SlashFilm

"Marshals" continues to tease a crossover with "Dutton Ranch," with Luke Grimes' Kayce Dutton name-dropping his sister in the latest episode. By this point, however, fans are surely tired of the references and eager to see the "Yellowstone" cast reunited.

With its Season 1 finale, "Dutton Ranch" gave itself the perfect excuse for a "Marshals" crossover. Meanwhile, "Marshals" did the same, ending its debut season by having Brecken Merrill's Tate Dutton kidnapped and taken to Texas, where, it just so happens, Kelly Reilly's Beth Dutton and Cole Hauser's Rip Wheeler now live. Meanwhile, Hauser and Reilly spoke positively about a "Dutton Ranch"/"Marshals" crossover, suggesting that's exactly what fans would soon be getting — especially considering Reilly referred to the lack of such a thing as a missed opportunity.

Alas, when "Marshals" Season 2 arrived, not only was there no crossover, but Kayce didn't even have to go to Texas, as it turns out Tate was taken to a Wyoming ranch instead. Now, we have the latest example of "Marshals" referencing Beth, which more than anything else serves only to remind us that we're yet to receive the crossover we've been waiting for.

"Marshals" Season 2, Episode 5, "Secret Weapon" picks up in the aftermath of Rudy Carpenter (Braxton Hale) exploding a bomb and taking himself out in the process. After the Marshals track down his accomplice, Derek McCoy, Kayce chases Derek's brother, Will McCoy (Keean Johnson), into a barn that collapses, trapping the pair below ground. It's here that Kayce decides to bring up his family and once again tease audiences with a crossover that is yet to materialize.

In "Secret Weapon," after the barn floor collapses, Will McCoy's leg is badly injured. While trying to find a way out of their predicament, Kayce tries to convince Will to give up details about his brother, who evidently treats Will like a "punching bag." Kayce takes the opportunity to talk about his own brother, Jamie Dutton (played by Wes Bentley on "Yellowstone), and his sister, Beth Dutton, who also treated Jamie like a punching bag. Of course, Beth ultimately kills Jamie Dutton in the final season of "Yellowstone," but Kayce stops short of mentioning that still buried crime.

"You remind me of my middle brother," he tells Will. "Never quite fit in, always on the bad end of a beatdown. My sister made his life hell." Will replies with antagonism. "Picked on by his sister? I'm not that pathetic." But as Kayce quite rightfully points out, "She'd eat you for lunch," adding, "Meaner than any of your brothers, guaranteed."

It's true that Beth Dutton is a force of nature, and that only makes it even more frustrating that she hasn't shown up in "Marshals," which could do with a jolt of energy at this point. Beth and Rip are too busy setting up shop in Rio Paloma, Texas, in the far superior "Dutton Ranch." But this brief mention of Kayce's sister and how she'd eat Will for lunch is a reminder of just how good we once had it with "Yellowstone," and how much "Marshals" is struggling to match the excitement of its predecessor. Of course, "Yellowstone" lost its way at one point, but Beth was never anything less than electrifying, and "Marshals" would benefit from having anyone in its cast with half as much charisma.

For now, these brief references in "Marshals" to beloved "Yellowstone" characters aren't doing the CBS procedural any favors. In "Secret Weapon," Kayce Dutton recalls how fighting wasn't in Jamie Dutton's nature. "He had to be smarter, more cunning," he says, "And eventually he broke from the family, forged his own path." Of course, that path ultimately ended in his death, with Beth taking a knife to the middle Dutton brother's stomach and exacting revenge for the controversial death of Kevin Costner's John Dutton earlier in "Yellowstone" Season 5.

The thing is, being reminded of the "Yellowstone" years is bad enough on a show that clearly struggles to match the quality of Taylor Sheridan's original neo-Western. But when you take into account the anticipation for a "Dutton Ranch"/"Marshals" crossover, it's just downright frustrating.

The "Marshals" Season 1 finale seemed to set up a perfect crossover with "Dutton Ranch," but in the end we got nothing of the sort. We could still see Beth show up later in the season, but for now all we know is that another "Yellowstone" fan-favorite character will be appearing in "Marshals" when Jefferson White's Jimmy Hurdstrom makes his return to the Montana plains. In the meantime, let's hope the show finds a way to keep the "Yellowstone" connection alive without reminding us of what we're missing out on.

After a truly tragic setback for the Prime Video "God of War" series that saw original star Ryan Hurst injured on set, Dave Bautista is set to make his debut as Kratos. It seems the actor is taking his role as seriously as die-hard fans would hope, as a new video reveals Bautista has put on an extra 20 pounds of muscle to play the Spartan warrior-turned-demigod.

Dave Bautista says he's up to 250 pounds after gaining 20 more pounds of muscle to play Kratos in 'GOD OF WAR'. pic.twitter.com/T6dGrqKiAY

— Geek Vibes Nation (@GeekVibesNation) November 1, 2026

The video originated on the actor's Instagram stories on November 1, 2026, and shows him flexing his muscles while sporting a Kratos-like beard and wearing a "God of War" shirt. Text on screen reads "Gained 20lbs for GOW" and "250!", confirming that Bautista has bulked up to 250 pounds ahead of his debut as Kratos. That's a significant gain, especially considering the actor's recent weight changes.

2023's "Knock at the Cabin" proved Bautista is our best wrestler-turned-actor, but it also required him to bulk up to 315 pounds, which he told Chris Van Vliet on the podcast "Insight" was "uncomfortable." "Now, looking back at it I probably overdid it," he added, "I was probably a little too big." After that, Bautitsa noticeably slimmed down. As a former wrestler for the WWE, he weighed 290 pounds, which means he became considerably larger for "Knock at the Cabin." But as the actor told Van Vliet in 2024, he started dropping weight soon after and got down to 240 pounds. "The more I trimmed down the better I felt," he said, "and I also noticed the more I trimmed down, the better I looked on camera."

Now that he's playing Kratos, Bautista has no choice but to bulk back up to believably portray the muscular protagonist, whose namesake in Greek mythology is the divine personification of strength.

In late June 2026, former Kratos actor Ryan Hurst tore his bicep on the "God of War" set. With the actor facing months of recovery time, Prime Video was forced to recast the lead role, and Dave Bautista was quickly drafted in. Given his physicality and well-established acting chops, he was the perfect replacement.

But with the former wrestler having dropped a considerable amount of weight in recent years, he needed to pack on some more muscle ahead of filming. Bautista began weight training for the role immediately after his casting was made official in August 2026. An Instagram video from early September saw the actor showing off his latest gains alongside a caption that read, "3rd week in to weight training again. 2 more months to get to where I need to be. Like ridin a bike! LFG!"

Now, it seems he's close to where he needs to be for filming to start. At this point, Prime Video has yet to confirm when filming will recommence, but based on Bautista's "2 more months" comment in his video from September, it seems cameras will start rolling this month. That means the 250-pound Bautista we see in his latest Instagram Stories post is roughly how he'll look in the show, which will need to reshoot all the scenes featuring Hurst before it forges ahead with new episodes.

There's no question Andy Weir is an absolute wizard at crafting wildly entertaining hard sci-fi adventures. The man wrote "The Martian" and "Project Hail Mary," both of which have been adapted into hugely successful blockbusters, with "Project Hail Mary" absolutely dominating the box office. But Weir also has some dodgy opinions, like when the "Project Hail Mary" author took "Black Mirror" to task for being anti-tech. Evidently, the writer also has no time for artificial intelligence doomerism, maintaining that this darkly sinister tech is good, actually.

/Film's Jeremy Mathai spoke with Weir, who characterized AI as a "tool" that can be used for good or evil. "It's the first time that we've had something on Earth that's smarter than us," he said. "So that's a little scary, but we have forklifts that are stronger than us. We have race cars that are faster than us. Okay, so we have computers that are smarter than us." It's not a great start is it, comparing advanced technology to a forklift? Maybe if forklifts consumed exorbitant amounts of electricity and water, were capable of replacing large swathes of the global workforce, and were pumping out the artistic equivalent of effluent via music, images, and videos that essentially represent the most large-scale theft of copyrighted material in human history, it might be a fair comparison. 

