The upcoming National Treasure series in development for Disney Plus has cast Lisette Alexis in its lead role. Alexis recently acted in the horror film We Need to Do Something, and the drama series Total Eclipse.

Deadline reports Alexis will play Jess Morales, the main character in search of answers about her family, as well as a lost Pan-American treasure. Production on the show will start early next year.

Earlier this year, Disney ordered 10 episodes of the National Treasure show. Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the National Treasure movie series, and original writers Marianne and Cormac Wibberley are working on the show. Bruckheimer has previously explained the TV series as, "the same concept but a young cast."

Previous reports on the show said it, "explores the timely issues of identity, community, historical authorship and patriotism, told from the point of view of Jess Morales," who we now know will be played by Alexis.

As for the original cast from National Treasure and its sequel, Book of Secrets, Nicolas Cage and other familiar faces have a chance to return in the long-awaited National Treasure 3. The threequel has been rumored since way back in 2008, and was confirmed to be in development last year.

Blogroll credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

The upcoming National Treasure series in development for Disney Plus has cast Lisette Alexis in its lead role. Alexis recently acted in the horror film We Need to Do Something, and the drama series Total Eclipse.

Deadline reports Alexis will play Jess Morales, the main character in search of answers about her family, as well as a lost Pan-American treasure. Production on the show will start early next year.

Earlier this year, Disney ordered 10 episodes of the National Treasure show. Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the National Treasure movie series, and original writers Marianne and Cormac Wibberley are working on the show. Bruckheimer has previously explained the TV series as, "the same concept but a young cast."

Previous reports on the show said it, "explores the timely issues of identity, community, historical authorship and patriotism, told from the point of view of Jess Morales," who we now know will be played by Alexis.

As for the original cast from National Treasure and its sequel, Book of Secrets, Nicolas Cage and other familiar faces have a chance to return in the long-awaited National Treasure 3. The threequel has been rumored since way back in 2008, and was confirmed to be in development last year.

Blogroll credit: Cindy Ord/Getty Images

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Universal Pictures and Epic Games are partnering up together to create an original short-form miniseries called "We Will Be Monsters." The first episode will drop on October 28 inside Fortnite as part of the game's Shortnitemares Festival. It will reimagine the Bride of Frankenstein and Dracula.

"We Will Be Monsters" takes Universal's iconic characters from works like the Bride of Frankenstein and The Mummy and adapts them to modern times. The original Universal monster movies were focused on European origins, but now this new miniseries will go global and feature locations such as Hong Kong, Morocco, Los Angeles, and Lagos.

“This is another manifestation of our monsters, and they have never been depicted this diverse,” says Abhijay Parkash, the president of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group.

Furthermore, Rick Famuyiwa will direct the Universal Monsters x Fortnite miniseries. Famuyiwa has directed several episodes of The Mandalorian and was chosen because of his involvement with working within high-tech, virtual sets as well as his own unique interpretations of the Universal Monsters characters.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, after the drop of the initial episode, Fortnite players will be able to buy the skins of these characters and use them in the game. The first skin available will be the Bride of Frankenstein one, with episodes two through four planned to be released sometime early in 2022.

Other horror-themed skins released as part of this year's Fortnitemares include Jill and Chris from Resident Evil and Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead.

Universal Pictures and Epic Games are partnering up together to create an original short-form miniseries called "We Will Be Monsters." The first episode will drop on October 28 inside Fortnite as part of the game's Shortnitemares Festival. It will reimagine the Bride of Frankenstein and Dracula.

"We Will Be Monsters" takes Universal's iconic characters from works like the Bride of Frankenstein and The Mummy and adapts them to modern times. The original Universal monster movies were focused on European origins, but now this new miniseries will go global and feature locations such as Hong Kong, Morocco, Los Angeles, and Lagos.

“This is another manifestation of our monsters, and they have never been depicted this diverse,” says Abhijay Parkash, the president of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group.

