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Andor’s final chapter feels like a series of mini-movies about how wars for freedom are won in fits and starts. Image: Disney Plus / Lucasfilm Star Wars, an epic story about rebellious heroes fighting back against power-hungry fascists hellbent on enslaving an entire galaxy, has always been deeply political. But there are few pieces of the franchise that have ever come close to Disney Plus’ Andor series in terms of thoroughly unpacking what being locked in endless cycles of conflict does to people both psychologically and emotionally. Leading with that kind of focus is what made the first season of Andor, a prequel to 2016’s Rogue One, such a refreshing addition to Lucasfilm’s uneven lineup of streaming projects. Andor’s sobering story felt like it was speaking to the revolutionary heart of Star Wars’ larger ongoing drama. And even though there was never any question about how things would ultimately end, the show took care to emphasize the importance of having hope in times of war no matter how dire the present moment may seem. Andor keeps that same energy in its second and final season as it repeatedly leaps forward into the future to show you how the Resistance’s battle against the Empire intensified in the years immediately leading up to A New Hope. This chapter is bigger, bolder, and makes some of the most devastating narrative decisions Disney has ever signed off on. And at a time when political tyranny is on the ascent here in the real world, Andor’s message about having faith in the power of collective resistance is worth taking to heart. Though much has changed for Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) as the show’s second season opens, he, like many members of the Resistance, still understands that their project to topple the Galactic Empire is as massive as it is long-tailed. Even for more experienced rebels like Cassian, Bix Caleen (Adria Arjona), and Luthen Rael (Stellan Skarsgård), carrying out the Resistance’s plans has become infinitely more dangerous with the Empire pouring more resources into crushing dissent. But with more and more people experiencing first hand how inhumane violence and destruction are pillars of the Empire’s ideology, the Resistance is growing every day. And Cassian’s personal path to becoming a freedom fighter makes him uniquely suited to help bring newcomers into the fold. Memories of how Cassian and his allies were able to pull off heists and a prison break right under the Empire’s nose still haunt Imperial Security Bureau supervisor Dedra Meero (Denise Gough) and deputy inspector Syril Karn (Kyle Soller). But Syril’s recent promotion and Dedra’s being pulled into a top-secret project by director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn, reprising his Rogue One role) makes them both more resolute in their life decisions. And a budding, somewhat dysfunctional romance between the pair is just enough to convince them that they haven’t completely lost their humanity. While Cassian is still very much Andor’s central character, the new season’s 12 episodes pull back from him more than the first’s in a way that emphasizes how all large Rebellions™ are actually a series of smaller battles waged in hope of a better future. On the galactic capital Coruscant where senator Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) can feel the political temperature rising perilously high, those battles are fought semi-openly with calculating words. For ruthless strategist Luthen — still posing as an antiques dealer — and his right hand woman Kleya Marki (Elizabeth Dulau), though, being part of the Resistance at this point necessitates even more deception and being ready to flee the capital at a moment’s notice. Andor has always excelled at making Star Wars’ alien locales feel real and lived-in. But the new season steps up its worldbuilding game in order to better illustrate how decentralized and at times hamstrung by in-fighting the Resistance can be. As the Empire makes moves on Ghorman, a French / German-coded planet known for its spider silk, rebels from different factions aren’t always on the same page about how best to respond — especially once locals begin organizing public protests. Showrunner Tony Gilroy and writers Beau Willimon, Dan Gilroy, and Tom Bissell do a superb job of highlighting the ways in which the same fear that inspires some rebels to fight back also causes others to spiral and wonder whether their allies might be traitors. Those suspicions are hard to shake with the Empire running a galaxy-wide propaganda campaign designed to keep people in the dark about what it is really up to on Ghorman. And there are multiple instances where Rebels’ begrudging willingness to trust each other leads to disaster. Disney Plus / Lucasfilm Death comes for many of Andor’s characters on both sides of the conflict in ways that reinforce the unquantifiable human (or alien, in this case) cost of war. The high body count also gives the show an organic reason to turn some of its previously supporting players like Kleya and Wilmon (Muhannad Bhaier) into proper leads. This season’s time jumps are a big part of why those freshly-elevated characters are able to work so well as central players. With each leap forward into the future, Andor’s new season establishes a slightly different status quo reflective of how people have changed over time. Some things, like the Empire’s insistence that it’s only trying to keep the peace, stay the same. But characters carry that passage of time in their bodies, and it alters their world views. And because the time jumps each bookend distinct stories that play out over the course of three episodes, this season often plays more like a quartet of mini-movies building to the climax seen in Rogue One. For all of its Rogue One cameos, Andor’s focus on showing you what the Rebel / Empire conflict looks like from the ground level keeps it from feeling like a narrative retread. This season also sets itself apart from the first by getting far more intense with its exploration of the different kinds of violence that are deployed in times of war. One late-season scene in particular stands out as featuring some of the most brutal, alarming Star Wars storytelling Lucasfilm has ever put on screen. But, as if to make a point about the importance of holding onto hope, this season still finds time to have the occasional bit of fun with things like wildly inspired new droids. Andor’s first season set a new high bar that none of Disney Plus other Star Wars series have yet to clear, and the show’s final chapters bring things home with a beautiful, but bittersweet poetry. The show may take place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away — but Andor’s message couldn’t feel any more timely, and it feels like the franchise at its peak. Andor’s second season also stars Faye Marsay, Varada Sethu, Joplin Sibtain, Kathryn Hunter, Alastair Mackenzie, Anton Lesser, Forest Whitaker, Alan Tudyk, and Benjamin Bratt. The season’s first three episodes premiere on April 22nd. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of March): 1,357 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

The season will also introduce a new companion for the Doctor when it hits Disney Plus and the BBC. Image: Disney Plus Ncuti Gatwa’s version of the Doctor will be back pretty soon. Disney Plus and the BBC announced that the next season of Doctor Who will start streaming on April 12th, with new episodes dropping weekly. The season will span eight episodes total. Perhaps more interesting than the date, though, is a pair of new characters that will be joining the cast. First up is Belinda Chandra (played by Andor’s Varada Sethu), who will be a new companion for the Doctor. (That said, the official announcement does that that Millie Gibson will be returning as Ruby Sunday.) According to the plot synopsis, the new season follows the Doctor on “an epic quest to get her back to Earth. But a mysterious force is stopping their return and the time-traveling TARDIS team must face great dangers, bigger enemies, and wider terrors than ever before.” Those wider terrors, it seems, include a cartoon character ripped out of an evil version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Alan Cumming will play Mr Ring-a-Ding, who is described as: Here are the two new additions: Mr Ring-a-Ding. Image: Disney Plus Belinda Chandra. Image: Disney Plus This will be Gatwa’s second season in the role, after taking over for Jodie Whittaker. A spinoff series for the show, called The War Between The Land And The Sea, is also in the works. The new season of Doctor Who will be coming at a particularly busy time for streaming TV, with the next season of Andor hitting Disney Plus on April 22nd, and The Last of Us returning for season 2 on HBO on April 13th. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of January): 487 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

"We're in a war. You wanna fight? Or you wanna win?" Diego Luna returns as Cassian in the forthcoming second season of Andor. The first season of Andor, the Star Wars prequel series to Rogue One and A New Hope, earned critical raves for its gritty aesthetic and multilayered narrative rife with political intrigue. While ratings were a bit sluggish, they were good enough to win the series a second season, and Disney+ just dropped the first action-packed teaser trailer. (Spoilers for S1 below.) As previously reported, the story begins five years before the events of Rogue One, with the Empire's destruction of Cassian Andor's (Diego Luna) homeworld and follows his transformation from a "revolution-averse" cynic to a major player in the nascent rebellion who is willing to sacrifice himself to save the galaxy. S1 left off with Cassian returning to Ferrix for the funeral of his adoptive mother, Maarva (Fiona Shaw), rescuing a friend from prison, and dodging an assassination attempt. A post-credits scene showed prisoners assembling the firing dish of the now-under-construction Death Star. According to the official longline, S2 "will see the characters and their relationships intensify as the horizon of war draws near and Cassian becomes a key player in the Rebel Alliance. Everyone will be tested and, as the stakes rise, the betrayals, sacrifices and conflicting agendas will become profound. " In addition to Luna, most of the main cast from S1 is returning: Genevieve O'Reilly as Mon Mothma, a senator of the Republic who helped found the Rebel Alliance; Adria Arjona as mechanic and black market dealer Bix Caleen; James McArdle as Caleen's boyfriend, Timm Karlo; Kyle Soller as Syril Karn, deputy inspector for the Preox-Morlana Authority; Stellan Skarsgård as Luthen Rael, an antiques dealer who is secretly part of the Rebel Alliance; Denise Gough as Dedra Meero, supervisor for the Imperial Security Bureau; Faye Marsay as Vel Sartha, a Rebel leader on the planet Aldhani; Varada Sethu as Cinta Kaz, another Aldhani Rebel; Elizabeth Dulau as Luthen's assistant Kleya; and Muhannad Bhaier as Wilmon, who runs the Repaak Salyard. Forest Whitaker once again reprises his Rogue One role as Clone Wars veteran Saw Gerrera, joined by fellow Rogue One alums Ben Mendelsohn and Alan Tudyk as Orson Krennic and K-2SO, respectively. Benjamin Bratt has also been cast in an as-yet-undisclosed role. The same team of writers is returning, too: Tony Gilroy, Dan Gilroy, and Beau Willimon. There will be four three-episode blocks, with a yearlong jump between each block; the final scene will take us right to the start of Rogue One. And it's expected that Cassian will finally cross paths with Mon Mothma in S2. The first three (of 12) episodes of Andor S2 premiere on April 22, 2025, on Disney+. Subsequent three-episode chapters will drop weekly for the next three weeks after that. Credit: Disney+ Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ | 2025 (till end of January): 487 RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