You'd think a creative like Weir might be a tad hesitant to embrace this still nascent technology, but it seems he's all for it. "It's a tool that we can use and we can unplug when we don't want to use it," he continued. "In the end, if I give you a hammer, you can build a house or you can murder someone. It's not the tool that's the issue, it's the user."

"AI is a tool" is an oft-used defense of the technology that doesn't hold up. Co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, Tristan Harris, addressed this point during a GZERO World interview:

"Imagine a hammer that can think to itself at a PhD level about hammers, invent better hammers, recursively go off in the world, duplicate itself, do research on what would make better hammers, make money, send crypto around [...] It is not a tool. It's more like an intelligent species that we are birthing that has more capability than us."

It's not an unreasonable point. According to Weir, however, it's one not worth considering. Unfortunately, he had more to say on the topic. The author admitted to having "dorked around with AI" only to find it lacking in the narrative fiction department. For him, however, this is temporary. "I think it's only a matter of time," he said. "Honestly, I think I'm lucky that I ended up being a writer right when I did, because I might be among the last generation of fully human writers." If you keep talking about AI like it's a hammer, you might well be.

Weir also went on to claim that AI usage in entertainment is more widespread than we realize and posed a hypothetical example of a director using AI to see how a line from their lead actor might sound, before asking that actor back for ADR. "If you say, 'Okay, I like that,' call Brad Pitt, have him rerecord the line. So no AI gets into the finished product." Fine. But Weir has claimed to be writing a book that tackles AI and you'd hope for at least some acknowledgement that this is all a slippery slope. 

In 2023, Joe Russo set forth his vision of an artificial intelligence garbage future, in which AI creates tailor-made movies for specific viewers. That's a vision Andy Weir evidently shares. The author told /Film he believes entertainment is going to "stop being such a group phenomenon" and that instead of audiences gathering at the multiplex to watch "Avengers: Endgame," they'll be staring at their laptops. "AI will be powerful and portable enough that your own computer will be as good as a modern day AI data center," Weir said, adding:

"It'll know you. It'll know you. It won't even have to tell you about you. It's just by your browser habits, by reading your emails and just by paying attention, it'll get to know you. Then you can say, 'Hey computer, make me a story that I'd like.' It'll make a story that you will like. You'll read it and you'll say, 'This is the most amazing, awesome story ever.'" [...] eventually, the computer will be able to do the video for it as well. You can make a movie that's perfect for you."

It's just sort of hard to believe that this hellish future will actually come to pass given the widespread pushback AI has faced from a public still clearly invested in human expression. In that sense, it's disappointing not to hear a word of support for that sentiment from Weir. Likewise, for a guy who's made his name as a hard sci-fi maestro capable of weaving real science into his narratives in a way that speaks to his knowledge of the current state of technological and scientific progress, it's surprising not to hear him address larger points about about how AI might possibly differ from a forklift.

There's a reason Jane Austen's 1811 novel "Sense and Sensibility" has been adapted so many times to the screen and the stage. The story of the Dashwood sisters, as they experience love and heartbreak after being forced to move away from their family estate and into the cottage of a relative, is as timeless in its coming of age story as it is timely and relatable in its themes and sharp social commentary.

There are many movies based on Jane Austen books, some retaining the period setting and others taking a more modern approach. The best Jane Austen movies are the ones that simply focus on the relatable and complex heroine and the hardships they endure. Case in point, Georgia Oakley's 2026 adaptation of "Sense and Sensibility" starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles as Elinor and Marianne. /Film's own Ben Pearson praised the film as one you absolutely should watch even in a crowded movie landscape, highlighting how "funny, charming, sweet, and full of suppressed yearning" this adaptation is, and even comparing it to Greta Gerwig's 2019 film adaptation of "Little Women."

After the film failed to make much of an impact in movie theaters, Focus Features is bringing "Sense and Sensibility" to digital platforms on November 3, 2026. Those wanting to actually own the movie rather than just lease it from a platform that can take it away from you at their whim, will have to wait until December 15, 2026 for Universal Pictures Home to release the film on Blu-ray.

It's been over 30 years since Ang Lee's phenomenal 1995 version of "Sense and Sensibility," but now we have a new take that offers a similarly gorgeous-looking movie adaptation. Georgia Oakley's movie  gives the relationship between the Dashwood sisters a bigger focus, especially in how they grow and learn from one another amid their respective romances.

The film also stars Caitríona Balfe, Frank Dillane, Herbert Nordrum, George MacKay, and Fiona Shaw — who has a standout scene. Even if "Sense and Sensibility" didn't really make a splash at the box office and doesn't make much of an impact during awards season, it is a tale worth experiencing, whether for the first time, or just for a new time.

The home video release of "Sense and Sensibility" also arrives with this bonus content at participating retailers.

• SISTERS FIRST – Take a look inside the bond that defines SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, brought to life by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles.
• A MODERN MEDLEY: MAKING SENSE AND SENSIBILITY – A comprehensive making-of featurette exploring all that went into this modern take on an iconic story.
• MISTRESS OF MYSELF: THE DIRECTOR'S INSTINCT – Discover how a uniquely collaborative vision transformed SENSE AND SENSIBILITY into a deeply human story rooted in the beauty of the natural world.
• DIRECTOR COMMENTARY WITH GEORGIA OAKLEY

This has been a wonderful year for video game movie fans. We've seen both big productions and even indie movies translate the world of video games to cinema with much success (check out our list of the best video game adaptations of 2026 here).

The best movie based on a video game this year is Zach Cregger's "Resident Evil," which actually ignores the exact plot of the long-running Capcom franchise. Instead of being a faithful game recreation, it actually tells an original story that understands the true appeal of the best games in the "Resident Evil" franchise. Cregger crafted a horror comedy that's all about the frustration of finding yourself in an impossible situation where absolutely nothing works in your favor, and the comedy that comes from everything going wrong at the worst possible moment.

After dominating the box office, "Resident Evil" is finally coming home, with platforms like Fandango at Home listing the film with a release date for November 3, 2026 (you can of course choose another platform like Prime Video, or Apple TV). That means you can purchase or rent "Resident Evil" to watch from the comfort or horrors of home as soon as tomorrow, for the typical VOD price of $24.99 to purchase.

We don't know if "Resident Evil" will arrive on digital platforms with any bonus features just yet. That being said, we have seen and heard plenty about the making of the movie. When /Film had the chance to speak with Weta's Kevin Smith, one of the visual effects supervisors in the movie, he talked about how ridiculously complicated the sewer zombie was — especially with all the blood and goop coming out of his guts.

"Resident Evil" does what the best video game adaptations do — makes you feel like you're in the world of the game, even if it's telling an entirely different story than the familiar source mateiral. The film often feels like one of the journal entries you find in a "Resident Evil" game, a tragic story of a poor schmuck who messes around and finds themselves turned into a zombie.

Based on some of his comments about making the film, it seems unlikely Zach Cregger will return to make a sequel, but given how successful it's been at the box office, it's only a matter of time before we return to Raccoon City again.

The year of Robert Pattinson will continue until morale improves — and, hopefully, for some time after that, too. While fellow "The Odyssey" co-stars Zendaya and Anne Hathaway have stolen the spotlight for similar reasons throughout 2026, the "Primetime" actor has quietly appeared in quite a few high-profile roles throughout the last several months. A24's "The Drama" (also co-starring Zendaya) left quite the impression on audiences and at the box office, as did the aforementioned retelling of "The Odyssey" by Christopher Nolan. And, as if his memorable line about getting "these beggars out of here" wasn't enough, he's set to follow all that up with a turn in "Dune: Part Three" later this December.

