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Every year but one for the last half-century, one of the biggest, baudiest, most excessive movies ever made graces the small screen, courtesy of the ABC network. As surely as the seasons change, come spring Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments returns to TV in a massive four-and-a-half-hour block of ad-supported religious television... and people are still watching. As recently as 2023, it topped broadcast TV viewership for the week of Passover. It’s a time of year I look forward to immensely.
Not that I’m watching it on ABC... who needs that many Ozempic commercials interrupting the 10 plagues of Egypt? But I still stream it just before Easter every year, just as I have since I was a little kid and it was on TV the Saturday night before we all got dressed up in our Easter best the next day.
1956’s The Ten Commandments is not a good movie, but it’s a massively important one, and it’s certainly one of my favorites. Its hammy, sometimes wooden, deeply pretentious and overly concerned with itself, with long pseudo-biblical narration in pretentious King James-ish tones. But it’s also huge, bawdy, violent, sensual, packed with Hollywood legends, and stunningly entertaining thanks to its colossal scale and its extraordinary commitment to exploiting its audience.
Now I want to be very clear here: I’m not particularly talking about the Exodus story. I’m talking about the film. I’m a Quaker, and I take Exodus with a lot of theological weight: Even if I doubt much of it ever happened historically, the story itself still says some very powerful, meaningful things. It lays a foundation for three great religions, and establishes the extraordinary character of Moses, a deeply flawed, deeply reluctant, and empathetic cultural hero. And The Ten Commandments themselves represent something quite powerful historically... a legal code that, while theistic, endeavors to be truly just, promoting a peaceful and civil society.
The Ten Commandments is an epic, certainly, and a feat of filmmaking at scale. But more than anything else, it’s an exploitation flick. I think that in the modern world, when many of us hear “exploitation flick” we instantly travel to the 1970s grindhouse aesthetic. But exploitation flicks have existed much longer, and The Ten Commandments is easily the biggest, most expensive, and most brazen ever made.
What makes an exploitation flick not just another movie is its overt appeal to a very specific audience; in this case, people of faith and “family” moviegoers looking for a moral and ethical play to confirm their own biases. And once the viewer is in the seat, a proper exploitation film delivers enough sordid, tantalizing material to keep them invested.
The moral and religious trappings of The Ten Commandments are the bright paint and swan facade on the entrance to the Tunnel of Love. The theological and patriotic nuances fully justify a ticket purchase for even the most prudish. But once through the doors and in the darkness, our riders sail over a world of temptations, sins, and horrors: murder, political intrigue, lust, sex, dancing girls, kidnapping, assault, infanticide, sorcery, and revolution, all culminating in the most famous and spectacular Hollywood special effect of all time.
The Hays Code had neutered movie storytelling for over 20 years, forcing filmmakers to create largely sanitized universes of bloodless cowboy violence and gee-gosh-darn-it language. Sexuality was still present, but heavily curtained, hidden behind layers of innuendo... Lauren Bacall’s famous “You just put your lips together, and blow” in To Have or Have Not being the best example.
But The Ten Commandments was no Republic Pictures cowboy flick. It was a Big Important Movie about Big Important Things, like God, a morality play where good is rewarded and evil is punished. And that framing allowed DeMille to get around the Hays code in some absolutely amazing moments. Moses’ story in scripture is plenty violent and miraculous, but it lacks what audiences always want: sex appeal. And Cecil B. DeMille had absolutely no difficulty rectifying that omission on the part of the Bible.
At least six-and-a-half of The Ten Commandments are broken in the story of The Ten Commandments. Near the film’s climax, a golden idol is crafted and worshipped... that’s one and two. Rameses bears false witness against Moses. There’s a lot of killing at the beginning (babies) and again at the end (more babies and the Egyptian cavalry). Dathan and Baka covet what they do not yet possess. Theft and graft are integral to the plot. And while we don’t see overt adultery, Egypt is very thirsty, with affairs and alliances heavily inferred.
If this seems like a cynical take on a famous film, I ask you to consider the history of exploitation cinema. Take, for example, the cautionary tales and health films of early Hollywood, which overtly engaged sexual material under the guise of moral teaching. Reefer Madness is probably the most famous example of this bit; there were plenty of others. The Ten Commandments is exploiting morality and faith to get butts into theater seats... then using sex and violence to keep them there.
The film is incredibly horny. The Ten Commandments weaves a lust triangle between dreamy, chiseled Moses, his much hotter adoptive brother Rameses, and the princess Nefretiri, played by the sultry Anne Baxter. Whichever of the two rival men becomes Pharaoh will marry her. Nefretiri is team Moses all the way, but the sexual tension between the two men and Nefretiri is palpable. Consider this dripping exchange when Nefretiri and Rameses are finally alone:
Shirtless Yul Brynner: “Remember, my sweet, that you must be wife to the next Pharaoh. That you are going to be mine, all mine, like my dog or my horse or my falcon. Only I will love you more, and trust you less. You will never do the things to me you would have done to Moses.”
They kiss.
Anne Baxter, dressed in a transparent gown: “Did you think my kiss was a promise of what you'll have? No, my pompous one. It was to let you know what you will not have. I could never love you.”
Shirtless Yul Brynner, now smouldering: “Does that matter? You will be my wife. You will come to me whenever I call you, and I will enjoy that very much. Whether you enjoy it or not is your own affair… but I think you will.”
See what I mean? There’s a lot more stuff like that throughout the film. Showing off see-through wedding night fashion accessories. The women of Midian dancing for the entertainment of the men, who will choose one to be a bride. A startlingly overt suggestion (for 1950s America) of interracial romance between Moses and the Princess of Ethiopia, delivered masterfully by the talented actor Esther Brown (who sadly seems to disappear from Hollywood soon after).
There’s murder by knife, murder by balcony, murder by strangling, death by angel, death by dart, a giant magic pillar of fire, a parted sea, laws drawn on stone by the finger of God, and of course, a Golden Calf orgy. This is not a boring film. Stuff happens.
But there may have been another element at work in the film’s moral storytelling composition, and act of political rather than audience exploitation. For more background on this, you have to consider just how different our country was at that time, and also how powerful Cecl B. DeMille was.
The mid-1950s were a dark time for America, an era of racial animus and anti-communist paranoia. On Capitol Hill, Senator Joe McCarthy brazenly flaunted his baseless lies before the Senate, and in the House the Un-American Activities Committee spread fear and suspicion. It was also the age of the Hollywood blacklist, when stars and writers suspected of leftist sympathies were barred from work.
It was a tense period in Hollywood, a place always existing between the demands of commercial success and artistic expression, now inflamed by the steady gaze of Washington. And in the midst of this doubtful environment, no movie was a safer commercial bet than The Ten Commandments, something DeMille understood incredibly well. After all, he practically invented moviemaking as we understand it. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Cecil B. DeMille created Hollywood. And while today we may think of a 1956 movie as ancient, by the time he produced this film, Cecil B. DeMille had already been making films for over 40 years. He’d seen two world wars, the silent era, the silver screen era, and now color film. He was a pioneer, and his films made bank.
An Americanized retelling of Exodus was an ideally palatable film for an age of political orthodoxy. Mom-and-apple-pie values were all there in the fabric of the story: the elevation of personal freedom, denouncement of bondage and tyranny, a cursory reverence for some Abrahamic perspectives on God, and an emphasis on family across Moses’ life, from his Egyptian brother, mother, and father, to his Hebrew birth family, and yet again to his adoptive family in Midian. Don Draper would have been happy to cynically espouse all of these virtues in print and radio for a nominal free.
Was The Ten Commandments a deliberate bending-of-the-knee to McCarthyist trends? DeMille was famously conservative, and some elements lend themselves to interpreting a political dimension to the film. The first is DeMille’s theatrical spoken intro to the film in theaters (not typically included on streaming cuts). In the brief intro, the director evokes some potent language, calling the film “The story of the birth of freedom.” He goes on to say:
“The theme of this picture is whether they are to be ruled by God’s law, or whether they are to be ruled by the whims of a dictator like Rameses? Are men the property of the state, or are they free souls under God? This same battle continues throughout the world today.”
While there are plenty of flags in the production and story of The Ten Commandments that support a McCarthyist interpretation, also note that two formerly-graylisted individuals contributed significantly to The Ten Commandments, with actor Edward G. Robinson and composer Elmer Bernstein helping make the film with DeMille’s blessing.
When you compare The Ten Commandments to another successful sword-and-sandals epic released just four years later, you get a sense of just how overtly conservative and covertly exploitative it is. Like The Ten Commandments, 1960’s Spartacus sported a world-class cast, a legendary director (Stanley Kubrick), and colossal setpieces rivaling the parting of the Red Sea. Both films center on enslaved people revolting against tyranny. But where The Ten Commandments loudly espouses Americana orthodoxy while selling titillation, Spartacus makes no qualms about its more liberal politics. It’s a story of a popular uprising against an established national authority... a nation masquerading as a republic but where only the privileged and powerful are free. It proudly credits two blacklisted writers (novel and screenplay).
But that was four years after The Ten Commandments, when Joe McCarthy was dead. In 1956, what we got was the life of Moses filtered through the two veils of the hour: the Iron Curtain, and the filter of American sexual repression.
There’s not a great deal that’s artful about the way The Ten Commandments is constructed, but its straightforwardness actually makes it kind of timeless. As admirer Martin Scorsese advised, stop looking at the plot and try to follow the imagery and spectacle instead. It’s almost a horror movie in several places: The image of an Egyptian soldier pulling a bloodied sword from a cradle next to a wide-eyed, dead mother in the opening sequence is haunting, and the coming of the Angel of Death like a cloud of poison gas is genuinely disturbing.
Everything before Moses meets God is pretty much Charlton Heston at his hammiest best, but once he encounters the burning bush, he sort of walks around looking stoned. The Red Sea parting is a very cool effect, and Vincent Price absolutely slays as Baka, a truly sinister and gross master builder who turns in the best performance of the movie.
This Ten Commandments is almost 70 years old, yet I can think of few films I’d rather watch. The thing is, the traps DeMille set worked. All that sex and violence really is damn entertaining. It’s huge for the sake of being huge, opulent, indulgent even.
Just understand the movie for what it is: a film exploiting a divine story. It’s there to entertain, not instruct. If you want something less lurid and more spiritual, the book of Exodus is a short read, and provides the same tale in its much older form, a tale that details a vital chapter in the ancient lives of the Hebrew people.
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Full spoilers follow for Doctor Who Season 2, Episode 2, “Lux”.
Doctor Who’s latest episode, “Lux”, is a gloriously weird outing from showrunner Russell T Davies that delivers just the right balance of chaos and charm. But beyond the surface-level delights of its fourth-wall-breaking mischief, something about this episode is now rattling around in my brain and won’t sit still. Not only because it was entertaining, but because it might be the smoking gun for something far more ambitious and strange going on behind the scenes.
Over the past few weeks, an increasingly bold leaker known only as 'Andrew' has been dropping oddly specific plot details from Season 2 of Doctor Who (15th of the revived era, and 41st of the series overall). Detailed, beat-by-beat spoilers, including character returns, major twists, and even claims that Ncuti Gatwa is departing at the end of the season, with no replacement in sight and another Who-hiatus looming.
Normally, I’d file this under the usual noise and move on. Doctor Who fans and haters alike have always given off a bit of a doomsday cult vibe. But, “Lux” has since aired, and one of the leaks was bang on: The Doctor and Belinda literally break through a TV screen to chat with Doctor Who fans, as characters in the show, watching the episode. It’s an incredibly meta, knowingly cliché gag, and a great fourth wall-breaking moment. But most interestingly, one of the fans turns to the camera and says, “I knew this would happen because it leaked online. #RIPDoctorWho.”
So what’s going on here? That scene was filmed some two years ago (Season 1 and 2 had back-to-back production schedules) and will now certainly raise more than a few eyebrows. And yet, I can already see a few ways this might be playing out. First: Maybe it’s all just a coincidence. The leaks were unintentional, and that standout line in "Lux" is simply one of those absurd, once-in-a-blue-moon alignments of fiction and reality. The kind of mind-bending prediction you’d expect from The Simpsons, and one that’s got me spiralling into conspiracy territory with no one at the wheel. Still, weirder things have happened.
