HBO Max has shadow-dropped a surprise Derry Halloween episode, a 30-minute special titled “A Story of Derry” that is now streaming alongside the first season of It: Welcome to Derry. The streamer announced it on social media on October 31 with a short teaser and the tagline “IT’s a surprise Halloween treat.”

The official logline reads: “Hundreds of years before Pennywise, three youngsters venture into the Western Wood… where they encounter a terrifying ancient spirit.” The Instagram clip shows a Native American girl running through the woods with a bow and arrow at the ready. According to IGN, an on-screen text introduction refers to the “Kollu,” a presence that “first preyed on our people.” The text describes a warning hidden inside a gentler tale meant for children, “the story we do not teach.”

Who made the Derry Halloween episode

The special was directed by Tazbah Chavez, whose credits include Reservation Dogs and The Paper. It was written by Cherie Dimaline, a producer on the series, and Jasmyne Flournoy, the show’s writer and editor. The credits, along with the Indigenous perspective in the setup, suggest a story told from the point of view of the people who lived in the area long before Derry existed. That is a corner of the town’s history the series had not previously explored.

The release came with no advance notice, though not without speculation. IGN reports that rumors of a secretly shot bonus episode had circulated for weeks. Many fans dismissed them, partly because of a recent high-profile case of fan theories about a surprise finale that came to nothing. Polygon reports the episode appeared on HBO Max at midnight.

What it means for the Derry timeline

Season 1 premiered on October 26, 2025, as a prequel to the 2017 and 2019 It films. It was set in 1962. Season 2, renewed by HBO in August, jumps back to 1935 and the Great Depression. It centers on the Bradley Gang, a group of bank robbers who stop in Derry to buy ammunition and meet unimaginable horror. That episode of town history comes from Stephen King’s 1986 novel. IGN also notes that a planned third season was previously said to be set in 1908.

The new special reaches back much further than any of those. Polygon calls it “a satisfying amuse-bouche” while fans wait, and it reinforces the sense that the series is an anthology exploring different eras of the same cursed town.

Showrunner Brad Caleb Kane told Deadline this month that the writers are about halfway through the Season 2 scripts and that co-creator Andy Muschietti is casting. Kane said Season 2, expected in late 2027 or 2028, will show Pennywise, played by Bill Skarsgård, in a “way you’ve never seen that character before.” Muschietti told Variety the new season will feel bleaker, with Derry as “a graveyard almost” and a young cast that includes orphans and runaways, though “the aspect of hope” is always there.

For now, viewers have a short, unexpected Halloween gift. With the two films and Season 1 also on HBO Max, the platform has effectively assembled a full Derry marathon for the night, with the oldest story in the town’s history added at the start.

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File photo: It Welcome to Derry at 53rd Saturn Awards 2026.jpg by Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The FBI profilers of Criminal Minds are headed for their final case file. Criminal Minds Season 20 will be the last for Criminal Minds: Evolution on Paramount+, closing a franchise that began on CBS in 2005 and survived one cancellation already. The season is due to premiere in 2027, and no date has been announced.

A Sudden Decision Under New Management

According to Deadline, the decision was made recently. It would be the first official cancellation by Paramount+’s new leadership team under Casey Bloys, co-chair and chief content officer for Skydance Direct to Consumer. Deadline’s sources say the call followed a recommendation from the previous Paramount+ regime. That regime had given the show an early renewal for Season 20 in March, before Season 19 even debuted.

The timing is part of what makes the news striking. Season 19 aired between May and July, according to Variety, and Deadline reports the show is currently in Paramount+’s Top 10. Deadline suggests the decision may come down to how that performance stacks up against cost, or to the show’s nature as a broadcast-style series on a streaming platform.

No Chance for a Proper Ending

Because production on Criminal Minds Season 20 wrapped earlier this fall, the writers could not shape it as a series finale. Showrunner and executive producer Erica Messer’s statement hints at the shock. She spoke of “suddenly navigating the end of this chapter,” while saying she is grateful to the cast, crew and fans and looks forward to “celebrating the legacy” of the show.

