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Entertainment

The ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ Series Has One Major Advantage Over Other Fantasy and Sci-Fi Adaptations

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A masked Dungeon Crawler Carl with Princess Donut on his shoulder

The hottest book series in the world is already making its way to television, as Peacock and Seth MacFarlane have teamed up for the live-action adaptation of Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl. The series of novels has become a legitimate phenomenon over the past few years, selling millions of copies across its eight books and quickly branching into the worlds of comic books and tabletop gaming. Nothing has more hype or anticipation than the TV series, though, and fans are already breathing sighs of relief that Dungeon Crawler Carl has a big advantage that other popular book-to-TV adaptations didn’t.

Despite the original Dungeon Crawler Carl being published just a few years ago, the entire saga is already almost complete. The eighth novel, A Parade of Horribles, was released back in April, setting up the story for what will surely be an epic conclusion. Dinniman has confirmed that he has already been writing the chapter in the series, which will be split into two books and bring the story to a close. In other words, nearly all of Dungeon Crawler Carl is out there right now, and the ending is just around the corner. Most adaptations of long-running book series don’t get the same benefit.

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‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ Won’t Suffer the ‘Game of Thrones’ Fate

A masked Dungeon Crawler Carl with Princess Donut on his shoulder
A masked Dungeon Crawler Carl with Princess Donut on his shoulder
Image via Renegade Game Studios / Luciano Fleitas

Game of Thrones will, unfortunately, go down as perhaps one of the biggest fumbles to conclude an iconic TV series. The series spent six seasons as perhaps the greatest spectacle in the history of television, but the adaptation ran into big problems when it caught up to author George R.R. Martin‘s written work. After the show had worked through the already published Song of Ice and Fire books, it quickly started spiraling downhill, and the majority of fans remain disappointed in how it came to a close.

To this day, Martin still has yet to publish the next book in the series, The Winds of Winter, and many fans wonder if it will ever see the light of day. Game of Thrones is just one example of a TV adaptation arriving before the conclusion of its source material, but it is easily the most notorious of the bunch. Dungeon Crawler Carl, on the other hand, won’t suffer the same set of circumstances.

While the wait for The Winds of Winter continues, the Dungeon Crawler Carl finale is fast-approaching. There isn’t a release date for the two-part conclusion just yet, but Dinniman has been very open about his progress. He’s been working on it for some time and, given the rapid release schedule of the previous entries, it wouldn’t be surprising for the first part to arrive sometime in 2027. Regardless of the exact release date, MacFarlane and the rest of the creative team behind the TV show will have the entire story at their disposal very early on in the production process. Even if the new book isn’t here in time for them to begin production on Season 1, it will arrive long before they even get close to the show’s eventual endgame.

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Ashley Johnson, Marisha Ray and Laura Bailey at Collider Ladies Night Live


Critical Role Star Eyes ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ TV Series Role

During Collider Ladies Night Live, Laura Bailey makes a perfect pitch for the upcoming Peacock series.

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Plotting the Finish From the Start

In addition to simply being able to craft the ending as its original creator intended, MacFarlane & Company also have the advantage of being able to set up for some of the series’ biggest moments very early on.

Even if the final book isn’t out when the show begins shooting, Dungeon Crawler Carl is already eight books deep. We know who all the characters are and who many of them will eventually become. There are some big reveals and moments later in the series that cause some bits from the first and second book to become incredibly important — much more important than they initially seemed. Armed with the knowledge of eight entire books (and likely more), the creative team around the show can more carefully plot each season.

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There are still plenty of hurdles involved with bringing Dungeon Crawler Carl into the live-action TV space, but perhaps the biggest potential challenge won’t be an issue for this series. The creative team knows exactly where this story is going to go, and there won’t be a decades-long wait to see if it ever gets an ending.


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10 Obscure Sci-Fi Shows That Became Cult Classics

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Max (Jessica Alba) in her day job as a bicycle courier in Dark Angel.

Every sci-fi fan has a show they’d go to war for that nobody else has heard of. It aired on some cable network that’s since been rebranded, it ran for maybe three seasons before getting axed on a cliffhanger, and it’s the first thing out of your mouth when someone asks for a recommendation. Streaming has made most of these shows easier to find than ever, which means there’s never been a better time to catch up on the weird, ambitious, canceled-too-soon series that built cult followings for a reason.

We’ve rounded up the best of these obscure sci-fi shows. They’ve all got inventive world-building, unfairly talented casts, and the kind of bonkers plotting that keeps you up until 3 AM muttering, “just one more episode.”

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‘Dark Angel’ (2000–2002)

Max (Jessica Alba) in her day job as a bicycle courier in Dark Angel.
Max (Jessica Alba) in her day job as a bicycle courier in Dark Angel.
Image via FOX

Before she was running a billion-dollar company, Jessica Alba was Max Guevara, a genetically enhanced super-soldier on the run in a post-apocalyptic Seattle that James Cameron built for Fox’s Dark Angel. It was 2000, Cameron was fresh off Titanic, and he decided his next move was a cyberpunk television show about a bike messenger with cat DNA and an attitude problem. The show aired for two seasons and made Alba a household name, earned her a Saturn Award, and then got canceled because Fox moved it to the Friday night death slot to make room for 24.

The world-building is pure early-2000s grit. An electromagnetic pulse has crippled the U.S., Seattle looks like a tech-noir fever dream, and Alba’s Max navigates it all while searching for her fellow Manticore escapees, trading barbs with Michael Weatherly’s cyber-journalist Logan Cale, and outrunning government agents who want her back in a lab. Jensen Ackles joined the cast in Season 2 as a fellow supersoldier, and his chemistry with Alba gave the show a jolt it sorely needed. Dark Angel is a time capsule of a very specific era of sci-fi television, the kind that trusted its female lead to carry action sequences and moral complexity, usually in the same scene. We still miss it.

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‘Killjoys’ (2015–2019)

Hannah John-Kamen as Dutch in Season 5 of Killjoys
Hannah John-Kamen as Dutch in Season 5 of Killjoys
Image via SYFY

Before Hannah John-Kamen was fighting Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) in the MCU, she was Dutch, a lethally charming bounty hunter chasing warrants across a distant planetary system called the Quad with her partner Johnny (Aaron Ashmore) and his ex-military brother D’avin (Luke Macfarlane). Created by Michelle Lovretta, who also gave us Lost Girl, Killjoys ran for five seasons on Syfy from 2015 to 2019 and delivered a fully realized sci-fi universe where class warfare, body-snatching parasites, and interplanetary barroom brawls coexisted with surprising ease. Think Firefly if Mal Reynolds (Nathan Fillion) were a woman with a mysterious past and significantly better hand-to-hand combat skills.

What makes Killjoys such a satisfying binge is its refusal to take itself too seriously. The world-building is dense but never homework-y: you’ve got a feudal corporate hierarchy, a caste system that spans multiple moons, and an ancient alien threat that unfolds slowly across the series, all woven into a show that never forgets it’s supposed to be fun. The chemistry between its three leads carries even the weaker episodes, and the fact that it actually got to end on its own terms, with a proper finale, makes it a rarity in the graveyard of canceled sci-fi.