Second: Somehow, Russell T Davies had a prophet-like vision, saw it all coming two years in advance, and wrote it in. Yeah, that’s also a bit of a leap, so I highly doubt it.
Third: What if the leaks aren’t accidental at all? There were a couple from the opening episode that were accurate, and now some in the follow-up. Perhaps they were planted deliberately, but only small, mostly harmless titbits, and are meant to prime the fandom discussions without giving too much away. The rest? A bluff, just noise to muddy the waters.
But indulge me in a fourth scenario for a moment. What if there’s more to this? If the leaks were deliberate, I’m not entirely convinced the show would opt to only mess with the core fandom just the once. Stay with me here, but what if every single leak was planted as part of a larger meta-marketing campaign, with the story eventually folding that chaos into itself? Light the kindling with the line from “Lux”, and watch it burn all the way to the finale as fans try to piece the season together, matching it up to the leaked info and wonder if they are getting played, or if this is just one big mess.
It might sound outlandish, but Davies has already been gleefully rewriting the rules of Doctor Who since his return. He’s not just playing with form; he’s baked in fantastical elements, permanently swapped “gravity” for “mavity,” pushed the show into strange, reality-warping territory it’s never fully embraced before, and thrown in more than a few fourth wall breaks. What’s one more step over the edge to him? And now this? It’s just a bit too on the nose to ignore.
And what about that #RIPDoctorWho line? With no renewal announcement from Disney and radio silence from the BBC, Davies hasn’t exactly done much to quell fears of a looming hiatus, even hinting at a break in interviews like his recent one on BBC’s Newsround. So keeping that line in feels… deliberate. It could’ve been cut without fuss.
Just how far does this go? Is Davies, in a devilishly meta bid for buzz, deliberately feeding the idea that the leaks signal the show’s end? It’s also not the only reference to the show’s supposed “end” either, as “Lux” closes with Mrs Flood dropping this zinger: “If you want to see a good show darling, I can recommend this one. Better warn you though, limited run only, show ends May the 24th.”
On first impression, it’s just another playfully ominous line that harks back to the fourth wall breaks from earlier in the episode. But that May 24th date isn’t random: it’s when part one of the season finale airs, and it’s also the exact date the Doctor is trying to return companion Belinda to as part of the season's narrative arc. Doctor Who has flirted with airdate symmetry before, but never this overtly, folding it right into the script.
Taken together with the #RIPDoctorWho gag, these feel less like throwaway jokes and more like morbidly self-aware nods to show’s recurring death knells, written long before the current silence around its future. Or, perhaps more optimistically, these are meta breadcrumbs leading to something far bigger, like a surprise recommission waiting in the wings. Hopefully, it’s the latter.
Yet, if the show really is weaponising fan anxiety over its future, building an entire meta-marketing campaign around it years in advance… then it’s either a stroke of unhinged, runaway genius or the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Robert Anderson is a deals expert and Senior Editor, Commerce, for IGN. You can follow him @robertliam21 on Twitter/X or Bluesky.
Star Wars: Zero Company, Bit Reactor's upcoming new Star Wars tactics game, has been officially revealed at Star wars Celebration today for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S with a release window of 2026.
Zero Company takes place in the "twilight of the Clone Wars," and stars Hawks, a former Republic officer commanding an elite squad of operatives taking on a growing new threat. It's a single-player game, featuring turn-based tactics gameplay, and is said to incorporate "meaningful outcomes from player choices".
Gameplay will involve taking on various tactical operations and investigations all across the galaxy, and in between developing a base of operations and gathering intelligence through an informant network. Zero Company features a cast of brand new Star Wars characters spanning a range of different character classes and species, including a squad that players can swap in and out as they see fit. The main character, Hawks, is also customizable in both appearance and character class.
Star Wars: Zero Company is being developed by Bit Reactor, a new studio staffed with strategy game veterans, with support from Lucasfilm Games and Respawn Entertainment, and publsihed by Electronic Arts. This is the first we've seen of the game, after it was rumored for a long time and ultimately teased by EA just last week.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Electronic Arts has announced that Star Wars Zero Company will be released in 2026, and shared its first in-engine trailer. So, let’s take a look at this new Star Wars game, shall we? Star Wars Zero Company is a single-player turn-based tactics game, developed by Bit Reactor and Respawn Entertainment. In this game, you will … Continue reading Star Wars Zero Company gets first in-engine trailer, coming to PC in 2026 →
The post Star Wars Zero Company gets first in-engine trailer, coming to PC in 2026 appeared first on DSOGaming.
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The Ahsoka panel at Star Wars Celebration 2025 was filled with teases for Season 2, a first look at Rory McCann as Baylan Skoll, stories from the making of the series, and much more. To ensure you don't miss a thing, we're here to break it all down in one place for you.
While we have yet to see footage of Season 2 of Ahsoka or get a release date, we did learn a bit about what we can expect in these new episodes and it's about time we jumped right in.
The Ahsoka panel at Star Wars Celebration gave us our first look at Rory McCann as Baylan Skoll in Season 2. For those unfamaliar, McCann is taking on the role after the passing of Ray Stevenson.
Stevenson died just three months before the premiere of Ahsoka, but his portrayal of Baylan was the high point of the series for many fans.
Ahsoka series creator Dave Filoni talked more about the challenge of moving on after Ray, especially because he was "the most beautiful person on screen and off." However, while it took some time, he is "confident Ray would be happy with the direction we've chosen."
For Filoni, Baylan is meant to be the parallel to Ahsoka in every way, and he's so grateful that "there's a blueprint for what this character should be because Ray had played him so iconically." Lastly, Filoni noted that he felt very fortunate to meet and cast McCann, as he knew his "whole focus was not letting Ray down."
After playing an important role in the first season of Ahsoka, it was confirmed at Star Wars Celebration that Hayden Christensen will officially be returning as Anakin Skywalker in Season 2.
We didn't learn much about what Anakin's role will be in these new episodes, but Christensen did stop by the Ahsoka panel to discuss returning as the beloved character.
"It was a dream to get to do," Christensen said. "The way they conceived how to do it was brilliant in getting to explore the World Between Worlds. I thought it was all really exciting."
This was also obviously a big deal for Ahsoka series creator Dave Filoni as he joked he knew he needed to work with Christensen/Anakin again and had to "invent entire dimensions to make it happen."
For Christensen, one of the joys of returning as Anakin was being able to bring to life a version of the character from the Clone Wars that he really didn't get to play.
"All of this had been presented well in the animated world, but I was really excited to do that in live action," Christensen said. "As much as I love the traditional Jedi robes I wore during the prequels, it was exciting to get to see Anakin with a new look."
The Ahsoka panel didn't feature a traditional trailer, but it did give us a glimpse into what we can expect from Season 2 and who we can expect to see return. The trailer had no moving footage and was just filled with images, but it did confirm Sabine, Ezra, Zeb, and Chopper will all be back.
Elsewhere in the panel, it was revealed that Admiral Ackbar will have a big part to play in the upcoming story and will face-off against Grand Admiral Thrawn. There will also be incredibly adorable Loth-Kittens and, according to Filoni, "X-Wings, A-Wings, and Wings I can't tell you about."
We don't yet know when Ahsoka will be returning to Disney+, but it was shared that the team is still re-writing episodes leading into production starting next week.
Alongside the big reveals for Season 2, we learned a lot more about Ahsoka, its inspirations, and more from the actors and creatives who brought it to life. It all began with Filoni sharing that he has been very inspired by Studio Ghibli's Hayao Miyazki in his life and that his favorite movie is Princess Mononoke. In fact, that film is the reason Ahsoka has two wolf fangs on her cheeks.
Filoni was joined by Jon Favreau and Rosario Dawson on stage and they talked a bit about how the Ahsoka series was brought to life. It all began after Season 1 of The Mandalorian and happened when Filoni and Favreau were taking about what they should bring to life next.
Filoni's love for Ahsoka Tano is no secret as he helped create her with George Lucas, and the pair agreed they should play with the idea of bringing her to live-action. This led to them doing an episode for Season 2 of The Mandalorian featuring her after finding the right person and aesthetic for the character.
We all know now that Rosario Dawson was the one chosen to play Ahsoka in live-action after Ashley Eckstein played her so wonderfully in the animated world, and Dawson talked about what it was like to find out she'd be playing the character.
This all happened after the big online push for Dawson to play Ahsoka, and Filoni and Favreau both agreed she'd be great for the character. When it was time for Dawson to get the role, she said they showed her art and drawings they had done of her as the character and she needed to mute herself on the video call because she was jumping up and down and freaking out.
Even still, they were treating this Ahsoka apperance as a one-off as they still weren't sure they could make Ahsoka work long term.
"Even if this never happens again, I’m so grateful," Dawson said. "It was just so magnificent on so many levels. To see the fan reaction that allowed this story to continue was a dream come true.”
As we all know, Ahsoka's journey would continue far beyond that one episode. While there was still doubt they could get Ahsoka on screen on a day-to-day basis as it was a complicated thing, it all proved to be worth it in the end.
"When we started to move into the Ahsoka episodes with revisted characters like Bo-Katan, everything shifted toward a continuation of what Dave and George had done with animation while culminating storylines that already been established," Favreau said.
For the team, Ahsoka is not so different from watching A New Hope as it it starts in the middle of Ahsoka's journey and there is so much that came before and after. It just made perfect sense.
There is also so much yet to learn about Ahsoka, and Dawson is just as excited about us as getting to explore and fill out her story.
"I did not know where this character was going in live action," Dawson said. "I could understand her fear, anxiety, and stress and desire to help from afar. She wasn't willing to take over the mentor role herself, so it became a wonderful thing that I got to explore."
For more, check out why Ahsoka delivers such a powerful testament to Anakin Skywalker's legacy and all the biggest news from The Mandalorian & Grogu and Andor panels.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
This review contains full spoilers for Doctor Who Season 2, Episode 2, “Lux”.
Following a disappointing season premiere, this week’s Doctor Who is a meticulously crafted descent into a retro-tinged nightmare, where daring storytelling collides with a pervasive, unsettling atmosphere. The TARDIS doesn't arrive in the expected sun-drenched glamour of 1952 Miami, but rather in its subtly sinister twilight. It’s a period setting rendered in immaculate detail: pastel hues, sharply tailored costumes, and a lovingly recreated slice of mid-century Americana. Drawn into a mystery surrounding 15 missing patrons at a once-bustling picture house, what begins with echoes of a standard Doctor Who caper, even cheekily evoking Scooby-Doo, quickly spirals into something far stranger and more ambitious.
That ambition is most profoundly realized in the work of director Amanda Brotchie and animators Framestore, whose contribution to this episode is fantastic. With fine finesse, they’ve managed to channel the kinetic energy and whimsical charm of the Fleischer Studios' animated heyday, crafting an unsettling combination of colorful whimsy and insidious presence in the form of Mr. Ring-a-Ding. Masterfully embodied by Alan Cumming, who delivers a tour-de-force vocal performance, the villain feels like he's stepped directly out of a 1930s cartoon reel, not just in style, but in physics, posture, and that off-putting grin. It’s classic rubber-hose animation, brought to life and warped just enough to feel wrong, possessed, and dancing to a silent, unsettling rhythm, tactically amplified by Murray Gold’s wonderfully creaky and classically Hitchcockian score.
If there’s a bum note to this, it’s the reveal that Mr. Ring-a-Ding is Lux, another all-seeing, all-knowing cosmic deity – a character type Doctor Who is certainly guilty of overindulging in these days. It’s hardly a fatal flaw, and the nightmarishly animated devil still manages to exert a captivating influence over the episode. Moreover, the reveal lends to a fitting end for the villain, with the god of light released to join the celestial tapestry above us in a surprisingly poetic send-off. But fingers crossed we don’t see another one-off fantastical god in disguise anytime soon.
