The majority of the galaxy far, far away fandom could care less about what a character from Rogue One got up to before he became a hero of the Rebellion. But as we inch closer to the release of Andor on Disney Plus, it seems that audiences are getting more and more hyped for Tony Gilroy’s new Star Wars outing, and with good reason, too.

In this new clip, supposedly from the three-episode premiere on Sept. 21, Cassian Andor talks to Stellan Skarsgård’s new character, Luthen Rael. The pair are discussing a transaction of sorts, with Cassian selling him something stolen from an Imperial naval base. Luthen asks how he did it, and Cassian shrugs it off by saying, “You just walk in like you belong.”

Andor takes place five years before the events of Rogue One, centering around the life of its titular protagonist as he transforms from a thief to one of the most influential characters in the rise of the Rebel Alliance. The first season is supposed to depict the first year of the events leading into the spinoff movie, while the second and final season — also 12 episodes long — deals with the next four.

First ‘Andor’ Poster

• 

Click to zoom 

The showrunner has described Andor as a novel, the first half of which you’ll see from mid-September onwards. The second half is currently undergoing pre-production, though unlike many other Star Wars shows from the MandoVerse, even if Andor ends up performing exceedingly well for the Mouse House, viewing figures and all, the show will end with its second season just as Gilroy has outlined.

With only a week to go until the first two episodes of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power drop on Prime Video, Amazon has decided to release another sizzling trailer for its ambitious Middle-earth adaptation, and it shows off Tolkien’s Middle-earth preparing for battle just after being released from the clutches of the former war.

As you can see above, the trailer once again centers around the show’s main protagonist, Galadriel Lady of Galadhrim, as she traverses Arda in search of the Enemy. Her travels ultimately take her to Númenor, where she pleads for an alliance between Men and Elves to fight their common foe.

The promo reveals that Galadriel, now dubbed the Commander of the Armies of Gil-galad, also meets Elendil and Isildur on the island kingdom, forging a bond that lasts thousands of years, all the way to the time she met Aragorn, Isildur’s descendant, in Lothlorien.

New ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ images

As you may already know, The Rings of Power will take audiences back a few thousand years to the pinnacle of the Second Age, where Sauron the Deceiver, picking up the gauntlet that Morgoth the Black Foe of the World had dropped, tries to subjugate the Free Peoples of Middle-earth by forging the titular rings of power. The show will also detail the fall of Númenor and the War of the Last Alliance in a five-season story arc that has been outlined from start to finish by showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay.

You can watch The Rings of Power on Sept. 1.

Via YouTube

It was a momentous occasion for YouTube today when one of the site’s biggest names, MrBeast, reached a major milestone: 100 million subscribers.

That’s right: 100 million subscribers. Read that in your best Mike Myers’ Dr. Evil voice for bonus fun. That’s more people tracking MrBeast’s videos than the entire populations of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, or Italy. Here I was feeling good if my immediate family liked a meme I shared on Facebook. 

MrBeast, who’s actually Jimmy Donaldson, has been living the dream of YouTube celebrity life for 11 years. Beginning his career at the ripe old age of 13 (let that sink in, fellow Gen-Xers), Donaldson launched his YouTube channel with the handle, MrBeast6000. Since then, he has become one of the streaming site’s most famous content creators, amassing a gargantuan following in 11 years. And he’s only 24 years old. Life isn’t fair, is it?

Donaldson’s contemporaries celebrated the momentous occasion:

He’s still trailing the king of YouTube, Swedish comedian Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, better known as content creator PewDiePie. According to his YouTube he has 111 million subscribers, but MrBeast is on his way to challenging Kjellberb. 

While Donaldson may trail Kjellberg in subscribers, he tops PewDiePie where it counts: profits. Last year, Forbes estimated MrBeast’s net worth at $54 million, making him the single most profitable YouTuber on the planet. The controversial YouTuber/boxer/WWE wrestler Jake Paul ranks second, with $45 million.

Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Politicon

The Twitch world was in an uproar Wednesday, and Hasan Piker, AKA HasanAbi,went viral for his live-stream rant when he was pressed about his personal gun ownership.

“Shut the f*ck up,” HasanAbi said on his Twitch stream, the pertinent clip of which you can watch here. 

No stranger to controversy, Hasan Piker has been vocal about his pro-gun control views. The streamer has appeared on televised political commentaries, most notably Fox News. Last month, he was interviewed by BBC about his stance on gun violence in the United States. 

On Wednesday, Piker was streaming a C-SPAN video feed of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as she spoke on the need for gun control. As HasanAbi offered his thoughts, he was inundated with chatter, but one recurring question provoked his ire: “@hasanabi Do you own guns?”