Furthermore, Rick Famuyiwa will direct the Universal Monsters x Fortnite miniseries. Famuyiwa has directed several episodes of The Mandalorian and was chosen because of his involvement with working within high-tech, virtual sets as well as his own unique interpretations of the Universal Monsters characters.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, after the drop of the initial episode, Fortnite players will be able to buy the skins of these characters and use them in the game. The first skin available will be the Bride of Frankenstein one, with episodes two through four planned to be released sometime early in 2022.

Other horror-themed skins released as part of this year's Fortnitemares include Jill and Chris from Resident Evil and Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead.

Age of Empires 4 was released to strong critical praise today and it's led to a strong player count on Steam which is certainly off to a great start.

Age of Empires 4 reached a concurrent player count of 54,239 people on Steam as of 10:36 AM PT on Thursday, according to SteamDB. That places it comfortably above Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition's all-time peak player count of 38,725 people.

That of course doesn't count the number of players playing it on Game Pass for PC or through the Microsoft Store, which Microsoft hasn't released info on as of yet.

Compared to other popular Steam titles and Age of Empire 4's 54,000 players are still pretty impressive. Relic's new strategy game is currently beating Rainbow Six Siege's current player count of 46,000 and Rocket League's 45,000. Next highest on SteamDB's player count chart is Korean MMO MIR4, Rust, Dead by Daylight, and Grand Theft Auto 5.

As of 10:45 AM PT, Age of Empires 4 is the 12th most-played game on Steam. Not bad for one of the best RTS franchises on PC, and one that only just released today. Microsoft certainly laid the groundwork by releasing "Definitive Edition" HD remasters of all three Age of Empires games over the past three years.

IGN reviewer Leana Hafer called Age of Empires 4 "an enjoyable RTS throwback that often plays it too safe, but excels when it doesn't," noting its expansive campaign and unique factions like the Mongols and Rus.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/map-clearing scrub for IGN.

Age of Empires 4 was released to strong critical praise today and it's led to a strong player count on Steam which is certainly off to a great start.

Age of Empires 4 reached a concurrent player count of 54,239 people on Steam as of 10:36 AM PT on Thursday, according to SteamDB. That places it comfortably above Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition's all-time peak player count of 38,725 people.

That of course doesn't count the number of players playing it on Game Pass for PC or through the Microsoft Store, which Microsoft hasn't released info on as of yet.

Compared to other popular Steam titles and Age of Empire 4's 54,000 players are still pretty impressive. Relic's new strategy game is currently beating Rainbow Six Siege's current player count of 46,000 and Rocket League's 45,000. Next highest on SteamDB's player count chart is Korean MMO MIR4, Rust, Dead by Daylight, and Grand Theft Auto 5.

As of 10:45 AM PT, Age of Empires 4 is the 12th most-played game on Steam. Not bad for one of the best RTS franchises on PC, and one that only just released today. Microsoft certainly laid the groundwork by releasing "Definitive Edition" HD remasters of all three Age of Empires games over the past three years.

IGN reviewer Leana Hafer called Age of Empires 4 "an enjoyable RTS throwback that often plays it too safe, but excels when it doesn't," noting its expansive campaign and unique factions like the Mongols and Rus.

Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/map-clearing scrub for IGN.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Spider-Man star Tom Holland provided a glimpse at what was going on behind the scenes during the 2019 negotiations between Sony Pictures and Disney over the rights to the web-slinger

In a recent interview with Empire spotted by Screenrant and Comic Book, Feige shared how tenuous Marvel's hold on Spider-Man was. "I was mentally preparing to emotionally separate from it," Feige told Empire. "I didn't love it, but it is what it is. And then, thankfully, it came back together."

The two film giants had struck a deal to allow Spider-Man to join the MCU starting with Captain America: Civil War, but after Holland's version of the character appeared in two Avengers movies and two standalone films, the partnership almost broke down due to a disagreement about the profit split. While furious fans pushed for a resolution, Feige said he started to imagine an MCU without Spider-Man.

Holland told Empire that he had little input in the negotiations, but did lobby to remain in the MCU.

