PLOT: At the Sekai Taikai, Miyagi-Do faces new challenges and old enemies as they fight to become world champions — can they stay united as internal rivalries bubble back to the surface?

REVIEW: When the first five episodes of Cobra Kai‘s final season debuted in July, I was underwhelmed by the repeated retread of familiar storylines. Cobra Kai VI, the lowest-rated season of The Karate Kid spin-off series, has only premiered a third of its final season so far, leaving ten of the fifteen chapters to debut. The second batch of episodes continues where the first left off, setting up a showdown at the Sekai Taikai tournament between Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai, along with some other competition. Once again, Ralph Macchio and William Zabka are a charismatic pairing, whether on opposite sides or the same one. However, the middle section of Cobra Kai’s final season still feels like it is padded to maintain views for as long as possible rather than set up a satisfying conclusion to the series that debuted in 2018. With some new additions to the cast and a couple of surprising twists, part two of Cobra Kai VI slightly improves over the first but still does not match the quality of prior seasons.

The five-episode Part 2 of Cobra Kai VI picks up right from the cliiffhanger ending that revealed that Tory Nichols (Peyton List) had joined Martin Kreese’s (Martin Kove) new dojo with co-sensei Kim Da-Eun (Alicia Hannah-Kim). With the writers explaining how Kreese could publically appear despite being an escaped criminal, the format of the Sekai Takai tournament is explained. For some reason, the first rounds of competition are brawl-style or tag-team competitions between the dozen dojos, including teams from Spain, Ireland, Russia, and more. The main competition outside of Miyagi-Do and Cobra Kai are the Iron Dragons, led by Sensei Wolf (Lewis Tan) and his star fighters Axel Kovacevic (Patrick Luwis) and Zara Malik (Rayna Vallandingham). The third faction in the five-season brewing feud adds some dimension to the competition. Still, it cannot eclipse the fact that Cobra Kai continues to mine the exact same plot structure season after season after season.

Without fail, this season has infighting amongst the Miyagi-Do team as they question each other’s allegiances. Miguel (Xolo Mariduena) questions Robbie’s (Tanner Buchanan) leadership as team captain, Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo) and Eli (Jacob Bertrand) continue to squabble about their falling out over college choices, and Devon (Oona O’Brien) still feels guilt over what she did to cost Kenny (Dallas Dupree Young) a spot in the tournament. These disagreements boil over with Robbie and Sam (Mary Mouser) troubled by Tory’s defection to the enemy and the intimidation from Cobra Kai captain Kwon (Brandon H. Lee). Kreese still threatens boy Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny (William Zabka), but Daniel is still trying to discover the truth about Mr. Miyagi’s past and how it connects to the Sekai Takai. For the most part, Daniel and Johnny’s ongoing opposition to one another takes a back seat in this run of episodes, but that does not mean it is entirely gone.

We get some fun moments with Daniel, Johnny, and Chozen (Yuji Okumoto), but unlike prior seasons, most of these five episodes feature in-tournament competition. Sure, there are a couple of training montages and some connections to The Karate Kid feature films in the form of cameos, but this run of Cobra Kai VI is the most actual martial arts we have seen in the entirety of the series combined. The quality of the fights is improved by including athletic performers Lewis Tan and Rayna Vallandingham, the latter of whom are champion martial artists in real life. The Barcelona setting serves as a nice location change from the tried-and-true Valley. Still, outside of a couple of outdoor sequences that make great use of the geography of the Spanish city, most of the action takes place in hotel rooms and gymnasiums. I appreciate the heavier focus on competition in these episodes, but it still feels like it is treading water.

Writers Joe Piarulli, Luan Thomas, Bob Dearden, and Chris Rafferty build on the first five episodes of the season with the aid of Ashley Darnall, Emily Abbott, and Olga Lexell. They do their best to make the Sekai Taikai tournament feel like a big deal and a culmination of where the prior seasons have led, but they do not seem to want to deviate from the familiar tropes that have become staples of this series. Cobra Kai started out as a nostalgiac homage to The Karate Kid that evolved into a balance of the younger generation of fighters alongside the older ones. This season’s twists replicate twists we have seen before, with the big reveal concerning Mr. Miyagi still feeling like a misdirect to keep some artificial tension in Daniel LaRusso as a sensei. Too many artificial conflicts pad out this middle section of the final season that could have been condensed into one or two episodes.

