RUMOUR: Netflix interested in developing a BALDUR'S GATE adaptation

File under "highly tenuous" for now, but a couple of outlets are reporting rumours that Netflix has expressed an interest in developing a live-action Baldur's Gate TV series, based on the hot video game property.

Baldur's Gate III launched on PC at the start of August and reportedly sold five million copies in its first few weeks on sale (before it even launched on console), making it a remarkable success for something of an old-fashioned, party-based roleplaying game with turn-based combat. The game's critical acclaim was also off the charts, with the game becoming PC Gamer's highest-rated title in two decades. The game's voice cast have become almost immediate, breakout stars, and the memes have been constantly flowing since the game's launch.

The Baldur's Gate series comprises three games and three expansions in the core series and three games in the spin-off Dark Alliance series, as well as associated comics and roleplaying products. The series revolves around the titular city of Baldur's Gate, a great port on the River Chionthar and a hugely important trading post for the Sword Coast region of the continent of Faerûn. The city keeps getting into various scrapes, but of course handy adventurers keep showing up to help save it.

The series is set within the much wider Forgotten Realms fantasy universe, created by Canadian writer Ed Greenwood in the 1960s as a setting for short stories and worldbuilding as a hobby. He sold the setting to TSR, Inc., the company behind Dungeons & Dragons, to be turned in an official D&D setting in 1987. Continuously in print since, the setting has sold millions of roleplaying products, tens of millions of novels and has been the setting for almost three hundred books and over fifty video games. Ed invented the city of Baldur's Gate in 1968 for a short story called "The Box That Crept on Talons," whilst it got its first mention in print in Dragon Magazine #81 (January 1984), as the home of a wizard who is an expert on basilisks.

The video game Baldur's Gate was released in December 1998, having been developed by Canadian video game studio BioWare and published by Interplay. A smash-hit success, Baldur's Gate told the story of the Bhaalspawn, a number of progeny of the slain God of Murder, Bhaal, and the various attempts to resurrect Bhaal, a prospect welcomed by some of these progeny but fiercely resisted by others. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn followed in 2000, and both games had expansions: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999) and Throne of Bhaal (2001). Remasters of the two games, known as Enhanced Editions, were released in 2012 and 2013 respectively. An interquel expansion set between the two games, Siege of Dragonspear, was released in 2016. Baldur's Gate III was developed by Larian Studios in Belgium.

The prospects of a Netflix-produced series are dubious for the time being. Hasbro's TV and film division, eOne, currently has the TV and film rights to all D&D and Forgotten Realms related products. They recently produced the film Honor Among Thieves set in the same world, and are developing a number of further projects, including potentially an adaptation of R.A. Salvatore's mega-selling Legend of Drizzt book series, as well as a possible project based on the popular Dragonlance world of Krynn. eOne is developing these projects with Paramount, for potential airing on their Paramount+ streaming service. If a Baldur's Gate TV project was to be developed, Paramount+ might be a better bet than Netflix at this time.

However, Hasbro have also been entertaining offers to divest eOne (either spinning it off as an independent company or selling it outright, possibly to Paramount), in which case it is unclear what would happen to the D&D rights. It is possible they might entertain an alliance with Netflix at that stage.

Given the massive popularity of Baldur's Gate III, I wouldn't be surprised to see such a project go into development, but given the game is around 100 hours long with a massive cast and a story that can vary immensely from player to play based on the cumulative weight of hundreds of choices, it will certainly be a formidable challenge to bring the story to the screen.

RUMOUR: Bethesda were planning OBLIVION and FALLOUT 3 remasters back in 2020, along with a possible DISHONORED 3

A leaked schedule for Bethesda video games from 2020 suggests that the company was at least planning remasters for two of their older titles, as well as a new game in one of their biggest franchises.

The leak appears to have been an accidental release of information as part of Microsoft's ongoing battle to clear international legal hurdles preventing its acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. The schedule has known projects on which did eventually release (such as Redfall and Starfield), as well as unannounced games including Dishonored 3. The leak also suggests that Microsoft envisages just a three-year wait for The Elder Scrolls VI, the follow-up to the much-acclaimed 2011 title The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Even though the list is official, we should take it with a grain of salt as it is very clearly outdated. The list is pre-COVID, and the COVID pandemic caused massive delays and multiple project cancellations in many companies. It's not clear which of the projects on the list remain extant (beyond the already-confirmed Elder Scrolls VI).

The list also indicates that both The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) and Fallout 3 (2008) are to be remastered, not remade. This would likely be a moderate graphical overhaul and some minor technical and UI improvements (similar to the recent, somewhat underwhelming Red Dead Redemption remaster) but otherwise leaving the games alone.

This is notable as a group of fans have been remaking Oblivion for the past decade with considerably more advanced graphics and a full UI overhaul drawing on later Bethesda games like Fallout 4 (2015, itself already confirmed as getting a next-gen remaster and re-release next year). This project, known as Skyblivion, is currently due for release in 2025 and has Bethesda's support (as well as persistent rumours that Bethesda may make it an official release if the quality is high enough). An Oblivion remaster may be redundant in that case, but it's worth noting that back in 2020 there was widespread scepticism over any of these fan remasters actually being finished. Three years later and with more in-depth coverage of the project's development, Skyblivion does indeed appear very close to completion.

Dishonored 3 is a welcome idea. Dishonored (2012) and Dishonored 2 (2016) are two of the greatest video games of the last decade and cemented Arkane Studios' reputation for great game design and fantastic worldbuilding. Deathloop (2021) - set in the same world albeit in a different game genre - also did well. However, the underwhelming commercial performance of Prey (2017) and Redfall (2023) has somewhat damaged Arkane's reputation, alongside the departure of much of the OG team at the company behind its earlier games. There will be likely scepticism that the remnants can deliver a worthwhile successor, especially as stand-alone expansion Dishonored: Death of the Outsider (2017) delivered a pretty final ending to the story of the series. Deathloop takes place in the same world and does open up some more narrative possibilities for that setting, so a further game in the series might have some legs to it.

