PAPER GIRLS cancelled at Amazon, despite being excellent

Sadly, but perhaps inevitably, Paper Girls has been cancelled at Amazon after a single season.

The show launched in late July to critical acclaim, but decidedly muted viewing figures. Amazon's marketing for the show was lacklustre, as Amazon shifted its marketing efforts towards the decidedly less-accomplished but staggeringly more expensive Rings of Power, which launched on 2 September, and its marketing seemed custom-designed to make the initially 1980s-set show look like a Stranger Things rip-off (despite Paper Girls' source material predating Stranger Things and the story not being anything like it).

As I said in my review, Paper Girls was the rare comic book adaptation that dramatically improved its (oft-messy and underdeveloped) source material by focusing much more on characterisation, whilst also ensuring a solid amount of plot development and action in each episode. The show also featured superb performances by seasoned hands Adina Porter, Ali Wong, Nate Corddry and Jason Mantzoukas, but outstanding turns by its four young leads: Camryn Jones, Riley Lai Nelet, Sofia Rosinsky and Fina Strazza. I suspect great things are ahead for all of them.

The show was produced by Legendary Television for Amazon but it does not appear that there's any hope of another channel or streamer taking on the project. Fortunately, the graphic novel by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang remains available for anyone wanting closure on the story.

Eman Esfandi cast as the live-action Ezra in STAR WARS

Lucasfilm have announced that Eman Esfandi will be playing the live-action version of Star Wars character Ezra Bridger in their upcoming Ahsoka series.

The character of Ezra, voiced by Taylor Gray, was introduced in the first episode of Star Wars: Rebels in 2014. Ezra is a native of the planet Lothal, which has been occupied by the Empire. Ezra performs minor acts of rebellion and sabotage against the Empire before being recruited by Kanan Jarrus to join a rebel cell led by himself and Hera Syndulla. Kanan, an ex-Padawan, also discovers Ezra's budding Force powers and trains him in the ways of the Jedi, although Kanan's own incomplete training (and guilt for the death of his master during the Clone Wars) makes this a complicated affair. By the end of the series, Ezra has become an adept Force-user and a powerful ally of the Rebellion. In the final episode of Rebels, Ezra helps defeat the Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn in a battle on and above Lothal, but in the process both Ezra and Thrawn disappear and have not been seen since. A post-Return of the Jedi epilogue reveals that Ahsoka and Ezra's good friend Sabine Wren are setting out to explore the galaxy to look for Thrawn and Ezra. Events in The Mandalorian suggest this search is still incomplete some five years later.

Esfani is a relative newcomer, having built up a steady stream of stage credits and appears in shorts, as well as in the film The Inspection and recent biopic King Richard. He has also directed several short films.

Esfani will join Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano (reprising the role from The Mandalorian) and Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren for the cast of Ahsoka, with Hayden Christensen also poised to return as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, presumably for flashback scenes. Ivanna Sakhno, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Ray Stevenson have also been cast in undisclosed roles. Rebels characters Hera Syndulla and psychotic droid Chopper are also due to appear, but their casting has not been announced so far (it is possible that Ahsoka writer-producer and Rebels creator Dave Filoni will return to "voice" Chopper, as he did throughout Rebels).

Star Wars: Ahsoka is due to air on Disney+ in 2023.

WARLORD CHRONICLES TV series greenlit by Bad Wolf and ITVX

Bad Wolf Productions have finally pulled the trigger on their long, long-gestating Warlord Chronicles TV series.

Based on the historical-with-a-hint-of-fantasy trilogy by Bernard Cornwell, the series is a "realistic" take on the legend of Arthur, recasting Arthur as a post-Roman mercenary commander or warlord who has to rule as regent of the kingdom of Dumnonia for the young Prince Mordred, and how he deals in a politically complex world divided between the remnants of the Romans (particularly the cult of Mithras), the native Britons and the invading Saxons. The series is notable for its attempts to be historically accurate to 5th and 6th Century Britain, particular when it comes to military, religious and political concerns.

