After two seasons and over two years of... passionate online discourse, MAX is axing Mindy Kaling's raunchy Scooby-Doo reimagining, Velma. Following a confusing bait-and-switch, the streaming service has officially confirmed the series won't be getting a third season, and many Scooby-Doo fans aren't bottling up their tears of joy.

MAX is axing Velma after two seasons and a Halloween special

After months of speculation, the first hint of Velma's cancellation came from Davey Cummings, one of the show's background artists. Throughout the show's run, Cummings regularly uploaded images of the background art he made for Velma to his Instagram page.

In a now-deleted post he uploaded on October 8, 2024, Cummings revealed MAX would not be renewing Velma for a third season. He expressed his appreciation for Velma's artists and animators, emphasizing his desire to work with them again on another project someday. He rounded the post off by encouraging readers to watch Velma's newly releas?ed Halloween special, the apply??-named "This Halloween Needs To Be More Special!"

“There will not be a Season 3, but I hope I get to work with these amazing talented people again one day. GO WATCH VELMA HALLOWEEN SPECIAL ON MAX!!�/p>

-Dave Cummings

Cummings' announcement turned the Internet's collective head, with many onlookers taking this statement from one of Velma's staff as proof that the show?? was ending. However, Cummings backpedaled on his announcement in another deleted Instagram post just a few hours later. Here, Cummings clarified MAX hadn't officially canceled the show yet and that Velma's fans and detractors shouldn't take his? comments as a reflection of MAX or Warner Bros. Discovery's plans for the show.

This made an already uncertain situation even more dubious for onlookers, but things became crystal clear after MAX officially announced they were canceling Velma. In an official statement given to IGN, MAX confirmed Velma won't be returning for a third seaso?n, expressing their condolences to the show's creative team and wishing them well in all their future endeavors.

"Over the past two seasons, Mindy [Kaling] and?? Charlie [Grandy] have created an incredibly fun and fresh world within the iconic whodunit franchise. While we won’t be moving forward with another season of the series, we thank them for their compelling coming-of-age storytelling, unrivaled clues, and hilarious hijinks.

Max Spokesman, IGN

In the wake of this official declaration, I suspect Cummings and other members of Velma's staff knew that the show's chances of getting renewed were low, but that didn't stop them from believing it could happen. Velma's Halloween special ends on a cliffhanger, so it's clear that the?? show's producers, writers, and art stream were hoping to get a third season.

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During its panel at San Diego Comic-Con, Adult Swim unveiled a new trailer for its long-awaited anime adaptation of Junji Ito's seminal horror manga Uzumaki. This spine-caffeinating preview didn't stop at showcasing the anime's distinct art style, either; it also revealed Uzumaki will hit Adult Swim this fall.

Adult Swim and Production I.G's Uzumaki will air in September

Uzumaki's latest trailer made my skin want to run away from home to join the carnival down the road. It also proved that Drive’s done a fantastic? job adapting Ito’s distinct, detailed style into animation. After the trailer smash c?uts from one of the manga’s most terrifying scenes to the anime’s title card (and Colin Stetson's incredible score winds down), we’re left to stare at the series�release date; Saturday, September 28, 2024.

We’ve known for a long time that Uzumaki will be a four-episode miniseries. Episodes will air on Adult Swim’s Tonami block at 12:30 A.M. before making their ??way into Max. If the series follows a weekly release schedule, the finale will air on October 19, 2024.

Uzumaki's release date brings a five-year-long wait to an end

Two months seems like a long time, and it is, but it’s nothing compared to the five years Ito fans have been waiting for Uzumaki to get a concrete release date. Adult Swim announced its plans to adapt what many see as Ito’s magnum opus in 2019, with an original release date of Fall 2022. Unfortunately, the production team pushed Uzumaki’s release date three times. An official memo from Drive stated that the series�production team wanted to ensure t??hey were d??oing Ito’s work justice and didn't want to rush the production.

As frustrating as Uzumaki's delays are, this new trailer proved that the wait was worth it. Ito’s work is infamously hard to adapt, with previous attempts like 2018’s Junji Ito Collection and Junji Ito’s Maniac failing ??to recapture the mangaka's iconic style. Luckily, Uzumaki’s trailer proved that Drive spared no expense in bringing the panels of Ito's most terrifying tale to life.

Uzumaki's a tale about the ways we can spiral into madness

Uzumaki follows Kirie Goshima and her boyfriend Shuichi Saito, a pair of listless teenagers born and raised in Kurouzu-cho, a quiet town nestled in the hills of rural Japan. When a mysterious “Spiral “curse�unleashes a torrent of terrifying supernatural incidents on the city and its people, Kirie and Shuichi plan to flee the town before the curse twists and furls them into s??omething unrecognizable.