"The city can't be unchecked. Sometimes peace needs to be broken. And chaos must reign." Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock returns in Marvel's new series Daredevil: Born Again. Daredevil is among my favorite stories in the Netflix Defenders universe—along with Jessica Jones—in large part because Wilson Fisk (aka Kingpin, played to perfection by Vincent D'Onofrio), was such an incredibly complex and even occasionally sympathetic villain in the first and second seasons. I'm far from alone in this assessment, which explains why it was such a blow to fans when Netflix canceled the critically acclaimed Daredevil (and the rest of its Defenders series) in 2018, despite the showrunners' plans for a fourth season. Charlie Cox's titular vigilante hero has since made a couple of cameos in other Marvel projects, most notably as a one-night stand for Tatiana Maslany's She-Hulk in 2022. That kept hope alive that Daredevil might be revived and/or re-imagined. The hope has paid off because Marvel Studios just released a trailer for the new nine-episode series Daredevil: Born Again. And the studio has already confirmed a second season as part of the MCU's Phase Five. D'Onofrio's Fisk (who also appeared in the limited series Echo and Hawkeye) is back, of course. Per the official premise: "Murdock, a blind lawyer with heightened abilities, is fighting for justice through his bustling law firm, while former mob boss Wilson Fisk pursues his own political endeavors in New York. When their past identities begin to emerge, both men find themselves on an inevitable collision course." Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) has come up in the world since his vigilante days as Daredevil. Marvel Studios Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio): "It’s not entirely unpleasant seeing you again." Marvel Studios The band's back together! Marvel Studios Also returning are Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page and Elden Henson as Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, Matt's BFF and law partner, as well as Ayelet Zurer as Fisk's wife Vanessa Marianna and Wilson Bethel as the psychopathic former FBI agent Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter, who once masqueraded as Daredevil. Jon Bernthal will reprise his role as Frank Castle/The Punisher, and Matt will get a love interest in a woman named Heather Glenn (Margarita Levieva). In addition, Mohan Kapur reprises his MCU role as Yusuf Khan, while Kamar de los Reyes plays Hector Ayala/White Tiger. The cast also includes Michael Gandolfini, Zabryna Guevara, Nikki M. James, Genneya Walton, Arty Froushan, Clark Johnson, Jeremy Earl, and Lou Taylor Pucci. The trailer mostly consists of Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk (now the mayor) having a tense conversation in a diner now that they've both, in Fisk's words, "come up in the world." Their conversation is interspersed with other footage from the series, including the trademark brutal fight scenes—complete with bones breaking in various unnatural ways. And yes, we get a glimpse of a bearded Frank Castle/The Punisher in attack mode ("Frank! Would you mind putting the hatchet down?"). Fisk insists that as mayor, his intent is to serve the city, but Matt "can't shake the feeling that you're gaming the system." Matt admits he abandoned his vigilante ways after "a line was crossed." Fisk naturally believes we all have to "come to terms with our violent nature" and insists that sometimes "peace must be broken and chaos must reign." As for Matt, sure, he was raised a devout Catholic to believe in grace, "but I was also raised to believe in retribution." We're ready for another showdown between these two. Daredevil: Born Again drops on March 4, 2025, on Disney+. Credit: Marvel Studios Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