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‘Revolution’ (2012–2014)

Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) and her uncle Miles Matheson (Billy Burke) on 'Revolution'
Charlie (Tracy Spiridakos) and her uncle Miles Matheson (Billy Burke) on ‘Revolution’
Image via NBC

What if every piece of technology on the planet just stopped working and never came back on? That’s the question at the center of Revolution, Eric Kripke‘s post-apocalyptic NBC drama that aired from 2012 to 2014 and featured J. J. Abrams as executive producer and Jon Favreau directing the pilot. Set 15 years after a mysterious global blackout, the show follows a scrappy band of survivors navigating a fractured America where former U.S. states have become warring militia territories and arrows have replaced drone strikes. Billy Burke, fresh off playing Bella Swan’s (Kristen Stewart) dad in Twilight, reinvented himself here as Miles Matheson, a former Marine turned reluctant hero with a complicated past and a very big sword.

The cast is stacked for a network show that only lasted two seasons. Giancarlo Esposito, doing what Giancarlo Esposito does, plays a militia captain whose ambitions rival Gus Fring’s in a post-electrical world. Elizabeth Mitchell brings gravitas as the scientist hiding the secret behind the blackout. Tracy Spiridakos leads the early episodes as Charlie, Miles’ niece. Kripke himself later joked that if Revolution had been a streaming show with a bigger budget and shorter episode order, it would have been The Last of Us. He’s not entirely wrong.

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‘Mutant X’ (2001–2004)

Victoria Pratt, Lauren Lee Smith, John Shea, and Forbes March in 'Mutant X'
Victoria Pratt, Lauren Lee Smith, John Shea, and Forbes March in ‘Mutant X’
Image via Tribune Entertainment

Here’s a deep cut. Mutant X debuted in first-run syndication in 2001, created by Avi Arad under a Marvel Comics license, and it was immediately so X-Men-adjacent that 20th Century Fox sued Marvel over it. The lawsuit was settled, the show carried on for three seasons and 66 episodes, and it cultivated a following among fans who couldn’t get enough of the mutant-team formula on a weekly basis. The premise follows Adam Kane (John Shea), a geneticist trying to atone for his role in creating “new mutants” by assembling a team of them to protect others from a shady government agency. Victoria Pratt‘s feral Shalimar Fox, Victor Webster‘s electricity-wielding Brennan Mulwray, and Forbes March‘s density-shifting Jesse Kilmartin round out the crew.

Mutant X is not prestige television. The dialogue can be clunky, the effects are of the early 2000s variety, and the plotting sometimes feels like it’s making things up as it goes. But there’s something genuinely charming about its scrappiness, and the team dynamics carry it through the rougher patches. Lauren Lee Smith, who later turned up in CSI, adds a compelling energy as the tele-empath Emma DeLauro for the first two seasons. The show got abruptly canceled after Season 3 when its production company folded, leaving it on a cliffhanger that was never resolved, which is, at this point, basically a rite of passage for any self-respecting cult sci-fi series.











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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz
Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like?
Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
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Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides

🖖Capt. Kirk

Princess Leia

🔦Ellen Ripley

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🔥Max Rockatansky

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01

How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher?
The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.





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02

What is your greatest strength in a crisis?
The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.





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03

What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for?
Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.





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04

How do you relate to the people around you?
Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.





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05

You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do?
How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.





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06

What has your heroism cost you personally?
Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.





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07

How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in?
Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?





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08

When everything is on the line, what keeps you going?
The answer is the most honest thing about you.





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Your Hero Has Been Identified
Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…

Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

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Arrakis · Dune

Paul Atreides

You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

  • You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
  • You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
  • Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
  • That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.

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USS Enterprise · Star Trek

Captain Kirk

You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

  • You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
  • Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
  • Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
  • That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.

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The Rebellion · Star Wars

Princess Leia

You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.

  • You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
  • You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
  • Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
  • That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.

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The Nostromo · Alien

Ellen Ripley

You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

  • You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
  • Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
  • You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
  • When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.

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The Wasteland · Mad Max

Max Rockatansky

You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

  • You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
  • Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
  • Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
  • That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
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‘Falling Skies’ (2011–2015)

Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) boards an alien ship in 'Falling Skies'
Tom Mason (Noah Wyle) boards an alien ship in ‘Falling Skies’
Image via TNT
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Noah Wyle spent over a decade playing a mild-mannered doctor on ER, so naturally, his follow-up was a TNT series where he plays a mild-mannered history professor who picks up a gun and leads a guerrilla resistance against alien invaders. Falling Skies ran for five seasons from 2011 to 2015 with Steven Spielberg as executive producer, and it wears his fingerprints all over it: the Americana, the emphasis on family bonds under impossible duress, and the weird aliens. Wyle’s Tom Mason becomes the reluctant leader of the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment, and the show mines surprisingly effective drama from watching civilians figure out how to fight a war they were never trained for.

The supporting cast gives Wyle plenty to work with. Will Patton is grizzled and excellent as Captain Weaver, Moon Bloodgood brings gravity to the group’s medic, and Colin Cunningham is a scene-stealer as John Pope, an outlaw whose allegiances shift with the wind. The first three seasons are the strongest and the show’s willingness to keep introducing new alien species and political complications keeps the mythology from going stale. The final season rushes its ending, but the journey there offers one of the more satisfying post-invasion narratives cable TV has attempted.

‘Avenue 5’ (2020–2022)

Hugh Laurie as Ryan Clark looking up with a surprised expression while a group of passengers stand behind him in Avenue 5
Hugh Laurie as Ryan Clark looking up with a surprised expression while a group of passengers stand behind him in Avenue 5
Image via HBO
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Armando Iannucci, the acid-tongued genius behind Veep, set his satirical sights on space tourism with Avenue 5, and the result is a two-season HBO comedy so viciously funny it makes you wonder how it didn’t find a bigger audience. Hugh Laurie plays Captain Ryan Clark, the reassuringly handsome figurehead of a luxury interplanetary cruise ship owned by Josh Gad‘s obnoxious tech billionaire, Herman Judd. When a technical malfunction throws the ship off course, what was supposed to be an eight-week pleasure cruise becomes a years-long ordeal, and the passengers, who are exactly as awful as you’d expect rich people trapped in a tin can to be, start losing it.

The comedy here is bleak and unrelenting, which is probably why it struggled to find its crowd during its initial run in 2020, a year when being trapped in an enclosed space with terrible people hit a little too close to home. Zach Woods is perfect as the ship’s incompetent head of customer relations, as is the supporting cast of Nikki Amuka-Bird, Suzy Nakamura, and Lenora Crichlow. The second season improved significantly, which makes HBO’s decision to cancel it in 2023 sting even more.