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I read the first Harry Potter book when I was eight years old and they quickly became a favorite of mine, remaining so to this day. As such, I’m very excited about the Harry Potter series and the possibilities it brings. 

If you’ve only ever watched the Harry Potter movies, I’m sorry to t??ell you that you’re missing out on the details which make the? wizarding world so popular. There are so many features and subplots in the books that are either altered or entirely omitted from the movies. However, the series does offer a chance for these things to get the spotlight they truly deserve. Hopefully.

Peeves

Peev??es is the resident Poltergeist of Hogwarts and, as a Poltergeist, he gets into all manner of mischief. He’s a comic relief character who ?has a complete disregard for authority in all forms, helps to spread gossip among students, but is absolutely loyal to Hogwarts itself. 

He fears the Bloody Baron (another character entirely excluded from the movies), respects Albus Dumbledore (but doesn’t listen to him), and shares a bond with the Weasley twins due to their shared love of pranks and chaos. When Fred and George leave Hogwarts during The Half-Blood Prince, Peeves follows their instruc?tions to cause problems for Delores Umbridge and actually salutes them in front of the entire school as they leave.

The Weasleys visiting the Dursleys

During The Goblet of Fire, in order to collect Harry and take him to the Quidditch World Cup (which also suf??fered during the movie adaptation), the Weasleys attempt to arrive at the Dursley’s house via Floo Powder. However, the Dursley’s have blocked up their fireplace, leaving the Weasley’s trapped behind a stud wall. 

What follows is a glorious scene where the Dursley’s break through the wall, destroy the pristine living room in 4 Privet Drive, and the twins give Dudley a Ton-Tongue Toffee which makes his tongue swell to insane proportions, terrifying the Dursleys??. 

S.P.E.W.

The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare was Hermione’s ill-thought attempt to help the House Elves escape servitude. In The Goblet of Fire, Hermione starts h??er very own club, with the acronym name of S.P.E.W., makes badges, and tries to recruit members to her cause. ;

What she failed to take into account, however, was that House Elves actually enjoy serving their wizarding fol??k, for the most part, and there was even an entire army happily working away in the Hogwarts kitchens. 

Harry and Cho’s disastrous date

Alth?ough we do see a small glimpse of Harry’s ill-fated relationship with Cho Chang during the movies, the best part of the terrible coupling is omit??ted. 

During The Half-Blood Prince, Harry and Cho have a romantic date at Madam Puddifoot’s in Hogsmeade on Valentine’s Day. Sadl?y, it’s a disaster and after Harry mentions that he plans to meet up with Hermione afterward, Cho flies off the handle and cries before storming off. 

Honestly, this whole pairing is just cringeworthy, but that doesn’t come across in the movies the same? way it does in the books. 

St. Mungos

St. Mungos is a magical hospital based in London and has four floors dedicated to the treatment of magical maladies and injuries, plus another which houses a tea room and gift shop. Sadly, the entire building is removed from the films, despite the fact that we actually visit the hospital during The Order of the Phoenix, after Arthur Weasley gets attacked b??y Nagini in the Department of Mysteries. 

It’s also known that both of Neville’s parents, Alice and Frank Longbottom, are long-term residents at St. Mungos due to their extended ex?posure to the Cruciatus Curse at the hands of Bellatrix LeStrange. 

However, perhaps the best thing missed in the movies is the fact that Professor Lockhart becomes a long time resident after the events of The Chamber of Secrets, when a memory wiping charm aimed at Ron backfired and he took the hit himself. ??;

The Gaunt memories

During The Half-Blood Prince movie, a huge part of the backstory is l?ost due to the omission of the memories of the Gaunts, which are viewed through the pensieve in the book. The Gaunts are the ancestors of Tom Riddle, and the memories tell the story of how Tom Riddle came to be born. 

In short, his mother was a poor woman named Merope Gaunt who used a love spell to trap and marry a wealthy muggle named Tom Riddle. After becoming pregnant, she lifts the spell and Tom Riddle Sr. aband??ons her, only for her to die shortly after giving birth to the child who would go on to become Lord Voldemort. 

Winky and the rest of the Hogwarts House Elves

There is a whole section of Hogwarts that is never visited during the Harry Potter movies �the kitchens. They’re filled with Hou??se Elves who work night and day to prepare the huge amount of food needed to feed a?ll the students and staff at Hogwarts. 

