News Magic: the Gathering

Jim Henson Company Unleashes a Wild Music Video for Magic: The Gathering‘s Next Expansion

Enjoy this wonderfully unhinged music video

By Vanessa Armstrong

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Published on January 6, 2026

Screenshot: Magic: The Gathering

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Screenshot: Magic: The Gathering

Wizards of the Coast’s Magic: The Gathering has come out with a new expansion called Lorwyn Eclipsed: Return to the Land of Light and Shadow. To celebrate the news (and encourage people to buy it), Wizards partnered with Jim Henson Company to create a bombastic and inspiring music video, which includes characters created by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop.

The clip is a fun watch, even if you’ve never played Magic: The Gathering. It features one creature from sunny Lorwyn named Squen who’s a little bit dark, and a vibrant monster named Cragg from always-dark Shadowmoor. Their lands are divided by a purple sparkly fog, and they each look longingly at each other’s half of a single plane of existence. Cragg wants to see Lorwyn and sniff all the flowers to death, while Squen wants to find Shadowmoor’s darkest depths, where anarchy will set him free. (Fun!)

There are more delightful lines in the video that I won’t spoil here, but the song also hints that the divide between their two worlds may come undone. Will the two become whole (perhaps literally) when it does so? Perhaps, if they play their cards right.

Lorwyn Eclipsed is now available for preorder and is set to come out on January 23, 2026.

Check out the impeccable music video/trailer below. [end-mark]

The post Jim Henson Company Unleashes a Wild Music Video for <i>Magic: The Gathering</i>‘s Next Expansion appeared first on Reactor.

News The Batman: Part II

Sebastian Stan in Talks to Join The Batman Part II Cast in Unknown Role

The long-awaited sequel is set to start filming this spring

By Vanessa Armstrong

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Published on January 6, 2026

Photo Credit: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

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Photo Credit: Chuck Zlotnick/Marvel Studios

Sebastian Stan, of course, is no stranger to comic book movies; he’s starred in several Marvel Cinematic Universe films as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier/a halfhearted member of Congress (pictured as the latter, above).

It looks like he’s now considering joining another comic book franchise: According to Deadline, Stan is in talks to play a part in Matt Reeves’ upcoming feature, The Batman Part II, the Robert Pattinson-starring sequel to Reeves’ 2022 film, The Batman. What role Stan will be taking on is unknown. He could be Batman’s pal, he could be a villain, he could, for all we know, just be some dude on the street who gets mad when Batman double parks in front of his car (probably not the last one).

Stan also isn’t the first MCU star to join the film. Back in December, reports came out that Scarlett Johansson was also joining the film in some capacity, though the details on her character are also completely under wraps. My guess for her role, with nothing to back me up, is that she’s playing Poison Ivy. Because why not?

Here’s what we do know about The Batman Part II. Pattinson is back as an emo Bruce Wayne, along with Colin Farrell as Oz Cobb/The Penguin, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner James Gordon, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and Barry Keoghan as the Joker. The script comes from Reeves and Mattson Tomlin and is set to start production this spring, with a release date of October 1, 2027. [end-mark]

The post Sebastian Stan in Talks to Join <i>The Batman Part II</i> Cast in Unknown Role appeared first on Reactor.

News Tomb Raider

The Tomb Raider Prime Video Series Cast (So Far)

Do you think Jason Isaacs ever longs to just play a really nice guy?

By Molly Templeton

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Published on January 6, 2026

Screenshot: HBO

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Screenshot: HBO

As was announced last fall, Sophie Turner—who has already played the iconic roles of Sansa Stark and Jean Grey—is our new Lara Croft, action-loving archaeologist star of the Tomb Raider franchise. Prime Video’s Tomb Raider series comes from showrunners Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) and Chad Hodge (Good Behavior), which automatically makes it somewhat intriguing.

Now that the show has revealed its full supporting cast, the intrigue factor has jumped up several levels. Sigourney Weaver has gone from “in talks” to “in the cast,” and she’ll be playing Evelyn Wallis, described by The Hollywood Reporter as “a mysterious, high-flying woman who is keen to exploit Lara’s talents.”

Three existing characters from the Tomb Raider universe have been cast, including Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus, pictured above) as Atlas DeMornay, Lara’s uncle. Atlas—whose name alone does not suggest he’s the most upstanding of characters—has appeared or been mentioned in two games and a Tomb Raider comic, and was the executor of the Croft estate after his sister Amelia’s death.

Bill Paterson (House of the Dragon) will play Winston, the Crofts’ butler; Martin Bobb-Semple (One of Us Is Lying) has been cast as Zip, who provides tech support (surely his activities are all above-board).

The rest of the new cast includes the always-excellent Celia Imrie (The Thursday Murder Club), who THR says is “the head of advancement at the British Museum, focused solely on raising funds and glasses of champagne.”

The also always-excellent Paterson Joseph (Avenue 5) is “a senior government official brought in to clean up an almighty mess.” Lara will have a pilot “and snack collector,” Gerry, played by Pennyworth star Jack Bannon, and a “deeply competitive new adversary,” Sasha, who is played by Sasha Luss (Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets).

There’s also an “exhausted government official” played by John Heffernan (A Gentleman in Moscow); a “by-the-books curator at the British Museum” played by Juliette Motamed (We Are Lady Parts); and “an illegal raider who shares history with Lara.” The latter role has been filled by German actor August Wittgenstein, whose cheekbones suggest a sultry sort of history.

No premiere date has been announced for the Prime Video series, which is of course based on the long-running series of games originally created by Core Design.[end-mark]

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Books Young Adult Spotlight

Most Anticipated Young Adult SFF/H for January & February 2026

A new year means new books!

By Alex Brown

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Published on January 6, 2026

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The new year means we have a new crop of young adult science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels. Despite the short days and long, cold nights, horror is in a downswing for the time being, replaced mostly by thrillers. Vampires are (temporarily?) out, dragons are in. And, as I have had to type on every Most Anticipated list for the last year or so, the stranglehold romantasy has on publishing continues unabated. There are also some intriguing queer stories coming in January and February that seem tailor made specifically to my interests, so thank you very much for that!

Science Fictional

If All the Stars Go Dark by S.G. Prince

(Godwin Books; January 20, 2026) Upon graduation, Keller lands his dream job as a gunner for the Legion. His pilot partner, Lament, keeps him at arm’s length, but as much of a bummer as it is, Keller throws himself into his work anyway. He and his new crew get into hot water when they investigate a strange space substance that attacked the last gunner. Space opera plus romance equals lots of adventure-y fun.

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Postscript by Cory McCarthy

(Dutton Books for Young Readers; February 17, 2026) In sharp contrast to the HEAs/HFNs that dominate in romantasy, this is a true dystopian story. The world West and Emil live in is hard and getting worse by the day. There is no deus ex machina or Chosen One to save the day. Six years ago the apocalypse happened and now these two young men are pretty much all that’s left of the human race. They wander the Massachusetts coastline with Emil’s dog, searching for dwindling resources and trying to survive as long as they can. It’s a love story at the end of the world. 

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Magic with a Twist

Soul of a Gentleman Witch by David Ferraro

(Page Street YA; January 20, 2026) Stuck as a seventeen-year-old forever, Callum will only be free after performing 666 tasks for Lucifer. One day, Lucifer agrees to wipe Callum’s debt clean and free his soul, all for the price of transporting an alchemist across the pond. But of course, once Callum gets to know Auggie, trading his own life for Auggie’s becomes an impossible choice. A necromancer hunting Auggie, an undead witch, and a winged cat complicate matters.

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Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean

(Love Me Tomorrow #1 — Sarah Barley Books; February 3, 2026) After making a wish at the Tanabata festival, Emma, who doesn’t believe in love, starts receiving mysterious letters. The anonymous author claims to be her true love writing from the future. At first she doesn’t believe them, but they quickly become impossible to ignore. Who is this mysterious suitor? Is it someone she already knows or someone she hasn’t yet met?

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Call of the Dragon by Natasha Bowen

(Call of the Dragon #1— Random House Books for Young Readers; February 10, 2026) In a world of dragon gods, Moremi finds herself unexpectedly claimed by both Yida and Dam, something that isn’t supposed to be possible. It’s a good thing she is, because the king and his wicked advisor Addaf launch a coup to overthrow the dragon gods. Now Moremi, her friend Nox, and her nemesis Zaye have less than a week to save the world with a cleansing ceremony… if Addaf doesn’t catch them first.

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Outcasts, Outlaws, and Rebels

A Wild Radiance by Maria Ingrande Mora

(Peachtree Teen; January 20, 2026) A queer and neurodivergent romantasy reimagining of the War of the Currents was not on my 2026 bingo card, but I’ll take it. Josephine, imbued with the power of radiance (electricity magic), leaves the orphanage where she was raised, House of Industry. As punishment for constantly breaking rules, she’s packed off to the distant countryside town of Frostbrook to work as a Conductor. There she meets Julian and Ezra, two young men who tug on her heart. 

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Queen of Faces by Petra Lord

(Queen of Faces #1 — Henry Holt and Co.Books for Young Readers; February 3, 2026) In Caimor, people can transfer their souls into fake bodies. To save her from a terminal illness as a child, Ana’s parents put her in the only one they could afford, a defective model. Eight years later, the male body Ana’s trapped in is falling apart. Her last hope of stealing a better form is lost when she’s captured by the principal of an elite magic school. Either she works for him as a mercenary, dispatching rebels trying to take down the oppressive political system, or he has her arrested and executed. 

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Thrills & Chills

To the Death by Andrea Tang

(G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers; February 10, 2026) Sam vows revenge on the man who killed her brother in an illegal duel. That man also happens to be the father of Tamsin, a young woman who will do whatever it takes to win his respect. Their mutual desperation puts them on opposite sides of a duel, with Tamsin taking on dueling master Lysander Rook and Sam acting as Rook’s assistant.

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This Wretched Beauty: A Dorian Gray Remix by Elle Grenier

(Feiwel & Friends; February 17, 2026) Do you want a trans remix of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray? Of course you do! It’s 1867 and Dorian is miserable as the sole heir to their family’s estate. They meet the artist Basil who paints a stunning portrait of Dorian, displaying them in a light they’ve never seen themselves in before. Basil offers Dorian the confidence to explore the queer underbelly of London, and take to it like a fish to water. The deeper they sink, the more Basil’s painting changes.

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Competitive Streak

The Swan’s Daughter: a Possibly Doomed Love Story by Roshani Chokshi

(Wednesday Books; January 6, 2026) Two cursed teens work together to break destiny. Demelza is a veritas swan, a young woman with the ability to sing the truth out of her audience but also doomed to never be able to fall in love without losing her heart or freedom. Prince Arris is doomed to be murdered by his bride thanks to a curse from a sea witch, and his only way out is to find his true love. They meet at the palace and form an alliance—she’ll weed out the murderous suitors competing to marry him and he’ll protect her from a wicked wizard—in this fairy-tale-esque fantasy. 

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Heart’s Gambit by J.D. Myall

(Heart’s Gambit #1 — Wednesday Books; February 3, 2026) In the 1860s, two teens tried to escape their enslaver, the witch Sabine, but she captured and cursed them instead. While they now have their freedom, they cannot be around each other without wanting to fight. While they have magical powers and the ability to travel through time, in every generation one child from each family must fight to the death with their life feeding Sabine’s immortality. This year, it’s Emma and Malcolm’s turn at the Gambit. Can their love defeat systemic oppression?

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Until the Clock Strikes Midnight by Alechia Dow

(Feiwel & Friends; February 3, 2026) Immortal teens Calamity and Darling are competing for a mentorship from the prestigious Mortal Outcome Council. Calam guides clients to tragic endings while Darling dabbles in happily ever afters. Whoever exerts the most influence over mortal client Lucy wins the mentorship, but after a series of unlucky events they must pose as an engaged couple and win her over without magic. This is comped as The Good Place meets the Brandy version of Cinderella. Immediate preorder. Immediate. 

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Death Is Not the End

It Lurks in the Night by Sarah Dass

(Rick Riordan Presents / Disney Hyperion; January 27, 2026) A high school senior takes her friends on an adventure that turns deadly. Every year, Erica, Lystra, Pearl, and Maya sail around the Caribbean, leaving their cares behind them for a few days. Tragedy strikes when they’re grounded on a haunted island and Erica winds up dead. Or so they thought. A few days later, Erica returns home seemingly alive but very much not well. If you know anything about Caribbean folklore, you know Maya is about to have the fight of her life.

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They Call Her Regret by Channelle Desamours

(Wednesday Books; February 17, 2026) Horror-obsessed Simone plans a rager for her 18th birthday. At a cabin near Doll’s Head Lake, she anticipated scary stories around a campfire and creepy pranks. Instead she accidentally murders her best friend Kira. The ghost who haunts the lake, a witch called Regret, offers Simone a deal she cannot refuse: break the curse binding her spirit and she’ll resurrect Kira and erase all of Simone’s many regrets; fail within the two-week time limit and Kira’s life is forfeit.

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The post Most Anticipated Young Adult SFF/H for January & February 2026 appeared first on Reactor.

News The Death of Robin Hood

Michael Sarnoski’s The Death of Robin Hood Trailer Is Out to Destroy a Legend

He’s killed soooooo many people

By Molly Templeton

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Published on January 6, 2026

Screenshot: A24

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Screenshot: A24

Sexy fox Robin Hood, this is not. The Death of Robin Hood, from Pig director Michael Sarnoski, declares in big text across the screen THE LEGEND WAS A LIE. Stealing from the rich to give to the poor? Merry thieves and whatnot? Nah. Purveyors of grimly brutal violence, more like.

This new trailer offers few additional details, though about a year ago, when Murray Bartlett and Bill Skarsgård joined Hugh Jackman in the cast, the synopsis said, “The story follows a battle-worn loner, grappling with his past after a life of crime and murder, who finds himself gravely injured and in the hands of a mysterious woman, who offers him a chance at salvation.”

Said mysterious woman is played by Jodie Comer, who between this and 28 Years Later has been spending a lot of time on movies where her character exists without modern conveniences. Skarsgård is playing “a version of Little John,” as Sarnoski told Entertainment Weekly.

The director also said that he wants to keep Comer’s character a mystery, but the trailer seems not at all subtle about the connection between her and the little redhead Hugh Jackman’s Robin seems to be semi-mentoring. But perhaps we are reading too much into her carefully covered-up hair and her knowing looks.

Sarnoski said of his film’s origins, “There’s an old quote about Robin that sort of says he’s this murderous bandit who the common folk have decided to glorify, and I wanted to examine someone who was going through that in their lifetime, and trying to grapple with the role of storytelling and their actual identity.” Which sounds quite interesting—if you can sit through the brutality.

The Death of Robin Hood is “coming soon.” [end-mark]

The post Michael Sarnoski’s <i>The Death of Robin Hood</i> Trailer Is Out to Destroy a Legend appeared first on Reactor.

News Avengers: Doomsday

The Third Avengers: Doomsday Teaser Is Just An Excuse to Feel Nostalgic About The X-Men

It would be more exciting to see these characters in THEIR OWN MOVIE, my dudes

By Molly Templeton

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Published on January 6, 2026

Screenshot: Marvel Studios

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Screenshot: Marvel Studios

In less than a month’s time, we’ve had three teasers for Avengers: Doomsday, which comes out at the end of this year. The first teaser promised that Steve Rogers (and his baby) will return in Avengers: Doomsday; the second showcased Thor being stressed about being a father. And now the third is about the X-Men (emphasis on men).

It feels curmudgeonly, a bit, to be grumpy about seeing Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen together as Professor X and Magneto again. But there’s a quality to these teasers—heavy-handed, pushing on the feelings buttons—that suggests all these characters are just being dragged out again to get killed off. There is no sense of the movie itself, just a CGI-looking trip to a battered Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters; a Stewart voiceover announcing “Death comes for us all,” and a perfect, sly grin passing between old friends.

And also Cyclops (James Marsden) does a big red eye-beam.

Other X-Men will be in Doomsday, including Beast (Kelsey Grammer), Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming), Gambit (sigh, Channing Tatum), and Mystique (Rebecca Romijn). Returning Avengers, along with Thor and Cap, include Anthony Mackie (also Captain America), Danny Ramirez (Falcon), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Winston Duke (M’Baku), and Simu Liu—and also the other Avengers, which is to say the ones previously known as the Thunderbolts: Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), David Harbour (Red Guardian), Wyatt Russell (John Walker), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), and Lewis Pullman (Bob).

And the Fantastic Four will be here, too: Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm.

That’s too many people. I don’t even want to bring up the whole Robert Downey Jr./Doctor Doom thing.

Avengers: Doomsday is directed by Joe and Anthony Russo from a script by Stephen McFeely (the Russos’ frequent writer) and Michael Waldron (the guy who made a lot of frustrating choices for Loki). The movie will be in theaters December 18.[end-mark]

The post The Third <i>Avengers: Doomsday</i> Teaser Is Just An Excuse to Feel Nostalgic About The X-Men appeared first on Reactor.

Books The Wheel of Time

Baseball, Bene Gesserit, and the Maidens of the Spear

An exploration of hand talk and its meanings and implications.

By Sylas K Barrett

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Published on January 6, 2026

Credit: Jan Thijs/Prime Video

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Credit: Jan Thijs/Prime Video

Recently, while roaming mindlessly across the internet, I came across a little social media post about the deaf baseball player William “Dummy” Hoy, and how he was responsible for the hand signals that are used by players, coaches, and umpires to communicate in baseball. I’ll admit that I know very little about baseball—sports aren’t really my thing—but I was intrigued by the social history, and the disability history, that the claim suggested. A little searching later, and I came across an article from the Society of American Baseball Research, which explored the history of hand signals in baseball and the contributions made by deaf players (both professional and non-professional) to their evolution and use in the sport.

Turns out, it isn’t correct to say that Hoy pioneered the use of hand signals or even that he was responsible for making them a standard part of the game. However, it does seem that Hoy and his fellow deaf players had an indelible impact on how baseball evolved hand signals for communication between teammates and coaches, umpires and players, and even between the umpires and the crowd.

You might be wondering what all this has to do with The Wheel of Time. Or perhaps, like me, any mention of hand signals starts you thinking about the “handtalk” of the Far Dareis Mai and why we really only see women using that sort of thing in the story.

The hand signals used by certain Aes Sedai and by the Black Ajah for covert communication certainly owe something to the inspiration Robert Jordan took from Frank Herbert’s Dune. The Bene Gesserit, like the Aes Sedai, are a powerful but morally dubious institution of women who use hand signals and other covert means of communication in their attempts to manipulate those around them. It is a language of spying, of political machinations, and of the mystical science the Bene Gesserit employed in their genetic breeding programs. The Aes Sedai version is not quite as sinister as that, but their manipulation and control over the world is enacted by the White Tower in a very similar way, and whenever they use hand signals or interact with their networks of spies, the reader is always very conscious of the fact that the secret signals and manipulation (usually of men) goes hand in hand.

However, the Maiden’s handtalk is different. It is a full language that the Maidens use to have conversations among themselves. While one can assume it might occasionally come in useful when communicating silently during a hunt or a wartime situation (the other societies also have hand signals for this use), it is much more than a battlefield utility. It is an everyday language, used in everyday conversations and for everyday reasons.