The outspoken proponent of increased firearm restrictions was quick to vent his frustration. “This is my favorite type of chatter,” Piker said. “‘Do you own guns?’ ‘Do you own guns?’ ‘Do you own guns?’ ‘If you are to own guns [sic], do you hold them in a safe? Specifically can I get the blueprint to your house or where you have guns?’”

From there, Piker launched into a profanity-laden tirade. “What f**king gun owner that’s responsible, if they had a gun or not, would f**king tell you? What responsible person is going to inform 36,000 people on whether or not they have a f**cking gun, what the make and model of it is, or how many f**king bullets does it hold, and if they have it in a f**king gun safe or not? What the f**k is wrong with you, dumb ass? Stop asking dumb questions, dude. Shut the f**k up.”

We Got This Covered reached out to Piker for comment. This is a developing story, and it will be updated if and when he responds.

A little more than a week separates us from the anticipated second volume of Stranger Things season 4, and the first trailer teases an action-packed outing with an air of finality to it.

As you can see above, the Hawkins gang is preparing for the final battle against Vecna. They’re going to need all the help they can get, so the fate of the small community, and the world at large, for that matter, rests on Eleven making it back from Brenner’s secret facility on time. Kate Bush’s hit song “Running Up That Hill” — which has dominated music charts over the past few weeks — is also making a return, both to dial up the trailer’s hype to eleven and serve as Max’s contingency against the big bad.

‘Stranger Things 4’ volume 2 images

Click to zoom 

The trailer seems also seems to hint that Nancy will survive her fall through Upside Down and reunite with the team, but what will happen from there or how Eleven and Jim catch up to them is anyone’s guess. What we know is that the two remaining episodes will both be feature-length, with the penultimate clocking in at 90 minutes while the season finale will go over 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Fans are cautiously entertaining the possibility that some of their favorite characters might not make it out of this alive. Because as experienced as the Hawkins gang is against whatever the Upside Down throws their way, they are bound to eventually come up against an adversary too great to walk away from unscathed. Vecna might just be that kind of adversary, so make sure that you go in with enough mental fortitude to at least suffer the death of one beloved hero.

You can watch both episodes when they make their Netflix debut on July 1.

Images via Star Wars

Move over Anakin Skywalker and Padmé as there is a new Star Wars couple in town that received support from both younglings and older generations.

TikTok user PrimateGarbagePolice released a video where her grandmother bought figures of Padmé and Death Watch Mandalorian after she told her about her recent experience in Megacon in Orlando, Florida.

The video received more than 260k views on TikTok and 40k likes, with multiple fans requesting a story time vlog on how the “love story” happened. So the next day after the initial video went viral, PrimateGarbagePolice released a new video, retelling the events that happened in Megacon.

According to her, she dressed up as Princess Padmé and attended Megacon as a graduation gift for herself as she didn’t attend the graduation ceremony and senior prom due to bullying. So during the convention, one of the Death Watch Mandalorians noticed her and gave her a hand signal, telling her to call him.

The TikToker says that cosplay helped cheer her up because her school bullied her for liking Star Wars and no one would like to go to prom with her. She told her story to her grandmother which prompted her to buy the figures.

Multiple Star Wars fans who saw both the videos gave their support for PrimateGarbagePolice, saying that they would have been friends if they went to the same school, as well as wishing her the best.

While many fans (and possibly Grandmas) want to know who this cosplayer is and wants the two to meet up again, PrimateGarbagePolice told her audience to not seek out the cosplayer. She didn’t want to bother them and wanted to respect their privacy, which is fair because after all, Mandalorians can’t remove their helmets. That is the way.

While this blossoming romance may not get a part two, it’s good to hope that somewhere in a galaxy far far away, the Death Watch Mandalorian is aware that he made a girl’s day during the convention.

It seems that the wait for the second part of Final Fantasy VII Remake will not be as grueling as the first. During today’s 25th anniversary livestream for the original game, Square Enix announced that the second part, officially titled Rebirth, is coming out in 2023 on PlayStation 5.

As you can see above, the game is utilizing the full power of Sony’s next-gen console to bring the world of Final Fantasy VII to life with such graphical fidelity the likes of which this franchise has never seen before. Rebirth will be a truly next-gen experience, which is why the devs have forsaken PlayStation 4, the console that hosted the first part back in April 2020.

It seems that Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will once again be a PlayStation exclusive. As of yet, the company hasn’t announced any plans to eventually release the second part for Windows as well, as they did with Final Fantasy VII Remake.

