Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise has shared a first peek at his upcoming offbeat comedy movie Digger, which looks set to be a startling departure from the actor's typical Hollywood blockbuster fare.
Digger will be directed by The Revenant's Alejandro G. Iñárritu from a script by the co-writers of Birdman. Argo's John Goodman, Dopesick's Michael Stuhlbarg, Breaking Bad's Jesse Plemons and House of the Dragons' Emma D'Arcy will also star.
Rounding out the cast are German actress Sandra Hüller, Eden's Sophie Wilde, Star Wars: Rogue One's Riz Ahmed, Torchwood's Burn Gorman and The Crown's Pip Torrens.
Little is known of the film's plot, with today's odd teaser giving next to nothing away. The trailer begins with a spade hitting a carpeted floor, as a man in shorts and cowboy boots flexes and prepares to start digging. The scene then changes to what looks like the end of a dock or pier, as seagulls can be heard. The same man skips along the top of a set of railings, still carrying his shovel.
It seems obvious the figure in the trailer is Cruise, though from what can be seen of him, the actor seems to be wearing heavy makeup or prosthetics. All of which points to a very different looking project for Cruise than the actor's recent string of Mission Impossible sequels. The actor has portrayed quirkier roles before (such as in 1999 ensemble drama Magnolia), though not often.
Warner Bros.' first poster for the movie, meanwhile, features a tagline describing the project as "a comedy of catastrophic proportions." Today's announcement also comes with confirmation of an October 2, 2026 release date.
Image credit: Warner Bros.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
As we’ve already reported, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is playable on PC thanks to the Nintendo Switch emulators. Then, in November 2022, we informed you about a 60fps mod for it. And now, we have an amazing 4K Texture Pack, allowing PC gamers to get the ultimate experience. Created by NexusMods’ HDPacks, this 4K Texture … Continue reading Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Got a 28GB 4K Texture Pack for PC→
When I sat down to play High on Life 2 for the first time, I was optimistic but also slightly skeptical. I’m hardly alone when I say that I loved the first one – it was a rare example of a genuinely funny game and it happened to be an excellent first-person shooter to boot. But making sequels to comedies is no sure thing – just look at the long list of great comedy films that got bad follow-ups. How would a video game comedy sequel fare?
If the hour of High on Life 2 I played is any indication, it’s got a great chance to be as funny as – and possibly even more fun on the gameplay side than – the 2022 original. In that hour alone, I wandered around a beautiful beachside alien town, met a semi-depressed new gun named Travis and got completely wasted with him, impressed some alien teenagers with my skateboarding skills, circumcised a giant alien phallus with a laser, stole the fedora from the 1996 movie Dunston Checks In, tried (unsuccessfully) to solve a murder mystery, and bounty-hunted a billionaire who, yes, met his demise. Did I laugh along the way? Yup. Is the first-person shooter combat improved from the original? Certainly. Did I appreciate the variety of gameplay within this small slice of the campaign? Most definitely yes. Like I said, I went in optimistic, but when my demo ended I was more excited than ever for High on Life 2’s February 13, 2026 release.
Skate or Die
I began in Pinkline Harbor, a beach town with a bar, a skate shop, a bar and grill overlooking the sea, and more. It didn’t take long for me to find trouble, as a pair of fellow bounty hunters accosted me and eventually recognized me as a mark with a big bounty on my own head. After taking them out, the bottleneck was clear and I was free to explore the harbor.
This gave me my first taste of High on Life 2’s new traversal mechanic: skateboarding. I’ve played a lot of first-person shooters in my day, but I’m not sure I’ve ever played an FPS with skateboarding in it until now. And I have to say, I love how developer Squanch Games has implemented it here. It’s basically your run function. When you press the sprint button, your outlaw hero deploys their board and starts riding. You can grind on rails to really get around the open playspaces faster, and you’ve got momentum like an actual skateboard does, too, allowing you to catch air if you’re skating in, say, an empty pool on a cruise ship. I’m really interested to see how the skateboarding gets utilized throughout the campaign; I already saw it incorporated into a basic puzzle in my demo.
I’m not sure I’ve ever played an FPS with skateboarding in it until now.
After solving that simple locked-door puzzle with the help of my skateboard, I cruised into Pinkbellies Bar and Grill and met Travis, a down-on-his-luck alien (who happens to be a gun) who’s getting drunk at the bar after a fight with his wife. It’s here we see a welcome tweak to the first High on Life: you now have dialogue choices for each of your gun characters; if you choose one that’s from a different gun than what you’re holding, you’ll put that gun away and take out the one whose response you’ve chosen. This allows for plenty of funny options, and while I wouldn’t say this alone encourages replayability, if you do happen to run through High on Life 2 more than once, at least you can ensure that you won’t hear all of the exact same dialogue.
