Future Stories

George Jetson was a character created in the 1960s but is the family man of the future. He has robot servants, flying cars, and moving sidewalks. All the apartment buildings are set on giant poles In Jetsons: The Movie, they revealed that they live in the sky due to excess of smog. I don't mean ... Read more

Screenshot: HBO “I only know what I tell me.” This short, stunning line of dialogue is spoken by Caleb (Aaron Paul) to Caleb (still Aaron Paul), both of whom—along with many other Calebs—are in a unique hell in “Fidelity.” He’s already faced the devastating news that he failed to stop Hale (Tessa Thompson) from taking over the world 23 years ago , but things manage to get worse when he discovers as a Host that hasn’t achieved fidelity , he’s beginning to malfunction. Hale’s been bothering to make 277 previous copies of Caleb because she’s desperate to discover how he was able to resist her mind-control parasite, thus becoming the first Outlier. Her hope is that if she figures it out, she can prevent Outliers from “infecting” her Hosts and causing them to commit suicide. When he was human, Caleb taunted Hale by claiming she knew how he was able to break free of her control, so all she needs to do is keep creating more Calebs until she learns the answer. Hale tells him all this i...

Image: 20th Century Studios/Hulu Over the various Predator films, comics, games, fans have met numerous iterations of the camouflaged alien hunter, and each of them have been formidable, bloody threats in their own ways. The upcoming Prey , which releases next week, winds back the clock to 1719 in the Comanche Nation , and its Predator stands as the oldest of the bunch. For director Dan Trachtenberg, the time period served as a way to make the tried and true hunter species feel new again. Speaking to Polygon , Trachtenberg opened up on how the goal with Prey’s Predator was to make it as terrifying as the original version was back in 1987, hence the skull mask meant to evoke the alien’s now iconic faceplate. Predators are always positioned as technologically superior over humans, and that continues here. Visual effects house StudioADI made weaponry that is both new to this Predator and also similar enough to the gear that its successors will wield. “In key moments, it could alw...

Image: Paramount Nichelle Nichols, the original actor of Star Trek’s Nyota Uhura, has passed away on Saturday, July 30. The news broke on the actor’s Instagram account, as announced by her son, Kyle Johnson. Developing... Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV , and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power .

Image: WB Animation The big movie of the weekend is the CG animated film DC’s League of Super Pets , which famously stars a range of established actors, headlined by Kevin Hart and eventual Black Adam Dwayne Johnson. Super Pets joins Disney’s Lightyear from earlier this month, along with the now finally released Paws of Fury, in being animated films whose cast is made up of big name actors rather than voice actors. And in recent months, the shine around this trend has started to fade, if not dim out completely. Celebrity-led animated movies have existed almost as long as some of us have been alive, but it really took off with Disney’s Aladdin back in 1992. To convince Robin Williams to sign on to voice the Genie, animator Eric Goldberg was asked by directors Ron Musker and John Clements to draw Genie doing one of the late comedian’s stand-up sets. It was that animation that won over Disney and the actor, and the film itself succeeds mostly because of his performance. And sinc...

Image: Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix Back in 2018, MGM released the Tomb Raider reboot film starring Alicia Vikander that did solidly at the box office. A sequel seemed like a sure thing for Vikander’s take on Lara Croft, which was largely modeled after the events of Crystal Dynamics’ reboot trilogy, but then the pandemic cut off its production date, and mum’s been the word ever since. Now not only is it not happening, another reboot is taking its place. According to The Wrap , MGM’s now lost the rights to Tomb Raider as a film IP, and now studios are bidding for the opportunity to snatch it up. As a result of the IP changing hands, Vikander’s Croft is currently out, with nary an actor in consideration for the role, nor a director to take charge of another film. Interestingly, it sounds like Netflix’s anime series—which will star Haley Atwell as Croft and is set in the continuity of the reboot games—is still in progress. Tomb Raider is pretty popular, both as a series of gam...