But don't sleep on "Primetime," the other major production by "You Can See Everything" co-director Lance Oppenheim this year. Starring Pattinson as Chris Hansen, the host behind the controversial TV show in the early aughts "To Catch a Predator," the film takes an unflinching, stylish, and occasionally surrealistic approach to the real-life figure who publicly shamed and embarrassed so many troubled minds with nefarious intent. But was this done for heroic and well-intentioned reasons? Or is there more to be uncovered beneath that bleached hair, distinctive voice, and wild-eyed chase for ratings and pop-culture buzz?

Well, audiences will now get a chance to decide for themselves, as "Primetime" is being made available to watch at home. The news comes a little over a month after its release in theaters, where it's actually still playing in certain locations. But for those who may have missed it the first time around, read on for all the details about how to catch it from the comfort of your living room.

The dark and unsettling satire that is "Primetime" is officially coming home, which is certain to lend a strong sense of irony to anyone watching this A24 movie about one of the most notorious television shows ever made. Based on the real-life controversy surrounding host Chris Hansen and his "To Catch a Predator" reality series, the film comes from director Lance Oppenheim and stars Robert Pattinson, Merritt Wever, "Superman" breakout Skyler Gisondo, Bokeem Woodbine, Tony Revolori, Anna Faris, and even singer/songwriter Phoebe Bridgers.

The news comes courtesy of new listings on sites like Fandango, revealing that "Primetime" will be made available digitally starting on November 3, 2026. That means viewers can purchase or rent the movie through online retailers such as Apple TV, Amazon, YouTube, and more. It's currently rumored that a physical media release on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD will follow in early 2027, but there's been no official word on an exact date just yet. And for streaming subscribers, another wrinkle is that the "Primetime" will likely debut on HBO Max at a later date to be announced.

But, for now, audiences can look forward to experiencing "Primetime" in all its unsettling, R-rated drama at home.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's Christmas movie "Jingle All the Way" became a box office hit in 1996, and 30 years later he's back with another festive action comedy in "The Man with the Bag." This time, he's brought "Reacher" star Alan Ritchson along for the ride, and we just got our first full look at the holiday heist comedy via its first full-length trailer.

"The Man with the Bag" sees Arnie play Santa Claus himself, who, after his sack of presents is stolen by an elf, enlists the help of a criminal called Vince (Ritchson) to retrieve it. The pairing of Ritchson and Schwarzenegger makes a lot of sense. Both are major action stars who've demonstrated their comedic chops in several projects, Ritchson's most recent example being the Prime Video action comedy "Playdate." In that sense, the "Reacher" star is vying to become the modern-day Arnie and is surely hoping "The Man with the Bag" comes to represent an unofficial passing of the action-comedy torch.

Thus far, it's been tough to know what to make of "The Man with the Bag." In 2024 we learned Schwarzenegger and Ritchson were making a Christmas comedy with an unbelievable premise. Amazon then delivered a teaser trailer in September 2026, which provided a tease of Arnie and his co-star's rapport. Now, we have our first good look at the movie, and it certainly looks to be an enjoyable watch even if it's not necessarily destined to become a holiday classic.

Prime Video has plenty of great Christmas movies already, and now the streamer is hoping to add another to its catalog with "The Man with the Bag." The latest trailer for the Adam Shankman-directed film reveals a lot more about the plot, opening with a scene in which Alan Ritchson's career criminal Vince is seen sitting alongside his daughter, Emma (Berkeley James). It seems he's been away for four years, likely serving a prison sentence, and now that he's out he's back to his old tricks.

His latest client, Kris, is revealed to be Santa himself, who's hired Vince to help retrieve his sack of gifts ahead of Christmas. A "disgruntled elf" who became "obsessed with shiny things" and who calls herself Nadia Nice (Awkwafina) has taken the bag and checked into a fancy hotel. It's here that Santa and his new criminal cohort attempt a heist to retrieve the bag and save Christmas.

It looks as though we'll be getting plenty of amusing back-and-forths between the two leads along the way, with Santa reinstilling some magic into Vince's life and helping him bond with his daughter. We knew the movie was shot on-location in New York (via Ritchson's Instagram) but it's nice to see from the trailer that many of the scenes actually look like it rather than most of the footage looking like it was shot in a streaming-age green screen hellscape. 

"The Man with the Bag" is set to hit Prime Video on December 2, 2026, when it will hopefully manage to remind us of the infinite joys of the Christmas action movie.

You know what they say about opinions: Everyone has one, and that goes double when it comes to "Star Wars." It's not exactly a state secret that the galaxy far, far away has gone through something of a rough patch in recent years. The divisive sequel trilogy and the overall Skywalker Saga ended on the sourest note imaginable with "The Rise of Skywalker" in 2019, which then led to a prolonged hiatus on the big screen only broken by the tepidly-received "The Mandalorian and Grogu" earlier this year. Now, Simon Kinberg's reported trilogy of movies appears to be the next major gambit following the Ryan Gosling-starring "Starfighter" next year ... but, clearly, that's not stopping any of us from debating the best way for "Star Wars" to move forward.

You can count "The Martian" and "Project Hail Mary" author Andy Weir among those with some thoughts on the matter. The novelist has already enjoyed a big 2026 to this point, beginning with Phil Lord and Chris Miller's blockbuster adaptation of "Project Hail Mary." As he's gearing up to release another passion project of his, the upcoming Audible original sci-fi series "Exoplanet" that he's executive producing, I had the opportunity to speak with Weir over Zoom. During our extended conversation, the topic of "Star Wars" came up and, unsurprisingly, Weir had plenty to say.

When asked what he'd personally do if in charge of the franchise, the author pinpointed one specific concern that certain fans will likely agree with:

"'Star Wars' is more about massive upheaval. One problem that happens is, if you're going to have a story about a monumental war, then when it's over and the good guys win, you want it to stay that way. So it's very unsatisfying if you roll into a new monumental war."

Sound familiar? That's probably because that line of criticism was a concern many had with J.J. Abrams' "The Force Awakens" in 2015. Although it remains the highest grossing and one of the most well-received movies in the entire series, there was certainly some trepidation over taking the original heroes' hard-fought victory and rendering it moot — this time, by replacing the Empire and the Rebellion with the vaguely different (but not really) factions of the First Order vs. the Resistance.

Andy Weir went on to diagnose the best direction to take "Star Wars" in the future, as he sees it. This time, his suggestion is to go back to a strategy that Lucasfilm actually established nearly a decade ago with "Rogue One." As he explained, "I feel like the best way, in my opinion, to do another 'Star Wars' movie — and I'm not George Lucas and this might be a terrible idea — but would be to have the story of other people during the Galactic Civil War."

Of course, Weir acknowledges that Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo were the "movers and shakers" during the events of "A New Hope" and beyond. But he thinks there's room to tell smaller, "tangential" stories alongside their own ... and points to one particularly relevant historical example:

"Think of it like this: We know what happened in World War II, but there are some really good fictional stories that take place during World War II. So if you treat the Galactic Civil War as, 'Okay, that's established canon, those are the things that happened,' but there's still a lot of stories to tell about other people living through those wars. So that's what I would do."

This should also feel reminiscent of arguably one of the best and most critically-acclaimed additions of all — "Andor." The Disney+ prequel series doesn't quite fit the contours of Andy Weir's ideas for where to take the franchise in film, but that doesn't mean he fails to appreciate everything it brought to the "Star Wars" universe on streaming TV. Quite the opposite, in fact. When I bring it up, Weir is quick to share his enthusiasm for the Tony Gilroy production and its unique advantages as a show. But he wouldn't necessarily use this as an example of what future films could do:

"'Andor' was amazing and really good, and it was a series and [that was the correct choice]. You're going to do a movie, you've got to tell your whole story in like two hours. So it needs to have a lot more — 'Andor' was very intellectual, extremely clever, extraordinarily well-written, very well- — I mean, I loved everything about it. But it's not something that you could make into a movie."