The animated brilliance of “Lux” extends beyond Mr. Ring-a-Ding. Amid the episode’s chaos, the Doctor and Belinda are unexpectedly thrust into a cartoon reality, a turn in the story that transcends mere gimmickry. The resulting sequence is a delightfully bizarre and frenetic experience, brimming with quippy puns and one-liners delivered with the pace and precision of the best early Simpsons episodes. After the pun-laden stumbles of the season opener, it’s a relief to see Russell T Davies wield his wordplay with actual purpose: Not just twisting phrases for plot’s sake, but crafting lines that carry rhythm, wit, and a surprising amount of heart. Crucially, the inherent absurdity of the sequence never undermines the episode's sincerity, maintains tension, and exhibits a pacing that is atypical of Doctor Who, a show often constrained by its tight runtime. Against all odds, it not only works, but ends before it wears out its welcome.
That goes double for the episode's even bolder swing: a gleefully clichéd fourth-wall break where the Doctor and Belinda crash straight through a television screen into a modern-day living room, startling a set of bewildered Doctor Who fans mid-episode. With the fans decked out in stereotypical Who-dress-up – Tom Baker's scarf, Matt Smith's fez – it does come off as a bit too on the nose at first. However, the reveal of Mr. Ring-a-Ding's involvement and the fact that it’s actually part of the illusion swiftly recontextualizes the scene. As a result, it feels a lot more affectionate without pandering, folding fandom into the fiction, and smartly avoiding any strained winks or jabs. To my surprise, the whole detour ends up doing more than simply breaking the fourth wall; it starts to toy, with real intent, at the boundaries between fiction and reality, going so far as to brazenly acknowledge the online leaks that spoiled the scene’s very existence. It caught me off guard in a way the show rarely does, and I still haven’t quite decided whether it’s genius or not.
Yet, beneath all the meta references and structural flair, “Lux” is ultimately anchored by a powerful emotional core that pulses throughout the episode. While some of the dialogue still feels a little janky or rushed in places, and the supporting cast remains one-note – more functional than fleshed out – the episode’s simple, chaotic center still shines. Plus, any shortcomings on the periphery are quickly eclipsed by the leads, who make the episode feel like a stage built just for them. Ncuti Gatwa delivers yet another standout performance as the Doctor, carefully channeling the mischief of the character’s past incarnations with the warmth and gravitas of a silver-age superhero. There’s real conviction in his quieter moments, like promises to a grieving mother and reflections on how his humble police box gives people hope. It all lands like a statement of intent for Doctor Who itself. Gatwa’s scenes with Varada Sethu aren't drowned out by exposition but resonate with a dynamic rhythm shared by equals. I also especially love that Belinda being a nurse isn’t treated as a throwaway backstory – it’s embedded in her every instinct as a character, shaping how she operates. (It’s already propping up some great interactions with the Doctor.) The fact that she’s only been in the TARDIS for two weeks is astonishing. She somehow already feels foundational.
It was just revealed at Star Wars Celebration that Hayden Christensen will officially return as Anakin Skywalker in Season 2 of Ahsoka.
While we didn't learn much about what role Anakin will play in Season 2, it will undoubtedly be exciting news for fans that Ahsoka's time with her former master has not yet come to an end.
Christensen stopped by the Ahsoka panel at Star Wars Celebration and shared what it was like returning to the character.
"It was a dream to get to do," Christensen said. "The way they conceived how to do it was brilliant in getting to explore the World Between Worlds. I thought it was all really exciting."
Ahsoka series creator Dave Filoni then joked that he had to find a way to work with Christensen/Anakin again and had to "invent entire dimensions to make it happen."
Christensen also shared that he and the team had many conversations about what else Anakin was up to during the Clone Wars.
"All of this had been presented well in the animated world, but I was really excited to do that in live action," Christensen said. "As much as I love the traditional Jedi robes I wore during the prequels, it was exciting to get to see Anakin with a new look."
Later in the panel, Filoni talked about how their shared work experience with George Lucas helped form a bond when determining how to bring back Anakin. This let them fill in each other's gaps in knowledge and let them create a really full interpretation of the character.
"I always have George's voice in the back of my head saying, 'faster, more intense!'" Christensen added.
For more, check out why Ahsoka delivers such a powerful testament to Anakin Skywalker's legacy, the first look at Rory McCann as Baylan Skoll in Ahsoka Season 2 and all the biggest news from The Mandalorian & Grogu and Andor panels.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
Star Wars Celebration has given us our first look at Rory McCann as Baylan Skoll in Season 2 of Ahsoka. For those unfamiliar, McCann is taking over as Baylan following the death of Ray Stevenson.
While we have yet to see McCann in action, the Ahsoka panel at Star Wars Celebration gave us a first-look image that you can see below.
Stevenson, who was also known for his work in Thor, RRR, Punisher: War Zone, Rome, and more, passed away from a brief illness three months before the premiere of Ahsoka. For many, Stevenson's portrayal of Baylan was the series' high point so far.
Ahsoka series creator Dave Filoni shared that losing Ray was obviously one of the biggest challenges in developing Season 2, especially since he was "the most beautiful person on screen and off."
Filoni and the team then revealed a bit more about what we can expect from Season 2, including that Hayden Christensen will return as Anakin Skywalker alongside Admiral Ackbar, Zeb, Chopper, and more.
In our review of Ahsoka's first season, we said it "struggles in its early episodes as the series works to get viewers up to speed on characters and concepts introduced in Dave Filoni’s animated Star Wars shows. But once the actors and cosmic plots are really given time to shine, Ahsoka finds a wonderful mix of rich lore, humor, and big battles that make it feel like classic Star Wars while also forging a path to something new."
For more, check out where Ahsoka ranks on our list of the best Star Wars Disney+ live-action TV shows and our explainer of the ending of Season 1 of Ahsoka.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
We’re on Day 2 of Star Wars Celebration 2025 in Japan, and IGN has all the details on the Andor: Season 2 panel happening right now! Stars Diego Luna, Genevieve O’Reilly, Adria Arjona, Denise Gough, Kyle Soller, Alan Tudyk, and creator Tony Gilroy were on hand to tout the new season, which launches its first episode on Disney+ on April 22. (Andor Season 2 will make its broadcast debut on ABC and FX on Wednesday, April 23, at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT.)
Follow along below for live updates:
Diego Luna took the stage to inform the fans in attendance that Season 2 is “so big in every possible way. Everything matters so much because we’re getting close to Rogue One. We have all the characters from Season 1 plus many new characters. Many familiar faces you might be expecting. It’s going to be intense.”
Luna added, “Then when you finish watching the season, you should go to Rogue One because you're going to see (it as) a different film.”
Gilroy said that with Season 1’s storyline, “we took a whole year to do the whole season. Season 2, we’re going to do 4 years in one season. Each three episodes represent one year. We’re dropping them three a week. It’s basically like dropping a movie every week. We try to find the most important three to four days (story-wise) in each year to land on.”
Executive producer Sanne Wohlenberg said this season is “wider, larger, more ambitious. Our extraordinary team really outdid themselves.” The second season boasts 140 sets across 7 stages. 2 backlots, 700 costumes for principals, 150 creatures, 30 droids ad 4100 VFX shots!
Gilroy said that “we’ll follow everyone you like and love. Cassian’s at center, but there’s a chorus all around him. We will tell every story full out. We go all in on all of them all the way.”
“For Mon Mothma, we start somewhere, this season takes us to whole new worlds. Whole new characters. We start in Chandrila. We start with a wedding and all the complications that brings.
Then we drive and we reach. For Mon, in particular, we see her have to work under the eyes of the Empire. We go to some dark places this season. She must step out of the shadows and risk everything to speak some truth.”
As for Dedra Meero’s arc this time around, Denise Gough said, ”We found out where Dedra comes from in this season. A little bit about maybe what makes her who she is. Things get real strange. Just to be part of this thing, every character is so fully drawn. I’ve never been part of such an ensemble. Dedra really shows herself this season. It wasn’t so much girl boss. It was much more fascist this season.”
Kyle Soller said the relationship between Dedra and his character Syril Karn is “really weird." Syril starts out the season feeling really good about himself. Promotion, new friends, on a new planet. Flexing the small amount of power he has in his little pocket of the Empire. Trying to flex this [Soller then pointed to Gough].”
Soller added, “It’s an amazing relationship because them coming together and opening themselves up to each other ultimately forces them into extreme situations that they never anticipated. So it’s pretty spicy.”
“When we first meet Bix in season 2, she’s left her home,” said Adria Arjona. “She’s really trying to reconstruct herself. Coping with everything that happened with Dr. Gorst. You get a sneak peek into this special relationship that starts forming (with Cassian). In this season, you really get to see these two characters come together.”
Andor Season 2 sees Alan Tudyk reprise his role from Rogue One as the droid K-2SO. Tudylk said: ”I always held up hope that K-2SO would return. I really wanted it to happen. I held out for my own spinoff, K2-Fast, K2-Furious. But Tony is a better writer. He has made an amazing show. We get to see how K and Cassian meet and the birth of K-2SO will be seen this season. It’s beyond anything I could have hoped. It feels like a very important series and it’s great to be a part of.”
K-2SO and Tudyk’s absence was keenly felt by Luna. “I missed Alan badly. It was seven very tough years. I was laughing the moment i saw him back in his very tight suit. We spent a lot of time in a cockpit. He’s the most generous and nicest partner you can have in a scene. He was always finding a way to make it more interesting, more fun. As an actor, that's beautiful. I never knew it was going to be so much fun. K is a character that has a soul. Alan took the character to another level. It was nice and awful to see how that character gets born.”
The Andor panel then concluded with an exclusive treat for the fans there: the screening of the first episode of Season 2! (Look for IGN’s review next week.)
For more Star Wars Celebration coverage, find out the latest on The Mandalorian & Grogu, the Ryan Gosling-starring Star Wars: Starfighter (and when it happens on the timeline), Star Wars Outlaws, and the new Darth Maul animated series.
© Future
Let's make this simple: You want to know if there are any post- or mid-credits scenes in Sinners. The answer is yes, in a big way, since it has one of both.
Full spoilers for the movie follow!
Set in 1932, writer-director Ryan Coogler’s Sinners (review) involves twin brothers Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan) returning home to the town of Clarksdale, Mississippi, after seven years away in Chicago. World War I veterans who then made a living as criminals – it’s mentioned they worked for Al Capone – the two are now opening a juke joint in an old sawmill they bought from a local named Hogwood (David Maldonado).
Hastily gathering everything they need in the hours before opening night, while reuniting with those they left behind, the two enlist their talented young musician cousin, Sammie (Miles Caton), and local legend Delta Slim (Delroy Lindo) to provide music at the club; their friend Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller) to work the door as security; and a healer Annie (Wunmi Mosaku) to make food. Smoke and Annie have a romantic history but also the painful shared connection of the baby they had together who died tragically young. In the meantime, Stack has an unplanned reunion with Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), who still is angered by him leaving her with little notice seven years before, though, still drawn to him, she decides to go to the club.
Others of note at the club are Pearline (Jayme Lawson), a singer eventually convinced to join Sammie and Slim onstage – who also makes some private, physical “music” with Sammie behind closed doors – and married grocery store owners Grace (Li Jun Li) and Bo (Yao), with Grace hired to make a sign for the juke joint and then sticking around to help tend bar while Bo plays cards.
Everyone is having a blast until the arrival of the vampire Remmick (Jack O’Connell) and two others he recently turned. Though they keep their true nature hidden, everyone is worried why three white people are trying to go to a Black juke joint in Jim Crow-era Mississippi, fearing things could easily go bad. They are denied entry as a result, but when Mary – who has a half-black grandfather but is white-passing – offers to go outside to speak to the still loitering trio to discern if they mean any harm or perhaps should be allowed to come in and spend their money, she is attacked and bitten by Remmick. Now transformed into a vampire, she gets an unaware Cornbread to invite her back in, before seducing Stack into a back room, where she bites him in turn.
The discovery of Mary biting Stack, and then seeing her survive multiple gunshots from a distraught Smoke as she flees back outside, are enough for the knowledgeable Annie to quickly realize they are dealing with vampires. Soon, Stack has risen from the dead as a vampire himself, joining Remick outside alongside a now disturbingly large group of fellow vampires, with many more having been grabbed and turned when the club was abruptly closed in the wake of Stack’s death. Their numbers also quickly come to include Cornbread and Bo, who both were outside and unaware of the true nature of the threat they faced.