Image: Yumeta Company/Toei Animation Digimon isn’t quite the juggernaut it was back when us 90s kids were watching it early in the morning before school, but Toei has been gradually releasing more of it over the years. For anime fans, there was a reboot of the original Digimon Adventure season that premiered last year and whose English dub is currently in production. In addition to that anime, though, Toei also released two films that served as sequels to the original Adventure series, and now a new film is on the horizon to tie up its second season. The next film in the Adventure series was officially titled as Digimon Adventure 02 The Beginning at DigiFes 2022. Like how the first two films returned to the original DigiDestined kids as adults and closed out their story, The Beginning is intended to serve as a capper to the show’s second season. Yumeta Company, who worked on 2020's Adventure film, Last Evolution—Kizuna, is developing the film alongside Toei. Image: ...

Image: Disney/20th Century Studios Is there a family in media who’s persisted quite so much as The Simpsons ? Matt Groening’s five-person (and one dog!) family of yellow oddballs has been going on strong since 1989, as long as some of our parents have been married, if not alive altogether. Depending on who you are, time hasn’t entirely been kind to the show, whose 34th season is presumably due to air in a couple of months. And in the case of its first and surprisingly onl y theatrical film, time has proven how everlasting this show will remain. The Simpsons Movie released on July 27, 2007, and is a film whose creators basically have the show encoded into their DNA. Directed by longtime episode director David Silverman, its screenplay came from 11 writers, all of them Simpsons vets, including Groening, Mike Scully (showrunner of seasons 9-12), and Al Jean (showrunner for seasons 3, 4, and 13-33, and co-creator of cult classic cartoon The Critic ). The path to this movie was a ...

There’s quite frankly a LOT of boldly going going on. Gif: Paramount Trying to keep track of what’s coming in the realm of Star Trek   feels like trying to stop a tribble from procreating. Before even more new series are announced, here’s our guide of when to expect all the new Star Trek shows , as well as returning familiar favorites , and what else is in the works right now. Engage! This post was last updated 7/29/22. Star Trek Shows Coming Soon Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 | Official Trailer | Paramount+ The third season of the delightful animated series following the misfit crew of the USS Cerritos —and in particular its cadre of ensigns, Mariner (Tawny Newsome), Boimler (Jack Quaid), Tendi (Noël Wells), and Rutherford (Eugene Cordero)— will arrive August 25 . Season three sees our heroic ensigns and the remaining bridge officers aboard the Cerritos band together to free Captain Freeman (Dawnn Lewis) from Starfleet Security, a...

Screenshot: Wizards of the Coast/Paramount I never thought I would see a good Dungeons & Dragons movie in my lifetime. When Honor Among Thieves comes out next year, I still might not have. But the movie has earned my goodwill, and that’s because it has an Owlbear in it. That’s it. Just the Owlbear. That’s all I needed. For you laypeople who haven’t seen the recent Honor Among Thieves trailer, an Owlbear is—wait for it—a bear that has an owl’s head. It’s one of Dungeons & Dragons ’ best-loved monsters, but unlike the fan-favorite Displacer Beast (a panther with tentacles that projects its image a few feet away) and Gelatinous Cube (what it says on the tin, other than it slowly murders people who have the misfortune to fall into it), both of which are also in the movie, the Owlbear is loved because it’s so damned goofy. It looks ridiculous. It is ridiculous. It makes no sense, and the owl head doesn’t make the creature any more formidable than a regular bear other than ...

Screenshot: YouTube Given the current onslaught of ‘80s nostalgia (bolstered by Stranger Things and elevated by “sure, why not?” occurrences like the ALF revival ), it only makes sense that one of the coolest characters of the era—artificial intelligence personality Max Headroom —would be angling for a return . This news comes courtesy of Deadline , which is quick to reassure us that original star Matt Frewer is onboard to reprise his role as Max Headroom (seriously, who else could play him?) in a potential drama series for AMC Networks. And there are other notables attached: Halt and Catch Fire co-creator Christopher Cantwell (who’s also an executive producer on Prime Video’s new Paper Girls ) is penning the adaptation and will serve as showrunner, and Elijah Wood is among the project’s producers. Who is Max Headroom, you ask? Deadline has the rundown, excluding the character’s notorious appearance in a legendary broadcast signal intrusion incident , but adding some more re...