It's just one of the many fascinating insect species featured in the second season of this NatGeo docuseries. A female giant stag beetle Credit: National Geographic/Darlyne A. Murawski A plucky male American stag beetle thinks he's found a mate on a rotting old tree stump—and then realizes there's another male eager to make the same conquest. The two beetles face off in battle, until the first manages to get enough leverage to toss his romantic rival off the stump in a deft display of insect jujitsu. It's the first time this mating behavior has been captured on film, and the stag beetle is just one of the many fascinating insects featured in the second season of A Real Bug's Life, a National Geographic docuseries narrated by Awkwafina. The genesis for the docuseries lies in a past rumored sequel to Pixar's 1998 animated film A Bug's Life, which celebrated its 25th anniversary two years ago. That inspired producer Bill Markham, among others, to pitch a documentary series on a real bug's life to National Geographic. "It was the quickest commission ever," Markham told Ars last year. "It was such a good idea, to film bugs in an entertaining family way with Pixar sensibilities." And thanks to the advent of new technologies—photogrammetry, probe and microscope lenses, racing drones, ultra-high-speed camera—plus a handful of skilled "bug wranglers," the team was able to capture the bug's-eye view of the world beautifully. As with the Pixar film, the bugs (and adjacent creatures) are the main characters here, from cockroaches, monarch butterflies, and praying mantises to bees, spiders, and even hermit crabs. The 10 episodes, across two seasons, tell their stories as they struggle to survive in their respective habitats, capturing entire ecosystems in the process: city streets, a farm, the rainforest, a Texas backyard, and the African savannah, for example. Highlights from S1 included the first footage of cockroach egg casings hatching; wrangling army ants on location in a Costa Rica rainforest; and the harrowing adventures of a tiny jumping spider navigating the mean streets of New York City. Looking for love A luna moth perched on a twig. National Geographic/Nathan Small Common eastern fireflies light the forest at twilight. National Geographic/Stephen Alvarez A glowing firefly flying through the forest at night. National Geographic A luna moth stands on a stag beetle's horn. National Geographic A luna moth escapes from a mouse. National Geographic A periodical cicada on a tree. National Geographic/Mark Payne-Gill S2 takes viewers to Malaysia's tropical beaches, the wetlands of Derbyshire in England, and the forests of Tennessee's Smoky Mountains. Among the footage highlights: Malaysian tiger beetles, who can run so fast they temporarily are unable to see; a young female hermit crab's hunt for a bigger shell; and tiny peacock spiders hatching Down Under. There is also a special behind-the-scenes look for those viewers keen to learn more about how the episodes were filmed, involving 130 different species across six continents. Per the official synopsis: Entomologist Michael Carr, an environmental compliance officer for Santa Fe County in New Mexico, served as a field consultant for the "Love in the Forest" episode, which focuses on the hunt for mates by a luna moth, a firefly, and an American stag beetle. The latter species is Carr's specialty, ever since he worked at the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History and realized the beetles flourished near where he grew up in Virginia. Since stag beetles are something of a niche species, NatGeo naturally tapped Carr as its field expert to help them find and film the insects in the Smoky Mountains. To do so, Carr set up a mercury vapor lamp on a tripod—"old style warehouse lights that take a little time to charge up," which just happen to emit frequencies of light that attract different insect species. Behind the scenes Beetle expert Michael Carr and shooting researcher Katherine Hannaford film a stag beetle at night. National Geographic/Tom Oldridge Assistant producer Euan McDonald Smith works out film logistics. National Geographic/Ben Cherry Animal wrangler Janice Smith works with a luna moth. National Geographic/Tom Oldridge McDonald Smith holds a slug on set. National Geographic/Tom Oldridge Shooting researcher Oliver Halsey and McDonald Smith look at a screen during a studio shoot. National Geographic/Tom Oldridge Stag beetles are saprocylic insects, according to Carr, so they seek out decaying wood and fungal communities. Males can fly as high as 30 feet to reach tree canopies, while the females can dig down to between 1 and 3 meters to lay their eggs in wood. Much of the stag beetle's lifecycle is spent underground as a white grub molting into larger and larger forms before hatching in two to three years during the summer. Once their exoskeletons harden, they fly off to find mates and reproduce as quickly as possible. And if another male happens to get in their way, they're quite prepared to do battle to win at love. Stag beetles might be his specialty, but Carr found the fireflies also featured in that episode to be a particular highlight. "I grew up in rural Virginia," Carr told Ars. "There was always fireflies, but I'd never seen anything like that until I was there on site. I did not realize, even though I'd grown up in the woods surrounded by fireflies, that, 'Oh, the ones that are twinkling at the top, that's one species. The ones in the middle that are doing a soft glow, that's a different species.'" And Carr was as surprised and fascinated as any newbie to learn about the "femme fatale" firefly: a species in which the female mimics the blinking patterns of other species of firefly, luring unsuspecting males to their deaths. The footage captured by the NatGeo crew includes a hair-raising segment where this femme fatale opts not to wait for her prey to come to her. A tasty male firefly has been caught in a spider's web, and our daring, hungry lady flies right into the web to steal the prey: A femme fatale firefly steals prey from a rival spider's web. Many people have a natural aversion to insects; Carr hopes that inventive docuseries like A Real Bug's Life can help counter those negative perceptions by featuring some lesser-loved insects in anthropomorphized narratives—like the cockroaches and fire ants featured in S1. "[The series] did an amazing job of showing how something at that scale lives its life, and how that's almost got a parallel to how we can live our life," he said. "When you can get your mindset down to such a small scale and not just see them as moving dots on the ground and you see their eyes and you see how they move and how they behave and how they interact with each other, you get a little bit more appreciation for ants as a living organism." "By showcasing some of the bigger interesting insects like the femme fatale firefly or the big chivalrous stag beetle fighting over each other, or the dung beetle getting stomped by an elephant—those are some pretty amazing just examples of the biodiversity and breadth of insect life," said Carr. "People don't need to love insects. If they can, just, have some new modicum of respect, that's good enough to change perspectives." The second season of A Real Bug's Life premieres on January 15, 2025, on Disney+. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. News posts... 2023: 5,800+ | 2024: 5,700+ RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Spoilers ahead! This imaginative sequel to WandaVision is a reminder of just how good the MCU can be. Kathryn Hahn stars as Agatha Harkness, reprising her WandaVision role. Credit: Disney+ The MCU's foray into streaming television has produced mixed results, but one of my favorites was the weirdly inventive, oh-so-meta WandaVision. I'm happy to report that the spinoff sequel, Agatha All Along, taps into that same offbeat creativity, giving us a welcome reminder of just how good the MCU can be when it's firing on all storytelling cylinders. (Spoilers below, including for WandaVision and Multiverse of Madness. We'll give you another heads up when major spoilers for Agatha All Along are imminent.) The true identity of nosy next-door neighbor Agnes—played to perfection by Kathryn Hahn—was the big reveal of 2021's WandaVision, even inspiring a jingle that went viral. Agnes turned out to be a powerful witch named Agatha Harkness, who had studied magic for centuries and was just dying to learn the source of Wanda's incredible power. Wanda's natural abilities were magnified by the Mind Stone, but Agatha realized that Wanda was a wielder of "chaos magic." She was, in fact, the Scarlet Witch. In the finale, Wanda trapped Agatha in her nosy neighbor persona while releasing the rest of the town of Westview from her grief-driven Hex. Then Wanda presumably died in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (and count me among those who thought her arc in that film was a massive fail on Marvel's part). What happened to Agatha? It seems the hex is still in place but went a bit wonky. Agatha All Along opens like a true crime serial (cf. Mare of Easttown) with Agatha/Agnes as the rebellious, socially challenged tough detective called to investigate a body found in the woods outside Westview. Then a young Teen (Joe Locke) breaks the hex and asks her to show him the way to the legendary Witches' Road, a journey involving a series of trials. The reward: at the end of the road, the surviving witches get what they most desire. Agatha wants her powers back and Teen—well, his motives are murkier, as is his identity, which is guarded by a sigil. Agatha and Teen first have to assemble a coven: Lilia (Patti LuPone), a divination witch; Jennifer (Sasheer Zamata), a potions witch; Alice (Ali Ahn), a protection witch; and Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp, reprising her WandaVision role), standing in for a green witch on account of her gardening skills. They sing the spell in the form of a ballad—"Down the Witches' Road," a killer earworm that recurs throughout the series and is already spawning lots of cover versions. The entrance appears and the journey begins. As if the Witches' Road weren't dangerous enough, Agatha is also being pursued by her ex, Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), a powerful green witch, as well as the Salem Seven, vengeful wraiths of Agatha's first coven, who (we learned in a WandaVision flashback) she killed by draining their powers when they attacked her. Trapped in a reality-warping spell, Agatha is apparently a detective now. YouTube/Marvel Studios Agatha starts to break out of the hex. Marvel Studios/Disney+ Aubrey Plaza plays green witch Rio Vidal, who just happens to be Agatha's ex. YouTube/Marvel Studios Joe Locke plays Teen whose identity is hidden by a sigil. YouTube/Marvel Studios Patti LuPone as Lilia: "What witch in her right mind would join Agatha Harkness' coven?" YouTube/Marvel Studios Debra Jo Rupp is back as Sharon Davis. YouTube/Marvel Studios The spell works. The entrance to the Witches' Road opens. Marvel/Disney+ They're gonna walk the Witches' Road. Marvel Studios/Disney+ A large part of WandaVision's delight came from the various sitcom styles featured in each episode. Agatha All Along has its own take on that approach: each trial takes on the setting and style of witches from popular culture (even the ending credits play on this). One evokes the New England WASP-y style of the 1998 film Practical Magic; another plays on Stevie Nicks' Bohemian "white witch" phase with elements of the 1972 film Season of the Witch; yet another trial dresses the coven in high school summer camp 1980s garb. There are nods to the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda from the Wizard of Oz, Malificent, and the hag version of Snow White's Evil Queen in the seventh episode, "Death's Hand in Mine." It might just be the best single episode of all the Marvel series. This is Lilia's trial, requiring her to use her divination skills to navigate a deadly tarot reading. Every wrong card releases one of the many swords suspended above the table. Throughout the journey, Lilia has uttered seemingly random nonsensical things. Here we learn this is because she experiences life out of temporal sequence, moving between past and present while peering into the future. Suddenly all those earlier sprinkled breadcrumbs make sense, a testament to the skillful writing and directing—not to mention LuPone's powerful performance. (Apparently she requested a script with the events in linear order to better evoke the necessary emotions when shooting scenes out of sequence.) To glory at the end (WARNING: Major spoilers below. Stop reading now if you haven't finished the series.) By this time the coven has already lost two members: Sharon Davis (who didn't even last the first trial), replaced by Rio; and Alice, who tried to help Agatha when the latter was briefly possessed during a ouija board trial—only to have Agatha do what she always does and drain Alice of all her power. Lilia's tarot reading reveals that Death has been traveling with them all along in the form of Rio. Yes, Agatha's ex is Death, aka "the original Green Witch." They end up losing Lilia, too; she sacrifices herself to take out the Salem Seven after letting the surviving coven members escape. We see her falling to her death and then show up as a child in her homeland for her very first divination lesson—the cycle of life and death come full circle. Agatha likes her new look for this trial. Marvel/Disney+ Lilia's trial involves a tarot reading with deadly consequences. Marvel/Disney+ Rio unmasked: the original Green Witch, aka Death. Marvel/Disney+ Flashback to Agatha pleading for the life of her unborn son. Marvel/Disney+ Nicholas Scratch (Abel Lysenko) and Agatha made up the song about the witches' road. Marvel/Disney+ Agatha deals with her grief by stealing the power of even more witches. Marvel/Disney+ Agatha and Teen, aka Billy Maximoff, face off against Rio/Death. Marvel/Disney+ A literal kiss of Death. Marvel/Disney+ Agatha has one more trick up her sleeve: returning in ghost form. Marvel/Disney+ We soon discover that Rio/Death is mostly there because of Teen. There was much fan speculation about his identity in the run-up to the series release and fans guessed correctly: it's Wanda and Vision's son, Billy Maximoff, whose soul found its way into the body of a dying teenager named William Kaplan just as Wanda's hex was unraveling him and his twin, Tommy, out of existence. That's why he went on the Witches' Road: to find Tommy. But this also makes him an aberration in Death's eyes that must be removed to restore the balance. The catch: Billy has to sacrifice himself; in this unusual case, Death cannot simply take him. Agatha initially agrees to manipulate Billy into doing just that, then has a last-minute change of heart. She kisses Rio/Death and thereby embraces her fate, sacrificing herself so Billy can live. From the start she had a soft spot for the teen, accompanied by references to her long-dead son. The backstory is quite moving and key to Agatha's unexpected change of heart. Her son's fate was revealed in the finale. Death came for him when Agatha was in labor but agreed to grant her "time." How much time? Six or seven years, during which mother and son bonded and wandered from village to village, with Agatha occasionally killing more covens to absorb their power. But Death did not forget, and with Nicky (Abel Lysenko) gone, Agatha indulged all her worst impulses. Which brings us to the Big Twist: Agatha and her son made up the ballad of the Witches' Road, singing it in local taverns and slowly building up the legend. The Witches' Road never existed. Agatha used the legend over centuries to lure witches into a trap to steal their powers. That was her intention at the start of the series, too, except this time—a portal opened. Billy, it seems, inherited Wanda's ability to warp and shape reality, even subconsciously. He wanted the road to be real and so it was. The reveal is skillfully done and ties everything up in a nice satisfying bow, with one exception. The writers just couldn't let Agatha go completely; she returns as a ghost and joins Billy on his search for his brother Tommy. That's a creative choice that leaves the door open for a second season, and I strongly suspect we'll get one. But Ghost Agatha will be a tough plot point to crack. And it rather undercuts the pivotal moment of Agatha's sacrifice—actually doing something that doesn't directly benefit herself. On the whole, though, Agatha All Along is marvelously entertaining, binge-able fun with just enough emotional resonance and heartbreak to add some depth. All episodes of Agatha All Along are now streaming on Disney+. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

