Elite: Dangerous director and founder of Frontier Developments David Braben has stepped down as the company's CEO after holding the role for 28 years.

As reported by GI.biz, Braben will remain as the studio president and founder but will be replaced in the CEO position by chief creative officer Jonny Watts. He will still be a highly influential figure at the developer, however, as Frontier said Braben is still an "executive director" and will "retain his leadership and vision for Frontier's strategic direction".

"Frontier is very important to me and I am delighted to be able to pass on my CEO responsibilities to the exceptionally talented Jonny Watts, who I know will do a terrific job," Braben said.

"He has the perfect combination of creative leadership and gaming vision to build on the excellent momentum in the business. I am looking forward to my new role at Frontier, and this change enables me to focus on our longer-term strategic opportunities."

Watts was credited as a key figure in the company's recent successes including unaudited record revenue of £111 million in FY 2022. He's also been at the company for a significant amount of time, originally starting in 1998 as a software developer before rising through the ranks and eventually becoming CCO in 2012.

"I am excited to step up and lead Frontier into the next chapter of our growth," Watts said. "We have an amazing team and an exceptional culture of high-quality creativity and inclusivity. I’m looking forward to working with David and the wider Board to take us to still greater success."

Braben became a British game developer star back in 1984 when he co-designed the original Elite with Ian Bell. In 1994 he set up Frontier Developments, and the studio's first game was Frontier: First Encounters, a direct sequel to Frontier: Elite 2. Braben would then return to the series in 2014 for the ongoing Elite: Dangerous. But Braben's tenure as CEO at Frontier has produced more than just the Elite series; the studio is also well known for theme park simulation games including RollerCoaster Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon, Jurassic World Evolution, Planet Coaster, and more.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Warning: this article contains spoilers for The Sandman Season 1, episode 4.

The Sandman creator Neil Gaiman already has some ideas for Season 2.

During an interview with Total Film, the 61-year-old author revealed what he wants to include in the next story arc of The Sandman (if it gets made, of course).

“Season two would essentially begin with the Lucifer/Morpheus rematch,” he revealed. “The rematch to end all rematches. Lucifer is not going to let things end in the way that Lucifer let things end at the end of episode 4, this is going to go so much darker – but it's also going to go to places that people are not expecting.”

The Sandman debuted on Netflix just a few days ago, seeing Tom Sturridge take the role of Morpheus (aka Dream) – the personification of dreams.

But after he’s released from a 100-year-old spell imprisoning him, Morpheus is forced to traverse the various cosmic worlds to reclaim the tools of his trade… leading him straight to hell when he finds out that his missing helmet has been nabbed by a demon.

That demon, Choronzon, suggests that they fight for it, and nominates Lucifer in his place as champion. What results is a fight between cosmic entities. Not exactly a bare-knuckle brawl, either – instead, they inflict harm upon one another by summoning imaginative entities. A hunter beats a wolf, and so on. But there’s a lot more to Lucifer that Gaiman wants to delve into in season two.

“The Silver City is the place where the angels live,” he explained. “Lucifer is very much a fallen angel and you get that amazing Gwendoline Christie beauty, and presence, and gloriousness. But the idea of actually getting to meet some honest-to-goodness angels from the Silver City? That would definitely be something we would want to have happen.”

Whether or not we’ll get to see that rematch remains to be seen. After all, The Sandman Season 2 is yet to be greenlit. But I get the feeling there’s life in the old cosmic being yet.

Want to read more about The Sandman? Check out our full review of The Sandman Season One and what the season finale really means.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

House of the Dragon, the highly-anticipated prequel to Game Of Thrones, will soon be upon us. And (unlike the first few seasons of GoT) we wil be able to watch it legally in Australia at the same time as it premieres in the US. No downloading or VPN required!

Stream House of the Dragon in Australia

House of the Dragon will be available to stream in Australia on Binge, and the first episode drops at 11.00am (AEST). New episodes will drop every week, for the 10-episode first season, starting August 22.

Binge subscriptions start at $10/month for SD, and $16/month for HD. There is a 14-day free trial available to new users.

More: Aussie Streaming Guide: The Best TV & Movies for August on Netflix, Disney, Prime and Binge!