Finally, the list suggest that The Elder Scrolls VI will follow three years after the release of Starfield. Given Starfield's two-year delay from the list, that suggests they may be envisaging a 2026 release date for Elder Scrolls VI. With Bethesda only recently spooling up full-time work on the game, that feels very optimistic. Many fans have been projecting a release date of 2028 on the low end to 2030 on the higher.

The leak is interesting, but as yet none of the projects mentioned on it beyond Elder Scrolls VI and the Fallout 4 remaster have been formally confirmed.

RUMOUR: THE EXPANSE's Shohreh Aghdashloo cast in THE WHEEL OF TIME

Thanks to good detective work by Wheel of Time fan channel WoT Up!, there are well-supported indications that The Expanse actress Shohreh Aghdashloo has been cast in the third season of the show.

Aghdashloo is best-known for her role on all six seasons of The Expanse, playing Chrisjen Avasarala. Her performance on that show was highly acclaimed, and led to her being cast in numerous geek-friendly projects. However, her acting career goes right back to the late 1970s, when she debuted in films in her native Iran. She moved to the UK and then the United States after the 1979 Revolution and began acting in projects there, achieving a breakthrough for her role in House of Sand and Fog (2003). Her TV roles included ER, Grey's Anatomy, 24, House of Saddam, The Punisher and Grimm. In video games, she also voiced Admiral Shala'Raan of the Quarian Fleet in Mass Effect 2 and 3, Lakhshmi-2 in Destiny and Destiny 2, and Roshan in the Assassin's Creed franchise. She reprised her role as Avasarala in this year's The Expanse: A Telltale Series.

Aghdashloo was fan-cast by Wheel of Time fans for the role of Cadsuane, a powerful Aes Sedai who cannot stand the strictures of the Tower so prefers to operate independently of its hierarchy, something that has gotten her in trouble with the sisterhood. In the books, Cadsuane is initially a difficult-to-read figure who may be an ally but also an enemy of Rand al'Thor. Aghdashloo subsequently responded positively to fans on Twitter suggesting she audition for the role, leading to an exchange with showrunner Rafe Judkins. She was subsequently spotted on location when filming for Season 3 began in Prague.

According to WoT Up!, Aghdashloo is actually playing the role of Elaida, a different Aes Sedai. Elaida is the Aes Sedai advisor to Queen Morgase of Andor, thanks to her gift of the Foretelling, comes to believe that the royal house of Andor is pivotal in events to come. She relocates to Tar Valon, where Morgase's daughter Elayne is studying to be Aes Sedai, to better guide her education.

Although I think Aghdashloo would be a better Cadsuane than Elaida, she would still be excellent in that role. It may be that Cadsuane's role in the show will be reduced compared to the books, in which case casting a lower-profile actress for that role might make more sense (Cadsuane has been mentioned several times in the series, so will probably appear in some form), whilst Elaida will be a more important figure who debuts earlier and plays a bigger role in events.

We await full confirmation from Amazon as to Aghdashloo's casting and what role she will be playing, but overall this is excellent casting news.

RUMOUR: BABYLON 5 reboot dead at CW, still in development with Warner Brothers

Rumours are swirling that the Babylon 5 reboot project may be getting a renewed lease of life.

As previously related, Warner Brothers put Babylon 5 into development with a whole new fresh lick of paint as a ground-up reboot, with original writer/creator/showrunner J. Michael Straczynski once again in charge. The CW picked up the project and spent two years developing a pilot script (an unusually long time) before the network was sold off to new owners, who promptly smoked almost its entire drama development schedule to focus on cheap reality programming. Although Babylon 5 2.0 wasn't quite dead, it had certainly been dealt a serious injury and did not look likely to survive.

However, Warner Brothers have taken the view that there's no reason to waste all that expensive development work and have been shopping the project to other venues. The most logical option, HBO Max, is seemingly out of the question because they have their own budget and development issues in the wake of the Discovery merger. HBO proper don't seem interested, despite the presence of self-confessed Babylon 5 uberfan George R.R. Martin in the development process over there.

That meant Warner Brothers having to team up with another streamer or network. WB have a good relationship with Netflix, where former Babylon 5 scriptwriter Neil Gaiman (he's also done some other work) is currently working on their adaptation of Sandman. It's also possible that Amazon might be looking for a space opera show to replace the recently-concluded The Expanse. Paramount+ have so much Star Trek on the go that it's improbable they'd want a competing space opera show, but they do also have Halo on the go, suggesting they might be interested if the script was good enough. However, having two space opera franchises in operation might instead just make that possibility even less likely.

Some rumours (cited here) have Apple TV+ circling the property. Apple TV+ also have two ongoing space opera franchises, with the original alt-history From All Mankind charting an alternate history of the 20th and 21st centuries where the Space Race between the USSR and USA never wound down in the 1970s but continued full tilt with missions to Mars. Meanwhile Foundation is a loose adaptation of the Isaac Asimov novel series of the same name. Apple TV+ has also enjoyed success with psychological SF thriller Severance and the partially SF-themed sitcom Mythic Quest (which featured an outstanding literary SF storyline in its second season featuring actors playing authors Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and Ursula K. Le Guin).

However, Apple are possibly about to loose their biggest draw, with football comedy-drama Ted Lasso (itself a Warner Brothers co-production) set to conclude after three seasons. If Apple can't find a direct replacement, they might be looking to establish a broader portfolio of shows with broad appeal. Babylon 5 is often cited as being enormously ahead of its time, featuring serialised storytelling long before it was fashionable, cutting-edge vfx, epic space battles, rich political intrigue and complex characters, often acting in morally flexible ways.