But Marvel’s WandaVision follow-up stuck the landing by spelling out the secrets that were hiding in plain sight. When Agatha All Along was first announced back in 2021 as a music-heavy follow-up to WandaVision, it was hard to imagine how showrunner Jac Schaeffer could recreate the magic that made the original such an inspired piece of storytelling. WandaVision’s shows-within-a-show premise and clever use of practical effects, along with being one of the first Disney Plus series, helped to set it apart from previous Marvel projects. But Schaeffer also used WandaVision to weave beats from the franchise’s tentpole films into a cohesive narrative that helped bring the entire MCU into its multiversal era. From its very first episode, Agatha All Along went to great lengths to show us that, even with WandaVision’s lead killed off in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, there was still plenty of — and perhaps too much — meat for Kathryn Hahn’s Agatha Harkness to chew on. The show’s two-part finale stuck the landing by living up to its title in more ways than one. Though the MCU’s interconnectedness has felt increasingly wobbly post-WandaVision, Agatha All Along ended in a way that feels poised to put (at least some of) the franchise back on track. And with another follow-up series already in development, it seems like Marvel has figured out that these specific stories are the ones it has the best shot of knocking out of the park. This piece contains spoilers about Agatha All Along’s finale. Image: Disney Plus / Marvel WandaVision briefly touched on covens in a flashback to the 17th century when Agatha killed her mother Evanora (Kate Forbes) and their group of sister witches. But Agatha All Along digs deeper, introducing characters like Agatha’s ex-lover Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza) and a mysterious teen who’s unable to share his name (Joe Locke). Because Agatha herself was already framed as a unique threat to magic users, it was difficult to suss out what kinds of dangers were lying in wait for the coven as she and the teen recruited fortune teller Lilia Calderu (Patti LuPone), potions master Jennifer Kale (Sasheer Zamata), protection witch Alice Wu-Gulliver (Ali Ahn), and ordinary Jersey woman Sharon Davis (Debra Jo Rupp) to their ranks. But Agatha All Along established a very clear focus for all of its players. The “Witches’ Road” — a realm entered by covens singing “The Ballad of the Witches’ Road” — and its ability to grant wishes to those who passed its trials gave the witches a reason to work together. And similar to how Agatha All Along’s send-up of Mare of Easttown was a callback to WandaVision’s sitcom spoofs, the Witches’ Road felt like the show’s biggest way of emphasizing the power of practical effects. The Road, with all of its hand-painted leaves and trees that transformed the set into an otherworldly forest, hammered home how Agatha All Along’s creative team was smartly using its lean budget to create magic that felt more real than its predecessor’s. And the Road’s horror movie-inspired trials to test witches’ skills gave the show a narrative structure that was similar to but distinct enough from WandaVision’s to make it seem like Agatha All Along truly was the second chapter in a trilogy of stories rather than just a spinoff. Image: Disney Plus / Marvel As tends to be the case with genre TV shows with big casts, Agatha All Along occasionally struggled to keep all of its plates spinning at the same speed as Agatha’s. Each witch got a chance to shine when facing a different trial, but some of their backstories — especially Jennifer’s and Alice’s — felt rushed and went largely unexplored. Some of the trials themselves were a bit shaggy. (At one point, the witches brew a poison antidote by dumping a bunch of ingredients into a sink.) As unwieldy as Agatha All Along sometimes was, though, it was also willing to kill characters off with a finality that helped it become sharper as the season progressed. There was still some question as to what Agatha All Along’s big bad might end up being by the season’s midway point, when Sharon and Alice had already bitten the dust. But all of the show’s puzzle pieces began fitting together in episodes five and six as the teen was revealed to be Billy Maximoff / William Kaplan, one of the Scarlet Witch’s sons, who had possessed the body of a dead person. One of the more impressive things about WandaVision was the way it managed to rework some of Marvel’s most convoluted Scarlet Witch and Vision comics arcs into a story that was concise and compelling enough to keep people who weren’t readers of the comics consistently engaged. Much of Billy’s comics lore — he and his brother wind up having their souls reabsorbed by the demon Mephisto before being reincarnated as strangers — is even wilder than his spiritual mother’s. But Agatha All Along made quick work of incorporating many of those beats with a story reminiscent of WandaVision’s “We Interrupt This Program,” which cleverly stepped outside of the series’ sitcom conceit. Unlike Alice’s and Sharon’s arcs, it was clear early on that Agatha All Along was teasing something important with Lilia’s many moments of confusion stemming from her power to see the future. What was far less obvious, however, was that the show was using her to set the stage for a time-jumping episode that would provide key context for some of the show’s most satisfying twists: Rio was actually the personification of death in disguise. Image: Disney Plus / Marvel Of all the Marvel characters who might pop up in a Disney Plus show, it was genuinely surprising to see Death given how, in the comics, she’s a cosmic entity most often associated with Thanos (and occasionally Spider-Man’s clone). But Death’s arrival also brought a fascinating gravity to everything happening to the coven. It added some context to the show’s rising body count and a new layer of intrigue to Agatha and Rio’s romantic past — another beat that could have benefitted from more fleshing out. Death gave Jennifer, Billy, and Agatha a clearly defined foe to rally against as they neared the Road’s end. And while the witches’ final battle against Death wasn’t all that much to write home about, it brought Agatha All Along’s own story and its deeper connections to WandaVision into much clearer focus. Agatha All Along’s final two episodes establish how, right up until Agatha and Billy’s coven sang the ballad together and created a doorway, the Witches’ Road never truly existed. It was just a myth that began in Agatha’s early days of being a witch and a new mother to her son. Spreading the idea of the Road’s existence gave Agatha an easy way to lure witches into the woods under the pretense of opening a portal, only for her to steal their magic. That was her plan all along with the present-day coven, and she probably would have gotten away with it, too. But in the show’s final episode, Agatha returns as a ghost to tell Billy that things worked out very differently in this instance because of his desire for the Witches’ Road to be real. That plot point and Agatha’s insistence on remaining with Billy as a spectral mentor crystalized the degree to which Agatha All Along really was continuing WandaVision’s story — pushing forward its characters and also what a Marvel show can do. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

The Disney Plus series premieres on December 3rd. Disney released a new trailer for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, its new Star Wars Disney Plus show premiering next month, and it looks like the show is going to be pretty fun. “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew follows the journey of four kids who make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet, then get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy,” according to Disney’s official description. “Finding their way home — and meeting unlikely allies and enemies — will be a greater adventure than they ever imagined.” One of the people the kids meet along the way is the mysterious Jod, who is played by Jude Law. Skeleton Crew was originally announced in 2022 with an intended release of 2023. That obviously didn’t happen, but Disney confirmed earlier this year that the show would debut on December 3rd. The show will have a two-episode premiere that day. The Daniels — aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who directed Everything Everywhere All at Once — will direct an episode of the show. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

The Goonies-inspired Star Wars spinoff series set in same timeframe as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. Jude Law stars as Force-user Jod Na Nawood in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. It's no secret that the new spinoff series, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, was inspired by the 1985 film The Goonies. Executive Producer Kathleen Kennedy (who co-produced The Goonies) has publicly confirmed as much. The latest trailer really leans into that influence: The series feels like something not created specifically for kids, but rather telling a story that just happens to be about kids going on an adventure. As previously reported, the eight-episode standalone series is set in the same timeframe as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. Per the official premise: Jude Law leads the cast as the quick-witted and charming (per Law) "Force-user" Jod Na Nawood. Ravi Cabot-Conyers plays Wim, Ryan Kiera Armstrong plays Fern, Kyriana Kratter plays KB, and Robert Timothy Smith plays Neil. Nick Frost will voice a droid named SM 33, the first mate of a spaceship called the Onyx Cylinder. The cast also includes Fred Tatasciore as Brutus, Jaleel White as Gunther, Mike Estes as Pax, Marti Matulis as Vane, and Dale Soules as Chaelt. Tunde Adebimpe and Kerry Condon will appear in as-yet-undisclosed roles. The first trailer dropped in August at Disney's annual D23 Expo. It featured our young protagonists at school, preparing to take a test that will set the course of their respective futures. But they are bored with the daily routine and long to do something more exciting. Naturally they find a mysterious "lost Jedi temple" buried in the woods and soon find themselves rocketing away on a spaceship—and getting lost. We don't learn much more than that in this latest trailer—set to a cover of "Major Tom" with lyrics in an alien Star Wars tongue—but we do get a stronger sense of the overall vibe of the series. The trailer opens with Wim and Fern meeting in detention. She's there for what appears to be joyriding on flying scooters; he's there for wandering off and finding something buried in the woods—behavior his father deems "unacceptable." But Fern, Wim, and their friends beg to differ and decide to explore further and become lost in space. They end up asking for directions in a very Star Wars waystation packed with the usual strange creatures, but they get into trouble when they try to pay for food with Old Republic credits. Nawood comes to their rescue and promises to get them home, although with Neel piloting, that might prove a bit dicey. They encounter a crew of murderous pirates, booby traps, and "mountains where none dare to go." And they might even succeed in getting home.... if they don't give up. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew premieres on Disney+ on December 3, 2024. Credit: Disney+ Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of October): 4,832 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

If you try and subscribe through the iOS apps, Disney Plus and Hulu will direct you to the web. If you want to subscribe to Disney Plus or Hulu on your iPhone, you can’t do that anymore. Support documents for Disney Plus and Hulu now say that new and returning subscribers to those streaming services can’t sign up through Apple, as reported by MacRumors. I’m not currently paying for Disney Plus, so out of curiosity, I tried logging into my account through the iOS app to see what would happen. After entering my email and password, I was greeted by a message that says: “Unfortunately, this app doesn’t support in-app sign up. Finish setting up your account on the website. Create and manage your account at disneyplus.com/next.” Hulu’s iOS app also pushes you to the Hulu website if you try to log in without an active subscription. Screenshots by Jay Peters / The Verge Presumably, the company is making this change to stop Apple from taking a cut of new subscription revenues for Disney Plus and Hulu. However, if you already subscribe to those services through Apple, Disney says you’ll still be billed through Apple. Disney didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. Disney is just the latest company to stop new subscriptions through its iOS apps. Netflix stopped letting users subscribe through its iOS app in 2018 and cut off Apple billing for legacy subscribers earlier this year. Spotify also doesn’t let people subscribe through the iOS app — in the app, it includes the cheeky message that “we know, it’s not ideal.” Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of September): 4,292 news posts RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend

Back in April, Disney announced it would start cracking down on password sharing for its Disney+ streaming service. It began in a limited capacity in some countries in June. Today, the company said the full-blown password sharing crackdown started this week. Disney revealed the new plan is now live in the US, along with Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region according to a new blog post. The company said that a Disney+ subscription can now only be used in one household, with the individuals who live in that house. However, the people in charge of a Disney+ subscription now have the option to add an additional person who can access it even if they are not in the household with the new Extra Member add-on. The blog states: Of course, there's a catch. The Extra Member add-on is not available for accounts who have signed into Disney+ with one of the company's bundle plans with Hulu and ESPN+ or Max. It is also not available if you a billed from a third-party service; it has to be done directly with Disney. Also, anyone outside the household can go ahead and sign up with their own Disney+ subscription. What about if you decide to go on a trip for an extended period and sign into Disney+ on another TV, like in a hotel room? This is allowed under this new password sharing plan. The blog post states: The new password sharing crackdown started a few weeks before Disney+, along with Hulu and ESPN+, will raise their rates on most of their separate and bundle plans on October 17. Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of August): 3,792 news posts