That's extremely high praise, especially from such a successful sci-fi author, but Weir is right to note that "Andor" couldn't have had the same impact were it reimagined as a movie. So where can this franchise possibly go next on the big screen? For "Star Wars" to thrive in its next iteration following the sequel trilogy, Lucasfilm is betting that looking ahead in the timeline is the way to go. What Weir presupposes, however, is that looking back at "Rogue One" may hold the answers. Failing that, well, maybe they can make Weir's wacky "Star Wars"/"Star Trek" crossover happen instead.

"The Batman Part II" is currently shooting, with filmmaker Steven Soderbergh filling in as on-set director while Matt Reeves reportedly deals with a family crisis. The movie's story remains shrouded in mystery — it hasn't even been confirmed which characters new cast members Sebastian Stan, Scarlett Johansson, Brian Tyree Henry, and Charles Dance are playing. But naturally, rumors have swirled, and new leaks may have confirmed some.

For a long while, the going assumption was that Sebastian Stan would play Harvey Dent/Two-Face, with Johansson presumed to be playing his wife Gilda Dent and Dance playing his abusive father Christopher Dent. But in June this year, scooper Jeff Sneider reported that Henry was playing Dent, and that Stan would instead play Victor Zsasz. (A rich kid turned serial killer, with a kink for carving a tally of his victims into his flesh, Zsasz is the kind of bad guy who'd fit right into the dark world Reeves established in "The Batman.")

Sneider's report is looking likely thanks to a leak from ... Heidi Klum's makeup department. Let me explain. The supermodel is well known for her elaborate Halloween costumes. This year, she went as a severed hand. Mike Marino, the makeup artist who designs Klum's costumes, was also the makeup artist on "The Batman" and is returning for "Part II." In some detective work worthy of Batman himself, fans have spotted what appear to be props from "The Batman Part II" in a video showcasing the making of Klum's 2026 costume.

The props include what looks a lot like a cast of Brian Tyree Henry's face with a disfigured lip, i.e. Two-Face. There's also a box labeled "Zsasz" and, most intriguingly, a box labeled "Owl 3," which likely suggests the Court of Owls, an evil secret society in Gotham City.

If this leak is true, fans who were preparing for Sebastian Stan as Harvey Dent should buckle up for disappointment. But at the same time, Zsasz is the kind of role that will let him stretch his acting legs. Brian Tyree Henry as Two-Face is also promising because the man knows how to play a good guy turned villain — check out his incredible voiceover performance as Megatron in the animated prequel film "Transformers One."

But what about the Owls? Created in 2011 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo, the Owls have manipulated Gotham from the shadows for hundreds of years. They're distinguished by their owl-themed masks and employ similarly-themed, near immortal assassins called Talons. (The creative, out-of-universe reason for the owl theming is that owls eat bats.) They're commonly dismissed as a myth in Gotham, to the point that they're even the subject of their own nursery rhyme:

"Beware The Court of Owls, that watches all the time, ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime. They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed, speak not a whispered word of them, or they'll send the Talon for your head."

The original "Court of Owls" storyline is widely considered a modern classic. Many Bat-fans, not to mention Robert Pattinson, have long put the Court forth as ideal villains for a sequel to "The Batman." That movie was about Bruce Wayne investigating the institutional corruption of Gotham City. That makes the Court of Owls a thematically consistent villain for "Part II" — what if Batman keeps peeling back those layers and discovers the rot goes even deeper and is centuries old?

"The Batman Part II" is currently scheduled for a theatrical release on February 18, 2028.

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Is author Andy Weir ever going to write a sequel to "Project Hail Mary?" That remains to be seen, but he's not opposed to it. Weir just has one very important condition to make it a reality.

With Ryan Gosling in the lead role, the film adaptation of "Project Hail Mary" made enough money at the box office to justify a sequel, pulling in $684 million worldwide. It's also undoubtedly going to be in the awards season conversation. Both Weir's publishing agents and the folks at Amazon MGM Studios would probably love to pull the trigger on a follow-up.

Speaking recently with /Film's Jeremy Mathai, Weir addressed the possibility of a sequel to his 2021 novel, which went on to inspire this year's blockbuster movie. For Weir, it all comes down to having an idea worthy enough. Anything less and he's content to just leave it alone. Here's what he had to say about it:

"I would be happy to do a sequel for 'Project Hail Mary' if I got a good idea for one, and I feel like I've had some okay ideas, but not a real good one. I'd rather do no sequel at all than have one that's middling. I'm not going to try to force it, either. I'm not going to go, like, 'I've got to get a sequel idea because in a few years, maybe Ryan won't want to do another movie like this. I've got to get on it.' No. If I come up with a cool idea for a sequel, then I'll workshop it. I'll write it. I'll do all that."

The ending of "Project Hail May" reveals what happens to Grace and Rocky. It's a complete ending, one that doesn't necessitate a sequel. That's where the idea of a follow-up gets tricky.

Both the book and movie focus on Ryland Grace, a science teacher, who wakes up in space having no recollection how he got there. He comes to discover that he must solve a complex problem that is causing the Earth's sun to die out. If he fails, humanity perishes. "Project Hail Mary" makes some changes from the original book, but it's largely very faithful.

That said, a sequel is a difficult prospect because the "Project Hail Mary" movie changes the books' perfect ending (in a good way). As the man behind the book, Andy Weir would surely stay loyal to his text rather than the movie. So, if he were to write a sequel and Amazon decides they want to adapt it, they would have to contend with Weir jumping off from his ending rather than the movie's ending. But that's a relatively small issue that could surely be worked out.

For the time being, it doesn't seem like this is something anyone needs to worry about anytime soon. Weir further confirmed to /Film that, "Right now, the book I'm working on now is another standalone novel, not a sequel to anything." Weir's next book may tackle the hot button topic of artificial intelligence, but that has yet to be confirmed. For the most part, what he's working on is a great mystery.

You can grab "Project Hail Mary" on 4K, Blu-ray, or DVD from Amazon.

Spoilers follow for the "It: Welcome to Derry" prequel episode "A Story of Derry."

This Halloween brought a surprise from HBO Max: a special prequel episode of "It: Welcome to Derry." Set hundreds of years before the main series, "A Story of Derry" is an extended version of the origin story that was sketched out in "Welcome to Derry" Episode 4. Kiawentiio ("Avatar: The Last Airbender") plays the lead character, Necina, a Shokopiwah youngster who unwisely decides to go hunting in the forbidden Western Wood. There, she and her friends learn the hard way that the stories about the evil that lurks in the trees are true.

While the episode doesn't add too much "Welcome to Derry" lore that we didn't already know, it does something that no other Stephen King adaptation (and there have been a lot of them) has done before. It shows Maturin, the cosmic space turtle, in all his glory on screen for the first time. 

Maturin's appearance comes after Necina and her friends, Kino (Isabel Deroy-Olson) and Maneese (Michael Podemski-Bedard), are rescued by a mysterious stranger (Zahn McClarnon). He wields a knife made of the glass meteor-rock that is one of It's only known weaknesses, and has been communing with the great space turtle by smoking powdered Maturin root. Kino, a medicine woman in training, takes the bag of root powder and later uses it herself to speak with Maturin and learn how to keep their village safe.

Now, the turtle didn't come out of nowhere. There have been plenty of allusions to Maturin in the lead-up to "A Story of Derry." Andy Muschietti's movies "It Chapter One" and "It Chapter Two" featured a recurring turtle motif that was continued in "It: Welcome to Derry," most prominently in the form of school mascot Bert the Turtle. But Easter eggs are one thing; introducing casual TV viewers to a giant cosmic space turtle god who vomited the universe into existence after getting a tummyache is a more daunting prospect.

Fortunately, the circumstances presented in "A Story of Derry" make Maturin's long-awaited appearance feel more natural. The great turtle appears in an ethereal form to a character in a dream induced by a dubious substance. And Maturin's appearance is brief, checking in only long enough to tell the Shokopiwah how they can use shards of meteorite glass to create a new cage for It.