The End of Paramount+’s Broadcast Revivals

Deadline notes that Evolution is the last of its kind on the service, following earlier Paramount+ continuations of network-style shows such as SEAL Team, Frasier and NCIS: Tony & Ziva. Jane Wiseman, the streamer’s former head of originals, left last week after the merger. In August she said she and her team were “big fans” of the show and open to more series in that mold. Paramount+ will still carry a full slate of CBS broadcast series, which arrive on the service the next day. Deadline also points to sibling service HBO Max, where a show like The Pitt uses longer episode orders, procedural elements and a yearly schedule while keeping a premium feel.

The streaming version of the show was never a carbon copy of the original. The Hollywood Reporter notes that since moving to Paramount+ in 2022, Criminal Minds became more serialized, with story arcs running across a whole season. Seasons were 10 episodes each, compared with 22 or more for most of the CBS run. The original series ran for more than 300 episodes from 2005 to 2020 and spawned two shorter-lived spinoffs, Suspect Behavior and Beyond Borders.

Where the Franchise Stands

Even at 20 combined seasons, the show is tied for fifth among the longest-running drama series, per Deadline. Only Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order, NCIS and Grey’s Anatomy have lasted longer, and all four are still on the air. Deadline’s headline framing, “for now,” leaves the door slightly open, but nothing in the sources points to a revival plan.

The cast includes Joe Mantegna, A.J. Cook, Kirsten Vangsness, Aisha Tyler and RJ Hatanaka, with Adam Rodriguez and Paget Brewster. Messer executive produces alongside Breen Frazier, Chris Barbour, Glenn Kershaw, Stacey Hardt and Mark Gordon. The series is produced by 20th Television and CBS Studios. For fans, Criminal Minds Season 20 will be the last chance to see the team in action, though not necessarily a planned goodbye.

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The Lauren Bennett inquest has heard that the British singer, who featured on LMFAO’s global hit Party Rock Anthem, was in the care of specialist mental health services and had been in “substantial psychological suffering” for months before her death. Kent and Medway Coroners’ Court in Maidstone concluded on Friday that the 36-year-old took her own life.

Bennett, also a member of the girl group G.R.L, was found dead in Kent on 29 May. Her death was announced publicly in July by her former bandmates, who said their “hearts are broken” and remembered her as a “beautiful spirit” who would be “deeply missed”.

What the Lauren Bennett inquest heard about her final months

Assistant coroner Jyoti Gill told the court that Bennett’s difficulties intensified in January 2026. After going several days without sleep, she was admitted to hospital under a mental health section. Gill said she had experienced “substantial psychological suffering” from that point on, describing it as an “ongoing struggle”.

The court heard Bennett was receiving care from “special mental health services” at the time of her death and had met with them in the days beforehand. She had continued to report distress over the effects of her prescribed medication, and the court was told she reacted poorly to it and did not believe she would get better. Toxicology found no alcohol or illicit drugs in her system.

Statements read to the hearing also indicated that Bennett had been diagnosed with Fragile X syndrome, a genetic condition that can cause anxiety, mood instability and depression.

The morning of her death

Her husband, the professional dancer and choreographer Kenny Wormald, gave a statement saying she had been struggling with severe mental health issues. He told police he was still half asleep when she left their home in Meopham at around 9am, saying she was going for a walk. When she had not returned after a few hours, and neither he nor several other relatives could reach her by phone or text, he and her father went to look for her.

Using a phone-tracking feature, Wormald located her in a rural, wooded area near the family home. Reports differ slightly on the detail, but one account put the spot about a 15-minute walk from the house. Wormald said the couple talked about everything and that there had been no sign she intended to end her life. The court heard that pages of farewell notes were later found at her home.

A career that began at 17

Her father, Richard Bennett, described in a statement a daughter who lived an “amazing life”. She signed a record deal at 17 and moved to the United States alone. Her first success came with the girl group Paradiso Girls, whose 2009 single Patron Tequila, featuring Lil Jon, charted in the US and Canada.