This makes the handtalk a very special thing in the world of The Wheel of Time, one that, in my mind, is incredibly underused. We have no examples of deaf people in this world, very few examples of any kind of disability, in point of fact, which makes the world less rich than it could be. This observation isn’t a particular dig at Jordan; the lack of diversity and representation in popular books and media is a conversation that is ongoing, societally speaking, and not what this essay is about. What I will say about Jordan, however, is that the best of his writing is so good that the flaws become more obvious by comparison. The existence of the Maiden’s handtalk, a full and complete signing language, points out the lack of deaf people in this world in a bright and glaring way that any reader, accustomed to only seeing disability portrayed when it is part of the plot, might otherwise overlook.

Kind of like how the existence of lesbians points out that Jordan completely avoided ever mentioning the existence of male homosexuality.

Kind of like how the binary understanding of sex/gender within the story wouldn’t really matter if Jordan hadn’t built a magical system around a basic and boring assumption that can’t support the beauty and complexity of everything else he did with the One Power throughout the series.

But I digress.

When the handtalk was first described, I remember thinking how excellent a narrative choice it would be to say that there was once a deaf Maiden for whom the handtalk was invented, so that she could truly be a participant in the lives of her spear-sisters, and they in hers. It made sense to me that the Far Dareis Mai might have an easier time integrating someone disabled, someone different, since their identity is also that of outsiders. They are considered equals among the other warrior societies when it comes to their abilities as fighters, but not in other ways; their access to the identity is limited because of their gender, and they have special rules and requirements (no marriage, no motherhood) in order to maintain that identity that men do not have to worry about. If anyone would understand the desire of an outsider to access a world not traditionally available to them, and that the challenges and restrictions of that access do not make the identity lesser, or shameful, it would be the Maidens of the Spear.

But the story of William “Dummy” Hoy—both the simple social media “myth” that he was single-handedly responsible for the creation and implementation of baseball hand signals and the more complex and interesting truth that a variety of deaf players combined with other practical needs of the sport led to the signals we know today—reminded me of my own biases around disability representation in story. Even as a disabled person myself, I made the mistake of conceptualizing a single deaf character who influenced this society in a way that was overly simplistic and tokenizing. The truth of the deaf community’s influence on baseball and the interplay between them and their teammates, coaches, and the needs of the game is more interesting by far than the idea of one “special” deaf person revolutionizing something. 

Disabled people should exist in fiction because they exist in life—not as a device to explain an interesting quirk about the world.

The focus of the narrative around Maiden handtalk is primarily on the fact that the Maidens can use their sign language, which no one outside their society knows how to understand, to make jokes and gossip about those around them, and particularly members of the other warrior societies, all of whom are men. They very often talk to each other about Rand, including when he is in the room with them. There is no other reason for the Maidens to have a more developed sign language than other communities, other than the fact that it lets them have secret conversations. Because women are sneaky, and they talk about you to manipulate you (or make fun of you).

Of course, there is another group that has a fully developed sign language, and that is the Seanchan nobility. It primarily appears to be used by high-ranking members of the blood to communicate to their so’jhin Voices, but we also see Tuon and Selucia having entire conversations about a variety of subjects, keeping track of what is going on during their captivity and discussing it in great deal, without anyone knowing.

What Tuon and Selucia are doing is spying, but their activities also can’t escape being read from the “gossipy women” angle, especially since so much of their conversation is about Mat. Though the same signs may very well be used by male Seanchan, we have never seen it. Narratively, the use of sign language is presented as the purview of women, used to deceive and dissemble and control men.

And as I consider all this, I can’t help but think of all the ways that humans in general tend to distrust those who speak in a language they can’t understand. We worry they are talking about us, probably because many people in our society have a constant fear of being judged, especially by those who belong to a different group than us, be it to a different culture, or a different belief system… or a different gender.

As in our world, there is deep distrust between the sexes in the lands of The Wheel of Time. In some ways, this is part of the story, as the taint on saidin has resulted in a fracture between men and women, and has taken away the true power of humanity by removing the ability of male and female channelers to work together. But a lot of it is also presented as a simple fact of the world, apparently a biological, or at least a social, truth that has nothing to do with the fallout of the conflict between Lews Therin and Latra Posae during the War of Power. I think it’s sort of a shame that sign language exists in this world as a part of that disparity, when it could be so much more.

There are many reasons for the evolution and use of hand signals in baseball. It is not only deaf players who needed signs to understand the umpire’s calls, but also fans seated far away in the stadium seats. The ability for a coach to signal a player’s next move to them without the other team hearing the plan still exists even if there are no deaf or hard of hearing players on the team. And yes, deaf players needed a way to communicate with their teammates that wasn’t through spoken words.

It’s the complexity of the story that makes it beautiful.

Happy New Year to all my Reading The Wheel of Time friends! Your regularly scheduled column resumes next week.[end-mark]

The post Baseball, Bene Gesserit, and the Maidens of the Spear appeared first on Reactor.

News Stephen King adaptations

Two Previously Announced Stephen King Adaptations Appear to Be Dead

Thankfully, about four million other Stephen King adaptations remain

By Vanessa Armstrong

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Published on January 5, 2026

Credit: Kevin Payravi, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

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Credit: Kevin Payravi, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

While several Stephen King adaptations have made it to a screen near you lately (I’m looking at you, The Running Man, IT: Welcome to Derry, and The Long Walk), there are at least two adaptations that seem to have fallen to the wayside.

The first is The Talisman, a series of fantasy books King wrote with Peter Straub. Back in 2021, we found out that the Duffer Brothers were attached to adapt The Talisman novels into a series for Netflix, but in an interview with CBR for Stranger Things, Ross Duffer shared that “sadly, Talisman is no longer at Netflix, so we’re not involved.”

The wording there is interesting, because it doesn’t mean that the project is completely dead, just that it’s no longer a project at Netflix. The Duffers, however, will also no longer be working for Netflix. The two signed a deal with Paramount last summer that begins when the pair’s Netflix deal ends in April 2026. That doesn’t necessarily mean they couldn’t be involved with an adaptation, though, of course, they said they aren’t at the moment regardless. Whatever the case, it appears certain that the brothers will not be working on The Talisman, whether or not the project continues on elsewhere. At least we know that as of July 2025, King is “almost done” writing a third Talisman novel, which is based on an idea he and Straub talked about before Straub’s death in 2022.

The other project—the CW’s proposed adaptation of King’s short story, “The Revelations of ‘Becka Paulson”—is very definitely dead. In it, a woman accidentally shoots herself in the head with a nail gun but is totally, totally fine, except for the fact she now talks to a manifestation of Jesus who wants her to stop an apparent apocalypse. The CW announced the project way back in July 2020, but Matt Webb Mitovich broke the news via his newsletter, Matt’s Inside Line, that the network dropped the series after it was acquired by Nexstar in 2022. As part of that acquisition, the CW has moved away from scripted series (which includes canceling all of the Arrowverse shows) and is turning toward reality television and sports. ‘Becka Paulson, it seems, was also in Nexstar’s crosshairs.

While these two projects are dead or at least delayed, don’t fret: there’s sure to be more King adaptations on the horizon, including Mike Flanagan’s takes on The Dark Tower series and Carrie. [end-mark]

The post Two Previously Announced Stephen King Adaptations Appear to Be Dead appeared first on Reactor.

Books Front Lines and Frontiers

From Camazotz to Stranger Things: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

A reminder that this SF classic never goes out of style…

By Alan Brown

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Published on January 6, 2026

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In this bi-weekly series reviewing classic science fiction and fantasy books, Alan Brown looks at the front lines and frontiers of the field; books about soldiers and spacers, scientists and engineers, explorers and adventurers. Stories full of what Shakespeare used to refer to as “alarums and excursions”: battles, chases, clashes, and the stuff of excitement.

Today, we’re looking at A Wrinkle in Time, a classic children’s book I first read about six decades ago, and which has suddenly become topical again. My son, who (along with his wife and daughter) is a Stranger Things fan, recently told me that Holly, one of the characters on the show, was reading A Wrinkle in Time and using it to put some of her supernatural adventures in context during this final season. There must be a few Stranger Things fans who noted the connection and might be wondering what this old book is about, and since delving into old science fiction books is kind of my thing, I am happy to help them out!

I couldn’t find a copy of A Wrinkle in Time in my basement, so for this review I checked a copy out of my local library. Other than stating the book was copyrighted in 1962 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, there is no mention of when this particular edition was published, although from the long list of other books by L’Engle in the front of the book, it was some decades after its original run. It features cover art by Leo and Diane Dillon, which captures some key scenes from the book in a nice, impressionistic fashion. The cover also includes the special seal that indicates the book received the John Newbery Medal, a prestigious literary award given annually by the Association for Library Service to Children since 1921.

About the Author

Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007) was an American author who frequently wrote for children, and whose work often featured science fiction and fantasy themes. Born in New York City, she was a shy child and difficult student whose parents moved her between a number of private schools. She was an actor in New York when she met her husband, actor Hugh Franklin. They moved to Connecticut where they ran a small store, and she was able to focus on her writing. They had three children, one of whom was adopted. After years of rejections, L’Engle finally found success with A Wrinkle in Time. That best-selling book was followed by several direct sequels, including A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and many of her later works were set in the same universe as that original book. In addition, L’Engle also wrote a play, short stories, poetry, books for adults, and works on Christian theology. She received many awards during her lifetime, and was recognized in 1997 with a World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement.

A Wrinkle in Time has been adapted twice by the Disney Corporation. The first was a television movie in 2004, which did not fare well with critics and was disliked by L’Engle. The second adaptation was a big-budget feature film released in 2018, directed by Ava DuVernay, buoyed by a cast of respected actors and impressive special effects. Unfortunately, this film was also met with a mixed critical reception, and did not do well at the box office.

The Spiritual Dimension

If my recollection is correct, I first read A Wrinkle in Time back in 1964 or 1965, when I was nine or ten years old. My mom generally visited the library every two weeks, and would pick up books she thought might interest me and my brothers. I do remember that the first time I read it, the book scared the heck out of me. The idea of a child having to rescue a parent was a bit much for me to accept, and L’Engle did a very good job making the antagonists evil and keeping the narrative tension high. But while I remember to this day many of the scenes from the book and the battle between light and dark, upon my first reading I missed the spiritual nature of the book.

During this latest re-read, which I think is the first time I’ve revisited the book since that initial reading, the religious aspects of that fight between light and dark jumped right out at me. The book explicitly mentions God, and the inhabitants of one planet sing a hymn based on a quote from the Hebrew Bible (the 42^nd chapter of the Book of Isaiah, according to my research). At another point, when discussing historical figures who have stood against darkness, one character quotes the Gospel of John, the fifth verse of the first chapter, in a passage referring to Jesus: “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” But despite these references, the spirituality of the book is not heavy-handed, and L’Engle approaches the religious aspects with an open-minded, ecumenical approach.

One interesting aspect of L’Engle’s approach is that she flips the cliché of order being associated with good and chaos being associated with evil. Her protagonist, Meg Murry, is insecure, emotional, and frequently angry. The three women who guide Meg are quirky and unpredictable. L’Engle shows that the side of good and light can be served by people with faults and messiness in their lives, and those who are creative and unpredictable. On the other hand, the evil antagonists emphasize order and discipline. They take pleasure in destroying people’s individuality, and forcing them into conformity and obedience. The greatest weapon of evil is authoritarianism.

Ironically, in preparing for this review, I discovered that A Wrinkle in Time has frequently been challenged and targeted for banning from libraries for various reasons, including complaints about the religious aspects of the novel. Detractors mention the fact that in the book, Jesus is listed among a number of historical figures who have stood against darkness, which they argue diminishes his divinity (despite the fact that he’s mentioned before any other historical figure, and his name accompanied by a quote from the Bible). But it appears to me that the biggest reason motivating these attempts at book banning is not what is explicit in the text—it is the beliefs of L’Engle herself.

During her lifetime, L’Engle espoused Christian universalism, an ecumenical approach to the faith that has long raised the ire of the type of fundamentalists who are behind most book-banning efforts. And certainly, her embrace of creativity and free thinking runs counter to the philosophy of those whose approach to religion emphasizes order and obedience. I find this sad, because as a Christian, I feel L’Engle’s inclusive and open-minded approach is a better representation of the faith than the angry voices of censorship.

A Wrinkle in Time

During a “dark and stormy night” (L’Engle audaciously opens the book with that hoary cliché), Meg Murry is fretful and unable to sleep, troubled by problems at school and the mystery of her missing father. She goes downstairs to find her youngest brother, the odd but precocious Charles Wallace, who has made sandwiches. Her mother joins them, and examines Meg’s face, bruised in a fight at school after someone taunted her about her brother’s oddness. Charles Wallace reports that three women have taken residence in a nearby abandoned, and allegedly haunted, house, and that he has met one of them, Mrs. Whatsit. And then she shows up—an eccentric woman swathed with scarves and wearing a big hat. Mrs. Murry is not impressed, but invites her in, and is stunned when Mrs. Whatsit mentions a tesseract, which is a concept her physicist husband had been working on before he disappeared.

This all happens in the first chapter, and L’Engle proves herself an expert in worldbuilding, capable of providing the reader with large amounts of information without resorting to lumps of exposition. While troubled young protagonists are common today, they were not in the days when the book was written, and during my first reading, I found myself, a bookish, insecure, and bespectacled youngster, immediately identifying with Meg and her faults.

The next day, a tired and grumpy Meg mouths off to a teacher and is then sent to the principal, who tells her she must accept the fact her father is gone, which only makes her angrier. After school, Charles Wallace asks her to go and visit his three new friends at their haunted house. Along the way they meet Calvin O’Keefe, who Meg thinks is quite handsome. Calvin comes from a large and unhappy family that lives nearby, and has arrived at the haunted house because he felt an odd compulsion to be there, although he isn’t sure why. Together they proceed to the house, where they meet Mrs. Who, a plump woman with thick glasses who speaks in historical quotes, many in foreign languages, which she then helpfully translates. She advises them to go home and get some food and rest… but for what purpose, she will not say.

Calvin comes over for supper, and the whole family takes a liking to him. Mrs. Murry can see that strange things are happening, but has faith they are happening for a good reason. Calvin and Meg talk about her father, a government physicist who went missing, and how no one will tell the family where he is. Meg starts to cry, and Calvin comforts her, but Charles Wallace interrupts and tells them it is time to go find their father. Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who arrive, and are joined by Mrs. Which, an ethereal, shimmering being. And suddenly, they are all somewhere else—a place that the three women identify as the planet Uriel. Mrs. Which materializes, wearing a peaked hat and carrying a broom, making the pun of her name perfectly clear. They have traveled by “tesser,” a way of wrinkling time and space.

The women state that Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace can help rescue her father, and Mrs. Whatsit transforms into a giant winged (and surprisingly, male) centaur. They fly high into the sky, surrounded by other flying centaurs who sing an inspirational song. When they reach the peak of their journey, and the air becomes too thin to breathe, the children see a large, dark, and forbidding presence in the heavens; this is the darkness that has captured Meg’s father.

The three women tell the horrified children that in order to rescue Mr. Murry, they must travel beyond the darkness. And here, the science behind their mode of travel is explained, a folding of space and time in dimensions beyond our own, involving concepts like tesseracts. L’Engle takes what looked like fantasy up to this point and recontextualizes it as the type of technology Arthur C. Clarke was referencing when he said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” They then travel to Orion’s Belt to visit a seer who is aptly called the “Happy Medium,” who helps the children understand the long struggle between the forces of darkness and light, and they learn that Mrs. Whatsit had been a star who sacrificed her larger existence in the fight against the darkness. The seer shows them the planet Camazotz, at the heart of the darkness, where Mr. Murry is imprisoned. They are told that the darkness will not allow the three women to accompany them; after receiving words of warning and advice, Mrs. Who gives Meg her glasses to aid her during the rescue, and off they go.

The first thing Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace see in Camazotz is a neighborhood of identical houses where all the children skip ropes and bounce balls in perfect unison, and whose mothers call them in for supper at the same time. They speak to one of those mothers, who is baffled and frightened by their non-conformity. An uneasy paper carrier tells them they can find the Central Intelligence Center in the heart of the nearby city, which is the capital of Camazotz. He also refers to something called IT, which resides at that Center. They find themselves surrounded by people motivated by fear, who do not want anything to do with visitors who don’t fit in. Despite feeling an oppressive sense of foreboding, the three children enter the headquarters building.

There they are exposed to the cruelty of IT, which rules the world of Camazotz through torture, intimidation, and mind control. IT uses an avatar, the Man with Red Eyes, to both cajole and threaten them. Then Charles Wallace, too confident in his mental powers, attempts to take on IT directly and ends up as a mind-controlled avatar himself. Meg uses Mrs. Who’s glasses to access her father in prison; it turns out that Dr. Murry had discovered how to tesser during his research, and had fallen into the clutches of the dark forces of IT. When IT attacks them, Dr. Murry is unable to help Charles Wallace, but manages to tesser himself, Meg, and Calvin to another planet that orbits the same star as Camazotz. Its inhabitants are repellent to look at, but kind and capable, and one of them, who Meg dubs “Aunt Beast,” nurses Meg back to health. Mrs. Whatsit, Who, and Which finally arrive, revealing that only Meg possesses the qualities needed to rescue Charles Wallace from the clutches of IT. Thus, she must decide whether she can face the pain and fear of returning to Camazotz to do so. I’ll leave the recap here, as I highly recommend the book to everyone, and don’t want to spoil the ending.

Final Thoughts

A Wrinkle in Time is still read and remembered today for some very good reasons. Madeleine L’Engle was a marvelous author who had a knack for speaking to young readers at their level without talking down to them. The book has an entertaining sense of whimsy, relatable characters, a strong moral core, and is infused with a positive, thoughtful approach to religion and spirituality. While I found A Wrinkle in Time rather intense when I was young, I found myself remembering nearly every aspect of the book as I re-read it six decades later, a testimony to the power of the narrative. And despite being decades old, the book feels fresh and not at all dated.

And now I turn the floor over to you: If you’ve read A Wrinkle in Time, or other books by L’Engle, I’d love to hear your thoughts on her work. And while, as I write this, the last few episodes of this season of Stranger Things have yet to air, the final season will have ended by the time this column publishes. I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts on the relationship between the two narratives, and any parallels between the ideas or characters in A Wrinkle in Time and the world of the TV series (or in any other works that have taken inspiration from L’Engle’s novel over the years…)[end-mark]

The post From Camazotz to <i>Stranger Things</i>: <i>A Wrinkle in Time</i> by Madeleine L’Engle appeared first on Reactor.

Books reading recommendations

Five Horror Stories About Inanimate Objects Coming to Life

Creepy dolls and sinister puppets are bad, but how about a haunted, sentient rollercoaster?

By Lorna Wallace

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Published on January 6, 2026

Photo: Tapio Haaja [via Unsplash]

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Photo: Tapio Haaja [via Unsplash]

The idea of inanimate objects coming to life may sound whimsical, but in the hands of horror authors, it can be absolutely terrifying. Stephen King has employed this strategy to great effect over the course of his career: Not only has he given sentience to objects with clear lethal ability, most notably a car in Christine (1983) and an industrial ironing machine in “The Mangler” (1972), but he’s even managed to transform seemingly harmless objects into the stuff of nightmares—I’m looking at you, topiary animals from The Shining (1977).

