New Details Revealed About Luke Cage Season Two Villains, “Heroes for Hire” and More
The first issue of Empire‘s Pilot magazine features several juicy sneak peeks of what’s to come on the second season of Marvel’s Luke Cage. The magazine interviews the Netflix series’ showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker, as well as stars Mike Colter and Simone Missick. They discuss season one’s shortcomings, a spinoff and what’s to come in the new season.
Here are the most interesting spoilery scoops:
Bushmaster
This version of the villain is described as “bullet resistant” by Coker and he explains that “It’s not gonna bounce off, but he has his ways of healing. And he has very similar strength to Luke in terms of being able to take a punch and give a punch.”
“Jamaica has always been a country of resistance,” he says, touching on Bushmaster’s Carribean background. “They were the first to cast off their shackles and say, ‘We have our own government, this is how we’re doing things.’ We put a lot of that stuff into the character of Bushmaster.”
Misty Knight
“It’s her shooting hand, it’s her basketball hand, it’s her everything,” Missick says, referring to the character’s newfound disability and the impact it will have on her. “How does this person who is identified by her strength and her power as a cop do that job? She can’t. So we see Misty at the top of the season walking away from the thing that defined her.”
Missick adds: “I’ve got a lot more stunts this season.”
Danny Rand and “Heroes for Hire”
“Danny helps Luke channel his chi,” Coker says, which results “in a fight to end all fights that was just one of the most fun things we’ve done.”
“Me and Finn get along rather well, we’re pretty cool. I think our characters play well off each other,” Colter teased before making it clear that the chances of a Heroes for Hire show is “a question above my pay grade.”
Coker, on the other hand, is a little more positive. “It’s something that’s in the air. Internally at Marvel Television, everybody knows there’s a part of that combination that is inevitable, particularly when you watch them together in the way that we did it. If feels right. It feels good. It feels like, ‘I want to see more of this combination. Heroes for Hire is really not off the table.'”
Season One’s Shortcomings
“The standard conventional wisdom is that the show was great up until episode 7, and then went downhill because Diamondback wasn’t as good a villain as Cottonmouth,” Coker admits. “But as Jeph Loeb, the President of Marvel Television jokes, Mahershala couldn’t have followed Mahershala!”
“It was a great try,” Colter confesses when asked about that first run of episodes. “Some people enjoy the full season. Some really felt the second part was not as strong as the first. And I get both…but you’ve got to take a chance to make your series different, and I thought it was commendable. If people thought it was a miss, that’s fine. We have a different approach for the next season.”
The magazine confirms that Gabrielle Dennis will be playing Nightshade, a character from the comic books who was a biochemist with a strong interest in lycanthropy.
Season 2 of Marvel’s Luke Cage streams June 22 on Netflix.
H/T: ComicBookMovie
Stranger Things Season 3 Get’s Production Date and Episode Count
Fans of the popular 80’s style hit show Stranger Things rejoice! We finally have some news on Season 3!
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Even though it isn’t much, according to TVLine, Netflix will produce eight episodes in total for Season 3 with production beginning in April.
Why only eight episodes? We don’t really have an answer for that question. However, we do know that Season 3 will include a time up to 1985. 1985 is the year that Back to the Future and Super Mario Bros. were released. Although that really isn’t saying much, we hope that those will make some appearances or get some references to those famous pieces of entertainment and pop culture.
Both Seasons of Stranger Things are available to stream on Netflix while you wait for Season 3 to come out.
Source: TVLine
REVIEW: Altered Carbon, Episode 102
Altered Carbon continues as we head into episode 2 of the new Sci-Fi Netflix series.
Now before anyone mentions anything, there will be spoilers for the episode down below.
We start the episode by seeing Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman) and Kristin Ortega (Martha Higareda) morning routines. Kovacs wakes up and scolds his AI companion for the hotel Poe (Chris Conner) for letting the attorney Oumou Prescott (Tamara Taylor) into his room while he has no clothes on, and Ortega reluctantly wakes up to go for Boxing training with her partner Abboud (Waleed Zuaiter). The scene with Kovacs is funny and awkward since he is talking to the attorney with no clothes and Poe keeps trying to cover him up. While the scene with Ortega and Abboud is fun and intense, we get to learn why Ortega keeps a tracker on Kovacs as Abboud tells her to stop following him like a stalker.
Next, we go to a Sleeving (Body Swapping) Faculty where Kovacs and Prescott go to get some answers, only to find Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy) getting back into his current sleeve and talks to Kovacs. This scene plays out as a world-building moment because we get to learn more about how and what Sleeves (Empty Bodies) are and what purpose they serve in this future.