We learn these vampires share a hive mind of sorts and are able to access each other’s memories. Having discarded petty human grievances like racism, they all act blissfully happy - and Remmick seems to perhaps mean it when he says he wishes to spread fellowship and love. You just have to die first to get it.
These vampires are pretty traditional when it comes to the rules, with garlic harming them, wooden stakes killing them, and an inability to enter a building unless they are invited in. Gearing up with guns, which can at least temporarily slow a vampire down, and wooden stakes to kill them at close range, Smoke, Annie, Sammie, Grace, Slim and Pearline all each eat a clove of garlic to prove they are human. They then plan to simply wait out the night until the vampires have to leave when the sun rises - until Remmick and the now-vampired Bo insinuate through the door that they will go find Grace and Bo’s teenage daughter, Lisa (Helena Hu), if they’re not let in.
Deciding to try to protect her daughter at all costs, Grace, against the wishes of the others, purposely screams to the vampires to come in, intending to force a last stand that she hopes will kill the vampires and save Lisa, no matter what else happens to those in the club, herself included. In the ensuing mayhem, as the vampires storm the juke joint, Grace is killed, burning to death alongside a vampire, while Pearline and Annie are both bitten. Pearline is turned as a result, but keeping an earlier promise that he wouldn’t allow her to become a vampire, Smoke stakes Annie through the heart before her human body fully perishes - causing legitimate anguish for both Stack and Mary, signifying that they truly wanted their friends and family to join them as vampires.
We recently asked Ryan Coogler about Remmick’s desire to unite everyone… even if it’s by vampiric means. “I love this character,” he said. “I love him presenting as one thing. Not just in terms of the vampirism, but presenting as one thing and being something completely different. Their fear of him being this racist guy, and learning that his view on race is the opposite. That, to me, was very powerful if he actually identifies with these people. These are the people he wants to hang out with.”
Remmick’s main target is Sammie, who has a rare ability to pierce the veil of time through the music he creates. This was vividly depicted earlier in the film in a manner we in the audience and Remmick could see, but not the humans inside the club, as musicians from across time joined Sammie as he played.
Coogler also spoke to IGN about the significance of this moment. “Just vampirism wasn't enough, he said. “There had to be other supernatural elements to this. … Why did juke joint culture develop in the 1930s? It's because these people were denied this. And they were born at a time where they weren't going to see more freedom. That was their luck. This is what they got. Maybe their grandkids will. And how cool would it be if they can party with those grandkids. That concept was how we built that scene, man.”
Now, Remmick wants to turn Sammie, believing he can help Remmick see his own ancestors again. When Sammie flees outside, desperately wading through a nearby pond, Remmick follows. Meanwhile, inside the club, Smoke and Stack fight, with Smoke finally getting the better of his brother, pinning him down and holding a stake above him for the killing blow.
Trying to escape through the water, Sammie smashes his guitar into Remmick’s head, slowing him down, but Remmick then overpowers him and is about to bite him when he’s staked from behind, through his back, by Smoke. Remmick screams in anguish, only to then realize he’s lost track of time and the sun is rising. The other vampires, who’d gathered to watch Remmick turn Sammie, all scream as they try and fail to run back indoors to safety, but instead all explode into flames before a startled Smoke and Sammie.
With only Smoke and Sammie left alive, Smoke tells his cousin to go home, saying he’s going to stay behind to take care of some unfinished business. Earlier, Remmick had told Smoke and Stack how, thanks to the shared memories he has with those he’d turned – including Hogwood’s nephew – he now knew that Hogwood was actually a Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard who, after selling the brothers the old sawmill, intended to return with his men and betray and kill the pair along with anyone else they found.
Preparing for Hogwood’s arrival, Smoke opens a trunk he’d mentioned earlier, which turns out to contain weapons - both military ones representing the brothers’ time in the army and a tommy gun representing their time with Capone. When Hogwood and his men show up, Smoke is lying in ambush and kills them all, though he is shot in the gut in the battle.
When he walks over to a wounded but still alive Hogwood, he demands a cigarette from him, and then lights it and begins to smoke it, only to fall to the ground, clearly close to death himself from his own gunshot. He then sees a vision – or perhaps their true spirits, from beyond – of Annie sitting next to him on the ground, nursing their baby boy. He asks to hold the baby, and she tells him to put out the cigarette first. When the rage-filled Hogwood interrupts this to scream one last litany of racist hatred at Smoke, Smoke unloads the rest of his ammo into Hogwood, killing him.
He then turns back to Annie and the baby, puts out the cigarette, and takes his son in his arms to hold, enjoying his time with his family as his life on Earth comes to an end.
We then pick up where the film’s prologue began, with a battered, bruised and bloody Sammie (who has four long claw marks on his face now thanks to Remmick) wandering into his father’s church in the middle of service, still clutching his guitar handle - the only part of his instrument he still has. His father tells the shocked parishioners to leave. Uncertain of what his son has gone through, he tells him to let go of the guitar handle, having always felt his son’s love of the Blues would lead him down a dark path. Instead, we cut to sometime later, and see Sammie is driving away, leaving Clarksdale behind, with his guitar handle on the car seat next to him.
We asked Coogler about the importance of Blues in the film. “I think that the music is an affirmation of humanity,” said the filmmaker. “It's a rebellion against the situation that these people were in. And had been in generationally. But it's also a celebration of that beauty. It's the full dose, the full human condition. Whereas the church is somewhat edited, the bad parts cut out. And there's an inherent room for the accusation of hypocrisy there when you cutting out the bad, and not acknowledging the bad. There's no hypocrisy in the blues as it was. It accepts you.”
We then cut to a Blues club looking decidedly different and more modern than anything we’ve seen in the film, as onscreen text tells us it’s 1992 Chicago. A band performs on stage and the old man playing the guitar has several large scars on his face, letting us know this is Sammie and that he kept playing music for the rest of his life. And the closing credits begin…
It sure does! In fact, the film has one of those mid-credit scenes that actually feels like the proper final scene of the movie itself rather than just a fun bonus. To use a comparison from Ryan Coogler’s pals at Marvel Studios, where he learned a thing or two about credits scenes, this is like the one in Spider-Man: Far From Home with J. Jonah Jameson’s news report, where it would be a genuine shame to miss if you leapt out of your seat immediately. Coogler does his best to let you know to stick around though, intercutting the initial closing credits with additional shots of the older Sammie (Buddy Guy) playing his guitar on stage.
But then the credits pause, as we move to after Sammie’s show, where he sits at the now empty bar with a drink. An employee tells him that a couple of people asked to meet him and he says sure. And when the door opens, in walks… Stack and Mary! They’re now sporting their 1992 finest, with her in black, wearing sunglasses, and Stack showing off a bright, colorful shirt and a flattop haircut. The bartender at first is smitten by Mary, then backs off in fear over the look she gives him and leaves the room.
A stunned Sammie asks them how this is possible and Stack explains that Smoke hesitated to stake his own brother, but then made Stack vow to leave Sammie alone if Smoke spared him. As for Mary, she fled down the road after seeing Annie killed, and was gone before the sun rose on Remmick and the others. Stack tells Sammie that he and Mary have kept track of him from afar the past 60 years, admiring his music and the albums he’s put out - though Stack isn’t a fan of his more recent electric-infused songs. Getting close and smelling Sammie, Stack tells the old man he doesn’t have much time left to live, and offers to turn him, but Sammie tells him no.
They ask Sammie to play for them and he obliges, playing “Travelin’,” the same song he once impressed Stack with when the two were driving together early in the film. When he finishes, Stack and Mary tell him that his song was beautiful and get up to leave.
Before they go, Sammie stops them, telling them at least once a week he dreams about that terrible night… but that before it all went to hell, he had the best day of his life. He asks Stack if it’s the same for him and Stack agrees, telling him that was the last day he saw his brother and the last day he saw the sun. The two vampires depart, leaving an introspective Sammie sitting alone.
There is a post-credit scene as well, and though it’s not another plot-heavy one like the mid-credit scene, its final, dialogue-free focus just on music is key to Sinners’ themes. Here, we are back in 1932, watching the young Sammie sit alone in his father’s church. It’s clearly before that fateful day, because he doesn’t have the scars on his face. He sits singing and playing “This Little Light of Mine” on his guitar, a song we heard earlier in the film sung in this same location by churchgoers, but this time Sammie’s performing it in a heavy Blues style his father would no doubt reject.
Coogler has said Sinners was heavily influenced by his late uncle, who was from Missisispi and had a great love for the Blues. He elaborated to IGN, “That's why he loved it - because it reminded him of his past in Mississippi, but also reminded him of his humanity. When that art is at its highest form, it reminds you of the greatness that human creativity is capable of.”
But what did you think of Sinners? And should we get a Sinners 2 with Stack and Mary in the 1990s? Let’s discuss in the comments!
Note: This story was updated on April 18 with full spoilers. It originally published on April 17, 2025.
© Larian Studios
Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the greatest cartoons of all time. The story of Aang and friends has been adapted into a movie, a live-action series, and multiple video games. But the end of that story isn't actually the end of the story. There have since been a series of graphic novels that continue Aang's journey after the fall of Firelord Ozai and before the start of The Legend of Korra.
There have been five Avatar: The Last Airbender graphic novels released since the end of the animated series, and a new box set was just released that features all of them. Not only that, Amazon just recently dropped the price down to $83 in a historic new low.
The ATLA graphic novels were written by award winning cartoonist Gene Luen Yang and feature artwork from Gurihiru. The stories were created in collaboration with the original creators of the beloved Nickelodeon series and act as a bridge between the end of The Last Airbender and the start of The Legend of Korra. The newly released Omnibus features the complete stories of the following:
With the current sale on Amazon, this new release is the most affordable way to purchase the entire series. This set had already gone on sale several times during its preorder period, but this new discount is the first time it's dropped this far below its normal retail price. If you love the ATLA series and haven't already read the continuation of the story, this price cut makes it a great time to do so.
Fans will be happy to know that new episodes from the Avatar universe are definitely on their way. Avatar: The Last Airbender creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko recently announced a new series called Avatar: Seven Havens, which will be a 26-episode, 2D animated series following a young Earthbender who is the next Avatar following Korra.
In a press release, Nickelodeon says Seven Havens will be set in a world “shattered by a devastating cataclysm. A young Earthbender discovers she’s the new Avatar after Korra - but in this dangerous era, that title marks her as humanity’s destroyer, not its savior. Hunted by both human and spirit enemies, she and her long-lost twin must uncover their mysterious origins and save the Seven Havens before civilization’s last strongholds collapse.”
Avatar Studios is also producing a new full-length movie based on Aang that will release in January 2026. Early in April the official title of The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender was announced for this movie.
Here's your best opportunity to sign up for an Audible membership at a stellar price. Starting now and running through April 30, you can sign up for three months of Audible Premium Plus for just $0.99 per month. Premium Plus is Audible's highest tier plan and normally costs $14.95/mo. As a additional subscription perk, you get a free audiobook of your choice for each of those three months and you get to keep them indefinitely.
Anyone who doesn't currently have an active Audible membership should be eligible. That includes new subscribers as well as existing members whose subscriptions have since expired. There's always a small your-mileage-may-vary disclaimer with these types of promotions, but fortunately it's easy to check if you qualify: log into your account, and if you see the $0.99/mo banner right on Amazon's Audible page then you're eligible for this promotion.
Audible is a subscription service that gives you access to hundreds of thousands of the best audiobooks without ever having to purchase them. There are two paid membership plans: the lower tier Audible Plus ($7.95/mo) and the higher tier Audible Premium Plus ($14.95/mo). The biggest difference between the two is the size of the audiobook library. Whereas Audible Plus only lets you listen to a selection of about 10,000 audiobooks, the Audible Premium Plus plan gives you access to a whopping 500,000 audiobooks. These include all-time classics like Frank Herbert's Dune, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire), The Witcher, The Sandman Series,and The Lord of the Rings.
Although the seriously expanded library is the main draw of the Audible Premium Plus membership, there are some other nice perks as well. Every month Premium Plus members get to pick one audiobook to keep in their library indefinitely, even after the membership expires. Also, Premium Plus members can get 30% off any additional audiobooks they wish to purchase in addition to exclusive limited-time discounts.