There are all strong arguments, but it does not mean that Babylon 5 reboot will definitely go ahead, at Apple TV+ or elsewhere. It does suggest that the CW was not quite the last, best hope for the project, and there are other interests circling it.

RUMOUR: David Tennant returning for DOCTOR WHO's 60th anniversary

Multiple Doctor Who fan sites of differing levels of credibility are citing rumours that David Tennant will return for the 60th anniversary special in 2023. This special will also mark the return of former Doctor Who showrunner Russell T. Davies for a second stint in charge of the franchise.

The reports seem to be divided on whether Tennant is returning as the Tenth Doctor in a multi-Doctor special - as he did in 2013 for the 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor - or if he is returning as the Doctor, with the Fourteenth Doctor sharing a face with his Tenth incarnation. The idea of the Doctor being able to "return" to using old appearances was floated in The Day of the Doctor, with Tom Baker taking up the role of "The Curator," a far-future incarnation of the Doctor who has chosen to reuse the Fourth Doctor's face.

Although the idea seems somewhat fanciful, and may be possibly sparked by the idea of Davies reassembling a "dream team" of former Doctor Who personnel to work on the next series, including Phil Collinson, Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner, it's not completely insane. Davies has confirmed that his first episode will be the 60th anniversary special, which presumably will have to introduce the Fourteenth Doctor whilst also celebrating the show's history, which may be irreconcilable requirements. By having the Thirteenth Doctor "degenerate" into a previous incarnation, or a new incarnation that looks the same, this minimises the amount of introductory work needed whilst also possibly introducing a mystery that could form the backbone of the 60th special.

The reports do seem to agree that Tennant's return, if it's happening, will be brief, limited to potentially the 60th anniversary special alone and maybe a few subsequent episodes, with a full-time, brand-new Fifteenth Doctor due to pick up the reigns thereafter.

It may also be that a "degeneration" into a prior incarnation allows Davies to pay homage to the show's history without engaging in a full multi-Doctor special. Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston and Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi have seemingly ruled themselves out of returning, and it's questionable if Thirteenth Doctor Jodie Whittaker would return immediately in her very next episode. That only leaves Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith, who has always said he'd be happy to return to the role if required.

As usual, take with a grain of salt until the news is formally confirmed. With filming due to start on the next batch of episodes in the spring, it'll be hard to keep news of who is returning under wraps for long.

RUMOUR: Amazon's upcoming LORD OF THE RINGS TV series will focus on the late Second Age

Multiple rumours from both Redanian Intelligence and Fellowship of Fans have suggested that Amazon's upcoming Lord of the Rings prequel TV series will be focused on the end of the Second Age, contradicting earlier reports that the show will start earlier in the Age and deal with the forging of the One Ring.

According to both sources, the show will focus heavily on the character of Isildur, to be played by Rome actor Maxim Baldry. Reportedly the show will open during the reign of Tar-Palantir, a Numenorean king who is friend and ally to the elves of Middle-earth, striving to repair their relationship after a long period of strained relations. However, Tar-Palantir is an anomaly and there are dark forces gathering on the island of Numenor which seek to return to their policies of human supremacy and domination. It falls to Elendil (Lloyd Owen) and his son Isildur, as leaders of "the Faithful," to help the righteous and true people of Numenor evade the chaos that is coming.

Viewers of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy may briefly recall that Elendil and Isildur appear in the prologue to The Fellowship of the Ring, played by Peter McKenzie and Harry Sinclair respectively.

News of the casting and apparent setting has come as a surprise, since the logical starting point for a Second Age-set Middle-earth show is much earlier, when Sauron the Dark Lord infiltrates the elves of Eregion in fair guise and corrupts their proud leader, Celebrimbor, into teaching him how to forge the Rings of Power, knowledge which Sauron then uses to forge the One Ring. This triggers a colossal war between the elves and Sauron, which would have ended in defeat had the men of the island empire of Numenor not landed in force to give aid to the elves. This story would have amply given rise to several seasons of content, as well as allowing a time jump to a later point in the history to tell the story of Elendil and Isildur.

Some have speculated that Isildur will be a framing character and there may be lengthy flashbacks to earlier time periods, but Fellowship of Fans has shot down this idea, claiming that whilst there will be LotR-style brief flashbacks to earlier periods (proven by the first publicity shot, which depicts the Two Trees of Light from the First Age), the bulk of the story will appear in-situ in the present.

The news does make sense of a reported new storyline, in which a tribe of Harfoot hobbits (led by a character played by Lenny Henry) appear out of the east to settle in the wild lands of western Middle-earth. This makes much more sense in the late Second Age, a millennia or so before they migrate to the Vale of Anduin (from whence they will colonise the Shire), rather than halfway through the Second Age.

The first season of the show is in post-production and will debut on Amazon Prime on 2 September 2022. Shooting of the second season is expected to begin after Christmas in the UK.

RUMOUR: Fansite reveals details about the LORD OF THE RINGS prequel TV series

Middle-earth fansite TheOneRing.net has posted a major reveal about Amazon's upcoming Lord of the Rings prequel series (which I've been informally calling The Second Age, but still doesn't have an official title). As with any rumour report, this should be treated with a grain of salt until official information is released but SPOILER ALERT.

According to TheOneRing's sources, the series has officially licensed material from the Tolkien Estate for J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion (1977) and Unfinished Tales (1980), posthumous publications which include the bulk of Tolkien's detailed notes and writings on the Second Age of Middle-earth's history. This is the first time the Tolkien Estate has licensed new material to film-makers; previous film versions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings descend from a 1969 deal between Tolkien himself and an American producer.

The Tolkien Estate has three lore experts/Tolkien scholars assisting the project and are so far impressed at how things are going.

On the production side of things, scripts are only available digitally and (we know from other reports) are tailored to what scenes actors are in; most actors don't know the full story for the series since they only received scripts for their specific scenes. Presumably the regular actors might have a better idea of the overall story arc, or at least their part of it.