‘Dark Matter’ (2015–2017)

Three characters standing together in the SYFY series 'Dark Matter'
Three characters standing together in the SYFY series ‘Dark Matter’
Image via SYFY
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Six strangers wake up on a derelict spaceship with no memory of who they are, so they name themselves One through Six and start trying to piece together why everyone in the galaxy seems to want them dead. That’s Dark Matter in a nutshell, a Syfy series that ran from 2015 to 2017 and delivered the kind of pulpy, character-driven space opera that the network hadn’t managed since the Battlestar Galactica days. Created by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, who spent years writing for the Stargate franchise, it’s a show built on the bones of everything those writers learned about making sci-fi on a budget feel lived-in and propulsive.

Melissa O’Neil is the standout as Two, the crew’s de facto leader whose backstory turns out to be far wilder than anyone’s, and Zoie Palmer brings a warmth and dry humor to the ship’s android that quickly makes her the fan favorite. The show’s three seasons build an increasingly complex web of corporate wars, alternate dimensions, and identity crises, and it got canceled on a cliffhanger that its fanbase has still not forgiven Syfy for. It never got the sendoff it deserved, but the ride to that point is engaging enough that it’s worth the frustration.

‘The 4400’ (2004–2007)

Megalyn Echikunwoke and Mahershala Ali in 'The 4400'
Megalyn Echikunwoke and Mahershala Ali in ‘The 4400’
Image via USA Network
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USA Network’s The 4400 debuted in 2004 as a miniseries and was so well-received that it earned three additional seasons before the 2007 writers’ strike killed its momentum. The hook is irresistible: 4,400 people who vanished at various points over the last century all reappear simultaneously near Mount Rainier, dumped in a ball of light with no memory of where they’ve been and not having aged a day. The catch is that many of them come back with new abilities, and the government isn’t thrilled about it. Joel Gretsch and Jacqueline McKenzie anchor the show as the Homeland Security agents tasked with monitoring the returnees, but the real draw is the sprawling ensemble.

A young Mahershala Ali plays Richard Tyler, one of the 4,400 who disappeared in the 1950s, and Billy Campbell is magnetic as Jordan Collier, a charismatic millionaire returnee whose intentions stay murky right up until they don’t. The 4400 was doing the “ordinary people with extraordinary abilities and a shadowy conspiracy” thing years before Heroes made it mainstream, and its willingness to go truly dark with its mythology still holds up.

‘Continuum’ (2012–2015)

Rachel Nichols as Kiera Cameron knocked to the ground, looking back in Continuum.
Rachel Nichols as Kiera Cameron knocked to the ground, looking back in Continuum.
Image via Showcase
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Continuum is the kind of Canadian sci-fi export that flies completely under the radar in the U.S. and then slowly builds a following that will not shut up about it, for good reason. Rachel Nichols plays Kiera Cameron, a law enforcement officer from a corporately controlled dystopia in the year 2077 who accidentally gets transported back to 2012 Vancouver along with a group of terrorists she was supposed to be guarding. Stranded in our timeline, she teams up with a young tech genius named Alec Sadler (Erik Knudsen) and a local detective (Victor Webster) to hunt down the fugitives while secretly trying to find a way home to her husband and son.

What elevates Continuum past its time-travel premise is the way it complicates its own morality. The “terrorists” Kiera is chasing, a group called Liber8, are fighting to prevent the corporate oligarchy that Kiera serves and protects. The show asks you to root for its protagonist while slowly revealing that her side might be the wrong one, and it threads that needle across four seasons without ever fully tipping its hand. Created by Simon Barry (who went on to make Warrior Nun), it aired on Showcase in Canada and Syfy in the States from 2012 to 2015, and while the truncated final season of six episodes means it wraps up faster than ideal, it does actually wrap up, which counts for something, right?

‘The 100’ (2014–2020)

The elevator pitch for The 100 sounds like every other CW show circa 2014: pretty young people, love triangles, post-apocalyptic setting, based on a YA novel series by Kass Morgan. And the first few episodes do lean into that formula hard enough that plenty of viewers bounced. Their loss. By the end of its first season, The 100 had evolved into something ruthless and morally knotty that regularly shocked even its most devoted fans. Eliza Taylor‘s Clarke Griffin starts as a reluctant leader and ends up making the kind of decisions that would give war-criminals nightmares.

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Set 97 years after a nuclear apocalypse, the show follows 100 juvenile delinquents sent from a failing space station back to Earth as expendable guinea pigs. What they find down there, surviving ground-dwellers, a militarized mountain bunker, an AI that wants to end all human conflict by ending most humans, keeps escalating in ways that The CW rarely allowed. Bob Morley, Marie Avgeropoulos, and Henry Ian Cusick round out a strong cast, and the show ran for seven seasons. It’s a slow starter that rewards patience with one of the more ambitious sci-fi arcs network television has produced.


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Release Date

2014 – 2020-00-00

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The Singer’s Parents and Sibling

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Taylor Swift’s Family Guide- Meet the Singer's Supportive Parents and Younger Brother
Taylor Swift’s Family Guide- Meet the Singer's Supportive Parents and Younger Brother

Taylor Swift
Tommaso Boddi/WireImage

Taylor Swift’s family may not be as famous as she is — but they’re pretty close to it.

The singer’s parents, Andrea and Scott Swift — who got married in 1988 — have become key members of the Swiftie fandom, while her brother, Austin Swift, is making a name for himself in Hollywood.

Taylor, for her part, referred to her parents as “unbelievable” for supporting her career during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning in 2019. Her family uprooted their lives in Pennsylvania and moved to Tennessee all in support of Taylor’s singing career.

“I buy them lots of presents,” Taylor joked when discussing how she thanks her family and brother.

Andrea, for her part, recalled the Swift family’s move to Tennessee, noting that it wasn’t about Taylor “making it” in the music industry.

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“What a horrible thing if it hadn’t happened, for her to carry that kind of guilt or pressure around,” Andrea told Entertainment Weekly in 2008. “We’ve always told her that this is not about putting food on our table or making our dreams come true. There would always be an escape hatch into normal life if she decided this wasn’t something she had to pursue.”

Of course, that wasn’t at all the path that Taylor took. Various Grammy Award wins and multiple sold out tours later, the “Cardigan” singer has reached an untouchable level of fame — and her family is still by her side.

Keep scrolling to learn more about the Swift Family:

Taylor Swift’s Family Guide- Meet the Singer's Supportive Parents and Younger Brother
Rick Diamond/ACMA2013/Getty Images for ACM

Andrea Swift

Andrea used to work as a marketing manager at an advertising agency but has always been Taylor’s No. 1 fan. Now, she’s often spotted backstage during her daughter’s sold out tour dates and often interacts with fans.

Over the years, Taylor has written multiple songs about her mom — “The Best Day” and “Soon You’ll Get Better.” The latter is about Andrea’s cancer battles. Taylor first revealed her mom’s cancer in 2015, writing a letter to her fans on Tumblr. Andrea’s second cancer diagnosis came years later in 2019 and a year later, Taylor revealed that her mother had been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

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“Everyone loves their mom; everyone’s got an important mom,” Taylor told Variety in 2020. “But for me, she’s really the guiding force. Almost every decision I make, I talk to her about it first. So obviously it was a really big deal to ever speak about her illness.”

