This time last week, we didn’t have enough pop culture news to justify an update. Today, well, it’s hard to know where to start.

Lifestyle

People had been theorising (correctly) for some time based on a teaser character silhouette, but this week it was confirmed. The Boys star Jessie T. Usher, who plays drug-abusing speedster A-Train, will be at this year’s Comic Con Africa 2025 on the Friday through Sunday (29 – 31 August). In addition to seeing Usher on the Main Stage, autograph and photo opportunities are available as well. Now in its sixth year, Comic Con Africa is taking place this year in August, from 28 – 31, at the JHB Expo Centre.

This week also delivered the first comic creator announcement for CCA 2025: South Africa’s very own Sean Izaakse, whose work for Marvel and DC includes well-received runs on Thunderbolts and Green Arrow. Look out for Sean on three of the con’s four days, Thursday to Saturday (28 – 30 April).

Film

Following the first weekend of Superman’s release, filmmaker and DC Studios co-head James Gunn used his social media accounts to drop a teaser poster for Supergirl, the next big screen entry in the all-new DC Universe. It can also be considered a reboot as the last Supergirl solo movie was 1984’s release starring Helen Slater, who later played the character’s adoptive human mother in the CW Supergirl series.

Anyway, drawing heavily on the comic miniseries Woman of Tomorrow, by Tom King and Bilquis Evely, Supergirl stars House of the Dragon and Sirens lead Milly Alcock as Superman’s cousin Kara Zor-El. She’s not a bubbly copy of the Man of Steel, though, due to the fact she was a teenager when Krypton was destroyed and she lost her parents and everyone she knew. She simply took longer to reach Earth, meaning Superman was already grown by the time her escape capsule, where she was in stasis, landed.

Adding to interest for Supergirl, the film is directed by Craig Gillespie, who has helmed sharp and stylish films like Fright Night, I, Tonya, and Cruella.

Supergirl is out on 26 June 2026.

The Actors Strike stalled filming of this one for a while but Mortal Kombat II is on the horizon. Based on the notoriously gory fighting game, this fantasy actioner has an expanded cast and character roster for Part 2, as Earth’s forces strengthen their ranks for the interdimensional combat tournament.

The marketing focus for Mortal Kombat II is clearly on The Boys’ Karl Urban as action star Johnny Cage, but other newcomers include Adeline Rudolph as Kitana and Tati Gabrielle as Jade, while fans can look forward to the appearance of more favourites like Baraka, Shao Kahn, Queen Sindel and Quan Chi. In fact, for who made the MKII cut, or not, check out this set of new character posters.

Mortal Kombat II releases in cinemas on 24 October.

After decades stuck in development hell, we’re less than a month from watching sword-and-sorcery reboot Red Sonja, on the big screen. Probably more well-known now for the Dynamite Comics series, fiery warrior (and chainmail bikini-wearing) Red Sonja was initially created by Conan’s Robert E. Howard.

The movie audiences are getting is decidedly B-grade in tone, shot in Eastern Europe, helmed by Deathwatch, Solomon Kane and Silent Hill: Revelation’s M. J. Bassett and featuring actors like Rings’ Matilda Lutz, Umbrella Academy’s Robert Sheehan, Batwoman’s Wallis Day, and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans’ Rhona Mitra. You get the idea.

Based on the Dynamite version of the character, Red Sonja sees barbarian huntress Red Sonja (Lutz) form an unlikely band of fighters to face despot Dragan The Magnificent and his deadly bride Dark Annisia.

Red Sonja comes to cinemas on 15 August and will be on VOD before the end of the same month.

Moving on to animated movies now, Pixar (at least for now) remains committed to delivering original projects instead of mining existing franchises. So out on 6 March next year is Hoppers, where animal-loving Mabel Tanaka uses experimental technology to transplant her brain into a realistic robotic beaver body, then defend a local wildlife sanctuary against a scheming construction company. We Bare Bears creator Daniel Chong directs.

Keeping things animal-centric but venturing as far from family-friendly as you can get is Fixed. Genndy Tartakovsky directs this R-rated comedy for Sony Pictures Animation about a dog who realises he is about to be neutered and decides to enjoy a debauched adventure with his pack of best friends. The voice cast includes the likes of Adam Devin, Idris Elba and Kathryn Hahn.

Fixed is on Netflix from next month, 13 August.

Meet your Link and Zelda. And sorry to anyone who was holding thumbs that Hunter Schafer would play the ethereal princess in the adaptation of fantasy adventure The Legend of Zelda. As it stands, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto took to social media this week to announce that Zelda will be played by British actress Bo Bragason (who has appeared in the likes of Three Girls and Renegade Nell), and Link by The Haunting of Bly Manor’s Benjamin Evan Ainsworth. Miyamoto’s post included a first look at the actors in costume.

The Legend of Zelda currently has a cinema release date of 7 May 2027.