The first two episodes, which were shot months ahead of the rest of the production, have been produced as a stand-alone entry point to the series and franchise. This may (or may not be) fuel rumours that these two episodes will be released separately prior to the rest of the series as a stand-alone, feature-length production to whet the appetite ahead of the rest of the season. However, with only eight episodes in total in Season 1, it's unclear if Amazon would want to split an already short season rather than keeping a lot of discussion going on for longer.

The show has divided production between three units, each dedicated to one of the major races involved in the storyline: humans, elves and dwarves. This makes it sound like each race will have at least one POV in the ongoing storyline. There is also a specific "spoiler unit" which has shot fake scenes to throw off reporters.

Main unit shooting effectively wrapped in April 2021. We know from other sources that a formal wrap on Season 1 is not expected until 30 July, so it sounds like they're doing pickups, reshoots and plates at the moment. There are conflicting reports on when Season 2 will start shooting, some saying January 2022, others earlier.

Lord of the Rings and Wheel of Time are being shot on opposite sides of the globe, but they are pooling some crew and experience: we know that Wayne Yip has directed episodes of both shows and that former Game of Thrones writer Bryan Cogman advised on both series before spooling up his own original project for Amazon.

The show is aiming for a "mid-2022" release date, rather than the early to spring 2022 date previously rumoured.

In terms of the story, it sounds like the show will indeed be delving into early-mid Second Age and will focus on the great elven smith of Celebrimbor as a key character. Celebrimbor (inadvertently) helps Sauron, disguised as a fair prince named Annatar, begin forging the Rings of Power before realising his mistakes. The wording is imprecise, but it sounds like either Sauron/Annatar will not appear in Season 1, or he will but his true identity will not be revealed. That also seemingly confirms that the forging of the One Ring will not take place in Season 1.

Nudity is reportedly present in the show in small amounts, but no sex. One reported scene is a flashback to the First Age showing how elves were captured, imprisoned in terrible conditions and then corrupted into becoming orcs, or their ancestors.

Elves will reportedly have shorter hair than in the chronologically later movies. It's unclear if this applies just to one subset of elves - the Noldor play a big role in the story when they are largely absent from the later time periods - or to all of them. It's also unclear if this applies to the characters who do have longer hair in the chronologically later films, like Elrond and Galadriel, who are expected to play a role in this series.

In probably the biggest spoiler from the report, the show will feature hobbits. In Tolkien's source material, hobbits are not really mentioned prior to the Third Age, with the events of the War of the Ring taking place some 5,000 years after the events of the TV series and the Shire only being founded 1,400 years or so earlier. However, the material also suggests that hobbits were present in Middle-earth earlier, living in other parts of the continent. The show will apparently feature one tribe of proto-hobbits, with Sir Lenny Henry's character being one of this group. However, since they're not getting the specific production unit treatment of the humans, elves and dwarves, it sounds like these hobbits will not play a key role in the narrative.

In a slightly confusing point, apparently the show cannot use the term "cave troll" due to licensing restrictions, and instead will use the term "ice troll." However, Amazon have licensed the existing screen rights for The Lord of the Rings from Warner Brothers/New Line, so it is unclear why they would not be able to use terminology from those films or the novels, especially given all the other terminology you assume they're going to be using/reusing (Nazgul, Sauron, Gondor etc).

Take this all with some caution at the moment, but the reports are broadly in line with previous reports and rumours, and confirm a huge production on a massive scale (albeit one that could probably do with some tighter safety restrictions).

More news when it becomes available.

STARFIELD not likely to appear before 2022

After a number of recent reports that Bethesda Game Studios' latest huge RPG, Starfield, could be released this autumn, there has been pushback by a number of industry insiders. Jason Schreier of Forbes (and formerly Kotaku) has said that the game is being envisaged as a 2022 release as an Xbox exclusive. Tom Warren of the Verge concurred. Schreier did say that the game would be featured at the E3 gaming expo next month, as has been rumoured for a while.

If true, this would mark an interesting shift in Bethesda's release schedule. Bethesda formally announced a trailer and release date for Fallout 4 at E3 in June 2015 and the game was released in November that year. They formally announced a trailer and release date for Fallout 76 at E3 in June 2018 and the game was released in October of that year. Bethesda's had previously announced their games around a year before release, or even longer.

Another possibility is that Bethesda envisage a release date later than 2021 but before E3 2022, so will take advantage of E3 to announce the release date, even if it is closer to a year from release rather than a few months. They may also do this if the release date is soon after E3 2022, but too close for them to start the pre-release hype at that event (exactly why Bethesda seem intent on using E3 as an announcement platform when they have the Internet is another question).

Since Bethesda are now owned by Microsoft, it may also be the case that Microsoft want to do a grand reveal of a large slate of upcoming games up to a couple of years out, regardless of if this clashes with Bethesda's previous way of doing things.

A final point to consider is that Fallout 76 performed badly by Bethesda's normal standards, selling far fewer copies and reviewing very poorly compared to their prior games. With Starfield being a new IP, Bethesda and Microsoft might also want to start the pre-release hype for the game earlier than normal, to get the message out to more people that the game exists. However, they have to be careful about not over-hyping the game given the recent blowback received by Cyberpunk 2077 for doing the same thing.

In any case, it looks like a 2022 release for Starfield is most likely. This will disappoint those waiting for the game and also for The Elder Scrolls VI, which is unlikely to scale up to full-time production until Starfield is on shelves. That puts a potential Elder Scrolls VI release date well off to potentially 2026 or 2027, or later. And those hoping for a Fallout 5 had better really learn the art of patience, or hope that Microsoft will assign that project to a different team.

More information, hopefully, to come at E3 on 12-15 June.

Update: Schreier has confirmed that his information is that Starfield is now targeting a late 2022 release date.