Taylor Swift’s Family Guide- Meet the Singer's Supportive Parents and Younger Brother
Jun Sato/GC Images

Scott Swift

Scott originally worked as a stockbroker and eventually became Vice President for Merrill Lynch. He definitely has the supportive (and embarrassing) father role on lock. In March 2023, Taylor shared a photo of the backstage pass” that Scott had designed himself.

“D.O.H. Pass (Dad of Headliner),” his lanyard read. Taylor posted a picture on Instagram, writing, “Made my Dad’s tour credential. We are a small family business.”

Taylor-Swift-Songwriters-Hall-of-Fame-Red-Carpet-Update-GettyImages-2281159089


Related: Taylor Swift’s Sparkly Style Evolution: Photos

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From cowboy boots to Jimmy Choos! Taylor Swift has come a long way since her days as Nashville’s teen queen. Since moving to the Big Apple in March 2014 and embracing the city’s trendy style, the “Blank Space” singer became more fashion-forward than ever. See the pop singer’s amazing red carpet transformation through the years!

Scott has also been through a cancer battle as well.

“Both of my parents have had cancer, and my mom is now fighting her battle with it again,” Taylor told Elle in 2019. “It’s taught me that there are real problems and then there’s everything else.”

Taylor Swift’s Family Guide- Meet the Singer's Supportive Parents and Younger Brother
Gardiner Anderson/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Austin Swift

Austin graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2015 and has a budding career in the entertainment industry. Not only has he acted in a few TV and movie rolesI.T., Breaking for Whales and We Summon the Darkness, among others — but Austin is often listed as a producer on some of his sister’s projects.

“It is a singularly beautiful thing to see magic right in front of your eyes. After nearly three decades of that happening time and time again, the effect hasn’t worn off,” Austin wrote on Instagram of Taylor in December 2018. “I have always had a best friend, a role model, and a caring, tireless, dedicated champion in my corner. You have pulled me out of fires and carried me up mountains. The gift of getting to witness you become the wonderful person you are today has been the greatest privilege and honor of my life.”

When Taylor married Travis Kelce in 2026, Austin served as her “Man of Honor” in lieu of a formal bridal party.

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Nintendo’s Fantasy Masterpiece Is Coming To Remind You Why It’s the GOAT

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A tapestry of Link and the Deku tree in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake

2026 has been a stellar year for video games. With titles such as Pragmata and Resident Evil Requiem, the race for Game of the Year is going to be more challenging than ever, and that isn’t even including what is to come; hint, hint, nudge, nudge, Grand Theft Auto VI. But that isn’t the only game to look forward to in 2026, especially with a jam-packed September, which will put a serious dent in everyone’s wallets. E3 may be long and dead, but gamers are still thriving this time of year because of Geoff Keighley‘s Summer Game Fest, which is an assortment of events that showcase all the upcoming games to get excited about this year and in the future. Other companies, such as Xbox and PlayStation, also held presentations, revealing new games like Persona 6 and God of War Laufey.

However, if Xbox and PlayStation had their time to shine, then fans know Nintendo needs to get in on the action. A Nintendo Direct aired on June 9, mostly revealing more information about their upcoming games, such as Star Fox and Splatoon Raiders. However, Nintendo likes saving the best for last, and ended the direct with an announcement of a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The brief trailer didn’t show off much besides the stellar graphics, a glimpse of what Link looks like, and a 2026 release date. And with it being Zelda’s 40th anniversary, now is the perfect time for the remake, especially as the franchise has hit an all-time high, quality-wise. And yet, Ocarina is still the best video game ever made, and this highly anticipated remake will remind you why.

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What Is ‘The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’ About?

Originally released in 1998, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was the first game in the franchise to enter the 3D realm, reinventing modern action games and establishing itself as the best Zelda game of all time. This N64 classic paved new ground by bringing the franchise into 3D and pioneering Z-targeting, which most action games have used since. Its influence is historic, still felt to this day in most mainstream fantasy efforts. When looking at its polish, innovation, quality for the time, and entertainment value today, it is hard to argue with its reputation as the all-time best game in the medium’s history, because Ocarina of Time holds up surprisingly well.

Set in the fantastical Kingdom of Hyrule, the plot centers on Link, a forest boy who lives a rather mundane life. All the other kids have a fairy companion, except for Link, until a helpful yet annoying fairy named Navi wakes him up, summoning him to the Great Deku Tree. It is revealed that Princess Zelda was kidnapped by the Gerudo King, Ganondorf, taking her away to an unknown land. Link is the only one who can save her, needing to go on an adventure through the past and future, conquering dungeons and defeating bosses in order to resurrect the sages. With the help of the sages, Link must defeat Ganondorf with the power of a third of the Triforce, making sure the evil king doesn’t get the remaining two pieces.

How Different Will the Remake Be Compared to the Original?

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time still holds up pretty well, even if the graphics are outdated and the controls can feel clunky at times. However, it’s already been remade once on the 3DS, which many fans consider the best Nintendo game ever. It made many quality-of-life improvements and gave fans updated visuals to make it more palatable. Still, the 3DS remake didn’t change the story, gameplay, or reinvent anything; it simply delivered an upgraded version of the original.

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However, that begs the question: what will this remake look like? There are only so many ways Nintendo could go with this new game: it could be a simple graphics upscale that keeps everything else the same, or it could be a remake with some new mechanics and polished design, or it might be a complete reimagining with new dungeons, side quests, places to explore, and gameplay. Everyone wants something different, but most fans seem keen on something entirely new, with a reimagining being the best bet. At the very least, new graphics and better controls will bring Ocarina of Time into the modern age, where new fans can experience its brilliance.

The first glimpse showed a new look at Link with by far the best graphics in any Zelda game, supporting the claim that the Ocarina of Time remake will be more of a reimagining, maybe adding extra content, redesigning the world, or making it a new experience while keeping the spirit intact. This approach can’t help but worry some fans who want that nostalgic and classic feel again, with a reimagining potentially altering what we all know and love about the game. Either way, it is likely that this remake will be one of the best Nintendo Switch games, with it already being a system seller as many fans try to get a Switch 2 before the price increases in September. The potential price for the game is already raising some eyebrows, but for now, we all remain hopeful.

Will ‘The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’ Remake Win Game of the Year?

A tapestry of Link and the Deku tree in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake
A tapestry of Link and the Deku tree in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake
Image via Nintendo
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Almost every game that was originally scheduled for the last few months in 2026 has been pushed up to September or delayed to 2027 in order to avoid the inevitable storm that is Grand Theft Auto VI. It seems that everyone will be playing this game come November, and with it being in development for so long, it is likely to be the eventual Game of the Year winner. It does have some competition, and its biggest rival is the newly announced Ocarina of Time remake. As a remake, it is unlikely that Ocarina of Time will take the award, but it is one of the few games capable of giving GTA VI a run for its money. Still, seeing these two juggernauts spearhead a hectic holiday season will be magnificent, as two of the greatest video games of all time come out at the end of 2026.

