Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer say they're aiming for the fifth and final season to have "a little bit of everything" as a thematic "culmination" of what's come before it.

As reported by Variety, the Duffer Brothers participated in an FYC panel discussion on Sunday night alongside director Shawn Levy and series stars Caleb McLaughlin, Priah Ferguson, Jamie Campbell Bower, Joseph Quinn, Eduardo Franco, and a virtual Millie Bobby Brown. At the event, the creative team behind the Netflix hit offered the first hints about what fans can expect from the show's highly anticipated fifth season.

When asked whether the final season will weave in any new horror legends or pop culture references, Ross said they're viewing Season 5 as "a culmination of all the seasons" with "a little bit of everything" from the past. He noted that Season 3 was the "big summer blockbuster season with big monsters" while Season 4 was the "psychological horror," but now they're trying to "go back to the beginning."

He acknowledged that the tone of Season 5 would likely end up being closer to that of the first season but "scale-wise," the last group of episodes will be "more aligned" with the fourth season. Season 4 allegedly had a per-episode cost of $30 million, making it one of the most expensive seasons in history — though it later became Netflix's first English-language series to pass 1 billion hours of watch time.

Matt and Ross previously hinted that the fifth season won't be as long as Season 4's 13-hour runtime, as there will be less to set up before the kids "get drawn into the supernatural mystery." However, the emotional stakes are not expected to be impacted by the potentially shorter season, as the team on the FYC panel revealed that some Netflix execs were in tears during the two-hour pitch for the final season.

"Just as important as the supernatural, we have so many characters now, most of whom are still living," Ross said at the event on Sunday night. "It's important to wrap up those arcs because a lot of these characters have been growing since Season 1. So, it's a balancing act between giving them time to complete their character arcs and also, tying up these loose ends and doing our final reveals."

Netflix recently revealed that the final season's first episode is titled "Chapter One: The Crawl." The premiere is expected to drop alongside all (or at least most) of the other episodes on the same day rather than switching to weekly releases, though it's worth noting that Stranger Things 4 was split into two sets of releases, so that could be an option again.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

Paramount+ has revealed the first teaser trailer for 1923, the Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren-led Yellowstone prequel.

The teaser was revealed during the Season 5 premiere of Yellowstone, and ominous words that set the tone for this period piece that promises to be a "Yellowstone origin story" are heard throughout.

It's the dawn of a new era. #1923TV arrives December 18, exclusively on #ParamountPlus. pic.twitter.com/9lcPE0jbrb

— Paramount+ (@paramountplus) November 14, 2022

'Violence has always haunted this family. It followed us from the Scottish highlands and the slums of Dublin. And it followed us here. And where it doesn't follow, we hunt it down. We seek it."

1923 is set to debut on Paramount+ on December 18, and it takes place a century before Kevin Costner's John Dutton III is in charge of the legendary Yellowstone Dutton Ranch in Montana. Ford plays Jacob Dutton and Mirren will be his wife, Cara.

“He’s the silverback,” Ford said of his character. “He’s responsible for that branch of the family. These are two people with a very strong bond to each other who are facing really complicated circumstances.”

This series will be the second prequel in the Yellowstone universe and follows 1883, a spin-off that stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as James and Margaret Dutton and tells the story of them leading their family from Tennessee to a new home in Montana.

If you can't get enough Yellowstone and you've already watched everything the series has to offer, we've gathered a list of more shows that will hopefully help with that void left in your Yellowstone-loving heart.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Paramount+ has revealed the first teaser trailer for 1923, the Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren-led Yellowstone prequel.

The teaser was revealed during the Season 5 premiere of Yellowstone, and ominous words that set the tone for this period piece that promises to be a "Yellowstone origin story" are heard throughout.

It's the dawn of a new era. #1923TV arrives December 18, exclusively on #ParamountPlus. pic.twitter.com/9lcPE0jbrb

— Paramount+ (@paramountplus) November 14, 2022

'Violence has always haunted this family. It followed us from the Scottish highlands and the slums of Dublin. And it followed us here. And where it doesn't follow, we hunt it down. We seek it."

1923 is set to debut on Paramount+ on December 18, and it takes place a century before Kevin Costner's John Dutton III is in charge of the legendary Yellowstone Dutton Ranch in Montana. Ford plays Jacob Dutton and Mirren will be his wife, Cara.