Hold Your Liquor
You’ve got to keep Travis happy as you pretend to be his drinking buddy, as he’s got a spare ticket for the cruise ship you need to get aboard, since that’s where your target – the billionaire Larry Pinkstock – is believed to be. And so there’s a literal Happy-O-Meter that you’ll fill by dancing in a DDR-like minigame, playing darts while hammered, and drawing a portrait of Travis. Naturally, this leads to a bar fight and you vomiting and blacking out and waking up on the beach. Did my actions during any part of this gameplay sequence seem to really matter? Not really. But did I laugh throughout it? Absolutely.
Naturally, getting aboard the ship isn’t as easy as simply walking onto it; you’ll need to fight your way through some more bounty-hunting bad guys. This battle gives you a good sense of how traversal – from the skateboard to using Knifey as a grappling hook – is organically woven into combat. If you keep moving you’ll be tough to bring down, particularly when you mix in frequent use of each gun’s special attack; they’re each on a cooldown, so you can’t spam them. Combat definitely feels more layered in this sequel than it did in the first game. In other words, you’ve got more options at your disposal in any given encounter, and that’s a good thing.
Combat definitely feels more layered in this sequel than it did in the first game.
Once aboard the ship, called the Pinkline Panacea, you’ll need to give up your guns at the security checkpoint before enjoying the perks of your VIP ticket – which includes the highlight of the evening, a murder mystery party. Thus, getting dressed up for the big event is a must, so Travis buys you both wild, matching Austin Powers-looking purple suits from a vendor who looks suspiciously like an alien version of John Waters.
Laser That Wiener
Anyway, I needed to get my friends – aka my guns – back, and so Travis and I wandered into Pinkstock’s museum to search for them. We didn’t find them, but we did find the fedora worn by Dunston the orangutan in Dunston Checks In, which Travis instantly became obsessed with. So, how to get it for him without alerting security? Well, as luck would have it, the adjacent museum piece is a giant alien phallus, set up for museum patrons to circumcise using the circumcision laser. I won’t spoil the puzzle solution, but let’s just say that yes, I did get Travis that fedora. And acquiring it was a very funny process.
More exploration of the ship led us to the Lido Deck, where a gang of unruly teens had managed to get their hands on Knifey. And in a clear humorous nod to Tony Hawk, the teens agreed to return Knifey – if I showed off my skateboarding skills by collecting the letters scattered around the deck…that happened to spell out the word “gonads.” L-O-L. And as you can already see, High on Life 2 is chock full of variety, and I haven’t even told you about the best part of my demo yet…
Whodunnit?
After battling some more bounty hunters on the Lido Deck who were looking to cash in on the price on my head, I made my way back to my cabin and passed out before the party. Once we got to the VIP murder mystery bash, I found four strange fellow guests, and soon our mysterious host appeared.
I expected a very light bit of clue-gathering in this sequence, and if that’s all it had been, High on Life 2 still would’ve earned points in my book for continuing to mix up the gameplay. However, developer Squanch Games had other ideas. The murder mystery is no joke, both tonally and difficulty-wise. The team clearly took this section very seriously, and as such you’ll need to talk to all four suspects repeatedly, scour the room for both obvious and hidden clues, make notes in your on-screen notepad, and eventually not just accuse one of the four, but have collected enough evidence and made enough connections to establish a motive and credibly pin the crime on one of them. I’m purposely not going to say any more about this because I don’t want to spoil any of it for you, but I’ll admit that while I did end up accusing the correct person, I hadn’t solidly established a motive, and thus, I failed to solve the murder mystery. I can’t wait to play this again in the final version of the game in order to take another crack at it.
Who’s the Boss?
I escaped the murder mystery via a water slide that took me to the lower deck. This led to another big battle where I got to test out another new weapon in High on Life 2: the Flint Turtles. They’re temporary-use pickups in the practical sense, and in the literal sense, they’re adorable reptiles who happen to breathe fire, making for convenient single-use flamethrowers. One miniboss fight and a few more rounds of regular combat later and I finally found myself at the end of my demo in a proper boss fight against Kreg, the leader of the bounty hunter gang that had been harassing me throughout my demo.
Kreg proved to be a pretty traditional first-person shooter boss foe. He had attack patterns to learn and weak moments where I could really let him have it. I wouldn’t say this fight was better than the excellent boss battles in the first High on Life, but it was an engaging enough encounter.