There aren’t many better games than Ocarina of Time, if any, and that is a legacy which has been kept for decades. A remake is a risky thing, because while it will sell well, what if it doesn’t live up to the original? The 1998 game redefined the modern age of gaming, and while the remake is unlikely to do that, the best it can do is to expand on what made the first game great. Remaking Ocarina of Time must bring something that the audience has seen before, while not straying too far from what made the first one good. Hopefully, it’ll mean new dungeons, voice acting, side quests, incredible visuals, and maybe some new areas to explore.

And yet, it’s hard not to think the remake will cement Ocarina of Time as the all-time greatest video game in the medium’s history. It is the perfect 40th anniversary present to fans, a huge ordeal that Zelda fans are excited about. Plus, with The Legend of Zelda movie coming out in 2027, fans are eating well. A movie and a remake within half a year is better than anything fans thought they would get, but that truly means Nintendo is putting everything into making this anniversary special. It would be surprising if the Ocarina of Time remake were disappointing. It may not surpass the original, but this reimagining is exactly what the franchise needs, further proving that this is the best year for gaming in a long time.

Fans can play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake sometime in 2026 on the Nintendo Switch 2.

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Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Workout Routines Compared

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How Taylor Swift and Boyfriend Travis Kelce s Respective Workout Routines Compare 099
How Taylor Swift and Boyfriend Travis Kelce s Respective Workout Routines Compare 099
YouTube ; Courtesy of Laurence Justin Ng/Instagram

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are both on top of their games — and have the workout routines to back it up.

A source exclusively told Us Weekly in March 2024 that Swift trains with Kirk Myers at the gym Dogpound when she’s in either New York City or Los Angeles.

“He has helped her get in shape for her tour,” the insider explained to Us. “They have been working together for many years.

Swift had been performing her three-hour-long Eras Tour concert across the globe since March 2023.

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Taylor Swift an Travis Kelce s Relationship Timeline From Chiefs Games to Romantic Date Nights 419


Related: Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Relationship Timeline

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are all anyone can talk about since they got together in 2023. Their 2025 engagement, which came weeks before Swift released her album The Life of a Showgirl (featuring plenty of references to Kelce), has made them an even bigger topic of conversation. Swift and Kelce were first linked in […]

“Every day I would run on the treadmill, singing the entire set list out loud,” Swift previously told TIME in her 2023 Person of the Year profile. “Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs.”

To help her train, Dogpound created a unique program that incorporates strength, conditioning and weights.

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Pre-Eras, Swift also hit the dance studio to learn choreography, crafted by Mandy Moore, for her entire setlist.

“I had three months of dance training because I wanted to get it in my bones,” she added to TIME. “I wanted to be so over-rehearsed that I could be silly with the fans, and not lose my train of thought.”

Since Swift and Kelce started dating in summer 2023, they’ve hit the gym together. However, they engage in drastically different workouts.

Kelce, a NFL tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, works with multiple trainers throughout his football season and during his offseason hiatus. One of his trainers, Laurence Justin Ng, shared a peek into Kelce’s gym routine in an April Instagram video.

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Per the video, Kelce’s regimen starts with the football star warming up his hip flexors before doing knee drives against the wall. Kelce also runs on a treadmill at an incline and sprints uphill in a parking garage.

How Taylor Swift and Boyfriend Travis Kelce s Respective Workout Routines Compare 098
Courtesy of Laurence Justin Ng/Instagram

Kelce’s football seasons typically start in July or August when he reports for training camp. Games begin in September and run through postseason the following January. The season ends with the Super Bowl in February. After the big game, the athletes are in their offseason until the next training camp.

Kelce continues training even when his NFL commitments are over for the season.

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“Bench? Right now everything’s been sort of high reps, low weights,” Kelce previously said in a 2015 YouTube interview with Stack magazine as he showed off his offseason weightlifting regimen. “I throw two 45’s and hit it for about eight to 10 and just do more of the isolation hold to really work the shoulders, so that when I actually do throw some weight on there, I’m not injury-prone to it or anything like it.”

Throughout his NFL tenure, Swift has remained his biggest fan amid their 2025 engagement and 2026 wedding.

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Stargate SG-1 Showed How Evil Its Villains Were In An Episode Where The Good Guys Lose

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Stargate SG-1 Showed How Evil Its Villains Were In An Episode Where The Good Guys Lose

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published

Stargate SG-1 had a lot of work to do in its first season to go beyond the setting of the 1993 film. By the time Episode 11, “Bloodlines,” hit the air on Showtime it was clear to the new and ever-growing fanbase that this was a different type of sci-fi series. Teal’c (Christopher Judge) was already being compared to Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Worf, and the introduction of his family on Chulak didn’t help the comparisons. Once “Bloodlines” came ot an end it was clear that Teal’c would be different and the Goa’uld were going to be the worst villains in any 90s sci-fi series. 

Teal’c Would Do Anything For His Family

Teal’c, Rya’c, And Drey’auc

The episode opens with Teal’c undergoing treatment to remove his Goa’uld symbiote. It fails. By now, his body relies on the parasitic evil alien to function. That’s enough to get him to open up to Stargate Command about his family back home on Chulak. His son, Rya’c, is going to be implanted with a Goa’uld larvae and Teal’c wants to stop it. General Hammond (Don S. Davis) pushes back and stops the team though he folds at the flimsiest pretense to undertake the mission. 

Teal’c and the rest of SG-1, O’Neil (Richard Dean Anderson), Jackson (Michael Shanks), and Carter (Amanda Tapping) sneak onto Chulak and while behind enemy lines learn a word that fans of the show will get very used to hearing: Shol’va. Traitor. Teal’c was branded as Shol’va for betraying Aphosis. That brought down his family’s standing, something Drey’auc, his wife (played by future Eureka star Salli Richardson) makes sure to let him know. 

The usual full-speed ahead, gung-ho nature of SG-1 hits a snag when it turns out Rya’c is sick and needs a Goa’uld to be implanted in order to survive. After fighting to spare his son this exact fate, Teal’c is the one to implant his son. It’s a tragic moment made all the worse with the knowledge of how the Jaffa have suffered under the Goa’uld for generations. It’s a success and Rya’c lives but at an enormous cost. When “Bloodlines” ends, it’s not clear if this was a victory, or a loss, for SG-1. 

Bloodlines Set The Table For The Jaffa Revolution

Teal’c And Bra’tac

Teal’c kept his family a secret from Stargate Command because knew his family, deep behind enemy lines, was a weak point for him that could be exploited by the Goa’uld, and how could anyone trust him with his family in danger? What he left out was the presence of Bra’tac (Tony Amendola). At 103 years old, the legendary Jaffa warrior is still a brutal fighter capable of taking down a unit of palace guards without breaking a sweat. Like Teal’c, he’s a former First Prime to Apophis, and also like Teal’c, he becomes a close ally of SG-1. 

