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Rey, Star Wars, Daisy Ridley

The Star Wars franchise is one of the biggest in the world, but Lucasfilm is clearly struggling to get the next stage of movies off the ground. It’s been nearly five years since the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but it still feels as though the studio doesn’t have a clear plan for what’s next. Sure, there’s been plenty of projects announced, but so many of them have been shelved or are in limbo. However, a report from THR states that when Star Wars does return, Rey (Daisy Ridley) will be playing a role in several movies and that she will be “key to the franchise’s next turn.

Daisy Ridley was already set to return as Rey for Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s (Ms. Marvel) movie, but it’s looking as though she may have a part to play in the recently announced trilogy from Simon Kinberg (Dark Phoenix) as well. The standalone Rey movie was meant to have been in production already, but it recently lost Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) as writer. It remains to be seen which project(s) will move forward first, but a source close to the franchise told THR that Rey “is the most valuable cinematic asset, in some ways maybe the only one, Star Wars has right now.

They’re not wrong. Many of the franchise’s biggest characters have either been killed off, or their storylines have concluded. When it comes to pre-existing characters to work with, another source said, “The closet is a little bare.

The originally announced Rey movie takes place fifteen years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and finds Rey attempting to rebuild the Jedi Order. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy has previously teased the movie: “The First Order has fallen, the Jedi are in chaos — there’s even a question of how many exist anymore — and Rey’s building the New Jedi Order, based on the training that she was given and that Luke imparted on her.” The movie will launch the next chapter of the franchise, with Ridley even saying that it will take it in a “different direction.

Based on this new report, it seems that the race is on to see which Star Wars project featuring Rey will be the first to be released.

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Netflix recently announced that Squid Game season 2 is set to premiere on the streaming service on December 26th – and during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk said that this new batch of episodes is all about the idea of taking sides.

Hwang is the director, writer, and producer of the show. Squid Game season 2 has the following synopsis: 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.

Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun, and Gong Yoo are 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.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Hwang said, “I want to highlight the theme of taking sides. In Korea these days, we’re seeing much worse conflict between the elderly and the younger generation. And you see demarcation everywhere. There’s no room for debate, only hostility. So I was inspired by the direction the entire world is taking. I was inspired by the sheer fact that everywhere you turn, people are drawing lines, whether it’s by generation, class, religion, ethnicity or race. I wanted to tell a story about how the different choices we make create conflicts among us and to open up a conversation about whether there is a way to move toward a direction where we can overcome these divisions.

Through Squid Game, he’ll be able to explore these ideas because the players have the option to end the game at any time through majority vote. As The Hollywood Reporter explains, in this season, the vote to continue is mandatory after each round, and it divides players into clearly labeled camps. One side is motivated by economic anxiety and the belief that they have the qualities to prevail over the rest, winner take all. The other pleads that a vote for the opposition will lead to everyone’s certain destruction. To read more about the new season and the making of Squid Game, click over to the THR link.

Hwang Dong-hyuk has let it be known that Squid Game will be wrapping up with season 3, so we have more episodes to look forward to beyond season 2. In addition to the next two seasons of Squid Game, 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 rumors that David Fincher is still working on an English-language version of the series.

Are you looking forward to Squid Game season 2? What do you think of the themes the new episodes will be exploring? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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AMC has been in the Walking Dead business for years, building a long-running show and multiple spin-offs out of the source material provided in the pages of Robert Kirkman’s comic book series. They’re in the Anne Rice business, building a franchise out of the books, characters, and ideas in Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Witches trilogy. Now, Deadline reports that they’re getting into the Emily Carpenter business, as they’re developing a TV series based on Carpenter’s upcoming novel Gothictown, with Abby Ajayi on board serve as showrunner, writer, and executive producer.

The Gothictown adaptation ended up at AMC through their first-look deal with Stephen Love’s company Made With Love Media, as Made With Love acquired the rights to the book in a competitive situation and will be producing the show.

Carpenter’s book isn’t even expected to reach shelves until March 25, 2025. The story follows Billie Hope, a New York City restaurateur who relocates her family to the quaint town of Juliana, Georgia, drawn by an irresistible offer: a Victorian home for only $100 and a grant to open a new restaurant. The “Juliana Initiative,” designed to revitalize the town post-pandemic, seems like the perfect opportunity for a fresh start and a new business venture. However, once Billie and her family settle in, an unsettling undercurrent beneath Juliana’s Southern charm starts to creep into her life. While she tries to brush off her suspicions as mere misgivings, the town’s eerie atmosphere and hidden darkness grow impossible to ignore. Billie soon realizes that Juliana might be holding her family captive in more ways than one, and escaping might not be as simple as she thought.

Carpenter’s previous books include Reviving the Hawthorn SistersUntil the Day I DieEvery Single SecretThe Weight of Lies, and Burying the Honeysuckle Girls. Made With Love Media was behind the Netflix sci-fi comedy They Cloned Tyrone. Ajayi’s credits include Inventing Anna, The Riches, The Plot, Bobby Meritorious, How to Get Away with Murder, The First Lady, and the Hulu version of Four Weddings and a Funeral. She also wrote the screenplay for a remake of Curtis Hanson’s The Bedroom Window, but that hasn’t gone into production yet.

Have you read any Emily Carpenter books, and does Gothictown sound interesting to you? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Gothictown

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After casting Miya Cech (Surfside Girls, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat MitzvahAlways Be My Maybe) as Toph Beifong, the best character in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Netflix is adding eight more to its cast to round out Earth Kingdom’s members. Anticipation for the final two seasons of the live-action series could not be higher after a thrilling February debut, with fans old and new enjoying the antics of Aang and his friends.

Joining the cast of Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 are Chin Han as Long Feng, Justin Chien as King Kuei, Amanda Zhou as Joo Dee, Crystal Yu as Lady Beifong, Kelemete Misipeka as The Boulder, Hoa Xuande as Professor Zei, Lourdes Faberes as General Sung, and Rekha Sharma as Amita.

Netflix announced in September that Miya Cech would play Toph Beifong for the series, much to the delight of fans. Toph Beifong is a blind teenager who (eventually) agrees to train Aang in the ancient art of earth-bending. According to the Casting Call: “She is sassy, confident and unfiltered. For most of her life her strength and formidable earthbending skills have been suppressed, but now on the run as the Avatar’s earthbending master she is uninhibited to become the fierce warrior she believes she is inside.”

“Water. Earth. Fire. Air. The four nations once lived in harmony, with the Avatar, master of all four elements, keeping peace between them. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked and wiped out the Air Nomads, the first step taken by the firebenders towards conquering the world,” reads the official description. “With the current incarnation of the Avatar yet to emerge, the world has lost hope. But like a light in the darkness, hope springs forth when Aang, a young Air Nomad — and the last of his kind — reawakens to take his rightful place as the next Avatar. Alongside his newfound friends Sokka and Katara, siblings and members of the Southern Water Tribe, Aang embarks on a fantastical, action-packed quest to save the world and fight back against the fearsome onslaught of Fire Lord Ozai. But with a driven Crown Prince Zuko determined to capture them, it won’t be an easy task. They’ll need the help of the many allies and colorful characters they meet along the way.”

Let’s go! I loved the first season of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender and cannot wait to see more! With so many actors joining the production, we’re one step closer to enjoying another intense adventure for Season 2.

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