Bethesda copyrights STARFIELD for 2021 release

Bethesda Games Studios are gearing up for the release of their first big, open-world CRPG in six years. Starfield is a brand-new IP, a far-future space opera, but is expected to use a format and style of gameplay that will be very familiar to fans of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls and Fallout franchises. As usual, Bethesda have kept their cards close to their chests, but a new copyright filing backs up recent, less-substantiated rumours of a 2021 release.

For their last few games, Bethesda have preferred to keep details about their current in-progress game to an absolute minimum and then release a trailer and confirm the release date just a few months out from release; they announced Fallout 4 on 14 June 2015 and released the game on 10 November the same year. They then announced multiplayer spin-off Fallout 76 on 30 May 2018 and released the game on 14 November the same year. So it's entirely likely that they will repeat the same format when it's time to fully unveil Starfield to the public.

Bethesda issued a new copyright claim for Starfield with a date of 2021 just a few weeks ago. Games companies usually only issue copyright claims for the year of release, indicating that Bethesda are indeed planning to release the game before the end of 2021. Note that this is not set in stone: if the game was delayed to 2022, they could amend the copyright claim to that year instead. So this is not cast-iron 100% proof that the game will come out this year, but indicates strongly that this is their current plan. Certainly last year, Bethesda claimed that this year would be the earliest fans could expect to hear more news about the game.

Microsoft, who completed their purchase of Bethesda a few weeks ago, will no doubt be keen for the game to come out this year to strengthen their portfolio of games launching this winter. That includes Halo: Infinite, the first Halo title in six years, and reportedly a new Forza racing game. Unconfirmed reports also suggest that Starfield will be exclusive to the Xbox platform on console, although it will get a PC release as well. PlayStation owners will be left out in the cold, as many feared would be the case when Microsoft acquired Bethesda.

If this news is accurate, it could be confirmed as soon as E3 2021, which runs from 12-15 June; Bethesda confirmed their last two release dates at E3 events in 2015 and 2018.

Although it appears likely that Bethesda are targeting a 2021 release date, there is one fly in the ointment, namely the ongoing COVID19 pandemic. Like most developers, Bethesda have mostly been working from home which has slowed game development and quality assurance down. If there are major bugs or problems found in this process, the game could be delayed into 2022 fairly easily.

Bethesda are also working on a new Elder Scrolls game, the follow-up to the massive-selling Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which celebrates its ten-year anniversary this year. That game is not expected to be released until 2024 at the earliest, and potentially a lot later than that. A new Fallout game is even further off at this point, unless Bethesda collaborates with another studio to help them get their games out faster.

RUMOUR: The first 1-2 seasons of LORD OF THE RINGS: THE SECOND AGE have cost almost half a billion dollars

The Hollywood Reporter has indicated that the upcoming Lord of the Rings prequel TV series, The Second Age*, has cost almost half a billion dollars so far. In fact, they put the figure at $465 million.

The Reporter is pretty reliable in these matters, but I've filed this under "rumour" because the source is the New Zealand government and they did not precisely break down the costs involved.

We know there are eight episodes in each of the first two seasons of the show, and the first two seasons have been commissioned together and completely written. There were also reports a while back that the LotR team were shooting up to 20 episodes in the first extended filming bloc (which began in February 2020 and is expected to continue for several months to come, although there was an extended break last year for writing), which some took to mean they were filming the first two seasons - 16 episodes - back-to-back, which makes sense. As a result, the cost may be spread across two seasons rather than one. This is backed up by a Reuters report where they learned that Amazon was earmarking $500 million for the first two seasons in combined production and marketing costs.

Back in 2017, it was widely reported that Amazon had paid $250 million to the Tolkien Estate for enhanced rights to J.R.R. Tolkien's books not previously covered by any prior deal, now believed to consist of all Numenor and Second Age-related material in The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. Amazon had also tapped Warner Brothers and their subsidiary New Line to cooperate on the project, giving them access to the Lord of the Rings rights (used previously to make Peter Jackson's 2001-03 movie trilogy). It was reported that Amazon would be spending up to $150 million per season on five seasons of the series, for a total expenditure of $1 billion.

This new report indicates that that ceiling will be hit considerably sooner than expected. Assuming the costs are indeed divided between two seasons, that would make the cost of each season around $232.5 million, or $29 million per episode. The previous most expensive TV show of all time was either HBO's The Pacific, which cost over $20 million per episode, or Disney+'s currently-airing Falcon and the Winter Soldier, with a reported budget of $25 million per episode, although these are both classified as mini-series. The most expensive ongoing TV show of all time is HBO's Game of Thrones, where the budget reached $16 million per episode in the final season.

This would easily make Lord of the Rings: The Second Age the most expensive TV show of all time, if not quite by as much as some people are saying. However, if the original quote was correct and those costs are just for the first season, the first eight episodes by themselves, then obviously they would rocket up to insanity: $465 million for the season, or $58,125,000 per hour. Each of the three Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies had a budget of around $90 million for three hours, for comparison.

Lord of the Rings Colon Undisclosed Subtitle is currently shooting in New Zealand and expected to air on Amazon Prime Video, probably in early 2022.

* My placeholder title to stop people constantly asking why they're remaking the movies, which they're not; not the likely final title of the series.

RUMOUR: Netflix closing on deal for new AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER showrunner

Netflix is reportedly closing in on a showrunner for their live-action version of Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

Albert Kim was previously a writer-producer and later showrunner on Sleepy Hollow and Nikita, and a writer on Leverage and Dirt. The reports indicate that Kim may already have the gig, or been offered it.

He inherits a poisoned chalice: whilst the prospect of a live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender TV series remains intriguing, the project was tarnished when creators and original showrunners Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko quit last year, citing repeated creative interference and an apparent unwillingness by Netflix to allow them to make a faithful adaptation of the original show.

