The Amazing Re-ReleaseMan

Tonight, patti Jenkins returns to Star Wars, spider-man returns to theaters, moffat returns to Doctor who and remember Benji, creator Joe Camp and character actor M Emmett Walsh. All that and more on this edition of Multiverse tonight.

Books, sci-fi, fantasy and more. If you're looking for a roundup of geeky news, you're in the right place. This is Multiverse Tonight, and here's our host, thomas Townley.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 211 of Multiverse. Tonight, of course your host Thomas Townley. And it is a chilly spring day. You know it's snowing to the west of here. Luckily we're out of range of the snow but it's still freaking cold outside. But that's you know, spring. Kansas Winter tends to fight to go away, but it'll be in the 70s by this coming weekend. So we have that to look forward to. So I'm trying to keep positive here, looking forward to seeing the new Ghostbusters movie this coming weekend. Heard some, heard some. You know the reviews are mixed, but the fan reviews are good so I think it'll be a good movie. Anyway, I really don't have a lot to talk to at the top of the show here. You know there's not a lot to say, so let's go on to the Star Wars news. Roger Roger.

And Star Wars news begins with Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins revealing that she's back to work on the long-laid Star Wars Rogue Squadron movie and suddenly millions of insecure man boys cried out and then were silenced. Appearing on the Talking Pictures podcast, jenkins explained that she's gotten a new deal with Lucasfilm that brought her back to the Rogue Squadron movie. The filmmaker had originally left that movie to work on Wonder Woman 3, which has since been nixed by Warner Brothers. Jenkins stated in a statement, so quote so when I left Star Wars to do Wonder Woman 3, I thought maybe I'll come back to Star Wars after Wonder Woman 3. So we did a deal for that to happen, started a deal, but I thought I was doing Wonder Woman when that went away. Lucasfilm and I were like, oh, we've got to finish this deal. We finished the deal right as the strike was happening. So I now owe a draft to Star Wars and so we will see what happens there. You know, like who knows? It's hard. They have a hard job in front of them of what's the first movie they're going to do. They have other directors who have been working, but I am now, you know, I'm back on doing Rogue Squadron and we'll see what happens. We need to develop, you know. Get it where we're both super happy with it. Unquote. So there you go, folks. Patty Jenkins is back. Sorry, man boys.

Anyway, this will be a Star Wars day long, remember, lucasfilm announced that in celebration of the 25th anniversary yes, it's been 25 years of from Star Wars, the Phantom Menace fans will have the chance to experience the entire Star Wars Skywalker saga in theaters this May, the 4th, aka Star Wars Day. Now, this includes all nine episodes, in chronological order. That, of course, is Phantom Menace, the Sack of the Clones, revenge of the Sith, a New Hope, the Empire Strikes Back, return of the Jedi, the Force Awakens, the Last Jedi and the Rise of Skywalker. Now, in addition, there will also be an exclusive look at the upcoming Disney Plus series, the Acolyte, which is set during the High Republic era and will be part of the Phantom Menace screenings. Also, those in attendance will get a special limited edition poster Tickets on sale now.

And with that, let's go on to the Star Trek news. Star Trek news begins with well, picard being done with and discovery coming out, so it's almost done. So what's next for the franchise on Paramount Plus? Now? Remember when Starfleek Academy was announced they would have some motion on that. It was announced almost a year ago, though. So Starfleek Academy is set to be the next news series, following a group of young cadets as stage in their Star Trek journey.

We've rarely seen on screen Alex Kurtzman speaking with Collider during South by Southwest, dropped with some details about the newest addition to the Star Trek family. Now, while he remained tight-lipped about when the series takes place, kurtzman then told Tell Collider that they're getting ready to begin filming late this summer, and they're halfway through the writers room now, following in the steps of discovery Card and Strange New Worlds, kurtzman confirmed that the first season of the Academy will be 10 episodes. He also dropped information on when that will come out. It could end up not airing until 2026, we don't know. But by starting shooting in late summer, just building the set's loan is a massive endeavor. Then six months of shooting, then six to eight months of post.