This is the first time we've seen Maturin on screen, but it may not be the last. Over at Amazon (which owns the rights to "The Dark Tower," the novel where Maturin plays his biggest role), horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan recently laid the groundwork for a larger Stephen King universe narrative with his "Carrie" TV adaptation. Flanagan has been working on a TV adaptation of "The Dark Tower" for years. If it comes to fruition, perhaps we'll see another take on Maturin before too long.

Fans of "It: Welcome to Derry" don't have to wait another 27 years for a new episode of the show — in fact, they don't even need to wait for Season 2. As a special Halloween surprise, HBO Max has dropped a 30-minute prequel episode titled "A Story of Derry." 

Don't expect to see Pennywise in this episode, which is set centuries before the events of the main series and focuses on the fictional Shokopiwah tribe, an Indigenous people who lived on the land before it became Derry, and were previously featured in Season 1, Episode 4 of the show. The episode's official synopsis teases: "Hundreds of years before Pennywise, three youngsters venture into the Western Wood ... where they encounter a terrifying ancient spirit."

The episode was directed by Tazbah Chavez (Reservation Dogs) and written by Cherie Dimaline and Jasmyne Flournoy. (A few users have reported struggling to find it on the streaming service, but the special episode should be findable under the "Related" tab on the main "Welcome to Derry" page. You can also use this direct link.)

As the opening text of "A Story of Derry" explains, the prequel episode is a more warts-and-all retelling of a legend we've heard before. It's an expanded version of the flashback origin story from "It: Welcome to Derry" Episode 4, so fans will have seen some of the footage already, but certain details have been retconned. The prequel episode primarily focuses on what happened to Necani ("Avatar: The Last Airbender" star Kiawentiio) and her friends after they entered the Western Woods alone, something that was skipped over in the original flashback.

For fans of other Stephen King adaptations, there's an exciting addition to the cast in "A Story of Derry." Zahn McClarnon, who played the vampiric antagonist Crow Daddy in "The Shining" sequel "Doctor Sleep," stars as a stranger whom the youngsters encounter in the woods. And for fans of King's novels, there's another big treat that makes the episode worth watching even if you haven't seen "It: Welcome to Derry."

HBO took an unusually long time to officially announce that "Welcome to Derry" had been renewed for a second season; Season 1 wrapped up in December 2025, and the Season 2 confirmation didn't come until August 2026. Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane recently told the New York Post that "Welcome to Derry" Season 2 will begin filming in summer 2027. The upcoming season is set in Depression-era America in 1935, 27 years before Season 1, and Kane teased that it will feature "a very different set of circumstances. New kids, new characters, maybe some old characters, and the same old Pennywise."

After what seemed like an underwhelming theatrical debut, "Ali G: Who Iz I?" has taken Prime Video by storm. Subscribers seemingly can't get enough of Sacha Baron Cohen's Alistair Leslie Graham. But the successful streaming debut of this latest installment in the Ali G saga comes after a release that has otherwise been marred by mixed to negative reviews and an overwhelming sense that nobody needed this movie.

When Cohen announced "Ali G: Who Iz I?" (which also marks his feature directorial debut), many questions came to mind. "Why?" might have been the most relevant one. After all, it had been 24 years since his 2002 film "Ali G Indahouse" and even longer since the character first debuted on Channel 4's "The 11 O'Clock Show" back in 1998. As the BBC asked ahead of the release of "Who Iz I?" "Ali G is back. But is the character past its sell-by date?"

There was one sort of convincing argument for this film's existence in 2026. Baron Cohen has had some fine movie moments, but "Indahouse" felt like a missed opportunity as it was one of the few Cohen movies that didn't use his classic mockumentary format, instead telling a fully scripted tale of the titular rude boy and the West Staines Massiv. "Who Iz I?" however, embraces the fake interviews and on-the-street pranks that made Cohen's Channel 4/HBO series "Da Ali G Show" and his "Borat" films so popular.

It seems Cohen decided that 2026 was the year Ali G would finally get the film he always deserved. Sadly, it hasn't worked out all that well for him so far. In fact, the streaming success of "Who Iz I?" might be the only bright spot.

"Ali G: Who Iz I?" hit Prime Video on October 28, 2026, and according to streaming viewership tracker FlixPatrol, the film has been a solid success for the streamer. As of October 30, 2026, it has taken the number one spot on the United States movie charts. What's more, the film debuted in the same spot in the United Kingdom the day prior, and at the time of writing, it sits at number one in 10 countries, including Ireland, Canada, and Australia. "Who Iz I?" also looks set to take the number one in eight other countries where it currently occupies the second position.

Meanwhile, the film is number one on the overall chart (movies and TV shows combined) in both the United Kingdom and Ireland, and currently sits at number three in the United States. It makes sense for the movie to have done so well in the UK considering Ali G's origins. But it seems the Americans are loving the return of Cohen's dimwitted cultural appropriator, too.

The question is, does this make up for a release that has otherwise been, as Ali G might say, dodgy to say the least? The "Ali G: Who Iz I" trailer promised a "Borat"-like mockumentary that would explore a society living in the wake of, as Ali G put it, such horrors as "Covid, wars, and Ed Sheeran." As seemingly anachronistic as the character was, unleashing Cohen's subversive comedy character into a culture as ridiculous as ours has become didn't seem like a terrible idea. But distributor Amazon MGM Studios seemed to lose faith in its theatrical prospects as the release drew nearer, and it has thus far neglected to provide any box office figures.

After playing the latest Marvel big bad in "Ironheart," Sacha Baron Cohen geared up to unleash "Ali G: Who Iz I?" But as the release date approached, things weren't looking too good. The film was originally supposed to get a full theatrical release but ultimately debuted in only 125 theaters, where it played for two days. It then went to Prime Video on October 28, 2026, five days after its theatrical debut, where so far it seems to be faring quite well — suggesting it probably should have gone straight to the streaming platform in the first place.

Unfortunately, the streaming numbers aren't going to make up for a 41% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. Mark Kermode delivered his verdict via Kermode and Mayo's Take, announcing, "I didn't laugh once in the whole film," while Barry Hertz of the Globe and Mail took Sacha Baron Cohen's film to task for "represent[ing] a deeply depressing full-circle moment for an artist who was once one of modern comedy's sharpest satirists." 

Still, a few critics liked "Who Iz I?" The The Times' Ed Potton found the plot of the film to be "shamelessly flimsy" but described the gags that do land as "hilarious." Meanwhile, Nick Schager of The Daily Beast was able to overlook the film's "inherent limitations" to enjoy some "legitimately laugh-out-loud funny" jokes.

You can watch the film right now on Prime Video, and make up your own mind as to whether trotting out this early 2000s comedy icon for another go round was worth it or not. But there was a definite sense that this was not something we needed prior to its release, and I'm not sure that's changed following the film's arrival, no matter how good the streaming numbers are.

I love space. The reason why the science fiction genre has always been so appealing to us puny humans is as deep-rooted and primal as the instincts that made us look up in the first place. For as long as we've been on this planet, gazing at the endless expanse of the night sky, we've dreamed of reaching those stars (after first figuring out what the heck those lights even were, of course). And as we waited for technology to catch up to our ambitions, our narrative-loving ancestors spent eons doing the next best thing: stoking our imaginations and crafting stories where we could, in fact, do the impossible.

Not coincidentally, that's also why I love "Star Trek" and it's a major factor in why the late, great Patrick Stewart's portrayal of Jean-Luc Picard will forever be so meaningful. Who else outside of William Shatner's Captain Kirk best embodies the pure exploratory spirit of Gene Roddenberry? While our current attempts to expand our reach into the cosmos are dominated by ego and wealth and political agendas, Captain Picard couldn't possibly be more different.

That goes a long way towards explaining why Stewart's passing has struck a chord with so many ... including, apparently, NASA itself. While heartbroken reactions come pouring in across Hollywood and the world, one in particular feels profoundly fitting. In a social media post, the official account for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center paid tribute with a simple but moving image of two galaxies in the midst of colliding — which, from our vantage point, resembles the famous shape of the USS Enterprise itself.

History will never forget the name Captain Picard.