"People seem to think I suddenly went to law school and singlehandedly struck up a deal between Sony and Disney," Holland said. "Essentially, all I did was show both parties how passionate I was about this character. I basically said, 'Look, if there's a world where you can fix this, it will be so much better for the character, and for me, and for the fans. So if you can fix it, fix it.'"

During the negotiations, Holland talked with producer Amy Pascal about how he could keep playing the character outside of the MCU.

"I just drove over to Amy Pascal's house and sat with her by her pool, and we sat there for hours, just chatting, and pitching movies," Holland told Empire. "How would we do a film without Marvel? Does Peter Parker fall through a portal, and then he's in the Venom world? Or do we do a Kraven the Hunter film? It was a nice distraction... because as a young kid I was so in love with Marvel, and I was so lucky to be a part of it that when they took the rug from under my feet, I was not ready to say goodbye yet."

Spider-Man could still meet those characters in future films, but Feige told Empire it's unlikely he'd need to do it outside of the MCU.

"I don't anticipate us going through that emotional rollercoaster, or putting fans through that emotional rollercoaster, again."

Tom Holland will play Spider-Man again in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which releases Dec. 17.

Samantha Nelson is an IGN freelance writer. Find her on Twitter at samanthanelson1.

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Spider-Man star Tom Holland provided a glimpse at what was going on behind the scenes during the 2019 negotiations between Sony Pictures and Disney over the rights to the web-slinger

In a recent interview with Empire spotted by Screenrant and Comic Book, Feige shared how tenuous Marvel's hold on Spider-Man was. "I was mentally preparing to emotionally separate from it," Feige told Empire. "I didn't love it, but it is what it is. And then, thankfully, it came back together."

The two film giants had struck a deal to allow Spider-Man to join the MCU starting with Captain America: Civil War, but after Holland's version of the character appeared in two Avengers movies and two standalone films, the partnership almost broke down due to a disagreement about the profit split. While furious fans pushed for a resolution, Feige said he started to imagine an MCU without Spider-Man.

Holland told Empire that he had little input in the negotiations, but did lobby to remain in the MCU.

"People seem to think I suddenly went to law school and singlehandedly struck up a deal between Sony and Disney," Holland said. "Essentially, all I did was show both parties how passionate I was about this character. I basically said, 'Look, if there's a world where you can fix this, it will be so much better for the character, and for me, and for the fans. So if you can fix it, fix it.'"

During the negotiations, Holland talked with producer Amy Pascal about how he could keep playing the character outside of the MCU.

"I just drove over to Amy Pascal's house and sat with her by her pool, and we sat there for hours, just chatting, and pitching movies," Holland told Empire. "How would we do a film without Marvel? Does Peter Parker fall through a portal, and then he's in the Venom world? Or do we do a Kraven the Hunter film? It was a nice distraction... because as a young kid I was so in love with Marvel, and I was so lucky to be a part of it that when they took the rug from under my feet, I was not ready to say goodbye yet."

Spider-Man could still meet those characters in future films, but Feige told Empire it's unlikely he'd need to do it outside of the MCU.

"I don't anticipate us going through that emotional rollercoaster, or putting fans through that emotional rollercoaster, again."

Tom Holland will play Spider-Man again in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which releases Dec. 17.

Samantha Nelson is an IGN freelance writer. Find her on Twitter at samanthanelson1.

Ubisoft just concluded its Q2 earnings call, a strange event where relatively-okay financial numbers were overshadowed by the company being on the defensive due to delays, workplace allegations, and questions about free-to-play. But one element that seemed to make both Ubisoft and investors happy was the discussion of blockchain.

Ubisoft's future blockchain ambitions were mentioned both in its earnings release and a few times during the call. As noted in its press release, Ubisoft is funding blockchain gaming company Animoca Brands, which advertises itself on its website as "the global leader in branded blockchain gaming."