If you were already planning to purchase a couple of audiobooks, then it makes more sense to pay less than $3 to get three audiobooks you get to keep indefinitely and enjoy all the benefits of Audible Premium Plus for three months. This deal only pops up a few times per year, so don't waste your "first-time subscriber" eligibility status on a short 30-day trial.
Sunrise on the Reaping is the newest Hunger Games novel, and it's also available as an audiobook. The book will be narrated by Jefferson White, who you may already know from Yellowstone where he played Jimmy Hudstrom. The audiobook has a listening time of about 12 hours and 48 minutes. It's free to listen with an Audible subscription.
Looking for more free trials? Check out the best streaming services with free trials.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
My standing desk was the most expensive purchase I made for my office when I had to start working from home. Whether it’s gaming or working at my computer, the constant sitting was beginning to take its toll on my lower back, and that made it ideal to switch to a standing desk. And if you find yourself looking to transform your workspace, the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro is a good choice, designed with the user in mind. From its built-in cable management to its ability to preset your perfect desk heights, not to mention how easy it is to assemble, it’s an investment worth making.
The instructions for the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro show the number “2” with two people holding a box. So, it was easy to assume that I needed someone else to help me move the two boxes the desk came in (57lbs for the desktop and 85lbs for the frame) up a flight of stairs. And, I did. But from there, outside of one of the pages marked with the same two-person icon when you need to unpack the desktop and when the desk needed to be flipped upright, there were no other demarcations for two people on the other pages.
I am 5’4” and I don’t usually struggle when it comes to picking up and assembling things around the house. However, assembling the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro is solidly a two-person job, if you want to hit the suggested 15 to 30 minute assembly time.
Admittedly however, I like to make everything hard for myself and that means I put the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro by myself and was too stubborn to ask for help once it was upstairs. This made my solo assembly time just about 45 minutes. This was due in large part to trying to balance the two legs of the frame and move the heavier elements while holding another element upright.
The truth is, though, as hard as it was to manage putting together the base without a large wingspan myself, the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro is very simple to assemble. This is thanks to the detailed instructions that took the time to include diagrams of every piece of hardware, desk part, and tool used (which was just an Allen wrench).
Additionally, the decision to package each of the hardware pieces in individual plastic bags allows for you to easily remove the specific part you need for each step, reseal the bag, and ultimately not have any mistakes of mixing up parts or misplacing them. It’s clear that a lot of thought was put into the instructions, which focus on delivering visual and numbered text instructions as well, that help guide people through the process versus the meme that Ikea’s barebones instructions have become.
While maneuvering the desk’s heavier parts is difficult to do alone, the actual nuts and bolts of assembling the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro is as easy as can be, making the sub-30-minute completion time an honest representation if you have either the strength, wingspan, or another person to help.
The Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro’s surface itself is designed so that you don’t need to use a mousepad or desk mat while working. The desktop itself is sleek and smooth and fairly durable. The HDF wood has a powder-coated finish that easily allows the mouse to glide on the surface and helps you keep a minimalist aesthetic. But what really matters compared to the lower-end SmartDesk 5, which is made with MDF wood, is that HDF wood has a higher water resistance and, because it’s denser by nature, makes it more durable. We can all only avoid a spilled drink for so long, making this a solid feature. Additionally, one of the easily missed functional design choices is that the edge of the desk is rounded, allowing you to rest your forearms without applying direct pressure from a hard edge.
However, not using a pad underneath your mouse feels awkward to me. This feature is something you can do, but not necessarily something I’d recommend. Though what you use your desk for specifically will dictate how much mileage you get before adding your desk mat back in.
During the workday while I’m head-down in spreadsheets and other tasks, it’s perfectly fine as a capable desk for the work environment. However, my post-work gaming sessions helped highlight the difference in terms of ease-of-use and functionality. A personal choice more than anything else, the surface texture that eliminates the need for a mousepad at the very least makes it easy for you to achieve that clean girl desk aesthetic you see on Instagram that prioritizes simplicity over clutter – or in my case a giant desk mat with obnoxious anime print on it.
If I have one large critique, it’s that the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro is short when it comes to its side-to-side length, which limits what you can do with it. I have a three-monitor setup that could barely fit on the desk, and that also left little to no room for my filing storage. Because of this, I decided to use it as a work station for this review, housing only my 32-inch monitor, laptop, keyboard, mouse, and laptop dock. While I’m let down by the length of the desk, which only comes in at 53 inches, the depth is something to highlight. At 29 inches, the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro’s depth allows for desktop management without needing to mount your monitors for more space. And while I was using it as a workstation with one monitor, it was ideal, even if my gaming setup was too much for it to handle length-wise.
Check out our roundup of the best gaming and office chairs!
The cable management system is where the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro really shines. Under the desk surface, there is a built-in hook and cable tray that swings down when open and is held in place by two bolts. When you open it and let it swing back, the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro has a space dedicated to hold the desk’s power brick and a surge protector. But what’s smart about this design is the addition of metal dowels that allow you to wrap cords around to tuck them neatly into place. When you’re done organizing, you’ll just pull it back up and bolt it shut – all doable with your hands.
I am notorious for having bad cable management, so much so that I am no longer allowing myself to set up electronics in the house alone. Under my current desk, I’ve done my best to just shove cables into any small wedge and tie them off in precut holes in the furniture itself. And still, it’s a hellscape, to say the least. When I set up my Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro, I was still in a cable-ridden hellscape, don’t get me wrong. But instead of a chaotic web of black and white cords that would have been in plain view, the panel system allows me to hide my shame in peace.
Additionally, because the built-in hook and cable tray is large, you’re able to house multiple cables of varying sizes, and this ultimately deals with the biggest issue I have experienced using every standing desk whether in an office or at home. The length of the cable dictates just how high you can raise the desk before you yank something out of the wall or off of the desk itself, but the size of the tray allows you to house nearly everything, and at the very least, prioritize the shortest cables, helping mitigate this fear. Because they’re stationary in that spot, you can raise the desk as high as you want without worrying about cable restrictions.
The Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro also comes with a set of zip ties and a row of silicone cable clips to help you keep things organized. The reason this is interesting is that when I ordered my original standing desk, I needed to choose several add ons like a powerstrip, cable management supplies, and even add on the thin ledge attachment that I could clip below to house a powerstrip. The Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro, however, doesn’t try to make organization a “premium” feature, it’s simply part of the whole product, and that goes a long way.
When it comes to adjusting the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro height, you can preset three heights that work for you. My choices were dictated by my sitting height, my standing height, and the height I need when walking on my underdesk treadmill. The in-desk design of the keypad makes it seamless and allows the user to have effortless control. Even if you don’t create saved height profiles, the fact that there is a number display means that you can keep track of the height settings that works for you.
Additionally, the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro features anti-collision which stops the motor and prevents the desk from continuing to move if it detects harsh contact, and it’s meant to prevent damage and accidents. This feature can also be adjusted to your desired sensitivity, so while the recommended setting is 1, you can adjust it to your desired sensitivity. That said, the anti-collision is extremely sensitive, and anything above a 1 setting gets frustrating really quickly. While it’s not a feature I find too much use for, those in a home office who often have children or extremely curious pets will find this valuable.
To cap it all off, the Autonomous SmartDesk 5 Pro is really quiet. The whirring of the motor I heard whenever I lifted my old desk is gone. And while it wasn’t always distracting and a rather small element to call out, the near-silent motor is another feature dedicated to adapting to buyers’ lifestyles and usage needs.
Entertainment has hit critical mass over the last decade, with more shows and movies being produced and released than ever before. It’s impossible to keep up with everything hitting the digital space, whether it be Premium Video on Demand (PVOD) or a traditional streaming network. With that in mind, we figured it was well past time for us to whip up a little something to help you keep up (and catch up) with all there is to watch in the big, wide world of digital viewing. And thus, the Streaming Rewind was born!
We’ll update this list at the end of each week so you can check out what you may have missed, and what’s coming up on the weekend. We’ll keep it a mix of popular releases and noteworthy lesser-known titles to help you find what’s worth taking the risk on as well as dive into a few things that we loved and why we loved ‘em, or just break down a show or movie that left us with some opinions. Sometimes, we’ll even have guest entries from other members of the IGN staff. If you’re not interested in all that and just want to see a bulleted list of what’s out there, pop on down to the New and Noteworthy and ICYMI sections.
While it would have been nice if Sam Wilson got his own Captain America movie rather than the Thunderbolt Ross/Red Hulk movie we actually got, Captain America: Brave New World smashes its way onto digital and demand this week if you’ve been waiting on catching up with the latest chapter of the MCU. Though it’s one of the weaker entries to the franchise, it still features strong performances from Anthony Mackie (Cap), Carl Lumbly (Isaiah Bradley), and Harrison Ford (President Ross).
Season 1 of Daredevil: Born Again has come to a close. Though Season 1 had to be frankensteined a bit behind the scenes with multiple creative teams being brought in to salvage the project, they managed to deliver a relatively connected and engaging new entry into the live-action Daredevil pantheon. Things come to a close with the city of New York and its subsequent heroes on their backfoot, but never forget that the arc of the universe bends towards justice.
While The Woman in the Yard was met by a mixed reception, I found Jaume Collet-Serra’s exploration of grief and depression engaging. While it definitely should have ended about three minutes earlier than it did, Danielle Deadwyler grabs the audience’s attention as Ramona, pulling us along with her flawed character as she faces off against Okwui Okpokwasili’s Woman in the wake of her husband’s death.
The animated #1 Happy Family USA is a weird one, but it’s worth giving a few episodes a watch to see if you’re on its wavelength. Co-created by and starring Ramy Roussef as the voice of Hussein, the series follows a Muslim-American family as they navigate life in America post-9/11. The juxtaposition of normal teen life like having a crush on your hot teacher or just figuring out who you’re going to be crashes against the Hussein family reality of fearful neighbors, FBI surveillance and all of the ugliness that came along in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy – all depicted through a comedic lens.
If you had too much going on last week, here are some of the notable things that premiered or debuted on streaming and digital that you may have missed.
The best LED strip lights can truly transform any space, softly illuminating any area, be it your office, desk, or kitchen. If you really want to make an impact, RGB lights can enhance your gaming PC setup. Whether you’re looking to add a subtle glow under your cabinets or create a vibrant RGB light show in your gaming room, the possibilities are endless.
Just like smart light bulbs, LED strip lights are savvy investments that can help you save money in the long run. By pairing your lights with a compatible sensor or lighting up smaller areas with fewer LEDs, you can optimize energy usage and reduce your electricity bills. With a wide range of shapes, sizes, and colors available, you can easily find the ideal option to complement your space. Plus, many LED strip lights come with user-friendly apps that allow you to customize the lighting effects to suit your specific needs and preferences. (Here's where to find them in the UK.)
The Philips Hue strip is an ideal place to start building out your rooms of smart lights. It comes coiled with a little more than 6.5 feet of adhesive-backed lights to work with, but that can be connected to additional Hue strips for up to 32 feet of lighting or cut down to size without ruining the circuit. This kit is great for pretty much any situation – wrapping around walls, attaching to a TV stand, under a table, etc. – and a special coating on the strip hides the individual bulbs, creating a single string of light.
Like other Hue products, the lights can be controlled from your smartphone, other smart home assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant, and Apple HomeKit via Bluetooth, or a smart light switch. The pre-programmed color scenes were made to suit nearly any situation, from early morning wakeup calls to late-night parties, though they can easily be tweaked in-app. They look especially great when a good chunk of the provided strip is installed (and along with Hue products in other light sources in the room); when it's cut short, the segments of light with four-color scenes look a little disjointed. These are expensive, but absolutely worth recommending.
For a super affordable light strip loaded with versatility and control, the Wyze Light Strip Pro is the way to go. It can automatically set color temperatures based on the time of day, has a microphone built-in to sync with your music, and offers a vacation mode to deter intruders. Best of all, this 16.4-foot strip costs under $40 and offers 16 customizable segments to display 16 of the 16 million RGB colors and tunable whites available simultaneously.
Installing the Wyze Light Strip takes adhesive and clips included in the kit. You can cut the epoxy-coated strip at specific points to fit for your desired location, though, unfortunately, you can’t (re-)connect strips. Set it up with the Wyze app and connect it toAmazon Alexa and Google Assistant, making the strip easy to adjust using your voice.