One notable House Elf is Winky, who came to Hogwarts after being dismissed by Ludo Bagman during The Goblet of Fire. Feeling depressed at being dismissed, she turns to drinking and we end up with what is essentially an alcoholic yet ??incredibly lovable House Elf. 

Ginny Weasley’s feisty personality

After seeing her portrayal in the Harry Potter movies, fans of the franchise were enraged by how badly Ginny Weasley came across. Her entire personality is lost, with her fading very much into the backgroun??d despite being a huge part of the books. 

She’s supposed to be feisty and very much a miniature version of her mother, Molly. She comes armed with a well refined Bat Bogey Hex, which ??we never see in the movies, and is loyal to a fault. They really did her dirt?y in the movies, so I hope we see more of her actual personality in the series. 

Nearly Headless Nick’s deathday party

I’ve always been angry tha?t N??early Headless Nick’s entire deathday party is removed from the movies, and I’m hoping that we actually get to see it in the series. 

The deathday party is entirely populated by ghosts (except for Harry, Ron and Hermione), with rotten food being available for them to enjoy, an explanation as to ??why Nearly Headless Nick isn’t named Entirely Headless Nick, and also the whole Headless Hunt fiasco. Nick deserved so much better, on all fronts.

Interactions with the Muggle Prime Minister

Maybe I’m biased, but I can’t help but find it hilarious to imagine the Prime Minister being accosted by a wizard to discuss the relations between worlds. Imagine the President, sitting in the oval office as a Wizard tries to explain why mug?gles need to be careful because a murderer has escaped wizarding prison. 

While it isn’t a huge part of the story, it does build a bridge between the muggle and wizarding worlds, something which helps to build the ?world and establish where everything fits.

Percy and his redemption arc

While Percy’s tr???eachery towards his family is touched on in the movies, it’s very much glossed over with him suddenly being gone and then reappearing later. 

However, in the books, his behaviour is deplorable and he easily becomes a hated charact??er for how he treats his family. He completely blanks th??em in public, humiliates them, and sides with Cornelius Fudge to call them crazy when they back Harry’s announcement that Voldemort is back. 

When he finally does come back, during the Battle of Hogwarts, the family are celebrating when Fred is killed by an explosion,?? never seeing Percy return to the family.

Firenze teaching Divination

In the movies, the most we see of the Centaurs is the strange repeated sentence “Mars looks bright tonightâ€? However, at least one Centaur plays a muc?h bigger role in the books. 

During The Half-Blood Prince, after the dismissal of Professor Trelawney by Umbridge, Firenze becomes Divination teacher at Hogwarts and remains in the position for two years, teaching students about fortune telling. I’m not sure what else to say about this, except I desperately want more for? the Centaurs than the small role they have in the movies.

Charlie Weasley

The Weasleys have sev??en children, though if you’ve only watched the movies, you could be forgiven for?? thinking one of them doesn’t exist. 

Charlie Weasley is the oldest of those seven children and he works in Romania with Dragons. This is touched upon in the movies, with Ron saying as such, but he never appears in person. He’s glimpsed in the holiday photo from Egypt, but de?spite the fact that he was supposed to come pick up Norberta, he never shows his face.

The backstory of the Vanishing Cabinet 

Remember the Vanishing Cabinet which is used by the Death Eaters to gain entry to Hogwarts during the final battle? That piece of furniture has an entire bac??kstory interwoven through previous books. 

It first appears in The Chamber of Secrets, when Harry is accosted by Filch for leaving muddy footprints in the freshly cleaned halls. Nearly Headless Nick con??vinces Peeves to create a distraction, and he breaks the cabinet. 

Then, in The Goblet of Fire, Fred and George W?easley shove a Slytherin called Montague into the Cabinet and he gets stuck between Hogwarts and Borgin and Burke’s. When he escapes, he tells Draco Malfoy what happened, providing Draco with the idea to repair the Cabinet and get the Death Eaters into the castle.

However, none of t??his features i??n the movies, and this entire subplot is lost.

Harry funding Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

In return for winning the Tri-Wizard Tournament during The Goblet of Fire, Harry receives 1,000 Galleons. However, Harry has an entire vault filled with Galleons in Gringotts and has n?o use for? the money. Instead, he hands it over to Fred and George Weasley.

They, in turn, use this money to purchase a shop in Diagon Alley and build their wizarding joke empire, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Without Harry, they would not have been ab?le to start their shop and live out their ?prankster dreams, albeit for a short time in Fred’s case.