The original reports indicate that Netflix have indeed requested more changes, including aging up the character of Katara to 16 and reducing the age of her brother Sokka to 14. Aang is still 12. This change - although only rumoured at present - indicates massive changes to the character dynamics. It seems much less likely that an Aang/Katara romance (a key plot point of the original) will be on the cards, and it's less clear if Sokka's growth as a warrior and eventually a military strategist will still be a part of the story (although Sokka's age has only been dropped by one year, so it's possible this arc will still unfold). Some fans have speculated that the change was done to allow Netflix to cast an older actress for Katara, and the possibility of instead pursuing a relationship angle with the character of Zuko (a popular fan-ship in the original series).

In the meantime, Avatar: The Last Airbender has become the most popular animated series on Netflix since it started airing a few months ago, an impressive achievement for a show that is now sixteen years old. DiMartino and Konietzko have indicated a potential willingness to return to the world for more animated stories (similar to their previous spin-off show, The Legend of Korra), but it's unclear if there is a firm plan in place.

Reportedly, Avatar: The Last Airbender should start shooting later this year for a 2022 debut on Netflix.

RUMOUR: KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC project underway at Aspyr Media

Aspyr Media, a video game porting company based in Austin, Texas, are reportedly working on a Knights of the Old Republic project in conjunction with Lucasfilm Games, according to strong rumours.

Aspyr is best-known for porting games from one platform to another, including multiple BioWare games including the original Knights of the Old Republic and Jade Empire. Just this month they were acquired by Embracer Group and have been partnered with Embracer's subsidiary, Saber Interactive. Saber have a mixed history of ports (including recently working on the Halo: Master Chief Collection on PC and the next-gen versions of The Witcher 3) and original games including Evil Dead: The Game and the popular off-road games Spintires and SnowRunner.

According to a mixed release of information from investor calls and podcasts, Aspyr are now working on a licensed, original IP project with a budget of $70 million. They have also been busy hiring artists, designers and writers, including a large number of ex-BioWare Austin staff (many of whom worked on Star Wars: The Old Republic) to effectively form a studio from scratch for this project.

The budget is interesting; on the low side for a totally original, AAA Star Wars game, but reasonable for a thorough re-imagining and remake (versus a much more simplistic remaster) of one of the most popular and acclaimed CRPGs of the 2000s.

This may make sense. Disney recently omitted the Old Republic Era from its new canon timeline, but is maintaining The Old Republic MMORPG as an ongoing concern, complete with input from the Star Wars Story Group (the keepers of the canon). Remaking Knights of the Old Republic (and possibly its sequel) for a new audience with some changes to keep things to their liking is a solid move.

Two years ago, Disney were also apparently considering ideas for a Knights of the Old Republic movie or TV series from Altered Carbon writer Laeta Kalogridis, but this idea was put on the backburner due to the under-performance of The Rise of Skywalker and subsequent reshuffling of ideas for the property.

Hopefully this rumour will be clarified in the near future.

HBO Max reportedly planning a continuation of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

According to Kevin Smith and other sources, HBO Max are planning a continuation of the classic Batman: The Animated Series.

Batman: The Animated Series aired between 1992 and 1995, producing 85 episodes and spawning a number of spin-off shows and series set in the same continuity. The series is one of the most highly-acclaimed animated and superhero TV series of all time and has recently reached new audiences through a HD remaster and appearing on streaming services.

The show drew on Tim Burton's live-action movies Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) for artistic inspiration, although it also charted its own course with unique characterisations for Bruce Wayne/Batman, Robin and Joker. The vocal performances by Kevin Conroy (Batman), Mark Hamill (Joker) and Arleen Sorkin (Harley Quinn) have also become regarded as iconic, if not definitive. The show is also highly notable for its additions to the Batman mythos, most infamously the character of Harley Quinn who was introduced in the animated series before migrating to the comic a year later. Renee Montoya, Lock-Up and Simon Trent are other characters originated on the series to play a role in other versions of the mythos later on.

The Animated Series version of the mythos directly inspired the storylines and characterisation in the Arkham series of video games, which also starred Conroy, Hamill and (in the first game, at least) Sorkin.

Smith indicates that Bruce Timm, the original showrunner and co-creator, is involved in the new series. It's unclear if writer Paul Dini is also on board, or if the original vocal cast will return; Hamill, at least, has said that his version of Joker has been retired (although he's also been tempted out of retirement in the past).

If the continuation is confirmed, it is unclear if it would be a reboot in the same art style or if it would continue the storylines from where the animated show left off. This might be complicated by the sheer number of other series which have followed on from The Animated Series (including a contemporary Superman series and the SF-tinged Batman Beyond).

HBO Max has not yet formally confirmed the news.

RUMOUR: FIREFLY reboot under consideration for Disney+

Several less-reliable genre sites are reporting that Disney are considering resurrecting the 2002 space opera Firefly for their Disney+ streaming platform.

Disney acquired the Firefly IP when they bought 20th Century Fox last year. Firefly, created and showrun by Joss Whedon, ran for fourteen episodes in 2002 and a sequel movie, Serenity, was released in 2005. Although the show was cancelled due to disappointing ratings, it picked up a long tail on DVD and Blu-Ray, and Fox several times subsequently noted that cancelling it had been a mistake. Fox had considered resurrecting the show, but these plans seemed to fall through given the company's complex relationship with Whedon (especially after Fox developed, made and cancelled another Whedon show, Dollhouse, a few years later) and the patchy availability of the show's stars, most of whom have gone on to successful careers elsewhere.

The franchise has continued through comic book series and a superb board game, but a full-blown revival has seemed unlikely for some time.

However, the rumours suggest that Disney is considering rebooting the series from scratch as a somewhat more family-friendly show, perhaps in the vein of The Mandalorian, and tapping the same vein of space adventure. As a result, the rapist-cannibal enemies, the Reavers, are unlikely to appear and the prominent character of Inara, a courtesan, likely to be eliminated (or retrained in a different role).