Party Rock Anthem followed in 2011. It topped charts in the UK, US, Canada, Ireland and Australia, spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and has since been ranked by Billboard as the fifth most successful song of all time. Its video, in which Bennett appeared, has more than 2.5 billion YouTube views.

She joined G.R.L in 2013, the group formed by producer Robin Antin. It disbanded after the death of bandmate Simone Battle, but Bennett returned when it reunited with new line-ups in 2016 and again in 2020. She toured the US twice, met Wormald there, and the couple opened a dance studio in Los Angeles before returning to the UK.

Her brother, step-brother and sister-in-law attended the hearing. Taken together, the Lauren Bennett inquest paints a picture of a sudden and severe decline in her mental health that persisted despite specialist care, and of a family who say they saw no warning on the day.

If you are struggling to cope, the Samaritans offer confidential support free on 116 123 (UK and ROI) or at samaritans.org. In the US, call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Elsewhere, befrienders.org lists helplines worldwide.

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My Chemical Romance have added a new chapter to their Black Parade anniversary celebrations with “Prelude To The End,” a nine-minute short film made with visual artist Lauren Tsai and voiced by Billie Eilish, Phoebe Bridgers, game designer Hideo Kojima and actor John C. McGinley. It was released on October 30, 2026.

What happens in Prelude To The End

The film is built around “The End.,” the opening track of the band’s 2006 album The Black Parade. It follows Astrid, a student at a mysterious New England boarding school buried in rubbish. After school authorities throw away her cherished sketchbook, she chases it down a rubbish chute and lands in a surreal realm populated by forgotten ideas.

Polygon’s description fills in some of the early scenes. The Dean of the Paper Academy scolds Astrid for repeatedly drawing “that thing” and for falling behind her classmates. Astrid then listens to voicemails from worried friends and family as the song begins. Those messages are where several of the famous voices appear: Eilish plays Astrid’s friend and Bridgers her sister. Kojima, as “The Teacher,” scolds her over late Japanese homework. McGinley, best known for Scrubs, voices the Dean, and Tsai voices Astrid herself.

A fan project that came full circle

Tsai made animated fan videos set to MCR songs when she was younger, so the project is personal. “It was an absolute dream to work on this project for The Black Parade and The Dying World,” she said in a statement, adding that she was honoured Gerard Way had found inspiration in a world she created.

The film comes from her independent studio, UNREAL INC., and draws on The Dying World, her animated universe. Rolling Stone reports that she introduced it with a short at the Annecy Film Festival last year, then expanded it in an exhibition at Hollywood Forever Cemetery that closed last November. In that universe, Tsai has said, the Dying World is a “trash dump for discarded thoughts.” She described Astrid as someone who “might have slipped into being forgotten” while still alive.

That premise echoes The Black Parade itself. Its central character, the Patient, is carried through a realm of memories as his life fades. Polygon notes the parallel and speculates it could point to further storytelling from the band, though nothing of the kind has been announced.

Familiar collaborators, unusual cast

Several of the connections here predate the film. Tsai directed the animated video for Boygenius’s “Cool About It” in 2023, and Bridgers has long been open about her love for MCR, having covered “Welcome To The Black Parade” at SXSW in 2022. Kojima has said he saw the band live in 2006, and Tsai appeared in a small role in his game Death Stranding 2: On the Beach.

The soundtrack also reaches beyond the band. According to Rolling Stone, the short includes a live recording of Pascal Dusapin’s violin concerto Flying River, performed by Utopia Orchestra at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, with Giuseppe Mengoli conducting and Daniel Lozakovich on solo violin. A press release describes the film as exploring “the relationships we all hold with our creations, youth and the unwavering determination to become and express our truth,” a theme it ties to the band’s catalogue.

Where it fits in the anniversary run

“Prelude To The End” will screen before MCR’s final Hollywood Bowl shows on October 30 and 31, which close the US leg of the “Long Live The Black Parade” tour. The band have been playing the album in full along with songs from the rest of their catalogue. An expanded 20th anniversary edition arrived October 23 with six bonus tracks, including previously unreleased recordings from a 2007 show in Hoboken, New Jersey.