The trilogy consists of the novels The Winter King (1995), Enemy of God (1996) and Excalibur (1997), and is consistently Cornwell's most acclaimed series, helped by its conciseness (his Sharpe and Last Kingdom series, both previously adapted to television, are better-known but considerably longer) and its revisionist take on familiar characters, with Guinevere as a fierce warrior-queen of another tribe and Merlin as a priest whose magical powers are more claimed than demonstrable.

The 10-part first season, which will adapt The Winter King, will debut on the streaming platform ITVX in the UK. Bad Wolf Productions are currently looking for an international streaming/distribution partner. They have good relations with HBO and the BBC, with whom they produced His Dark Materials (which returns for a third and final season this year). Kate Brooke and Ed Whitmore are writing, whilst Otto Bathurst will direct.

Bad Wolf originally optioned the series in 2015, at the same time as His Dark Materials, but wanted to complete work on that show before moving to a new project.

Bad Wolf are also producing Doctor Who for the BBC, with Russell T. Davies in charge. Production appears to be complete or almost so on a series of three specials due to air in 2023 for the show's 60th anniversary, which will see David Tennant reprise his role as the Doctor, and they are about to start production on the fourteenth series, which will see Ncuti Gatwa take on the role.

CYBERPUNK 2077: PHANTOM LIBERTY announced

The first major expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, Phantom Liberty, has been announced for release in 2023. The new expansion sees V, the protagonist of Cyberpunk 2077, joining forces with the government of the New United States for a new mission, to the distress of their head-companion Johnny Silverhand.

CD Projekt Red has revealed little else about the expansion, save it takes place in an "all-new district" of Night City and is a "spy thriller." The presence of Johnny and V in the trailer suggests this expansion is set before the end of Cyberpunk 2077.

Cyberpunk 2077 was announced in 2012 and released in late 2020, with critical acclaim for its story, characterisation, visuals, soundtrack and atmosphere, but serious criticism of its bugs, especially on last-generation consoles. The release turned into a major fiasco, with console sales of the game suspended. A lengthy programme of bugfixes and patches eventually stabilised the game and the 1.5 patch in February this year finally resolved the bulk of the game's problems. These issues have delayed work on the game's expansions. A new 1.6 patch released today addresses further issues, adds new features and ties in with the release of the Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners animated series on Netflix next week.

CDPR originally planned two expansions for the game, the first being set in a new area of the Pacifica district and adding new quests and storylines. The second would have taken V to the orbiting space station known as the Crystal Palace and resolved the remaining dangling storyline issues from the original release. It's unclear if Phantom Liberty is the first expansion, or replaces both.

Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty will be released in 2023 on PC, Xbox Series S/X, PlayStation 5 and Stadia.

After 16 years, 63 books and 26,881 pages, THE HORUS HERESY is finally coming to an end

Black Library and Games Workshop have announced the actual, final novel in The Horus Heresy, their absolutely massive prequel series to their Warhammer 40,000 science fantasy setting. The series began in 2006 with Dan Abnett's Horus Rising, so it is only fitting that Abnett is bringing the saga to an end with The End and the Death. However, the story proved too titanic to fit into one volume, so will be published in (at least!) two books.

The Horus Heresy is the story that provides the mythic underpinning to the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Set ten thousand years before the "present" in the setting, the saga tells of the rebellion of the Warmaster Horus against his father, the immortal Emperor of Mankind. Horus believes his father has become a despot and a tyrant, wanting to be worshipped as a god. However, Horus has also been manipulated by the insidious forces of Chaos. Almost half the forces of the Imperium of Man join Horus in his rebellion, designed to overthrow the Emperor and "free" humanity. However, many legions remain loyal to the Emperor, leading to a desperate, seven-year war that will determine the fate of humanity and the galaxy.