Final Fantasy VII Remake Gallery

Click to zoom 

The title might be a little confusing for fans, however, as they could’ve simply gone with Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 2. By naming it Rebirth, the producers are perhaps signaling a more announced deviation from the original game both in terms of gameplay and narrative.

What’s more, Square Enix has announced that the Final Fantasy VII remake project will be broken down into three parts. With Rebirth making its way to PlayStation 5 in 2023, the team is already busy developing the next chapter, though we would be getting ahead of ourselves were we to speculate about part 3 at the moment.

The company also announced a fourth project, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, serving as a remake of the 2007 prequel game to Final Fantasy VII.

photo via lego.com

Even with twelve films, a holiday special, various TV shows, two Ewok standalone adventures, and all the video games, novels, comic books, and various other pieces of pop culture detritus attached to the franchise, many Star Wars fans still consider the first 1980 sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, to be the greatest individual achievement in the series.

That certainly was the case for a friend of Reddit user “feenicks,” who posted a video under the title, “Mate of mine made a Hoth Scene in Lego“.

Redditors immediately flipped for the scene, which depicted the opening battle outside of a Rebel base on the ice planet Hoth, between the forces of the evil Empire and the noble Rebellion.  It even has a spinning space ship, and feenicks explained how his mate achieved that effect:

Some praised feenicks’ mate by quoting Darth Vader:

While others merely paraphrased him:

Some people tried to guess how much the setup cost:

And found a way to justify paying for it:

While others were fixated on the time it probably took:

And of course, there were the dudes who claim their wives would have hated it:

Image via Netflix / Vikings: Valhalla

Vikings: Valhalla came out earlier this year as a spinoff sequel to the History Channel’s original series, racking up impressive viewing figures for Netflix and continuing to chronicle the lives of famed Norse warriors. Now, with the production on season two well underway, the streaming juggernaut has decided to treat its fans by giving us a blooper reel for the first season.

This new clip, which you can see above, might have you half-convinced that the world of Vikings isn’t one ruled by brutality, tyranny, and cruel twists of fate. But don’t let these cast slip-ups fool you into believing that any future besides fighting every day awaits our characters in Valhalla.

‘Vikings: Valhalla’ New Character Posters

Click to zoom 

The story takes place a century after the events of the Vikings finale, with the Danes still struggling to find some semblance of peace in the raging conflict between the Saxon kingdoms and the eponymous invaders. We follow the lives of Leif Erikson (Leif the Lucky), Freydís Eiríksdóttir, and Harald Sigurdsson as they try to make their way in a world that’s rapidly changing. Joining them on this journey will be an ambitious ensemble of other historical characters, including Cnut the Great, Olaf Haraldsson, Queen Emma of Normandy, Godwin of Wessex, King Aethelred II, and Edmond Ironside.

Vikings: Valhalla will supposedly end with the dusk of the Viking Age, historically marked down by the fateful battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066. Creator Jeb Stuart has yet to determine how many seasons the story will take to unfold its climactic conclusion, but with the pace set by the first season, it might still be quite a while until we finally get to say goodbye to this world. That is if Netflix doesn’t come up with any more spinoff ideas.

If Dark‘s twisted modern world narrative wasn’t exactly your cup of tea because you savor that extra bit of immersion period dramas have to offer, then 1899 will take you in for one heck of a memorable ride in the Edwardian era.

Developed by the creators behind Netflix’s Dark, this new series is set in the year 1899 and supposedly takes viewers on another mind-bending run. The story centers around the Kerberos, a steamship carrying a group of immigrants from London to New York City. Adrift in the endless Pacific, things take a nightmarish turn when the Kerberos encounters another stranded ship in the middle of the ocean, the secrets of which change the lives of the Kerberos passengers forever.

1899 stars Emily Beecham, Aneurin Barnard, Andreas Pietschmann, Anton Lesser, and Rosalie Craig, in a story developed by Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar.

The creative duo is embarking on this new story right off their work on Dark, which came to a conclusive end on June 27, 2020. Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar are known for their bold storytelling approach that doesn’t give anything more than breadcrumbs for viewers to follow, each in turn serving as a piece that completes the overarching puzzle. While that style worked wonders for Dark, many of its fans would probably be hard-pressed to tell you, in chronological order, what really happened in the German science-fiction thriller.

By the looks of it, 1899 will tone down on the complexity of following several timelines, but the mystery-horror nature of the narrative might still have you walking around in circles trying to predict what happens next.

1899 will release sometime in Q3-Q4 2022.