Then, we move to a poker game that Poe is playing with his AI friends and this scene doesn’t really serve much but it will get mentioned because it has some great effects and it also gives some backstory to the Poe and the AI he calls his friends.
Next, we see Kovacs watch a bunch of videos of death threats that Bancroft has received and stumbles on one that sees’s a masked man show his gun to the camera. Kovacs is able to get a Serial Number and track down the gunman to his home and tries to question him about the video. We later find out that the man’s name is Vernon Elliot (Ato Essandoh) and he is trying to save his daughter. This conflict as a whole takes up a huge chunk of the episode and is awesome from start to finish. From the continuous fighting and special effects that are presented when Kovacs uses a VR headset to look where Elliot’s daughter Lizzie.
After this, Kovacs Visits a futuristic strip joint to find talk to one of the girls to find out more information about Lizzie and where to find her when he is then ambushed afterwards by Vernon. This turns sour because then Kovacs and Vernon are attacked by some gangster with some using a power enhancer. This scene was filled with action and violence to make it entertaining and it looked visually pleasing as well.
Finally, we end the episode by Kovacs coming back to his hotel home when he is greeted by Bancroft’s Wife who wants to sleep with Kovacs. They then spend the last few minutes of the episode having sex.
This was another great episode of Altered Carbon, it had a nice balance of both world building and action that keeps the viewer entertained and interested in what this world has to offer. Let’s hope that this series can continue going up from here.
9/10
REVIEW: Altered Carbon, Episode 101
Altered Carbon is the latest new series to stream on Netflix and is a Sci-Fi/Cyberpunk thriller that looks gorgeous and is thrilling at the same time. Just by watching the trailers, you can see that it is heavily inspired by Blade Runner and other Sci-Fi films. However, this isn’t a bad thing, Altered Carbon takes this notion and runs with it pretty well while also creating its own universe and characters.
Here is the trailer if you are interested:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhFM8akm9a4[/embedyt]
Now before anyone mentions anything, there will be spoilers for the first episode down below.
Altered Carbon starts by throwing you right into the action, where we meet two criminals with guns, one is a woman (we don’t learn her name) and a guy by the name of Takeshi Kovacs (Will Yun Lee) who are ambushed by an armed forces group, they look like stormtroopers if they were scarier. The criminals put up a good fight, but are killed in the end. This scene was very tense at times and was full of action. Definitely a great way to start a pilot.
We then cut to 250 years into the future where we see Takeshi Kovacs (Joel Kinnaman) being reborn. However, he is in a different body and is having a hard time adjusting to his new environment. However, not only has his body changed, so has the world around him. It’s here that we get to see the CGI and set design really kick in. The world of Altered Carbon is visually stunning and it stands out enough that it doesn’t come off as a copy of Blade Runner (There’s going to be a lot of comparisons that so just a warning).
It’s after that stunning revelation that Kovacs is picked up by Kristin Ortega (Martha Higareda) who is a police lieutenant who picks up Kovacs and escorts him to a wealthy estate where we learn that Kovacs was hired to try and solve the murder of Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy) who has already been reborn into a new body. However, Bancroft still wants to find out who wants him dead. It’s this conflict that is the driving force for the rest of the episode, as Kovacs spends his time thinking about taking the case for him to finally agree to at the end of the episode.
So far, Altered Carbon presents a beautiful world and some really good acting. However, the story feels pretty scarce and doesn’t explain everything clearly and it may come off as a lot of showing but not telling. Given that it is only the first episode of the series, we can cut it some slack. Let’s just hope that the story will pick up and gain more momentum while exploring more of the beautiful world around it.
8.5/10
The Cloverfield Paradox is Now Available on Netflix
The long-awaited sequel to Cloverfield and 10 Cloverfield Lane has been revealed during the Super Bowl called, The Cloverfield Paradox.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKTneuI-36o[/embedyt]
While the ad aired during the Super Bowl, the movie was released on Netflix after the Super Bowl finished airing. The movie is now available to stream on Netflix.
Here is the official synopsis:
“Orbiting about a planet on the brink of war, scientists test a device to solve an energy crisis and end up face-to-face with a dark alternate reality.”
Source: Netflix & IGN
The Star Wars Universe Welcomes a New Live-Action TV Series
From movies to TV, Star Wars is getting a live-action series that is set to debut on Disney’s digital streaming service. The still un-named service is set to launch in 2019.
This is the first live-action TV series for Star Wars, however, the franchise has created five animated series. These include Star Wars: Droids, Star Wars: Ewoks and the most recent, Star Wars Rebels.