The tour has not been free of controversy. NME reports that the company behind the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders has taken legal action against the band over lookalike uniforms used in a staged gunfight.

Fans hoping the film signals a new record have only a hope to hold onto. Way recently said the band have “always wanted to make another record,” adding, “I don’t know when it’ll be. But it’ll be awesome.” No plans have been confirmed, so for now “Prelude To The End” is a standalone piece, a short story about lost ideas that celebrates an album about endings.

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File photo: My Chemical Romance BDO Feb 4 07 1.jpg by Flickr user Michael Spencer, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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HBO has used Halloween eve to fill in some of the spookiest gaps in the Harry Potter cast, naming the actors who will voice the Sorting Hat and play the ghosts and portrait that haunt Hogwarts. The announcement came on Oct. 30, less than two months before the series debuts on HBO and HBO Max on Dec. 25.

David Threlfall, the BAFTA-winning actor best known as Frank Gallagher in the original UK version of “Shameless,” will voice the Sorting Hat. Leo Bill takes on Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor house ghost. Andrew Brooke is the Bloody Baron of Slytherin, Daniel Fearn plays the Hufflepuff ghost the Fat Friar, and Laura Smyth, seen in “Baby Reindeer,” plays the Fat Lady, the portrait guarding Gryffindor’s entrance.

A Note on the Sorting Hat Casting

One outlet’s report muddied the waters. IGN’s article credits “Shameless” US star William H. Macy with the Sorting Hat voice. Polygon, Variety and Deadline all name Threlfall instead, and Deadline notes that Threlfall led the British series that inspired the American version starring Macy. The weight of reporting points to Threlfall, and the Macy credit looks like a mix-up between the two versions of the show.

Big Shoes, Familiar Names

Each new actor steps into a role with film history. John Cleese played Nearly Headless Nick in the movies, and Leslie Phillips voiced the Sorting Hat. Elizabeth Spriggs was the Fat Lady. Terence Bayler and Simon Fisher-Becker, who played the Bloody Baron and the Fat Friar in the first film, have both died.

The group joins Peter Serafinowicz, cast earlier this year as Peeves the Poltergeist. Peeves appears in the books but was cut from the films, so he is one of the clearest chances for the series to show off material the movies left behind.

What the Harry Potter Cast Looks Like Now

The Harry Potter cast is large. Dominic McLaughlin, Arabella Stanton and Alastair Stout lead as Harry, Hermione and Ron. John Lithgow is Dumbledore, Janet McTeer is McGonagall, Paapa Essiedu is Snape and Nick Frost is Hagrid. The supporting list includes Paul Whitehouse, Johnny Flynn, Bertie Carvel, Katherine Parkinson, Warwick Davis and Anton Lesser. Recent additions include Jasper Talbot and Hannah Chinn as James and Lily Potter, and Harry Gilby as Charlie Weasley.

Season 2, adapting “Chamber of Secrets,” is already filming. Variety lists Kit Harington as Gilderoy Lockhart, Lenny Rush as Dobby, Billy Barratt as Tom Riddle, Rafe Spall as Arthur Weasley, Molly Hewitt-Richards as Moaning Myrtle and Jasper Ambrose as Colin Creevey.

Eight Hours Instead of Two and a Half

Producer David Heyman recently spoke about the challenge of adapting each book as a TV season rather than a film. On the official Harry Potter podcast, he said the team is telling over eight hours a story the first film covered in two and a half, and that episodes need act breaks and often end on a question rather than an answer. “Finding that structure is just different,” he said. “But boy, is it exciting.”

Francesca Gardiner writes and executive produces the first season, and Mark Mylod executive produces and directs multiple episodes. J.K. Rowling is among the executive producers. With a trailer released last month and the casting nearly complete, the remaining question is whether this version can win over viewers who know the films well.