“He’s the silverback,” Ford said of his character. “He’s responsible for that branch of the family. These are two people with a very strong bond to each other who are facing really complicated circumstances.”

This series will be the second prequel in the Yellowstone universe and follows 1883, a spin-off that stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as James and Margaret Dutton and tells the story of them leading their family from Tennessee to a new home in Montana.

If you can't get enough Yellowstone and you've already watched everything the series has to offer, we've gathered a list of more shows that will hopefully help with that void left in your Yellowstone-loving heart.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has debuted to a vibranium-strong $330 million global weekend box office victory, as it earned $180 million domestically and $150 million overseas.

As reported by Variety, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which had a $250 million production budget, broke the record for the highest November opening weekend in North American box office history by surpassing the $158 million brought in by 2013's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

While Black Panther: Wakanda Forever beat out Thor: Love and Thunder's $143 million domestic opening, it couldn't match the $187.3 million opening weekend of Doctor Stange in the Multiverse of Madness. That being said, second place in 2022 is no small feat. All three of these movies, however, pale in comparison to the $260 million opening of 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Speaking of comparison, the original Black Panther brought in $202 million domestically in its opening weekend. It's important to note we are living in a much different world than we were back then, as the COVID-19 pandemic is still impacting theaters and China and Russia are not as much in the picture at the moment.

No matter how you look at it, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever had an incredibly strong opening weekend and the team clearly made an incredibly moving film that honored the late Chadwick Boseman. The Black Panther star who played King T'Challa passed away at the age of 43 in 2020 after a four-year battle with cancer.

In our Black Panther: Wakanda Forever review, we said that it "is at its most effective when paying tribute to its fallen king, and strong performances from the returning cast keep it afloat through its occasionally choppy plot."

Most other films chose not to battle the behemoth that is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and only one notable film, Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans, saw a limited release. Spielbergs' latest film opened in just four theaters in NYC and LA and earned $160,000. It will open wide on November 23.

After three weekends atop the box office, Black Adam placed second with domestic box office sales reaching $8.6 million. Dwayne Johnson's attempt to change the hierarchy in the DCEU has crossed $151 million domestically and $353 million worldwide. Black Adam earned $67 million in its domestic debut.

George Clooney and Julia Roberts' Ticket to Paradise took third with $6.1 million, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile placed fourth with $3.2 million, and Smile rounded out the top five with $2.3 million.

For more on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, check out our explainer of the ending and post-credits scene, nine burning questions we have after watching the latest MCU film, how Namor's past just may set up the X-Men's future, and how you can watch our live Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoilercast.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has debuted to a vibranium-strong $330 million global weekend box office victory, as it earned $180 million domestically and $150 million overseas.

As reported by Variety, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which had a $250 million production budget, broke the record for the highest November opening weekend in North American box office history by surpassing the $158 million brought in by 2013's The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

While Black Panther: Wakanda Forever beat out Thor: Love and Thunder's $143 million domestic opening, it couldn't match the $187.3 million opening weekend of Doctor Stange in the Multiverse of Madness. That being said, second place in 2022 is no small feat. All three of these movies, however, pale in comparison to the $260 million opening of 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Speaking of comparison, the original Black Panther brought in $202 million domestically in its opening weekend. It's important to note we are living in a much different world than we were back then, as the COVID-19 pandemic is still impacting theaters and China and Russia are not as much in the picture at the moment.

No matter how you look at it, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever had an incredibly strong opening weekend and the team clearly made an incredibly moving film that honored the late Chadwick Boseman. The Black Panther star who played King T'Challa passed away at the age of 43 in 2020 after a four-year battle with cancer.

In our Black Panther: Wakanda Forever review, we said that it "is at its most effective when paying tribute to its fallen king, and strong performances from the returning cast keep it afloat through its occasionally choppy plot."

Most other films chose not to battle the behemoth that is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and only one notable film, Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans, saw a limited release. Spielbergs' latest film opened in just four theaters in NYC and LA and earned $160,000. It will open wide on November 23.

After three weekends atop the box office, Black Adam placed second with domestic box office sales reaching $8.6 million. Dwayne Johnson's attempt to change the hierarchy in the DCEU has crossed $151 million domestically and $353 million worldwide. Black Adam earned $67 million in its domestic debut.

George Clooney and Julia Roberts' Ticket to Paradise took third with $6.1 million, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile placed fourth with $3.2 million, and Smile rounded out the top five with $2.3 million.