I find this rumour dubious for multiple reasons. The first is that Firefly's fanbase remains, despite the passage of almost twenty years, both voluble and passionate. Rebooting the show from scratch and dropping the previous actors and continuity would go down very badly. The second is that Firefly's universe was designed from scratch to be slightly more morally murky and complex, and that's part of the show's appeal. Making it more PG (or PG-13, if you're in the USA) seems pointless. Also, whilst Firefly remains a cult hit, it's still very much not a mainstream show. The people who will be most excited about a Firefly reboot are Firefly fans, so alienating them by ditching the previous storylines and cast and crew is particularly self-defeating.

If the show was to return, bringing it back as a next-generation continuation in the same continuity with as many of the actors returning as wanted to, but with new characters doing the heavy lifting, would seem to be a much more sensible idea. This kind of project would probably not be suitable for Disney+, but could be a good match for Hulu or FX, where Disney's other non-kid-friendly properties are headed.

That said, Disney are clearly going to want to take advantage of their vastly-expanded portfolio of IPs, and Firefly would be a reasonable choice if they were looking for a science fiction franchise that hasn't already been over-exploited to the hilt. Disney might also feel that, with Joss Whedon's credibility and reputation at an all-time low, they can get away with a reboot without his involvement at this time, which was not the case a few years ago.

I'll keep my ear to the ground on this one, but I put it in the "possibly but unlikely" category for now.

Marvel's third SPIDER-MAN film will be a live-action SPIDER-VERSE movie

It looks like the forthcoming third Spider-Man film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be effectively a live-action version of the popular Into the Spider-Verse animated film.

The film, a sequel to 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming and 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home, will reunite Tom Holland's Peter Parker with Zendaya as MJ, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, Jacob Batalon as Ned and Tony Revolori as Eugene. In addition, Benedict Cumberbatch will appear as Doctor Strange, reprising his role from several previous Marvel movies.

Where the casting gets interesting is the villains: Jamie Foxx will appear as Max Dillon, aka Electro. He last played that role in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), but that was in a different continuity. Today it was confirmed that Alfred Molina will be reprising his role a Otto Octavius, aka Doctor Octopus, from Spider-Man 2 (2004), which was set in a yet another continuity.

According to Collider, the film will go further and will also incorporate appearances by Andrew Garfield, who played Spider-Man/Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and its sequel; and Kirsten Dunst as MJ from the Sam Raimi trilogy: Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). They also claim that Tobey Maguire is in talks to reprise his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man from the Raimi trilogy, and Emma Stone is being considered for a return as Gwen Stacey from the Garfield duology.

To be clear, it's unknown if this latter casting is for a barrage of cameos or for meatier roles in the movie. It's also unclear if CG or effects will be used to make the returning actors appear the same way they did in their films (in Maguire and Dunst's case, almost twenty years ago, somehow) or if they will be playing older versions of their characters in a similar vein to the animated movie Into the Spider-Verse (2018), which was surprise hit with its story of interdimensional Peter Parkers teaming up with Miles Morales and a number of other variations on the Spider-Man archetype to fight Kingpin.

The film is currently scheduled to open on 17 December 2021. Into the Spider-Verse 2 is also in production and currently targeting an October 2022 release date.

RUMOUR: Harlan Ellison's LAST DANGEROUS VISIONS may be coming out

In a series of recent tweets, SF TV author J. Michael Straczynski has confirmed that he is acting as the literary executor of the Harlan Ellison Estate. In a series of tweets this week, he has hinted at a new project that will be seeing the light of day soon, and promised to reveal what this would be in a series of five messages. The third was released today and seem to indicate what the project will be: The Last Dangerous Visions, the single most-delayed book in the history of science fiction and fantasy.

Harlan Ellison released the short story anthology Dangerous Visions in 1967. A groundbreaking work, it won multiple awards and helped define the New Wave of late 1960s science fiction. The book included work by Harlan Ellison, Robert Silverberg, Philip Jose Farmer, Miriam Allen deFord, Brian W. Aldiss, Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, John Brunner and Roger Zelazny.

The book was succeeded in 1972 by Again, Dangerous Visions, which was almost as acclaimed. Ellison began collecting a third anthology, The Last Dangerous Visions, planned for publication in 1973. Faced with the task of exceeding the previous two collections, Ellison became obsessed with the book being "perfect" and constantly tinkered with it, soliciting new stories, removing old ones, seeking out new authors and so on. In 1979 Ellison projected the book coming out in three volumes and incorporating some 113 stories by 102 authors. Thirty-two of the stories were eventually withdrawn and published elsewhere; eight others listed on the 1979 list did not appear on later contents lists issued by Ellison.

Fascination with the book peaked in the late 1990s, when Christopher Priest issued a critique of the lengthy delays to publication under the title The Book on the Edge of Forever. By this time several prominent SFF authors included in the collection had died, and their stories in the collection are among the last unpublished, complete work they left behind.

Ellison would occasionally mention the project as ongoing even in the 2000s, although it was generally regarded by that point that it would never come out. Ellison's death in 2018 would seem to have been the final word on the subject, despite the fact that the material still appeared to be extant in his archives.

Straczynski's tweets may end up being about something else, but given the three words released so far - THE LAST DANGEROUS - it's hard to see what. We'll find out for sure tomorrow and Friday when the announcement is completed, but for now it looks like, after forty-eight years, we'll finally see what Ellison was preparing.

Rumour: EA to reportedly announce MASS EFFECT remaster this weekend

Rumours are swirling that Electronic Arts is set to announce a complete remaster of BioWare's classic Mass Effect trilogy a special virtual event this weekend.