If you recall, there was all this noise around season one and season two of Discovery because of streaming service. They were like oh, it's like a turnaround on a cop show. I'm like, no, you don't understand. It's eight months of visual effects turned around and we're not going to rush that so it'll come out, but it'll come out when it's done. Do you Give us seasons of at least 20 episodes? That way eventually you can put these shows in, say, syndication the thing that helps Star Trek keep alive back in the day, help build a future audience. 10 episodes, seasons, are great for streaming, but you're not going to build up the catalog that you need to run the show in syndication on regular TV.

And considering that streaming services are all seemingly combining themselves, he says I think we're going to have conventional TV for a long time to come, so why not Just build a 20 episode season? You get five seasons. Of that, there's 100 episodes. With 100 episodes, you have more than enough for syndication. There you go.

Anyway, on the other matters, still holding your breath for that spinoff series from Picard called Star Trek Legacy. Well, keep holding your breath, or you might want to start breathing because you're probably turning blue by now. But don't worry about the franchise either. In a new interview with Volter, cbs president George Cheeks said that the changes made to the Star Trek lineup shouldn't worry fans about the future of the franchise. Rather, the network is working with exec producer Alex Kurtzman to figure out a plan to deploy the various shows and projects.

Star Trek remains one of the most important franchises for Paramount Global and Paramount Plus specifically. There's so much great opportunity with the franchise and it's really about the cadence and the timeline of it. We don't want to offer up all these amazing premium drama series all at once. We want to time it out appropriately. Luckily, we have this incredible partner in Alex Kurtzman and we all work together to sort of manage long range planning across many years to figure out what's the right cadence for dropping new Star Trek shows. So there's a lot we're focused on, but it should not suggest to you a scaling back. There is a tremendous amount of focus and prioritizing of the Star Trek franchise. So, in other words, keep it cool. They're trying to dish this out at a leisurely pace, you know, not trying to just dump everything all at once, which I kind of understand. But you know you at least have to keep the times between series short. If you're going to build up this universe to have, say, three or four Star Trek series going all at once, going into production all at the same time, why not have maybe a month break between the first not one series and the next series, something like that? That way maybe you'll keep the subscribers tuned in instead of people ending the series and then ending their subscription until the next one comes Just saying Now let's go on to the Marvel Comics News.

With great anniversaries comes great re-releases. To commemorate Columbia Pictures' 100th anniversary, the Spider-Man films are getting re-released to theaters. From April 15th through June 10th, sony Pictures were appearing for eight live-action Spider-Man movies back to theaters for one week only Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Spider-Man 2, spider-man 3, mark Webb's the Amazing Spider-Man, the Amazing Spider-Man 2, and John Watts' Marvel Cinematic Universe trilogy Homecoming, fire from Home and no Way Home will all be returning to theaters. It starts on, of course, april 15th. You'll get the Amazing Spider-Man films starting on May 6th and then you'll get the rest of them in May, about May 20th. So you know, you have at least one reason a week to go. Of course, I don't know about the Amazing Spider-Man films. I don't know they're worth going back to theater for.

Anyway, on to other news, marvel Comics excuse me, marvel Studios has fired Bo DeMeo, the creator and executive producer of Marvel Animations X-Men 97. According to the Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the news, marvel suddenly parted ways with DeMeo earlier this month ahead of the March 20th premiere of the new series. Demeo, who also serves as writer and producer on the live-action Moon Knight series and writer of the Mahershala Ali-led Blade reboot, had complete work on the previously announced second season of X-Men 97 and was reportedly planning the third season at the time of his firing. Why Marvel fired DeMeo, it was not disclosed. The showrunner, however, whose credits include episodes of Strange New Worlds and the Witcher, was reportedly lined up for press appearances to promote X-Men 97 and was expected to attend the show's March 13th premiere in Hollywood when cast and crew were suddenly informed that DeMeo was removed from the series. That picks up from where the original Fox Kids cartoon left off in 1997. The mystery continues. Anyway, let's go on to the DC Comics News.