For more on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, check out our explainer of the ending and post-credits scene, nine burning questions we have after watching the latest MCU film, how Namor's past just may set up the X-Men's future, and how you can watch our live Black Panther: Wakanda Forever spoilercast.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

The Walt Disney Company, in a cost-cutting move, is planning on beginning layoffs, implementing a targeted hiring freeze, and limiting company travel.

As reported by Variety, Disney CEO Bob Chapek sent out an internal memo to top executives at the company on Friday, November 11, saying these coming weeks are going to be difficult ones.

"I am fully aware this will be a difficult process for many of you and your teams," Chapek said. "We are going to have to make tough and uncomfortable decisions. But that is just what leadership requires, and I thank you in advance for stepping up during this important time. Our company has weathered many challenges during our 100-year history, and I have no doubt we will achieve our goals and create a more nimble company better suited to the environment of tomorrow.”

During this process, Disney will also be performing a "rigorous review of the company's content and marketing spending." This review will be led by the newly formed "cost structure taskforce," a group that includes Chapek, CFO Christina McCarthy, and general counsel Horacio Gutierrez.

These moves follow Disney's quarterly earnings results that saw an operating loss for its streaming division of $1.47 billion. While revenue increased by 8% to $4.9 billion, it also saw a drop of 5% for Disney's linear television networks in the quarter. Disney also recent saw shares of the company fall to 13.16%, marking the lowest drop in two years.

On the bright side, Disney+ outperformed Wall Street's projections and reached 164.2 million subscribers and it expects the streaming service to "achieve profitability in fiscal 2024."

It feels as though many major companies are going through different cost-cutting measures, as this news follows similar layoffs at Twitter, Meta, and Microsoft.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Ben Brode, the creator of Marvel Snap and co-founder of developer Second Dinner, has opened up about the possibilities of single-player modes for the multiplayer-focused card game.

Speaking to IGN's Simon Cardy, Brode spoke on the team's thoughts toward PvE or similar single-player modes, saying so much of what makes Marvel Snap special revolves around multiplayer.

"I don't know. The game is very different than other card games, right? And so a lot of the fun of the game is the mind games, and trying to kind of imagine what your opponent might do next," Brode said. "I don't know. I guess I would say we haven't done enough thinking about what that might look like to know for sure whether or not we'd be able to do something that'd be really fun in that space.

"I do think there's a lot of room for new modes. We have a lot of cool ideas for new game modes that are multiplayer modes, but I don't know about single-player."

Never say never, but the focus for Brode and Second Dinner appears to be laser-focused on making the best multiplayer experience around. According to our Marvel Snap review, we believe they are on the right track.

"Marvel Snap packs bold ideas, deep gameplay, a punchy presentation and lots of love for Marvel," IGN's Cam Shea wrote. "Its approach to building a collection and randomness in gameplay won't be for everyone, but it's still well worth playing."

For more, check out three of Brode's best Marvel Snap decks, his explanation of the bizarre inclusion of Ego, the location that randomly plays your cards for you, and our full wiki for the Marvel card game.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Studio Ghibli and Star Wars studio Lucasfilm will be releasing Zen - Grogu and Dust Bunnies, a hand-drawn animated original short, on Disney+ tomorrow, November 12.

This announcement appears to be the culmination of a tease by Studio Ghibli that the legendary Japanese animation studio would be collaborating with Lucasfilm on some project.

This new, original short will premiere exclusively on DIsney+ on the third anniversary of the premiere of The Mandalorian, and it is directed by Katsuya Kondo and features music by Ludwig Göransson.

Discover Zen - Grogu and Dust Bunnies, a hand-drawn animation by Studio Ghibli, is streaming tomorrow on #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/ODqHrgIwnB

— Disney+ (@DisneyPlus) November 12, 2022

Grogu, or Baby Yoda as he is affectionately called, first appeared in The Mandalorian and has taken the galaxy by storm ever since then. The dust bunnies, on the other hand, appear in Studio Ghibli's My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away. In Japanese, they are known as susuwatari, or wandering soot.

On November 10, Studio Ghibli tweeted out a short video of Lucasfilm's logo followed by its own, leading the internet to believe these two worlds would soon be crashing in one spectacular way. Studio Ghibli would continue to tease these collaborations in the following hours, including one that featured a statue of Grogu with a blurred out Hayao Miyazaki in the background.