All told, I was pleasantly surprised by my hour with High on Life 2. Not surprised that it was good, to be clear – I expected that – but rather delighted by just how nicely the gameplay has evolved from the first game, and how much smart, funny, and unexpected variety there was throughout the gameplay. I wasn’t simply shooting the entire time. Far from it! If the whole of High on Life 2 matches what my one-hour slice brought to the table, then it’s going to be a very welcome addition to Xbox – including Game Pass on day one – PC, and PS5.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN's executive editor of previews and host of both IGN's weekly Xbox show, Podcast Unlocked, as well as our monthly(-ish) interview show, IGN Unfiltered. He's a North Jersey guy, so it's "Taylor ham," not "pork roll." Debate it with him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan.
In 2024, it felt like the passion and hunger for anime was at its apex. But as we've seen this year, that growth shows no sign of stopping. In fact, in 2025 anime is being watched by more people now than probably ever before. Thanks to streamers like Netflix and Crunchyroll, we've begun to understand just how many millions of people are watching anime around the world. We’re at a level of anime viewership we've never had in North America before, and this also means we've gotten access to many incredible shows this past year.
This was the year when even the niche became mainstream in anime spaces. No need for simple set-ups or universally appealing themes; instead, we got huge swings, new genre hits, and tons of absolutely manic action! Netflix audiences were open to the slice-of-life assassin genre as much as they were to the rom-com and shonen series that were released into the world. Crunchyroll had a bigger year than ever and announced a series of anime screenings in conjunction with the Alamo Drafthouse heading into 2026. Basically, anime is making a bigger impact on an even larger audience than ever before, and we're all the better for it.
Honorable Mentions
The smorgasbord of brilliant anime offerings this year made it incredibly hard to narrow down our finalists, but before we get to the cream of the crop, we want to shout out some of the other incredible series that almost made our list. Netflix started its year strong with the charming and delightful Sakamoto Days. The story of an assassin turned convenience store owner ranked as one of the biggest anime hits for the streamer this year, and one of the biggest fan faves. There were also outliers that became smash hits like To Be Hero X, a Chinese animated series that broke through the noise with its unique animation style and superhero lore – in this series’ world, belief allows superpowers to become real.
Another big trend this year was the power of the returning series. We had hugely anticipated shows like Solo Leveling Season 2, which became the most popular series ever on Crunchyroll and is also one of the series with the most-liked episodes on the platform too. It wasn't just those epic action shows making waves though, as there was also My Dress Up Darling Season 2, which took the character-focused slice of life hit about two cosplay pals and elevated it into one of the best second seasons in ages. We even had class series like Dr. Stone Science Future Parts 1 & 2 return, bringing some nostalgic vibes to our longlist.
Ultimately though, after many rewatches, rounds of voting, and deliberation, we came to a decision on our best anime of the year and runners-up, which you can find below!
Runner Up: Zenshu
A rare original anime, aka not based on an existing manga, light novel, or other source material, Zenshu took the action-packed isekai genre and smashed it into the coziness of animation and slice of life to great success. While struggling to craft her second anime series after the massive success of her first, a young animator finds herself in the world of her favorite childhood movie, called A Tale of Perishing. Once she arrives there, she discovers that the incredible and prodigious talent as an artist and animator that gave her success means that now she's been transported to the fake world she grew up with, where she can bring her illustrations to life.
Coming from Studio MAPPA, this is, as to be expected, one of the best-looking and most fun series of the year, and it'll make you nostalgic for the stories that shaped your childhood and tastes. But there's extra magic too as our hero can fix the tragedies that plagued the fictional world that she once loved so much. If you enjoy quest anime, medieval isekai, or even high-tech fantasies like Sword Art Online, this will be perfect for your pop culture taste buds.
Runner Up: Takopi's Original Sin
Taizan 5 has been devastating readers since his manga Takopi's Original Sin first debuted in 2021. But it was when the show hit screens this year that it gained a true cult following, and anyone who watches it will instantly understand why. The series begins as a beautiful tale about a sweet alien being who wants to make people happy but finds himself entangled instead with a deeply depressed and dysfunctional community of children. Warning: In case that little taster didn't make it clear, this is a really sad series that doesn't shy away from the bleaker parts of life, love, growing up and all the things that you lose along the way. But what is so special about the show is that you still want to keep watching and keep hoping for something better to happen.
Whether you're a fan of haunting horror like Tomie or mystery thrillers like Erased, you'll find something to love in this distressing yet engaging series that asks what it takes to become happy and whether it's ever right to truly pursue that happiness to its end no matter the cost. It's another sign of just how much anime is changing the way that people interact with stories too, as this is not an easy jumping on point for the art form; it’s a dark, challenging, and often brutal tale that still managed to connect with a huge audience, including many on our staff.
