show.
  • JK Rowling is malicious and downright awful, so don’t expect much coverage here of the new Harry Potter series, which is intended to cover a different book each season. However, if you are curious about the casting, Warner Bros. has finally confirmed some key adult roles.

Lifestyle

We’re taking a momentary break from Comic Con Cape Town news to punt two other upcoming geeky conventions in South Africa.

Save the date! ICON Comics and Games Convention returns for a second year to Crawford College, in Lonehill, Johannesburg from 4 – 6 July. Also back this year for the first time in six years is ICON’s coastal cousin ICON Durban. No dates or venue details there, yet, but keep an eye on the event’s social channels.

Comics & books

You’d think that after two lacklustre movies, Rebel Moon would be no more, but Netflix and Zach Snyder evidently still have faith in the pastiche-driven sci-fi franchise. Proof of that support? Gail Simone is writing a new comic series set in the Rebel Moon universe for Titan Comics. Federico Bertoni is on art duties.

On sale from 16 July is Issue 1 of Rebel Moon: Nemesis, a prequel tale that looks at the origin story of Nemesis, the cyborg swordswoman played onscreen by Bae Doona. Styled after a revenge Western, Rebel Moon: Nemesis sees an innocent woman stand up to the Imperium soldiers who slaughter her family.

For the record, this isn’t the first Rebel Moon comic. Titan Comics also released a limited series based on the Bloodaxe family.

Gaming

Our top gaming story of the week: A turn-based tactics Star Wars game is on the way in 2026.

Set in the final years of the Clone Wars, STAR WARS Zero Company comes from XCOM and Civilization developers now working at game studio Bit Reactor, in collaboration with Respawn Entertainment and Lucasfilm Games. Players assume the role of former Republic officer Hawks, who leads Zero Company – an elite but unconventional outfit of professionals for hire. While the below trailer is predominantly cinematics, you do receive a glimpse of gameplay at the end.

STAR WARS Zero Company comes to PC, PlayStation5, and Xbox Series X|S.