Studio Ghibli, which was founded in 1985 by Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki, and Isao Takahata, is the studio behind such beloved projects as Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

Lucasfilm, which was founded by George Lucas in 1971, is the company now owned by Disney that is responsible for such franchises as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Willow, and more.

For more, check out our ranking of the 11 best Studio Ghibli films of all time and all the upcoming Star Wars projects to get an idea of where a new one may fit in.

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Since the official release of Marvel Snap, fans have pondered the inclusion of Ego — the living planet played by Kurt Russell in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

In Marvel Snap, Ego takes control of cards and plays for you, effectively randomizing the outcome. There's no rhyme or reason to Ego's actions; his moves are completely arbitrary. So why include Ego at all?

According to Second Dinner founder Ben Brode, who recently spoke with IGN on the occasion of Marvel Snap's launch, Ego's design stemmed from a simple question.

"What would a location that's sentient do? Well, maybe it would play your cards for you. I don't know," Brode says. "So it was very what we call top-down design, where we start with the flavor and art, and then design what the heck it would do. And I couldn't think of anything else for what the heck Ego would do."

Just had the most INSANE game of Marvel Snap - got Ego who auto plays the game for both players, but it eventually played scarlet witch, killing itself and giving control back to us, but changing into a location that randomizes every card on the board.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?! pic.twitter.com/3ympdBJwZr

— Andy Yen (@renowned) November 3, 2022

Ego winds up being a change of pace; an opportunity to laugh as it haphazardly plays your deck, frequently resulting in disaster. However, Brode says, that doesn't mean that Ego lacks strategy.

"What's really interesting about that location is it's surprisingly skill testing, actually. Just weirdly, because you're obviously not making any decisions in the gameplay. But because of the Snap mechanic, your ability to say, 'Okay, I have secret information. I know where Ego has played my card. It's either good or bad. And so I need to use that information to decide to Snap, to double down, or retreat,' Brode says.

"And so it puts so much focus on the Snap mechanic in a way that changes the game up in a really interesting way. So I think it's really interesting. It's certainly a very unique location."

This user puts it best:

When Ego is playing in @MARVELSNAP you're obligated to snap!

— JR (@DudeDudenstein_) November 11, 2022

Whatever fans think of Ego, Marvel Snap continues to be very successful. In our review we wrote, "Marvel Snap upends the collectible card game genre with some truly fresh ideas, impressive strategic depth, wonderfully slick presentation, and a fantastic use of the Marvel license.

In addition to talking about Ego and other topics in our review, Brode revealed his three favorite Marvel Snap decks, which may be of interest to high-level players with access to a wide variety of cards. If you're just getting started, make sure to check our some of our best beginner's decks.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

The Nintendo Switch currently offers a decent selection of games for Nintendo Switch Online users, and Representative Director Shigeru Miyamoto says backwards compatibility has "has become easier" than before. But that doesn't mean Nintendo will focus on backwards compatibility when creating new hardware.

In a financial briefing on Wednesday, Miyamoto spoke on how backwards compatibility has become easier over time.

"Previously, software development for dedicated video game systems was conducted in development environments dedicated to each hardware platform. This meant that those environments could not be brought forward when the hardware changed, and it would become impossible to play software released for previous hardware without making changes," Miyamoto said.

"However, the software development environments have recently been gradually integrated. So, generally speaking, it has become easier to implement an environment where software released for past hardware can be played on new hardware."

Nintendo has a long history of backwards compatibility — the GBA supported original Game Boy cartridges, the Wii supported GameCube discs, the Wii U supported Wii discs, and the 3DS supported DS cartridges.

Because of this history, Nintendo fans have been wondering how the company's next console might handle backwards compatibility, as the Switch doesn't currently support cartridges from older consoles.

However, Miyamoto believes that Nintendo's strength lies in the creation of new games and not the preservation of old titles, which means the company won't focus on backwards compatibility when creating new hardware.

"Having said so, Nintendo's strength is in our creation of new entertainment, so when we release new hardware going forward, we plan to continue to offer new and unique gameplay that cannot be realized on existing hardware," he added.

Nintendo also recently revealed that it has sold 114 million Switch units, though the company lowered its sales forecast for the current fiscal year and revealed that a price increase for the Switch hasn't been fully ruled out.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they've contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.