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The Ian McKellen tribute to Patrick Stewart, who died Wednesday at 86, is short, plainspoken and affectionate, much like the friendship it describes. Posted to Instagram, it casts the late actor first and foremost as a Yorkshireman, and only after that as a Hollywood figure.

Stewart’s longtime spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak, said he died at his Los Angeles home with his wife, singer Sunny Ozell, by his side. She described “a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.” Bush Novak wrote that he had been surrounded by family and friends, live music, prayer, tears and laughter.

A Yorkshireman First

McKellen opened by describing Stewart as “defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire,” a county he “loved to the end.” The accent, McKellen suggested, was only part of it. The rest was a “stern honesty” in saying what he thought and felt. “Yorkshiremen have no truck with half-truths or avoidance of big issues,” McKellen wrote. “He wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and in my case, love.”

That sense of origin carried through the rest of the message. Although “America was his adopted home,” McKellen said, Stewart “never forsook his origins.” He named the actor’s proudest achievement as his appointment as Chancellor of Huddersfield University in Yorkshire. That is a striking choice for a man with an OBE (2001), a knighthood (2010) and a career that stretched from Stratford-upon-Avon to Broadway.

The Star Trek Gamble

The most revealing passage in the Ian McKellen tribute is a street-corner memory. The two had met as ambitious young actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company roughly half a century ago, though they weren’t in the same productions. A few years later, McKellen ran into Stewart in central London, where he learned of an offer to take over a leading part in Star Trek.

McKellen admitted he voiced doubts, asking whether Stewart really wanted to risk getting “lost in Hollywood for years and years” at the expense of his stage career. “Well, he took the risk,” McKellen wrote, “and thank goodness for us all that he did.” He credited that choice with giving audiences both devoted Trekkies and a run of film successes, X-Men among them. It also let Stewart use his fame to return to Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, Peter Shaffer, Pinter and Beckett.

Professor X, Magneto and a Famously Open Affection

Variety notes that the two men had crossed paths before but became close on the 2000 film X-Men, where they played Professor X and Magneto, allies and rivals. Stewart recalled in a 2020 Wired interview that they had adjoining trailers and passed the downtime over tea, and perhaps “something a little stronger” in the afternoon. “We found we had so much in common,” he said.

The bond lasted. McKellen officiated at Stewart’s 2013 wedding to Ozell, and the pair often showed their affection publicly, including kisses at red-carpet events. They also shared stages, notably in Waiting for Godot and No Man’s Land. In 2023, McKellen said that going around with Stewart was “like going around with the pope,” adding: “Not that people genuflect, but he’s touched so many lives.”

One Last Appearance

McKellen ended his message with a forward-looking line: “His farewell performance in Avengers: Doomsday is yet to be seen.” Both actors are set to reprise their X-Men roles in the Marvel film, due in theaters on December 18. That leaves the Ian McKellen tribute with an unusual final note, since one more Stewart performance is still waiting for audiences.

Other tributes have followed from figures including Kevin Feige, William Shatner, Hugh Jackman, Seth MacFarlane, Rebecca Romijn and Famke Janssen. McKellen’s stands out for its tone. It is less a list of credits than a portrait of a friend who spoke bluntly, took a career gamble and never lost sight of home.

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File photo: Patrick Stewart 1999.jpg by Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Donald Glover is taking on one of gaming’s most recognizable battle royales: a live-action PUBG Netflix series that he will write, direct, produce and star in. The project was reported on October 29, 2026 by Deadline and IGN, and it marks a major step in Krafton’s long-stated push to turn its franchise into original entertainment.

Who is behind the PUBG Netflix series

Glover, an Emmy winner for acting and directing on Atlanta, is writing the adaptation with his brother Stephen Glover, who is also an executive producer. The pair worked together on Atlanta, where both wrote and executive produced. Other executive producers are Michael Schaefer for Neon, Fam Udeorji for Gilga, and Taeseok Jang and Sujin Lee for LV3H, Krafton’s entertainment arm. LV3H is also helping develop and produce the show.