"The Witch's Road will give you the thing you want most... if you make it to the end." Kathryn Hahn seeks a new witchy coven in Agatha All Along. Disney introduced the poster and first full trailer for Agatha All Along during its annual D23 Expo this weekend. The nine-episode series, starring Kathryn Hahn, is one of the TV series in the MCU's Phase Five, coming on the heels of Secret Invasion, Loki S2, What If...? S2, and Echo. (Spoilers for WandaVision below.) As reported previously, Agatha All Along has been in the works since 2021, officially announced in November of that year, inspired by Hahn's breakout performance in WandaVision as nosy neighbor Agnes—but secretly a powerful witch named Agatha Harkness who was conspiring to steal Wanda's power. The plot twist even inspiring a meta-jingle that went viral. That series ended with Wanda victorious and Agatha robbed of all her powers, trapped in her nosy neighbor persona. Head writer Jac Schaeffer (who also created WandaVision) has said that the series would follow Agatha as she forms her own coven with "a disparate mixed bag of witches... defined by deception, treachery, villainy, and selfishness" who must learn to work together. And apparently we can expect a few more catchy tunes—one of which is front and center in the new trailer. This new series picks up where WandaVision left Agatha. Per the official premise: In addition to Hahn, the cast includes Aubrey Plaza as warrior witch Rio Vidal; Joe Locke as Billy, a gay teenage familiar; Patti LuPone as a 450-year-old Sicilian witch named Lilia Calderu; Sasheer Zamata as sorceress Jennifer Kale; Ali Ahn as a witch named Alice; and Miles Gutierrez-Riley as Billy's boyfriend. Debra Jo Rupp reprises her WandaVision role as Sharon Davis ("Mrs. Hart" in the meta-sitcom), here becoming a member of Agatha's coven. Also reprising their WandaVision roles: Emma Caulfield Ford as Sarah Proctor (aka "Dottie Jones"); David Payton as John Collins ("Herb"); David Lengel as Harold Proctor ("Phil Jones"); Asif Ali as Abilash Tandon ("Norm"); Amos Glick (pizza delivery man "Dennis"); Kate Forbes as Agatha's mother Evanora; and Brian Brightman as the Eastview, New Jersey, sheriff. The first two episodes of Agatha All Along drop on September 18, 2024, on Disney+, with episodes airing weekly after that through November 6.. Disney+ Listing image by YouTube/Disney+ Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of July): 3,313 news posts

The standalone series is set in the same time frame as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. Jude Law plays a Jedi in Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. The Star Wars universe continues to expand on streaming television with the release of the first trailer for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew this weekend at Disney's annual D23 Expo. The eight-episode standalone series is set in the same time frame as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. Executive producer Kathleen Kennedy was intrigued when series co-creator Jon Watts pitched a Star Wars series inspired by the 1985 film The Goonies. (Kennedy had co-produced that film and co-founded Amblin Entertainment.) She told co-creator Christopher Ford that The Goonies hadn't been created specifically for kids, instead telling a story that just happened to be about kids going on an adventure. So Ford and Watts wrote Skeleton Crew with the same mindset: a show for everyone that just happened to feature kids as the central characters. Per the official premise: Jude Law leads the cast as the quick-witted and charming (per Law) "Force-user" Jod Na Nawood. Ravi Cabot-Conyers plays Wim, Ryan Kiera Armstrong plays Fern, Kyriana Kratter plays KB, and Robert Timothy Smith plays Neil. Nick Frost will voice a droid named SM 33. The cast also includes Tunde Adebimpe, Kerry Condon, and Jaleel White in as yet undisclosed roles. The trailer opens with our young protagonists at school, preparing to take a test that will set the course of their respective futures. At least one of them is bored with the daily routine and longs to do something more exciting. "What if we could go anywhere we want in the whole galaxy?" he asks. "A real adventure. No more pretend." Naturally they find a mysterious "lost Jedi temple" buried in the woods and soon find themselves rocketing away on a spaceship—and getting lost. Can they survive all the dangers of space and find their way back to their home planet? With the help of Law's Jedi, we like their chances. Star Wars: Skeleton Crew premieres on December 3, 2024, on Disney+. Listing image by LucasFilm/Disney+ Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of July): 3,313 news posts

Disney is "not concerned" about blowback from higher prices, per CEO. Yesterday, The Walt Disney company announced it will soon raise prices for Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. Today, it revealed that its streaming business has become profitable for the first time. So if Disney is starting to make money, why has it decided to jack up prices ...again? Disney says it has “earned” higher prices On October 17, pricing for ad and ad-free subscriptions to Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ will increase by as much as 25 percent, depending on the plan (you can see a breakdown of pricing changes here). The pending price hikes follow price increases for the platforms issued in October 2023 and August 2022. During Disney's Q3 2024 earnings call today, CFO Hugh Johnston (per a Motley Fool-provided transcription) said that Disney's earned the right to charge more for streaming services, pointing to current and upcoming content availability: CEO Bob Iger said that Disney has increased its streaming "pricing leverage" with upcoming features like new live channels and movies. As Disney, like other streaming businesses, looks to shift focus from growing subscriber counts to other factors, like user engagement—or how much time users spend on the service, which can help companies' ad businesses—and profit margins, it may be more emboldened to make moves that could potentially cost it some subscribers (more on this in a moment). When asked about customer pushback on the latest price hikes, Iger said in part: Disney says it hasn’t lost many customers from previous price hikes Although price hikes across streaming platforms have driven subscribers to the web to declare cancellation plans and encourage others to cancel, Iger claimed that “every time we've taken a price increase, we've had only modest churn from that, nothing that we would consider significant.” One of the biggest business challenges facing streaming companies currently is high churn rates. But it seems like other reasons for fast churning—such as subscribers watching preferred content and then canceling until the platform adds new, desirable stuff to watch—may be more pressing to Disney than frequent price hikes—which have become common among streaming services. Iger also claimed that Disney hadn't seen a significant backlash to the password-sharing crackdown that the company began rolling out earlier this year and will continue "in earnest" in September. Need for profits Of course, the need for profitability is also driving up prices. Like any business, Disney is eyeing long-term profitability in streaming. After increasing the cost of its services for years, the fiscal quarter ending on June 29 is the first time Disney's streaming business made money. Its streaming business made $47 million in operating income in Q3 (from $6.38 billion in revenue), compared to Q3 2023, when it lost $512 million. Disney isn't satisfied with this streaming profitability and has been promising investors that its streaming business will quickly reach double-digit margins. More broadly speaking, Disney is also challenged to maintain success amid a declining TV industry and pressure on other, older aspects of its business, like theme parks. As noted, Disney is banking on customers thinking that its streaming content is worth the price. It has seen challenges, though, including losing about $1 billion in big-budget releases last year. Meanwhile, Disney's overall budget for content decreased from $27 billion in 2023 to $25 billion in 2024. Contrastingly, Disney's biggest streaming rival, Netflix, grew its content spending by 35 percent from 2023 to 2024 to $17 billion, per Fortune. The battle for content, especially ad-friendly live content like sporting events, is heating up as indicated by Disney paying a reported $2.6 billion per year on average for rights to stream NBA games over the next 11 years, per The New York Times. That's up from the $1.5 billion/year it was paying under the current contract. During Disney's earnings call, Iger noted that the company leans more on original films than original TV series, saying, "That blend of spending between films and series, we believe, gives us an opportunity to increase our margins and grow the business." The company also said that licensing won't be a big part of its strategy, putting extra pressure on Disney's ability to make original content that appeals to streamers and that it can monetize. Leaning on bundles We often see streaming services increase pricing for plans that don’t include commercials. This is because streaming platforms generally make more revenue on average from users who subscribe to ad tiers. However, Disney’s new price hikes extend to both ad-free and ad-tier plans. Notably, the only plans that aren't getting price bumps in October are Disney's ad and ad-free plans combining Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+. This shows the weight companies are putting behind streaming bundles. Streaming companies believe that bundling one streaming service with another—or other services, like mobile phone plans—will reduce high cancellation rates. Disney's Johnston said that bundling "has had a positive impact on churn" and that bundles, along with the password crackdown, will help grow Disney's streaming business. As companies like Disney continue setting lofty goals around profits, customer engagement, and ad sales while carrying limitations around content licensing and content budgets, price hikes will continue being an obvious way for platforms like Disney+ and Hulu to try to meet business expectations in the competitive streaming market. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of July): 3,313 news posts