Runner Up: The Apothecary Diaries Season 2
After the first season of this awesome period mystery of the week made it onto our 2024 best of list, it's no surprise that the brilliant follow-up did too. The series is centered around a young girl named Maomao who is sold into servitude in the court only to rise up its ranks thanks to her knack for potions, detective work, and science. Expanding the world of the walled Imperial Court and those who inhabit it, this season became a court intrigue of near Game of Thrones-level proportions. With pregnancies, backstabbing, royal poisonings, and more, the first season of The Apothecary Diaries was one of the most engaging and talked about anime when it debuted, but how do you top that? By shifting into a more serious and unexpected genre than the slice-of-life mystery of S1.
In its second season, The Apothecary Diaries didn't play it safe and instead turned towards a deeper political intrigue that delved into the inner workings of the Imperial Kingdom and those who run it. It's the kind of choice that can either sink your anime or make it an even bigger hit, and here it was definitely the latter as the heated court drama began to entice historical anime viewers and even shonen fans who stayed to try to solve the dark mysteries at the show's heart.
Runner Up: Dan Da Dan Season 2
Probably the most anticipated returning series of the year, Dan Da Dan Season 2 easily made our shortlist despite its controversial change of theme song. After Dan Da Dan: Evil Eye, the movie previewing the first three episodes of the second season, opened to over $3 million in North America, it became very clear that the 2024 smash was turning into a cultural phenomenon. Whether you were counting Turbo Granny t-shirts at Comic-Con or hearing people talk about Momo on a regular basis, it's unlikely you've yet to hear about this smash hit series, which in its sophomore season managed to keep up the quality and strangeness that makes it so great.
Following up the monstrously popular first season was never gonna be an easy feat for studio Science Saru, but as always they delivered in spades. Back with all the same action and humor that made it such a standout when it debuted, the continued adventures of Okarun and Momo followed the pair on more paranormal and supernatural adventures. But it also showcased an ability to shift between genres and expand beyond any barriers that one might expect from a massively popular action anime. If anything, it leaned into the weird and doubled-down on what made it so popular in the first place.
Winner: The Summer Hikaru Died
This year our winner offered up something totally unique: a haunting horror that harkened back to the brutal yet melancholy cult movies of the ’00s like Battle Royale, All About Lily Chou Chou, and A Tale of Two Sisters. This enigmatic and beautifully animated series centers on the disappearance and subsequent reappearance of the titular Hikaru. Although it seems like a cause for celebration, his close friends soon begin to suspect that their friend didn't really come back and instead has been replaced by someone or something else...
To reveal any more of the exact details of the story is to destroy at least a little of the magic that this esoteric, moody, atmospheric, gorgeous, and heartbreaking show has to offer.
Adapted from the manga of the same name by Mokumokuren, The Summer Hikaru Died centers on a cast of funny, nimble, and very much alive young characters who navigate the world in a way that'll spark your nostalgia while still surprising you. This is the kind of show that you know is something special as you watch, not only conceptually but also in how it's brought to life. This has become an instant existential classic and thanks to the immense platform of Netflix it's been able to find an equally large and appreciative audience.
Although it was a very close battle, Hikaru ultimately pulled ahead on our list and deservedly so. Strange, haunting, emotional, and always deeply entertaining, The Summer Hikaru Died is IGN's Best Anime of 2025.
So what do you think? Did The Summer Hikaru Died deserve the top spot this year? Let’s talk about it in the comments, and don’t forget to vote in the poll above. And make sure to check out all our IGN Awards for 2025 across film, TV, gaming, anime, and comics!
Note: For IGN's best anime series award, anime must have completed airing their season or cour/parts in the U.S. by our 2025 voting period in order to be eligible. For example, Gachiakuta will be considered for the following year.
Grab your mouse and get clicking, because it's been a great year for games, and the PC has seen nearly all of them cross its path. The IGN staff has rounded up the best PC gaming had to offer in 2025 and pitted them against each other in a free-for-all Quake match for the crown… okay, actually we just nominated our top five and then voted on a winner, though we'll also be shouting out a few more standouts that are worth highlighting alongside them.
As always, the PC list comes with a few funny caveats alongside its console-based competition – or, more specifically, because of the fact that it's not really trying to fight in that age-old war. PCs have long acted as a bit of a catchall for gaming as a hobby, and that's been more true than ever in recent years as nearly every (non-Nintendo) "exclusive" seems to make its way to Steam at some point. Certain games on this list can feel a little more PC-focused than others, but some of the selections here might look a bit familiar if you've followed out console awards. That's the nature of our multi-platform hobby.