The sixth season of Cobra Kai felt like a couple of episodes too long, and the second part feels the same. Thanks to better fight choreography and an ending to the fifth episode (overall, the tenth episode of the season), which is the darkest place this series has gone yet, Cobra Kai VI Part 2 is a modest improvement over the first part of the season. The increase in profanity is not a replacement for mature writing, but I had more fun with this run than with the five episodes released earlier this year. It remains to be seen if the third and final batch of episodes will tie things up or lead into the upcoming Karate Kid: Legends film, but I hope Cobra Kai brings this story to a close in a way that does not repeat the same things we have seen season after season from this show.

Cobra Kai VI Part 2 premieres on November 15th on Netflix.

Cobra Kai

GOOD

7

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Believe it or not, there used to be a time where movie sequels were actually an incredibly rare thing. As it was, audiences felt that movies and even tv shows should have definitive stories and points that they were trying to make and why would anybody bother making a sequel to what should have been a conclusive story? But now, in an era where Hollywood values established IP and fanbases more than any potential original project, sequels have become the norm. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing that sequels have taken over cinemas, provided that the sequels are just as good as the originals and come out with their own original plot-lines. Like all movies, whether or not a person might enjoy a surplus of sequels is preferential and is more so dependent on the subject material, especially if it’s regarding a franchise that the audience has taken a liking too. With all of that being said, several of the best sequels in history have been released in the last few years, including this year’s Across the Spiderverse, and we wanted to see how said sequels compared to one another.

This list is not a ranking and merely in chronological order of release date.

Godfather: Part II (1974)

When Francis Ford Capolla took the world by storm with his iconic masterpiece that is The Godfather in 1972, nobody thought he’d be able to top it. Instead, Capolla proved to the world what a true genius he was behind the camera and made a sequel that, to this day, is still debated as the best movie sequel of all time. The Godfather: Part II is not just as good as the original, but perhaps even better as it showcases the story of Michael Corleone’s slow fall into the depths of organized crime while using flashbacks to highlight how his father began their families story in the first place. It’s darker and more complex and grips the audience at every turn with a pacing that can seldom be matched – 50 years later and this movie still deserves every bit of praise.

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

What can be said about a movie that is still arguably the greatest sequel of all time even though it came out nearly 50 years ago? The Empire Strikes Back pushed the boundaries of what sci-fi movies were capable of, while simultaneously shattering the boundaries of what cinematic storytelling could achieve. The reveal of Darth Vader being Luke Skywalker’s father will forever be the greatest plot-twist of all time and the journey that Luke had to go on to become a Jedi was the most relatable and humbling adventure that an action-star had taken up to that point. The visual-effects, the story-telling, the acting, the direction – this movie will never rate anything less than 100%.

Aliens (1986)

James Cameron undoubtedly has some words for anyone who thinks that audiences don’t want strong, female-led movies. Alien came out and blew peoples minds due to the confined space that Cameron was able to tell his sci-fi story in – then Aliens came out several years later and paired sci-fi and horror together in a way that encapsulated audiences in the most terrifying ways possible. Even today, the Alien creatures from the movie are haunting and hold-up to the effects that we have now. Sigourney Weaver gave a performance of a life time and proved to everybody that girls could be even more bad-ass than boys – get away from her, you bitch!

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

I’ll be back – and better than the first one. James Cameron had proven multiple times by 1991 that he was a master filmmaker and could create stories/worlds that audiences would fall in love with. However, he solidified himself as the greatest sequel filmmaker in history when he released Terminator 2: Judgment Day, one of the best action movies of all time. The film improves on the first Terminator movie in every possible way – better visual effects, a better plot/story, and somehow an even better villain. Cameron stepped away from the love narrative of the first film and gave that same energy to the relationship between John Connor and the Terminator, allowing audiences to still have something to root for as the effects kept their eyes glued to the screen. Include the addition of Linda Hamilton as the badass Sarah Connor and what more could you possibly ask of a sequel?