Next installment of the Batman movies, the Batman Part 2, aptly named release date has been delayed by a year. Instead of opening on October 3rd 2025. Batman 2 will now come out on October 2nd 2026. According to an updated release date scheduled from Warner Bros Pictures. Last year, the Batman director, matt Reeves, indicated to ComicBookcom that the timetable of getting the sequel done was intended to be a little bit longer than expected. Quote I mean I can't give an update on the Batman 2 in terms of specifics, except to tell you that we are hard at work on the script. My partner and I are deep in it and I'm excited about what's going on, what we're going to do, unquote. So time waits for no Batman. Dc Studios go ahead. James Gunn has also expressed enthusiasm for the Batman 2 after seeing the ideas that Reza and his team were hatching for the sequel, saying in a statement. Matt is working on the Batman 2, which he thinks of as a Batman crime saga which also includes the Penguin TV series and that's its own thing, and he's hard to work on that. He came in and pitched us some amazing, really cool stuff the other day. Our plan is for that to continue. Now there's no confirmed story details for the Batman 2 just yet.

Superman and Lois is adding Jimmy Olsen to the cast for the final season. According to TV Line, superman and Lois has cast Douglas Smith as Jimmy Olsen Daily Print Photographer for the final season. Per the report, the series' version of Jimmy was set to be a 20-something extrovert who is the life of the party at the office and, despite working with Clark, he's been unable to get him out of his awkward shell and, aware that Clark's super-secrets, jimmy is still determined to become his pal. The Telgene fans might best know Smith for his role as Ben Hendrickson on HBO's Big Love, as well as his role as Cory Brockfield on Big Little Lies. He also has appeared on when we Rise and the Alienest, as well as the 2013 film Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters, where he played Percy's half-brother, tyson Smith. Smith will be the second person to portray a version of Jimmy Olsen on the CW and Michelle Brooks previously portrayed James Olsen on Supergirl, which was set on Earth 38 for the majority of its Arrowverse run, dc Studios is added, adding to its newly rebooted cinematic universe with a live-action adaptation of Teen Titans, hiring a screenwriter and a Nogura to pen the feature.

The news comes only four months after Nogura was reported to be writing Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow for Warner Bros Discovery comic book's adaptation division, and actor and playwright Nogura has been involved with DC for several years now, having originally tapped by the previous regime to write the Supergirl movie that was seen Sasha Khali reprise the character after debuting in Last Summer's the Flash. That project was scrapped after Gunn and Saffron took on leadership roles, putting the reboot continuity of the on-screen DC Comics adaptations, but the pair have maintained a relationship with Nogura, which is further growing into Titans. Supergirl, woman of Tomorrow was confirmed by Gunn and Saffron alongside DC's studio's first slate of announced features, which will formally begin with the Gunn-directed Superman on July 11, 2025. The Teen Titans film is a new development and is not part of that initial group of confirmed projects, which includes an adaptation of the Batman arc, the Brave and the Bold, a hero-forward take on Swamp Thing and an anti-hero team-up film, the Authority.

Now let's go on to the geek news. And we begin geek news with another Doctor who veteran returning for the latest season. On Tuesday, the BBC confirmed that Steven Moffat, who served as showrunner during Matt Smith and Peri Capaldi's tenure on Doctor who, will be returning to write a new episode. Now it's unclear at this point which episode Moffat is writing, but will reportedly premiere in May as part of Nakuti Gatwa's first season as the 15th Doctor. This news of Moffat's return to Doctor who comes despite him suggesting the opposite in an interview earlier this year.

Moffat said in a statement confirming the news, quote yes, okay, fair enough. Apologies everyone, I've very slightly misled. In fact, I am writing an episode of the series Doctor who, exactly like I said I never would. What can I tell you? There was begging, there was pleading, but finally Russell agreed to let me have another go. So long as I got out of his garden, working with old friends and a brand new Doctor, I couldn't be happier. Sorry, I was a bit reticent on the subject for so long. It was all part of an elaborate plan that could have delighted millions, but at the last minute I forgot what it was. Unquote.