Inside the Targaryen family history

House of The Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin's spin-off book, Fire & Blood, which tells the story of the Targaryen family in the style of a history book. However, the series will differ from the original book. In an interview with IGN (below) co-showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik discuss their approach, saying: "The fun of this show is that it plays as a bit of a companion piece to the history book."

The series features a star-studded cast, including Aussies Milly Alcock as young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, and Ryan Corr as Ser Harwin ‘Breakbones’ Strong.

The bill also includes includes Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel and Rhys Ifans.

Check out the trailer below.

House of the Dragon, the highly-anticipated prequel to Game Of Thrones, will soon be upon us. And (unlike the first few seasons of GoT) we wil be able to watch it legally in Australia at the same time as it premieres in the US. No downloading or VPN required!

Stream House of the Dragon in Australia

House of the Dragon will be available to stream in Australia exclusively on Binge, and the first episode drops at 11.00am (AEST). New episodes will drop every week, for the 10-episode first season.

Binge subscriptions start at $10/month for SD, and $16/month for HD. There is a 14-day free trial available to new users.

More: Aussie Streaming Guide: The Best TV & Movies for August on Netflix, Disney, Prime and Binge!

Inside the Targaryen family history

House of The Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin's spin-off book, Fire & Blood, which tells the story of the Targaryen family in the style of a history book. However, the series will differ from the original book. In an interview with IGN (below) co-showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik discuss their approach, saying: "The fun of this show is that it plays as a bit of a companion piece to the history book."

The series features a star-studded cast, including Aussies Milly Alcock as young Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, and Ryan Corr as Ser Harwin ‘Breakbones’ Strong.

The bill also includes includes Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Sonoya Mizuno, Fabien Frankel and Rhys Ifans.

Check out the trailer below.

Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin wasn’t so involved in later seasons of the show.

During an interview with the New York Times, the 73-year-old author revealed that he wasn’t kept up to date by the final seasons of the hit HBO fantasy series.

“By Season 5 and 6, and certainly 7 and 8, I was pretty much out of the loop,” he revealed. Asked why he became estranged from the show, he simply replied: “I don’t know — you have to ask Dan and David.”

This is a remarkable turnaround when compared to the early seasons of the show, on which Martin consulted. He was heavily involved in most aspects of Game of Thrones, from the show’s scripts to its casting. The report says David Benioff and D.B. Weiss declined to comment.

If you ask fans of the novels, they’d likely tell you that Martin's waning involvement could be felt throughout later seasons of the show. But Martin did previously admit that he was involved in at least “conversations” about the show’s ending.

“I don't think Dan and Dave's ending is gonna be that different from my ending because of the conversations we did have,” he said. “But they may be on certain secondary characters, there may be big differences. There's no way to get in all the detail, all the minor characters, all the secondary characters.”

Thankfully, Martin has been a lot more hands-on with the upcoming prequel, House of the Dragon.

“George, for us, in this process has been a really valuable resource,” said HBO’s chief content officer Casey Bloys. “He is literally the creator of this world. He is its historian, its creator, its keeper. And so I can’t imagine doing a show that he didn’t believe in or didn’t endorse.”

Whether or not Martin will remain as involved in House of the Dragon as the show progresses remains to be seen. But for the time being, it looks as though it’s got his approval.

Want to read more about House of the Dragon? Check out how the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel will differ from the books, and check out some of HBO’s unused prequel ideas.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Game of Thrones creator George R. R. Martin wasn’t so involved in later seasons of the show.

During an interview with the New York Times, the 73-year-old author revealed that he wasn’t kept up to date by the final seasons of the hit HBO fantasy series.

“By Season 5 and 6, and certainly 7 and 8, I was pretty much out of the loop,” he revealed. Asked why he became estranged from the show, he simply replied: “I don’t know — you have to ask Dan and David.”

This is a remarkable turnaround when compared to the early seasons of the show, on which Martin consulted. He was heavily involved in most aspects of Game of Thrones, from the show’s scripts to its casting. The report says David Benioff and D.B. Weiss declined to comment.

If you ask fans of the novels, they’d likely tell you that Martin's waning involvement could be felt throughout later seasons of the show. But Martin did previously admit that he was involved in at least “conversations” about the show’s ending.

