Sci-Fi

Luke Skywalker’s Mandalorian Cameo Wasn’t Always Part of the Plan

On The Mandalorian, characters say “This is the way.” In the case of the second season’s big cameo though, it wasn’t originally. By now Star Wars fans know that season two of The Mandalorian ended with Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) leaving Din Djarin with a Jedi he connected with through the Force. A Jedi by…

io9 Germain Lussier

Photo: MGM and Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly and PEOPLE

Lovecraft Country‘s Misha Green Will Write and Direct the Next Tomb Raider

Lara Croft is going to Lovecraft Country. Sort of. Misha Green, the creator and main driving force behind one of 2020’s best shows, Lovecraft Country, has been hired to write and direct the next Tomb Raider movie, with Alicia Vikander reprising her starring role. Deadline broke the news of the exciting team-up, which comes just…

Movies Germain Lussier

In Praise of The Expanse‘s Camina Drummer

We first met Camina Drummer in The Expanse’s second season, when she was introduced as Fred Johnson’s (Chad L. Coleman) security chief on Tycho Station. Though the character appears in the books, her role in the series has been expanded over the years—and now, in the show’s outstanding fifth season, she’s provided a pivotal counterpoint…

io9 Cheryl Eddy

Snowpiecer‘s Second Season Welcomes in a New, if Unsurprising Tyranny

After getting off to a rocky start, TNT’sSnowpiercer ultimately found its footing over the progression of its first season. Years of post-apocalyptic simmering class conflict between the titular train’s cars erupted in its climax, setting the stage for a second season that wants to try and explore those conflicts beyond the confines of its source…

io9 Charles Pulliam-Moore

Michael Dorn’s Idea for a Worf-Centric Star Trek Series Sound Pretty Cool

Michael Dorn has been playing Star Trek’s Whorf for a long time, off and on, and he’s maintained an interest in the franchise the whole time. He’d love to come back with the character, and he has just the idea to do it. In a great interview with Trek Movie, Dorn lays out the pitch…

io9 Julie Muncy

Russell T. Davies Wants to See Doctor Who Get More Ambitious

Russell T. Davies presided over a big era in Doctor Who, managing spinoffs, creating a big franchise with a big impact. He’s no longer a Who guy, but he still has ideas. And he thinks that maybe the BBC should be taking nods from the other big sci-fi franchises. “I was in the middle of…

io9 Julie Muncy

Paramount Has Optioned Tom Wheeler’s Latest, a Kid’s Series That’s Men in Black Meets Willy Wonka

The new book series, by the writer of, uh, Puss in Boots and the creator of Netflix’s Cursed, also seems liable to be coming to film. As shared by the Hollywood Reporter, the book series, called C.O.S.M.O.S., is, according to its sources, “an epic, mind-bending, adventure that celebrates curiosity, diversity and the power of science…

Movies Julie Muncy

A Tip From Christopher Nolan Made Donnie Darko Way Easier to Follow

It’s been twenty years since Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko, the favored movie of moody teenage boys everywhere. Which makes it a good time to learn a bit new about it. For the Ringer, Kelly participated in a big oral history on the film, with a lot of interesting information about how it came together. Here’s…

Movies Julie Muncy

RIP Mira Furlan, the Heart of Babylon 5

Mira Furlan, who embodied the iconic Delenn on Babylon 5, has passed away. She was 65. The news was confirmed last night by Furlan’s own social media accounts, with a message shared from the actress reflecting on her life nearing its end, evoking Delenn’s remark that we are all “star stuff” from the Babylon 5…

io9 James Whitbrook

The 2021 Movie Calendar Has Already Begun to Crumble [Updated]

The year isn’t even a month old and Hollywood has already begun to delay many of its 2021 releases. Hot on the heels of the White House changing over, a new covid-19 plan put into motion, and talk of a return to some kind of normalcy in the fall, several studios just delayed many of…

