It’s been a Goldilocks week for pop culture news this week – not too much, not too little; just right! Here are the headlines, trailers and announcements that caught our eye.
Television
Video games are the new comic and book adaptations. Joining the likes of Halo and The Last of Us will soon be A Plague Tale: Innocence, a small screen adaptation based on Asobo Studio and Focus Home Interactive’s acclaimed action-adventure stealth game.
No news on casting yet, but the series will be shot in France and spearheaded by French director Mathieu Turi. Like the game, A Plague Tale is set in the Black Death-addled 14th Century, and centre on two young orphans on the run from the French Inquisition. More here.
For Tim Burton’s upcoming live-action adaptation for Netflix (imaginatively titled “Wednesday”), the Addams Family universe has a new Wednesday in the form of Jenna Ortega, alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman as Morticia and Gomez Addams, respectively. However, Variety this week reported that Christina Ricci, the actress who played the most iconic iteration of the character, is joining the upcoming Netflix series in a “mystery role”. The only other news about this casting is a vehement denial that Ricci will be playing an older version of Wednesday.
Film
Here’s an exciting local one, inspired by real-life events. In Silverton Siege, a trio of South African freedom fighters see a failed sabotage mission turn into a bank hostage drama. The The 1980 standoff would help spark the global ‘Free Mandela’ movement. The cast includes Thabo Rametsi, Noxolo Dlamini, Stefan Erasmus, and Arnold Vosloo.
Silverton Siege hits Netflix on 27 April.
A new trailer for the upcoming horror drama film, Men, has recently dropped, expanding a fair amount on the bare-bones (but incredibly unsettling) teaser trailer from last month. From writer/director Alex Garland, Men stars Academy Award nominee Jessie Buckley as Harper, who retreats alone to the beautiful English countryside, hoping to find a place to heal in the aftermath of a personal tragedy. This being an A24 film, means that the countryside is anything but peaceful.
Men hits cinemas from 20 May.
Mark Waid’s hit comic series Irredeemable (and its spin-off Incorruptible) are getting a combo feature film treatment courtesy of Netflix. The Harder They Fall filmmaker Jeymes Samuel will direct this tale of the world’s greatest superhero, the Plutonian, who goes genocidally bad, and supervillain Max Damage, who has to step up to stop him. More here.
In casting news, the cast of the live-action Barbie movie just keeps getting bigger. Sex Education star Emma Mackey, who recently impressed on the big screen in Death on the Nile, is joining Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling’s Ken. Also appearing in the film are America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, and Shangi-Chi star Simu Liu.
Barbie is co-written and directed by Oscar-nominated director Greta Gerwig, with release currently planned for 2023. More on the film here.
Gaming
Wanted to try Far Cry 6 but didn’t get around to it for whatever reason. A free play weekend is underway right now on multiple gaming platforms, from March 24 – 27, for players to take up freedom fighting in the island dictatorship of Yara.
The free weekend coincides with the surprise release of a free new crossover mission that brings the world of Stranger Things to Yara. Dani’s main mission is to search for Chorizo and find out what’s happened to disappearing locals. This isn’t the first surprise crossover either for Far Cry 6. Just last month a Rambo Special Operation was added.
The Witcher game developers CD Projekt have officially announced that development is under way on The Witcher 4. That news isn’t much of a surprise, but the announcement that the game is being made with Unreal Engine 5 as opposed to the studio’s proprietary REDengine, is something to note.
The news post also included this teaser image of a lynx medallion, implying the emergence of a new Witcher school.
The beauty of indie games is that often exciting projects just pop up on the radar out of nowhere. Like Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, new open world action-RPG from A44 Games, the makers of Ashen. Nor, a member of the coalition army of the living, along with magical creature companion Enki, embark on an epic journey of vengeance, gunpowder and magic in humanity’s last stand against the Old Gods’ army of undead.
The game is set for release this year, and will be coming to Xbox, Epic Games Store, Steam, and eventually PS. More on Flintlock here.