This summer is about to get a lot more timey-wimey. On Friday, disney, brand, the Telgian and BBC revealed new details surrounding the forthcoming season of Doctor who. The new patch of Doctor who episode starts in Nakuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor, everything Doctor will make history as the first season to premiere both on Disney Plus and the BBC simultaneously. This Doctor who season premiere will be held on Friday, may 10th at 7pm Eastern on Disney Plus, with a two-episode premiere. The episodes will then be available on BBC iPlayer on Saturday, may 11th at 12am GMT, followed by a broadcast premiere on BBC One later that day, neve Campbell officially announced her return for Scream 7 in an Instagram post saying quote Hi all, I am so excited to announce this news Sydney Prescott is coming back.

It's always been such a blast and an honor to get to play Sydney in the Scream movies. My appreciation for those films and for what they have meant to me has never waned. I'm very happy and proud to say I've been asked, in the most respectful way, to bring Sydney back to the screen and couldn't be more thrilled Well, actually I could. While I've been so incredibly lucky to make these films with both the Master of Horror, wes Craven, and the wonderfully talented Matt and Tyler team, I've dreamt for many years of how amazing it would be to make one of these movies with Kevin Williamson at the helm. And now it's happening. Kevin Williamson is going to direct Scream 7. This was his baby and his brilliant mind that dreamt up this world. Kevin is not just an inspiration as an artist, but has a dear friend for many years To the amazing Scream fans. I hope you are excited as I am. See you on set at Kevin Williamson Now.

Scream 7 will see some familiar faces in the horror franchise return, along with Nev Campbell and Kevin Williamson directing the film. Scream 5 was released last year and brought a new jolt of electricity, even though it was lacking one of the original stars. As Nev Campbell Believe, that's supposed to be Scream 6. Scream 7 started to lose some of its star power after the firing of Melissa Berra, jenna Ortega's exit and director of Christopher Landon's stepping down. Those problems have appeared to be rectified, however, and will be heralded the returns of Campbell and Williamson in the untitled Scream 7.

After a four-season run on TNT, audiences were upset to find that that snowpiercer would be coming to an end, with the network announcing the decision to pull the plug back in 2022. Things, however, went from bad to worse at the beginning of the year when, thanks to the tax write-offs at Warner Bros Discovery, the sci-fi thriller wouldn't be airing at all. Thankfully for the team at Tomorrow Studios shopping the series around for the swan song paid off in a big way, as AMC will pick up the series for the final batch of episodes In a surefire way. To gain extra boost to subscribers, amc Plus has obtained streaming rights for its productions first three seasons, with season four due both on AMC and AMC Plus early next year. Production for season four of Snowpiercer picked up cameras and got to work over two years ago, with names like Clark Gregg, michael Arnav, joining the long-running cast in the show's final bow.

Thrills and chills around in the David Diggs and Jennifer Connelly-led series that throws audiences into a frozen tundra. After the second ice age flips humanity on its head, the final survivors of humanity are forced to live alongside each other in an ever-moving train that jets around the globe over and over, where they are forced to grapple with their intense differences for the good of mankind. Now some interesting news for you gamers out there the Among Us animated series is in the works at CBS Studios and they've added their first voice cast members. Variety reports that Randall Parks, yvette Nicole Brown, elijah Wood and Ashley Johnson will all be lending their voices to the animated adaptation of the popular mobile game. Variety exclusively reported the series was in development back in June of 2023 and it hails from CBS iAnimation Studios and Intersloth, the independent game studio behind the game. Among.

Us. Owen Dennis will serve as creator and exec producer on the project and are the overall deal with CBS Studios. Titmouse, the studio behind Big Mouth, and Lore Dex will serve as the animation studio for the series, but no network or streaming service is currently attached, but those conversations are ongoing. Randall Parks will be voicing Red, the captain of the Skeld. He's a people pleaser at Blowhard and his task is leadership and confidence. Fun fact he failed upwards. Ashley Johnson will voice Purple, the chief of security. Her goals are safety, suspicion and sarcasm. Her task is wet blanket. Her fun fact trust issues. Yvette Nicole Brown will voice Orange, who is HR. She's a spineless corporate shill whose task is to eliminate redundancy redundantly and her fun fact she fires you over email. Elijah Wood will voice Green, who is an unpaid intern who is just happy to be there. His task is whatever they're told. His fun fact he gets paid in pizza. Now onto some more news. The CW has rounded out the series regular cast of the Librarians, next chapter. Cullen McGowan, olivia Morse, blue Robinson and Caroline Locke are joining the previously announced Jessica Green and guest star Christian Kane, who reprises his role as Jacob Stone in the spin-off series, the show from writer and exec producer Dean Devlin.