Of course, Stephen King isn’t the only author to imbue inanimate objects with life to sinister effect. Here are five other memorable examples.

“The Ancestors” by Adam Nevill (2009)

(Collected in Some Will Not Sleep) It’s not all that uncommon for small children to witness something creepy, but to not be aware of how disturbing the event is to the adults around them. This disparity helps drive the narrative, and the reader’s deepening sense of unease, in “The Ancestors.” Young Yuki has moved into a new house with her parents and although she initially didn’t want to leave her old life behind, she’s feeling better about it now that she’s befriended Maho, the resident ghost.

Friendships with ghosts aren’t necessarily scary or sinister—Casper is notoriously friendly, after all—but certain aspects of Maho’s behavior with Yuki would definitely freak out an adult. This includes Maho wrapping Yuki up in her long black hair when she sleeps (that’s a big no thank you from me). The one thing that does give Yuki pause is the fact that all of the toys in the house come to life at night, but Maho assures her that they’re friendly.

Given that this is a horror story and not Toy Story (1995), it’ll come as no surprise that the toys aren’t exactly innocent, but I’ll let you discover exactly how for yourself.

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell (2017)

Set largely during the Victorian period, The Silent Companions is a creepy and atmospheric Gothic tale that unfolds over three connected timelines.

The main story begins in 1865, with Elsie Bainbridge, a recently widowed pregnant woman, moving into her late husband’s ancestral home, The Bridge. Along with the help of his cousin, Sarah, and a few housekeepers, Elsie works to fix up the dilapidated house. In a locked room, she finds life-size wooden figures—known as silent companions—and decides to decorate the house with them. She also finds the diary of Anne Bainbridge and this narrative, written during 1635, forms the second timeline. The third thread of the story follows Elsie in a psychiatric hospital at an unspecific time in the future.

We know from the jump that things go wrong for Elsie at The Bridge (the book opens with her confined to the hospital) and it’s obvious that the eerie silent companions had something to do with it, but there’s also a psychological element to this novel that leaves the reader constantly questioning events.

Gothic by Philip Fracassi (2022)

Tyson Parks was once a bestselling horror author, but his past few books have flopped and he’s struggling to get words down on the page for his current work-in-progress. That all changes when his girlfriend gifts him an antique desk for his birthday. Sure, the fact that the desk had fallen and crushed a worker at the antique dealers is a little unsettling. And yes, some of the ornate images carved into the wood are pretty grotesque. But Tyson doesn’t much care because at least he’s finally writing again.

It quickly becomes clear that the desk is possessed by something sinister, though, and while it reignites Tyson’s literary spark, it also twists him into an abhorrent person [CW: this involves a graphic rape scene]. Gothic is an exploration of a writer’s descent into madness, and along the way the reader is treated (or subjected, depending on your point of view) to some gruesome body horror courtesy of this demonic desk.

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix (2023)

Based on the cover alone, How to Sell a Haunted House looks like a typical haunted house story, but there’s an extra horror element at play: creepy puppets and dolls.

The story starts with Louise learning that her parents have been killed in a car crash. Grieving is hard enough as it is, but she’s also tasked with settling her parents estate with the help (or, in her view, interference) of her brother, Mark. The siblings have never seen eye to eye and their combative dynamic is only exacerbated by their attempts to clean out the house so that it can be sold. But the situation goes from pretty bad to significantly worse when they discover that their mom’s extensive collection of puppets and dolls has been brought to life by a dangerous spirit haunting the house.

Grady Hendrix is known for his fun and intentionally campy writing style—something which lends itself well to possessed puppet horror—but this story manages to balance humor with a serious and heartfelt exploration of grief.

“The Merge Monster Incident: One Year Later” by Johnny Compton (2025)

If dolls and desks don’t seem like big enough threats when it comes to inanimate objects coming to life, then how about something on a grander scale—perhaps a whole rollercoaster? The Merge Monster is a coaster that was Frankensteined together from the parts of other decommissioned carnival rides. Then one day, the rollercoaster simply comes to life and walks out of the theme park—with people still strapped in.

This short story is told from the perspective of a journalist one year after the seemingly impossible event took place. Our protagonist is trying to piece together any information they can about the Merge Monster Incident by digging into the coaster’s construction, interviewing theme park guests who witnessed the event—clear video footage unfortunately doesn’t exist—and attempting to track the coaster’s movements since it simply walked away.

The idea of a rollercoaster coming to life might seem silly to begin with, but the story quickly takes on a chilling air and by the end leaves readers haunted by a few key questions which are only partially answered. Where exactly did the Merge Monster go? And what happened to the people who were still on the ride?

If you’d prefer to watch inanimate objects come to life on the screen, rather than read about them on the page, you can check out this list of horror movies! And please chime in below to recommend and discuss other scary stories about formerly inanimate objects come to life…[end-mark]

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News Pluribus

Pluribus: What That Ursula K. Le Guin Book Suggests About the Series

Just some light reading for Carol as she sits by the pool

By Vanessa Armstrong

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Published on January 5, 2026

Credit: Apple TV

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Credit: Apple TV

This post contains one spoiler from the Pluribus finale, specifically about Carol reading a certain book.

The finale of Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus came out on December 26, and while the episode certainly included a lot, there was one moment that surely had sci-fi fans doing a double take and pointing eagerly at the screen.

The scene in question had Carol (Rhea Seehorn) lounging at a pool while Zosia (Karolina Wydra) swims some laps. It’s the end of humanity, and for the moment Carol has accepted it. And what could be a better way to accept that the Joining isn’t going anywhere than to read Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness?

“We talked about who Carol might read in general, especially for leisure,” Seehorn said in an interview with Mashable. “Not that Le Guin’s books are easy, passive reading, but they definitely seem like books and a voice and a literary level that Carol would admire.”

The nod is a deft one: Le Guin, of course, is a literary legend, with The Left Hand of Darkness remaining one of her best-known works. The premise of the 1969 novel also has some parallels to Pluribus. In it, a man named Genly travels to the planet Gethen as an emissary of the Ekumen, a confederation of planets. The Ekumen wants the people of Gethen to join their organization, a mirror image of what the alien-virus thing in Pluribus has done to most of humanity, and what it seeks to do elsewhere in the universe.

Genly is also like Carol, a human effectively surrounded by an alien species. Yes, I know there are other non-Joined in Pluribus, but Carol is isolated from most of them as well… she’s not even invited to their Zoom meetups!

There are differences, of course. On Gethen, for example, people are ambisexual and only grow sex organs once a month (50/50 on whether they grow a vagina or a penis) and then have those organs disappear unless they’ve become pregnant. That’s a leap from what’s going on in Pluribus… or is it? How do the Joined consider gender? My initial guess is they consider themselves every gender and also none? Please discuss.

Perhaps Carol is considering these questions while reading (or rereading… probably rereading) The Left Hand of Darkness by the poolside. Le Guin’s novel is also a great option for us to read while we wait for Pluribus season two, and we’ve got a list of other books to check out before then as well. [end-mark]

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News They Will Kill You

Zazie Beetz Absolutely Refuses to Get Murdered —or Wear Pants— in New They Will Kill You Trailer

It’s not a game, it’s not a secret society, but it’s kind of both of those things?

By Molly Templeton

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Published on January 5, 2026

Screenshot: Warner Bros.

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Screenshot: Warner Bros.

If you have liked any moderately recent horror and/or violent and/or weird movies—from Ready or Not to that Crispin Glover movie in which he’s stuck in a hotel to The Menu—there may be something for you to enjoy in They Will Kill You, a movie in which an ex-con gets a new job at a building full of rich people, only to find that they all want to murder her. However, these rich Satan-worshippers really seem to have chosen their mark quite poorly.

It is not the most original of premises—it really does feel as if the creators have selected highlights from the last six or seven years of related films—but They Will Kill You stars Zazie Beetz, who seems entirely up to the task of sprinting through a plush high-rise, throwing axes, and occasionally missing with a tossed knife. There are some narrow crawlspaces, of course, and I am pleased to report that she does not seem to have to fight all her battles without pants. Just some of them.

Beetz is joined by a promising lineup of co-stars that includes Myha’La, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette at her imperious best.

New Line Cinema and Nocturna are slightly hyperbolic in their synopsis: “The film unleashes a blood-soaked, high-octane horror-action-comedy in which a young woman must survive the night at the Virgil, a demonic cult’s mysterious and twisted death-trap of a lair, before becoming their next offering in a uniquely brazen, big-screen battle of epic kills and wickedly dark humor.” The trailer below is the safe-for-all version; there’s a red-band version here that has more swears and body-part slicing.

They Will Kill You is directed by Kirill Sokolov, whose previous films include the charmingly titled Why Don’t You Just Die! (The exclamation point is part of the title, not an editorial comment.) It’s written by Sokolov and Alex Litvak (2011’s The Three Musketeers), and has among its producers the It team of Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti.

Enter the Virgil on March 27th.[end-mark]

The post Zazie Beetz Absolutely Refuses to Get Murdered —or Wear Pants— in New <i>They Will Kill You</i> Trailer appeared first on Reactor.

Movies & TV Stranger Things

Critical Hits and Misses of the Stranger Things Finale

Let’s talk about what worked, and what really didn’t, in this final season.

By Tyler Dean

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Published on January 6, 2026

Credit: Netflix

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Credit: Netflix

So… the Stranger Things finale was pretty good? It avoided most of the major pitfalls it had set up for itself, threaded the majority of its needles, and ended with a big dose of John Hughes and Stephen King—not the King of It or The Mist or ’Salem’s Lot, but the sappy, sometimes even treacly King of Stand by Me and The Life of Chuck. 

In a world of endlessly franchisable IPs and superhero fatigue where nothing can ever truly end for its characters, Stranger Things, despite having multiple spinoffs in the works, managed to make its ending feel final, reverent, and complete. Mostly. So let’s get into it and talk about what worked and didn’t work, both in the finale and the series as a whole…

Natural Twenty: Queerness

In the end, Stranger Things came through in its representation of queerness. Between Robin and Will, the show managed to have marginalized characters (eventually) be centered, thoughtful, and happy. Even though Will’s coming out scene ultimately feels like it was written as a laundry list of ’80s nostalgia experiences (I’m just like you! I also love capitalist products and mainstream pop culture!), it’s pretty heartwarming, even if the show makes it a little weird by having Will come out not only to his closest friends and family but also his brother’s girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend who he’s never spoken to, his physics teacher, and a random conspiracy theorist/smuggler. 

But if there were some hitches in the lead-up to the finale, the show does an excellent job in how it chooses to end Will’s story. In Mike’s hopeful narration for what he wants for his friends, we see Will, sometime in the early ’90s, in a bar that, if not a gay bar, is certainly queer-coded, meeting up with a boyfriend. Mike’s narration is clear that the sort of ending Will deserves is only available far away in “the bustling city of Vallaki” (we could nitpick here and say that Vallaki is hardly a bustling city in the Ravenloft adventure they’re playing and also note that it was only added with the 2016 publication of Curse of Strahd, but let’s get back to Will). There is a definite cut against the wish fulfillment fantasy of Will finding happiness in Hawkins with the friends he’s grown up with. But that is part of the magic of coming out for those lucky enough to be able to leave their bigoted small towns behind—the world is much larger than where you grew up, and there are better people in it than you thought possible.

Natural One: Thinking About Race

My surprise at how well Will and Robin’s character arcs worked out is, in part, because the show handled race (and, to a lesser extent, gender) with less-than-deft hands. In general, this took the form of ignoring race entirely. Other than one or two unfollowed-up-upon racist comments aimed at Lucas and Erica (mostly in earlier seasons), the fact that they are Black in rural, mid-’80s Indiana seems completely immaterial. See my previous discussion of season four for some further exploration of the ways in which the show really doesn’t seem to understand Lucas and privilege. 

The finale follows up on this vague lack of understanding about its characters of color with its treatment of Kali/Eight (really? Kali?). While I do think that bringing her back showed an admirable commitment to not simply memory-holing plot points that didn’t fully work in previous seasons (I will also admit to some malicious glee at seeing Kali’s gang of too-quirky misfits and lazy punk stereotypes getting gunned down), the show seemed to never fully acknowledge that Kali’s outlook might have been partially shaped by being a woman of color in a hostile nation. The fact that Stranger Things not only uses her as their annual sacrifice-a-secondary-character-to-provide-drama figure but also places the nihilistic argument that she and Eleven both have to die in order to put an end to the government’s experiments in Kali’s mouth feels simultaneously ahistorical, cruel, and more than a little bit tone-deaf given the Duffer Brothers’ misunderstandings of how race in America worked in the ’80s and still works today. 

As a final note, it also feels more than a little weird that Kali’s death is partially the result of Hopper choosing to leave her behind when she and El are both incapacitated by the military’s sonic weapons. It feels in character for Hopper and he does, eventually, go back for her, but it does so in a way that seems like it needed to be discussed and reckoned with later. Because it’s the finale, there isn’t time to do so. But we are left with a character of color sacrificing themself so that a white character can live, and this is made more troubling because it comes at the end of a long line of some uncomfortable characterizations that make me less generous in assessing the finale.

Critical Hit: A Lack of Wish Fulfillment

I’ve long complained about the plot armor of Stranger Things protagonists and the ways in which the show often compromised an interesting story to work in a bit of wish fulfillment or a badass sequence. To its confounding credit, the finale managed to avoid almost every pitfall it looked like it was setting itself up for. It pulled back from the inclination of breaking up Nancy and Jonathan so that she could get back together with Steve; it resisted giving Will a last-minute love interest so that everyone could be paired off; it left Robin and Vickie’s relationship up in the air (Robin makes mention of an overbearing significant other in her final scene, but that may or may not be Vickie); and it refused to give Mike or Hopper any clear sign that Eleven had survived.

But, more than just resisting its worst impulses, the show leaned hard into the uncertainty of growing up. For the D&D group, we have Mike’s hopes for his friends, paired with footage that seems to confirm these hopes without actually giving us proper epilogues. It asks us to want happy endings and to suggest they are possible, but never goes so far as to goofily mandate them. For the older kids, we get a rooftop meeting where they promise to always remain in one another’s lives despite how much they already seem to be drifting apart. It’s the sort of scene that plays, for adult viewers, as the last time these characters will all be in the same place at the same time. Perfectly underscored by Cowboy Junkies’ “Sweet Jane” (my favorite needle drop in the entire show), it’s elegiac and fulfilling, even as it refuses to assure us that these relationships will continue. 

And that all dovetails with Eleven’s possible escape from her apparent death. There’s a plausible explanation for how she might have survived and there are enough clues in the moment that seem to support it (the illusory Eleven doesn’t have a nosebleed or her Hawkins Lab tattoo). And, while the revelation that a central character may secretly be alive could invite a certain amount of eye-rolling, this honestly feels like the perfect way to let go. She is forever barred from finding her friends or family but she gets to start anew. Mike gets to move on and live a somewhat normal life. Hopper finally has to process the grief of losing Sarah and Eleven, in telling him that she isn’t a replacement, gifts him the ability to live a life that isn’t spent in the shadow of a child he believes he failed.

Critical Miss: Dr. Kay

Not much to say here other than if you’re going to cast national treasure like Linda Hamilton, you have to do something with her. Much like Carey Elwes in season three, this particular bit of ’80s nostalgia stunt casting ended up squandering its considerable potential.

Critical Hit: Processing Trauma

I’m not talking about Joyce’s “you fucked with the wrong family.” That line seems to be yet another listless stab at the iconic “Get away from her, you bitch” moment in which Ryder’s esteemed Alien franchise costar faces off against the Xenomorph queen (and which has been redone to the point of parody—over and over again. Besides, Nancy being styled like Ripley and kicking ass with a shotgun feels like a much better homage). But, as Joyce hacks off Vecna’s head, the show flashes to each of the main characters in turn as they consider the awful things they’ve endured. Their expressions aren’t about closure—the characters are, if anything, triggered by what they are seeing. The deaths, abuses, indignities, and gaslighting they have suffered though are still very present and it’s clear that the show ends only as the healing begins…a long and arduous journey outside of the purview of the finale itself. 

The whole thing pairs nicely with the end of Will’s arc as a survivor. In the finale, we learn that Henry Creel is not the mastermind puppeting the Mindflayer, but rather another victim who became a forced accomplice over years of abuse and torture. When Will discovers this, he draws the obvious parallel—“you’re just like me”—but Henry scoffs at this, too far down the path of capitulating to monstrousness to imagine the possibility of redemption. A last-minute face turn from Vecna would have been unbearable, but allowing Will to empathize with him is the final proof of his moral convictions. It’s a great end to Will’s journey towards self-acceptance and an ameliorating corollary to the show’s idea that nostalgia comes from trauma observed at a temporal remove.

Critical Miss: Tie-ins with the Play

From everything I’ve heard, Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a real mess. Like Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (which was also co-written by The First Shadow playwright Jack Thorne), it’s a lot of spectacle and nostalgia crammed with as many references to its source material as possible. Like the laziest of fan fiction or the most soulless of corporate cash grabs, it risks ruining its plot by obsessively tying itself in with a more beloved story—in this particular case, by making Henry Creel a high school classmate of Joyce, Hopper, the Wheelers (weirdly retconning the fact that Ted Wheeler is supposed to be significantly older than Karen), and Sean Astin’s Bob Newby. With Creel firmly tied in with Hawkins Lab and the Creel family massacre being a part of the town’s mythos, it truly makes no sense that Henry is also the old classmate of two of the show’s main characters. 

It’s even weirder that the show both doubles down on the canonicity of the play while never once acknowledging that Joyce decapitates her old drama club buddy. As a result, the Stranger Things finale feels like it’s both paying off plot points it didn’t set up (like Joyce’s profoundly weird school play set) while also treating previously available information like it’s a reveal (Henry’s experiences in the cave are detailed in the play but have to be treated as new information because of how few show viewers had actually seen it). That’s pretty messy. And, again, this all feels like it’s in service to a play that was largely panned for everything unrelated to set design and visual effects. The inclusion of that material makes the show more confusing at best and much, much less compelling at worst. 

In Conclusion

All in all, Stranger Things stuck its landing better than I could have possibly imagined. There might have been some low expectations going into season five, but the show managed to treat its characters with respect while never sinking into the pointless, fan-service reverence that previous seasons seemed to be angling towards. It played its nostalgia for pathos rather than winking reference and was, in the end, the ending to a much better show than it had been in ages. But what do you think? Did it satisfy your craving for Stephen King-esque ’80s horror? Did you also like the eleventh-hour reference to Krull where the final fight with the monster takes place inside the brutalist body of a larger monster? What were your favorite or least favorite parts of the whole thing? Let me know in the comments![end-mark]

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Column Babylon 5 Rewatch

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “The Exercise of Vital Powers”

Garibaldi finally meets his new employer, while Dr. Franklin discovers that Lyta can influence the modified telepaths…

By Keith R.A. DeCandido

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Published on January 5, 2026

Credit: Warner Bros. Television

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Credit: Warner Bros. Television

“The Exercise of Vital Powers”
Written by J. Michael Straczynski
Directed by John Lafia
Season 4, Episode 16
Production episode 416
Original air date: June 2, 1997

It was the dawn of the third age… The rebel fleet has moved on from liberating Proxima to liberating Beta Durani colony and the Mid-Range Military Base. In a personal log, we hear Garibaldi lamenting that Sheridan is really doing this. This concerns him sufficiently that he has gone against a long-ago-taken oath to never return to Mars.

