We pushed the past week’s pop culture recap to today, to make space for the kick-off of our Comic Con Africa ticket giveaway yesterday.

But to start, let us just say that we take full responsibility for the past seven days’ shock celebrity deaths, after we celebrated a break from such sad news last week. First up, golden-hearted queen of country music, screen and philanthropy, Dolly Parton died at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer. It’s impossible to begin to describe her accomplishments, and legacy. As a singer and songwriter alone, she was responsible for 49 studio albums and over 3,000 songs, including I Will Always Love You, Jolene, and 9 to 5.

Then came the news that British character actor Tim Curry, who turned in standout roles in the likes of 1990’s It (as Pennywise the Clown), Legend (Darkness) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Dr. Frank-N-Furter) had also passed at age 80. Curry suffered a debilitating stroke back in 2012.

Finally, Canadian voice actor Peter Cullen also died at 85. While Cullen is the definitive voice for Transformers leader Optimus Prime, across TV and film (both live-action and animated), his resume also includes Eeyore in the Winnie the Pooh franchise, cheese-obsessed Monterey Jack in Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and even the Predator’s chilling clicks.

Now onto other notable announcements and trailer drops from the past seven days.

Lifestyle

With the pop culture celebration just weeks away now, we thought the Comic Con Africa 2026 guest line-up was locked down. The programme (subject to change) is ready, after all. We were wrong, though. A few more celebrity attendees have been announced.

Look out for comic book artist and colourist Dave McCaig, who has worked on the likes of Kirkman’s Invincible and The Walking Dead; local One Piece stars Alexander Maniatis (Captain Kuro) and Steven John Ward (Mihawk); and award-winning Baltic cosplay creator Yugoro.

While four-day passes for CCA 2026 are sold out, day passes are still available (for now!). The show is running 24 – 27 September at JHB Expo Centre.

Gaming

While it’s not as busy as the former E3 period, the window around gamescom always produces notable gaming announcements. Geoff Keighley’s two-hour Opening Night Live 2026 show contained several game reveals, in addition to fresh looks at already announced games. You can read a full summary of the evening’s line-up here, though our Top 3 ONL titles to wishlist are:

Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons: The D&D role-playing class gets its own third-person action adventure in this dark fantasy from developer Invoke Studios and publisher Wizards of the Coast. Players assume the role of Kaatri, a warrior who makes a dangerous pact with a demonic entity to find someone she has lost. Our heroine ventures into a dangerous world, equipped with forbidden magic, spells, rituals, and otherworldly weapons to open paths, uncover secrets and take down the many foes in her way.

Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons comes to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series consoles in 2027.

1001 Threads of Mizan: Bored of European high fantasy settings for your action adventures? That’s where 1001 Threads of Mizan comes in. This 1-3 person experience (play it solo or co-op) is inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, taking place in a sprawling Arabian fantasy world. Best of all, you cruise around on and perform combat from atop nimble flying carpets. The coolness factor is sky-high with this one, from MBC Game Studio.

No release date for this one, but it’s set for PC, PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch 2.

ONTOS: Frictional Games, the makers of acclaimed SOMA and Amnesia, are bringing gamers another disturbing survival horror experience in the form of ONTOS. In this sci-fi mystery, your prophet father’s legacy sees you invited to the repurposed moon hotel Samsara, where you face chilling experiments and puzzles that force you to confront existential questions with no right and wrong answers. Choose your actions carefully, though, as the consequences carry forward, and apparently moral choices may have devastating consequences. Expect reality to fracture as you get closer to the truth.

ONTOS releases next year, 2027, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series consoles

Out of interest, these were the 2026 winners (and nominees) of the annual gamescom awards, as voted for by industry professionals, and the public at the event.

  • In short, CD PROJEKT RED’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt picked up three accolades, for Best Trailer / Announcement at gamescom Opening Night Live, Best Merch, and the Jury Award for Best Booth.
  • Publisher SEGA also earned three trophies: Best Lineup, Best Audio – Alien: Isolation 2 – and Best PC Game – Total War: WARHAMMER 40,000.
  • In addition, earning two awards each, were Ubisoft and Capcom.

Series

Just a few bits of series news this week.

To start, Game of Thrones star Kit Harington has already replaced Nicholas Hoult as Gilderoy Lockhart in Season 2 of HBO’s Harry Potter series. This is due to “scheduling issues” on Hoult’s part.

Also, Dan Stevens, of Beauty & the Beast, Downton Abbey and Monsterverse fame, will be the new RoboCop in Prime Video’s 8-episode reboot.

Finally, here’s the first teaser for the upcoming Pokémon series from celebrated British stop-motion studio Aardman. Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu comes to Disney+ in 2027.

Film

Just one trailer this past week, and that’s for something we never expected: the return of Sasha Baron Cohen’s Ali G persona. In Ali G: Who Iz I?, which combines scripted comedy with real-life pranks in a mockumentary style, Ali G has spent twenty years “chillin’, tokin’ and bonin’”. Then he discovers his long-term girlfriend, Julie, is 8 months pregnant. Faced with an extra mouth to feed, he sets out to reclaim his former glory.

Ali G: Who Iz I? comes to cinemas on 23 October. Already the film is facing claims of racist stereotypes, with a petition underway to ban it from UK cinemas.