What happened this week in pop culture? Well, it starts with the sad news of three deaths, two of professionals in front of the camera and one behind the page.

Tough guy actor Michael Madsen, probably best known for his collaborations with Quentin Tarantino in the likes of Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs, died of a heart attack aged 67.

More shocking was the news that Australian Julian McMahon had passed after a private battle with cancer. McMahon was just 56, and will probably best be remembered for his roles in the likes of TV series Charmed, and Nip/Tuck, plus the original Fantastic Four films, where he played Doctor Doom. Devilishly good looking became a special niche of his.

Finally, the comics industry said goodbye to Jim Shooter at age 73 due to oesophageal cancer. Shooter led Marvel for almost a decade, stepping into the role of Editor-in-Chief in 1978 when he was just 26. During his tenure, he helped to professionalise the industry, develope the concept of a crossover event, and made big names of the likes of Frank Miller, Chris Claremont and John Byrne, along with turning the X-Men into a comics phenomenon. Shooter also later launched Valiant Comics.

Film

We entered last week with a heads up that a trailer for Project Hail Mary was dropping. And yup, audiences got a first proper look at the sci-fi survival adventure based on the book by Andy (The Martian) Weir. Ryan Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a sixth grade Science teacher recruited for a mission into space in a last-chance bid to save Earth from a cosmic catastrophe. While the book makes a big deal of Ryland waking alone with amnesia, there’s none of that in this trailer. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller direct.

Project Hail Mary is in cinemas from 20 March 2026.

Featuring a similar kind of dynamism, and a charismatic leading man, is upcoming dystopian action film The Running Man. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because it’s based on a novel by Stephen King, and there’s already been a loose 80s adaptation starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Baby Driver, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim director Edgar Wright leads the charge here, apparently delivering a more faithful take on the source material. In the near future, working-class Ben Richards (Glen Powell) is forced to enter a deadly reality show to get medical treatment for his sick daughter. To win, Ben needs to survive 30 days hunted by assassins, captured on camera 24/7.

The Running Man is scheduled for release this year, on 7 November.

Finally, we really enjoyed Netflix’s Norwegian monster/disaster movie Troll, which released back in 2022. Well, before the end of the year, Troll 2 is out, coming to the streamer as of 1 December.

The same creative team and cast is back for this follow-up, where palaeontologist Nora Tidemann (Ine Marie Wilmann), government advisor Andreas Isaksen (Kim Falck) and military commander Captain Kristoffer Holm (Mads Sjøgård Pettersen) face a dangerous new troll that emerges out of the frozen wastes. Troll 2 is reportedly the most expensive Norwegian film ever made.

One final movie-related tidbit:

How is casting shaping up for the big screen Street Fighter reboot, based on the video game?

Check out the full list of eclectic choices here, which includes David Dastmalchian as M. Bison, Andrew Koji as Ryu, Jason Momoa as Blanka, Callina Liang as Chun-Li and WWE stars Cody Rhodes as Guile and Roman Reigns as Akuma respectively. The film is planned for a 2026 release.

Series

We weren’t overly wowed by the Disney+ lineup for July. But August has something very cool on the cards. Landing 27 August is animated miniseries Eyes of Wakanda. Spanning centuries, this four-part anthology centres on the Hatut Zaraze, Wakandan warriors who venture outside of the isolationist kingdom to carry out dangerous missions and retrieve Vibranium.

Still on matters of animation (or, more accurately, anime), Netflix has released a trailer to announce that Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 is officially in production.

As before, though set in the same universe at the CD PROJEKT RED game, this second instalment will be a standalone 10-episode story mixing crime and sci-fi. Story lead on Edgerunners, Hugo Award-winning writer Bartosz Sztybor, will be showrunner, story writer and producer on 2, while Japanese animation studio Trigger is once again handling the visuals.

This week’s top series news tidbit:

Co-creator of The Last of Us game franchise and TV series, Neil Druckmann is leaving the HBO show before work begins on Season 3. Druckmann, who wrote, directed and served as co-showrunner for the adaptation claims his departure is so he can concentrate more on his leadership role at game development studio Naughty Dog.

With public interest, ratings and critical reception waning, it will be interesting to see if The Last of Us lasts beyond three seasons as was initially planned.

Lifestyle

Comic Con Africa 2025 has just announced its first celebrity guest of stage and screen: Supernatural star Misha Collins. In addition to playing angel Castiel, Collins has also portrayed Harvey Dent/Two-Face in the CW’s Gotham Knights, and is a bestselling writer, podcaster and activist.

Collins will be present on two of the four con days (the Friday and Saturday) and if you want to engage one-on-one with the star, it will cost you R750 for an autograph and R850 for a photo.

CCA 2025 is taking place this year one month early, from 28 – 31 August at JHB Convention Centre in Johannesburg. You can get your tickets here, with day passes costing R190 to R250 depending on when you attend.

Gaming

One story dominated gaming news last week and it was the long-rumoured Xbox layoffs coming to fruition as the company entered its new financial year. These job cuts were part of a 9,000 person culling across Microsoft globally.

In a memo to staff, Xbox head Phil Spencer spoke of “Our platform, hardware, and game roadmap have never looked stronger” but that meant “tough decisions” and “prioritiz(ing) the strongest opportunities.” Clearly not considered projects with potential, Rare’s fantasy adventure Everwild and a remake of Perfect Dark were binned. Cancellation of the latter means the closure of studio The Initiative, which came into being to make the game, while unconfirmed reports suggest that Xbox’s backing out of certain games has led to the end of Romero Games (under the leadership of industry legend John Romero), along with, possibly most shockingly, Forza Motorsport as Turn 10 Studios intensifies its focus on the Forza Horizon franchise as opposed to its Gran Turismo rival.