Honorable Mentions
Two games worth shouting out that didn't make our best PC shortlist are Europa Universalis 5 and Anno 117: Pax Romana – strategy games have a comfy home here, and while the genre is is a little tougher to penetrate than likes of RPGs and action games, its undeniable that 2025 has been a great year for 4X fans. Similarly, mouse-and-keyboard diehards had plenty to sink their teeth into this year with awesome FPS options like Doom: The Dark Ages, Arc Raiders, and Battlefield 6, all of which are sitting comfortably as nominees for our Best Shooter category. There were also some excellent indie roguelike hits like Ball x Pit, Megabonk, and Monster Train 2 that can feel at home on PC. That's not to mention another great RPG that just got pushed out of the top five here in The Outer Worlds 2, as well as the excellent Split Fiction, both of which made our Best Xbox nominations.
Runner-Up – Hollow Knight: Silksong
The conversation around the long-awaited Hollow Knight: Silksong was almost entirely dominated by difficulty when it first arrived. It's a brutally challenging platformer, often unforgiving but never outright unfair, and one that truly tested those who tried to conquer its seemingly endless map. But to boil Silksong down to only discussions of difficulty does it a disservice. Whether or not that one run back to a boss is too long, or that fake save bench that actually drops you into a pit of poison water is too mean (it's not, it's hilarious), there is so much Silksong does right, or more often brilliantly, that make it a truly stunning achievement overall. Its world is detailed and beautiful, its characters are charming and cleverly written, its music is consistently fantastic, and its branching paths let you explore and grow stronger no matter which direction you go, always giving you options if you hit a physical or metaphorical wall. The story it tells is also touching and nuanced, told through a lead character that has become a standout. Silksong is a game that nails nearly everything it attempts, and a sequel that was absolutely worth the wait.
Runner-Up – Blue Prince
It's easy to underestimate Blue Prince. In fact, it's easy to reach the credits, play deep into its endgame, and still underestimate just how much is hidden in the shifting halls of the roguelike puzzler. A smart blend of genres that come together to make something not quite like anything else we've played before, Blue Prince is one of those singular puzzle games that hooks you hard and then makes you wish you could wipe your mind and play it all over again once you're finally through. Its only frustration comes in the form of its randomness, but even that is woven in masterfully as a beast that can be tamed with skill, knowledge, and plenty of permanent upgrades. It somehow strikes the same tone as games like Myst, but with the enticing "just one more run" of wildly different all-time contenders like Slay The Spire. That's a hard line to walk, but Blue Prince strides along it with grace.
Runner-Up – Hades 2
Similar to Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades 2 had the unenviable task of following in the footsteps of an absolute giant. How do you improve on something already so close to perfection? Well, developer Supergiant's strategy was to go bigger bigger bigger. It doesn't revolutionize what made the original Hades so incredible, but it does offer a distinctly different flavor of it, and then stuffs that refreshed package full of so many new areas, enemies, systems, and upgrade options that it more than fulfills the role of a true and proper sequel. Melinoë's journey to kill the titan of time is also a fun twist on a familiar formula, and her moveset and weapon options masterfully shake up the still excellent action without overcomplicating anything – that's why although it didn't win the top spot here, it was crowned our best action game of 2025. And, of course, all of that is complimented by the same gorgeous sense of style and hypnotizing soundtrack that helped the first game leave such a lasting mark.
Runner-Up – Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 may command the center of the RPG stage in 2025, but overlooking Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 dancing right alongside it would be a mistake. This massive medieval adventure could keep you playing well past the 100-hour mark, with tons of stories to unravel and quests to complete. Most notably of all, those tasks come with lots of choices to make that give you a hand in how this tale plays out, as well as the burden of living with the consequences of your actions. We've been waiting a long time already for The Elder Scrolls 6, and it seems like we'll be waiting a long time still, but Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is a phenomenal alternative before that day ever comes – and is far from a consolation prize in the meantime, standing as a very impressive RPG that very well could have been claiming the top spot of many a list in a year that wasn't dominated by a certain French game...
Winner – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
I wouldn't blame you if you feel like rolling your eyes at the absolute sweep Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has rolled out for award ceremonies across both IGN and the games industry as a whole, but becoming so used to it winning everything from best-ofs to costume contests throughout the month of December doesn't mean it doesn't deserve to. This distinctly (perhaps even aggressively) French RPG doesn't really do a ton we haven't seen elsewhere before, transparently owing loads to the plenty of Japanese-made RPGs that so clearly inspired it – but it does bring together loads of familiar pieces and assembles them in a way that feels fresh and new. The exciting and varied action elements of its turn-based combat, the interesting twist on a post-apocalyptic plot, and the powerhouse strength of the ensemble cast fueling the heart of it all. Add to all this that it's come from a brand new developer that clearly understands how to punch above its weight – not to mention it came out of the gate swinging with a PC version that didn't require frantic post-launch patching to be optimized – and it's not hard to understand why Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is our winner for Best PC Game of 2025.