Disney’s streaming business is finally turning a profit. Next up: price increases and paid sharing, which will likely be great for Disney and frustrating for everyone else. The House of Mouse is getting a renovation. In an earnings call on Wednesday, Disney CEO Bob Iger told investors that the company will begin a new password-sharing crackdown “in earnest” starting in September. Iger didn’t divulge how the company plans to limit password-sharing, but presumably this will mean the company will be on the lookout for logins outside of the subscriber’s home and prompt those suspected of sharing their accounts to pay a fee to do so. The announcement comes months before the company intends to increase monthly prices on Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+—and their respective bundles—in October. What this means for most folks is higher bills and tougher decisions. As more and more streaming services enter the fray—and as many of those services also raise prices and/or introduce ad-supported tiers—people who love to watch things are increasingly left to figure out which two or three services they’re willing to pay 10 to 20 bucks a month for. Considering Disney has a pretty strong back catalog (Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars), as well as Hulu shows like The Bear and tons of sports on ESPN+, it’s likely many subscribers will shell out to keep the service—and cough up more to share their passwords. “The password-sharing crackdown has worked favorably for other streamers,” says Sarah Henschel, a principal analyst at Omdia who watches the streaming market closely. “It is a strategy that works well to grow revenue. However, it drives a lot of consumer frustration with streaming.” Put another way, subscribers are likely to stick around and perhaps even pay the extra fees to share their accounts, but it may mean they ultimately don’t keep every service. And hell, it worked for Netflix. Late last year, after a few shaky quarters and amid the streaming giant’s rollout of both ad-supported tiers and a paid sharing program, Netflix added 9 million new subscribers worldwide. It hasn’t really seen any major dents in subscriber numbers since. So far, it’s the only test case—Max seems poised to roll out its crackdown later this year or early next, and others have yet to test the waters—but it does indicate that paying to share a streaming account doesn’t always send people running for the hills. Or, at least, it hasn’t yet. “The password crackdown for Netflix—combined with its ad tier—has been a massive boon to subscriber growth,” says Wade Payson-Denney, an analyst at streaming industry tracker Parrot Analytics. In the year before the streamer started cracking down, Netflix’s global subscriber base grew by 11.8 million; in the four quarters after, that base grew by 39.3 million, according to Parrot. It could lead to similar growth for Disney. All Things Must Pass This isn’t the first time Disney has warned of such a crackdown. Last year, Iger hinted that the company was looking into limiting the practice; in February, the company said it planned to begin a paid sharing program, but then launched it in only a few markets, in June. Disney has been hustling to build up its subscriber base and turn a profit from streaming since it launched Disney+ in 2019. During the past three months, Disney+ netted only about 200,000 new subscribers, for a total of 153.8 million—small potatoes compared to the more than 270 million subscribers Netflix claims, but not bad, and a marked increase over last year. Meanwhile, Max is still looking to break 100 million. As part of Wednesday’s earnings announcements, Disney revealed its combined streaming offerings made money for the first time ever during the last quarter, bringing in an operating profit of $47 million. This is a sharp upturn; Disney’s streaming business lost $512 million in the third quarter last year. The recent profits largely came thanks to ESPN+. That ESPN+ bit is important here. Lots of streamers are getting into sports, and the live broadcasts have proven key to keeping people on streaming services. Apple TV+ does it with soccer and Friday Night Baseball; Amazon Prime Video has made big plays in securing the rights to things like NFL Thursday Night Football. A few weeks ago, Warner Bros. Discovery, home of TNT Sports, sued the NBA for not accepting its matching offer to air some NBA content—a deal that went to Amazon. Just prior to the start of the 2024 Summer Olympics, NBCUniversal raised the price of Peacock by $2 per month for some plans. The streamer saw a 500,000-subscriber dip around the same time, but as the Games began, it seemed like Peacock’s moves were winning over fans. Disney is ultimately going to do what Disney is going to do. Some folks may grumble about it, but the amount of content the company’s streaming services offer means those folks are likely to keep their plans. “While it may spark some vocal opposition, at the end of the day, someone who isn’t already paying for Disney streaming continuing to not pay for Disney streaming has no negative impact on Disney’s bottom line,” Payson-Denney says. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of July): 3,313 news posts

Back in May, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery announced a rare team-up of two rival entertainment companies. They revealed it would offer a bundle of Disney's Hulu and Disney+ streaming services with Warner Bros. Discovery's Max service. Today, that bundle is officially live and offers solid savings for people who want all three services. At the moment, this bundle is only being offered for US residents. In Disney's press release, it stated that all three of the services' websites are now offering the new bundle. The price for the ad-based bundle for all three services is $16.99 a month, which is over 38 percent off compared to getting the services on their own. You can also get an ad-free bundle for all services for $29.99 a month, which is nearly 35 percent off compared to buying each service separately. There are a few small limitations to this deal, aside from its US exclusivity. Currently, users cannot sign up for an annual subscription to the bundle. You also can't get the bundle with Hulu's Live TV option. Most notably, the ad-free version of the bundle does not include an option to add Max's Ultimate plan, which offers access to 4K streaming of supported movies and shows. The new bundle comes at a time where streaming companies are all chasing after one premium service: Netflix. Last week, the company announced that during the second quarter of 2024, it added over 8 million new subscribers worldwide. Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery clearly hope that offering all three services at once for a lower price could raise subscriber numbers for all three services, and also showcase its deep library of exclusive and classic content. It will be interesting to see if this strategy of rival companies coming together to go after Netflix will make a dent in that service's numbers. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of June): 2,839 news posts

Get ready for even more price increases for major streaming services. Today, Disney announced it will increase the individual prices for its Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ services on October 17. The price increase will come just one year after a similar hike in October 2023. Variety has the low down on what's going up and by how much for people in the US: Not everything is getting a price increase. The bundle plan with Disney+ and Hulu with ads will stay at $10.99 a month, while the Disney+ and Hulu bundle plan without ads will stay at $19.99 a month. There will be a few extra features coming to Disney+ users in the near future. Starting on September 4, users will be able to access a 24/7 stream of the ABC News Live channel. They will also be able to access a preschool content playlist. Sometime later in the fall, four more playlists will be added for Disney+ Premium subscribers: Seasonal Content, Throwbacks, Real Life, and Epic Stories. In late July, another bundle deal that combines Disney+ and Hulu with Warner Bros Discovery's Max service launched. It costs $16.99 a month for the ad-plans bundle and $29.99 a month for the bundle without ads. Both offer at least 35 percent off the normal cost compared to buying each service on its own. Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of July): 3,313 news posts

Disney+ finally profitable but not making as much per subscriber as competition. A shot from Agatha All Along, an upcoming Disney+ exclusive. Marvel Studios/Disney+ A leak of data from Disney points to the Disney+ streaming service making about $2.4 billion in revenue in its fiscal quarter ending on March 30. Disney doesn't normally share how much revenue its individual streaming services generate, making this figure particularly interesting. Leaked data In August, Disney confirmed that it was investigating the leak of "over a terabyte of data from one of the communication systems" it uses. In a report this week, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said it looked over files leaked by a hacking group called Nullbulge that include "a range of financial and strategy information," apparent login credentials for parts of Disney's cloud infrastructure, and more. The leak includes over "44 million messages from Disney’s Slack workplace communications tool, upward of 18,800 spreadsheets, and at least 13,000 PDFs," WSJ said. "We decline to comment on unverified information The Wall Street Journal has purportedly obtained as a result of a bad actor’s illegal activity,” a Disney spokesperson told WSJ. $2.4 billion According to WSJ, financial information came via "documents shared by staffers that detail company operations," adding, "It isn’t official data of the sort Disney discloses to Wall Street and might not reflect final financial performance for a given period.” That means we should take these figures with a grain of salt. “Internal spreadsheets suggest that Disney+ generated more than $2.4 billion in revenue in the March quarter,” WSJ reported, referencing Disney's fiscal Q2 2024. "It underscores how significant a revenue contributor Hulu is, particularly as Disney seeks to buy out Comcast’s stake in that streaming service, and as the two sides spar over its value.” The publication noted that the $2.4 billion figure represents “about 43 percent”—42.5 percent to be more precise—of the direct-to-consumer (DTC) revenue that Disney reported that quarter, which totaled $5,642,000,000 [PDF]. In its Q2 report, Disney put Disney+, Hulu, and Disney+ Hotstar under its DTC umbrella. DTC revenue in Q2 represented a 13 percent increase compared to the same quarter in the prior fiscal year. Further, subscriber counts for Disney+ and Hulu increased year over year in Q2. The leaks didn’t specify how much revenue Disney’s streaming businesses made in Q3, but Disney reported that DTC revenue increased to $5.8 billion [PDF]. Right before announcing its Q3 numbers, though, Disney announced price hikes across Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ by as much as 25 percent. As we wrote at the time, the price hike seemed like an attempt to push people toward bundle packages offering a combination of Disney+, Hulu, and/or ESPN+ (bundles are supposed to make subscriber churn less likely). Disney CFO Hugh Johnston tried convincing us that Disney’s streaming catalog meant that it had “earned” the streaming price hikes. But the recently leaked numbers shed a little more light on the situation. Disney isn’t making much per Disney+ subscriber If you've been following the streaming wars, you may have noticed a shift in focus from subscriber count to average revenue per user (ARPU). If the leak is accurate (again, we can't be 100 percent positive that it is), then we can calculate that each Disney+ subscriber in Q2 accounted for about $5.21 in monthly Disney+ revenue ($2.4 billion divided by the subscriber count that quarter divided by three months). If you exclude Disney+ Hotstar (WSJ didn't specify if the leaked revenue number includes Hotstar), the number would rise to $6.80. Those following along on Disney's earnings report may be thinking, “Wait, that's a lot less than Disney+'s reported ARPU that quarter." In Q2, Disney said that its average monthly revenue per paid subscriber for Disney+ decreased in the US/Canada market from $8.15 to $8.00. The higher figure incorporates advertising dollars and more, as Disney explained in its Q2 earnings report: With all this in mind, it may be oversimplifying to claim that in Q2, Disney made $5.21 per month per Disney+ subscriber. Additional factors also play into the final numbers. Still, the $5.21 figure highlights a gap where Disney could extract more money from subscribers and drive profitability after reaching streaming profitability for the first time in Q3 2024. For comparison, in Netflix’s most recent earnings report for the period ending June 30 [PDF], Netflix reported $9,559,310,000 in revenue. Divided by 277 million subscribers, Netflix can attribute $11.50 per subscriber per month for that quarter. Netflix defines average revenue per membership as “streaming revenue divided by the average number of streaming paid memberships divided by the number of months in the period," minus sales taxes and VAT. Various things contribute to a streaming service's price. Subscriber count, current profitability, content availability and budgets, and the ad market, for example, can all impact how much a streaming provider decides to charge. But no matter how you calculate it, the leak points to Disney+ making significantly less money per subscriber than streaming leader Netflix. With Disney previously claiming that prior price hikes didn't hurt Disney+'s subscriber count, charging more is an obvious way to try to close the gap between it and its biggest rivals. Source RIP Matrix | Farewell my friend Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of August): 3,792 news posts