Deadline reports that the deal came together after lengthy negotiations. Glover is free to work with Netflix because his Amazon MGM Studios agreement, signed in 2021 when he left FX, has since been renewed as a first-look deal rather than an exclusive one. He remains an executive producer on Amazon’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

A game with more story than you might expect

PUBG, originally titled PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, debuted in 2017 and has set seven Guinness World Records. It began as a pure multiplayer experience, which raises the obvious question of what a scripted series would actually be about. IGN points to the lore on the game’s official site. In it, a billionaire named Sergei Kalimnik survives a deadly Soviet attack on the fictional island of Erangel in 1965. He later buys the island and stages forced battles among 100 conscripted people. The backstory also links to a centuries-old tradition called “Magna Venari: The Great Hunt.”

IGN’s writer likens the premise to Squid Game, with shadowy elites watching from a distance. That comparison is the outlet’s own reading, and neither report says how closely Glover’s version will follow the game’s canon.

Netflix’s growing game slate

The PUBG Netflix series joins a crowded pipeline of game adaptations at the streamer. Deadline lists a live-action Assassin’s Creed series, a live-action Gears of War film, animated adaptations of Minecraft, Magic: The Gathering and Clash of Clans, and an Overcooked competition series. Netflix had also previously been developing an animated PUBG series from Castlevania executive producer Adi Shankar, announced in 2021. Krafton first announced plans for a PUBG movie and TV series back in 2020.

Neon’s involvement is notable too. The studio has won two Best Picture Oscars, for Parasite and Anora, and its presence suggests an auteur-minded approach rather than a standard franchise play. Deadline’s note that Schaefer joined Neon following Department M’s stake acquisition gives some context for the studio’s expanding ambitions.

IGN also notes that Glover is not the only celebrity attached to a game adaptation right now. Michael B. Jordan and Christopher McQuarrie are reportedly shopping a Battlefield film to studios, with Sony said to be a frontrunner.

What we still don’t know

The reports leave major questions open. There is no release date, episode count, additional cast or production timeline, and Deadline describes the series as “in works” at Netflix. For now, the headline is the creative lineup: a single filmmaker handling writing, directing and starring duties on a PUBG Netflix series, backed by the game’s owner and one of the most celebrated independent studios in film.

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File photo: Donald Glover TIFF 2015.jpg by Bill Ingalls, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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The first trailer for Death Stranding Isolations arrived on October 30, giving fans their earliest look at Hideo Kojima’s animated spin-off, which is due on Disney+ sometime in 2027. No exact release date has been given. The series was announced in November 2025, and the footage suggests it will explore the fallout of the games’ story rather than retell it.

What the Death Stranding Isolations trailer shows

The teaser centres on one of the two leads, a blonde-haired girl who is tormented by visions of Beached Things, the souls of the dead stranded among the living. Polygon notes that the anime’s subtitle is “My mom became a crater.” That is a nod to voidouts, the huge explosions triggered when a BT consumes a human.

NME reports that Kojima Productions has also published a fuller synopsis. The story begins in North America just after Sam, the games’ protagonist, reconnects the continent through the Chiral Network. The synopsis suggests that reconnection is not simply a happy ending. As the country is “reborn from the ashes,” the renewed links between people bring “new and unforeseen consequences.”

New characters walking a different path

Sam and his Bridges comrades are not the focus. The synopsis lists a wise old man who connects people by a method “that defies all reckoning,” a female soldier caught in a cycle of war, and a boy furious at the absurdity of his life. The fourth is the girl who severed all ties with the outside world, and who is thrown into an unfamiliar world by chance encounters. In a franchise built on the idea of connection, a protagonist who deliberately cut herself off looks like a deliberate thematic counterpoint.

The team behind the anime

According to Polygon, animation comes from E&H Production, a young studio founded by MAPPA veteran Sunghoo Park, whose credits include Ninja Kamui. Takayuki Sano directs. He has worked on Attack on Titan: The Last Attack and Jujutsu Kaisen 0, and this is his directorial debut. Tow Ubukata, known for Psycho-Pass 2 and 3, wrote the screenplay. Kojima is executive producing.