Thank you for inspiring the Next Generation of explorers. ✨ pic.twitter.com/5GbduqSfxL

— NASA Goddard (@NASAGoddard) October 29, 2026

The accompanying caption is as follows:

"History will never forget the name Captain Picard.

Thank you for inspiring the Next Generation of explorers."

Even the longest-tenured captains in the franchise reach the end of their journeys sooner or later, but not all have managed to do so with as much poignancy and grace as franchise legend Patrick Stewart. Both inside and outside of "Star Trek," the acting icon and towering pop culture figure has inspired countless fans of several generations over the decades. That, in and of itself, is as good as it gets for those hoping to make the most of our brief time on Earth. Yet, as if we needed further proof that Stewart remains in a class of his own, he now becomes one of the rare few who proved worthy of a tribute literally written in the stars.

For the nerds among us, the stunning image is actually a composite photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2022, according to NASA's publishing at the time. The three galaxies at the center of the portrait are collectively known as NGC 7764A, located a mind-boggling 425 million light-years away. The two in the upper right-hand corner appear to be caught in the act of a slow-motion galactic collision. Of course, it's only a trick of the eye and our subjective perspective in our solar system (along with our tendency to project familiar images onto nature, known as pareidolia) that makes this look so eerily similar to the starship that Picard called home for all those years on the big and small screens. But, well, wouldn't he be the first one encouraging us to be creative and find meaning in the beauty around us?

Something tells us that Patrick Stewart himself would readily — if humbly — approve of such an out-of-this-world tribute in space.

As the Harry Potter HBO series — specifically, its inaugural season "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" — gets closer and closer to its festive release date, we're getting more and more casting information with each passing day. After learning that Charlie Weasley and James and Lily Potter were officially cast for Season 1, now, thanks to an Instagram post from the official HBO and Harry Potter accounts, we know who's set to play some important Hogwarts fixtures.

The Sorting Hat, which "sorts" new students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry into one of four houses — Gryffindor for brave kids, Slytherin for conniving kids, Ravenclaw for smart kids, and Hufflepuff for the other kids — will be voiced by David Threlfall. The rest of the casting news concerns the House ghosts who float through the wizarding institution's halls as well as an important portrait subject. Leo Bill will play Gryffindor's ghost Nearly Headless Nick (the subject of a botched decapitation that makes for a great ghostly party trick), Andrew Brooke will play the Slytherin ghost Bloody Baron, and Daniel Fearn will portray the Fat Friar, Hufflepuff's resident ghost. 

Finally, Laura Smyth rounds out this announcement as the Fat Lady, who lives in a portrait that hides the door to the Gryffindor common room and requires a constantly changing password before she lets anyone enter. (There's no casting news about Ravenclaw's ghost, the Gray Lady ... but she'll prove important in the show's intended final season that will ostensibly adapt "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.")

As I write this, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" drops on HBO in just under two months, and anticipation is definitely starting to build. Besides the Weasley and Potter casting news, the series also dropped a new poster that may feature a new look at Hogwarts itself, and longtime Potterheads have plenty of reasons to get excited.

Still, some skeptics — and I'll include myself in that category! — wonder what this series can really provide that isn't found in the original film franchise aside from a more comprehensive look at some of the books. (The first book did fit rather neatly into a film, as did the second and third books "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," but after that, the page counts become pretty sprawling, and it does objectively make sense to devote entire seasons of a TV show to tomes like "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.") If we're talking about the ghosts, though, it's important to note that the TV show is already adding elements that did get cut from the original films. In addition to the core Hogwarts ghosts, Peter Serafinowicz will play Peeves the Poltergeist, the troublemaking specter at the wizarding school who was technically played by Rik Mayall in the original movie before his scenes ended up on the cutting room floor. 

We'll have to wait a bit longer to see this new vision of the wizarding world of Harry Potter, and we can also expect more announcements to keep rolling out in the meantime. "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" premieres on HBO and HBO Max on Christmas Day 2026.

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the "Dark Matter" Season 2 finale, "No Quiet Life."

Maybe some boxes shouldn't have been opened in the first place. In its debut season in 2024, "Dark Matter" proposed a very simple, yet compelling idea: What if humanity could somehow invent a box to travel the vast, infinite expanse of the multiverse? Season 1 argued that we'd most likely abuse this power, using it for selfish and nostalgic ends in order to "fix" our worst mistakes in life — no matter the cost. Season 2, meanwhile, has expanded the scope considerably and opened up all sorts of possibilities for the collective good this could have on countless lives in countless different worlds. And, yet, the finale reaches a similar conclusion and ends with an attempt to shut down the box for good ... though this isn't without serious complications of its own.

Episode 10, titled "No Quiet Life," is as breathless a climax as we've seen in the Apple TV series thus far. Our original Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton) concocts a bold plan to hit the kill switch and stop the madness unleashed by the box for good, along with cohorts Blair (Amanda Brugel), Amanda Lucas (Alice Braga), and Ryan Holder (Jimmi Simpson). The wrinkle? They're in a literal race against time, rushing to shut down the box before misguided antagonists Leighton Vance and his parallel-universe double Oluko (both played by Dayo Okeniyi) can get their more powerful "pyramid" device online. Despite some frantic setbacks here and there, our good guys manage to pull it off, though not before Jason's wife Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and son Charlie (Oakes Fegley) are trapped inside in a shocking cliffhanger ending.

Where could "Dark Matter" possibly go next?

Before we dissect the finale, let's backtrack and go over the full scope of "Dark Matter" Season 2 to this point. The first major storyline centers on the Dessen family: Jason, Daniela, and Charlie. Forced to flee their original world back in the Season 1 finale, they've since settled into a new life in a new world. Of course, that quiet life doesn't last long before Season 2 makes the somewhat controversial choice to undo that happy ending and put them on the run again to find a new home in the multiverse. From there, we follow Jason as he seeks to fully understand and shut down the box, while his Season 1 nemesis "Jason 2" works alongside Leighton Vance and Oluko in another world to create the 2.0 version of the box — a misguided, though well-intentioned measure to make up for their past misdeeds and do some actual good.

All these various threads end up intersecting over the course of the season. After spending several episodes hunting the Dessens, antagonist Agent Mitchel MacNamara (Chris Diamantopoulos) is finally dealt with and removed from the board entirely. Daniela and Charlie embark on journeys of self-discovery, running into various family members and even themselves in order to make sense of their place in the multiverse. All the while, Leighton, Oluko, and Jason 2 work to bend the multiverse to their will in pursuit of their most idealistic goals for the box.

The season eventually builds to its breaking point with an inevitable clash between Leighton's dream to create a "perfect world," and Jason's realization that there are some things humanity was simply never meant to control.

The Season 2 finale quickly lays out everything our heroes need to accomplish with their multi-pronged plan. Jason and Blair must travel to Blair's original world (the one in which Jason 2 created the original box back in Season 1) and use a multi-hacking tool to upload a code that will essentially kill the box — along with every possible version of it that exists across the multiverse. Amanda and Ryan must travel to the world they initially called home and provide a medical cure to the ongoing global pandemic they inadvertently caused. All this must be done in a dizzyingly brief amount of time, as a literal ticking clock gives them only an hour to make it back before being trapped in the wrong world.

Needless to say, it all goes spectacularly awry throughout the course of the episode. Jason and Blair are almost immediately attacked by Leighton Vance's henchwoman Sandra (Adrienne Lewis), setting of an "Inception"-like gunfight through the box's infinite hallways, a war-torn version of Chicago, and even a world being consumed by what seems to be a black hole. The stakes are considerably less violent for Ryan and Amanda, although their stress and turbulent emotional state make it all but impossible to navigate the ever-finicky box. As for Vance, he finally seems to have a change of heart about his and Oluko's goals and decides to stop this obsession ... which leads to his abrupt murder at the hands of his counterpart, who's unwilling to let go.

All the while (and unbeknownst to Jason), Daniela and Charlie are off visiting another version of themselves in another world, putting them in danger of being lost in the multiverse should Jason and his friends pull off their desperate gambit.