Got a different pick? Tell us what your favourite PC game of 2025 was in the comments! For more IGN awards, you can check them all out in one place here, including our picks for the best Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo games of the year.
Just about every TV series on our list this year feels socially and politically relevant, in both big and small ways. And since art is a reflection of the era and its people, then it makes sense for our current anxiety and turmoil to show up in our entertainment - whether it's a future run by five greedy tech corporations, a mass shooting event at a music festival, a nightmarish workplace that splits your identity and keeps half of you in prison, an entire world becoming void of free will, or the literal life and death battle against tyranny.
In 2025, we saw Breaking Bad's Vince Gilligan return to TV in a triumphant way, bringing Better Call Saul's secret weapon, Rhea Seehorn, along for the ride. We also saw the debut of a fantastic new medical series from ER's R. Scott Gemmill and John Wells, and witnessed the Alien franchise switch gears and soar to new heights on TV (bringing Xenomorphs to our world in a way the movies have promised since 1991 when teasers told us Alien 3 would be on Earth). We also got stunning second seasons from both Severance and Andor. So which was the best? What series will take home Best in Show? Let's find out...
Honorable Mentions
There was no shortage of great TV in 2025. So much so that impressive oner-fueled projects like The Studio and miniseries Adolescence didn't even make our nominations list. Of course, those two shows are on polar opposite ends of the feelings spectrum -- one being the ultimate in Hollywood-skewering cringe comedy and the other a dire, dramatic look at dangerous online teenage manosphere indoctrination.
It's also worth mentioning Netflix's excellent, insightful Death By Lightning, about the assassination of President James A. Garfield, as it was one of the year's best series. Gen V offered up a continuation of The Boys universe. And while the first batch of Stranger Things episodes has already been released, we've yet to see the rest of the season so really couldn't include it on this list.
Runner-Up: Pluribus
Vince Gilligan cleverly calls upon his X-Files past for a delightfully disturbing twist on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The superb Rhea Seehorn stars as a curmudgeonly romance author, Carol, who becomes one of the few people left on Earth after the rest of humanity joins together in a happy hippie hive mind. Pluribus is a witty, probing dramedy that simultaneously acts as a grand sci-fi thought experiment, with a style that scratches many a Breaking Bad itch. It needed no time to hook viewers and it's continued to mesmerize on a weekly basis as Carol finds herself simultaneously surrounded by everyone on the planet while also becoming the most lonely person in existence.
Read IGN's review of the Pluribus premiere. (Note: IGN staff have seen the entire season of Pluribus, making it eligible for consideration in this category.)
Runner-Up: Severance
Severance's second season was one of the most anticipated follow-ups in recent TV history, and after three long years (and a WGA/SAG strike) it finally arrived, delivering in big big ways on its promise of stylish, twisty, and emotionally devastating sci-fi. Season 2 gifted us with some answers to core mysteries while also honing in on the conflict between each character’s Innie and Outie self, as Lumon scion Helena (Britt Lower) worked to manipulate both versions of Adam Scott's Mark, who we learned is the company's most important severed worker. Severance continues to be a scathing commentary on corporate culture through the lens of liminal space dystopia.
The Rehearsal, comedian/madman Nathan Fielder's fascinating experiment about controlling your life narrative, returned for an acclaimed second season this past spring, providing courageous viewers with more more cringey scenarios and audacious laughs. Stirring up more real-world controversy, just like he did in Season 1, Fielder ramped up The Rehearsal's jarring meta-aspects in 2025 by exploring (or ignoring) his own personal difficulties with human connection. The jaw-dropping season finale is not to be missed.
Runner-Up: The Pitt
Combine the best of ER and 24 and you get the ridiculously riveting new series The Pitt, where we follow both tenured doctors and first-day postgrad residents over the course of 15 hours (many of which are harrowing) in a Pittsburgh trauma center emergency room. The Pitt is a premium medical drama that harkens back to the heyday of appointment television, starring one of must-see TV's most beloved stars, Noah Wyle. It's kooky one moment and soul-crushing the next as Wyle's Dr. Robbie and his team deal with crises big and small, all while he tries to manage his own painful memories of working during the COVID-19 pandemic. It's smart, spectacular ensemble television.
