Aubrey Plaza looks to be the latest star to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where she is reportedly set to star alongside Kathryn Hahn and Joe Locke in Agatha: Coven of Chaos.

Deadline reports that while Plaza's role is being kept under wraps, she is apparently set to play a villain in the forthcoming WandaVision spin-off. Plaza is currently starring in White Lotus, which recently kicked off its second season.

Agatha: Coven of Chaos will mark the return of Hahn as Agatha Harkness, who was introduced as one of Wanda Maximoff's main rivals in WandaVision. It's one of two WandaVision spin-offs reported to be in development, with Marvel also said to be working on a show featuring Vision.

Plaza found fame on Parks and Rec as April Ludgate, a cynical intern who eventually marries Chris Pratt's character. She later went on to additional roles in Scott Pilgrim and White Lotus.

Little else is known about Coven of Chaos at this point save that it will be released around the end of 2023.

Thumbnail photo credit: Raymond Hall/Getty Images

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.

Despite conflicting reports and deleted tweets, it appears Netflix has renewed Sandman for another installment.

According to Deadline, Netflix has renewed The Sandman, ensuring Neil Gaiman's DC comic will continue with more stories. The renewal was accidentally leaked by DC's official Twitter account before it was deleted.

The now-deleted tweet jumped the gun it seems writing, "The dream continues. @Netflix_Sandman will return with new episodes based on multiple volumes of the Neil Gaiman graphic novel to explore even more stories of the Endless."

Netflix later officially confirmed the renewal with a quote from Gaimain who says, "It gives me unbelievable pleasure to say that, working with Netflix and Warner Bros., Allan Heinberg, David Goyer and I will be bringing even more of The Sandman stories to life."

Gaiman added, "There are some astonishing stories waiting for Morpheus and the rest of them (not to mention more members of the Endless Family to meet). Nobody is going to be happier about this than the Sandman cast and crew: they are the biggest Sandman fans there are. And now it's time to get back to work. There's a family meal ahead, after all. And Lucifer is waiting for Morpheus to return to Hell…”

The Sandman premiered on August 5, 2022. and was praised for its faithful adaptation of the beloved Neil Gaiman comic book series following Dream, a god-like personification that rules over people's dreams in a realm called the Dreaming.

The cast includes Tom Sturridge as Dream as well as Boyd Holbrook, David Thewlis, Jenna Coleman, Gwendoline Christie, and more.

The first season consisted of ten episodes, based on stories directly from the comics. A special, two-part eleventh episode was released two weeks after the first season premiered.

In our review, IGN awarded The Sandman a 9, calling it an adaptation that fans "could only conjure up in their deepest of sleeps."

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Despite conflicting reports and deleted tweets, it appears Netflix has renewed Sandman for another installment.

According to Deadline, Netflix has renewed The Sandman, ensuring Neil Gaiman's DC comic will continue with more stories. The renewal was accidentally leaked by DC's official Twitter account before it was deleted.

The now-deleted tweet jumped the gun it seems writing, "The dream continues. @Netflix_Sandman will return with new episodes based on multiple volumes of the Neil Gaiman graphic novel to explore even more stories of the Endless."

Netflix later officially confirmed the renewal with a quote from Gaimain who says, "It gives me unbelievable pleasure to say that, working with Netflix and Warner Bros., Allan Heinberg, David Goyer and I will be bringing even more of The Sandman stories to life."

Gaiman added, "There are some astonishing stories waiting for Morpheus and the rest of them (not to mention more members of the Endless Family to meet). Nobody is going to be happier about this than the Sandman cast and crew: they are the biggest Sandman fans there are. And now it's time to get back to work. There's a family meal ahead, after all. And Lucifer is waiting for Morpheus to return to Hell…”

The Sandman premiered on August 5, 2022. and was praised for its faithful adaptation of the beloved Neil Gaiman comic book series following Dream, a god-like personification that rules over people's dreams in a realm called the Dreaming.

The cast includes Tom Sturridge as Dream as well as Boyd Holbrook, David Thewlis, Jenna Coleman, Gwendoline Christie, and more.

The first season consisted of ten episodes, based on stories directly from the comics. A special, two-part eleventh episode was released two weeks after the first season premiered.

In our review, IGN awarded The Sandman a 9, calling it an adaptation that fans "could only conjure up in their deepest of sleeps."

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Joe and Anthony Russo may be taking a break from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they're still working with Disney on its live-action Hercules — and it sounds like the remake will see a few modern inspirations.

In an interview with Variety, the Russo brothers acknowledged criticisms of some recent Disney remakes, notably on how safe these adaptations play out with little deviation from the original films. When speaking about their vision, Joe Russo says their Hercules remake is "a little bit more experimental" in tone and execution.