Future scenes between Bra’tac and Hammond are among the best in the entire series. Bra’tac’s eventual defection is one of the many unintended consequences of the team’s actions during “Bloodlines.” Daniel blowing away a Goa’uld spawning tank, Rya’c and Drey’auc, humans entering Chulak so easily, all of it comes back in later seasons. 

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Teal’c may be the Worf of Stargate SG-1 but he’s his own, tragic character, trying to carve a new path forward for his warrior people in the face of centuries of tradition and honor. It’s completely different. At least Teal’c doesn’t get his butt kicked by every new threat


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Apple TV’s 16-Episode Historical Drama Is Too Good To Be Left Unfinished

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Lee Min-ho, looking at something, as Koh Hansu in Pachinko Season 2.

There are some television cancellations that truly hurt. Finding out your favorite show won’t continue can be such a bummer, but it’s even more disheartening when shows are simply abandoned. This is the case for one of Apple TV’s most impressive offerings. Pachinko, which aired from 2022 to 2024, is based on the brilliant 2017 novel by Min Jin Lee. The first two seasons of the series are faithful adaptations of Lee’s work, but for some strange reason, Apple TV has simply failed to make a third season. Several years later, fans of both the book and the series are pleading with the streamer to at least make one more season to wrap up the story.

Season 2 of ‘Pachinko’ Finishes in an Open-Ended Way

Creator Soo Hugh always planned to adapt Pachinko in three (possibly even four) seasons, and this is why Season 2 concludes with so many unfinished storylines. Sunja (Youn Yuh-jung) seems to say goodbye to her dear friend, Kato (Jun Kunimura), but we don’t know if their relationship is completely over or what Sunja will do without this connection in her life. Continuing with the 1989 timeline, Mozasu (Soji Arai) tries to warn Solomon (Jin Ha) about his business dealings with the shady Mamoru (Louis Ozawa). Solomon also learns that because of his choices, his business enemy, Abe-san (Yoshio Maki), has killed himself. ​​​​​​​

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Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz
Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most?
Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek

Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🚀Star Wars

💍Lord of the Rings

🧙Harry Potter

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👑Game of Thrones

🖖Star Trek

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01

What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning?
Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.





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02

Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit?
The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.





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03

How do you prefer your conflicts resolved?
The shape of a world’s conflicts tells you everything about its soul.





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04

Who do you want beside you when things get difficult?
Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.





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05

What is your relationship with power?
How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.





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06

How does your universe treat good and evil?
A world’s moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.





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07

What role would you naturally fall into?
Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?





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08

What do you ultimately believe about the future?
The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.





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Your Universe Has Been Chosen
You Belong In…

Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.

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A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Star Wars

You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.

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  • You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
  • You’d find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
  • Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
  • The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.


Middle-earth

Lord of the Rings

You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.

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  • Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
  • You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
  • Tolkien’s universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
  • Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.


The Wizarding World

Harry Potter

You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.

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  • The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
  • You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
  • Harry Potter’s universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
  • That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.


Westeros · The Known World

Game of Thrones

You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.

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  • Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
  • You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don’t confuse the world as it is with the world as you’d like it to be.
  • Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
  • Winter always comes. You are already prepared.


The United Federation of Planets

Star Trek

You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.

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  • Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
  • You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
  • The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
  • You don’t just hope that’s possible. You think it’s the only thing worth working toward.

And in the most important storyline, back in 1951, Sunja’s son, Noa (Kang Tae-Joo), disappears to Nagano after discovering a family secret. He has trouble coping with the fact that the enigmatic Hansu (Lee Min-ho) is actually his biological father. Living in this new place, Noa decides to completely cut himself off from his family, assumes a brand-new identity, and is offered a job at a pachinko parlor, cementing the gambling game in the family’s lore. But what will happen to these characters after the conclusion of the Season 2 finale?

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‘Pachinko’ Has So Much More Story To Tell Stemming From the Book

The final third of the Pachinko novel is rich with some of the most in-depth character arcs and compelling plot points of the whole book. Without giving away too many spoilers, we learn more about Noa’s secluded life in Nagano, plus the tragic path he walks down as an adult. Through the 1960s and 1970s, we follow Mozasu’s life as he transforms into a family man and becomes wealthy as the owner of multiple pachinko parlors. Mozasu’s step-daughter plays a major part in the book and forms an intriguing relationship with a young Solomon. We see more of Solomon’s path before 1981, which helps explain how Solomon actually became a broken man by the time we meet up with him at the beginning of Season 1. The novel ends with closure for each of the characters, but most crucially, we see Sunja nearing the end of her life. For this quietly powerful and resilient woman, the conclusion of her character’s story ties together the entire book in a masterful way.


Lee Min-ho, looking at something, as Koh Hansu in Pachinko Season 2.

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Apple TV’s 2-Part Drama Is Quietly One of Its Best Shows

Resistance isn’t always a grand act of protest; sometimes, it’s the quiet perseverance of a family.

A third season of Pachinko could have easily followed through with each of these narratives. The timelines could have all connected, so that the viewer gets a complete and fulfilling picture of the road each character has walked down. At this point, it’s completely heartbreaking that the epic story has just been dropped before it could all come to its natural conclusion. By potentially ending for good after Season 2, Apple TV has done a disservice to Lee’s novel and to the team behind the television show, who worked so hard to tell a meaningful and moving story. If Hugh had known that the streamer wouldn’t be continuing on with the series, she could have at least reworked Season 2 to wrap up the narratives in a more satisfying way.

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As it stands, some fans of Pachinko might still want to hold out hope that Season 3 of the series might be made someday. But realists are accepting the fact that this is just one more of those cancellations that hurts the most. The last update came from Hugh back in 2025, when she was on the jury at the Canneseries. When asked if Pachinko would return for new episodes, she merely noted that, “This is beyond my pay grade and I don’t know which shows will last the test of time, but I have to believe Pachinko will last the test of time.” With its genius writing, impeccable performances, and awe-inspiring cinematography, she just might be right — even if the storytelling is incomplete.

Seasons 1–2 of Pachinko are available to stream on Apple TV in the U.S.

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Inside Taylor Swift’s Relationship With Travis Kelce’s Mom Donna

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Taylor Swift Kelce Family

Taylor Swift’s wedding to Travis Kelce occurred on July 3, 2026, and among the over 1,000 attendees, including such stars as Bradley Cooper, Karli Kloss, Hugh Grant and more, was Donna Kelce.

The mother of Travis and Jason Kelce, Donna is Taylor’s mother-in-law, and the two women have already established a close relationship over the years. “Everybody knows how close Travis is with his family,” a source told Us Weekly in January 2024. “So it really means everything to him how seamlessly Taylor blends in with all of them. His family is all about just hanging out, joking and having a great time. It’s almost like she’s known his family forever, and he loves that about her.”

To celebrate 2026’s most talked-about nuptials, Us looks back on Taylor and Donna’s relationship throughout the years.