Toy Story 2 (1999)

The first Toy Story movie set the tone for every Pixar film that has followed, but audiences still haven’t forgotten that the direct sequel is still one of the greatest that the studio has ever produced. Toy Story 2 continued the story of anthrapamorphized toys that come to life when people aren’t around (a truly revolutionary idea) and somehow improved upon the original, adding characters like Jesse and Bullseye while giving Woody’s character genuine depth and emotion. The humor was just as on-point as the original and the animation was just as top-notch – for a couple of animated movies, the Toy Story franchise is undoubtedly one of the best of all time.

Shrek 2 (2004)

Speaking of fantastic animated franchises, Shrek doesn’t fall far behind Toy Story on the list. The original concept of the beautiful fairy-tale princess falling in love with the unhygienic orge rather than Prince Charming was gripping to say the least. After the success of that concept, the sequel decided to delve even further into the family dynamic of the princess marrying the orge and chose to make a movie about how her parents would feel about it. After all, most fairy tales end with ‘happily ever after’, but Shrek 2 hilariously explored the concept of what ‘happily ever after’ might actually entail.

Spider-Man 2 (2004)

With great power comes great responsibility. It’s the line from the franchise that has had two reboots in the last two decades, but it’s a line that will stand the test of time. In Spider-Man 2, after obtaining and honing his powers as Spiderman, Peter Parker must come to grips with the fact that even with his abilities he can’t do it all. Include the appearance of Alfred Molina as Doc Ock in what is arguably the greatest cinematic super-villain performance of all time and you get one of the greatest sequels to ever grace audiences screens. (Speaking of movies directed by Sam Raimi, Evil Dead II ranks right up there, too.)

The Dark Knight (2008)

For a character as famous and elusive as The Joker, it’s baffling that an entire generation of people can’t hear the name without thinking of Heath Ledger. Make no mistake that Christopher Nolan composed a masterpiece when it comes to The Dark Knight as the story of Bruce Wayne coming to terms with the fact that he can’t do it all (seeing a pattern here?) was just as relatable as it was in Spiderman 2. However, audiences everywhere know that the crowning achievement of this film was how on-point the late-great Heath Ledger’s performance was – RIP to the man who gave his absolute all to the role.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Yes, this is the third straight super-hero movie to make the list of best sequels and they’re all incredible. That said, Captain America: The Winter Soldier holds a special place in it’s own regard despite not having as much notoriety as the previous two. The Winter Soldier was unquestionably a terrific movie and sat atop the list of best MCU movies for a very long time. However, even with the surplus of projects that the MCU has churned out over the last several years, there are quite a few MCU enthusiasts who believe that The Winter Soldier is still atop said list. Cap confronting his past, the reveal of Bucky still being alive and Hydra growing inside of SHIELD, the addition of Falcon – it’s just top tier.

Top Gun: Maverick (2022)

Don’t call it a comeback. Despite Tom Cruise being one of the most notable and recognizable movie stars of the past 40 years, it somehow took him until 2022 to make the most profitable movie that he’s every appeared in. Top Gun: Maverick flew into theaters nearly four decades after the original and became the highest grossing movie of Cruise’s career by raking in more than $1.5 billion at the global box office. Now, the story of Top Gun: Maverick might not have the gripping, keep-your-eyes-glued-to-the-screen dialogue and dramatic scenes that some of the other movies on this list have, but what it does have is breath-taking visual stunts and a story that’s so well delivered that an audience member doesn’t even need to see the original to enjoy the sequel. For that reason alone, it takes a deserved spot on this list.

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Like we said, we’re in the era of sequels, and somehow 2022 managed to have two of the best sequels of all time. Avatar: The Way of Water took it’s sweet time reaching cinemas after a thirteen year break from the first one, but it didn’t disappoint and gave audiences a brand new version of Pandora to fall in love with. Combine the concept of the sequel focusing more on Sully and Neytiri’s children rather than keep honing in on the parents story and it created a sequel that felt like you could’ve completely skipped the original and still understood everything going on. The bonus of the VFX being out of this world only added to the experience.

Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse (2023)

Is it the greatest Spiderman movie of all time, the best sequel of all time, or just the greatest movie of all time? According to audiences, it could be all three. The follow up film to 2018’s Into the Spiderverse had a huge burden in trying to match the success that the original captured five years ago. Instead, the sequel surpassed every expectation and has audiences making more noise than they did for No Way Home. The story of Miles learning that his fate as Spiderman is sealed and unchangeable hits home for nearly everyone watching and becomes personally relatable when Miles comes to the decision that his destiny is in his own hands. The animation, the soundtrack, the voice-acting, the story, the lore – what more could any sequel possibly have?

What do you think are some of the best sequels of all time? Would you have added Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to the list? The Nightmare on Elm Street follow-up Wes Craven’s New Nightmare? Mad Max: Fury Road, Blade Runner 2049, or Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan? The Night of the Living Dead sequel Dawn of the Dead? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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ANTICIPATION.

Grimonprez is attempting something hugely ambitious here, can he pull it off ?
3

ENJOYMENT.

Not since Oliver Stone’s JFK has an information overload been so riveting.
4

IN RETROSPECT.


A deeply impressive feat of research, editing and storytelling.
4

Directed by



Johan Grimonprez

Starring



N/A

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ANTICIPATION.

Taormina is a buzzy up-and-comer…
3

ENJOYMENT.

Truly as frenetic, funny and lovely as Christmas with the family.
4

IN RETROSPECT.


A lo-fi holiday classic in the making.
4

Directed by



Tyler Taormina

Starring



Michael Cera,

Francesca Scorsese,

Matilda Fleming

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Wherever you go, there you are. That iconic line has become a pop culture mainstay thanks to one of the strangest movies of the 80s, Buckaroo Banzai or, as it is formally titled, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8^th Dimension. This 1984 science fiction movie  has been a cult classic for four decades and remains a fan favorite thanks to its virtually unexplainable plot. Part comedy, part action, part scifi, part martial arts, part musical, part western, part satire and part of a franchise that never came to be, Buckaroo Banzai may be the single most bizarre movie we have ever covered for this series.

A box office bomb when it was released, grossing only six million against a seventeen million dollar budget, Buckaroo Banzai holds a decent 68% rating on Rotten Tomatoes where critics sum it up succinctly as “violating every rule of storytelling and narrative structure in creating a self-contained world of its own” (Variety). Yeah, that pretty much sums up exactly why this movie has remained a personal favorite of mine for so very long. Buckaroo Banzai was released when Western pop culture was obsessed with Japanese and Chinese culture, releasing two years after Blade Runner and the same year as both The Karate Kid and Sixteen Candles. While the Asian influence is palpable, Buckaroo Banzai often feels like a teenager’s fever dream that throws everything but the kitchen sink into the crazy story. It’s legacy is so strong that everything from Star Trek  and Men in Black to Fight Club and Back To The Future have featured influences from the movie. In fact, many Buckaroo Banzai fans have spotted direct connections to Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future, whose flux capacitor bears a similarity to this film’s oscillation overthruster. Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic also shares more than a few connections in regards to the offbeat tone and team dynamic in both movies.

In short, Buckaroo Banzai is a weirdly wonderful movie that not nearly enough people have watched. It feels like a comic book movie, but there was no comic book source material – although a comic book did come later. The origins of the film came in 1974 when director W.D. Richter was introduced to the writings of Earl Mac Rauch. Both alumni of Dartmouth College, Richter read Rauch’s novel Dirty Pictures From The Prom and the duo started writing letters to each other. After several years, Rauch met Richter in L.A. and began working as a screenwriter. When Rauch first explained his idea for a character named Buckaroo Bandy, Richter and his wife paid the writer $1500 to develop what he envisioned as inspired by “all those out-and-out, press-the-accelerator-to-the-floor, non-stop kung fu movies of the early ’70s”. Richter recalls that Rauch started multiple screenplays featuring Banzai and would abandon each one after only getting about thirty pages into it. Rauch himself remembered how easy it was to start a story and then forget about it. Over those early years, the writer compiled dozens of scripts that ended up that way including treatments with titles like Find the Jetcar, Said the President and The Strange Case of Mr. Cigars. Richter said it never made its way to a finished script as Rauch would continue writing and writing and writing.