"I can be that witch again." Kathryn Hahn reprises her WandaVision role as Agatha Harkness in the spinoff series Agatha All Along. The true identity of nosy next-door neighbor Agatha—played to perfection by Kathryn Hahn—was the big reveal of 2021's WandaVision, even inspiring a meta-jingle that went viral. Now Hahn is bringing the character back for her own standalone adventure with Agatha All Along. Based on the first trailer, it looks like a lot of dark, spooky fun, just in time for the Halloween season. The nine-episode series is one of the TV series in the MCU's Phase Five, coming on the heels of Secret Invasion, Loki S2, What If...? S2, and Echo. (Spoilers for WandaVision below.) WandaVision was set immediately after the events of Avengers: Endgame (but before Spider-Man: Far From Home), with newlyweds Wanda and Vision starting their married life in the town of Westview, New Jersey. Wacky hijinks ensued as the couple tried to lead a normal life while hiding their superpowers from their neighbors—especially Hahn's nosy Agnes. Each episode was shot in the style of a particular era of sitcom television, from the 1950s through the 2000s. The couple noticed more and more jarring elements—a full-color drone, a voice calling out to Wanda over the radio, neighbors briefly breaking character—hinting that this seemingly idyllic suburban existence might not be what it seemed. We learned that a grief-stricken Wanda had inadvertently locked the entire town in a reality-warping Hex, with the residents forced to play their sitcom "roles" and adhere to Wanda's "script," creating the happily ever after ending she never got with Vision. But the hijinks weren't all due to Wanda's powers. Agnes turned out to be a powerful witch named Agatha Harkness, who had studied magic for centuries and was just dying to learn the source of Wanda's incredible power. Wanda's natural abilities were magnified by the Mind Stone, but Agatha realized that Wanda was a wielder of "chaos magic." She was, in fact, the Scarlet Witch. In the finale, Wanda trapped Agatha in her nosy neighbor persona while releasing the rest of the town. Agatha All Along has been in the works since 2021, officially announced in November of that year. There were numerous title changes, culminating this May with my personal goofy favorite: Agatha: The Lying Witch with Great Wardrobe (a nod to C.S. Lewis). It briefly appeared on the Marvel Twitter account before being taken down, and Disney soon revealed that the various name changes were "orchestrated by [Harkness] as a way of messing with Marvel fans." Head writer Jac Schaeffer (who also created WandaVision) has said that the series would follow Agatha as she forms her own coven with "a disparate mixed bag of witches... defined by deception, treachery, villainy, and selfishness" who must learn to work together. And apparently we can expect a few more catchy tunes. The darkness takes hold Trapped in a reality-warping spell, Agatha is apparently a detective now. YouTube/Marvel Studios "Is this really how you see yourself?" Snapping Agatha out of the spell. Marvel Studios/Disney+ Ah, that's better! A blast from the past, i.e., WandaVision. Marvel Studios/Disney+ Aubrey Plaza plays warrior witch Rio Vidal, a member of the coven. YouTube/Marvel Studios Joe Locke plays Billy Kaplan, a gay teen and a "familiar." YouTube/Marvel Studios "What witch in her right mind would join Agatha Harkness' coven?" YouTube/Marvel Studios Debra Jo Rupp is back as Sharon Davis. YouTube/Marvel Studios They're gonna walk the Witch's Road. Marvel Studios/Disney+ You can't have witches without spooky occult goings-on. Marvel Studios/Disney+ Let the magic happen. YouTube/Marvel Studios Per the official premise: In addition to Hahn, the cast includes Aubrey Plaza as warrior witch Rio Vidal; Joe Locke as Billy, a gay teenage familiar; Patti LuPone as a 450-year-old Sicilian witch named Lilia Calderu; Sasheer Zamata as sorceress Jennifer Kale; Ali Ahn as a witch named Alice; and Miles Gutierrez-Riley as Billy's boyfriend. Debra Jo Rupp reprises her WandaVision role as Sharon Davis ("Mrs. Hart" in the meta-sitcom), here becoming a member of Agatha's coven. Also reprising their WandaVision roles: Emma Caulfield Ford as Sarah Proctor (aka "Dottie Jones"); David Payton as John Collins ("Herb"); David Lengel as Harold Proctor ("Phil Jones"); Asif Ali as Abilash Tandon ("Norm"); Amos Glick (pizza delivery man "Dennis"); Kate Forbes as Agatha's mother Evanora; and Brian Brightman as the Eastview, New Jersey, sheriff. As the trailer opens, we see Agatha, still trapped in Wanda's spell, now in the role of a local detective, called to a crime scene in the woods with the body of a Jane Doe. It seems we're in a classic detective series this time (as opposed to sitcoms)—at least until Agatha's musings in the morgue are interrupted by Rio. "Is this really how you see yourself?" Rio asks. "That witch is gone, leaving you trapped in her distorted spell. Claw your way out." And Agatha does, flashing through her various WandaVision incarnations. Agatha now longs for her glory days, bemoaning how Wanda "took every bit of power I had" and resolving to be the witch she once was again. That requires walking the witch's road, it seems, even though Lilia tells her the road is a "death wish." But Agatha won't be walking alone: she's got her new coven to travel with her. Sure, no right-thinking witch would join Agatha's coven, but fortunately, she's not looking for right-thinking witches. Spooky happenings abound as the darkness takes hold. The first two episodes of Agatha All Along will premiere on September 18, 2024, on Disney+, with episodes airing weekly after that through November 6. Altered opening credits for WandaVision featuring "Agatha All Along" theme song. Listing image by Marvel Studios/Disney+ Source Hope you enjoyed this news post. Thank you for appreciating my time and effort posting news every single day for many years. 2023: Over 5,800 news posts | 2024 (till end of June): 2,839 news posts

Streaming companies like Netflix or Disney are not happy about customers who share account access with non-household members. Some share to reduce the monthly subscription cost, others allow their collage-bound children to watch the service while away from home. After Netflix tested the waters by restricting password sharing and cracking down on users who shared passwords, Disney announced that it was exploring these options as well. The company has now gone from the planning to the execution phase. Like Netflix, Disney plans to test the waters in a single country. The selected country is Canada and Canadian subscribers to Disney+ are informed currently by the company about the planned changes. The main change to the rules prohibits Disney+ users from sharing their account password with users outside of their household. Disney defines household as the "primary personal residence" of the account owner. Netflix saw an initial dip in subscribers in regions in which it launched the password sharing restrictions. The company saw an increase in subscriptions afterwards though. Now You: are you a Disney+ subscriber? Source

"This is a new beginning. For some, war. For others, power." Disney+ has released the first teaser trailer for its forthcoming Star Wars series, Ahsoka, starring Rosario Dawson. Star Wars Celebration Day kicked off with the release of an extended teaser for Ahsoka, the latest interconnected series in the Star Wars franchise set to debut this summer on Disney+. Written by Dave Filoni, the series stars Rosario Dawson in the title role. The Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka was first introduced as a supporting character in 2008's animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the subsequent animated series. The character returned in the sequel series Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018) as a member of the Rebel Alliance, operating under the codename Fulcrum, and made numerous other cameo appearances in the extended Star Wars universe. Dawson's live-action version made her debut in The Mandalorian's second season. We last saw Ahsoka briefly in The Book of Boba Fett, when she passed on a gift of chain mail to Grogu after warning Mando/Din Djarin that his presence would be a distraction from Grogu's Jedi training. We all know how that turned out: Din and Grogu reunited and went on to share even more adventures in The Mandalorian S3, which will wrap later this month. The official premise for Ahsoka is short and sweet: "Set after the fall of the Empire, Ahsoka follows the former Jedi knight Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy." In addition to Dawson, the cast includes Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren, a young Mandalorian warrior, graffiti artist, and former bounty hunter; Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla, a former pilot for the Rebellion; Eman Esfandi as Ezra Bridger, a former con artist and thief who trained as a Jedi; and Ray Stevenson as Baylan. Genevieve O'Reilly and Diana Lee Inosanto reprise their roles as Mon Mothma and Morgan Elsbeth, respectively, while David Tennant is back voicing Huyang, a lightsaber-crafting droid who appeared in The Clone Wars. Hayden Christensen will return as Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka's former Jedi mentor who fell to the dark side of the Force and became Darth Vader. We're also likely to get more of Ahsoka's backstory, since Savannah Steyn will play a younger version of the character. And while we know we'll be seeing Grand Admiral Thrawn—an Imperial military leader who leads the remnants of the scattered Galactic Empire in a campaign against the New Republic in a trilogy of novels and Star Wars Rebels—we don't yet know who will play him. This is just an extended teaser, so we're not offered much in the way of plot details. The teaser opens with an ominous voiceover warning that "something's coming." Whatever it is, it's "something dark," and our cloaked heroine can sense it. "This is a new beginning,' Baylan says in another ominous voiceover. "For some, war. For others, power." For Ahsoka, it starts with reuniting with Sabine, but the reunion seems a bit tense given how much "things have changed." Ahsoka has started hearing whispers about the return of Thrawn "as heir to the Empire." That means, as always, preparing for the worst, even though there are very few Jedi left. Ahsoka will debut on Disney+ in August 2023. Listing image by YouTube/Disney+ Star Wars fans, rejoice! Here’s the first teaser for the Ahsoka series