He and Wade are in a transport tube, heading to Edgars’ Mars home. Wade insists that Garibaldi put on a blindfold, as Edgars values his privacy. Garibaldi thinks that’s absurd and that he’ll look silly. Along the way, they babble about various things, including Wade surprising Garibaldi with the revelation that he has a Masters Degree in English Literature.

On B5, Franklin is continuing his efforts to free the telepaths from Shadow influence, but nothing is working. Allan, who is there on other business, asks for an update. After Franklin tells him, and expresses his frustration, particularly with the fact that Sheridan has yet to tell him what, exactly, is the hurry. Alexander arrives, Allan having asked her there to scan the victim of an assault, who’s having trouble remembering his attacker and wishes some psionic assistance in doing so. While there, Alexander makes telepathic contact with Franklin’s patient, who gets up and walks toward her and doesn’t go crazy or try to destroy everything or reach out to control the equipment.

It only lasts a moment, and as soon as it’s over, Alexander buggers off. Franklin tracks her down, and she apologizes for messing up his experiment, but Franklin gleefully explains that this is the first progress he’s made in ages, and asks her to come back when she’s done with her current job. She reluctantly agrees.

On Mars, Garibaldi arrives at Edgars’ palatial home—Edgars apologizing for how small it is, saying his place on Earth is way bigger. But domed space is at a premium on Mars. However, because he owns businesses on Mars, Edgars has to live on the red planet for half the year to make use of the tax benefits.

Edgars wants to know why Garibaldi was so eager for a face-to-face right now, and Garibaldi explains that he’s concerned about Sheridan. Yes, Clark’s bad news, but Sheridan’s military attack will just tear Earth apart. Garibaldi also seems to think that Sheridan has designs to take over Earth himself. But Garibaldi absolutely does not want to turn him over to Clark. He’d rather Edgars do it. He’ll be seen as a hero, and that will be capital that will be useful to him.

Over the course of the next few days, Garibaldi and Edgars have several conversations. It’s clear that Edgars doesn’t trust Clark, and is especially concerned at how much power he’s given to Psi Corps. He makes it clear that the megacorps have really been running things, and they suspected that Clark had Santiago assassinated long before B5 released the footage proving it.

One of those conversations happens in the middle of the night, with Garibaldi forcibly taken from his bed and brought to a room with a telepath (Edgars wants him frazzled and out of sorts so he’s less likely to hide his thoughts). Edgars asks him several pointed questions, with the telepath showing with a nod whether or not Garibaldi is telling the truth. Garibaldi says he doesn’t trust telepaths.

On B5, Alexander is able to help Franklin find a way around the Shadow implants, though Alexander also has to stop the patient from killing himself. When Sheridan checks in with Ivanova, he transfers down to medlab, at which point Franklin demands to know what he needs the telepaths for so urgently. Sheridan only tells him in private on a secure coded channel—and does so off-camera, so we only see Franklin’s devastated reaction. He then asks if Alexander is available for a long-term gig that will involve travel to Mars.

On Mars, Edgars eventually reveals that he’s incredibly concerned about telepaths. Both he and Garibaldi agree that there will be a reckoning, and Edgars’ concern is that it won’t be a war in the military sense, but rather a war of information and privacy—or lack of same. Plus, Clark has given Psi Corps a great deal more power, and they won’t just give that up once Clark is out of power.

They also agree that Sheridan needs to be stopped. Edgars needs Sheridan off the table to that Clark will relax and lower his guard. He’ll read Garibaldi completely in on what he has planned once he knows for sure he can trust the erstwhile security chief. And his condition for gaining that trust: to turn Sheridan over to Clark. Garibaldi initially refuses, as Clark will kill him, but Edgars assures him that he’ll want to capture Sheridan and gain the propaganda value of having him as a prisoner.

Garibaldi then reveals how to capture Sheridan: through his father David. Edgars says that Clark’s been turning Earth upside down to find David to no avail, but Garibaldi knows how to do it. David suffers from a blood disease that requires a Centauri drug called tenasticin. Find a bogus prescription of that, and you’ll probably find David.

We also see Edgars and Wade looking in on three patients, who are obviously dying, their bodies covered in lesions. Edgars instructs Wade to put them down, as if they were sick pets, as they shouldn’t have to suffer anymore and they have all the information they need.

Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan is nervous because everything is going so well. Both Franklin and Garibaldi talk about how much he’s changed since returning from Z’ha’dum.

Ivanova is God. The episode opens with Ivanova’s “Voice of the Resistance” broadcast filling in the viewer on the rebel fleet’s progress. In addition, she reports to Sheridan that Clark sent two destroyers to take B5 but as soon as they arrived, they defected.

The household god of frustration. Garibaldi makes it clear that he knows that Edgars is up to something more complicated and dangerous than he lets on, mostly by the very fact that he hired Garibaldi. If he just wanted to keep his shipments safe from his competitors, he’d buy a ship and keep it off the radar. He needed secrecy from everyone, which is why he hired Garibaldi.

If you value your lives, be somewhere else. When Ivanova tells Sheridan that Delenn is finishing up her business on Minbar and will be returning to B5 soon, Sheridan gets this goofy grin on his face. It’s very adorable.

The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Alexander is able to telepathically help the Shadow-infested psis. Meantime, the poor telepath that Edgars hires to polygraph Garibaldi is “paid” by being shot and killed by Wade.

The Shadowy Vorlons. Alexander hears the sound of a Shadow vessel when she scans Franklin’s patient. Also, according to Edgars, the Shadows’ interest in Psi Corps is what prompted Clark to keep them close and make them a bigger part of his administration. Garibaldi doesn’t bother to explain the reasons to Edgars—that the Shadows are vulnerable to telepathy—probably because the Shadows aren’t really a factor anymore.

Looking ahead. Sheridan’s use for the Shadow-infested telepaths will finally be revealed in “Endgame.” Edgars’ full plan will be revealed next time in “The Face of the Enemy.”

No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. The last question Edgars asks Garibaldi while in the room with the telepath is if he’s still in love with Lise. Garibaldi lies and says no. Later, Garibaldi and Lise have a fraught conversation in which it’s clear that Garibaldi still loves her and that she needs more than a declaration, especially since it’s clear that he’s married to the job first, and any relationship is secondary.

Welcome aboard. Back from “Conflicts of Interest” are Denise Gentile as Lise and Mark Schneider as Wade. Back from “Moments of Transition,” and actually appearing in front of the camera and credited for the first time, is the late great Efram Zimbalist Jr. as Edgars. All three will return next week in “The Face of the Enemy.” In addition, Shelley Robertson does excellent work with her facial expressions and actually gets credited despite having no dialogue as the telepath.

Trivial matters. The episode title derives from Aristotle’s description of happiness, which Edgars quotes: “The exercise of vital powers along lines of excellence in a life affording them scope.”

Edgars mentions times in history when the people of a nation let fascists take over, citing Russia in 1917 and Germany in 1939 (which actually happened, though it would’ve been more accurate to say Germany in 1933, which is when Hitler was elected chancellor), and also Russia again in 2013 and Iraq in 2025 (which didn’t happen), as well as France in 2112 (which still might). Edgars also makes reference to the Nazi party and the Communist party, as well as the “Jihad party,” which one assumes is supposed to be one in our future and the show’s past.

Garibaldi mentions that three times Mars tried to kill him. One would be when he and Sinclair trekked across the surface of Mars, mentioned in “Infection” and dramatized in the “Shadows Past and Present” storyline that ran through the fifth through eighth issues of DC’s B5 comic book by Tim DeHaas & John Ridgway.

The echoes of all of our conversations.

“Did you know this place was named after the god of war? Its rising foretold the death of kings, the collapse of empires. It was a very bad sign. Now there are two million people living here.”

“It’s still a bad sign.”

—Wade and Garibaldi discussing Mars.

The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Everybody lies.” As with “Conflicts of Interest,” we have Michael Garibaldi as a twenty-third-century Dashiell Hammett character, with his manly demands and his cynical voiceovers and his weepy scene with Lise and his macho posturing and his reluctant descent into betrayal.

And it’s actually kind of fun. Jerry Doyle in particular sells the character’s disgust at having to return to Mars. Denise Gentile is a little too melodramatic, but given the awful dialogue she’s stuck reading, there’s only so much she can do.

The episode is, however, owned by the mighty Efram Zimbalist Jr. Edgars has to deliver a lot of exposition, and the dialogue he has as written could very easily have devolved into didactic droning. But his silken voice and relaxed delivery absolutely sell it. It’s a magnificent performance.

Overall, this is a very quiet, talky episode, the calm before the storm, and almost entirely setup. It sets a lot of important things in motion, many of which will pay off next time. On its own it just barely works, mainly due to the frank discussions about telepaths between Edgars and Garibaldi, which Doyle and Zimbalist Jr. make more compelling than they might be in the hands of lesser talents. Still and all, these discussions do a nice job explicating the ethical issues that would come up if a subset of humanity developed the ability to read minds.

Mention should also be made of Shelley Robertson, who has a superb gift for facial expressions, conveying quite a bit without saying a word as the telepath who serves as Garibaldi’s polygraph.

Next week: “The Face of the Enemy.”[end-mark]

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Books SFF Bestiary

Hunting the Great White Whale-Thing on Jupiter

A reimagining of Moby-Dick that takes the classic whale hunt into space…

By Judith Tarr

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Published on January 5, 2026

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Thanks to editor Mal Frazier at Tor, who read the SFF Bestiary article on Moby-Dick and offered an early look at an upcoming novel, I have had a very pleasant end-of-year vacation reading Alexis Hall’s Hell’s Heart. The jacket copy calls it “Gideon the Ninth meets Moby-Dick,” and that’s accurate. It’s a bravura piece, following the plot and characters of Melville’s novel closely, but taking them in directions that are all its own.

There is so much to this retelling and recasting. Literary allusions in two languages and cultural traditions. Historical references. Worldbuilding that riffs, sometimes ferociously, off current events.

In the far future, the spaceship Pequod, which the narrator calls a hunter-barque, and its crew and its legendary captain, hunt Leviathans on and in Jupiter. Earth, or Terra, has been stripped of its resources and essentially abandoned. Most of humanity lives in space.

It’s a grand adventure. It’s also blessed (some readers might say cursed, but that would not be me) by Melville’s original structure, which puts the worldbuilding right out front, in dedicated chapters. We learn in detail what a hunter-barque looks like, what its parts are and why; we know what it’s doing out there, and above all, for the purposes of the Bestiary, what it’s hunting.

There’s a whole chapter called “Cetology.” Here we learn that

These are the creatures we will meet, and the characters will hunt and fight and kill and be killed by. The category adds up to, at its simplest, “some great beast with chitinous mandibles and feeder tendrils.”

Behemoths are the biggest:

The description makes me think of amphipods, though these small and abundant terrestrial creatures are not armored. The shape and overall structure are similar.

That reads to me like jellyfish. Jellies are as alien as it gets on this planet, and I can see them making sense on Jupiter.

Wyrms are a different kind of animal, and ubiquitous in the story:

The narrator points out the analogy to eels, and to the remoras that surround various species of whales, as well as the parasites that infect the eyes of Greenland sharks. Wyrms are a fair bit like sharks themselves, in the way they’re always there, ready to swarm in toward any possible prey. A considerable part of the job of processing a kill involves fighting off Wyrms.

And finally, there are the true Leviathans, of which there are multiple species.

Although we know these are the Jovian analogues of whales—both baleen and toothed whales—their anatomy, with the rippling fins and the sharply pointed tail, points toward another terrestrial species, the giant oarfish.

Of those species, the ones most relevant to the story are the Barnard’s or Slack-Jawed, which is the largest and least known, and which feeds on energy by swimming or flying along with its mouth wide open; the Death’s Head,

And finally, the real point of it all, the reason for the hunt and the whole epic adventure, the Ridgeback or Sperm Leviathan.

There are others, but these are the ones that figure in the story. The Ridgeback matters most of all to the universe it lives and is hunted in, because spermaceti powers everything in the human system. Without it, there’s no life support, no transport, no habitats, nothing. Everything relies on it.

That makes the Pequod’s mission vital. The crew sign on for a three-year voyage, paid by shares in the eventual profits, like terrestrial whalers. The ship becomes their world. They meet other ships occasionally, but for the most part they sail, or fly, through the Jovian atmosphere in search of the electrical spouts that mark the presence of their prey.

The hunt, the capture, the kill, proceed much as they do in Melville, with similar levels of both danger and tedium. Because this is Moby-Dick in space, the ship’s captain is spectacularly and epically fixated on the legendary (if not outright mythical) Möbius Beast. This Leviathan of extraordinary size, intelligence, and apparent malice robbed her of her leg, and she is dead set on revenge.

Leviathan anatomy, biology, and behavior are crucial parts of the story. Despite centuries of the hunt, no one knows a great deal about Jovian animals. It’s not even known to science how or when or where they breed, though hunters (if they should ever be asked) can answer some of those questions. The Pequod, like its terrestrial forebear, finds a breeding ground, and sees how Leviathans gather in family groupings, with females and young and the enormous males.

Scientists might study, but hunters hunt. The breeding ground is a bonanza. Hunters can pick and choose their quarry, hunt down and kill and process as many Leviathans as their equipment and their crew can manage. Conservation is not an issue, and preservation has no meaning. The human universe can’t survive without the hunt and the kill. There’s no alternative, as far as we know or the narrator will tell us.

Just as in Melville, the hunters don’t see the quarry as fellow sentients. They’re hunting monsters, creatures whose intelligence isn’t relevant, unless it happens to be hostile. Even there, that hostility or apparent malice may be no more real or intentional than the storms that buffet them or the gravity that pulls them down into the depths of the gas giant.

Hell’s Heart does a splendid job of capturing the spirit of Moby-Dick. A good part of that, and a great deal of the fun, is the range and variety of its fauna. Even though we know how it has to end, when we finally meet the Möbius beast, we’re there for it. We’re ready for that last, terrifying, fatally fascinating ride into the heart of Jupiter’s blood-red hell.[end-mark]

Buy the Book

Hell’s Heart

Alexis Hall

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Hell's Heart

Alexis Hall

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News Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 5 Casts Thomas Jane as Dr. McCoy and Kai Murakami as Sulu

The two actors are expected to appear in Strange New Worlds’ series finale

By Matthew Byrd

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Published on December 23, 2025

Photo: CBS Paramount Television

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Photo: CBS Paramount Television

Paramount has confirmed a new casting update for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5, revealing that Thomas Jane will play Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy and Kai Murakami will portray Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu in the series’ final season.

Interestingly, both actors will only join Strange New Worlds for the season 5 finale (the show’s final episode, which was shot over the past weekend in Toronto). While it’s a bit odd that Paramount decided to reveal what appear to be elaborate cameo appearances so far ahead of that episode’s air date, it does make sense that these two characters will join the show as Star Trek: Strange New Worlds inches closer to The Original Series timeline. Beyond that, little is known about their appearances at this time.

You likely know Thomas Jane from his work in films like Boogie Nights, The Mist, Deep Blue Sea, and the HBO comedy series Hung. He is, at least in this writer’s opinion, always a welcome presence in whatever he is in. As for Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, he was first played by actor DeForest Kelley in the Original Series show and movies and later by Karl Urban in the JJ Abrams’ rebooted film universe. He’s Kirk’s best (human) friend, a lovable grump, and a damn good doctor (though don’t assume he’s qualified for other professions). Granted, Jane is perhaps a bit older than what the part strictly calls for, but there’s no good reason to let trivial things such as time get in the way of what is honestly some pretty perfect Dr. McCoy casting.

Kai Murakami is a bit of an unknown. He’s actually more of a theater actor whose credits include various performances in London and Japan. Some of you may actually know him best (relatively speaking) from the motion capture work he’s done for games like Assassin’s Creed Shadows. He also performed as a Kazego (special puppeteer performers) in the Royal Shakespeare Company production of My Neighbour Totoro, which you can actually read a little more about in this fascinating interview with the show’s costume designer. It’s interesting to see them go with a lesser-known performer for the Sulu role following some memorable portrayals of the character from actors like George Takei and John Cho, though perhaps Murakami’s physicality tells us something about the nature of Sulu’s casting and the character’s eventual Strange New Worlds appearance.

Sadly, you’re going to have to wait quite a while to see either performer in Strange New Worlds. As previously reported, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 5 isn’t expected to premiere until late 2026 or early 2027. [end-mark]

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Movies & TV Watchlist

Here Are All the Genre Movies Premiering in January!

This month’s releases feature a variety of zombies, an alien time loop, and a super-powered dog…

By Petrana Radulovic

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Published on January 6, 2026

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There is a lot of entertainment out there these days, and a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror titles to parse through.  So we’re rounding up the genre movies coming out each month. 

January is apparently a great month for bloody horror and post-apocalyptic sci-fi. The sequel to 28 Years Later hits theaters, along with movies about vampire cops, murderous chimpanzees, and haunted nursing homes. There are also two horror video game adaptations: Return to Silent Hill and Iron Lung. 

The Home — in theaters January 1

Pete Davidson stars in this psychological horror film, playing Max, a troubled graffiti artist who works at a retirement home as part of court-ordered community service. Max is cautioned not to go to the fourth floor of the home. But he soon starts to notice disturbing things happening to the residents and begins to investigate. 

We Bury the Dead — in theaters January 2

A grieving woman searches for her husband in a military disaster zone. She joins a body retrieval unit, still hoping to find him alive. But things begin to take a terrifying turn when some of the corpses she’s retrieved start to stir. They become more and more violent as the mission goes on. 

Greenland 2: Migration— in theaters January 9

Five years ago (in 2020’s Greenland) a comet destroyed most of Earth. Now the survivors, including the Garrity family, must leave the safety of their shelter in Greenland and trek across the wastelands of what was once Europe in order to find a new home. 

Primate — in theaters January 9

After being bitten by a rabid animal, a pet chimpanzee named Ben goes on a violent rampage, turning a tropical vacation into a bloody fight for survival. Ben is smarter than the average chimp and can use his tablet to communicate, which leads to some chilling moments in the trailer with the repeating robotic voice.

Starbright — in theaters January 9

During an eclipse, a star crashes to earth and a young woman becomes its guardian. The trailer shows the star as a small fairylike creature and the footage starts off like a typical fantasy, with the young woman twirling around in a fancy dress and dancing with a handsome stranger. But things take an action-packed turn with various shoot-outs and explosions. Apparently guarding a star isn’t for the fainthearted. 

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple — in theaters January 16

Like the rest of the movies in the post-apocalyptic horror 28 Days series, The Bone Temple takes place in a world where a virus induces homicidal rage and eventually causes the collapse of society. Characters from the previous installments return—including Cillian Murphy’s Jim from the 2002 original movie.

Killer Whale — on VOD January 16

While on a tropical vacation, two young women take a getaway to a secluded lagoon. But their blissful retreat takes a bloody turn when a vengeful orca finds them and decides that it wants revenge for years in captivity. Orcas aren’t usually violent towards humans in the wild, but this one has an agenda. 