“I don't think Dan and Dave's ending is gonna be that different from my ending because of the conversations we did have,” he said. “But they may be on certain secondary characters, there may be big differences. There's no way to get in all the detail, all the minor characters, all the secondary characters.”

Thankfully, Martin has been a lot more hands-on with the upcoming prequel, House of the Dragon.

“George, for us, in this process has been a really valuable resource,” said HBO’s chief content officer Casey Bloys. “He is literally the creator of this world. He is its historian, its creator, its keeper. And so I can’t imagine doing a show that he didn’t believe in or didn’t endorse.”

Whether or not Martin will remain as involved in House of the Dragon as the show progresses remains to be seen. But for the time being, it looks as though it’s got his approval.

Want to read more about House of the Dragon? Check out how the upcoming Game of Thrones prequel will differ from the books, and check out some of HBO’s unused prequel ideas.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

John Wick will be back… with an even longer runtime.

During an interview with Collider, director Chad Stahelski revealed that John Wick 4 is the longest film in the whole franchise. “It's longer than the other three, but not that long,” he said.

At the moment, John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum is the longest film in the series at a lengthy 131 minutes… and that means the upcoming fourth installment has to be at least 2 hours 11 minutes long.

John Wick Chapter 2 is the second longest coming in at 122 minutes, while the original John Wick is a measly 101 minutes.

It’s rumored that Stahelski’s cut of the film is pretty substantial and may get shortened during the editing process… but it sounds as though Stahelski is nearly done, leaving not much time for the film to get cut down.

“We're on the final stretch for picture lock, and then we have our VFX music,” said Stahelski. “But this is the furthest along I've ever been, this much in post. We love the music that we've got so far. We still have Tyler Bates doing the composition on some of the bigger sequences.”

In fact, it sounds as though John Wick 4 is incredibly close to being finished.

“VFX are going to be coming in throughout the rest of the year. But we're dangerously close. In our edit, as far as our picture lock goes, we're within a few minutes of locking. Our sequences are done. The movie is essentially done. There's probably another few weeks of tweaking overall, then we lock picture, and we're about music sound and the effects.”

As for how the picture is coming together, it looks as though it’s all a lock… except perhaps the film’s ending.

“There's one [action sequence] for the end of the film that I think we've almost got figured out, so we can be initiating, so I'll have an end of the movie,” he explained.

Whether or not that affects the film’s already hefty runtime remains to be seen. But honestly, more John Wick? Make it as long as you like, Chad. I’ll eagerly watch every last minute of it.

Want to read more about John Wick 4? Check out our first look at John Wick’s return not to mention the film’s gripping first trailer.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

John Wick will be back… with an even longer runtime.

During an interview with Collider, director Chad Stahelski revealed that John Wick 4 is the longest film in the whole franchise. “It's longer than the other three, but not that long,” he said.

At the moment, John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum is the longest film in the series at a lengthy 131 minutes… and that means the upcoming fourth installment has to be at least 2 hours 11 minutes long.

John Wick Chapter 2 is the second longest coming in at 122 minutes, while the original John Wick is a measly 101 minutes.

It’s rumored that Stahelski’s cut of the film is pretty substantial and may get shortened during the editing process… but it sounds as though Stahelski is nearly done, leaving not much time for the film to get cut down.

“We're on the final stretch for picture lock, and then we have our VFX music,” said Stahelski. “But this is the furthest along I've ever been, this much in post. We love the music that we've got so far. We still have Tyler Bates doing the composition on some of the bigger sequences.”

In fact, it sounds as though John Wick 4 is incredibly close to being finished.

“VFX are going to be coming in throughout the rest of the year. But we're dangerously close. In our edit, as far as our picture lock goes, we're within a few minutes of locking. Our sequences are done. The movie is essentially done. There's probably another few weeks of tweaking overall, then we lock picture, and we're about music sound and the effects.”

As for how the picture is coming together, it looks as though it’s all a lock… except perhaps the film’s ending.

“There's one [action sequence] for the end of the film that I think we've almost got figured out, so we can be initiating, so I'll have an end of the movie,” he explained.

Whether or not that affects the film’s already hefty runtime remains to be seen. But honestly, more John Wick? Make it as long as you like, Chad. I’ll eagerly watch every last minute of it.

Want to read more about John Wick 4? Check out our first look at John Wick’s return not to mention the film’s gripping first trailer.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind just got its first trailer.