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The Annecy Animation Festival gives animators a sta??ge to showcase their latest projects. There have already been many great re?veals this year, but Cartoon Network has made one of the strongest showings by unveiling a series of upcoming spin-offs/revivals of some of the best shows the channel has ever aired.

All of Cartoon Network's announcements are blasts from the past

Warner Bros. Discovery has been vocal about its plans to pour most of its r?esources into its pre-?existing IPs. While I'm a little frustrated to see yet another company take the safe route and fall back on its established brands rather than try something new, I’d be lying if I told you that I'm not excited by all of t??he projects t??he company announced at Annecy.

I grew up watching Cartoon Network and its retro-themed sister channel, Boomerang, with my sister and parents. All of the reboots and spin-offs unveiled during Warner Bros. Discovery's showcases are continuations of shows that still hold a special place in my heart as an adult. I was even happier to hear that the show's original creators are in charge of these new projects.

Here ar??e all the new Cartoon Network shows announced at Annecy. Information about these upcoming series is still trickling in, so some of the details I discuss here may change as the shows inc??h closer to their premieres.

Foster's Funtime for Imaginary Friends

Foster's Funtime for Imaginary Friends is a spin-off of Craig McCracken Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends that aims to appeal to pre-schoolers. Bloo, the original series' feckless protagonist, will be educating a group of young imaginary fri?ends, and as fans of the OG can imagine, chaos and hijinks ensue.

According to Variety, McCracken has promised that Funhouse will be as fast-paced as Home but will drop the cynical humor that crept into the show's later seasons. ?As someone who watched the original show become more mean-spirited as it went on, I can't help but agree with that decision.

Adventure Time: Side Quests

Adventure Time: Side Quest is the latest spin-off of Pendelton Ward's comedy-fantasy epic Adventure Time. Nate Cash, who joined Adventure Time's production team as a creative director before being promoted to supervising director, will oversee Side Quests.

Unlike the more adult-leaning Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake spin-off and the serialized final seasons of Adventure Time, Side Quests sounds like it will return the franchise to its episodic roots, with Finn and Jake embarking on new, self-contained adventures every week. Familiar faces like the Ice King will return, apparently scrubbed of the character development they underwent in the original Adventure Time series.

Unnamed Regular Show Project

J.G. Quintel announced a continuation of the hit surreal comedy Regular Show. Festivalgoers reacted to this announcement with open applause, all of whom seemed happy to learn that Quintel had bounced back after the unexpected cancellation of his last show, Close Enough.

We don't know much about this new project, but since Quintel himself voices Mordecai, I'm willing to bet that ou?r favorite slackers will show up somehow.

The clip show was a show-stopper

Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studio, ??and Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe also unveiled a clip show comprised of scenes from several in-production animated projects during Annecy. All of these?? clips were of shows that had already been announced, but they confirmed that the shows are further along the production process, giving us some idea of when they'll be released.

Here are all of th?e shows tha??t popped up during the clip show.

• Teen Titans Go
• Gremlins: the Wild Bunch
• Invincible Fight Girl
• Bat-Family
• The Amazing World of Gumball
• Watchman
• Batman: Caped Crusader
• Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

The greenlight district looked pretty good, too

Other animated projects were unveiled, with the majority again being veteran Cartoon Network IPs continuations.? However, a handful were entirely new series, all of which have the potential? to become long-running series.

?Here are all the new shows that got the green light during A??nnecy.

• Go Go Mystery Machine
• Adventure Time: Heyo BMO
• Throws a Wobbler
• The Adventure Time Movie
• Bad Karma
• Lovey Dovey

Looking at this slate, I'm excited about Cartoon Network's future. If these shows do well, Warner Bro. Discove??ry may be willing to give new, more experimental shows the go-ahead.

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The Penguin, the upcoming DC spin-off show, has finally received a release date. Based on Matt Reeves�The Batman, the show will be focusing on the villain Colin Farrell portrays in the movie. The Penguin show will be arriving in September, as revealed by Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and Max, in an interview with Variety.

Colin Farrell as The Penguin in Matt Reeves�Batman took eve?ryone by sur??prise. The Irish actor’s complete transformation for the role after hours of make-up and a solid performance in the movie turned the character into an instant hit for the fans.

Not so long after the movie’s release, The Penguin spin-off series was announced. The show will continue the story after the events from The Batman movie and will focus on Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot’s rise in the criminal underworld of Gotham, and become the Penguin. The series is also going to lay the foundations for The Batman: Part II which is scheduled to come out in 2026.