All You Need Is Kill — in select theaters January 16

In this surreal animated sci-fi action flick, adapted from a Japanese light novel of the same name, a young woman is caught in a time loop. Every morning she wakes up and battles monstrous alien creatures, dying in the process. And then she wakes up again and again. She’s not sure how to escape till she crosses paths with a young man also trapped in the same time loop. If this sounds familiar, All You Need Is Kill was previously adapted in the 2014 live action movie Edge of Tomorrow.

The Confession — in theaters January 16

A musician returns to her childhood home only to find a taped murder confession from her late father. Dead animals start showing up around her home and her son starts acting erratically. What links them might be a strange town folktale about a man who lured children like the Pied Piper. 

Charlie the Wonderdog — in theaters January 16

Owen Wilson voices a dog who gets abducted by aliens and then gains superpowers. His human family is understandably surprised—but also concerned about his safety. But Wonderdog just wants to save the day. And when an evil cat starts plotting for world domination, he’ll need to step up his hero game. 

Night Patrol — in theaters January 16

An LAPD officer learns that one squad of officers is hiding a dark supernatural secret: they’re vampires who prey on unsuspecting victims in poor neighborhoods. He must team up with some of the street gangs from his childhood neighborhood in order to fight the vampire cops. 

Cosmic Princess Kaguya! — on Netflix January 22

Cosmic Princess Kaguya! is a modern musical reimagining of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. In this version, the mysterious (and very hyperactive) princess crashlands from the moon into a regular high school student’s apartment. The two bond over music in a virtual world, where they’re able to pursue their dreams away from the stress of day-to-day life.

Mercy  — in theaters January 23

In the near future (the scary year of 2029), a detective must prove to an AI judge that he did not murder his wife. Chris Pratt stars as the wrongfully convicted detective, with Rebecca Ferguson as the advanced artificial intelligence overseeing the trial. 

Return to Silent Hill  — in theaters January 23

Return to Silent Hill specifically adapts the second Silent Hill game. It will be the third movie based on the popular horror video game franchise. In this one, a widower named James receives a letter from his deceased wife which urges him to go to the mysterious town of Silent Hill. While there, he learns the town has been clouded in a strange supernatural fog, with monsters lurking within. 

Mother of Flies — on Shudder January 23

After being diagnosed with a terminal illness, a young woman seeks out a strange witch in the woods of the Catskills, who claims she can trick death. But the price of her cure is high—will it be worth the supernatural costs? Mother of Flies comes from the Adams family, a family of indie horror directors who also star as the main characters in the movie.

Iron Lung — in select theaters January 30

The feature film debut of popular YouTuber Markiplier (real name Mark Fischbach), Iron Lung is based on a sci-fi horror game of the same name. In a distant post-apocalyptic future, a convict (played by Markiplier) is sent to explore an ocean of blood on a distant moon in a tiny, poorly constructed submarine.[end-mark]

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Movies & TV Watchlist

Here Are All the Genre TV Premieres Airing in January!

New recruits enroll at Starfleet Academy, a college student tries his hand at vigilante crime-fighting, and a struggling actor becomes the MCU’s newest superhero

By Petrana Radulovic

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Published on January 5, 2026

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There is a lot of entertainment out there these days, and a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror titles to parse through. So we’re rounding up the genre shows coming out each month.

It’s the start of winter anime season, which means a lot of new anime, including the return of some favorite titles like Jujutsu Kaisen and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, and spinoffs of some popular anime like Trigun and My Hero Academia. A new Star Trek show also launches this month, along with the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe series, and a Game of Thrones spinoff.

The Outcast — Crunchyroll (January 2)

(Season 6) A college student discovers a supernatural world after stumbling into a tiny village and being attacked by zombies. A mysterious sword-wielding girl saves him, but that’s only the beginning of his adventures. This anime is based on a Chinese webcomic called Under One Person. 

Sentenced to Be a Hero — Crunchyroll (January 3) 

In this fantasy world, criminals are sentenced to acts of heroism—and this condemned criminal must battle endless hordes of monsters. When he dies, he’s simply resurrected and forced to fight them again. But there might be a way out, if he allies with a mysterious goddess…

Kunon the Sorcerer Can See — Crunchyroll (January 4)

A young blind man named Kunon decides to hone water magic in order to create a new set of eyes. Kunon begins to show great skill in his magic training, even surpassing his mentor in ability. But even as his magical ability grows, his main goal remains out of reach—will he ever be able to see? 

Noble Reincarnation: Born Blessed, So I’ll Obtain Ultimate Power — Crunchyroll (January 4) 

A very powerful six-year old has been reborn as the child of an emperor. He has a ton of powers, which increase with every loyal follower who pledges themselves to his cause. But all this wealth, power, and privilege has a hidden cost, especially when it comes to the royal court’s political machinations. 

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes —  Crunchyroll (January 5) 

In a world where most people have some sort of superpower, only a few are chosen to go on and become heroes. But one unlicensed college student decides to test his luck and becomes a vigilante. This series takes place five years before the events of popular anime series My Hero Academia.

The Demon King’s Daughter is Too Kind!! — Crunchyroll (January 6) 

Demon King Ahriman wants to conquer the world—till he’s stopped by his compassionate daughter Dou. She’s just such a sweetheart that everyone who meets her melts immediately! Jahi, the king’s loyal secretary, decides to train Dou into a proper, terrifying demon—but can she overcome Dou’s adorableness and kind heart? 

There was a Cute Girl in the Hero’s Party, so I Tried Confessing to Her — Crunchyroll (January 6)

In this comedic enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance, a demon unexpectedly falls for a beautiful priestess. He’s supposed to destroy her adventuring party, but now all he wants to do is confess his affection for her—even if that means going behind the demon king’s back.

Isekai Office Worker: The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter — Crunchyroll (January 6)

An office worker is transported to a fantasy kingdom… but instead of becoming a hero, he plays to his strengths and gets a job in the palace’s accounting department. His skills attract the attention of the handsome, but icy, Knight Captain and soon a romance blossoms between them. 

Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord — Crunchyroll (January 7)

Van, the child of a marquis, realizes that he has immense knowledge from a past life and becomes a prodigy in magic. His snooty battle magic-favoring family doesn’t care for his crafting magic skill, so they banish him to a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. But Van uses this banishment as an opportunity to maximize his crafting magic and tap into the memories of his past life so that he can revitalize the tiny village. 

An Adventurer’s Daily Grind at Age 29 — Crunchyroll (January 7)

Though he grew up poor and hunting for food, Hajime Shinonome enjoys a comfortable life as the local village’s resident adventure: he gets money and food in exchange for going on quests and fending off monsters. But his life takes a bit of a turn when he rescues an orphaned girl from a monstrous slime and decides to adopt her. Adventuring isn’t so easy when you have a hyper sword-wielding child tagging along. 

A Gentle Noble’s Vacation Recommendation — Crunchyroll (January 7)

A chancellor in a fantasy realm gets transported to another fantasy realm. But he’s not about to let this kerfuffle get him down. In fact, he’s determined to use this as a chance to get some much needed rest and relaxation from his noble duties. 

Jujutsu Kaisen — Crunchyroll (January 8)

(Season 3) Following season two’s catastrophic Shibuya Incident arc, the third season of Jujutsu Kaisen sees the sorcerers enter the “Culling Game”—a twisted battle royale conducted by ancient sorcerer Kenjaku as a way to evolve humanity. The sorcerers and cursed users must battle each other to the death across different sections of Japan.  

The Holy Grail of Eris — Crunchyroll (January 8)

After a terrible betrayal, kindhearted Constance Grail is sentenced to death. But as she awaits execution, the ghost of Scarlett Castiel, a noblewoman executed for trying to poison the prince’s lover, whispers to her and offers her a chance at salvation. Together, the two of them unravel a conspiracy hiding in the kingdom. 

Roll Over and Die — Crunchyroll (January 8)

Even though she’s prophesied to hold great power and defeat the Demon Lord, Flum doesn’t really understand her abilities. Her party leader sees her as a liability and ends up selling her into slavery. But when Flum is thrown into a gladiatorial death match against some monsters, her power finally ignites.

The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife — Crunchyroll (January 8)

Akira Tounome, a polite invisible man, runs a detective agency with the help of Shizuka Yakou,  a mild-mannered blind woman. As they work together day after day, a slow romance begins to blossom between them. After all, Shizuka can always tell where Akira is, even though he’s invisible and she can’t see. It’s a sweet slice-of-life with a magical spin. 

Fire Force — Crunchyroll (January 9) 

(Season 3: Part 2) In a world where people spontaneously combust and turn into fiery monsters, a group of pyrokinetic fire fighters is entrusted to protect humanity. This new season sees the main characters uncovering a big secret, but before they can stop an impending disaster, they’re branded as traitors. 

Dark Moon: The Blood Altar — Crunchyroll (January 9)

In this quiet seaside town, the most popular boys at rival prestigious academies just so happen to be vampires and werewolves respectively. When a new student transfers to the vampire boys’ school, both sets of popular boys find themselves inexplicably drawn to her…. Based on the popular webtoon of the same name, it’s like Twilight, but with even more boys.

Trigun Stargaze — Crunchyroll (January 10)

In the distant future, humanity is forced to leave Earth and searches the stars for habitable planets. On one distant arid planet, an outlaw named Vash wanders the wastelands, hiding from his hostile brother. This series, which is a sequel to Trigun Stampede (itself a reboot of a ‘90s anime), picks up two and a half years after the first show and finds Vash hiding out in a remote village after a catastrophic tragedy. 

Dead Account — Crunchyroll (January 10)

A contentious online streamer who purposefully trolls his viewers with ragebait is actually a soft-hearted older brother who just wants to take care of his little sister’s medical bills. He doesn’t care if the world hates him, so long as the money from his streams helps out his sister. But when the unthinkable happens, he finds himself pulled into the world of digital exorcists who fight digital evil spirits and ghosts who possess the accounts of the deceased. 

Fate/strange Fake — Crunchyroll (January 10)

The Holy Grail is a magical wish-granting device capable of fulfilling any desire—which means people desperately want it and wage full wars to obtain it. After the end of the Fifth Grail War in Japan, rumors point to a new grail in the United States of America. Mages start to gather and a new battle for the grail begins. 

A Misanthrope Teaches a Class for Demi-Humans — Crunchyroll (January 10)

A grumpy, misanthropic teacher takes a new job at a remote mountain school, hoping that it will be a relaxing experience. But he quickly learns the school is for demi-humans—werewolves, mermaids, half-rabbit creatures, oh my! His new job is to help them learn to blend in with humans! 

Primal — Adult Swim (January 11)

(Season 3) From legendary animator Genndy Tartakovsky, Primal takes place in a fantastical version of the past, where Neanderthals and dinosaurs coexist. It follows a neanderthal man named Spear who bonds with a female t-rex named Fang. The two bond after both losing their families and form a partnership as they encounter different humans, like Vikings and Ancient Egyptians, and dangerous animals. 

Hell’s Paradise — Crunchyroll (January 11) 

A group of death row convicts are sent to search for the coveted elixir of life on a mythical and dangerous island. In this new season, the main characters arrive at the castle that belongs to the monsters who rule the island. Meanwhile, other expeditions have arrived on the island, also seeking the powerful elixir. 

Kaya-chan isn’t Scary — Crunchyroll (January 11) 

A precocious five year-old constantly gets in trouble in kindergarten… but it turns out that it’s because she can see evil spirits! Her way of getting rid of them is punching them, which is why she’s been getting into trouble! A new teacher aims to help her out. 

The Villainess Is Adored by the Prince of the Neighbor Kingdom — Crunchyroll (January 11) 

A girl is reincarnated into her favorite romance video game! But as the main villainess, instead of one of the main characters! The game’s story progresses as normal, but things take a turn when the prince of a neighboring country swoops in and unexpectedly proposes to her. 

‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess — Crunchyroll (January 12)

A warrior princess is captured by a demon army, expecting to be tortured. But the torture comes in the form of delicious food! Can she resist these tempting treats and keep the secrets of her kingdom? 

Oshi No Ko — Crunchyroll (January 14) 

(Season 3) The twin children of a tragically murdered pop idol are actually reincarnated fans of hers, who were also brutally killed. They make their way in the entertainment industry, while also trying to solve the murders of their mother and their former lives.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy — Paramount+ (January 15)

The newest Star Trek spinoff series follows a class of Starfleet cadets as they train to be officers. Starfleet Academy takes place in the far-future timeline of the Star Trek franchise and this class of cadets is the first one in over a century. The students, made up of humans and aliens alike, are taught aboard the USS Athena, which docks in San Francisco. 

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End — Crunchyroll (January 16)

(Season 2) One of the most evocative fantasy anime out there, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End follows the titular elven mage who has outlived all the members of her original adventuring party. She’s determined to journey to the land of the dead, so she can pay final tributes to her old friends. Now, she travels with two young heroes. The show dives into the ramifications of long-lived fantasy races and doesn’t hold back in getting really poignant about the passage of time.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms — HBO (January 18)

The latest prequel to Game of Thrones adapts George R.R. Martin’s Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. The stories follow Sir Duncan the Tall (or Dunk), a lowborn knight, and his young squire, Prince Aegon Targaryen (known as “Egg”). And yes, Egg is one of those Targaryens. 

The Beauty — FX/Hulu (January 21) 

Ryan Murphy’s latest is a sci-fi body horror series about a sexually transmitted virus that transforms regular people into absolutely gorgeous ones, but with gruesome and terrifying consequences. Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall star as FBI agents looking into the bloody deaths of international supermodels. 

Wonder Man — Disney+ (January 27)

Struggling actor Simon Williams lands the lead role in the remake of an in-universe superhero flick—and eventually gets superpowers himself. Apparently, in the MCU’s version of Hollywood, superpowers are looked down upon, so Simon has to hide his newfound abilities. He’s joined by Trevor Slatterly, the actor who once “played” the Mandarin in Iron Man 3 and also returned for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings after being kidnapped by a criminal organization for impersonating the Mandarin. Hopefully, he can finally catch a break![end-mark]

The post Here Are All the Genre TV Premieres Airing in January! appeared first on Reactor.

News The Odyssey

The Odyssey Trailer Is Visually Dull but Full of Promise

Odysseus’ journey will see him battle the elements, monsters, and bad YouTube uploads

By Matthew Byrd

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Published on December 22, 2025

Photo: Universal Pictures

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Photo: Universal Pictures

We’ve all been wondering what Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey will look like. One of our great epic film directors is adapting one of the great literary epics with help from a massive budget, IMAX cameras, and a stacked cast? They’ll have to kick us out of the theater, because we are already seated.

Well, we finally got a proper trailer for The Odyssey and, to tell you the truth, it’s still hard to tell what Christopher Nolan’s movie looks like.

To be very fair, it seems like something may have gone wrong when uploading this trailer to YouTube. It is incredibly blurry and dark even when viewed on the highest allowed YouTube resolution (which, for some reason, is limited to 1080p, at least for free users). This is seemingly not the ideal way to view this preview, so all comments about its looks have to be taken with that grain of salt.

That said, Nolan may not be beating certain allegations anytime soon. Production photos of The Odyssey have been criticized in some circles for their lack of color and generally dull designs. The same criticisms could certainly be applied to this trailer, even if we only get the briefest glimpses of some of the movie’s potentially grander sequences. There are lovely shots spread throughout, though they are spread somewhat thin among other, simply serviceable glimpses of fairly mundane moments. The night scenes in particular are pretty rough, though it’s worth noting again that YouTube could be a co-conspirator for that particular crime. Still, the style debate will continue.

That said, there is a lot to love here. The storm sequence, in particular, looks appropriately horrifying, as do the shots of the soldiers cowering in fear in a desperate attempt to avoid what appears to be a massive sword. Ludwig Göransson’s score is simply magical, and the sheer wattage of star power fueling this thing remains impressive. Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Robert Pattinson, Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth…hell, Lupita Nyong’o is in this movie, and we don’t even know her role yet.

Perhaps most importantly, this is still The Odyssey we’re talking about. Reasonable concerns about what certainly seems to be a dark, dour, and dude-driven take on that story aside, The Odyssey remains both an incredible collection of potentially cinematic moments and a story that has rarely received a direct adaptation, much less one on this scale. We’ll all find out if The Odyssey lives up to that potential when the movie is released on July 17, 2026. [end-mark]

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News Man of Tomorrow

Lars Eidinger Cast as Brainiac in Man of Tomorrow, But Which Version of the Villain Will the Superman Movie Use?

There are many Brainiacs, and not all are created equally

By Matthew Byrd

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Published on December 22, 2025

Photo: DC Comics

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Photo: DC Comics

In a statement on Twitter (or X, or whatever), James Gunn confirmed that Lars Eidinger will play Brainiac in the upcoming sequel to his 2025 Superman movie, Man of Tomorrow.

James Gunn has strongly hinted (to say the least) that Brainiac will be the villain in Man of Tomorrow and that his arrival will force Superman and Lex Luthor to form an unlikely alliance. So far as that goes, this announcement does not come as a surprise.

The decision to cast Lars Eidinger is a bit more surprising. It’s not fair to call Lars Eidinger an unknown (he’s made quite a name for himself on-stage and in the films of director Olivier Assayas), but this is certainly not the big splashy casting announcement that some suspected Gunn might prioritize for such a major villainous role. The casting is potentially quite good, and it will certainly be nice to see a Superman movie villain that isn’t General Zod or Lex Luthor.

Actually, those who really only casually follow Superman via the movies probably have little idea who Brainiac is. He was reportedly considered for the villain role in Superman III way back in the day, but he rarely makes multimedia appearances despite being a major player in the comics.

In fact, Brainiac has appeared in so many Superman comics in so many different forms that it’s tough to say which version of Brainiac we’ll see in Man of Tomorrow. While aspects of the character often remain the same (most notably, he’s incredibly intelligent, which allows him to create incredible devices and wield mental powers), Brainiac has been remarkably inconsistent for such a major character in the Superman mythos.

Will we get the Silver Age Brainiac who was depicted as a green alien from the planet Colu who largely did his evil bidding through incredible devices such as a shrink ray? It’s…not likely. There is a charm to that character’s looks and methods that do fit into Gunn’s visual and directorial style, but Brainiac didn’t really come into his own until later. Still, there are elements of this version of the character (such as his love of shrinking and the more alien aspects of his appearance) that could be used in Man of Tomorrow.

Will we get the Brainiac that uploaded his consciousness into a metal skeleton exoframe to achieve a more Terminator-like look? Probably not. That version of the character boasts an incredible design and was featured in some memorable storylines, but he’s pretty far removed from the more iconic elements of the Brainiac concept. It would be another big swing to bring that version of the character to the big screen first.

Will we see the version of Brainiac that was actually an advanced AI program used by Jor-El (and other Kryptonians) like the Brainiac featured in Superman: The Animated Series? That is far more likely. Not only would such a villain allow Man of Tomorrow to comment on the evils of AI (a popular film villain trend at the moment), but tying Brainiac into the destruction of Krypton would make his rivalry with Superman (and possibly Supergirl) pleasantly personal.