Movies Germain Lussier

Alan Tudyk Says K-2SO Won’t Be Part of Andor…Yet

When it was announced that Diego Luna’s Rogue One rebel spy was getting his own streaming show, everyone naturally assumed that his gloomy ex-Imperial droid pal K-2SO would be along for the ride. But it turns out that we won’t be seeing Alan Tudyk’s robotic role in the show—or at least, not in its first…

io9 James Whitbrook

Image: Marvel Studios, Warner Bros., Amazon Studios, Lucasfilm, and Hulu

Your Guide to 2021’s Biggest TV, Part 3

If you made it through our two other big television preview lists, congratulations—there’s one more to go: all the streaming TV you will never possibly be able to ingest in 2021. We’re honestly in awe of how much sci-fi, fantasy, superhero, and horror TV we’ll be getting this year considering so many productions were shut…

io9 io9 Staff

An Astronaut Has an Unwelcome and Possibly Undead Visitor in the Eerie Sci-Fi Short Decommissioned

A piece of NASA’s past makes a surprising return in Decommissioned, which packs genuine sci-fi horror suspense into just six minutes. From the windows of the ISS, an astronaut notices a strange—and horrifyingly familiar—bit of space debris floating in his direction. It can’t be what he thinks it is…can it? We’ve featured Australian filmmaker Josh…

Movies Cheryl Eddy

The Mandalorian (and Baby Yoda) Spotted Ripping in Los Angeles

We’re actually in a good mood today for reasons, but to say it’s been generally bleak during the pandemic would be an understatement. With no outlet for his comedy stylings during covid-19, a Los Angeles man grabbed his board and a Mandalorian costume, and set about lifting moods in an entirely different way. NBC Los…

io9 Cheryl Eddy

The Expanse Just Pushed Everyone to the Limit and Things Are About to Explode

After last week’s Expanse gave extra space to one of this season’s most devastating farewells, episode eight finds time to see what all the other characters are up to on Earth, Luna, and various points around the Belt. As you might guess, nobody in “Hard Vacuum” is having an easy time of it. As we…

io9 Cheryl Eddy

Your Guide to 2021’s Biggest TV, Part 2

Early on into our prep for all the television our readers might like to watch in 2021, we realized there was a lot. Like, a lot a lot. That’s not even accounting for the fact that io9 typically only covers sci-fi, fantasy, and horror creations. So we broke up our recommendations into three parts; yesterday…

io9 io9 Staff

Godzilla vs. Kong Gives Us a First-Look Tease of the Brawl We’ve Been Waiting For

Hot off the news that Godzilla vs. Kong would be arriving two months earlier than expected, we now have a first look at the monsters going mano-a-mano. “Change is nature,” the teaser informs us, but we’re certain to never change our stance on the fact that Godzilla and King Kong fighting each other is cool…

Movies Cheryl Eddy

Johnny Mnemonic‘s Cyber-Dolphin Is Still the Apex of Cyberpunk

It’s hard to make the cyberpunk genre feel fresh nowadays. Its tried-and-true tenets of a dystopian future overrun by corporations and technology have, after all, been true for a while. Of course, cybernetic implants aren’t de rigeur in the real world so we can’t have secret chainsaws in our hands, but we already have plenty…

Movies Rob Bricken

This Resident Alien Promo Is Just Alan Tudyk Riffing on How Weird Food Is

And, honestly, it’s pretty compelling. Alan Tudyk is a funny guy, and his latest role, as the star of Syfy’s upcoming Resident Alien, seems to be well built to take advantage of his comedic strengths. Starring Tudyk as an alien who must blend in in a small Colorado town, it’s a perfect chance to play…

io9 Julie Muncy

Ursula K. Le Guin Is Getting the Greatest of Tributes: A Stamp

Is there any more fun honor than the stamp? It’s collectible, comes with art, and you can use it to send things to other people, making it a gift you pass on. They’re delightful. As shared by the official Twitter account of Ursula K. Le Guin’s estate, the famed author is getting her own commemorative…

Books & Comics Julie Muncy

Luke Skywalker’s Mandalorian Cameo Wasn’t Always Part of the Plan

Lovecraft Country‘s Misha Green Will Write and Direct the Next Tomb Raider

In Praise of The Expanse‘s Camina Drummer

Snowpiecer‘s Second Season Welcomes in a New, if Unsurprising Tyranny

Michael Dorn’s Idea for a Worf-Centric Star Trek Series Sound Pretty Cool

Russell T. Davies Wants to See Doctor Who Get More Ambitious

Paramount Has Optioned Tom Wheeler’s Latest, a Kid’s Series That’s Men in Black Meets Willy Wonka