Warner Bros. Animation revealed our first look at Snow Blind in this impressive trailer, teasing a confrontation between Kenshi and one of Mortal Kombat’s long-running antagonists, Kano.

“The Storm is Coming,” they said via Twitter. “Enjoy this exclusive first look at the new trailer for Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind.”

The Storm is Coming. Enjoy this exclusive first look at the new trailer for Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind #MortalKombatLegends pic.twitter.com/RJhO9opJbQ

— Warner Bros. (@WBHomeEnt) August 10, 2022

Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind is the third animated feature based on the popular gaming franchise and a sequel to Scorpion's Revenge and Battle of the Realms.

Offering a new perspective on the iconic fighting franchise, Snow Blind finally makes Kenshi (voiced by Manny Jacinto) the protagonist, squaring him up against Kano who attacks Kenshi’s village. But when a soulnado leaves Kenshi blind, it’s up to Sub-Zero to train him up and prepare him for the long road ahead.

Snow Lind features several other Mortal Kombat regulars with Kabal, Kira, Kobra, and Erron Black all appearing in the trailer as members of Kano's gang.

Eagle-eyed viewers will even spot Shang Tsung and the ninja Tremor in there.

As well as the recent animated features, Mortal Kombat has been making a bit of a comeback with a live-action movie unexpectedly impressing audiences last year – enough that a sequel has since been greenlit with director Simon McQuoid set to return.

IGN’s reviews of the animated features have so far been mixed. Scorpion’s Revenge “never finds anything interesting or insightful” to say about its protagonist and feels like a “missed opportunity”. Meanwhile, Battle of the Realms was considered a “hollow movie that may still have some appeal to hardcore Mortal Kombat fans thanks to its over-the-top violence and references to the games, but even then, it’s hard to recommend.”

Whether or not Snow Blind will buck the trend remains to be seen. But it certainly looks promising.

Although no release date has been confirmed, Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind will head to digital and Blu-ray later this year.

Want to read more about Mortal Kombat? Check out our rundown of the 10 best fighting games, and learn all the fatalities in Mortal Kombat 11 with our handy guide.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind just got its first trailer.

Warner Bros. Animation revealed our first look at Snow Blind in this impressive trailer, teasing a confrontation between Kenshi and one of Mortal Kombat’s long-running antagonists, Kano.

“The Storm is Coming,” they said via Twitter. “Enjoy this exclusive first look at the new trailer for Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind.”

The Storm is Coming. Enjoy this exclusive first look at the new trailer for Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind #MortalKombatLegends pic.twitter.com/RJhO9opJbQ

— Warner Bros. (@WBHomeEnt) August 10, 2022

Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind is the third animated feature based on the popular gaming franchise and a sequel to Scorpion's Revenge and Battle of the Realms.

Offering a new perspective on the iconic fighting franchise, Snow Blind finally makes Kenshi (voiced by Manny Jacinto) the protagonist, squaring him up against Kano who attacks Kenshi’s village. But when a soulnado leaves Kenshi blind, it’s up to Sub-Zero to train him up and prepare him for the long road ahead.

Snow Lind features several other Mortal Kombat regulars with Kabal, Kira, Kobra, and Erron Black all appearing in the trailer as members of Kano's gang.

Eagle-eyed viewers will even spot Shang Tsung and the ninja Tremor in there.

As well as the recent animated features, Mortal Kombat has been making a bit of a comeback with a live-action movie unexpectedly impressing audiences last year – enough that a sequel has since been greenlit with director Simon McQuoid set to return.

IGN’s reviews of the animated features have so far been mixed. Scorpion’s Revenge “never finds anything interesting or insightful” to say about its protagonist and feels like a “missed opportunity”. Meanwhile, Battle of the Realms was considered a “hollow movie that may still have some appeal to hardcore Mortal Kombat fans thanks to its over-the-top violence and references to the games, but even then, it’s hard to recommend.”

Whether or not Snow Blind will buck the trend remains to be seen. But it certainly looks promising.

Although no release date has been confirmed, Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind will head to digital and Blu-ray later this year.

Want to read more about Mortal Kombat? Check out our rundown of the 10 best fighting games, and learn all the fatalities in Mortal Kombat 11 with our handy guide.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.