The show will see Farell return to reprise the titular character, and Cristin Milioti ??has joined the cast as Sofia Falcone, the daughter of Carmine Falcone, the late king of Gotham’s underworld. The Penguin will have eight episodes, with Lauren LeFranc serving as the showrunner.

While The Penguin is a spin-off DC show, it will be considered as part of The Batman’s universe rather than the upcoming DC rebuild happening. DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has clarified in the?? past that all movies and shows that do n??ot follow the main continuity timeline of the DC Universe, will be released with the DC Elseworlds label.

Matt Reeves�The Batman: Part II and Todd Philipps�Joker: Folie à Deux are prime examples of projects that will be carrying the Elseworlds tag, keeping them separate for the overarching main storyline of DC, which kicks off with the release of Creature Commandos, an adult animated show releasing in late 2024.

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The second season of My Adventures with Superman, an animated retelling of the Man of Steel's ?early heroics, has finally arrived.

Season one ended on a few cliffhangers, so here's everything you need to know about?? season two's release schedule so you can watch its episodes as they come out.

My Adventures with Superman episode release schedule

New episodes of My Adventures with Superman season two will air on Adult Swim at 12:00 A.M. ET, aka midnight. In an imp??rovement from its predecessor, this season's episodes will be the first show to air on Adult Swim's iconic Toonami block. The first two episodes of the season aired ba?ck to back on May 26, but the rest of season two's episodes will air individually. We already know the names of six of season two's ten episodes, and they're listed in the release schedule below.

Where is My Adventures with Superman season two streaming?

You are out of luck if you miss the premiere of one of My Adventure with Superman's season two episodes. Episodes of season one were uploaded to HBO Max after they premiered on Adult Swim. While the first episo??des of season two are not on the streaming service as of this writing, it probably won't be long before they make their way onto the show's HBO Max page.

What is My Adventures with Superman season two about?

My Adventures with Superman's first season followed the beginning of Clark Kent's career as both a reporter at the Daily Planet and as Superman, focusing primarily on his budding relationship with Lois Lane. As the series progressed, Clark, Lois, and Jimmy Olson found themselves entangled in the machinati??ons of Task Force X, an anti-alien government task fo?rce helmed by Amanda Waller and the mysterious "General."

The fi?nal episodes of season one were packed with several shocking relations, the most notable being that the General was Lois' estranged father, Samuel Lane, and t?hat Superman's homeworld of Krypton had launched a failed invasion of Earth shortly before Clark's arrival on the Kent family farm.

If season two's episode titles are anything to go by, its story will focus on the fallout of these revelations and their impact on Clark?? and Lois' relationship. With Sam on the outs with an increasingly militant Task Force X and the post-credits scene of season one's finale teasing the arrival of legacy Superman villains Brainiac and General Zod, it's clear that season two's stakes will?? be even higher than season one's.

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Another actor has been cast for the next season of The Last of Us. HBO's adaptation of the Naughty Dog series has found its Jesse in Beef’s Young Mazino.

The news, tweeted by Max and Naughty Dog, comes a day after Booksmart’s Kaitlyn Dever was cast as antagonist an?d dual? protagonist Abby.

Creators Neil Druckmann and showrunner/director Craig Mazin confirmed Young Mazino's casting via Variety, saying "Young is one of those rare actors who is immediately undeniable?? the moment you see him. We’re so lucky to have him, and we can’t wait for the audience to see Young shine in our show."

The video game adaptation, starring Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones), is fresh off eight Creative Emmy wins and is nominated for five main Primetime Emmy awards, including Best Drama. The show was a massive hit for HBO and fans alike. This new season is expected to adapt the events of The Last of Us Part II, which was released in 2020 to critical praise.

Jesse, according to an official description by Variety, is said to be "a pillar of his community who puts everyone else’s needs before his own, sometimes at terrible cost." His role in the game, which was played by Stephen Chang (Bosch: Legacy), was the leader of the Jackson patrol ??troops, and the on-again/off-again love interest of Dina.

Breaking Out

Young Mazino is a relatively new actor, starting in 2013 and doing small roles in New Amsterdam and Blue Bloods. His big break came with the 2023 Netflix acclaimed limited series Beef as Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead)’s brother Paul Cho. He’s currently nominated for the Pr?imetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for his role, alongside his co-star Joseph Lee.

I have yet to see Beef, though it is high up there considering it's been dominating the Miniseries category at awards shows thus far. Taking a chance on promising actors is always a win in my book. With that, Young Mazino seems like a great choice to play Jesse, a personal favorite of mine in The Last of Us Part II.