However, it’s far more likely that the Man of Tomorrow Brainiac will be closer to modern, rebooted versions of the character in the comics, which are really an amalgamation of previous Brainiac concepts. Specifically, all eyes are currently on the “House of Brainiac” version of the character. In that story, Brainiac is really the representative of a collective of networked iterations spread across the universe. He uses his galactic powers to launch an assault on Earth. Not only does that arc include Lex Luthor and Superman teaming up to fight Brainiac (something we know will happen in Man of Tomorrow), but it features Supergirl villain/antihero Lobo in a starring role. I doubt that Man of Tomorrow will be a straight adaptation of “House of Brainiac” or that version of the Brainiac character (the latter, in particular, will probably be presented in a slightly more iconic physical form), but that storyline certainly seems to have the most elements that fit into what Gunn is currently doing with Superman and the greater DC mythos.

Ultimately, we’re going to have to wait a while to see more of Lars Eidinger’s Brainiac. Man of Tomorrow isn’t scheduled to be released until July 9, 2027, so unless Brainiac appears in Supergirl or unless we get a surprise sneak peek at the character elsewhere, we’ll all just have to wonder which of the nearly infinite Brainiacs in the universe we’ll ultimately get. [end-mark]

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Featured Essays Dust Bunny

A Family of Monsters: On Dust Bunny and Fighting for the Love We Deserve

Okay, the monster IS a metaphor. Just not the one you think.

By Emmet Asher-Perrin

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Published on January 5, 2026

Image: Lionsgate

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Image: Lionsgate

Bryan Fuller’s Dust Bunny has been hailed by many as a grim fairy tale of the sort that doesn’t get much play these days, which seems a fair assessment: Unless you plant yourself firmly in the horror genre (a la Stranger Things), most of our modern fantastical stories with children steer clear of darker themes. Yet fairy tale—the old kind with blood and death and dread—is pretty firmly where Dust Bunny resides.

Having said this, I didn’t find Dust Bunny’s darkness to be what set it apart, despite the focus on hitman shenanigans and parent murder. Nor was I particularly interested in what kind of fairy tale it is so much as whose. But there’s another layer here that hopefully isn’t getting missed in the excited chatter—namely, I can’t say that I’ve run across too many fairy tales that center entirely on building your ideal family, and the trials that come with it.

And I’m not just saying this because I happen to be a queer writer talking about the work of another queer writer and filmmaker, knowing that queers are famously fans and proponents of found family narratives. I’m saying it because Dust Bunny is genuinely one of the most moving treatises on the value and importance of found family that I’ve ever experienced. Because, in this story, family is something hard won and frightfully difficult to assemble. You don’t just stumble across your family and enmesh seamlessly—you must be willing to fight for the privilege of having one.

That’s important because the narrative of (straight, cisgender, heteronormative, biological, nuclear) family is very much the opposite: You are born into a family; you are made from bits of the people who created you; you grow together and, therefore, you must all love each other. It doesn’t really matter if you don’t entirely get along or what hurts occurred in the past because this structure is built-in, unassailable, and sacrosanct. Betraying the pact of familial bond is portrayed as evil of the highest order in our society—take a look at the recent backlash against children who choose to sever contact with their parents, if you doubt it. Only a monster would ever consider doing so.

But Dust Bunny is a story about monsters.

It’s a story about monsters who love monsters, and perhaps how we’re all just monsters desperately reaching out for other monsters who will care for us. How do I know this? (Aside from the the fact that Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal was telling the same story, using very different relationships?) Well, when I reviewed the film, I pointed out that one of the central questions the story posed was whether the monster under Aurora’s bed was real, or simply a metaphor for her own lived trauma. Thankfully, what we find is so much more beautiful than that. But to fully explain what I’m getting at, we’ll have to dig a little deeper.

To recap briefly: In a large unnamed city, Aurora lives across the hall from Resident 5B, and is guided toward him by a wish. She follows him into the dark one night and learns that he’s a killer, but misunderstands what sort—she believes he kills monsters (fantastical), when 5B is actually an expert at killing human beings (a different kind of monster). When the monster under her bed devours her parents, Aurora hires 5B to kill it. 5B inspects her home and believes that her parents were murdered by someone who meant to kill him and got the wrong apartment number. His handler insists that 5B must kill Aurora because she’s seen too much, but he’s adamant about keeping the girl safe, so everything gets messier from there as more assassins come after both him and the girl. Aurora continues to insist that the monster is playing a part in these affairs, while 5B insists that it’s imaginary, created to help her cope with being witness to so much violence and death.

The movie eventually reveals that the monster is real, of course. But I would argue that the monster is still a metaphor—just not the one we’ve been trained to expect. Aurora’s monster is, in fact, a metaphor for her and her own monstrosity. The monster is still absolutely real in the tangible sense, still an agent of murder and chaos. But the monster is also a piece of the little girl who created it.

It is a tacit understanding of this that prompts 5B to tell Aurora at the end of the film, “It’s your monster. You have to live with it.” And he would know better than anyone, wouldn’t he? 5B has his own monster to contend with—the one that lets him kill other people for money after being trained to do so by his mother. You see? Monsters and more monsters, not simply one furry monster who lives under the floor, waiting for tasty parents to eat.

There are hints to this connection all over the place, right from the beginning: When Aurora follows 5B and witnesses his slaying of a monster (in truth, several people under a New Years’ dragon costume) in Chinatown, she watches from a nearby building rooftop while wearing a bunny mask she finds in a trashcan. Year of the Rabbit or not, the mask is our first clue that the dust bunny under her bed is aligned with Aurora in some way. But it is perhaps more important to note that the monster comes into being because Aurora wishes it into existence; in effect, Aurora is less a human child protagonist in this tale, and more of a magical creature herself.

So, whose fairy tale is this?

When I ask this question, I’m not asking which character maintains the focal perspective—that is largely Aurora throughout the story. There are moments where the audience gets to witness 5B’s activities away from her, but the POV (in terms of narrative journey, at least) is pretty evenly split once Aurora and 5B meet. What I mean is that fairy tales often center on a character or characters who come into contact with magical, terrible things: witches, wolves, evil queens, people turned into animals. Those magical things can make the lives of these characters better or worse, but they are still the figures the fairy tale enacts its mechanics on.

There’s an argument to be made that Dust Bunny is 5B’s fairy tale. Both he and Aurora are missing something in their lives, but he is not a magical being unto himself, no matter what Aurora thinks—he’s a huntsman or woodsman, an outside party that comes into contact with the extraordinary and lets it change him. And to some extent, I think that the movie agrees with this reading because the structure of its opening supports the theory pretty flawlessly.

Put it this way: Dust Bunny has practically no dialogue until Aurora enlists 5B’s services to kill the monster under her bed. We get very basic, rote lines between Aurora and her foster parents, platitudes and worry and a child’s fearful pleading. But characters in the film don’t really start talking to each other—don’t come alive as complex people—in any meaningful way until Aurora is sitting in 5B’s kitchen, telling him what happened to her parents. She pays him with money she steals from a Sunday mass service in the city; decked out in cat eye sunglasses, scarf over her hair, Aurora takes the offering plate and runs out into the sunlight, elated and grinning.

In stories such as these, evoking the Church (which was relatively common, in an oblique sense after a certain point in time) and so pointedly going against it would almost guarantee comeuppance on the someone who did wrong. After all, Aurora stole money that would have been put to Godly use, donated by humble, hardworking believers. But we never hear another word about it—5B doesn’t even bother to scold Aurora for theft when she tells him where the money came from. If you’re some stripe of Christian, you might assume this means that the money went to its rightful use in helping a kid who just lost another set of parents. To me, it can’t help but read as one very powerful little girl stealing from an institution that has absolutely no hold over her. She’s got nothing to worry about from that crew.

You know, like the old fairy tales. Where coding morality wasn’t really the point of the exercise.

We eventually find out from Brenda, the FBI agent posing as a social services worker, that Aurora has lost several sets of parents—three to be precise. (It’s a little fuzzy on whether they were three sets of foster parents, or if the first set to die were her biological parents.) When 5B questions Aurora about these deaths, she admits that they are her fault; she wished for a monster to kill her first parents. When he asks why, she only says, “They weren’t very nice to me.” The allusion is to some form of abuse, though it’s possible that their crimes were less severe… not likely, I’d wager, but possible.

It gets uglier when her latest foster parents are added into this picture, however. Though they seem relatively benign at the outset, a later view of their living room shows a portrait with the two of them… and a blank-faced little girl with long brown hair. Dollars to doughnuts, this duo had been “shopping” for a child in the foster system, and already decided what they wanted her to look like. Presumably Aurora’s face would have been added to the painting if they’d decided to go through with the adoption. (Let’s not even get into the fact that they were having her call them “mommy” and “daddy” before said adoption took place. If you know anything about foster care, you know that’s not a great call unless the child requests it.)

The result of all these potential parents getting gobbled up is that Aurora believes herself “wicked” and thinks that the monster is eating her subsequent families (and potentially her now) because she doesn’t deserve family after what she’s done. But 5B doesn’t agree with this assessment. He looks at Aurora and sees her for what she is beneath the unlikely circumstances and the magic he doesn’t yet believe in: a frightened child. One so terrified of the beast she called into existence that she won’t even touch the floor in her own home. He’s the wicked one, obviously, him, the hired killer who’s unbothered at the idea of cutting up dead bodies into little pieces and packing them away into cute panda rolly suitcases.

The fact that Aurora wants to watch and help him do this, that she delights in seeing him slay that dragon, well, that’s just normal kid stuff.

5B was a child once, too, of course, and this is where we come to Laverne, his handler and also, unfortunately, his mother. It’s here that a head-to-head is put to incredible use, showcasing the difference in having family through obligation versus family through choice.

Nearly the first words out of Laverne’s mouth are that she’d hug 5B, but that’s not really her thing. He settles for placing his hand over hers; in fact, he’s always seemingly looking for excuses to touch her, to create some outward indication of the bond between them. He is always honest with her, as well, even when it seems obvious that she’s never truly honest with him. She frequently puts down any inkling of emotionality he displays, and every suggestion she makes is truly an order at its heart: Kill the kid; lie low until the heat on you blows over; stop thinking that taking care of a little girl will “fix” your brokenness.

Deep down, 5B knows his mother will never be kind of the familial connection he keeps seeking—at one point, he tells Aurora that he used to think his mother was “the most beautiful woman in the world” before realizing that this was a sort of trick played on him by his brain to blind him to her faults. Even so, he reaches out for connection, closeness, a shared rapport with the woman who made him. 

Laverne’s only true ways of connecting with him are by trying to murder a child he keeps telling her to leave alone, and sharing food. Even in this, it’s important to note the contrast: 5B feeds Aurora, too, but always as nourishment and with the intent to share, a growing affinity built on a foundation of dim sum and sliced apples. Laverne likes to use food to placate and quiet—she frequently asks if 5B wants food when she’s trying to redirect him, and then does the same to Aurora after telling the girl point blank that she’s not old enough to be a whole person in Laverne’s eyes. (Aurora’s vindictive plucking of flowers from the vase at their table afterward might be her biggest power move of the whole film.)

This difference then goes one step further: When Laverne tries to quiet Aurora by asking if she wants a sandwich, 5B replies that the girl doesn’t eat pork. Aurora is visibly shocked that he remembers this—he only knows it from one conversation that they had about cutting up a dead body. When 5B told her that it was like a butcher cutting up a pig, she told him, “I like pigs.” …And that was all it took. Because love is consideration, and consideration is often simply keeping details about people in your mind so you can better care for them.

How little has Aurora been loved that she found this one instance of remembrance so jarring?

It’s here that we reach a pivotal turning point in the story, though nothing truly momentous seems to have occurred. Aurora invaded this lunch between 5B and Laverne to tell her hitman off for trying to leave her behind, but leaves that meal knowing that something has altered between them. She doesn’t want to be a hiring client anymore—she wants to be family.

The rules of engagement have changed.

‘Found family’ is such a funny term because it evokes the opposite of what it is—as though you could just stumble across a box in an alley that is full of all the love and connection you’ll ever need. But a found family is built of a deliberate choice that people make together, over and over. 5B has already chosen Aurora, whether he realizes it or not, in his willingness to fight for her and his desperation to keep her safe, his exasperation and gentle structure. Now she—magical creature that she is—has to fight for him.

Perhaps it seems awful to say that a child should ever have to do anything to be loved, but here’s another place where the importance of fairy tales comes into play. Because fairy tales are a special type of story, one that often acknowledges that children aren’t idiots, and that their lives are just as hard as adult ones. This isn’t about what’s right or fair for the kid. It’s just about what’s true.

Aurora starts strong straight away. At dim sum, she suggests that 5B could become her father, then insists that she’s his kid when the Conspicuously Inconspicuous Man shows up to throw down the hitman gauntlet. He sees Aurora and balks, then tells 5B that he doesn’t mean to question the guy’s parenting, and Aurora readily replies, “Then don’t.” When they leave the restaurant, she tries out holding 5B’s hand, and he allows it.

But a hit squad follows them home. And there’s still an ever-hungry monster under the floor to contend with—the one ready to swallow Aurora whole for her wickedness, screams and all.

There’s give and take in the final showdown at Aurora’s apartment. 5B hasn’t fully proven himself either because there’s a final step he must take toward sharing a reality with the girl. That comes when he finally learns that the monster is real, and is eaten by it… but survives due to applying thumb-sucking deterrent to himself (after getting a helpful clue from Brenda earlier in the day). In many ways, that is his most important test—proving that he could survive being eaten by it. By the monster, Aurora’s own monstrosity, a terror made of her own wishes.

When the monster gets another shot as they make to escape, it’s Aurora’s turn. She stands between it and 5B, shields him—and they realize that the monster is hers. She can control it, and it never would have eaten her because she created it. The dust bunny was constructed for and by Aurora, a shade of her own wants and needs and dreams. And it’s then that you notice the equation here was always very simple: Though she didn’t know it, Aurora could have stopped any of her parents from being eaten.

That never happened because it wasn’t until this moment that she ever had family worth defending.

Monster finds monster. Monster wraps shared monstrosity in a bow with apple skins, packs it neatly alongside rabbit dumpling heads and weird bear costumes and hippo rafts that roll down living wallpapered hallways like some sort of whimsical Charon’s ferry. What will the monsters create together, now that they’ve found each other?

The labels here don’t matter, or perhaps they do for their reasoning: Before being eaten herself, Laverne says that being called mom is “hurtful” (wow). But 5B says that he doesn’t want to be Aurora’s dad because “all your dads die.” Again the juxtaposition: One of these things is self-centered and cruel. The other is simply true. So 5B suggests that Aurora will eventually think of something else to call him, and since he can’t pronounce her name right, he’ll default to “little girl.” It’s not father and daughter, and honestly, who cares?

As the film comes to a close, they drive down a highway alongside a field of sunflowers while a peppy, foreboding ABBA song plays for the audience:

And you’d be inclined to assume that the “tiger” is Aurora’s monster, whose shadow is shown galloping beneath their car, following them to their next home. But… did you notice it? Aurora’s outfit?

It’s covered in tiger stripes.

5B found a magical being who changed his life. Always behind him, able to track him down… and exactly who he needed. A fairy tale ending, indeed.[end-mark]

The post A Family of Monsters: On <i>Dust Bunny</i> and Fighting for the Love We Deserve appeared first on Reactor.

Movies & TV TV movies

Made-for-TV Movies That Mimicked Hollywood, For Better or Worse

Classic stories adapted for the big screen…and almost immediately adapted again for the small screen.

By Robert Repino

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Published on January 5, 2026

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Success breeds imitation. That’s why, ever since the first movie tickets were sold for a profit, the most popular films always portend a swarm of knockoffs, often with comically lower budgets and lesser-known actors.

These days, plenty of movies that seem to pop up on streaming services almost instantaneously in the wake of a big hit movie often have the feel of an imitation. Several tiers below that are the ubiquitous mockbusters, the kind of movie that tends to end up in the DVD bargain bins of convenience stores. Zero-budget and straight-to-video, these movies often have deliberately misleading titles that get conflated with big Hollywood pictures. And whenever a “real” movie is based on intellectual property in the public domain, a mockbuster is virtually guaranteed. And why not? The producers don’t even have to change the title! In fact, the term “mockbuster” appears to have been coined in reference to the movie H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, released by Asylum Films the day before the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s 2005 adaptation.

Back in the ’80s and ’90s, however, many of these seemingly redundant movies emerged from the bizarro world of made-for-TV movies. I have written about TV movies before (here and here), and not because I think they’re good. It’s more like processing some traumatic accident. I find myself asking: Why did this have to happen? Who’s responsible? How do I move on?

Shockingly, though, a few of these unnecessary TV movies might nevertheless surprise some viewers. Despite lowered expectations, many of them were serious (if flawed) attempts to tell a story. Of course, as one would predict, many other examples would never even make it to the bargain bin. Here are a few that range from “hey, not bad!” to “what were they thinking?”

Robin Hood (1991)

I’ll start with one that’s worth a shot. In May 1991—about a month before Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves premiered in theaters—the British-made Robin Hood debuted on FOX. This may be a TV movie, but it was not made for TV. Instead, it was intended for release in American theaters until it became obvious that it would get snowed under by the looming Kevin Costner-led blockbuster.

That’s a shame, because this movie features several elements that were fresh at the time, including a “gritty” medieval look, a serious (but not too serious) take on the characters, and a more independent Maid Marian who joins the action rather than waiting to be rescued. The cast has some people worth watching. Patrick Bergin plays a charming Robin Hood. In my recollection (I was 13 at the time), FOX’s relentless ad campaign prominently featured Uma Thurman as Marian. No objection there. Jurgen Prochnow (Das Boot) and Jeroen Krabbé (The Fugitive) are the bad guys, and a young Owen Teale (Game of Thrones) is Will Scarlett. Most important, this movie is comfortable with a smaller scale. Rather than telling a globe-trotting story involving the Crusades and court intrigue in faraway London, this is a more focused and realistic narrative about a local conflict.

I always viewed this one as a pleasant surprise, a thoughtful companion to the fun but somewhat overblown theatrical release that arrived a few weeks later. Why choose? You can like them both!

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1997)

By the 1990s, Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame had been adapted so many times that it seemed inevitable that Disney would eventually give it a try. Somehow, they produced a version of this heartbreaking story that featured not only singing gargoyles, but an uplifting theme and a happy ending. Even the most skeptical critics had to admit that Disney succeeded.

A year later, TNT attempted a serious take¹ on the story, with no singing gargoyles. And they brought out the big guns: Richard Harris as the villainous Dom Frollo, Salma Hayek as the gypsy dancer Esmeralda, and a barely recognizable Mandy Patinkin as Quasimodo, the tragic bell-ringer. IMdb has a funny story of how Patinkin tried but hilariously failed to secure the title role for the Disney film, which led directly to him getting the role here. And hey… wait a minute… is that Nigel Terry from Excalibur? Yes! It is!

The production values may not have aged well, but they garnered four Emmy nominations back in the day. More than that, the movie offers some smart, sensitive, and nuanced commentary on class, faith, and human progress. Still, the film is held back by the limited scope of a TV movie. There’s a lot of creative camera work to make the tiny crowd of extras resemble a massive Paris uprising. The big action set pieces are somehow less impressive than a previous made-for-TV adaptation from 1982, starring Anthony Hopkins. And the runtime may be too compact to explore all the relationships, from the unrequited love stories to the fraught mentor-mentee tension between Quasimodo and Dom Frollo. So, your mileage may vary with this one. But if you need more adaptations of this story in your life—like the people who run this blog that I discovered—then it’s worth a try.