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Taylor Swift Kelce Family


Related: Taylor Swift’s Best Moments With Travis Kelce’s Family

If Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are indeed endgame, she’s seemingly already won over her in-laws. The Grammy winner and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end began dating during summer 2023. That September, Swift started attending Chiefs games, sitting with the athlete’s mother, Donna Kelce, for the first time on October 1, 2024. That same […]

September 2023

Inside Taylor Swift's Relationship With Travis Kelce's Mom Donna Kelce
Cooper Neill/Getty Images

Swift went to her first Chiefs game on September 24, sitting next to Donna in a private suite. While Donna wore Travis’ No. 87 jersey and matching team-branded earrings, Swift sported a white corset-style tank with a red Chiefs hoodie.

October 2023

Inside Taylor Swift's Relationship With Travis Kelce's Mom Donna Kelce
David Eulitt/Getty Images

Donna once again sat with Swift during the Chiefs’ October 1 away game in New Jersey. Days later, she was asked about the pop star dating her son during an interview on the Today show.

“It’s fairly new, so I don’t like to talk about it,” Donna said on the morning show. “I honestly can’t tell you. It’s just too new.”

Donna also said it “was OK” interacting with Swift, but she later regretted being so blasé. According to Travis’ WSJ. Magazine profile in November 2023, he called Donna “immediately” after the broadcast and reassured his mom that “she did a super job.”

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January 2024

Inside Taylor Swift's Relationship With Travis Kelce's Mom Donna Kelce
Patrick Smith/Getty Images

Throughout the NFL season, Donna alternates between attending Travis and Jason’s team games. (Jason retired from the Philadelphia Eagles in early 2024.) When she hits up Travis’ games, she is often seated with Swift in a private suite.

The two women notably sat next to each other at the AFC Wild Card playoffs on January 13 and the AFC championship on January 28. During the latter, Swift wore a ring with a replica of Travis’ jersey that had been a gift from Donna.

Get to Know the Most Beloved NFL Moms Donna Kelce and More Parents of Football Players 070


Related: Donna Kelce Isn’t the Only NFL Mom Fans Love: A Complete Guide

Donna Kelce, Wilma McNabb and more moms of pro football players were their sons’ No. 1 fans long before their NFL days. Travis and Jason Kelce’s mother found herself in the spotlight leading up to Super Bowl LVII in February 2023, which marked the first time brothers played against one another in the championship game. […]

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After the game, Donna updated her Facebook banner photo with a snap with Taylor and the rest of their suitemates in the box.

“That was a picture where all of us were so excited that we’re in the suite,” Donna told Today in early February.  “And we were so excited that they made it to the Super Bowl that we took a shot of everybody that was there, so it wasn’t anything calculating or anything like that.”

She added, “It was just everybody that was supporting my son and I was so happy to put that picture on Facebook, yes.”

February 2024

Inside Taylor Swift's Relationship With Travis Kelce's Mom Donna Kelce
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images

 

The Chiefs won the Super Bowl, marking the team’s second Lombardi Trophy in a row, on February 11 in Las Vegas. After the game ended, Donna and Swift walked on the field holding hands.

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April 2024

Swift dropped her 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, on April 19, and Donna listened to all 31 songs that same day.

“It’s her best [album],” Donna told Us less than one week later at the QVC Women’s Summit in Las Vegas.

TTPD features several songs that seemingly have Travis-coded references, though Donna played coy about whether her son was indeed Swift’s muse.

“I know there’s a few that some people think are about Travis, but we’ll just see,” Donna quipped to Us. “You know, I’ll have to ask her when I see her.”

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November 2024

Taylor Swift, Donna Kelce
Jamie Squire/Getty Images

The duo cheered Travis on from a suite at Arrowhead Stadium during his game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on November 4.

January 2025

Swift and Donna hit the Arrowhead Stadium field after Travis and the Chiefs won the AFC conference championship. The two women walked onto the field holding hands before greeting Travis with a pair of sweet hugs. Swift, of course, added a kiss to her interaction. Swift and Donna were also seen warning Travis about staying away from Bourbon Street at the 2025 Super Bowl held in New Orleans.

Just months later in August, Travis proposed to Swift. The couple planned to wed in July 2026 after Donna flew into NYC for the occasion.

March 2026

Seven months after Swift and Travis announced their engagement on August 26, 2025, Donna was spotted exiting the LAX airport. When approached by TMZ, she refused to spill any secrets about the upcoming event. Donna was also asked what Travis would wear to the wedding, or if she’s involved in planning, to which she replied, “Is the mother of the groom ever involved?”

She then added, “I’m just happy. Just so happy for them.” Donna can keep a secret, but she can’t hide her joy for the soon-to-be-married couple.

July 2026

Donna Kelce Lands in New York City Ahead of Travis’ Wedding
Jamie Squire/Getty Images

It’s safe to assume Donna will be at her son’s wedding, but everyone got closer to a confirmation when she arrived in New York City on July 2, one day before the nuptials were reportedly taking place. According to TMZ, Donna was picked up by one of Swift’s drivers and was taken straight to Madison Square Garden. The tight-lipped Kelce mother was even more secretive than usual, not answering any questions or divulging any new info about the ceremony.

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The Sci-Fi Thriller That Killed Director’s Career Deserves Another Look

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The Sci-Fi Thriller That Killed Director's Career Deserves Another Look

By Brian Myers
| Published

The 2009 thriller The Box had all the makings of a Hollywood hit. A-list stars (Cameron Diaz, Frank Langella, James Marsden), a $30 million budget, and a hot new director to take the lead. However, the lukewarm reception at the box office and the mediocre critical response to The Box led director Richard Kelly’s career to take an almost immediate nosedive. Fifteen years later, streaming maks it possible for viewers to get a second look at a film that deserves a lot more credit than it originally received.

Kelly had scored a major success several years leading up to the production of The Box, serving as director and screenwriter for the sleeper hit 2001 film Donnie Darko. However, in the years since The Box was released, Kelly has only had a handful of projects in the industry.

The Box 2009

Some of this has been attributed to his own admission of wanting to prove to studios that he’s worthy of another modestly budgeted film, and some due to sheer bad luck. Kelly was set to work on a crime film titled Amicus with Sopranos star James Gandolfini, only to have the actor die from a heart attack in 2013 before the project could be started.

The Box’s Moral Conundrum

The Box 2009

If you’ve never seen The Box, you’ll likely be intrigued by the storyline alone. Married couple Norma and Arthur Lewis (played by Diaz and Marsden, respectively) are approached by a disfigured stranger (Frank Langella) who gives them a mysterious box. Press the button inside the box, the stranger promises, and you’ll receive $1 million in cash.

However, the stranger reveals a caveat to receiving the prize money. Press the button, and someone that they do not know will die. The plot of The Box takes a good number of unpredictable twists and turns after Norma presses the button, and the young family sees a horrific fate unfold before their very eyes.

The Twilight Zone Episode

The Box 2009

The Box was conceived from a short story written by acclaimed horror and science fiction writer Richard Matheson in 1970. Matheson’s original story, Button, Button, was turned into a radio show in the late 1970s. In 1986, a screenplay was written based on the story for an episode of the revived version of The Twilight Zone.