Animoca's current projects include Revv Motorsport, Revv Racing, and upcoming game Formula E: High Voltage, all of which use the same token called "REVV" to enable players to "own" digital assets and collect NFT in-game items. It also has a game called The Sandbox, a virtual world full of NFTs called "Sand."

In addition to its funding of Animoca, Ubisoft is a founding member of the Blockchain Game Alliance and has been exploring the technology generally since its early development. CFO Frédérick Duguet specifically called blockchain a "revolution" on the call. It seems like everyone is getting into blockchain these days, but what does this mean for Ubisoft games?

CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed during the call Ubisoft both wanted to invest in companies working with blockchain and organically create its own games, while Duguet indicated elsewhere that we might see it end up in Ubisoft games down the line in some form of new monetization tactic:

"[Blockchain] will enable more play-to-earn that will enable more players to actually earn content, own content, and we think it's going to grow the industry quite a lot," Duguet said. "We've been working with lots of small companies going on blockchain and we're starting to have a good know-how on how it can impact the industry, and we want to be one of the key players here."

Blockchain, NFTs, and everything associated with them have been extremely controversial as they've gained mainstream attention in recent years, most notably due to their immense negative environmental impact, but also due to the red-alert-levels of scam inherent in the NFT business as a whole. If you're still lost as to what NFTs and blockchain are and why they're upsetting people, The Verge has a great explainer here, while GamesIndustry.biz has published its own industry-focused teardown.

Duguet did attempt to stave off criticisms like this by noting the importance of learning "the impact on environments" and said Ubisoft was still in the early stages of exploration. But it's entirely feasible we can look to Animoca Brands' games for a rough idea of what Ubisoft might want to do to integrate blockchain monetization tactics into its franchises such as Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Watch Dogs, Tom Clancy games, and others in the future.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.

Ubisoft just concluded its Q2 earnings call, a strange event where relatively-okay financial numbers were overshadowed by the company being on the defensive due to delays, workplace allegations, and questions about free-to-play. But one element that seemed to make both Ubisoft and investors happy was the discussion of blockchain.

Ubisoft's future blockchain ambitions were mentioned both in its earnings release and a few times during the call. As noted in its press release, Ubisoft is funding blockchain gaming company Animoca Brands, which advertises itself on its website as "the global leader in branded blockchain gaming."

Animoca's current projects include Revv Motorsport, Revv Racing, and upcoming game Formula E: High Voltage, all of which use the same token called "REVV" to enable players to "own" digital assets and collect NFT in-game items. It also has a game called The Sandbox, a virtual world full of NFTs called "Sand."

In addition to its funding of Animoca, Ubisoft is a founding member of the Blockchain Game Alliance and has been exploring the technology generally since its early development. CFO Frédérick Duguet specifically called blockchain a "revolution" on the call. It seems like everyone is getting into blockchain these days, but what does this mean for Ubisoft games?

CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed during the call Ubisoft both wanted to invest in companies working with blockchain and organically create its own games, while Duguet indicated elsewhere that we might see it end up in Ubisoft games down the line in some form of new monetization tactic:

"[Blockchain] will enable more play-to-earn that will enable more players to actually earn content, own content, and we think it's going to grow the industry quite a lot," Duguet said. "We've been working with lots of small companies going on blockchain and we're starting to have a good know-how on how it can impact the industry, and we want to be one of the key players here."

Blockchain, NFTs, and everything associated with them have been extremely controversial as they've gained mainstream attention in recent years, most notably due to their immense negative environmental impact, but also due to the red-alert-levels of scam inherent in the NFT business as a whole. If you're still lost as to what NFTs and blockchain are and why they're upsetting people, The Verge has a great explainer here, while GamesIndustry.biz has published its own industry-focused teardown.

Duguet did attempt to stave off criticisms like this by noting the importance of learning "the impact on environments" and said Ubisoft was still in the early stages of exploration. But it's entirely feasible we can look to Animoca Brands' games for a rough idea of what Ubisoft might want to do to integrate blockchain monetization tactics into its franchises such as Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Watch Dogs, Tom Clancy games, and others in the future.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.