The End and the Death is also the final book in the Siege of Terra sub-series. This eight (now nine+) volume series depicts Horus's final gambit, a breach of the defences around the Solar system and a full-scale assault on Holy Terra with almost his entire remaining army and fleet, relying on a Warp Storm to prevent reinforcements from reaching Sol before he can overthrow the Emperor. The previous seven books in the sub-series - The Solar War, The Lost and the Damned, The First Wall, Saturnine, Mortis, Warhawk and Echoes of Eternity - depicted the monstrous fight raging for the throne world, not to mention the culmination of many subplots as various enemies face off for the last time. The End and the Death sees the depiction of the most iconic event in Warhammer 40,000's lore, when the Emperor directly intervenes in the war and faces his son Horus for the final time. But that is only part of the story.

Abnett is the Black Library's most acclaimed and biggest-selling author (not to mention Britain's third-biggest selling science fiction author, behind only Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds) and recently delivered a stunning two-part finale in his Gaunt's Ghosts series, with the brilliant duology of Warmaster and Anarch (not the final books in the Ghosts series, but the final for a while). Delivering the end of the series is a huge order, but Abnett will hopefully rise to it.

The stats for The Horus Heresy are mind-boggling. The series will now comprise 63 books in the core series (55 novels and 8 short story collections), 48 audio dramas, 2 art books, 2 script books and 1 graphic novel. The combined page count of the main series (not counting the last two) is 26,881 pages in paperback, or two Wheel of Times with an entire Song of Ice and Fire to follow up (though Horus Heresy books have fairly large print, so I suspect the word count is not quite so insane, with some estimates placing it around 7 million, which is about 1.6 Wheel of Times).

The End and the Death: Volume 1 is due for publication in 2023.

Miguel Sapochnik stepping down as HOUSE OF THE DRAGON co-showrunner

In somewhat surprising news, House of the Dragon's co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik is stepping down from his role on the show. His colleague Ryan Condal will serve as the show's only showrunner moving forwards. However, Game of Thrones veteran Alan Taylor is joining the project as a director and executive producer in Season 2.

According to Sapochnik, he made the decision having spent three years working hard on the project, bringing it to the screen and making it a success. With the show's success assured - the show has seen its audience grow across its first two episodes and has already been renewed for a second season - he has decided to move on.

Taylor is a veteran of numerous TV shows, including Lost, The West Wing and Mad Men, as well as a HBO veteran who has worked on Six Feet Under, Sex and the City, Rome, Carnivale, Big Love, The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire, and Deadwood. He also directed the Sopranos spin-off film The Many Saints of Newark, and the MCU movie Thor: The Dark World. He directed seven episodes of Game of Thrones across its first, second and seventh seasons. He has won one Emmy Award for his directing and been nominated for two more.

House of the Dragon is currently airing its first season, with the third episode (of ten) due to arrive this Sunday. The series is expected to shoot its second season next year before returning to the screens in 2024.

Where to Start with...The Sandman?

The Sandman has been a massive hit for Netflix and sales of the graphic novels have gone through the roof. However, if you're an eager new fan waiting to get in on the phenomenon, where do you start? The graphic novels have so many instalments, spin-offs, prequels and editions that boarding this train is perhaps a tad more complicated than it should be.

The Original Series

The Sandman was originally published as 76 monthly comic book issues (75 monthly issues and a special) between 1989 and 1996. These comics were collected into 10 graphic novels. This is the original or "core" Sandman series. The easiest way to start reading The Sandman is to simply read the original graphic novel series in order. This consists of:

1. Preludes & Nocturnes (issues #1-8)
2. The Doll's House (#9-16)
3. Dream Country (#17-20)
4. Season of Mists (#21-28)
5. A Game of You (#32-37)
6. Fables & Reflections (#29-31, 38-40, 50, The Sandman Special)
7. Brief Lives (#41-49)
8. Worlds' End (#51-56)
9. The Kindly Ones (#57-69)
10. The Wake (#70-75)

Obviously ten graphic novels are a fairly expensive investment when bought independently (or in a slipcase edition), so there are other options.