Noah Hawley, the mad genius behind FX's Fargo anthology series (and the beloved batshit X-Men-adjacent series Legion), was the perfect pull to make the first-ever Alien franchise TV series, filling our home screens with not just ferocious Xenomorphs and precocious Synthetics, but also throwing in cyborgs, hybrids, life-sucking space flies, blood-draining space ticks, and a crowd-pleasing, body-snatching space eyeball that stares into your soul. Add some '90s rock and a recurring Peter Pan theme and you've got the impressive, oddball Alien: Earth. Does Alien: Earth fit seamlessly into the Alien Timeline? Not entirely, but in what world would Hawley ever 100% play ball? And it what world would we want him to?
Given how fantastic the first season of Andor was, fans were confident about the second, and final, season being an event to behold. And it was. It was unparalleled storytelling. But also, nestled within it, was the narrative miracle of converting three seasons into one. Andor was originally envisioned as a five-season series, with each season covering a year in the rebellion through the lives of its ensemble. The challenge then became to cover the four years that remained, leading up to Rogue One, in 12 episodes.
Creating three-episode blocks for each rebel year -- mini movies, in a way, building the full season -- Andor was able to soar in scope, triumph in theme, and demonstrate why it towers as superior sci-fi. From Mon Mothma's dance spiral to the reveal of Luthen and Kleya's backstory to the entire Ghorman travesty and tragedy, Andor was exceptional on all levels. Should all Star Wars be like Andor? No, not really. But we needed Andor to be Andor to tell this story. To remind us that Star Wars, even as space fantasy, is about toppling fascism. It's truly the first time that these characters from a long time ago, in this galaxy far, far away, felt like us.
What do you think? Was Andor the best TV show of the year? Should the win have gone to something else? Let’s talk in the comments, and don’t forget to vote in the poll above. And make sure to check out all our IGN Awards for 2025 across film, TV, gaming, anime, and comics!
Universal Tower Defense Codes will earn you free Rerolls and Gems, which will help you build the ultimate team of heroes inspired by some of the most popular animes. In this Roblox tower defense experience, you'll need to fend off waves of enemies, all while completing daily, weekly, and personal quests.
Don't like your crew of anime-inspired icons? Use your Gems to summon characters that range from Rare all the way to Mythic and Secret. The better the unit, the easiest you'll be able to defend your base.
Working Universal Tower Defense Codes (December 2025)
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Copy the code from this article and paste it into the "Enter code here" bar
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We regularly check and test new codes for popular Roblox experiences, so the best way to get more codes for Universal Tower Defense is to visit this article. But if you want to search for codes yourself, the best place to go is the Universal Tower Defense Discord.
When Is the Next Update or Event in Universal Tower Defense?
Universal Tower Defense is currently celebrating its release and the team behind it are hard at work releasing small and updates and fixes at the moment. If you login daily during the Release event, you'll be able to claim Release Rewards earning you a Rogue Oni Limited-Time Exclusive unit on Day 7. As soon as a new event is announced, we'll be sure to add it to this article.
Lauren Harper is an Associate Guides Editor. She loves a variety of games but is especially fond of puzzles, horrors, and point-and-click adventures.
Are you as pumped for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey as we are? Then you’re going to love this new poster for the movie, which is set to premiere in theaters next summer.
The brand new visual for the film features a soldier, presumably main character Odysseus played by Matt Damon, from the shoulder up. His back is to the camera, showing off his robust helmet, featuring some gold detailing that resembles a bone-like spine at the neck.
The Odyssey is still over half a year away, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get hyped for it now. In fact, the film’s six-minute prologue will be shown in select IMAX theaters nationwide ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash, which premieres in theaters on December 19. Previously, the prologue played last weekend ahead of 70mm screenings of Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another and Ryan Coogler’s Sinners in select IMAX locations.
According to Variety, Nolan specifically decided to release this six-minute sneak peak now because of the busy holiday season, which is bound to afford him some eyes and attention. He also specifically chose to release in 70mm IMAX because he considers it to be his preferred format.
The upcoming film, which is an adaptation of Homer’s legendary epic poem of the same name from ancient Greece, has a massive star-studded cast that includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Mia Goth, Charlize Theron, and Jon Bernthal.
Nolan's 13th film will premiere in theaters nationwide on July 17, 2026.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
Stephen King fans, it's time to clear out a little extra space in your physical media library. The first season of IT: Welcome to Derry is set to get a 4K limited edition steelbook, and preorders are already live if you're itching to get your hands on it (see the steelbook here at Amazon for $44.99).
It's not releasing until May 5 next year, but by preordering it now you can secure a copy for yourself for when it's out. Limited edition steelbooks can sometimes sell out faster than you'd expect, so it's better to act fast to get your preorder in while it's still available.