The development of Buckaroo Banzai paused when Richter began working on the screenplay for Martin Scorsese’s film New York, New York amongst other unproduced scripts. It was finally in 1980 that Richter met with producers Frank Marshall and Neil Canton. Canton and Richter formed their own production company and planned to make Buckaroo Banzai their first film. This time, Rauch wrote a sixty page script called Lepers from Saturn which they shopped around but no studio was willing to take a risk on such a strange project from unproven filmmakers. The treatment eventually made it’s way to MGM/UA who signed Richter and Rauch to a deal within 24 hours. Over the next eighteen months, Saturn became Planet 10 and Lepers became Lectroids.

The project was jeopardized by the 1980 Writer’s Guild of America strike. MGM chief David Begelman left the studio and took Buckaroo Banzai to 20^th Century Fox where they were greenlit with a $12 million budget. Three drafts later, the shooting script was ready and casting began.

While the studio wanted a recognizable face, Richter wanted an actor who “could both look heroic with grease all over his face, and project the kind of intelligence you would associate with a neurosurgeon and inventor”. Focused on stage actors, Richter stumbled upon Peter Weller. Weller was initially reluctant to take the role because of the uneven tone. Weller recalled in a classic Sci-Fi Universe Interview:

“Would it be campy? Would it be a cartoon? Or would it be the sort of wacky, realistic film that would catch people sideways—and not be a cartoon”

Weller based his character on Elia Kazan, Jacques Cousteau, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, and Adam Ant. Seeing as his character is a physicist/neurosurgeon/test pilot/rock star (he’s the front man in a band called The Hong Kong Cavaliers), that seems to be the right mix of inspiration. For the villainous Dr. Emilio Lizardo, the studio wanted yet another unknown but Rauch always envisioned John Lithgow as Banzai’s nemesis Lord John Whorfin. Lithgow was also unsure of playing the role but said

“I have had roles where I came very close to going over the top. In Twilight Zone I almost went over the top several times. But this role is completely over the top. It makes the role in Twilight Zone seem like a model of restraint. I do it in a wild, red fright wig and rotten false teeth with a thick Italian accent. It’s wild.”

Lithgow copied an Italian accent from Roberto Terminelli, a tailor who worked at MGM. He also adopted a crab-like walk to imitate the alien nature of his character.

Banzai’s love interest, Penny Priddy, is played by Ellen Barkin. Christopher Lloyd was the one and only choice to portray John Bigboote while the rest of the cast was rounded out by Jeff Goldblum as New Jersey, Lewis Smith as Perfect Tommy, and Clancy Brown as Rawhide. Other notable supporting roles are played by the great Vincent Shiavelli, Dan Hedaya, comedian Yakov Smirnoff, Breaking Bad’s Jonathan Banks, and Carl Lumbly.

Production designer J Michael Riva worked with Richter for two years to develop the look of Buckaroo Banzai which resulted in a blend of 80s fashion with an off-kilter approach to the alien designs. The lizard like Lectroids were inspired by an anthropologist’s theory of what dinosaurs would have looked like had the evolved like humnans. The Red Lectroids clothing was inspired by Russian utilitarian clothing. 

The spaceships differ from what audiences had come to expect from Star Wars and Star Trek and take on a much more organic appearance. This was also evident in the less polished look of the film which echoes the dystopian look of movies like Mad Max rather than the refined look of Star Trek.