Joan of Arc (1999)

In the fall of 1999, director Luc Besson followed up The Fifth Element (1997) with The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, starring his then-wife Milla Jovovich. Critics were not receptive. Many pointed to the disjointed themes: the movie had feminist aspirations, but also casually toyed with the idea that Joan was mentally ill. The most generous reviews tried to compare the film to Braveheart (1995), arguing that it was a clumsy patriotic epic that was meant to be more fun than historically accurate… not exactly a ringing endorsement.

Expectations for a TV movie, however, are mercifully lower. And so the two-part Joan of Arc released on CBS earlier that year enjoyed a warmer reception. Rather than speculating about the main character’s psychological state, this version opts for a paint-by-numbers narrative, no doubt tested to please a wider audience. Joan of Arc plays it so safe that if you search for reviews, you’ll find many conservative-leaning websites praising the film for not bashing the Catholic Church.

At the time, the major networks were on a roll with high-concept miniseries. Among these, Merlin (1998) with Sam Neill might be the best known. Joan of Arc has a similar feel, especially when it comes to the talented cast. Leelee Sobieski takes the title role, supported by Peter O’Toole (who won an Emmy), Olympia Dukakis, Shirley MacLaine, and Neil Patrick Harris (back when most people would still point to the screen and say, “Doogie Howser?”) Whereas The Messenger received multiple Razzie nominations, this redundant TV movie was rewarded with four Emmy nominations and thirteen more from the Golden Globes.

I don’t really know what any of that means, though. Miniseries are notoriously bloated, and this is no exception. By the time it reaches its first battle scene, most feature-length films would be over. Joan of Arc might be more useful as an artifact of how religious piety (and zealotry) was depicted in popular culture in the late 20^th century. After all, the movie starts with Joan thanking God while burning to death, an act of fanaticism that I hope would be explored and deconstructed a bit more in the present day. Besides, can anyone really top Jane Wiedlin’s Joan from Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure? That’s a debate for another time.²

Goddess of Love (1988)

Let’s crawl out of the Middle Ages and into the modern world, where we find a movie that is much closer to the classic mockbuster model that we love to ridicule. I’m talking about Goddess of Love, released by NBC in 1988. Props to fellow Reactor writer Reneysh Vittal for reintroducing me to this mess. I remember that NBC promoted this movie so relentlessly that there was no escaping the ads—even David Letterman satirized the promotional campaign run by his own network.

So here’s the plot: on Mount Olympus, which looks strangely like a backyard in Beverly Hills, the god Zeus (John Rhys-Davies!?) punishes a disobedient Venus by imprisoning her in statue form. Her only way of escaping is to make a man fall in love with her. Centuries later, the statue is delivered to 1980s Los Angeles. Through a silly sequence of events, a hairdresser named Ted places his engagement ring on the statue’s finger, bringing the goddess to life. While Ted dodges her increasingly aggressive advances, Venus discovers the wonders of modern America. And yes, in typical ’80s fashion, that includes a credit card and a makeover.

Goddess of Love is a remake of a comedy from the 1940s, but its inspiration (and much of its script) appears to be drawn from Mannequin, the critically panned but financially successful rom-com released a year earlier. Perhaps the most blatant rip-off involves Mannequin’s main comic relief, Hollywood Montrose (Meshach Taylor), a gay character whose positive portrayal was considered trailblazing for the time. Goddess goes for the same laughs by casting Little Richard in a similar role… but they don’t commit to the bit, leaving him mostly out of the plot.

Even if Little Richard had the chance to carry the movie, he would have been weighed down by the puzzling decision to cast Wheel of Fortune’s Vanna White in the lead. I don’t blame them for trying, but the script does her no favors. Maybe this could have worked if, like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s early performances, she only had to deliver a handful of quippy, memorable lines. But no: she’s expected to be funny, cutesy, sexy, emotional, and sometimes scary. Even for a more experienced actor, it’s a lot to ask. If NBC ever re-ran this one, it was certainly without the relentless ad campaign.

Am I leaving out any redundant, ripped off, or mockbuster-adjacent examples from my list of TV movies? I’m not entirely sure if I want to know, but if you have any that have stuck with you over the years, please add them in the comments. And may the goddess of love have mercy on our souls.

1. This was originally titled, simply, The Hunchback. ︎
2. I’m not entirely serious here, as I’m aware of The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), one of the most important films of all time. ︎

The post Made-for-TV Movies That Mimicked Hollywood, For Better or Worse appeared first on Reactor.

Movies & TV Stranger Things

The Best Moments of Stranger Things

As the series comes to a close, a look back on some of the show’s greatest hits.

By Tyler Dean

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Published on December 22, 2025

Credit: Netflix

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Credit: Netflix

As I said in my recap of season four, Stranger Things is at its best as an in-the-moment watch. It struggles to keep a coherent tone and build compelling character arcs, but excels at crafting individual scenes that elicit tears or screams or shouts of joy. 

Below is my personal list of favorite moments from the show up through the end of season five, episode four. They are a mix of big moments, quiet scenes of character development, and weird little detours that have kept me engaged even at the lower points in the show’s tumultuous nine-year run.

Joyce Plays With Magnets

(Season 3, Episode 5 “The Flayed”) After giving her the iconic Christmas Light set to play with in the first season, letting her play around with an old camcorder in the second and, perhaps, after seeing her brilliant cascade of facial expressions at the 2017 SAG Awards, the Duffer brothers gave her an enduring puzzle with malfunctioning magnets in season three. There is a lot of good, profoundly weird mugging as a wide-eyed Ryder single-mindedly stares at magnets throughout the first half of the season. This comes to a head in episode five, where she tries to ask lovable Russian operative, Alexei, if the demagnetization is due to his countrymen’s operation.

As the subtitles tell us that Alexei understands next to nothing about what Joyce is asking, Ryder babbles excitably, reframing her paranoid and desperate performance, in previous seasons, as something winningly batshit. A scene later, Hopper implies that Joyce is as unhinged as Murray and her performance sells it. Ryder started as the series’ biggest get and while she was tasked with carrying a lot of the show’s dramatic heft in seasons one and two, season three lets Joyce be as funny and weird as Ryder seems to be. It’s great! Magnets!

Murray Plays Matchmaker 

(Season 2, Episode 6 “The Spy”) The first two seasons take their time getting their star-crossed teen couple, Nancy and Jonathan, together. Given how much Nancy’s previous beau, Steve Harrington, became a breakout favorite of the first season who ended up becoming more beloved than either of the other vertices of the love triangle, keeping the momentum alive was more difficult than anticipated. They spend most of season two on a road trip, investigating how they can expose the Hawkins Lab as the responsible parties in the death of Barb. This eventually leads them to conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman who gives them a strategy to take down the USDoE. But his major contribution is a leery, grotesque calling out of the sexual tension between Nancy and Jonathan. Brett Gelman, whether it’s in Fleabag or Another Period, always succeeds at playing profoundly sleazy men with the sort of wry verve that lets you know they are (mostly) harmless. 

Here, his particular brand of ick is applied to plying teenagers with alcohol, demanding they admit they have feelings for one another and calling attention to how much better the sleeping arrangements would be if they shared a bed. It undercuts the seriousness of the Nancy/Jonathan love story in the best way and Murray is the perfect vessel for reminding audiences that the climax of your big love story doesn’t always have to be maudlin and sincere.

Eddie and Chrissy 

(Season 4, Episode 1 “The Hellfire Club”) Eddie Munson and Chrissy have a remarkable chemistry across a few scenes in the season four premiere. While we discover that it’s all just a set up for Chrissy’s death at episode’s end, there is a brief window when the show entertains the idea that all the high school cliques are nonsense (it otherwise demands fairly strict allegiance to the norm—see Dustin’s speech about how Erica is a nerd in season three, episode six). But more than that, it’s a great showcase for two actors to display something that feels surprisingly genuine. It’s a fitting homage to all the great John Hughes mismatched romances of the 80s—The Breakfast Club and Some Kind of Wonderful chief among them—with the burnout and the cheerleader discovering that they have more in common than they thought they did. It’s a shame that the show wasn’t particularly interested in exploring this dynamic because it cements Eddie and Chrissy as instant classics and likely went a long way towards cementing Joseph Quinn’s career.

Joyce’s Lights

(Season 1, Episode 3 “Holly Jolly”) The image of Joyce Byers communicating with Will through an alphabet of Christmas lights strung up on her living room wall is as iconic a metonymy for the whole of Stranger Things as anything. But it’s easy to forget that it’s undergirded by real senses of menace and wonder and anchored by Winona Ryder’s excellent portrayal of desperation and grief. The turn from a glimmer of hope in Joyce finally making contact with Will to horror as he lights up “RUN” and a demogorgon tears through the wall, more grotesque and pallid than we’ve seen thus far in the show, is the cherry on top of the sundae.

Harrington Pool Party

(Season 1, Episode 2 “The Weirdo on Maple Street”) Early in its run, Stranger Things felt like it was angling for something more akin to prestige TV. The weekday party at Steve Harrington’s place, with “Melt With You” playing on the radio, Aqua vapor rising off the surface of the water while Nancy, Barb, and their questionable new acquaintances shotgun beers and Jonathan, half in a trance, photographs them from the nearby woods, feels like something more compelling than mere homage or reference (though it is both of those things). 

The vaporwave aesthetic that the show cultivates isn’t really a thing of the ‘80s (even if it has its roots in bands like Goblin and Tangerine Dream), but it so evokes that New Wave, synth-heavy yearning that it’s a perfect fit for an ‘80s nostalgia show. And this slice of life recreation of the mythical past that the show is obsessed with is among its finest encapsulations.

Will the Warlock 

(Season 5, Episode 4 “Sorcerer”) Okay the internet has made this point over and over and it is, ultimately, a bit of semantic nonsense, but this is a hill I am willing to die on. Will is not a Sorcerer (as Mike dubs him in the most recent episode). Sorcerers, in Dungeons & Dragons, are magic users whose powers come from their genetic heritage or magical intervention in their ancestry. A Warlock is a magic user whose magic powers come from a pact made with a powerful being (like a devil or a genie). Clearly, Will is a Warlock with Vecna as his patron (Warlock pacts don’t need to be consensual). And, given that both Sorcerers and Warlocks as DnD classes postdate the era in which Stranger Things takes place (by more than twenty years in both cases), I feel comfortable saying that, given the choice between anachronisms, go with the one that actually makes sense.

That said, the moment in which Will comes into his psychokinetic powers is one of the series’ most transcendent moments. It is the culmination of a personal arc that has been playing out since at least the second season. It’s unclear if the Duffers planned Will’s sexuality from the start but it has been central to his character since season three and largely mishandled (the show leans into a child molestation lens for the ways in which Will is traumatized; you can read my season three review for a more in depth analysis of it). But season five largely redeemed this arc, pairing Will with Robin, its other queer character, and reframing what makes being queer worthwhile away from finding romantic love, and refocusing on self-care. In that regard, the Duffers find some thematic resonance with sorcery (you are already awesome because it’s intrinsic to you, not because you studied for it—and I understand that they want to hammer home the point that gay people are born not made, especially since they already unfortunately paired coming out with molestation) but the reason this moment—Will, eyes rolled back, arms outstretched, breaking demogorgon limbs in the exact way Vecna tortured his victims in the previous season—hit so hard is that it’s the culmination of Will’s relationship to trauma. Whether that’s the trauma of being kidnapped by Vecna or the trauma of enduring ongoing homophobic bullying (both from his father and kids at school), it has made him more than a weak-link (a spy for the Mindflayer as he is called in season two). It’s made him resilient and powerful. Yes, absolutely, being queer is a quality in need of celebration (especially for a rural midwestern kid in the AIDS-stricken landscape of the mid-80s) but what the show has really demonstrated and demonstrates well is that surviving trauma can make you something more powerful than you thought. Will has psychic powers because he endured Vecna’s abuse and came out the other side. In that way, he embodies a DnD Warlock and the show has something much more interesting and important to say about what it means to be a survivor (especially a queer one) than what they draw out of Robin’s advice. 

Snow Ball 

(Season 2, Episode 9 “The Gate”) There’s a lot of climactic fun minutes earlier in the season two finale with Eleven closing the gate beneath the Hawkins Lab, but the real heart of season two is the Jingle Ball—the middle school dance that sees romantic closure for Mike and Lucas. The real joy of it, however, is Nancy’s sweet gesture to a lovelorn Dustin who, despite a stylish new hairdo, courtesy of Steve, is experiencing nothing but rejection and derision. Nancy picks him up for a slow dance and tells him that he’s always been her favorite among Mike’s friends and that, if he sticks it out through middle school, the girls will eventually go nuts for him. 

It’s more than a tender moment of platonic charity. The second season sets up a love triangle between Lucas, Dustin, and Max only to quickly make clear that Dustin is a third wheel. He, painfully, doesn’t realize this until long after the audience has—which feels like a riskier and more honest depiction of the ruthlessness of middle school dating and it makes Nancy’s gesture all the sweeter. The following season Dustin is given a long distance girlfriend and the looming tragedy of his romantic life is tidily dealt with. But there is a great little coda that makes perfect use of “Time After Time”—cheesy and sweet in equal measure and, for once, a moment that doesn’t give in to hollow wish fulfillment.

Never-Ending Duet

(Season 3, Episode 8 “The Battle of Starcourt”) It may be the most controversial of my picks and it’s definitely the dumbest entry on the list, but Dustin and Suzie’s rendition of Limahl’s “Never-Ending Story,” from the iconic ‘80s fantasy film of the same name, is, hands down my favorite moment in season three and a strong contender for my favorite moment in the whole series. 

Wait, where are you going? Come back! Hear me out: it’s very very stupid. Almost exactly the sort of hollow, referential nostalgia-pandering that critics of the show insist it exemplifies. But, in being so thoroughly odd, such a nakedly mercenary scene and treated as such in-world, it’s maybe the most self-aware the show has ever been. Stranger Things, in its dedication to a nostalgic mismemory, loves to hit its on-the-nose needle drops and references (Lucas seriously compares Carpenter’s The Thing to New Coke instead of, you know, the Thing-esque flesh monster currently chasing him), but the inclusion of this pointless reference, where two young Broadway stars belt out one of the ‘80s fizziest and least dramatic anthems, intercut with David Harbour staring—incredulous and dead-eyed—down the endless hallway of the Russians’ secret base, is the closest thing the show has to a tacit admission that most of its raison d’etre is to ask ‘80s kids “hey, remember this?” and does so in the most delicious, troll-y way. 

Robin Comes Out

(Season 3, Episode 7 “The Bite”) Another clever subversion of audience expectations, season three introduces Maya Hawke’s Robin, who feels for most of the season like she’s being set up as a new love interest for Steve. In many ways she feels like the perfect Harrington belle—a woman previously ignored by Steve who doesn’t give him an inch and mercilessly mocks his failures while clearly still wanting to bring out the best in him. It’s perfect then, that she reveals that her past problem with Steve is not that he ignored her advances, but that he dated the woman she had been desperately in love with, dashing her romantic hopes. 

It’s one of the better coming out moments in recent television and it has the added bonus of forcing the audience to identify with Steve—rooting for the straight boy to get the girl before realizing we had gotten it entirely wrong and a better story was in the works. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Hawke is one of the show’s better actors and, in season three, her autism-coded awkwardness was still being played for genuine pathos and not just for schtick. Stranger Things isn’t typically great about portraying its minority characters with subtlety and clarity, but Robin’s bathroom admission is a rare win. 

Hopper’s American Tragedy

(Season 4, Episode 5 “The Nina Project”) Hopper recounting the story of his Vietnam service to Tom Wlascicha’s Dmitri might be the best dramatic monologue of the series. It’s not only a welcome ameliorative to season three’s Red Dawn inspired jingoism, but showcases the ways in which the show knows it can’t exist purely as an exercise in nostalgia. 

Sarah Hopper’s cancer death is a long shadow hanging over the series—the original death of a child that gives real stakes and sorrow to all the subsequent child endangerment. To explain that its likely cause is the result of American military hubris, its lack of regard for the safety of its own citizens in the face of its imperial aims, is the closest the show has gotten to a real thesis. After all, the Upside Down is the result of scientific recklessness papered over by a callous American government. Lurking underneath the show’s reverence for the ‘80s is the acknowledgement that the veneer of safety and prosperity was built on some of the darkest inclinations of a Cold War that implicated both America and the Soviet Union. Harbour’s gut-wrenching performance weds the personal and political in the tightest thematic moment the famously scattered show has ever had. 

But what do you think? What have I left out here? Do you like the “Running up that Hill” moment as much as the whole internet seems to? Am I over-concerned with the quiet moments on the show and not as into what’s obviously kickass? Let me know in the comments.[end-mark]

The post The Best Moments of <i>Stranger Things</i> appeared first on Reactor.

News Avengers: Doomsday

Steve Rogers Will Be Daddy in Avengers: Doomsday

You can see him yourself in the Avengers: Doomsday trailer if you get to your screening of Avatar: Fire and Ash a bit early…

By Vanessa Armstrong

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Published on December 18, 2025

Photo: Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures

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Photo: Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures

He’s baaaack. No, I’m not talking about James Cameron and his latest film, Avatar: Fire and Ash. I’m talking about the teaser before that film for Avengers: Doomsday, which reveals that a certain someone will be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

That someone is none other than the first Captain America, Steve Rogers, played once again by Chris Evans. When we last saw Steve, he abandoned all those he knew and loved in our present day to live in the past with Peggy Carter. The teaser, according to Variety, shows Steve riding a motorcycle up to his home on a farm (because of course he lives on a farm). He stops, admires his helmet, which looks not unlike Cap’s helmet, and also admires a baby that, we assume, is his and Peggy’s. The Avengers theme is played on a piano over all of this, and the clip ends with a countdown timer to the premiere date of Avengers: Doomsday, which is just under a year away.

The teaser is reportedly just one of several that Marvel will be releasing in the upcoming weeks, with each one focused on a different character. For this one with Steve Rogers, the questions are many: Where and when is this farm, including what timeline in the multiverse? Where is Peggy? Where is this baby in our present time, assuming this teaser is a flashback? Is this the Steve Rogers we know from previous films, or is this another Steve Rogers from the aforementioned multiverse? And what is time, really?

The answers to these are still elusive, but we have 364 days to mull over them: Avengers: Doomsday premieres in theaters on December 18, 2026.

*Note: Since this article originally ran, the Steve Rogers trailer has been officially uploaded. Here it is in all its relative glory. [end-mark]

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News Stranger Things

Here’s What Brought Frank Darabont Out of Retirement to Direct Stranger Things Season 5

The Shawshank Redemption director was happily enjoying time away from Hollywood before the Duffer Brothers started calling…

By Vanessa Armstrong

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Published on December 18, 2025

Courtesy of Netflix

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Courtesy of Netflix

Frank Darabont, who directed films like The Shawshank Redemption, The Blob, The Green Mile, and developed AMC’s The Walking Dead, came out of retirement to direct two episodes of Stranger Things 5: “The Turnbow Trap,” which was in the first tranche of the season release, and “Shock Jock,” which will come out on Netflix on Christmas Day.

(Easter egg alert: apparently there’s a nod to one of Darabont’s movies in “Shock Jock”; no confirmation as to which one but I’d place money on Nightmare on Elm Street 3 or The Blob.)