The theatrical version of Matheson’s story debuted in 2009 and wasn’t a favorite of critics. Though Roger Ebert gave it three out of four stars, other critics cited poor editing and the sense of the film being more of a pet project for Kelly as reasons for their dislike of The Box. Audiences at the time largely agreed as box office receipts led to barely making back the film’s budget.

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The Box 2009

The Box is certainly worth a look 15 years later, despite the lack of enthusiasm it received in 2009. The soundtrack alone should tempt a good number of curiosity seekers. Win Butler and Regine Chassagne of the pop band Arcade Fire teamed with composer Owen Pallett for a film score that more than redeems any of the film’s minor shortcomings that critics pointed out.

As of this writing, The Box can be rented or purchased on-demand through Amazon Prime Video, YouTube, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home.


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The ’90s Dark Sci-Fi Thriller Cult Classic Saved By Its Director’s Cut

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The '90s Dark Sci-Fi Thriller Cult Classic Saved By Its Director's Cut

By Jason Collins
| Published

The removal of content from streaming, or the absence of definitive versions, underscores the importance of media preservation. That now applies to Dark City, the 1998 neo-noir sci-fi thriller about an amnesiac man trying to recover his identity while hunted for a series of murders. The theatrical cut is available to stream for free, but if you want to watch the superior Director’s Cut, you’ll have to rent or purchase the title on-demand.

A Dystopian City Ruled By The Strangers

dark city Dark City 1998strangers

Dark City’s narrative is set in a dystopian city that is perpetually shrouded in darkness and controlled by a mysterious group known as the Strangers, beings that possess the ability to alter reality and reshape the city and its inhabitants’ memories at will.

The protagonist, John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell), wakes up with no memories and finds himself accused of murder, which sets him on a quest to uncover his past and the city’s darkest secrets and horrifying truths about his reality and Strangers’ manipulations.

Dark City Was Doomed At The Box Office

Dark City’s theatrical release was marred by studio interference from New Line Cinema, which diluted its thematic complexity and sense of mystery. Most notably, the studio insisted on an opening narration that prematurely explained many of the film’s biggest reveals, undercutting its suspense and intrigue.

Coupled with a marketing campaign that failed to convey the film’s unique blend of noir and sci-fi accurately, these interventions contributed to its initial lack of success among critics and audiences.

How The Director’s Cut Saved The Film

Something similar happened with Highlander II: The Quickening, which was also nearly completely ruined by its production studio, investors, and completion bond company. However, similar to Highlander II, Dark City was also saved by its Director’s Cut edition by removing the opening narration and restoring the film’s intended sense of mystery. The added scenes also deepened character development and clarified the narrative further, which significantly improved the audiences’ perception of the movie.

The added changes to the film transformed Dark City from a misunderstood gem into a cult classic that’s now appreciated for its bold narrative and visuals. Not to mention that some of its themes, such as the loss of individuality and the manipulation of reality, have become more relevant with time, particularly now, with the rising concerns about technology and privacy.

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Without The Director’s Cut, It Might As Well Be Radio

Dark City 1998

The improvement introduced with the Director’s Cut propelled Dark City into a Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As of this writing, the film has a 78 percent critical score against an 85 percent approval rating on the Popcornmeter.

Yet, despite its acclaim, the definitive version remains relatively inaccessible. While the theatrical cut is available to stream for free on Tubi, the superior Director’s Cut is still locked behind on-demand purchases, making the film’s best version harder for casual viewers to discover.

Despite its immense quality, Dark City continues to elude many viewers because the version most deserving of its cult reputation isn’t the one most people are likely to stumble across.


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The 2000s Sci-Fi Space Adventure Epic That Destroyed An Entire Studio

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The 2000s Sci-Fi Space Adventure Epic That Destroyed An Entire Studio

By Charlene Badasie
| Published

Titan A.E. is an animated sci-fi action adventure directed by Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Released in 2000, it was a major project for Fox Animation Studios. But despite its ambitious scope and visual appeal, the film was a commercial failure, earning $36.8 million at the box office against a budget of almost $90 million. So, the studio closed its doors, and the movie became infamous as a result.

Leaving In The Titan

Titan A.E. tells the story of a young man named Cale Tucker (Matt Damon) who is tasked with saving humanity after a hostile alien species destroys Earth. The movie begins in 3028 when The Titan Project becomes the target of a hostile alien race called the Drej. Made of pure energy, the aliens fear that the ambitious Earthly undertaking will allow humans to challenge their power.

The Drej eventually launch a massive attack on Earth, forcing humans to evacuate the planet. Amid the chaos, Professor Sam Tucker (Ron Perlman) leaves his son Cale with his alien friend Tek (Tone Loc).

Before leaving in the Titan spaceship, Sam gives Cale a gold ring and tells him that as long as he wears it, there will be hope for humanity. Over a decade later, Titan A.E. finds the surviving humans living as refugees without a home planet.

Meanwhile, Cale has become jaded and works in a space station salvage yard. Former military officer and trusted companion of Cale’s father, Joseph Korso (Bill Pullman), finds Cale and reveals that the whereabouts of the Titan are hidden in his ring. 

Becoming Fast Friends

Upon activating it, a holographic map opens. Korso asks Cale to accompany his crew to Valkyrie so they can search for the Titan together. Cale agrees and becomes fast friends with pilot Akima Kunimoto (Drew Barrymore) and three alien crew members, including first mate Preed (Nathan Lane), weapons officer Stith (Janeane Garofalo), and scientist Gune (John Leguizamo).

Using Cale’s map, they reach the planet Sesharrim, where the Gaoul reveals the Titan’s location. But everything is not as it seems in Titan A.E., as the map often changes. The crew of the Valkyrie is also faced with various challenges, including a kidnapping and a shocking betrayal that takes the story to a new level.

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The Deathblow To Fox Animation Studios

Originally planned as a live-action movie named “Planet Ice,” Titan A.E. was brought to life as an animated feature due to the high costs of the visuals.

Ben Edlund penned the initial script, with John August handling re-writes. With a budget of $55 million and 19 months to complete after $30 million had already been spent on pre-production, much of the animation was computer-generated, with traditional animation used for the main characters. Despite various setbacks, like studio cutbacks and executive changes, the film was released in 2000.

However, the closure of Fox Animation Studios shortly after hindered its promotion and distribution. In fact, cutbacks at the studio during the making of Titan A.E. were largely responsible for the movie underperforming. It kind of all went wrong at once here.

Still, Titan A.E. made almost $9.4 million in its opening weekend, ranking fifth behind other popular films. However, its audience dropped by 60 percent the following weekend.

Streaming Titan A.E.

Titan A.E. received mixed reviews from critics and currently holds a 51 percent approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes alongside a 61 percent audience score.

The movie’s DVD release featured extras like commentary by the directors, deleted scenes, and a music video. Titan A.E. is available via various video-on-demand platforms such as YouTube, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, and Fandango at Home.

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