Filmed in and around Los Angeles, Buckaroo Banzai was a challenge for the studio to release with copious scenes removed including an alternate opening featuring Jamie Lee Curtis as Buckaroo’s mother. Richter was constantly at odds with producer Bagelman whom he called an enemy of the entire movie. 20^th Century Fox was equally concerned about the marketing of the film which they could not figure out. In a move that would echo the last decade or so of studios at San Diego Comic Con, Fox began marketing Buckaroo banzai directly at Star Trek conventions. They showed clips and gave out branded headbands which are now collector’s items. There was no traditional marketing push for the movie aside from some ads in Marvel Comics. Even John Lithgow has stated he struggled to explain the story to people despite loving how complex and weird it was.

When it hit theaters on August 15^th, 1984, it was up against Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Ghostbusters, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. With competition like that, it should be no surprise that Banzai grossed less than half of it’s budget. With critics citing it as unintelliglble, how did it go from bomb to cult classic?

Buckaroo Banzai is the closest thing Hollywood has produced to England’s Doctor Who. Like the long-running BBC series, Buckaroo Banzai is a amalgam of dozens of genre staples combined with a blend of tones and styles. There are no direct jokes in Buckaroo Banzai and yet it is incredibly funny. Peter Weller is so damn cool in the title role that it is amazing to see just how different he is here as compared to his later roles in Robocop and recently in Star Trek Into Darkness. Ellen Barkin was at the height of her sexiness with Penny Priddy ranking as a sci-fi sex symbol to rival Carrie Fisher in Return of the Jedi. 

Like many cult classics from the 1980s, Buckaroo Banzai suffers from comparisons to Star Wars. Similar to George Lucas’ franchise, Buckaroo Banzai has deep roots in the serials of the 1940s and 1950s like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. But, rather than follow a straight forward genre formula, Banzai is absolutely a film about nerds and geeks made by nerds and geeks. The complicated jargon coupled with archaic special effects lends the film the feel of an independently produced feature rather than one coming from the same studio as The Empire Strikes Back.

There is not a lot of violence or sex in Buckaroo Banzai which lends the film a feeling of innocence that belies the fairly mature subject matter. This is a family friendly film that should appeal to kids and teens but with the pacing and tone of a more adult-centric story. Maybe it is that disconnect that prevented the film from finding a wider audience. But like those on the cutting edge of science or musicians invested in rock and roll, Buckaroo Banzai is indebted to everything that came before it even if it feels nothing else out there.

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension is an unabashedly 1980s movie that looks dated four decades later. As we approach the movie’s ruby anniversary, there is finally a sequel in the form of a novel by Rauch titled Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League (which you can get here). Will they revive it? Who knows? We live in a world where Night Court got a revival, so anything is possible. This is the perfect chance to revisit this classic movie and revisit some of the best costumes and quotes you never knew you were missing.

The post The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: The Best Movie You Never Saw appeared first on JoBlo.

Most people knew nothing about Squid Game until the Netflix series exploded in popularity, but that certainly isn’t the case for season 2. All eyes are on the new season, which will find Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) returning to the arena as he attempts to take down the games from the inside. While speaking with GamesRadar+, Lee Jung-jae said he experienced a “sense of horror” returning to the world of Squid Game.

“Well, I actually didn’t know that I would reprise my role as Gi-hun,” Jung-jae said. “So when I knew that I was going to play Gi-hun again, I had mixed feelings, and I still remember the day when I first set foot on the game arena for the production of season two, and when I opened the door to the set, I felt this horror, this sense of horror.“

The actor continued, “All the memories of season one, playing those games with all my fellow cast, it all came back to me. And I could actually feel Gi-hun’s trauma once again. They were all just coming back to me like big, giant, gigantic waves. And I was thinking, ‘Wow, I’m actually setting foot on this set once again.’ It’s a moment and it’s a kind of feeling that I would never forget in my life.“

The official synopsis for the new season reads: “Three years after winning Squid Game, Player 456 remains determined to find the people behind the game and put an end to their vicious sport. Using this fortune to fund his search, Gi-hun starts with the most obvious of places: look for the man in a sharp suit playing ddakji in the subway. But when his efforts finally yield results, the path toward taking down the organization proves to be deadlier than he imagined: to end the game, he needs to re-enter it.” It’s been announced that a third and final season will bring the series to a close.