A growing Death Stranding universe

The anime is one of several projects expanding the franchise beyond games. A24 is developing a live-action film with Michael Sarnoski, who made A Quiet Place: Day One, writing and directing. Polygon describes it as a prequel to the games. Kojima has said he will oversee the film but will keep his input light. “I have to trust these people,” he said, adding that he trusts A24 and Sarnoski.

A separate animated feature, tentatively titled Death Stranding Mosquito, is also in development. Aaron Guzikowski is attached to write and Hiroshi Miyamoto to direct, and its first trailer appeared in September. Polygon also says there are no plans for a third game beyond a concept draft, so these screen projects may be where the story moves next.

For now, the trailer and synopsis are the main evidence of what Death Stranding Isolations will be. It looks like a separate story with a new cast, set in the same world, and it will stream exclusively on Disney+ in 2027.

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Patrick Stewart tributes have poured in from the worlds of theatre, film, television and video games since the announcement that the actor died at 86. His family said he died on Wednesday, 28 October, at his Los Angeles home after “a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia.” The news was made public the following day.

The most widely shared words came from Sir Ian McKellen, Stewart’s friend of five decades and his X-Men co-star. He called Stewart “the most respected and beloved actor of his generation on either side of the Atlantic.”

Ian McKellen: a Yorkshireman first

McKellen’s tribute was personal rather than ceremonial. He wrote that, “before everything else,” Stewart was defined by being born and bred in Yorkshire, and that the county’s character showed in his voice and in “the stern honesty with which he told you what he thought and felt.” He added that Stewart “wore his heart on his sleeve, which made him a man to rely on, to admire and, in my case, love.”

McKellen recalled that the two were ambitious young actors at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He also described meeting Stewart in a London street, where Stewart told him about the offer to lead Star Trek. McKellen admitted he cautioned him about the risk of getting “lost in Hollywood for years and years.” Stewart took the part anyway. “Thank goodness for us all that he did,” McKellen wrote. He said the proudest achievement of Stewart’s career was becoming chancellor of Huddersfield University. McKellen also officiated at Stewart’s 2013 wedding.

From the bridge of the Enterprise to the X-Mansion

Stewart was already an established stage actor when he was cast, at 47, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He played the role for seven seasons, in four feature films, and again in Star Trek: Picard, which began in 2020. William Shatner, who also commanded the Enterprise, said Stewart brought “intelligence, grace and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did.” He added: “Captain Picard stood for the best of us and so did the man who played him.” George Takei said Stewart inspired “a whole next generation of star-gazers.”

Hugh Jackman, who starred with Stewart as Professor X’s mutant ally Wolverine, said, “We lost one of the greats of stage and screen today,” and called him a “tremendous friend and man.” James McAvoy, who played the younger Professor X, said he was “lucky” to have worked with Stewart several times. Marvel Studios called him “a singular talent, a generous collaborator and a true gentleman.” McKellen noted that Stewart’s final film appearance will be as Professor X in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.

Remembered on stage and in games

Colleagues from the theatre stressed that Stewart’s screen fame never displaced his classical roots. The Royal Shakespeare Company, which he joined in 1966, called him a “colossus of both stage and screen.” Ben Kingsley recalled watching Stewart rehearse Grumio in The Taming of the Shrew on his own first day at the RSC, noting the “joyful, passionate commitment to his beloved craft.” Harriet Walter, who knew him for more than 40 years, likened his loss to a “huge giant tree” falling in the forest and said she had “never heard a bad word against him.”

The gaming community has also paid tribute. Stewart voiced Emperor Uriel Septim VII in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and his opening narration became one of that game’s defining moments. Publisher Bethesda called him “an emperor, a captain, and an inspiration to us all.” He also narrated the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow games. Star Trek Online players lined up spaceships in his honour. Ricky Gervais, meanwhile, shared a lighter memory of Stewart’s good humour on set.