Season two of The Last of Us is scheduled to film later this year and release so??metime next year. With HBO announcing two roles in quick succession, I have a hunch we might hear more about other roles soon too.

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It was HBO's second-biggest premiere in 13 years

Let's be honest �we all knew HBO's The Last of Us adaptation was going to be popular, it was just a matter of quite how popular it would turn out to be. As expected, it was a massive success, and a tweet from HBO Max confirmed it: the show surpassed 10 million viewers within two days of its premiere, and that only accounts for the viewers in the United States, according to HBO. Those numbers are broken down into 4.7 million streams on premiere night last Sunday, January 15, which means an additional 5.3 viewers tuned in the following day. I'd bet a good percentage of those people saw the hype online and wanted to see what all the fuss was about, because the series ha??s lit up social media like the Fourth? of July this week.

//twitter.com/Variety/status/1615795010540302338

With numbers like that, The Last of Us has secured a spot as the second-most watched premiere of a show on HBO since 2010, second only to House of the Dragon with 9.98 million viewers. While The Last of Us had the benefit of a pre-built fanbase of gamers to flock to the streaming platform on opening night, House of the Dragon had the advantage of being a spin-off of another one of HBO's most successful series of all time: Game of Thrones.

HBO has also stated that numbers tend to grow significantly in the weeks after a show has premiered, with only 20-40% of its total numbers coming from Sunday night viewership. This means The Last of Us can? be expected to be seeing even bigger numbers as time goes on, and as a fa??n of the series myself, I can imagine it's only a matter of time before even the most hardened skeptics cave to the curiosity �especially when it comes to seeing the adaptations of the show's most iconic scenes that are still ahead.

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Look for the light �a recap of The Last of Us' premiere episode

HBO's adaptation of the beloved narrative game The Last of Us has been highly anticipated for months and even years �either by fans of the series or otherwise. Now that it's finally out, the takes have started rolling in, and the first episode has been a bit more divisive among fans than the early, glowing critic reviews suggested.? This first installment covered the opening few hours of the game, from its emot??ional opening to the crew's first steps out of the quarantine zone. Of course, there are quite a few ways in which the show deviates from its source material, which we will cover in the recap below.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLtkt8BonwM

Let's recap, shall we?

Episode One: "When You're Lost in the Darkness" �run time 81 mins

The show opens with two scientists on the set of a talk show in 1968 where they answer questions ?about a newly-discovered fungal virus that could potentially spread to humans. After a bit of exposition dumping about how the fungus controls the mind of its host, we're met with a very HBO-looking opening credits sequence with fungus spreading and growing across the screen.

Joel and Sarah are having a nice conversation over breakfast when we meet Joel's brother Tommy. We l??earn that Joel and Sarah have some elderly neighbors, the Adlers, who Sarah will sometimes go over and begrudgingly spend time with. As Sarah goes to school and into town to get Joel's watch fixed for his birthday, we hear ominous car horns and sirens in the distance.

[caption id="attachment_358457" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via HBO Max[/caption]

Here comes the apocalypse

Sarah goes over to the Adlers' for a bit, and then later p??resents Joel with his birthday present �an old watch of his that she had fixed. Joel goes to bail Tommy out of jail, and Sarah wakes up to an empty house. She goes back to the Adlers, where the previously senile, and now Infected, Mrs. Adler has killed the inhabitants of the house. Joel and Tommy show up and take Sarah in their truck, heading towards the military checkpoint at the highway. Joel and Sarah get separated from Tommy while running away from Infected, and when they reach the checkpoint, a soldier fires on the pair following orders from a superior. ??Sarah is fatally wounded, and just as Tommy shows up to save Joel, Sarah dies in his arms.

We?? skip ahead 20 years (which is now 2023 �the show moved the game's opening back from 2013 to 2003), and a child stumbles back into a quarantine zone. Soldiers discover he's Infected, and euthanize him while promising he's safe now. We then get a look into the bleakness inside the quarantine zone, from burning dead bodies to dwindling food supplies to public executions. We learn that Joel is a smuggler, working? as fellow smuggler Tess' muscle and right-hand man. There's a "terrorist" group that's also causing trouble around town known as the Fireflies.

[caption id="attachment_358460" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via HBO Max[/caption]

Ellie's introduction

Meanwhile, there's a girl chained up in a building, where she is tested for signs of mental alertness and awareness. Joel speaks to the man in charge of the zone's radio, who confirms he still hasn't heard from Tommy. Joel says that his brother usually responds within a day, but it's been three weeks since they last communicated. Joel mixes some pills and alcohol and goes to sleep, and Tess joins him in bed in the middle ??of the night. In the morning, Joel tells Tess he needs a ca?r battery to go and find Tommy, but Tess tells him that a man named Robert sold their battery to someone else.