Preorder IT: Welcome to Derry Season One 4K Steelbook
Alongside a creepy cover with Pennywise's face lurking behind a red balloon, this 4K steelbook also comes with a collection of retro collector's art cards, which can be seen in the image below.
IT: Welcome to Derry Season One 4K Steelbook Bonus Features
There's even a couple of bonus features that come with the physical release, alongside all episodes from the first season. According to the press release, they are:
Fear the Other – Bonus featurette that explores the societal dynamics of 1962 Derry, Jim Crow, the Red Scare, and the government trespassing on indigenous lands that wreak terror in this tiny New England town.
We enjoyed the first season of IT: Welcome to Derry, with IGN's Tom Jorgensen saying in his season finale review that the show, "saves its biggest, weirdest swings for last. The twists and turns may not all succeed, but by the end, there’s plenty established to get excited about coming back for next season."
Looking for even more movies and shows to keep on your radar as we head into 2026? Our roundup of upcoming 4Ks and Blu-rays can help you plan ahead on what's to come over the next few months, so you can start making space for more physical media pick-ups.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
Mark Hamill has commented once again on Luke Skywalker's death in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and said that if "an overdose of the Force" had been a real risk, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda should have warned him.
Hamill's legendary character passed away during The Last Jedi's climax after expending the last of his life energy on a Force projection of himself, which served as a distraction for Kylo Ren while the Resistance began their escape.
The death of Star Wars' original hero is a controversial topic among the franchise's fans, and even Hamill has admitted he had issues with his character's role in the movie. Now, in fresh comments on Luke Skywalker's demise, Hamill has said he'd have expected mentors Obi-Wan and Yoda to have mentioned the dangers of using the Force, ahead of Luke's usage "overdose."
"[It's] funny that people miss the irony that [Luke Skywalker] died from an overdose of the Force," Hamill said, speaking on CBS This Morning (via Star Wars Holocron). "I mean, who knew that was even a thing?
"Don't you think if there was even a marginal chance that using the Force could be lethal, Obi-Wan would've said 'Use the Force in moderation, Luke?' Or Yoda would've said 'Overdo Force projection, you must not?' Nobody warned me! But obviously, they concluded his story, he died."
Still, the comments come after the actor previously expressed his own personal dissatification for Luke's state of being in The Last Jedi, which he described as the former Jedi Master having become "a suicidal hermit." Indeed, Hamill said he had ultimately rationalized Luke's behavior by creating his own incredibly dark backstory that involved the death of a young son, something that definitely isn't part of the Disney canon.
"I thought, what could make someone give up a devotion to what is basically a religious entity, to give up being a Jedi?" Hamill explained previously. "Well, the love of a woman. So he falls in love with a woman. He gives up being a Jedi. They have a child together. At some point the child, as a toddler, picks up an unattended lightsaber, pushes the button and is killed instantly. The wife is so full of grief, she kills herself."
Apple TV has announced an expansion of Legendary’s Monsterverse with a brand new, untitled young Lee Shaw prequel with Marvel's Thunderbolts star Wyatt Russell in its lead role.
The new show, which is a spinoff series of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, will be led by screenwriter and producer Joby Harold, who will serve as showrunner, as well as the lead on the entire Monsterverse franchise for the streamer. Harold is perhaps best known for his writing and producing work on Obi-Wan Kenobi, for which he was nominated for five Emmy awards, as well as his work on the John Wick franchise. Russell will also executive produce in addition to starring.
The show “will follow the story of Colonel Lee Shaw, an American operative who in 1984 went on a secret mission behind enemy lines in an attempt to stop the Soviets from unleashing a horrific new Titan big enough to destroy the U.S. and turn the tide of the Cold War,” according to the streamer, which calls the Monsterverse “an expansive cross-platform story universe centering around humanity’s battle to survive in a world facing a catastrophic new reality – the monsters of our myths and legends are real.”
“Viewers around the world haven’t been able to get enough of ‘Monarch: Legacy of Monsters’ since its global debut, and we cannot wait to unleash the electrifying new stories that Joby and the entire cast and creative team have been working on,” Apple TV’s head of international development Morgan Wandell said in a statement. “With Joby at the helm, and alongside our terrific partners at Legendary, this new spinoff will kick off an epic Monsterverse expansion that brings audiences even closer to their favorite Titans along with fantastic character-driven storytelling.”
Showrunner Harold added, “I could not feel more privileged to be a part of building out this wildly iconic universe. Apple and Legendary have been exemplary partners throughout this process, and we will continue to bring these Titans of cinematic history to audiences with the reverence they deserve.”
The first season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is now available to stream on Apple TV+, with the second season arriving on February 27, 2026.
Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.
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