In a perfect example of "Dark Matter" author and series showrunner Blake Crouch's talent for ramping up the tension, each of these spinning plates end up colliding in clever ways throughout the finale. Ryan and Amanda make it back safe and sound, Jason and Blair accomplish their mission to deactivate the box with less than a minute to spare, Oluko escapes into the multiverse before Jason 2 can shut down the pyramid device, and everything seems to work out exactly as anticipated. Everything, that is, until Jason realizes to his horror that neither Daniela nor Charlie made it back in time.

In terms of what this climax means, it retroactively makes much of Season 2 of "Dark Matter" click into place. While some fans may have chafed at the decidedly measured sense of pacing and a main plot that repeatedly took unexpected detours, the fact that the finale ends on a shot of Jason's family (rather than Jason himself) is awfully telling. This was always a season about the idea of our ensemble rediscovering their sense of identity, overcoming their worst impulses, and finding a way to make peace with where they've ended up in life — even if it's nothing like how they planned for it to be. By separating Jason from his wife and son again, Season 3 is primed and ready to bring things full circle with the domestic-focused drama of Season 1 and (hopefully) end things conclusively.

All that's left is to see if Apple agrees and gives "Dark Matter" the official greenlight for a third and final season. Based on the reaction to Season 2, that seems like a safe bet. Until then, fans can watch both Seasons 1 and 2 of "Dark Matter" on Apple TV.

This has been a terrible week for Trekkies. Sir Patrick Stewart, who played Captain Jean-Luc Picard across "Star Trek: The Next Generation," its spin-off films, and sequel series "Star Trek: Picard," has died at age 86. Earlier this week, actor Walter Koenig — who played Pavel Chekov in "Star Trek" — also passed away at age 90.

Stewart's passing begins a tragic trend; he's the first of the actors to play a lead "Star Trek" captain to die. His predecessor, William Shatner, who, of course, led "Star Trek" as Captain James T. Kirk, has given public condolences for Stewart's passing in a statement shared on social media, including Instagram and Twitter/X.

Shatner's full statement can be read below:

"What a heartbreaking week it has been. Sir Patrick Stewart was a friend, a colleague, and a magnificent actor. From the stage to the bridge of the Enterprise, he brought intelligence, grace, and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did. Captain Picard stood for the best of us, and so did the man who played him. I was filled with affection and admiration for him and his work. My heart goes out to Sunny [Ozell, his wife] and his family. He will be deeply missed."

Shatner, who turned 95 this year, is currently the last surviving member of the original "Star Trek" cast alongside George Takei (and may that stay the case for many, many more years). Upon Koenig's passing this week, Shatner gave a similar public condolence despite some admitted differences during Koenig's lifetime.

It should be noted that Shatner and Stewart didn't just cross paths at conventions or in documentaries (such as Shatner's own 2011 doc "The Captains"); they actually worked on a "Star Trek" project together. Captains Kirk and Picard were separated by a century of time, but the 1994 film "Star Trek: Generations" used some sci-fi physics to bring the two together. Long story short, Kirk has spent decades frozen in time in a place called "the Nexus" that conjures your greatest desires.

Despite uniting the two most famous Enterprise captains, "Star Trek: Generations" is generally not a fan favorite. But the scenes where the two first meet, and Picard has to convince Kirk to leave the Nexus for one final adventure, serve as the highlight. (The subsequent action scene that leads to Kirk's death? Less so.)

Shatner holds his own in those scenes with Stewart. He's often dismissed as a ham, and he's leaned into that for comedic roles, most notably as Denny Crane on "Boston Legal." Stewart, meanwhile, remained a respected actor his whole life. But the two men actually share very similar backgrounds. Stewart was famously part of the Royal Shakespeare Company before he became Captain Picard. Less famously, Shatner also began his career as a stage actor; during the 1950s, he was part of Ontario's Stratford Shakespeare Festival.

Shatner has even said that watching Stewart act as Picard on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" renewed his passion for "Star Trek," calling Stewart's performance as Picard a "great piece of work." At the end of "Star Trek: Generations," Picard is left to carry on Kirk's memory, and sadly, 32 years later, those roles have now been reversed.

Sir Patrick Stewart has died at the age of 86, and to say we here at /Film are heartbroken would be the understatement of the year. Whether you loved the actor for his work as the ever-decent Jean-Luc Picard in the "Star Trek" universe, his dramatic non-franchise efforts, or his fabulously filthy comedic ventures (I won't lie, he's even funny as the Poop Emoji in the otherwise terrible "The Emoji Movie"), he's left an indelible mark on the souls of generations of cinephiles and TV buffs alike. And that's without even getting into his run playing Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, the wizened leader of the X-Men, dating back to the game-changing 2000 box office hit "X-Men."

Stewart will return as the X-Men's patriarch for what will, sadly, be the last time in this year's "Avengers: Doomsday," and it's fair to say Marvel owes him an enormous debt it could never hope to repay. Rest assured, the folks at the House of Ideas are well aware of that, too, as you can see from the deeply reverent statement they've issued in response to the news of his passing:

"All of us at Marvel Studios are deeply saddened by the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart. Sir Patrick brought Professor Charles Xavier to life with extraordinary grace, intelligence, and humanity, defining the character for generations of fans, from 'X-Men' to 'Logan' to 'Avengers: Doomsday.' He was a singular talent, a generous collaborator, and a true gentleman. Our hearts go out to his wife Sunny, his children, his friends, and the countless fans around the world whose lives he touched with his art."

It's ironic that Patrick Stewart originally turned down the role of Professor X in "X-Men," only for him to go on and reprise the part in several other films over the course of more than a quarter of a century (including the highly emotional experience that is James Mangold's elegiac "Logan"). Of course, it's also telling that the actor only agreed to play the mutant mentor to begin with once he realized that X-Men stories are known first and foremost these days as a metaphor for the plight of marginalized people the world over. Such values are entirely consistent with the equally progressive and forward-thinking "Star Trek" property, which Stewart devoted almost 40 years of his life to being a part of.

"Avengers: Doomsday" was already slated to act as a loving send-off for the various stars of Fox's X-Men movies (or, at the very least, the lead into that in next year's "Avengers: Secret Wars"), so the fact that it will now serve Stewart's literal final bow in the world of Marvel will only make his scenes that much more bittersweet and poignant. And let's be real, however the rest of the film turns out, there's no question that Stewart will be quite excellent as he says farewell to his X-Men counterparts one last time. You can catch him in action when the movie hits theaters on December 18, 2026.

Classically trained Grammy and Olivier Award-winning actor Sir Patrick Stewart, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 to 1982, humanitarian, foster parent to pit bulls, and star of stage and screen, has died "following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's Disease and Lewy Body Dementia." This was confirmed by his family courtesy of his official X account. He was 86 years old. 

Stewart was perhaps best known for his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the stalwart and stern commander of the starship Enterprise on the 1987 series "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Stewart would play Picard for seven seasons of that show, and reprise the role for four feature films. In 2020, he would play Picard again in the three-season Paramount+ series "Star Trek: Picard." 

In feature films, Stewart was known the world over as Prof. Charles Xavier, the gentle psychic leader of the X-Men, a role he played in nine feature films beginning in 2000, and most recently in this year's upcoming "Avengers: Doomsday." Stewart's first film role came in 1975, when he appeared in "Hedda," a modernized version of Henrik Ibsen's "Hedda Gabler." He also played King Leondegrance in John Boorman's 1981 film "Excalibur," and the gruff soldier Gurney Halleck in David Lynch's 1984 adaptation of "Dune." 

For the BBC, Stewart appeared in two Shakespeare productions in the 1970s and 1980s when the network produced a filmed series of the Bard's complete works. In "Antony and Cleopatra," Stewart played Enobarbus, and in "Hamlet," he played Claudius opposite Derek Jacobi. He would play Claudius again in a 2009 BBC "Hamlet" opposite David Tennant. In that version, he also played the Ghost of Hamlet's Father. In 1976, Stewart appeared as the Roman general Sejanus in the celebrated historical miniseries "I, Claudius." 