For decking out your gaming PC with some cool lights, the Corsair iCUE kit is a solid choice. With four light strips, a Lightning Node Pro RGB controller, and the iCUE software, you can freely adjust and change the colors for each of the 40 individual LED lights. If you want an extra bright setup, you can add up to 12 Corsair individually addressable RGB LED strips to the two RGB lighting channels provided with this kit.
A USB 2.0 plugs directly into your motherboard as its power source, and the iCUE software comes with tons of effects, animations, and presets to choose from. You can sync the lights with Corsair gaming keyboards, PC fans, or other peripherals to create a vibrant and dynamic environment. The main drawback is that it isn't smart-home compatible.
The Elgato Light Strip Pro is made for people who are into game streaming. When connected to Elgato’s Stream Deck, you have an easy-to-use central command for changing your lighting setup to fit the mood of whatever you're doing or synchronize it to the action of your game. In addition to the Stream Deck, you can always make changes on your PC or your phone.
At over 6.5-feet long and extendable up to 32 ft, Elgato's light strip offers 2,000 lumens of light in full RGB and white colors that are flicker-free. It's also super thin, can be cut to size, and comes with a super sticky adhesive.
The latest version of Govee’s strip lights support Matter and can be extended up to 32.8 feet. The bright colors are incredibly immersive, whether you want to add additional lighting to your home or gaming setup. Using the Govee app, you can control the lights when you’re at home or away, and customize them with over 64+ scenes that sycn with other Govee lights in your home. The Govee RGBIC LED Strip Lights M1 feature 60 LEDs per meter, resulting in bright and colorful lights wherever you decide to put them.
While the Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite is an improvement over Govee’s T1 camera, it isn’t quite as good as the T2 kit. However, it is significantly cheaper. And for that reason, it offers better value for money for anyone looking to invest in a starter TV light set up. Using an upgraded fish-eye camera, the 3 Lite achieves accurate color matching, so your TV’s lights sync well with what you’re watching.
Still, Govee’s TV lights all come with the rather invasive camera that you must place on top of your TV. As long as you’re OK with this, the Govee TV Backlight 3 Lite offers a reasonably affordable way to enjoy a more immersive experience when you’re playing games, watching movies, or TV shows. Using the Govee app, you can customize the lighting and add up to seven sub devices.
Add custom lighting to your home easily and enjoy rhythmically immersive lights that are easy to put together with the Nanoleaf Shapes Triangles and Mini Triangles Smarter Kit (17 Pack). There are different shapes available, including hexagons and mixed shapes – whatever floats your boat.
The modular design means you can easily expand your Nanoleaf Shapes, mixing and matching with other kits. Once installed, you can customize the lights using the Nanoleaf app with as many color options as you could possibly imagine. Unlike some accent lighting, the Nanoleaf Shapes kit really does stick well with little issue, making setup simple and longevity basically guaranteed.
The Nanoleaf Essentials Lightstrip plays nice with other smart-home products and smart assistants for easy light adjustments. It’s Thread compatible for speedy response times, though you’ll need a Thread Border Router. Nanoleaf Essential devices, as well as Razer Chroma products, seamlessly sync for a uniform lighting experience.
This 40-inch light strips doesn’t come with a starter kit, so you’ll want to purchase that first if you don’t have one, giving you a controller to change the lighting locally and Bluetooth to make adjustments on your phone or tablet. Once you’ve got that, the Nanoleaf Essentials light strip emits adjustable white and RGB light and can expand up to 10 meters. Beyond creating dynamic scenes, it’s possible to mirror the lights of a TV or monitor for a more immersive viewing experience, while a circadian lighting feature helps maximize productivity or lull you into a more restful sleep.
If you want to go all out and decorate your entire home in LED strip lights, the Govee Permanent Outdoor Lights Pro are the best available. They cost a small fortune, but they are worth it in every sense. These IP67-rated waterproof lights work with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Matter, and feature 75 scene modes so you can light up the street, no matter the weather or season.
With 100 feet(!) of lights, these LED lights can also be cut to fit your home perfectly. Use the included controller, your voice, or the Govee app to control the lights, set schedules, customize colors, and more.
Depending on what kind of vibe you want to create, you’ll want to focus on the brightness and color temperature of your chosen lights.
Brightness is measured in lumens; this allows you to gauge how bright the lights will be. Generally, higher lumens mean brighter lights. When it comes to color temperature, LED strip lights come in different options like warm white, cool white, and daylight. The color temperature can significantly impact the mood and ambiance of your space, so think about the atmosphere you want to create.
If you prefer a consistent color throughout, single-color LED strips might be the best choice for you. On the other hand, if you want the flexibility to change colors, RGB strips are an excellent option. RGB strips offer a wide range of colors and can be controlled with a remote or even a smartphone app, giving you ultimate control over your lighting.
One of the biggest things people overlook when picking the best LED strip lights is the length of the light strip versus the size of the space they're looking to fill. Measuring your space first will help you determine the appropriate length and ensure the strip fits perfectly in your chosen location.
No. LED lights draw much less electricity than standard lights or bulbs. While you might not use strip lights to light your entire home, they're fantastic for accent lighting and creating an ambient environment.
It depends. Some LED strips can be cut without ruining the circuitry and others cannot. You should carefully read the product information before doing so. If the LED strips you purchase can be cut, the product will explicitly indicate the specific lines you need to cut along.
LED light strips can get a little warm to the touch, but certainly not as hot as a standard light bulb.
Brian Barnett writes reviews, wiki guides, deals posts, features, and more for IGN. You can get your fix of his antics on Twitter (@Ribnax) or check out his show on Twitch (The Platformers).
Danielle Abraham is a freelance writer and unpaid music historian.
If you've been waiting for one of the more affordable Blackwell cards to come back in stock at a reputable retailer, here's your chance to pick one up at list price. Amazon currently has the Gigabyte GeForce RTX 5070 Windforce OC 12GB Graphics Card exclusively for Amazon Prime members for $609.99 with free shipping. This is an excellent GPU for gaming at up to 1440p with high framerates and supports the latest DLSS 4 technology.
Note that the suggested launch price of a GeForce RTX 5070 card is $549.99. There are a few models at that price point but they have been extremely hard to find in stock. This Windforce model is priced higher because it's an OC version. That said, this is currently the lowest price you'll find for a standalone 5070 GPU.
Compared to the previous generation GPUs, the RTX 5070 performs comparably with the RTX 4070 Super. We wish there was a bigger generation improvement in raw performance, but the RTX 4070 Super was already an excellent card for 1080p and 1440p gaming. It also came in at a launch price of $599.99, which is only $10 less than the price of this Gigabyte 5070 model. None of this even matters anymore because it's impossible to find an RTX 4070 Super GPU for sale (at least at this price). The RTX 5070 does look and perform better than the RTX 4070 Super in games that support DLSS 4 and multi-frame generation, and it's a more future-proof card that will improve with driver optimizations.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
LEGO has a seemingly endless amount of sets. The toy company has collaborated with practically every major franchise and puts out a number of new builds each month. Unfortunately, LEGO doesn't just continue making every new set forever. Alongside every addition to the LEGO family comes the departure of several others. Sets get retired just as fast as new sets arrive to replace them. If there's a LEGO build you love, it could potentially disappear forever within a year if you don't pick it up before its expiration date.
While there are still ways to buy LEGO sets that have long been retired, your best bet is to pick them up while they are still available at major retailers and haven't been marked-up by resellers. Depending on the popularity of the set, you can sometimes find them at Amazon even months after LEGO removes them from its website. I've gathered some of those options right here to give you a chance to pick them up before they're gone forever.
Some really cool sets were retired near the beginning of 2025, including builds that have been consistently popular but have just outlived their shelf life. The LEGO Taj Mahal for example is one of the best LEGO Architecture sets we've ever seen come out of that line, depicting one of the seven wonders of the world. There's also the Sonic Green Hill Zone set that IGN actually had the chance to build back in 2022 when it first came out. It's a fun tribute to the iconic video game level from the series. It is one of our favorite Sonic the Hedgehog LEGO sets and is great for any fan of the franchise. And the last, very noteworthy, LEGO set on this list worth pointing out is the Loop Coaster. It is the largest LEGO set on this list at a whopping 3,756 pieces and sets at about three feet high.
If you want to keep better track of what LEGO sets are retiring, I'd recommend checking out the Brick Economy website, which includes the full list. This is a great resource for collectors so they can keep tabs on any of the more expensive sets they have their eye on. One of the best times to buy a LEGO set at a discount is right before it gets retired.
It's fairly easy to find out what LEGO sets are retiring soon thanks to LEGO's "Last Chance to Buy" page that features all of them. Unfortunately, LEGO does not put the actual date that a set will be retired on this page, so it's hard to decipher when exactly each option will be officially removed. The safe assumption is that if it's on this page, it could be gone by the beginning of the month as the new sets become available.
Below I've gathered some of the most intriguing sets that are getting retired. There is a slew of Nintendo LEGO sets as well as some Star Wars and Marvel options worth a final look.
© Bandai Namco
© Sloclap
© Slipgate Ironworks
© NetEase
© Disney
Easily the biggest news to come out of Star Wars Celebration 2025 was the reveal that Deadpool & Wolverine’s Shawn Levy is directing Star Wars: Starfighter, a new standalone, live-action film starring Ryan Gosling. Starfighter is shaping up to be the next Star Wars film released after 2026’s The Mandalorian and Grogu, with production starting this fall for a May 28, 2027 release.
But beyond those basics, we know very little about the plot of Starfighter right now. Lucasfilm only revealed one crucial detail - the film is set about five years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. That places Starfighter further down the Star Wars timeline than any Star Wars movie or series to date.
What do we know about this period of Star Wars lore? Not a whole lot, frankly. That said, we can certainly speculate based on how The Rise of Skywalker ends and how the pre-Disney Legends universe handled this era. Let’s take a closer look at the big questions that linger after The Rise of Skywalker and how Starfighter may address them.
First, we’d be remiss if we didn’t touch on the fact that Star Wars: Starfighter shares its name with a short-lived series of games from the PS2/Xbox era. The original Star Wars: Starfighter was released in 2001, followed by the sequel Star Wars: Jedi Starfighter in 2002.
The new movie might share a name with these two games, but we wouldn’t expect it to borrow much, if at all, from the games in terms of plot. The original Starfighter game is set during Episode I, showcasing some of the other heroic pilots before and during the Battle of Naboo. Jedi Starfighter, meanwhile, takes place during Episode II, focusing on Jedi Master Adi Gallia and Nym, a pirate character introduced in the first game. The new movie is set many decades after the two games, making it very unlikely it’ll adapt plot points from either one.
That being said, it’s always possible that the Starfighter movie could take a page from Jedi Starfighter in terms of its ship-to-ship combat. Jedi Starfighter was notable for introducing Force powers into the mix, allowing Adi to supplement her ship’s traditional weapons with abilities like a Force shield, lightning, and a shockwave. Could the movie do something similar? Is Gosling’s character a Jedi and a hotshot pilot? It’s certainly possible, and it would be one way of spicing up the fight scenes in the movie.
The Rise of Skywalker may end with a final victory over Emperor Palpatine and his Sith Eternal, but the movie doesn’t really give us much insight into the state of the galaxy after the Battle of Exegol. The fate of the New Republic after the events of Star Wars: The Force Awakens remains unclear. In the first chapter of the Sequel Trilogy, we see the First Order unleash its Starkiller Base superweapon, destroying Hosnian Prime and killing off the heads of the New Republic in one fell swoop. Most of the Sequel-era Star Wars projects have focused specifically on the conflict between Leia’s Resistance and the First Order, meaning we don’t have much insight into what became of the New Republic after its leadership was lost.
It’s possible that the New Republic still exists in the time of Star Wars: Starfighter, but we’d imagine it’s been greatly weakened. As it is, the Republic was already struggling prior to the rise of the First Order. As seen in the novel Star Wars: Bloodline, the New Republic government is eventually racked by conflict between Populists (who believe individual member planets should remain sovereign) and Centrists (who favor a stronger government and a larger military). That conflict may well carry over as the New Republic struggles to regroup and rebuild.