DC recently reprinted the series as four large-format collected editions. These editions are not the prettiest (they are similar to Image's recent one-part binding of the entire first half of Saga: cheap but effective) but they are probably the best way of getting the whole story as cheaply as possible (you also have to be happy with the Netflix advert on the front cover):

1. The Sandman: Book One (#1-20) (UK, USA)
2. The Sandman: Book Two (#21-37, The Sandman Special) (UK, USA)
3. The Sandman: Book Three (#38-56) (UK, USA)
4. The Sandman: Book Four (#57-75) (UK, USA)

The Absolute Sandman hardcover collection uses the same numbering as above but is very expensive, although likely to sustain many more readings. The Annotated Sandman also uses this system but is published in black-and-white and features extensive notes and annotations from Neil Gaiman. 

The Deluxe Sandman hardcover collection attempts to split the difference with nice hardcover editions but keeping the price down by collecting fewer issues, so there are more of them. These are effectively omnibuses with each book containing two of the original graphic novels. This collection has a bonus in that it also incorporates two of Gaiman's other Sandman series (see below) into the main series:

1. The Deluxe Sandman: Book One (#1-16), (UK, USA)
2. The Deluxe Sandman: Book Two (#17-31, The Sandman Special), (UK, USA) 
3. The Deluxe Sandman: Book Three (#32-50) (UK, USA)
4. The Deluxe Sandman: Book Four (#51-69), (UK, USA)
5. The Deluxe Sandman: Book Five (#70-75, The Dream Hunters, Endless Nights) (UK, USA)

One flaw with this series is that the advert for the Audible version of the books on the cover is actually part of the cover, not a sticker, so cannot be removed.

The Sandman Omnibus is astronomically expensive and also partially out-of-print but is also the most concise version of the series, breaking the whole thing, including the spin-offs, down into just three volumes:

1. The Sandman Omnibus: Volume I (#1-37, The Sandman Special)
2. The Sandman Omnibus: Volume II (#38-75)
3. The Sandman Omnibus: Volume III (Death: The High Cost of Living, Death: The Time of Your Life, Sandman Midnight Theatre, Endless Nights, The Dream Hunters, Overture)

This edition was available in a two-volume silver slipcase, a three-volume set and individually, but at the moment you can only afford to get most of these by selling at least three internal organs and your firstborn on the black market.

Gaiman's Sequels, Prequels & Expansions

The Sandman universe soon expanded into a wider universe of stories, books and collections. These are divided into works by Neil Gaiman and works by other hands. These are the works written by Gaiman expanding his original series. Below are the most common graphic novel collections:

• Death: The High Cost of Living
• Death: The Time of Your Life
• Endless Nights
• The Dream Hunters
• Overture

The first two graphic novels spin off the character of Death from the main series into her own stories, whilst Endless Nights is an anthology telling seven stories, one about each of the Endless. The Dream Hunters is a self-contained, spin-off story about Dream and Overture is a prequel taking place immediately before the events of the main series. Endless Nights is sometimes counted as #11 of the main graphic novel series and Overture as #0, although they can be read fully independently of the main series.

These graphic novels are available independently apart from the two starring Death, which are now more usually found in one collection simply called Death (UK, USA), and Endless Nights and The Dream Hunters can also be found as part of The Essential Sandman: Book Five (as noted above) and all five as part of The Sandman Omnibus: Volume III (also see above).

Series by Other Hands

Neil Gaiman has given his blessing for other writers to carry on with stories set in his world, both as mini-series and ongoing series. Some of these series are only loosely or nominally connected to the Sandman universe, whilst others have more definitive connections.