On matters of other movie adaptations:

  • You want more films based on much loved Mattel and Hasbro-owned toy lines? Look out for live-action Hot Wheels and My Little Pony movies in the coming years. The former will be directed by Wicked’s Jon M. Chu.
  • And, hey, almost 30 years later, we’re getting Practical Magic 2, with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman returning under the direction of Bird Box’s Susanne Bier. Check out more of the cast here, which includes fellow returnees Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest, along with series newcomers Joey King, Lee Pace and Maisie Williams. Reportedly, the film will be based on the follow-up novel to Practical Magic, by Alice Hoffman, called The Book of Magic.
  • Finally, probably not on anyone’s bingo card was the news that Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit filmmaker Taika Waititi will be driving the third attempt at translating iconic 2000 AD comic character Judge Dredd for the big screen. He’s joined by Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and Fall Guy screenwriter Drew Pearce, for what is being called a more comic-accurate take on the helmeted dystopian lawman, complete with sardonic humour and violence.

Series

Onto TV news and we start with the biggie: the first proper teaser trailer for Stranger Things Season 5, which ends the supernatural series as we know it. Here’s the official plot synopsis of this Netflix hit:

The fall of 1987. Hawkins is scarred by the opening of the Rifts, and our heroes are united by a single goal: find and kill Vecna. But he has vanished — his whereabouts and plans unknown. Complicating their mission, the government has placed the town under military quarantine and intensified its hunt for Eleven, forcing her back into hiding. As the anniversary of Will’s disappearance approaches, so does a heavy, familiar dread. The final battle is looming — and with it, a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before. To end this nightmare, they’ll need everyone — the full party — standing together, one last time.

The final season of Stranger Things releases with four episodes on 26 November, three episodes
on Christmas Day, and the finale episode
on New Year’s Eve. Expect episodes to be movie length in most cases.

It’s Emmy Awards time. Well, two months from now anyway. Celebrating excellence in small screen entertainment, the nominees for the 2025 Emmy Awards (AKA the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards) were announced on the 15th.

With 27 nominations, Apple TV+’s Severance is the front runner, followed by The Penguin (24 nominations), The Studio and The White Lotus (23 apiece), and The Last of Us (16). They’re followed by Andor and Hacks (14 each), then Adolescence, The Bear and The Pitt (all 13).

The results will be announced on Sunday, 14 September at the Primetime Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles, while the Creative Arts Emmy Awards take place a week earlier on Saturday and Sunday, 6-7 September.

Out of interest, these are the nominees in the three biggest series categories:

Best Drama Series

  • Andor
  • The Diplomat
  • The Last of Us
  • Paradise
  • The Pitt
  • Severance
  • Slow Horses
  • The White Lotus

Best Comedy Series

  • Abbott Elementary
  • The Bear
  • Hacks
  • Nobody Wants This
  • Only Murders in the Building
  • Shrinking
  • The Studio
  • What We Do in the Shadows

Best Limited or Anthology Series

  • Adolescence
  • Black Mirror
  • Dying for Sex
  • Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
  • The Penguin

Reminder: Shogun and Game of Thrones fans, this one’s for you. Nine-episode Chief of War is a historical epic that tells the story of Hawaii’s unification and colonisation in the late 18th century… but does it from the perspective of the indigenous people. Jason Momoa leads the cast (he also co-created the series) and you’ll spot familiar faces of Polynesian descent, like Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis.

Chief of War starts streaming on Apple TV+ from 1 August, with the release of two episodes. Thereafter, episodes will drop weekly.

Now for a few other TV-related bits and bobs:

  • Netflix is moving swiftly with a live-action adaptation of hit animated series and webtoon Solo Leveling out of Korea. Byeon Woo-seok will play main character Sung Jinwoo, who finds himself elevated from being a bottom tier demon hunter to Earth’s champion in this dark supernatural actioner.
  • Netflix has also finally greenlit an Assassin’s Creed live-action series, based on the beloved Ubisoft game series. If you’re unfamiliar with the AC franchise, it deals with centuries-spanning struggle between two factions that have gone by different names: one that defends mankind’s free will and the other that prioritises manipulation and control – while both sides fight for control over powerful artifacts. The Assassin’s Creed TV adaptation has been in the works for five years at this point.
  • Arguably the most unexpected series announcement news of the week is that old 90s environmental cartoon Captain Planet is receiving a live-action revival. Again, Netflix is the company giving the thumbs up, while Greg Berlanti and Leonardo DiCaprio are executive producing.

    With conservative leaders hellbent on stripping on the Earth of its natural resources, Captain Planet does feel like a strange reboot choice, as it sees a band of children from around the world gifted with the ability to summon hero Captain Planet to tackle ecological and social problems.
  • Want to see Nick Frost as half-giant groundskeeper Hagrid in the upcoming HBO series version of Harry Potter? Here you go. The same link will deliver you an in-costume look at young Dominic McLaughlin as Harry Potter.