In light of the new Disney streaming service, Disney will be taking all Marvel and Star Wars films off of Netflix and move them to the in-house streaming service in 2019. The pricing for the service is still being worked out, but the plan is to make it lower than the price of Netflix, which is currently $11/month for a standard plan.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Teaser Trailer for Marvel’s Runaways Released at NYCC
“This is some Narnia sh*t.”
Runaways took to New York Comic-Con on Friday to premiere a new teaser for the upcoming Hulu show.
The teaser features our six teenage heroes, Alex (Rhenzy Feliz), Nico (Lyrica Okano), Karolina (Virginia Gardner), Gert (Ariela Barer), Chase (Gregg Sulkin), and Molly (Allegra Acosta) as they come together and discover their parents are part of a villainous group called the Pride.
The 10-episode series premieres November 21.
Check out the teaser:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Yilj7cGrd8[/embedyt]
Millie Bobby Brown Rocks Some Serious 80s Hair in New Stranger Things Season 2 Cast Photos
Season 2 of Stranger Things is right around the corner, and Netflix is doing everything they can to get you excited.
Some new stills for the series have been released, alongside a bunch of new information about the upcoming season.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Duffer brothers revealed that the new threat during the season will be the “shadow monster,” a giant creature that connects the whole story together.
During the new season, viewers will be following several separate storylines that will be tied together. “It’s all connected to this singular threat, which is tied into this shape that Will sees in the sky,” said co-creator Ross Duffer.
Entertainment Weekly also released several new photos from the set of the show, check them out:
Marvel’s Runaways: Everything You Need to Know About Hulu’s First Marvel Series
Hulu officially entered the comic-book arena when it handed out a formal series order to Marvel’s Runaways, from executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage.
Based on the comics by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, the live-action Runways tells the coming-of-age story of a disparate group of teenagers who “must unite against a common foe — their parents.” For those unfamiliar with the source material, the parents in question are revealed to be part of a crime organization known as “The Pride,” which hosts an annual “charity” gathering that serves as a meeting place for nefarious time-travelers, wizards, mad scientists, aliens and mutants.
Here’s the official show synopsis:
Every teenager thinks their parents are evil. What if you found out they actually were? Marvel’s Runaways is the story of six diverse teenagers who can barely stand each other but who must unite against a common foe – their parents.
The actors cast as the Runaways include:
Gregg Sulkin as lacrosse star Chase Stein, a brilliant engineer trapped in the body of a dumb (hot) jock;
Rhenzy Feliz as “loud-and-proud nerd” Alex Wilder, who longs to “reunite his childhood group of friends”;
Lyrica Okano as angsty Wiccan Nico Minoru, whose goth style masks an inner loneliness;
Virginia Gardner as Karolina Dean, whose “veneer of privilege and perfection” is challenged by her “newfound eagerness to explore her identity and pursue her own desires”;
Ariela Barer as Gert Yorkes, a “purple-haired, bespectacled, contemporary riot grrrl”;
and Allegra Acosta as Molly Hernandez, “the youngest and most innocent member of her friend group.”
The actors cast as “The Pride” include:
— James Marsters and Ever Carradine: Victor and Janet Stein, parents to Chase. He’s an engineering genius who has lofty expectations for his son — and when they aren’t met, retribution can be fierce; she’s a perfect PTA mom harboring a brilliant mind of her own, and who longs for more from her life.
— Annie Wersching and Kip Pardue: Leslie and Frank Dean, parents to Carolina. She’s a poised and skilled leader whose charisma draws in devoted allies and followers. He’s a former teen star who rode a short-lived movie career and is now teeming with insecurity.
— Kevin Weisman and Brigid Brannagh: Dale and Stacey Yorkes, parents to Gert. He’s a bioengineer whose deep love for his family oftentimes falls short as far as knowing the right things to say to his daughter. Stacey, too, is a bioengineer, and utilizes a more progressive approach to her parenting style.
— Ryan Sands and Angel Parker: Geoffrey and Catherine Wilder, parents to Alex. He’s a hulking presence who can effortlessly shift from approachable father to intimidating strategist; she’s a successful lawyer, deliberate and calculating in both her words and actions.
— Brittany Ishibashi and James Yaegashi: Tina and Robert Minoru, parents to Nico. She’s a perfectionist “tiger mom,” as well as a brilliant innovator and ruthless CEO; he is a gentle and brilliant beta, “the Woz to his wife’s Jobs.”
Here’s a sneak peek trailer:
teaser trailer for the runaways television series pic.twitter.com/qOqVeie0C3
— best of runaways (@bestofrunaways) July 17, 2017
Hulu has set November 21, 2017 as the premiere date for the 10-episode first season of Marvel’s Runaways.