These are as follows:

• Sandman Mystery Theatre (70 issues, 1993-1999, Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle)
• The Dreaming (60 issues, June 1996 - May 2001, Peter Hogan, Caitlin R. Kiernan)
• The Girl Who Would Be Death (4 issues, 1998-1999, Caitlin R. Kiernan)
• Sandman Presents (31 issues, March 1999-July 2004, various)
• Lucifer (75 issues, June 2000 - June 2006, Mike Carey)
• Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold (3 issues, 2000, Alisa Kwitney)
• Dead Boy Detectives (2001: 4 issues, Ed Brubaker, Bryan Talbot; 2012: 12 issues, Toby Litt, Mark Buckingham, Gary Erskine)
• House of Mystery (42 issues, 2008-11, Lilah Sturges, Bill Willingham, Luca Rossi)

Since 2018, DC has produced a family of titles under the banner heading The Sandman Universe, with writers specially chosen by Neil Gaiman:

• The Sandman Universe (2018, 1 issue, various)
• The Dreaming (2018-20, 20 issues, Simon Spurrier, Bilquis Evely)
• House of Whispers (2018-20, 22 issues, Nalo Hopikinson, Dan Watters, Dominike Stanton)
• Lucifer (2018-20, 24 issues, Dan Watters, Max Fiumara, Sebastian Fiumara)
• Books of Magic (2018-20, 23 issues, Kat Howard, David Barnett, Tom Fowler)
• John Constantine, Hellblazer (2019-20, 13 issues, Simon Spurrier, Marcio Takara, Aaron Campbell)
• The Dreaming: Waking Hours (12 issues, 2020-21, G. Willow Wilson, Nick Robles)
• Locke & Key: Hell & Gone (3 issues, 202-21, Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez)
• Nightmare Country (ongoing, 2022-tbc, James Tynion IV, Lisandro Estherren)

There have also been additional graphic novels not published as individual comics:

• The Little Endless Storybook (2001, Jill Thompson)
• Death: At Death's Door (2004, Jill Thompson)
• Dead Boy Detectives (2005, Jill Thompson)
• God Save the Queen (2007, Mike Carey, John Bolton)
• Delirium's Party: A Little Endless Storybook (2011, Jill Thompson)

There have also been two prose works set in the world of the Dreaming. The first, Sandman: Book of Dreams (1996) features short fiction by authors like Caitlin Kiernan, Tad Williams, Gene Wolfe, Susanna Clarke, Colin Greenland and an introduction by musician Tori Amos. The second, Dream Hunters (1999) by Gaiman himself, is a short, self-contained novel. Most of the graphic novel versions of Dream Hunters include the prose version.

Recommendation

Probably the best overall place to start with is The Deluxe Sandman collection of five hardcovers which covers the entire original comic series plus the most significant spin-offs, followed up by the Death one-volume collection and Overture.

If that's not possible (Deluxe seems to going in and out of availability fairly quickly, despite only being released a year ago), the 2022 four-volume edition is perfectly fine, followed up by Death, Endless Nights, The Dream Hunters and Overture.

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Vince Gilligan returning to science fiction with new TV project

Vince Gilligan has spent the last fifteen years writing about anti-heroes in Albuquerque, New Mexico, through Breaking Bad, its spin-off Better Call Saul and a related film, El Camino. But his new project will be a whole new science fiction idea.

Gilligan made his name on The X-Files, on which he rose from a writer in 1995 to an executive producer and director by the end of its run in 2002. He also co-created the short-lived spinoff series, The Lone Gunmen. After pottering about with other projects, he scored a major hit with Breaking Bad, which ran on AMC from 2008 to 2013, and then Better Call Saul, which began in 2015 and ended earlier this year after six seasons.

Gilligan's new show will be science fiction and will be set on Earth, but with an "unexpected, surprising" twist. Gilligan is continuing his relationship with Sony Television in a new deal worth $10 million. Gilligan and Sony are pitching the show to different networks and streamers, and the combination is likely to wrap up a deal quickly.

Gilligan has not ruled out a return to the Breaking Bad-verse, but it sounds like he wants to do something different first.