Darabont and his wife, it turns out, are “obsessed fans” of the series, so when the Duffers asked if he would be interested in directing an episode (which turned into two episodes when Dan Trachtenberg had to drop off due to scheduling), he said yes. “I was so familiar with the show, I watched all four seasons with my wife. I think we’d seen those four seasons about four or five times before this invitation arrived to come direct, because we just loved it so much,” he told IndieWire.

Darabont expanded on why Stranger Things appealed to him and his wife so much. “It really does have a moral compass,” he said. “This thing, you have a found family—some actual family—this group of people have been brought together by these circumstances, and they are always trying to do the right thing. There’s tremendous positivity in that group. There’s tremendous loyalty. They will sacrifice for one another. And you don’t see that kind of heart in a lot of our entertainment. There’s a lot of dour… There’s a lot of greed.”

Darabont also shared that, years ago, he actually turned down adapting Stephen King’s The Dark Tower (something that Mike Flanagan is currently taking a stab at), and explained why. “I was very flattered and very honored that [Stephen King] asked me,” he told IndieWire. “But man, so much of that story is so internalized. It’s so in the heads of the characters, and it’s this massive, endless story as well. I thought, oh my god, this could be the next ten years of my life and miss the mark, because it is a diabolically difficult thing to adapt. And at that point, I was just exhausted anyway.”

You can see Darabont’s first Stranger Things episode now on Netflix, with the second one dropping on December 25, 2025. [end-mark]

The post Here’s What Brought Frank Darabont Out of Retirement to Direct <i>Stranger Things</i> Season 5 appeared first on Reactor.

News Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Enters the Cold War With New Lee Shaw Prequel Series

Sadly, economic cutbacks will seemingly reduce the series to one Russell

By Matthew Byrd

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Published on December 18, 2025

Photo: Apple TV

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Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is getting a prequel spinoff that will give us what we all want this holiday season: more of the Russell boys.

Yes, Apple TV announced that they have greenlit a Monarch: Legacy of Monsters prequel series that will focus on the younger version of Col. Lee Shaw. Wyatt Russell will reprise the role of Col. Lee Shaw in this series as well as serve as executive producer on the spinoff. Joby Harold will serve as showrunner on the new series. There aren’t many details about the plot of the series at this time, but let’s toss it over to the official description for a little more info. Official description?

Thanks official description! Apple also says that “Viewers around the world haven’t been able to get enough of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters since its global debut,” which is certainly true enough, and that “this new spinoff will kick off an epic Monsterverse expansion that brings audiences even closer to their favorite Titans, along with fantastic character-driven storytelling.” The wording of the various statements seem to suggest that this show will stick to telling its own story and won’t feature the older version of Col. Lee Shaw (played by Wyatt’s dad Kurt Russell in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters).

So far as that goes, the timing of this prequel series is fascinating, both in terms of the existing Monarch: Legacy of Monsters series and the greater Legendary Monsters universe. The bulk of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters‘ first season was split between the mid-2010s and 1950s flashbacks. That means that the “current” sections of the show are set before Godzilla: King of Monsters while the flashbacks occur before pretty much every other major entry in the Legendary universe (except for the Godzilla: Awakening graphic novel series, which is not strictly adhered to). The ending of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters brought us closer to the apparent timeline of this spinoff series, so it’s going to be interesting to see how Monarch‘s recently confirmed second season and this spinoff balance that period of Shaw’s life while also filling some of the gaps that exist in the greater Legendary timeline. Then again, that timeline has always been somewhat loose, so it’s easy to assume this period was chosen to enable some of those immaculate Cold War espionage vibes.

There’s no word on this prequel series’ name or release date, though it’s easy to assume that it won’t premiere until quite some time after Monarch: Legacy of Monsters‘ second season debuts on Feb 27, 2026. [end-mark]

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News What to Watch

What to Watch and Read for the Rest of 2025: The Books, Movies, Games, and Shows on the Reactor Staff’s Backlogs

The holidays offer us a rare chance to watch, read, and play some of the things we’ve been meaning to get to

By Molly Templeton

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Published on December 19, 2025

Photo: Kepler Interactive, AMC Studios, Neon

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Photo: Kepler Interactive, AMC Studios, Neon

It is not quite the end of the year for publishing and its related industries, but it is close, and so this is the last What to Read and Watch post for 2025. What will Reactor’s staff be doing until the ball drops and the calendar ticks over? Well, watching stuff, and reading stuff, and playing stuff, and also maybe doing a little staring at the wall in absolute silence. You know. Decompressing! And also vegging out.

May your solstice be hopeful, your holidays be bright, and whatever celebrations you engage with bring you all the joy you can handle. 

We’re Playing New Games and Older Ones

Bailey is going to play Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a game I would very much like to play—it just won a nice big award!—but I am only allowed to have one gaming console, as I get obsessive and play games for eight hours straight. But Clair Obscur sounds fantastic. “Lead the members of Expedition 33 on their quest to destroy the Paintress so that she can never paint death again” is one hell of a description. I don’t know what it means, but I want to.

Meanwhile I will still be trucking about Hyrule, in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, only occasionally helping those whiny little koroks and/or the sign guy. I have turned on all the lightroots, which is the best part of the game, and now must decide whether to re-engage with the plot or not. I have put [redacted] hours into a different playthrough of this game and never beaten it. I hate boss battles. So I’ll just run around some more.

We’re Watching So… Many… Movies

Everybody is going to movies. We are going to first-run movies (Dust Bunny, multiple times between multiple people) and second-run movies (Pan’s Labyrinth) and movies that are on Netflix, sure, but why not go to them in a theater (Wake Up Dead Man). We are going to Norwegian family dramas (Sentimental Value) and anything Paolo Sorrentino directs (La Grazia) and the movie that nobody will shut up about (One Battle After Another). We are going to historical films starring actresses with very modern faces (The Testament of Ann Lee). We would like to be going to Morvern Callar but the random screening at Portland’s classic indie theater is already sold out despite happening in January. (We—and this time I mean I—clearly screwed up.) If Resurrection comes to Portland, I will be seated. The New Yorkers will go to No Other Choice, and I will wait patiently for that one, too. 

We are also watching movies at home, of course. Emmet will be indulging in their traditional Shane Black appreciation moment and watching Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (and maybe The Long Kiss Goodnight). I may finally get to Frankenstein. I may finally indulge in a Kelly Reichardt marathon and catch up to all her films, including The Mastermind, which Matt will also be watching. 

Pretend You’re Alone on Earth and Watch an Entire Series at Once

The Pluribus finale is coming, and if anyone I work with is not watching, I don’t want to know about it. Bailey will also be watching Heated Rivalry, a show I have learned an astonishing amount about just from being a person who goes online. Bless you, hockey romance fans, every one.

Leah plans to watch Interview with the Vampire, and so do I; I started it but got behind and now I have hours and hours to spend with those beautiful fuckups. I can’t wait. Emmet will also be hanging out with beautiful fuckups, but the ones in Harley Quinn. Have we talked about how the version of Bane in Harley Quinn is the most wonderful version of Bane imaginable? Never thought I could feel such affection for that character of all characters. But I love him.

You could also anniversary-binge The Magicians or Mr. Robot or The Expanse, all of which turned 10 this year. (The Expanse snuck past me, but it just hit the 10-year mark this week! A day before The Magicians! I wish anything like either of those shows was on TV now.) The incredibly funny Australian mystery show Deadloch returns in February, and if you haven’t watched it, I cannot recommend it enough. If the opening scene, in which two teenagers have very believable reactions to finding a dead body, doesn’t win you over, I don’t even know what to tell you.

No One Is Finishing Their TBR Stack Before the End of the Year

But we’re gonna try, dammit. Leah intends to read Daniel Kehlmann’s The Director, which is inspired by the life of director G.W. Pabst. Bailey has her eye on Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang, which sounds dark and mysterious and has a nice pop of red on its cover, making it festive, however unintentionally. Matt is reading Matching Minds with Sondheim: The Puzzles and Games of the Broadway Legend, a book that he bought for someone else. This is how book people roll. Stefan reads Hogfather every year, and will continue to do so.

I am debating whether I want to reread the previous two Book of Dust novels before picking up Philip Pullman’s final book about Lyra Silvertongue, The Rose Field. I also want to reread Bethany Jacobs’ first two Kindom Trilogy books before starting This Brutal Moon, but let’s be real: there are only so many hours in the day and days in the week, and I need to know what happens there. Kehlmann’s

There are a lot of crows in Portland, and I really love them, and yet I still have not read Hollow Kingdom, which is set in Seattle (close enough!) and stars a “foul-mouthed” crow. It may be time. I may pair this with Caskey Russell’s The Door on the Sea, which involves an “endlessly vulgar” raven. Everything about this book appeals to me. (I must also note that it is a year for mouthy birds. I’m in favor. More, please?)

However you spend your last few weeks of 2025, Emmet suggests that you wind down with one of their annual traditions: Listening to the Bing Crosby and David Bowie duet on “Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy.” The sketch is so awkward that I could not watch it. My colleagues are truly made of stronger stuff than I.

Happy holidays, everyone! [end-mark]

The post What to Watch and Read for the Rest of 2025: The Books, Movies, Games, and Shows on the Reactor Staff’s Backlogs appeared first on Reactor.

News Outlander

Listen to Annie Lennox’s Version of Outlander’s Theme Song

Lennox brings her talents to “The Skye Boat Song” for the show’s eighth and final season

By Vanessa Armstrong

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Published on December 17, 2025

Photo: Starz

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We have one more season in which Starz’s Outlander will sing me a song of a lass that is gone, and for that final season, Academy Award and four-time Grammy winner Annie Lennox will perform the show’s opening title sequence.

The song that has graced Outlander’s opening credits since its first season in 2014 is “The Skye Boat Song,” a 19th-century Jacobite lament. Composer Bear McCreary created the first arrangement, and season seven saw Sinéad O’Connor give her own take on the theme. (You can listen to every single opening sequence for Outlander, in fact, on this YouTube playlist Starz has helpfully compiled.)

“I’ve loved and sung ‘The Skye Boat Song’ since I was a young girl growing up in Aberdeen,” Lennox said in a stateament. “It represents such an iconic part of Scottish culture and history and it’s a real honor to have been asked to record it for Outlander’s final season.”

“Providing musical support for Claire’s emotional journey through time in the series Outlander has been an unforgettable journey for me as well,” added McCreary. “More than a decade ago, I produced a demo of ‘The Skye Boat Song’ sung by my wife, Raya Yarbrough, that would go on to become the main title theme for a series beloved by fans around the world. For the eighth and final season, there was only one singer I hoped to work with to craft a satisfying conclusion to this musical arc: the legendary Annie Lennox. I was delighted that Annie recognized the depth of the series’ narrative and channeled that into her heartfelt performance. The score for season eight is the culmination of more than a decade of work, and I am excited for fans to experience the final season, our new main title, and other musical surprises ahead.”

You can listen to Lennox’s rendition below, and head to Starz starting on March 6, 2026, with new episodes premiering weekly on Fridays. [end-mark]

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News Fallout

Fallout Season 2’s Vault 24 Scene Is the Show’s Strangest Easter Egg Yet

Fallout Season 2 kicked off with a deep cut reference involving one of New Vegas’ big unanswered questions

By Matthew Byrd

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Published on December 17, 2025

Photo: Amazon Prime Video

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This article contains spoilers for the first episode of Fallout Season 2.

Prime Video’s Fallout adaptation hasn’t been afraid to deviate from its source material and answer a few questions that the Fallout games never did. Well, if the Vault 24 scene in Fallout Season 2’s first episode is any indication, the series’ second season is going to dive even deeper into the games’ lore to both wink at franchise fans and carve its own Wasteland mythos.

What is Vault 24? Well, in the Fallout TV series, it’s the vault that Lucy and the Ghoul wander into near the New Vegas area. There, they find a host of skeletons dressed in red and surrounded by classic Communist propaganda (classic in the world of the show, that is). The pair initially wonder why Vault-Tec built a vault for an opposing political party, but they soon discover that Vault 24 is actually a kind of Clockwork Orange-style facility that was seemingly designed to test new brainwashing/mind control technology using said propaganda material and similar media.

The full explanation of this revelation currently remains something of a mystery. The implication at the moment is that the brainwashing/mind control technology is part of the reason Lucy’s father decided to head to New Vegas. It seems like he’s after some of the advanced (and dangerous) tech that RobCo Industries CEO Robert House was working on. But the answers to those questions will come later. What matters most at the moment is that we finally got to see what the hell is in Vault 24.

See, when developer Obsidian Entertainment was working on 2010’s Fallout: New Vegas (the game that Fallout‘s second season is largely based on), they had to cut a lot of content in order to meet some tight production deadlines. That’s weirdly been the history of Obsidian as a studio so far, but that’s a story for another day. Among that reportedly cut content were references to Vault 24. A Vault 24 jumpsuit existed in the game’s files and you could even access it via some backend trickery. While members of the New Vegas team have discussed some of the things they cut from the game in greater detail in the past, the purpose and nature of Vault 24 has long remained a mystery. The closest we got to the story of Vault 24 was when New Vegas director Josh Sawyer said that he doesn’t remember the exact purpose of the Vault 24 suit but believed it may have been related to a cut part of a quest that required players to collect various vault jumpsuits.

Since the Fallout TV series is canon, though, it seems that Vault 24 finally has a purpose beyond annoying fans who want to know absolutely everything about one of the most beloved entries in the franchise. Granted, there will continue to be those who lament the show interfering with the game’s lore both in principle and on a case-by-case basis, but if you hadn’t already guessed that, then let me congratulate you on using the internet to read our website and otherwise avoid every other corner of cultural discourse. [end-mark]

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Books Short Fiction Spotlight

Must Read Short Speculative Fiction: November 2025

Add some of the best new short fiction stories to your end of year reading lists!

By Alex Brown

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Published on December 18, 2025

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As I was looking over this list of stories, I realized most of them were by authors who were new to me. I love it when I encounter voices I’ve never heard before. I also have a new publication on the reading list, and one of their stories is featured here. Let’s bow out the hell that was 2025 with at least a little excitement and joy, shall we? Here are the ten short science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories I enjoyed reading in November.

“Beneath the Umdlebe Tree; or, A Vegetable Love Story” by Modupeoluwa Shelle

Our narrator addresses Orhija, who is returning to Earth after a while away. The story blends science fiction and Yoruba cosmology in a way I’ve never seen before. Shelle opts for large paragraphs that give the story a tense yet sprawling feel. “You always blamed the gods for everything we did out of our own free will. Are you going to blame them now for the war your kind wages on mine out of an agelong resentment? Did you even blame them for the reason my kind are doing this to the Earth?” (Lightspeed—November 2025; issue 186)

“Coin Flip” by Aeryn Rudel

The narrator of this story tracks down several humans being held hostage by a demon-possessed serial killer and gets killed in the process. Good thing that this isn’t his first death. He is resurrected in time to save the day. But who is this man? That you’ll have to read the story to find out. The twist isn’t just a silly little reference but one loaded with layers of meaning, especially if you were raised in the Christian church. (Flashpoint SF—November 14, 2025)

“The Fire Burns Anyway” by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

The protagonist here is a dreamweaver, someone who can use a neural scanner to create “imaginary settings” and “realistic worlds” you can enter in your dreams. This felt like a metaphor for trying to be creative in the age of generative AI. Everything being concentrated in the hands of the wealthy at the expense of everyone else, turning creativity and passion into commodities and resources to be extracted, and trying to hold onto the joy of creating art in the face of the capitalist machine. (Clarkesworld—November 2025; issue 230)

“For When the Night is Behind You and the Depths are Ahead” by Corey Farrenkopf

Coincidentally, I had just read the excellent eco-horror short story collection The Writhing, Verdant End by Corey Farrenkopf, Eric Raglin, and Tiffany Morris when I came across this story by Farrenkopf. Of course I had to read it, and of course it exceeded my expectations. Our narrator’s older brother Dave is one of many who die during the nationwide release events for a videogame, Castles Underground III. They become obsessed with beating the game, and soon we realize the game is more real than Dave let on. (Three-Lobed Burning Eye—November 2025” by issue 46)

“If You Can’t Make Your Own Regret, Store-Bought Is Fine” by RJ Aurand

Val is a membalmer, someone who preserves memories by extracting them from the dead. Those memories are given to the survivors as they process their feelings toward the recently deceased. This story follows Val as she extracts regret from Mr. Jensen to give to his daughter, who wants as little of him as possible. Aurand wrote in the author’s note that this story was inspired by a video of someone finding cremains at a Goodwill and what kind of person would donate those. What do you do when you’re expected to honor the memory of someone who didn’t care for you the way you deserved? (Inner Worlds—November 2025; issue 9)

“The Last Two Gardeners of Mars” by Irene W. Collins

Years ago, Anara and Mireille were part of a crew of scientists sent to terraform Mars. Now, they’re the only two left in a collapsing dome. The terraforming project was abandoned, and they didn’t want to leave the garden behind untended. “Fifty years of this. Not quite lovers, never merely friends. Something more ferocious, more faithful. A queerplatonic tether forged in the red dust and sealed in chlorophyll.” Their time is done and they’re preparing to go out together. A different kind of love story, but a nevertheless beautiful and bittersweet one. (Heartlines Spec—Winter 2025; issue 9)

“Occupational Hazards” by Nicole M. Babb

Welcome to the spotlight, Foofaraw! This was such an unsettling and distressing story. It starts off fine before descending into horror territory. A detective shows up at Pinnacle Ergonomics to interview the coworkers of a man who died after being crushed to death in a prototype of a new technology. “Blood, brain matter, and Gary’s shirt aside, the room was an unrelenting white. Sunshine streamed through floor-to-ceiling windows, baking Gary like a ham surprise casserole.” By the time the detective figures out who the culprit is…well, I’ll let you find out what happens. (Foofaraw—November 27, 2025)

“Pink Witches” by Melissa Jornd

A child is at the reception after her Grandma’s funeral. Bree misses her Grandma so much and would give anything to see her again. When she escapes to the bathroom, she steps into a room filled with flowers…and the spirit of her grandmother. They do a little magic together to help Bree’s mother in her grief. It was a wonderful story about honoring your ancestors and being compassionate. Bree taps into power she could wield for any purpose, and her first thought is to do something kind for someone without expecting any reciprocation or appreciation in return. (Small Wonders—November 2025; issue 29)

“Waterways” by Diana Dima

David inherits his father’s boat after his death and becomes a fisherman. He had a fraught relationship with his father, unable to please him but always trying to anyway. David has a surreal experience with several other fishermen, then something in him snaps. This story is dark and creepy; it has the feel of a nightmare, with things spiraling out of control. (PodCastle—November 18, 2025; #918)

“When Eve Chose Us” by Tia Tashiro

In the years after an alien species arrives on Earth, peace has finally been declared. Part of the treaty included the option for humans to join the alien hivemind. Those that do still look mostly human, and are jokingly called “drones” by other humans. Liza’s best friend Eve decides to join, and Liza has a hard time understanding why. Eve has her reasons, reasons she isn’t inclined to share with Liza, leaving Liza feeling adrift and like she lost something she never really had in the first place. This is a really interesting way to explore an alien invasion. In this situation, the aliens offer troubled humans the chance to let go of what ails them. The hive isn’t submission but freedom. (Diabolical Plots—November 3, 2025; #129A)

[end-mark]

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