Family and remembrance

Stewart was born in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, in 1940, and was knighted in 2010. He credited a former English teacher with encouraging him to perform. He is survived by his wife, Sunny Ozell, and two adult children, Daniel and Sophie. His family said he died “in the loving care of his wife” and spoke of “the peaceful ease and reflection on his face, an enduring reminder of his invincible grace.” Instead of flowers, they asked for donations to the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s caregiver resources.

The Patrick Stewart tributes share a theme: he took a risk on science fiction without giving up Shakespeare, and carried both with warmth. As McKellen put it, he was “a man to rely on, to admire and … love.”

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File photo: Patrick Stewart 1999.jpg by Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Walter Koenig, the actor who gave the Starship Enterprise its eager young Russian navigator, Pavel Chekov, has died at 90. His representatives said he died of old age at his home in North Hollywood, surrounded by his daughter and niece. Reports differ slightly on the day. The BBC and CNET put it on Sunday night, while the Independent says Monday.

Tributes poured in quickly. Co-star George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu and had known Koenig for roughly six decades, wrote that “Walter was more than Chekov. He was a writer, a teacher, a thoughtful man, and a loyal friend.” He closed with a line that fans have been sharing widely: “Keep navigating a steady course.”

How Walter Koenig became Chekov

Born in Chicago in 1936 and raised in Manhattan, Koenig was the son of Jewish immigrants whose family came from Lithuania. He studied psychology before training at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, where his classmates included James Caan, Christopher Lloyd and Dabney Coleman. His screen career began in 1962 with an uncredited part as a sentry in Combat!.

He joined Star Trek for its second season in 1967 and appeared in 36 of the 50 episodes aired before the show ended in 1969. According to the sources, the character was partly meant to draw younger viewers, with a mop-top haircut in the style of the Monkees and the Beatles. The studio also reportedly pitched Chekov as an answer to a Soviet newspaper’s complaint that the show had no Russian crew member, a claim Koenig later denied. CNET notes that he was 30 when cast, only five years younger than William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.

A career beyond the bridge

The series was cancelled, but Chekov kept coming back. Koenig appeared in all six original-cast films between 1979 and 1991, and the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror nominated him for The Wrath of Khan and The Voyage Home. The latter gave fans one of Chekov’s best-loved lines, his accented hunt for “nuclear wessels”. He also made a brief appearance in Generations in 1994. Later, he voiced Anton Chekov, a descendant of his original character, in Star Trek: Picard in 2023.

Fans of other franchises knew him as well. In Babylon 5 he played Alfred Bester, a ruthless Psi Corps telepath, about as far from the cheerful Chekov as an actor could get. Koenig also wrote for television, with credits including Land of the Lost, Family, The Incredible Hulk and an episode of the original series’ animated spin-off. He wrote books, including Chekov’s Enterprise, and in 2010 he wrote, produced and starred in the sci-fi film InAlienable. He received a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2012. This year he won a Platinum Award for best actor at the Independent Shorts Awards for the short film Mr Fleischmann.

Family, friendship and fans

Koenig was married to the actor Judy Levitt from 1965 until her death in 2022. She appeared with him in three Star Trek films and in Babylon 5. Their son Andrew, known for playing Richard “Boner” Stabone on Growing Pains, died in 2010 aged 41. Koenig is survived by his daughter, the actor and screenwriter Danielle Koenig.

The warmth in the tributes is notable. Koenig was best man at Takei’s 2008 wedding to Brad Altman. Zachery McGinnis, whose agency represented him at conventions, said Koenig “understood what Star Trek meant to people and embraced the community that grew around it.” Broadcaster Jesse Thorn, a friend of the family, said the cast members’ love for one another was “very sincere” and called their friendship “a gift.”

For a character created partly as a marketing move, Chekov proved unusually durable, and much of that came from the actor playing him. The show imagined former Cold War rivals working side by side, and Walter Koenig made that idea feel affectionate rather than preachy. Fans will probably remember him less for any single line than for the humour and sincerity he brought to the role, and for the decades he spent meeting the people who loved it.

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File photo: Alan Light with Walter Koenig (1117487871).jpg by Alan Light, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.