"War is inevitable. One must destroy in order to create." Star Wars: Ahsoka follows the former Padawan Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy. In April, we got our first look at the new Disney+ series Star Wars: Ahsoka with the release of a teaser during Star Wars Celebration Day in London. It was tantalizing but a bit light on details. Now we've got a full-length trailer that reunites several fan favorites and also gives us our first peek at the live-action version of Grand Admiral Thrawn, whose rumored return will fuel much of the plot for Ahsoka. (Some spoilers for Star Wars: Rebels below.) As previously reported, the Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka, was introduced as a supporting character in 2008's animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the subsequent animated series (voiced by Ashley Eckstein). The character returned in the sequel series Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018) as a member of the Rebel Alliance, operating under the codename Fulcrum, and made numerous other cameo appearances in the extended Star Wars universe. Rosario Dawson's live-action version made her debut in The Mandalorian's second season. We last saw Ahsoka briefly in The Book of Boba Fett when she passed on a gift of chain mail to Grogu after warning Mando/Din Djarin that his presence would distract from Grogu's Jedi training. We all know how that turned out: Din and Grogu reunited and went on to share even more adventures in The Mandalorian S3. Ahsoka takes place in the same timeline as that third Mandalorian season. In addition to Dawson, the cast includes Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren, a young Mandalorian warrior, graffiti artist, and former bounty hunter; Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla, a Twi'lek New Republic general and former pilot for the Rebellion; Eman Esfandi as Ezra Bridger, a former con artist and thief who trained as a Jedi; and the recently deceased Ray Stevenson as Baylan Skoll, a former Jedi and survivor or Order 66, now an ally of Thrawn, an Imperial military leader who leads the remnants of the scattered Galactic Empire in a campaign against the New Republic in a trilogy of novels and Star Wars Rebels. Lars Mikkelsen voiced the character in the animated series and returns to play the live-action version. Ivanna Sakhno plays Shin Hati, Baylan's lightsaber-wielding apprentice. Genevieve O'Reilly and Diana Lee Inosanto reprise their roles as Mon Mothma and Morgan Elsbeth, respectively, while David Tennant is back voicing Huyang, a lightsaber-crafting droid who appeared in The Clone Wars. Hayden Christensen will return as Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka's former Jedi mentor who fell to the Dark Side of the Force and became Darth Vader. We're also likely to get more of Ahsoka's backstory since Savannah Steyn will play a younger version of the character. Rosario Dawson stars as Ahsoka. YouTube/Disney+ Ray Stevenson plays former Jedi Baylan Skoll YouTube/Disney+ Baylan's apprentice Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno) uses the Dark Side and wields a lightsaber. YouTube/Disney+ Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Hera Syndulla. YouTube/Disney+ Natasha Liu Bordizzo plays Sabine Wren YouTube/Disney+ Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) appears as a hologram after disappearing into the Unknown Regions with Thrawn YouTube/Disney+ David Tennant returns to voice the droid Huyang YouTube/Disney+ Lars Mikkelsen is back as Grand Admiral Thrawn. YouTube/Disney+ Showrunner Dave Filoni created Rebels and also co-created The Mandalorian, which makes him a natural choice to helm Ahsoka. We learned in April that the series will continue the storyline of Rebels, which ended with Ezra Bridger essentially sacrificing himself to disappear into the Unknown Regions with Thrawn. The trailer reveals that Ahsoka and Sabine tried to find Ezra and failed, splitting less than amicably. So they'll likely have to resolve some interpersonal issues in addition to renewing their hunt for Ezra and fighting off enemies over the course of the season-long arc. The trailer opens with Baylan somberly declaring, "War is inevitable. One must destroy in order to create. We are no Jedi." Then we see a lightsaber cut down a random rebel just to drive home the point. We cut to Ahsoka, who has been picking up on whispers of Thrawn's return, seeking to reclaim his position as heir to the Empire. Baylan and Shin are looking for Thrawn in hopes of gaining power "such as you've never dreamed," per Baylan. Shin has orders to hunt down Ahsoka, and we see her crossing lightsabers with Sabine (who inherited Ezra's weapon), but it's Baylan who confronts Anakin's former apprentice in the trailer. Meanwhile, Hera is weary of constantly being at war and pleads with a group of senators to help her prevent another one. When Ahsoka approaches her about finding Ezra, Hera makes the obvious suggestion: Sabine would be a big help. Ahsoka complains that Sabine remains incredibly stubborn, and Hera reminds her that her own master likely found Ahsoka equally difficult. "Anakin never got to finish my training," Ahsoka replies. "I walked away from him. Just as I walked away from Sabine." But she and Sabine do team up, and Sabine is clearly up to the challenges ahead. As always, the stakes are high. "If we don't stop Thrawn, everything will be in vain," Ahsoka says. Ahsoka debuts on Disney+ on August 23, 2023. Listing image by YouTube/Disney+ Source

Disney has just announced its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2022. The company recorded a total of 161.8 million subscribers for its Disney+ streaming service, a decrease of 2.4 million subscribers compared to the previous quarter. It is also the first time that Disney's streaming service saw a loss in subscribers since it was launched in 2019. Disney mainly attributes the subscriber decline to a decrease in Disney+ Hotstar subscribers, an over-the-top streaming service available in India and some parts of Southeast Asia. As Forbes points out, it lost streaming rights last year to the Indian Premier League, a popular cricket league in India. This forced Disney to lower its growth projections for Disney+ Hotstar. Currently, the service has 57.5 million subscribers, a 3.8 million decrease from the previous quarter's 61.3 million. Disney+'s subscriber loss will make it difficult for Disney to reach its target of 215 million to 245 million subscribers by the end of fiscal year 2024 (via CNBC). The company even expects Disney+ to become profitable by the same period. Despite this setback, Disney+ subscriptions were up by 200,000 in the U.S. and Canada. Meanwhile, subscribers of the company's other streaming services, Hulu and ESPN+, increased by 800,000 and 600,000, respectively. The company's revenue in the fourth quarter also rose 8% to $23.5 billion, barely beating analysts' expectations of $23.3 billion. As a move to make Disney+ profitable, Disney is planning a significant restructuring and job cuts that will affect 7,000 employees. This is equivalent to 3% of the company's global workforce. "I have enormous respect and appreciate for the dedication of our employees worldwide," Disney CEO Bob Iger said during the earnings call. "While this is necessary to address the challenges we face today, I do not make this decision lightly." Disney loses 2.4 million Disney+ subscribers, announces layoffs

"Our people are scattered like stars in the galaxy." Pedro Pascal reprises his role as a bounty hunter who befriends a youngling powerful with the Force in The Mandalorian. The Mandalorian returns in March for a much-anticipated third season. We had a brief teaser last fall during Disney's annual D23 Expo, but the Mouse House debuted the full trailer last night during the halftime show of the NFL Super Wild Card matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. (Spoilers for the first two seasons and The Book of Boba Fett below.) The series takes place a few years after the fall of the Empire and before the emergence of the First Order. In the first season, Pedro Pascal's titular lone bounty hunter was tasked with delivering a youngling, Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) to a shady client who wanted to perform experiments on the child. Mando ended up rescuing Grogu instead, and the two formed a strong bond. In the second season, the Mandalorian reluctantly worked to reunite Grogu with his own kind—or at least with a Jedi so the youngling could grow stronger in the Force. Mark Hamill made a surprise cameo as a (digitally de-aged) Luke Skywalker in the season 2 finale, taking Grogu with him to complete his Jedi training. There wasn't a dry eye in the house as Grogu and the Mandalorian made their farewells. Fortunately, the two weren't separated for too long. The pair reunited in the finale of The Book of Boba Fett. Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) had passed on a gift of chain mail to Grogu after warning Mando/Din Djarin that his presence would be a distraction from Grogu's Jedi training. Luke—sensing the youngling's divided loyalties—told Grogu to choose between the chain mail and Yoda's old light saber, i.e., between his love for the Mandalorian and his Jedi training. Grogu chose the chain mail and arrived on Tatooine mid-battle, leaping delightedly into his buddy's arms with a squeak. He even did his own Force-ful part in the battle, including soothing a savage rancor. The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu embark on a new adventure Disney+ Jedis with lightsabers? This might be a flashback to Order 66. Disney+ Din Djarin plans a return to Mandalore. Disney+ The surviving Mandalorians were scattered across the galaxy. Disney+ Grogu's strength in the Force is growing. Disney+ Per the official S3 premise: The journeys of the Mandalorian through the Star Wars galaxy continue. Once a lone bounty hunter, Din Djarin has reunited with Grogu. Meanwhile, the New Republic struggles to lead the galaxy away from its dark history. The Mandalorian will cross paths with old allies and make new enemies as he and Grogu continue their journey together. All our favorite series regulars are returning for the third season: Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan Kryze, Carl Weathers as Greef Karga, Amy Sedaris as Peli Motto, Emily Swallow as The Armourer, and Giancarlo Esposito as Moff Gideon. Christopher Lloyd and Tim Meadows will be joining the cast this season, along with a rumored appearance by Babu Frik, who appeared in 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. Showrunner Jon Favreau penned all eight episodes. The trailer gives us plenty of shots of Grogu and his space daddy as Din Djarin dispenses a bit of wisdom and reflects on what he's lost in a voiceover. "Our people are scattered like stars in the galaxy," he says, an oblique reference to the "Night of a Thousand Tears" in Star Wars lore, in which the Mandalorian people were massacred by the Empire. "What are we? What do we stay for?" His quest this season clearly involves returning to Mandalore in hopes of being forgiven and welcomed back into the fold. In season 2, Din broke his Mandalorian sect's protocol by taking off his helmet twice: once to save Grogu and once to bid the adorable green baby Force user farewell. That did not go well with his people, particularly the Armourer. Bo-Katan covets the Darksaber that Din won by defeating Moff Gideon in battle, technically making him the ruler of Mandalore—but is he really cut out for government? There's plenty of action, of course. We see a group of lightsaber-wielding Jedi, suggesting we'll get a flashback at some point to the infamous Order 66. There's a brief glimpse of Dr. Pershing (Omid Abtahi)—perhaps on Coruscant? Grogu shows off his growing strength with the Force, and that sure looks like a Kowakian monkey-lizard obnoxiously laughing in a tree. The Mandalorian's third season debuts on Disney+ on March 1, 2023. Two more interconnected spinoff series are slated to premiere later this year: Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew. Disney+ Listing image by Disney+ Din Djarin seeks forgiveness for his sins in The Mandalorian S3 trailer