We start this week’s pop culture news recap with the passing of two icons in their respective fields. Broadcaster Michael Parkinson, who interviewed over 2,000 celebrity guests on his talk show over the years (yes, including that Helen Mirren interview) has died aged 88. So too has cultishly popular folk-rock musician Rodríguez, who was the subject of 2012 Academy Award-winning documentary film Searching for Sugar Man, and enjoyed especial popularity in South Africa. Rodríguez was 81.

Gaming

With gamescom on the horizon, and the end of year release schedule dialing up, gaming announcements are on the rise too.

Months removed from the former-E3-period news flood, publisher THQ Nordic streamed their own dedicated Showcase on 12 August. Dozens of games were featured, including the new Alone in the Dark, and returns for both South Park and Trine. However, two titles caught our eye especially.

Out of nowhere, from the makers of SpellForce 3, we’re finally getting Titan Quest II, a sequel to the action-RPG set against a Greek mythology backdrop. This time, your hero will have to defeat Nemesis, Goddess of Retribution, who is corrupting the Threads of Fate and condemning all those who oppose her to eternal punishment. It’s sounding quite Diablo IV-like, but as the original Titan Quest built on and actually improved the Diablo formula in some key ways, we have no problem with similarity. Titan Quest II will be coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. You can wishlist on Steam now.

There was also a reveal trailer for TMNT: The Last Ronin, a darker, more hard-edged Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, based on the acclaimed five issue comic miniseries – itself described as The Turtles by way of The Dark Knight Returns. Expect God of War-style action in this tale of a lone surviving Turtle, who embarks on a revenge mission in a battle-ravaged future New York City. The Last Ronin is being developed by Destroy All Humans! makers Black Forest Games, and will be playable on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Could Netflix’s ever-expanding mobile games offering be coming to TV and PC?

The streamer is definitely looking into it, with the goal of making its games available on all devices where subscribers can watch Netflix. A beta test is happening in the UK and Canada right now, involving a small number of subscribers, two games, and these supported devices: Fire TV, Chromecast with Google TV, LG TV, Nvidia Shield TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Walmart ONN.

Gaming news tidbit time:

  • We’re getting Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Mirage a week early. This back-to-fundamentals entry in the historical action adventure franchise will now be releasing on 5 October – probably to give itself a bit more breathing room in a stuffed October. Set in First Century ADE Baghdad, and centred on thief-turned-Hidden One Basim, Mirage was set to debut originally on 12 October. The game will be coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
  • Still talking game release dates, survival horror sequel Alan Wake 2 is moving its release back 10 days for the same reason Assassin’s Creed Mirage is moving forward – to escape the October crush. So now Remedy’s long-awaited follow-up, where horror author Alan Wake continues to try write his way out of a shadow reality, will launch on 27 October, as opposed to 17 October.
  • Russian writer Dmitry Glukhovsky has been sentenced to eight years in prison by a Moscow court for spreading stories that go against the official Russian narrative about their Ukraine invasion. Why is this story in the game news section? Glukhovsky is responsible for the post-apocalyptic novel series on which the Metro game series is based.

Lifestyle

We’re now officially five weeks away from Comic Con Africa 2023, with the four-day pop culture celebration kicking off on 21 September. Over the past week there have been a few more additions to the guest roster. These include international artist Nooligan, South Africa’s own celebrated comic creator Sean Izaakse, and local actor and filmmaker Cameron Scott of The Kissing Booth 3 fame.

As a sidenote, cosplayers attending CCA 2023 have another contest to enter. A Nintendo Cosplay Competition will be taking place on Saturday, 23 September, with entries on the day. R8,000 in vouchers for the Nintendo Store will be up for grabs.

Series

It’s finally been confirmed how Netflix’s Warrior Nun – which was cancelled after its second season and surprisingly resurrected thanks to a fan campaign – will make its return. At the end of June, showrunner Simon Barry promised that the supernatural actioner’s revival would be in an “epic” form. And now we what that means – a trilogy of feature films. Which probably won’t be on Netflix, for the record. We just might have a while to wait for the return of Ava and co. due to the actors and writer’ strikes impacting production.

This week saw the release of the teaser trailer for Netflix’s upcoming all-star anime Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. The animated series is based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels, and continues the story from Edgar Wright’s 2010 live-action adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. the World… with all of the actors returning to voice the characters they once played.

This includes Michael Cera in the title role, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Ramona, Kieran Culkin as Wallace Wells, Anna Kendrick as Stacey Pilgrim, Brie Larson as Envy Adams, Alison Pill as Kim Pine, Aubrey Plaza as Julie Powers, Johnny Simmons as young Neil, Mark Webber as Stephen Stills, Ellen Wong as Knives Chau, and Satya Bhabha, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman, and Mae Whitman as the Evil Exes.

Scott Pilgrim comes to Netflix on 17 November. You can learn more about the series, and see a set of new images here on the Netflix Tudum site.

You want a Bruce Lee anime? You got a Bruce Lee anime… in the next two years or so. Shannon Lee, the daughter of the iconic martial artist and movie star, has revealed House of Lee. Mixing history, fantasy and action, House of Lee features Bruce as himself, although he needs to assemble a band of Dragon Warriors to defend the world from an approaching darkness. Learn more about House of Lee here.

Apple TV+ has traditionally been about quality over quantity, luring big name stars and filmmakers for prestige projects. So it’s a little surprising to see a Godzilla series on their upcoming release schedule. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is an epic sci-fi adventure series set in Legendary’s until-now-only-big-screen MonsterVerse.

Set after Godzilla’s rampage through San Francisco, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters sees two siblings following in their father’s footsteps to uncover their family’s connection to a secretive organization. Bouncing between the 1950s and Noughties, the series promises three generations of devastating family secrets, and Kurt Russell, as well as real-life son Wyatt Russell, playing the same character (army officer Lee Shaw) at different times in his life.

The ten-episode Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is rumoured to be out in early 2024.

Film

Just one small piece of film news this week:

In what is not at all surprising, toy, and, uh, stationery, companies are hungry for hit on-screen adaptations in the aftermath of Barbie’s box office success.

Mattel plans to adapt more of its properties. The 14 projects in active development include Hot Wheels, Polly Pocket and a surreal take on Barney the Dinosaur. Meanwhile, Hasbro has launched their own entertainment division, to “unify film, TV, animation and digital media production,”particularly in relation to Transformers, Peppa Pig and Dungeons & Dragons (we can also probably expect G.I. Joe in that mix); and even crayon company Crayola has plans to create more on-screen content for children and families.