The Mass Effect series is a hybrid RPG/third-person shooter game series set in a painstakingly-detailed space opera universe. The first three games, released in 2007, 2010 and 2012, form a single epic story extending across some 65 hours of gameplay, pitting humanity and several allied races against the Reapers, an ancient race of biomechanical horrors from beyond the dawn of time. Although Mass Effect did little that was completely new - its setting borrows more than a few story and backstory plot points from 1990s space opera Babylon 5, offbeat space opera game Anachronox and BioWare's earlier game Knights of the Old Republic - it did remix standard space opera tropes in an enjoyable fashion.

The trilogy sold decently if unspectacularly, but did win critical acclaim and a legion of fans. The controversial ending to the trilogy did dent the critical appreciation of the series, but more recent reappraisals (following a series of patches and expansions altering the ending somewhat) have seen a kinder consensus emerging. An attempt to relaunch the franchise with a sequel trilogy spearheaded Mass Effect: Andromeda (2017) has had mixed results, with a highly variable critical reception and poor sales.

Reports of a Mass Effect remaster leaked a couple of years ago and a fairly steady stream of information has seeped out since then, suggesting the games will have much better graphics (PC mods have already delivered better-quality graphics for quite a few years now) and the first game in the series has been more definitively rebuilt to match the gameplay and style of the latter two. Other details are unclear, such as if it will be possible to play the three games in one seamless experience or how the third game's multiplayer features will be handled.

Other reports suggest that the remaster has been handled by a different developer working for EA, with BioWare working on saving their multiplayer shooter Anthem after a troubled launch and also working on a new Dragon Age game for release in 2022. BioWare has had a troubled few years which has seen its one-impeccable reputation severely damaged and a succession of flops (their last hit, Dragon Age: Inquisition, is now six years in the rear view mirror) leaving their long-term future in doubt if Dragon Age IV is not a success.

We'll find out if the rumours are correct on Saturday.

Images from Bethesda's STARFIELD reportedly leak

Images purported to be from Bethesda's upcoming science fiction roleplaying game, Starfield, have leaked onto the Internet.

The images show a figure in a spacesuit outside some kind of modular space habitat (which may hint that settlement building from Fallout 4 and 76 may return in some fashion), and the second image shows a spacecraft. The images are reportedly from a 2018 build of the game and are not necessarily representative of the final look of the title.

The images include a look at the game's UI, which seems to have settings for gravity, oxygen and carbon dioxide, suggesting the game may implement different levels on gravity and different atmospheres on different worlds, something we haven't seen often in AAA space games.

Starfield has been in full-time development at Bethesda Maryland since 2016, although early prototyping began back as far as 2012. A second team at Bethesda Austin has been working on the multiplayer-focused Fallout 76, whilst additional teams have been helping the Maryland crew on Starfield, as well as spinning up early pre-production and prototyping for The Elder Scrolls VI (which reportedly has the working title Redfall).

Apart from a very brief teaser trailer released in 2018, Bethesda have kept quiet about the game. Vice-President Peter Hines has recently confirmed that Bethesda will not speak further about the game until 2021 at the earliest. Given Bethesda's preference to do a "big reveal" of a game only 3-4 months ahead of release, it's possible that this may indicate that the game itself could be released by the end of 2021.

Bethesda was recently acquired by Microsoft for $7.5 billion, leading to the possibility that Starfield and all future Bethesda projects will be exclusive to the PC and Xbox platforms, although they have agreed to honour promises that in-development games already announced for the PlayStation will be released on that console.

Bethesda have not yet commented on the leaks, although they have deleted the images from their own social media channels and forums.

DUNE trailer to arrive this month

SF fans have been eagerly awaiting their first proper look at director Denis Villeneuve's next film, an adaptation of Frank Herbert's sprawling SF epic Dune. Now star Timothée Chalamet, who plays Paul Atreides in the film, has indicated that we should get a trailer before the end of the month.

A number of publicity images from the movie were released back in April, leading to speculation that a trailer was imminent. However, the trailer seems to have been delayed as the studio considered the chances of them actually hitting their planned 18 December release date considering the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

It now appears they are happier with the likelihood of the film going ahead as planned. It should be noted that releasing a trailer in late August, just three and a half months ahead of the film's release, is awfully short notice for a film of this scale, leading some industry watchers to speculate if this will hurt the film's box office prospects. There is also speculation that the movie might move early to VOD services, like Bill & Ted Face the Music and Mulan, although it's bee noted that Dune's immense budget and the requirement to make the money back makes this less likely.

Donald Glover to return as Lando Calrissian in STAR WARS TV series

Multiple reports surfaced today that Disney is in talks with Donald Glover for him to reprise his role as the young Lando Calrissian in a new Star Wars TV series, and may have already reached an agreement. Glover previously played the role in the spin-off movie Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Solo had a poor reception at the box office, becoming the first Star Wars film to fail to turn a profit in its initial theatrical run. Media and streaming sales were needed for it to turn green, and it's unclear if that's happened as yet. However, the film had a stronger critical reception, with most reviewers agreeing it was a fun - if not strictly necessary - addition to the mythos. The warmest plaudits were reserved for Glover, taking over the role handled by Billy Dee Williams in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (one he later resumed in The Rise of Skywalker).

The current rumours seem to be revolving around a Glover-starring mini-series set between Solo and A New Hope, a fertile time period which is also going to be explored in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi mini-series and potentially The Bad Batch, a Clone Wars spin-off show about former clone troopers surviving during the rise of the Empire. Such a series would also allow Disney+ to revisit dangling plot threads from Solo without committing to a full movie sequel. Other rumours - which sound a lot more speculative - are even suggesting a two-pronged story featuring Williams as the older Lando following up on some of the plot threads from Rise of Skywalker, with extensive flashbacks to his younger self.

Glover himself is keeping busy, as he is currently developing the third and fourth seasons of his own show for FX, Atlanta, during lockdown.