Marlene, the head of the Fireflies, tells fellow Fi?refly Kim that they're all go??ing to leave the quarantine zone soon to transport "that random girl locked in that room" west. Marlene goes to talk to the girl and tells her that's the one who put her in military school, and that the girl's real name is Ellie. We get a namedrop for Riley here �a side character who's important to Ellie, who we know will make an appearance in a future episode.

Joel and Tess go to confront Robert and come across a Clicker that's grown into the wall in the sewers (it's the first we've seen of the series' most ??iconic enemy, and it actually looks really?? good!). When they reach Robert's hideout, he's already dead due to a deal gone wrong with the Fireflies because the car battery is corroded. Joel and Tess encounter Marlene, Kim, and Ellie, and after a bit of back and forth, Joel and Tess agree to take Ellie to the Capital Building to meet up with the rest of the Fireflies.

The journey begins

The trio stop by Joel and Tess' hideout to plan out their trip, and Ellie figures out a code that Bill and Frank (some smugglers/suppliers outside of the city) use to share their status by playing songs from different decades. Joel wakes up from a nap and he and Ellie have a conversation �she tells him that his watch is br??oken. They head outside the walls of the quarantine zone, where they encounter a soldier who scans them for Infection. When Ellie is scanned, she attacks the soldier, who shines his flashlight in Joel's face. This triggers a flashback that takes Joel back to the night that Sarah died, and he beats the soldier to death with his bare hands.

Tess looks at the scanner and learns that Ellie is Infected,? bu?t she counters by showing Tess and Joel her arm and insisting that the bite is three weeks old. We cut back to Joel and Tess' hideout, where the radio is playing an 80's song, which indicates trouble at Bill and Frank's. The final shot of Joel, Tess, and Ellie sweeps out to reveal the ruined, overgrown cityscape as lightning strikes and we hear the screams of Infected in the distance.

[caption id="attachment_358462" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via HBO Max[/caption]

And now, some thoughts

Okay, that was a lot, and I'm still working thro??ugh my thoughts about it after a second watch-through. Let's start with the stuff I liked. I thought the sets looked great, and I especially loved to see what I assume were practical effects with the aforementioned Clicker that had grown into the wall. I'm excited to see some more of the Infected in action. I liked the actress who played Sarah a lot, a?nd I liked that they added a bit more to her character that we get to see before she gets killed off. Also, huge props to the actors who played the Infected in the crowd scenes �they nailed the physicality and captured the fast, flailing movements we see from the Runners in the game.

Pedro Pascal's casting as Joel was a part of the show I was really looking forward to, and so far he didn't disappoint. There's still a lot to see from him, but so far he's nailed?? ??the look and feel of Joel for me.

Then there's the stuff I feel skeptical about. It's funny, I feel like most of my critiques fall on either end of a spectrum �either it's too much like the game, or it's too different. Starting with the former, I've also seen other reviewers discussing the fact that the show takes too much from the game, and I have to agree. A ton of the dialogue, acting choices, and camera angles are ripped right from the game. Don't get me wrong, I still want it to feel like a Last of Us show, but when the original is already so cinematic, what are we gaining from doing a 1:1 r??emake of a?? bunch of the scenes?

[caption id="attachment_358463" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via HBO Max[/caption]

As a megafan of the series, I have most of the dialogue in the game memorized down to the vocal inflections, and I was shocked to find the most iconic scenes from the game were basically copied and pasted down to the blocking and li?ne reads. The whole point of an adaptation is to put a new spin on the source material, but to me, this first episode only muddied the waters in terms of what the story is trying to say.

This brings me to my next point: the differences. As I said, I'm totally fine with them making changes to the game's narrative �in fact, I encourage it. But for the most part, I felt like the changes they made detracted from the potency of the story. Similar to its gameplay, The Last of Us' story is tight and compact, only including what's necessary to get across its the??sis or survival and sacrifice for those you love. To me, it felt like everything in that first game always pointed back to Joel and Ellie's arcs and ??gave us further insight into their relationship.

In the show, however, adding all these new characters and ??extra threads only serves to bog everything down in my mind. We've been there, done that with apocalypse fiction �what makes Joel and Ellie's relationship so poign?ant and moving is the love and hope they find in the darkest possible circumstances.