It also remains to be seen if some remnants of the First Order still persist five years after Palpatine’s defeat. Certainly, it’s not as if the Empire was wiped away after the Battle of Endor. It took years of fighting until the Rebellion finally conquered the Empire, and even then, they had the Imperial Remnant and Grand Admiral Thrawn to worry about. We may find that some traces of the First Order remain and have rallied around a surviving figurehead following Supreme Leader Kylo Ren’s death.
And that’s not even getting into the galaxy’s pirate problem. As seen in The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, piracy is a real threat in the chaotic years after the Empire’s fall. As the New Republic struggles to establish a foothold, many pirates and smugglers take advantage of the lawlessness on the fringes of the galaxy. We have to assume that this problem has only grown in scope after The Force Awakens.
All of this is to say that there’s likely to be a power struggle in the galaxy during the era of Star Wars: Starfighter, leaving ample room for the sort of epic space battles fans have come to expect. Gosling could be playing a New Republic pilot fighting to restore law and order to a chaotic galaxy. In that sense, Starfighter could potentially be a replacement for Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron movie. Gosling’s character could also be a homegrown defender of a world trying to defend itself without the Republic’s protection. For all we know, he could be an ex-First Order trooper like John Boyega’s Finn.
Given that Starfighter is being billed as a standalone movie, we don’t necessarily see it being the one to establish the next overarching Rebels vs. Empire or Resistance vs. First Order-style conflict for the franchise. More likely, it’ll explore the lingering fallout of the conflict in The Rise of Skywalker, centering around a villain taking advantage of the current power vacuum in the galaxy.
Luke Skywalker began the New Republic era with high hopes, seeking to rebuild the Jedi Order that Palpatine destroyed and mentor a new generation of Force-sensitive pupils. For a while, his plans worked. We see Luke building his new Jedi Temple in The Book of Boba Fett, and we know from various books and comics that Luke established a decent-sized school over the years.
Unfortunately, it all went to hell when the Skywalker family curse struck. Corrupted by Supreme Leader Snoke/Palpatine and spurred on by Uncle Luke himself, Ben Solo lashed out and destroyed Luke’s temple, killing many students in the process. He then joined up with the Knights of Ren and became Kylo Ren, chief enforcer of Snoke’s First Order. His Jedi Order in shambles, Luke retreated to Ahch-To to live out the last of his days as a cranky, milk-guzzling hermit.
So what’s become of the Jedi? Many died in Ben’s attack on the Temple, but we can’t imagine all of them were killed, any more than Order 66 successfully purged every last Clone Wars-era Jedi. There’s still the question of what’s up with Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano and if she’s alive and active during the Sequel era. Don't forget, her voice is heard among the Force ghosts at the end of The Rise of Skywalker, but Dave Filoni has also hinted that Ahsoka isn’t dead.
We know that Daisy Ridley’s Rey Skywalker is setting out to rebuild the Jedi Order (again) and carry on Luke’s legacy. That’s going to be the focus of the New Jedi Order movie directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. However, that film is set 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker, putting it a full decade after the events of Starfighter.
It remains to be seen whether Starfighter will address the current state of the Jedi at all. It may depend largely on whether Gosling’s character is Force-sensitive or not. If he is, we could see Ridley playing a small role in the film as Rey reaches out to this promising pilot. But if not, it may be that Starfighter is like Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story - the rare Star Wars film that mostly ignores the Jedi in favor of ordinary heroes.
Just as we’re waiting to see what the state of the Jedi Order is post-The Rise of Skywalker, there’s also the question of whether there are any Sith characters still active in the galaxy. That movie cemented Ian McDiarmid’s Palpatine as the central villain of the entire Skywalker Saga, revealing he cheated his apparent death aboard the Death Star and was the secret hand pulling Supreme Leader Snoke’s strings. But with Palpatine dead and gone for real now (presumably), is there anything left of the Sith? Or did this ancient order finally die out along with him?
If the classic Expanded Universe is any indication, Palpatine won’t be the last Sith Lord. The various Star Wars Legends novels chronicled many conflicts in the years and decades after Return of the Jedi. Meanwhile, Dark Horse’s Star Wars: Legacy comic dealt with the rise of Darth Krayt and his army of Sith loyalists more than a hundred years after the events of the movies. There are always those hungry for power and ready to be seduced by the Dark Side.
This is definitely not the last time the galaxy will be threatened by a villain skilled in the ways of the Dark Side, whether or not they specifically call themselves Sith. As much as the Prequel movies hammer home the idea that the Sith follow the Rule of Two, the Clone Wars animated series showed us that Palpatine had multiple Dark Side rivals, including the Nightsisters of Dathomir and his former apprentice, Maul. It stands to reason that there are other players out there who might see an opportunity now that Palpatine is gone. Maybe he had another apprentice. Maybe there are surviving members of the Knights of Ren. Maybe another of Luke’s pupils has turned to the Dark Side.
Again, though, the real question is whether Star Wars: Starfighter is going to dive into any of this. If Gosling isn’t playing a Jedi character, there may be no reason to touch on the current state of the Sith in Starfighter. We may have to wait for the New Jedi Order movie or Simon Kinberg’s Star Wars trilogy instead.
Star Wars: Starfighter features a brand new lead character and is set in a period we haven’t seen in the movies or shows yet. It’s also a standalone movie, meaning we shouldn’t necessarily expect tons of familiar faces to show up and fight alongside or against Gosling’s character. Still, this is Star Wars. The movies rarely waste an opportunity to throw in cameos and callbacks. If we got a Darth Maul cameo of all things in Solo: A Star Wars Story, then surely someone from the Sequels is bound to show up in Starfighter, right?
Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron seems like the most likely candidate. He’s probably the best pilot in the galaxy now that Han Solo is dead, and he’s a decorated hero who survived many run-ins with the First Order. We have to assume Poe has some part to play in rebuilding the galaxy and restoring the New Republic, meaning he’s in a great position to lend a helping hand in whatever predicament Gosling’s character finds himself.
We could also see everyone’s favorite Wookiee making a return appearance. What is Chewbacca up to these days? Is he still Rey’s copilot, or have they parted ways now that she’s focused on rebuilding the Jedi? What if Gosling’s character, through a twist of fate, finds himself piloting the Millennium Falcon alongside Chewbacca? It would certainly be comforting to have that tether to the Skywalker Saga movies.
There’s also room for Boyega to return as Finn, especially if the film specifically deals with a conflict involving remnants of the First Order. Finn was frustratingly underutilized in The Rise of Skywalker, but that film did hint that he’s become a bit of a folk hero to those Stormtroopers deserting their posts and rebelling against the First Order. Has Finn continued to seek out like-minded soldiers and help them overcome their conditioning like he did? What if Gosling’s character is one of those troopers?
And then there’s Rey. As we’ve already discussed, whether or not she appears in Starfighter may largely depend on whether Gosling’s character is revealed to be a Jedi or not. Lucasfilm clearly has plans for Rey going forward, but Starfighter may not be part of those plans.
Which surviving character from The Rise of Skywalker would you most like to see in Star Wars: Starfighter? Cast your vote in our poll and let us know in the comments below.
For more on the future of the Star Wars franchise, find out why Lucasfilm needs to stop announcing movies and just make them, and brush up on every Star Wars movie and series in development.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
Sigourney Weaver was a big part of The Mandalorian & Grogu panel at Star Wars Celebration 2025 and IGN had the chance to speak with her about her new character, how she hadn’t watched an episode of The Mandalorian before being cast, how Grogu stole her heart, and even if she thinks Grogu is more powerful than a Xenomorph.
The Mandalorian & Grogu is set to be released in theaters on May 22, 2026, and we hope this interview will help with the wait and give you some insight into one of the newest characters to join that beloved galaxy far, far away.
IGN: Sigourney, thank you so much for joining us! We were thrilled to see your character in The Mandalorian & Grogu panel, and it looks like she was maybe wearing a Rebel pilot uniform? What can you tell us about your character at this point?
Sigourney Weaver: Well, she was wearing a rebel pilot uniform, and that's how she came up. And now, of course, she's still a pilot and is one of the people working to protect the New Republic. She's actually out in the Outer Rim where there are vestiges of the Empire, so she needs someone like the Mandalorian and his faithful companion.
IGN: We heard that your love of Grogu was one of the reasons you decided to take on this role, so what was it like to actually work with him?
Weaver: Grogu is very mischievous. I'm sure that won't surprise you. It's funny because, in every scene with Grogu, there were several puppeteers who each helped him do a different thing. However, no matter how many puppeteers were around him, all I saw was Grogu. I still think he's real.
IGN: You’ve worked with a lot of different kinds of aliens in your career, from Xenomorphs to Na’vi. What was it like working with those in comparison to Grogu?
Weaver: He's definitely the cutest. I mean, if Xenomorphs are somewhere here and Slimer is over here, Grogu is way over the line. I think the Japanese call it Kawaii!
IGN: So, you said in the panel that you hadn't seen The Mandalorian before you started working on this. That means I have to ask, what was it like finally watching all those episodes?
Weaver: I feel so lucky because Jon Favreau wasn't like, ‘You've got to start watching this!’ I was just thrilled to do it and work with Jon on a Star Wars project. And even from the first episode, I felt that it was a great concept. It was a really good old Western with a few surprises, and I just found it charming and a great way for me to kind of re-enter the Star Wars world because there've been different projects and I get confused about what goes where.
So, this was a great sort of standalone story that kept building and building, and I found Din Djarin and the little fellow to be wonderful characters alongside great bad guys like Werner Herzog. The whole time, I was like, ‘What was he going to do to the little creature?!’ We don't even want to think about it.
IGN: Love it. Now, looking forward, you're certainly in the footage that we saw this morning. We saw you sharing a scene with Grogu and him using his Force powers to try to steal… was it like a dish of food or something?
Weaver: Yes. It's a little bowl of snacks that were mine, and he's doing his little Force gestures, and I'm just lucky I got them back. I had to be quite forceful.
IGN: Speaking of which, do you get to see Grogu use his Force powers in all their glory in this movie?
Weaver: Well, he's always trying to do something. So, to the extent that I get to be with him, I get to sort of see what he does when he's more relaxed at the home base. However, I feel like Grogu was sort of transitioning from a little learning creature to someone who has real skills. And indeed, he is the apprentice now, and I felt that I could see a big difference between that in the series.
IGN: I'm still very interested in how you came to this project and your experience with Star Wars in general, dating back to the very first movie. Going through all of what we've seen so far. Do you have a favorite movie from the series?
Weaver: Yeah. I think Rogue One. I really liked Felicity Jones's character, and I'm glad that was the one I saw because I think of my generation as a member of The Rebellion. I saw the other ones quite a while ago and, I mean, it was wonderful to watch them again because you're kind of going back to your childhood. It shows there's a way in for everybody back into Star Wars, and you can keep it going. It goes in all directions. It's quite an amazing thing.
IGN: Last question. Who is the most powerful being in the universe? Grogu or a Xenomorph?
Weaver: Well, it’s not that I don’t believe in him, but I’m afraid it’s a Xenomorph.
IGN: Why do you think that is?
Weaver: Because he can’t help himself. He just has to take over and destroy and promote his group. And, what I know and remember of Yoda is that he is too wise to do all of that. He’s not a destructive being. He’s on the side of good and I think Grogu is too, obviously.
IGN: And he’s just too cute to be all that threatening, right?
Weaver: Well, listen, if he stayed with Werner Herzog, who knows what he would have become?
For more, check out our recap of all the biggest moments from The Mandalorian & Grogu panel, including that Ryan Gosling has officially been cast in 2027’s Star Wars: Starfighter film.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
The Secretlab Easter Sale is happening now with savings of up to $119 off the popular Titan line of gaming chairs, Magnus gaming desks (including the Magnus Pro electric standing desk model), and accessories like the Secretlab Skins upholstery covers, desk mats, cable management, and more.
It's no secret that we love our Secretlab gaming chairs. Two of the six chairs in our best gaming chair roundup are Secretlab models. Of all the gaming chairs we covered in our "Budget to Best" roundup video earlier this year, my colleague Akeem Lawanson considered the Secretlab Titan Evo to be the most comfortable. No good chair comes cheap and Secretlab chairs definitely cost a premium, but we think the craftsmanship, materials, and customizability are worth it.