Hwang Dong-hyuk once again serves as director, writer, and producer of Squid Game season 2, with Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun, and Gong Yoo reprising their roles from the first season. New cast members include Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Lee Jin-uk, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee David, Choi Seung-hyun, Roh Jae-won, Jo Yu-ri, and Won Ji-an.

Netflix is also moving forward with a second season of Squid Game: The Challenge, a reality series in which 456 players compete for a US$4.56 million cash prize by competing in challenges based on those in the series… although without all the death. There have also been rumblings that David Fincher is developing an English-language Squid Game series, but nothing has been confirmed. Squid Game season 2 will debut on Netflix on December 26th.

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David Lynch began smoking when he was just 8 years old, but the director has now been diagnosed with emphysema and tells People he relies on supplemental oxygen to get around, even if it’s just across the room.

“It’s tough living with emphysema,” Lynch said. “I can hardly walk across a room. It’s like you’re walking around with a plastic bag around your head.” Lynch added that he kept smoking for two years after his initial diagnosis in 2020 before he finally called it quits for good. “I saw the writing on the wall. and it said, ‘You’re going to die in a week if you don’t stop,’” Lynch said. “I could hardly move without gasping for air. Quitting was my only choice.“

It’s hard to picture Lynch without a cigarette in his hand, and he admits that it was a very important part of his life and creative process. “I loved the smell of tobacco, the taste of tobacco,” he said. “I loved lighting cigarettes. It was part of being a painter and a filmmaker for me.” While his health struggles are a “big price to pay,” Lynch says he doesn’t regret his decades of smoking: “I don’t regret it. It was important to me. I wish what every addict wishes for: that what we love is good for us.“

However, the disease is now keeping Lynch from doing what he loves most: making movies. “I love being on set,” he said. “I love being right there, able to whisper to people.” Lynch added that he hopes his experiences will be valuable to other smokers. “I really wanted to get this across: Think about it. You can quit these things that are going to end up killing you,” he said. “I owe it to them — and to myself — to say that.“

Despite the diagnosis, Lynch has previously said he doesn’t plan on retiring anytime soon and is hopeful that he could try directing remotely in the future. The director’s last major project was Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017. He directed all 18 episodes of the series and co-wrote the scripts with Mark Frost.

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Andor season 2 will bring the story of Cassian (Diego Luna) right up to the beginning of Rogue One, so we can expect to see a few familiar characters from the movie, including Ben Mendelsohn as Imperial Director Orson Krennic.

The new issue of Empire Magazine has put Andor season 2 front and center with a new image featuring Cassian (Luna), Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), and Krennic (Mendelsohn). Check it out below, as well as new images of Cassian and Krennic.

As Mendelsohn tells it, Krennic will be bumping heads with Dedra Meero (Denis Gough) in the new season. “If they didn’t see eye to eye, to me, it’s cute,” Mendelsohn said. “Dedra versus Krennic? I think it’s a bit of a mismatch. They’re all underlings to Krennic… They’re all going in one direction. The Empire, if you speak your mind, there are differences of opinion.”

Given that Krennic will be returning, some fans have wondered if Grand Moff Tarkin might be back as well, digitally resurrected once again. If Mendelsohn knows anything, he isn’t saying. “You know I can’t answer that,” he said. “And I delight in not being able to answer your question. It’s a beautiful thing.“

The new season will span the four years before the events of Rogue One, and Cassian still has a long way to go. “He’s a man fully committed to the Rebellion,” Luna said. “It’s someone who has to ascend. There’s a huge mountain for him to climb in order to [become] the guy we meet in Rogue One.” Luna added that we’ll finally find out how Cassian became buddies with K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) “From an audience perspective, they’ve probably made their own story about how Cassian and K-2 got to work together,” Luna said. “It tells you a lot about Cassian that his best friend is a droid. And a droid he had to reprogramme. But how did that actually happen and who was he before? Those questions are going to be answered.“

It was recently confirmed that Andor season 2 will debut on Disney+ on April 22, 2025.

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