The Librarians the next chapter is a spin-off from the original TV series Librarians, which followed a group of adventurers who are custodians of a magical repository of the world's most powerful and dangerous supernatural artifacts. The new series stars on a Librarian played by McGowan from the past, who time travels to the present and now finds himself stuck here. When he returns to his castle, which is now a museum, he inadvertently releases magic across the continent. He is given a new team to help him clean up the mess he made by forming a new team of Librarians. Mcgowan will play Vikram Chamberlain, the Librarian. Vikram was THE Librarian in 1847, a Prussian genius and swashbuggler who broke the rules of the Librarian and accidentally transported himself to present day Central Europe, where he must lead a team to secure artifacts from those who would abuse him. The question is, will Vikram keep his oath to the Librarian and his new team, or will he attempt to travel back to his own past, where Unvisionist business and his heart remains?

Morse will portray Lysa Pascal the scientist. She was a polymath. Lysa holds brilliant advanced degrees in physics, mathematics and engineering. Because of a childhood tragedy, is obsessed with eliminating the unpredictable from life. Upon inheriting an ancient castle and Siberia. She comes into the orbit of Vikram and the library. She joins the team to see if the magic can be explained in scientific terms.

Robinson will play Connor Green, the historian Having lost a career in academia after claiming that magic does exist in the real world. Connor became a fringe figure, posting his findings on the internet to an audience of conspiracy freaks. In addition to his encyclopedic knowledge of history and all things supernatural, connor is an extreme athlete and par core expert, having trained himself to get into and out of the circuit of corners of the paranormal world. And Locke plays Lane Astalot, the caretaker. Lane, the resident of the Camelot in the days of King Arthur, is a mortal and the caretaker of the library. She has her hands full keeping Vikram and the rest of the team in their lanes, but never loses her calm and carry on attitude as the British landlady who's pretty much seen it all in 14 centuries on the planet. Now Dean Devlin serves as showrunner and will executive produce alongside Mark Roskin and Rachel Oskine-Wolson of Electric Entertainment, with Noel Wiley a long to executive produce, mark Franco and Electronic Entertainment and Jonathan English of Volcanic Media will produce Children's Fantasy Classic.

The never ending story is head for the big screen with a reboot via a series of live action features to be developed and produced by Michael N Productions and Oscar winning Seesaw Films. The partners will grant the rights to End's Enduring novel by the author's executor, wolf Dieter von Grunow. First published in 1979, the never ending story was a huge hit in Germany, remaining on the best seller list for years. It wanted to be translated into 45 languages and sold millions of copies worldwide and spawned films including the Wolfgang Pearson co-written and directed 1984 cults classic, as well as a TV series, video games, pop songs, spin off novels and stage plays. Deadline previously reported that streamers and studios on both sides of the Atlantic were chasing the screen rights to revive the beloved property. Of course, we end with those who have gone on before.

First up, joe Camp, the creator, director and writer of the Benji films, passed away on March 15th at the age of 84. Camp died in his home in Bellbuckle, tennessee, falling a battle with illness. According to his son, filmmaker and writer of the 2018 Benji reboot, branton Camp, camp had nearly no Hollywood experience before raising half a million dollars to make the first Benji film, a family movie about a lovable mother who saved a pair of children from kidnappers Played by Higgins the dog who previously appeared in the CBS sitcom Petticoat Junction, who came out of retirement to star as Benji in the movie. After having no luck with distribution, camp formed his own distribution company called Mulberry Square, releasing in 1974 to distribute the film himself. Benji would go on to gross almost $40 million, which is $250 million today, after inflation.