You can quickly browse through all of the listed products on sale above. For more information on each product and why they are worth your consideration, read through below.
The Titan Evo starts at $519 during the sale. This is Secretlab's flagship chair and it's available in small, medium, and large sizes. Upholstery options include Neo Hybrid leatherette, SoftWeave Plus fabric, or premium Napa leather. The chair features cold-cure foam upholstery for the seat, a supportive four-way lumbar system, full length backrest with 165 degrees of recline, full metal 4D armrests with magnetically attached PU cushions, and a memory foam headrest pillow.
Aside from the build quality, the Titan Evo also stands out thanks to the sheer number of officially licensed designs from popular video games, TV shows, and more. Some of the more popular examples include The Witcher, Overwatch, Attack on Titan, League of Legends, World of Warcraft, and Game of Thrones. They generally cost more than the standard colors, but they're worth it if you're looking for that extra personal touch.
In our Secretlab Titan Evo review, Chris Coke wrote that "after two years of daily use, the Secretlab Titan Evo has proven that it can stand the test of time and still be one of the best gaming chairs you can buy. Meaningful ergonomics paired with Secretlab’s wide selection of designs, it remains a fantastic option, especially for fans of bright colors or designs."
The prior model Titan 2020 gaming chair is available for $474, which is $45 less than the base model Titan Evo. The Titan 2020 is still an excellent chair and not much different than the current Evo model. In fact, outside of an upholstery change (the PU leather has been updated with Neo Hybrid Leatherette), the changes are mostly cosmetic. You are limited to fewer design options, so if you want to build out something that's truly unique, you might want to splurge a bit extra for the current generation Titan Evo model.
Among the Titan chairs, the Evo Lite is definitely the best value with its starting price tag of $419, or a full $100 less than the base model Titan Evo. It's built upon the same frame as the Titan Evo and has the same core features like the cold-cure foam cushioning, lumbar, 165 degrees of recline, and 4D armrests. What it compromises on is customization, with "only" two upholstery options, two sizes, and five colors, a non-adjustable lumbar system, simpler arm rests, and no included head rest. If none of these tradeoffs bother you, then you'll be saving quite a bit of money.
Although the Titan Evo Nanogen Edition isn't on sale, it deserves mention simply because this is our top pick for the best gaming chair. In our Titan Evo Nanogen Edition review, Chris Coke wrote that "the Secretlab Titan Evo Nanogen Edition deserves every bit of the overwhelming praise I’ve given. Granted, at $799 it’s significantly more expensive than the original and not far off from an entry-level Herman-Miller. But the return it offers in comfortable, supportive gaming is well worth the extra cost thanks to dramatically improved materials in both the fabric and multi-layered padding. The Titan Evo Nanogen Edition is class-leading, and is hands-down the most comfortable gaming chair I’ve ever used."
Secretlab's new recliner add-on is available for anyone who already owns the Titan Evo chair. In our recliner add-on review, Chris Coke wrote that "while both comfort and value are subjective things, the recliner is able to take the Titan Evo and transform it from one of the best racing style gaming chairs to standing head and shoulders above the competition at its price point. It’s novel enough that I wouldn’t be surprised to see other brands following suit in the near future. If you don’t mind paying for it, it’s an absolutely killer upgrade for your gaming chair."
The Magnus and Magnus Pro are also on sale during Cyber Monday. The Magnus is a traditional fixed-frame gaming desk while the Magnus Pro ups the ante with a custom designed electric standing desk frame for an additional $250. Both desks feature an all-metal desktop surface, solid steel legs and cleverly thought out areas for cable management, but the Magnus Pro has some really unique features including a power cable that runs internally inside one of the telescoping legs and an in-line control panel that you won't bump into.
In our Secretlab Magnus Pro review. Mark Knapp writes that "the Secretlab Magnus Pro is a fantastic desk, bringing the brilliant cable management solutions of the original Magnus to a fast, quiet, and wide-ranging motorized standing desk. The desk is built well and proves an excellent platform for work and play alike. It’s an expensive desk though, and for the money, it would have been nice to see a smarter safety mechanism for the motors and the desk mat included. Still, the overall quality you get is a big step up from cheaper standing desks, and the optional accessories truly enhance the experience. Anyone who’s not committed to a standing desk should save their money and go for the standard Magnus if everything else about this model sounds good, but for gamers who love a tidy desk and want the flexibility of a standing desk, the Magnus Pro should be the first they consider."
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
Here’s some good news for LEGO fans: Barnes & Noble, a company typically known for bookselling, is running a big sale on LEGO sets right now. You can save 25% off a whole bunch of sets, including some super popular ones among the IGN audience. That includes the lowest price yet on the Dune Ornithopter set, which is detailed and huge and comes with a bunch of awesome minifigures.
The Ornithopter deal may be the cream of the crop in the sale, but there are plenty of other excellent prices on sets to go around. Some of the Star Wars LEGO sets are really cool and rarely get discounts. My personal favorite of these is the New Republic E-Wing vs. Shin Hati's Starfighter set, which has you build two fighter ships that can duke it out in zero gravity. Another (more modestly priced) set is BARC Speeder Escape, which is also pretty neat.
A handful of Disney LEGO sets are also on sale. One cool one is a set celebrating the company’s 100 year anniversary that has you piece together stylized versions of classic Disney characters’ faces, from Dumbo to Jasmine. There’s also a Disney castle in the LEGO Friends series, as well as a mood cube situation from Inside Out 2.
The sale ends on April 21, so you have the weekend to make your choices if you want to pick any up. If you’re interested in other kids of sets, check out our picks for the best LEGO Architecture sets, as well as the best LEGO Technic sets.
Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.
For a limited time, Walmart has dropped the price on an excellent higher-end Sony TV. Right now you can pick up a massive 75" Sony Bravia XR X93L 4K Mini-LED Smart TV for just $1198 with free shipping. That's $2,000 off one of the best Sony non-OLED TVs and hundreds (even thousands) of dollars cheaper than getting a 75" OLED TV. It's also sold and shipped by Walmart direct, not a marketplace vendor.
The Sony Bravia XR X93L was released back in March of 2023. This was the second highest end non-OLED TV in Sony's lineup at the time, right behind the X95L (which was only available in an 85" screen size in the United States). The X93L incorporates Mini LED technology, which excels in HDR content. LED-backlit panels, like its name suggests, consists of an array of LEDs that can independently turn on and off, thus improving black levels and contrast ratio. In a Mini-LED panel, the LEDs are smaller and more numerous, which allows for finer control of brightness levels within the same scene.
The X93L also makes a great gaming TV. It has four HDMI ports, two of which are HDMI 2.1 spec. HDMI 2.1 enables 4K output at up to 120Hz refresh rate, which is perfect for current-generation consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The new Switch 2 will be capped at 60fps in 4K when docked, so you don't need HDMI 2.1 for that system.
If you're an Android smartphone user, then you'll appreciate the fact that Sony uses the tried and true Google TV smart interface. It's simple, it works, and you can even use your Android device as a remote.
For more options, check out the best TVs for gaming.
Eric Song is the IGN commerce manager in charge of finding the best gaming and tech deals every day. When Eric isn't hunting for deals for other people at work, he's hunting for deals for himself during his free time.
With the release of a new behind the scenes video today for "Superman Day," Warner Bros. and DC Studios have provided fans with a bunch of fresh new imagery from James Gunn's upcoming movie. That includes new looks not just of David Corenswet's Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor, but also various other heroes and villains from this summer's impending blockbuster.
You can watch the video at the top of the page here, but also check out the slideshow of images below for some highlights, including Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, Frank Grillo as Rick Flag Sr. (last seen in animated form in Creature Commandos), and much more:
There's also plenty of footage of Gunn directing the film, including the scene from the trailers where Superman is, shall we say, down on his luck and face-down in the snow near the Fortress of Solitude. We get a good look at the Daily Planet crew (Wendell Pierce as Perry White, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, and Mikaela Hoover as Cat Grant), lots of cool Superman poses, and Gunn high-fiving one of Superman's robot pals.
Superman will be released on July 11, 2025, and is the first live-action movie in Gunn's new DC Universe. For a rundown on all the upcoming DC movies and shows in the works, follow the link. And vote in our poll below to let us know what you think of the Superman roster so far...
Nintendo has officially unveiled the Switch 2 in a 60-minute Nintendo Direct. While preorders were originally set to open in early April in the US, tariff-related uncertainty caused Nintendo to delay the preorder date to April 24. During the delay, Nintendo kept the price of the Switch 2 console and games the same, but raised prices on most Switch 2 accessories.
However, Nintendo said the tariffs won't affect the Switch 2's launch date, which is still scheduled for June 5, 2025. The upcoming console will cost $449.99 alone, or $499.99 bundled with Mario Kart World (a game that will retail for $79.99 if bought separately).
If you’re hoping to secure a Switch 2 on day one, you’ll have a few options (assuming you're ready when they go live and there's enough stock to go around). Nintendo is offering a registration system through My Nintendo Store, where invites to purchase will be sent out on a first-come, first-served basis. Priority will go to Nintendo Switch Online members with at least 12 months of paid membership and 50+ gameplay hours as of April 2, 2025.
All major retailers are also expected to open up preorders on April 24, 2025, as well. With demand expected to be high, here are some key tips from the IGN commerce team to improve your chances of getting a Switch 2 at launch.
Even though we know Switch 2 preorders are supposed to go live on April 24, that doesn't mean they'll go live everywhere simulatneously. While Target has announced preorders begin at 12am ET, other retailers could push preorders live at any time on the 24th.
Plus, when a major piece of gaming hardware goes up for preorder at a retailer, there’s no telling how long it will be available. We’ve seen sought-after hardware sell out in seconds. The best and most reliable way to know when a listing goes live is to follow IGN Deals on X or Bluesky and keep an eye on those accounts in real time. (Wario64 and CAG are also reliable sources of real-time information).
From now through the launch on June 5, 2025 and beyond, we’ll keep followers posted on any preorder news. And when preorders do go live, we'll post links the moment they become available.
There’s no point in clicking a live preorder link early if you’re not logged in. The precious seconds it takes to enter your login name and password could make the difference between you getting a Nintendo Switch 2 at launch and not. The retailers below are all likely to have Switch 2 preorders, so create an account if you have to, and make sure you’re logged in and ready before Switch 2 preorders go live.
Note: It doesn't look like Amazon will get the Switch 2 in stock at all. For whatever reason, Nintendo and Amazon have been on the outs for the past couple of years, with Amazon not getting any first-party Nintendo hardware or software in for preorder. We'll update this if that changes for Switch 2.
The next step is to make sure your credit card info is entered in at the above retailers so you don’t have to type numbers with your excited fingers as everyone else on the planet buys a Switch 2 before you can.
With big ticket items like the Switch 2, the preorder links rarely go live at the same time across all the retailers. Often, Best Buy's link goes up first, followed a few minutes later by GameStop and Walmart. Amazon is usually the wild card of the bunch, sometimes going live hours (or even days) later. So if you miss the chance to preorder from one retailer, stay tuned to see if others will have Switch 2 preorders in stock a little later.
There's even a chance a given retailer will get additional preorders after its initial stock has run out. And even if you miss out preordering at all of the retailers, local brick-and-mortar stores may get stock on launch day. And failing that, even if stock is scarce at launch, Nintendo will catch up with demand at some point, so remain steadfast.
Anytime a hard-to-buy piece of gaming hardware goes up for preorder, out come the opportunists. You can bet shady sites and resellers on eBay will be primed and ready to capitalize on this moment. Some sites will make their original Switch stock seem like Switch 2 stock. Others will take their actual Switch 2 preorders, crank the price sky high, and re-sell them at a massive profit. If you fail to secure a Switch 2 preorder at a legit retailer when they go live, please don’t pay large sums of money to these people looking to make an easy buck. It’s almost always better to wait until more stock becomes available at a site you trust.
In case you missed it, here's the full rundown of what was announced at the latest Nintendo Switch 2 Direct on April 1st:
Highlights from the stream included:
Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Bluesky @chrislreed.com.
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