Patrick Stewart began his acting career on the British stage. He once said in a BBC interview that when he was a child of 10, a teacher named Cecil Dormand put a copy of Shakespeare in his hand and demanded that he "get up on [his] feet and perform." It was advice he took to heart. As a teenager, Stewart briefly worked a menial journalist job, but eventually found he would prefer to act instead, and became an actor full time. 

Still only a teen, Stewart began appearing on stage at the Old Vic. In 1965, only 25, he appeared as Shylock in a production of "The Merchant of Venice." The following year, he was made a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Stewart would quickly amass an impressive list of credits that saw the actor delving into the very heart of humanity as it was presented by the Bard, starting with "Hamlet" and "Henry V" in 1966 (he played the Player King and the Young Dauphin respectively). 

His work with the RSC provided roles in "Taming of the Shrew," "King Lear," "Two Gentlemen of Verona," and "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Stewart left the RSC in 1982, but Shakespeare remained in his blood. He appeared as the title character in a notorious race-swapped staging of "Othello" in 1997, and played Prospero, Mark Antony, and Malvolio in productions throughout the 2000s. In 2011, 46 years after his Old Vic performance, he returned to the RSC to play Shylock again. 

Beginning in 1988, Patrick Stewart wrote and staged a famous one-man rendition of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," wherein he played every character. It was a play he would return to multiple times throughout his career, most recently in 2007. 

In the mid-1980s, Stewart auditioned to play a starship captain on a reboot of Gene Roddenberry's "Star Trek." According to Larry Nemecek's "The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion," Stewart was discovered by Trek producer Robert H. Justman after seeing him perform in Los Angeles. The story goes that Roddenberry thought Stewart should play the android character Data, and a French actor should play Capt. Jean-Luc Picard. Stewart went bald at an early age, and some casting directors found his lack of hair to be distracting. Against odds, he was cast and became part of one of the most persistent pop culture phenomena in history. He had never seen the original "Star Trek," and had to ask his children to fill him in on what it was. He was also assured by an agent that it would fall through entirely. 

Stewart took his role as Capt. Picard very seriously, and wasn't accustomed to the speed and levity on display in American television. Stewart told the story many times about how he called a meeting with his fellow cast members to curtail their silliness, and lay out a code of behavioral conduct while on set. His co-star, Denise Crosby, asked when they were supposed to have fun. Stewart recalls yelling "We are not here to have fun!"

Immediately after that, Stewart mellowed out a bit.

After a successful seven-year run on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Patrick Stewart became a recognizable pop culture figure, and was a shoo-in for the role of Prof. Charles Xavier in Bryan Singer's "X-Men," a film about superpowered mutants who develop powers at a young age, but are pilloried by society as a result. Charles Xavier, a stern and bald character, already resembled Stewart, so his casting felt natural. Stewart would play the role in multiple films — and in multiple timelines — over the next couple of decades. 

Stewart appeared in multiple high-profile Hollywood productions besides. In 1997, he played the villain in Roger Christian's "Die Hard"-in-a-high-school riff "Masterminds." In a 2016 interview with Mandatory, Stewart said he assumed "Masterminds" was going to be the biggest hit of all time, making he and the others involved "richer than Croesus." It was not to be. Stewart also played a villain in "Conspiracy Theory," a catty "elder gay" in "Jeffrey," and a vicious neo-Nazi in "Green Room." 

In film, Stewart's voice was heard more often than his face was seen. He gave notable voice performances in such films as "The Prince of Egypt" and "Chicken Little," and in the English-language dubs of "Steamboy" and "Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind." He also appeared in "The Emoji Movie" as the voice of the poop emoji. Stewart actually provided the opening narration for "The Nightmare Before Christmas," but his vocals were not used in the final cut of the film, making their way onto the movie's soundtrack record instead. On TV, he voiced roles on "Futurama," and "Robot Chicken." He worked for Seth MacFarlane on "Family Guy," "American Dad," and "A Million Ways to Die in the West." 

Clearly, after the "Next Generation" incident, Stewart happily embraced his sillier side. 

Patrick Stewart worked with various charities throughout his career, raising money for that causes he believed in. One might notice that, in the first season of "Star Trek: Picard," Stewart is seen piling attention on his pet pit bull, Number One. In real life, Stewart was very fond of pit bulls, and worked with the ASPCA on efforts to stop dog fighting and protect the animals. Additionally, he contributed to charities that support sufferers of combat-related PTSD, and fought to end domestic violence. As recently as 2019, Stewart chaired the International Rescue Committee, a committee to help refugees. Stewart was an atheist, and contributed to the British group Humanists UK. 

Stewart was knighted in 2010.

As an actor, Stewart always took his craft incredibly seriously, even as he loosened up. He studied the characters, the readings, and the dramaturgy of his part. He had a unique talent of making even the strangest, most alien, or most ancient dialogue feel natural and poetic. He was a man so devoted to his craft that other performers could only aspire to match him. It might be said that Stewart's presence on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" is what elevated the series to its celebrated status. It was his attitudes that allowed the show — and the franchise at large — to steer itself toward adult diplomacy over cowboy frontiersmanship. 

On screen, on stage, and in life, Stewart was the professor you didn't want to disappoint. An intelligent, dignified, and devoted man, he was an aspirational figure. As he aged, Stewart became more and more relaxed, certainly became more whimsical, and he could be seen smiling more and more in pictures. The man spent his life pursuing the art he loved, was quite the expert in it, and aged into the happiest version of himself. 

Rest in peace, Sir Patrick Stewart. 

We'll have to wait until the week of December 18, 2026, to see which movie ultimately wins at the box office on "Dunesday," but one thing is clear at the moment: "Dune: Part Three" has already won the collectible popcorn bucket battle with "Avengers: Doomsday" in a walk.

Warner Bros. had a high bar to clear after delivering a hilariously suggestive bucket for "Dune: Part Two," but they easily met the challenge with a doubly silly sandworm receptacle for "Dune: Part Three." Some might find this design off-putting, but as a fan of body horror, I'm all for a little hot-buttered ick. As for Marvel, I hope the phoned-in quality of its "Avengers: Doomsday" multiplex merch isn't a reflection of the film's quality, because this is horribly uninspired stuff.

AMC, Regal, Odeon Ireland, and Cineworld all posted on X/Twitter today to tout the variety of "Avengers: Doomsday" products they'll be offering at their theaters. It's all pretty samey. There's a Doctor Doom bust container, a Doctor Doom throne container, a Sentinel drink vessel (to break up the monotonous green aesthetic), and a "Bottle of Doom" drink vessel. Given that Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to play Doctor Doom in this movie, I understand why its marketing is leaning into the Doom of it all. Still, why not throw a Steve Rogers bucket in there as well (or a Mjolnir receptacle)?

We know that Marvel Studios needs a hit after the MCU had a rough go at the 2025 box office, and, judging from advance ticket sales, it appears "Avengers: Doomsday" is poised to get the House of Ideas back on track. But the movie's trailers have been terribly underwhelming and, aesthetically, something of a turn-off given the sickly green color palette. I'm also worried that the film's massive cast (which was introduced via that ludicrous chair event) is going to leave the movie with no room to breathe. Say what you will about "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame," but there were genuinely effective moments in both films (with Josh Brolin's Thanos being a surprisingly nuanced standout).

Obviously, I'm not seriously pre-judging a movie based on its collectible concessions. But this is, in the slightest of ways, a reminder that the MCU has lost its swagger. Much of this was due to the studio having to scrap "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty" due to star Jonathan Majors being accused and eventually convicted of assault. This forced Marvel to change course mid-stream, which occasioned a load of rewriting. So much is riding on "Avengers: Doomsday," particularly at a time when superhero fatigue appears to be a very real thing. Hopefully, the Marvel brain trust won't be crying into their Doctor Doom popcorn containers come December 18.