Screenshot: Marvel Studios If you’re still not over the loss of Iron Man in Avengers : Endgame, bust out the tissues before reading any further. Apparently we are now entering the phase where Marvel Studios is just going to make us cry, if the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever trailer is any indication. In a scene breakdown with Vanity Fair , Endgame directors the Russo Brothers shared a little-known anecdote about Robert Downey Jr.’s final bow as Tony Stark. It was a big responsibility to handle it deftly and something the directors took their time with. It also shocked a certain Endgame co-star and Iron Man director. “Part of the pressure came from Jon Favreau, who called us up after he read the script... and said to us, ‘are you really going to kill Iron Man?” Anthony Russo shared. Joe Russo recalled the moment it went down. “He did. Yeah. And I remember pacing on the corner of a stage on the phone with Favreau trying to talk him off a ledge. ‘Cause he’s like, ‘You can’t do ...

Your honor, I love them Photo: Aaron Epstein/HBO Max One of the dangers of going viral when you’re a pop culture reporter is that occasionally, sometimes, every now and then, your editor will ask you to start an open channel based on a silly tweet you shot off at midnight after reading a fanfic so devastating that you read it twice in two days. This is especially true if it’s a slow news day, which today happens to be . So here it is, the tweet in question: Now, before anyone asks, it was a fanfic for Our Flag Means Death . That’s about all I’m willing to reveal here, but a little bit of digging in the thread and you’ll be able to find it. I’m going to link some gracious Twitter users who seemed willing and eager to inflict deep and long lasting emotional wounds on the public, with the caveat that there are a great many fics which are very, very smutty, and people are allowed to read whatever they want, so enjoy at your discretion. So, loyal io9 readers, what’s the fic y...

Screenshot: Marvel Studios As we head into Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe , we’re looking back on Marvel Studios’ choices for how it has represented motherhood throughout its run of heroes and villains. And if you thought Disney had a bad track record with dead moms—well, Marvel may be even worse. Are they justified, or is there an imbalance in the sort of roles women get to play? Read on to find out! Note: spoilers ahead for recent films and TV, including Ms. Marvel , Hawkeye, Moon Knight , Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , and Thor: Love and Thunder . Queen Ramonda Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever | Official Teaser Angela Bassett’s Queen Ramonda in Black Panther is one of the strongest women of the MCU. Wakanda’s Queen Mother has led her people through challenging times and raised two powerful heroes in T’Challa and Shuri. The first trailer of Wakanda Forver centers her with solemn dignity in the face of great loss—and gives hope that n...

Screenshot: HBO Max Season three of DC animated series Harley Quinn is now streaming on HBO Max , and showrunners Justin Halpen and Patrick Schumacker sat down with the AV Club to catch up fans on what to expect—or, in the case of a certain romance thankfully left in Harley’s past, what not to expect. First, they addressed a couple of points in the series’ transition from DC Universe to the streamer. “HBO Max swooped in, saved the show,” said Schumacker. “From the jump on season three, they were like, ‘We love what you guys are doing. Don’t try and fix something that’s not broken.’ If anything, they’ve been like, ‘Go, go harder. If you want to be even edgier, we’re all for it.’” That included leaning into Harley’s romance with Ivy, which has had some backlash from Joker and Harley shippers who want them to get back together. Schumacker quickly wrote that possibility off. “We still have the occasional fan reaction of ‘I don’t like Harley and Ivy together. She should get ba...

Photo: Kevin Winter (Getty Images) In a video released today, Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has revealed that he has contracted covid-19 during his time at San Diego Comic-Con , which was planned as part of a larger West Coast trip that was supposed to include attending the premiere of House of the Dragon . Instead, the author has cancelled his remaining meetings and is isolating in a hotel room. Covid Video Despite skipping parties, staying off the convention floor, and cancelling his in-person autograph session, Martin says he began to feel slightly symptomatic a day or two afterwards, as he drove up to Los Angeles. He reassures his fans that he feels fine and his symptoms are mild. He says that it is a “mystery to him” how he caught the virus, as nobody around him has tested positive and he wore a mask at all time except during the House of the Dragon panel and meals. He hopes to recover quickly and head back to Santa Fe to resume working on his projects, includ...