New STAR TREK movie loses director to FANTASTIC FOUR

The extraordinarily convoluted saga of the next Star Trek film has taken another twist, with director Matt Shakman dropping out to helm Marvel's Fantastic Four.

The next Star Trek movie, the fourteenth overall in the franchise and the fourth produced by J.J. Abrams, has been in development hell ever since the release of the last instalment, Star Trek Beyond, in 2016. In the six years since then - during which time the franchise has made a hugely successful return to television - plans for a new movie have swung between a continuation of the Abrams incarnation to yet another reboot to various side-stories involving different characters. Even Quentin Tarantino was on board for a while, musing a feature-length remake of the classic series episode A Piece of the Action.

After a huge amount of development, Paramount settled on a script by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson, with WandaVision director Matt Shakman signing on to direct in July 2021. The film originally had a slated release date of June 2023, but this was delayed as the Chris Pine-led cast from the last three movies only signed on to reprise their roles on the film in February this year. However, pre-production had not yet started, apparently a result of the studio having to wait until the schedules of the ultra-busy cast had aligned. This delayed production so it would not be possible for Shakman to direct both the Star Trek picture and Fantastic Four, which now as a locked-in release date of 8 November 2024.

Marvel has been developing Fantastic Four for the last couple of years, which will mark the fifth live-action film to feature the classic Marvel superhero team but the first to bring them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jon Watts, who had helmed the Sony-Marvel Spider-Man trilogy starring Tom Holland, had been attached but apparently received a counter-offer from elsewhere within the Disney empire to work on a Star Wars TV show instead. Marvel had apparently held talks with other directors, both inhouse (Ant-Man helmer Peyton Reed was reportedly considered at one point) and from outside, before landing on Shakman as their preferred option after his work on Game of Thrones, The Great and WandaVision showed he could handle epic productions, the latter two earning him Emmy nominations as well.

Paramount have now resumed their hunt for a new director. J.J. Abrams remains attached to produce, with actors Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana and John Cho all confirmed to return. The studio has also confirmed that the role of Chekhov, played by the late Anton Yelchin who sadly passed away in 2016, will not be recast.

Amazon possibly lining up to buy Electronic Arts

News broke this morning (via GLHF and USA Today) that Amazon had reached a deal to buy video game publisher Electronic Arts. GLHF then offered a clarification that the deal might not be announced today or, indeed, will happen at all, leaving the video game press in a state of confusion.

Electronic Arts are one of the biggest video game publishers in the world, known for a battery of major franchises including FIFA, Need for Speed, The Sims, Medal of Honor, Command & Conquer, Dead Space and Battlefield, and, via their subsidiary BioWare, Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Through recent acquisition Codemasters, they also picked up the lucrative Formula One tie-in licence. Until recently they also held exclusive rights to Star Wars, releasing hit games The Old Republic, Battlefront 2, Star Wars: Squadrons and Jedi: Fallen Order. They will continue making Star Wars games moving forwards, but on a non-exclusive basis.

EA have been searching for a buyer as part of a wider consolidation movement in the video games industry, which has seen Bethesda and EA's arch-rivals Activision snapped up by Microsoft. Microsoft reportedly were unwilling to consider acquiring EA whilst their Activision acquisition is incomplete. EA reportedly entered communications with Disney, Apple, Amazon and Comcast/NBC Universal, with Comcast/NBC apparently strongly interested.

Amazon have been making various attempts to enter the video game space, mostly through acquiring video game streaming service Twitch in 2014. Various attempts to launch their own video games label have floundered, apparently due to the company wanting faster results with a quicker turnaround than the industry is really capable of generating. An Amazon-EA merger would make a lot of sense, although it would also likely generate legal concerns over monopolies, and gamers would be concerned over what this would mean for EA's recent tactical alliances with Microsoft and Steam, that saw EA games become available via Xbox Game Pass and the Steam storefront.

Whether this announcement was premature - Amazon and EA have made a deal and are waiting for the paperwork to go through, and GLHF jumped the gun - or if was totally erroneous, is unclear.