Camp would follow up with the original movie for the love of Benji in 1977 and oh Heavenly Dog in 1980, which starred Chevy Chase as the detective reincarnated as the heroic canine. The series also spawned a mage for TV Christmas movie in 1978 and the TV series in 1983 titled Benji Zaks and the Alien Prince. The final two films would come in 87 with his collaboration with Disney, called Benji the hunted and 2004's Benji Off the Leash In the scenes. Camp was a dedicated animal lover and best-selling author and published his book the Soul of the Horse Life Lessons from the Heard in 2008, which chronicled what he learned from working with the majestic creatures. Camp also served as board member of several charities, activist groups and schools, including the Pineywood School in Mississippi. Camp is survived by his wife, kathleen, and his two sons, joe and Brandon, and his stepchildren David Dylan and Allegra.

Again, Joe Camp was 84 years old. Finally, tonight M Emmett Walsh, the wily character actor who became an audience favorite for his deliciously despicable performances in such films as Blood Simple, blade Runner.

Brew Baker and the Jerk has passed away at the age of 88. Walsh died in St Albans-Vervant. His longtime manager, sandy Joseph, told the Hollywood Reporter, saying the cause was cardiac arrest. With his distinctive lumbering form and droll delivery, walsh was an ideal supporting player. A master of off-kilter comic delivery and dogged edginess, he excelled at roles that dwelled in the dark corner of humanity. No matter whom he played, he made a very colorful impact.

A consummate old pro of the second banana business, walsh left his mark on 109 movies and counting with the grin that the big bastard who's staying behind you and something else and knows it, according to Nicholas Rappold writing in a 2011 profile of the actor for the LA Weekly. In the same piece, walsh, who wound up with more than 230 credits to his IMDB page, sum up his philosophy toward acting. Quote I don't want you to see an MM at Walsh. I want you to see the garbage collector or president of Princeton or whatever I do every man and I also I play hard unquote. With his imposing stature, walsh often was cast as someone in authority. He played an army recruitment sergeant in Alice's restaurant, a prison guard and little big man, a doctor in airport 77, dustin Hoffman's belligerent parole officer caught with his pants down in straight time. A corrupt lumber merchant in brew baker, the police chief and critters, a governor in the Malera-Bainfield war and a man in a black suit, a blogger being filled war and a sheriff in bitter harvest. Walsh also will be fondly remembered for his winning performance as the humble sports writer Dick Dunn in Slap Shot, as a relentlessly demented sniper predetermined to pull a bullet in Steve Martin in the Jerk, and as Michael Keaton's sponsor in Clean and Sober.

Perhaps no character better embodied Walsh's talents than Lauren Visser, the inscrutable private detective in Blood Simple, the Coen director's feature debut. Visser, hired to catch a cheating spouse and her lover in the act, ends up double-crossing and killing his client, emptying his safe and framing the wife for the murder. Walsh was never married, as he put it in a 2015 interview quote. He survived by his two nephews, again, m Emmett. Walsh was 88 years old, and with that we come to the end of the show.

Now please be sure to check us out on social media. We're on Blue Sky and Twitter at Multiverse Tom. We're also on threads, facebook and Instagram at Multiverse Tonight, and if you've gotten some value over the show and would like to pay it back, head on over to MultiverseTonightcom where you can find our Patreon and Ko-fi links. Check out the show notes, visit the T-Public store, leave some feedback and more. And if this is your first time listening, thank you and welcome. Go ahead and hit that subscribe button. Share it with your friends, family, people you hate. Special thanks to Shane Ivers for the intro music and Lobo Loco for the outro theme music. Thanks for watching this edition of Multiverse Tonight. We'll be back in two weeks with more sci-fi and comic book news. Now, please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good night. Multiverse Tonight is a production of half-big genre productions. Copyright 2024, all rights reserved. This podcast is part of the Pop Goes to Culture Podcast Network. Check out more of our other podcasts at popgoesiculturecom.