I hate to say it, but as of now, I'm also a bit skeptical of this version of Ellie. A sentiment I've heard echoed online, and even from a friend I watched this first episode with who was not familiar with the game, is that some people aren't taking much ??of a liking to Ellie. I know not everyone is going to love her, but so much of Ellie's character is her sweetness which often shines through despite her snarky, sarcastic side. So far she's be?en mostly abrasive, which isn't helped by the change that she's not with Marlene and the Fireflies of her own accord.

[caption id="attachment_358464" align="alignnone" width="1200"] Image via HBO Max[/caption]

Final thoughts

I'm getting ahead of myself here a bit because we've got a long way to go. There's a chance that all of my qualms will be remedied by the time the season wraps up, and I'm certainly expecting Nick Offerman as Bill to be an upcoming highlight, for sure. Overall, I didn't overly dislike Episode 1, but I also didn't love it. And I w??anted, more than anything, to love it.

If you're interested in hearing more of my thoughts on the show, make sure to check back, bec??ause I'll be doing one of these recap post??s after each episode every week!

Check out the rest of Destructoid's coverage of HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us here.

[Disclosure: It's important to disclose that I worked at Naughty Dog for a period of time during the development of The Last of Us Part II. My work did not involve or touch upon any of the content that is covered in the first season of HBO's The Last of Us, but we believe it necessary and prudent to emphasize my time at the studio nonetheless. �Noelle Warner]

The post HBO’s The Last of Us Episode 1: Recap and thoughts appeared first on Destructoid.

It's not tv, it's not video games, it's HBO

Arguably one of the most anticipated new shows of 2023 is the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us, the hit PlayStation game that spawned a million bad takes about storytelling. We've been talking about this show for quite some time and now we're just weeks away from its debut. After a couple of short video teases and character posters, the producers of the sure-to-be-viral show finally dropped the debut trailer??. And hey, what do you know? It looks like another high-qua?lity production from HBO.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLtkt8BonwM

Music choice aside, I think that's a pretty dope trailer and certainly has my hopes up that this will be better than that lousy House of the Dragon show. Of course, with the production team working on The Last of Us, I have some pretty high expectations. Chernobyl is one of the most unsettling shows I've ever seen and considering this IP is Neil Druckmann's baby, I highly doubt he'd want anything reaching ??the airwaves that doesn't live up to its legacy. Add in a stellar cast and some great visuals, and this show is giving me a reason to?? restart my HBO Max subscription even if the guy running things over at Warner Bros. Discovery is a real piece of work.

The Last of Us will debut on January 15 on HBO and HBO Max. That's plenty of time to beat the game if you're someone li?ke more who got bored of the whole thing halfway through and hasn't picked it up sinc??e.

The post The Last of Us Season 1 trailer is here appeared first on Destructoid.

The 2021 movie's director could be returning to the chair

The sequel to Mortal Kombat (2021) could be seeing a familiar face at the helm. Deadline reports that Simon McQuoid is set to return to the Mortal Kombat follow-up.

McQuoid made his feature film directorial debut on Mortal Kombat, which hit both theaters and HBO Max last year.

We got confirmation in January that New Line Cinema had reportedly greenlit the sequel. Deadline also reports that Moon Knight writer Jeremy Slater is writing the screenplay for the Mortal Kombat sequel.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBa_aHwCbC4

No other?? details are known about ??the follow-up just yet.

A new tournament

It's little surprise we're seeing a follow-up. Mortal Kombat did pretty well, ??especially considering its simultaneous streaming and?? theater debut.

The 2021 film even left off on a cliffhanger, with Raiden saying he wanted to train up a new roster of fighters. Film character Cole is seen setting off for Los Angeles, possibly in search of a certain mo??vie star with some martial arts prowess.

While it certainly had some high points and some dips, I overall enjoyed my time with the new Mortal Kombat. It had some good action and fight scenes. The Scorpion vs. Sub Zero fight scene was worth admissi?on on its own.

Meanwhile, the video game adaptation train carries on at full speed. The HBO Last of Us production looks set for next year, and Sonic the Hedgehog continues to break the box office with even more in the works. Heck, even Duke Nukem might b?e getting in on the silver screen bandwagon.

Considering that Mortal Kombat turned out pretty okay compared to other video game adaptations, I'm game to see a new one and find out where Cole's story goes from here. Though hopefully it doesn't fall down the same animal-shaped potholes that Mortal Kombat: Annihilation did.

The post Mortal Kombat movie sequel will reportedly bring back first film’s director appeared first on Destructoid.