The collaboration with director Guy Ritchie is also chasing the same unconventional take on a Disney musical it had in the '90s. In the Variety interview, Russo explained how modern platforms may have reshaped expectations, and how the film can find appeal with their new vision.

"Audiences today have been trained by TikTok, right?" Russo asks Variety. "What is their expectation of what that musical looks like and feels like? That can be a lot of fun and help us push the boundaries a little bit on how you execute a modern musical."

This isn't the first time we've heard about modern inspirations for the live-action Hercules, either. In July, Joe Russo said their remake will "pay homage to the original with a more modern spin on it." They praised the 1997 Disney classic for being "funny" and "subversive," and aim to recapture that spirit.

Disney's given plenty of classics the treatment in recent years, including adaptations for Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and more. Ritchie directed another one of those back in 2019 with Aladdin, and IGN's review agreed that the live-action iteration was a little too faithful: "Aladdin is about as safe an adaptation as we’ve seen Disney put out, which is a bit disappointing considering that most of what it adds to the story works pretty well."

Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She's worn several hats over her seven-year career in the games industry, with bylines over at Fanbyte, USA Today's FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and RPG Site. Find her on Twitter (@Maajora) or the Materia Possessions podcast chatting about FFXIV, RPGs, and any series involving giant robots.

Joe and Anthony Russo may be taking a break from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but they're still working with Disney on its live-action Hercules — and it sounds like the remake will see a few modern inspirations.

In an interview with Variety, the Russo brothers acknowledged criticisms of some recent Disney remakes, notably on how safe these adaptations play out with little deviation from the original films. When speaking about their vision, Joe Russo says their Hercules remake is "a little bit more experimental" in tone and execution.

The collaboration with director Guy Ritchie is also chasing the same unconventional take on a Disney musical it had in the '90s. In the Variety interview, Russo explained how modern platforms may have reshaped expectations, and how the film can find appeal with their new vision.

"Audiences today have been trained by TikTok, right?" Russo asks Variety. "What is their expectation of what that musical looks like and feels like? That can be a lot of fun and help us push the boundaries a little bit on how you execute a modern musical."

This isn't the first time we've heard about modern inspirations for the live-action Hercules, either. In July, Joe Russo said their remake will "pay homage to the original with a more modern spin on it." They praised the 1997 Disney classic for being "funny" and "subversive," and aim to recapture that spirit.

Disney's given plenty of classics the treatment in recent years, including adaptations for Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and more. Ritchie directed another one of those back in 2019 with Aladdin, and IGN's review agreed that the live-action iteration was a little too faithful: "Aladdin is about as safe an adaptation as we’ve seen Disney put out, which is a bit disappointing considering that most of what it adds to the story works pretty well."

Andrea Shearon is a freelance contributor for IGN covering games and entertainment. She's worn several hats over her seven-year career in the games industry, with bylines over at Fanbyte, USA Today's FTW, TheGamer, VG247, and RPG Site. Find her on Twitter (@Maajora) or the Materia Possessions podcast chatting about FFXIV, RPGs, and any series involving giant robots.

The unionization efforts at Activision Blizzard has hit another impasse as the company asked the National Labor Relations Board to postpone the upcoming vote tabulation scheduled for November 18.

Activision Blizzard filed a motion to impound ballots with the NLRB and the votes tally be postponed as part of an earlier request to revisit a ruling that qualified the Blizzard Albany QA team as its own bargaining unit.

The argument is that publicizing the votes could affect a vote if it’s later decided that the unionization vote be held studio-wide and not just within the QA testing team.

In a statement to IGN, Activision Blizzard says, “We deeply respect our employees’ right to choose whether to be represented by a union and to make an informed decision for themselves in a process where every voice is heard. Given the significant impact this decision could have for everyone on the Albany-based Diablo team and the tight integration of our operations there, we believe strongly that each of the 107 eligible employees deserve to have their votes counted, not just the 18 quality assurance testers who are important employees but make up a small fraction of the team.”

The CWA countered with their own statement saying, “Sadly, it’s no surprise that a company that has repeatedly tried to silence its employees, including by hiding reports of sexual violence, would want to muzzle workers’ voices once again by trying to stop them from voting in a union election.” The CWA adds that “Instead of staying neutral, Activision’s management continues to present the same failing arguments in a desperate attempt to interfere with workers’ legal rights to make their own decisions about forming a union and negotiating a collective bargaining agreement.”

This is the latest flashpoint in the ongoing effort to unionize Activision Blizzard, one of the most public unionization efforts in the video game industry. The effort has been ongoing since news of the sexual harassment scandal within Activision Blizzard broke out.

The effort has included a successful unionization vote at the Raven QA team, which formed a union on a 19 to 3 vote tally.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

The unionization efforts at Activision Blizzard has hit another impasse as the company asked the National Labor Relations Board to postpone the upcoming vote tabulation scheduled for November 18.

Activision Blizzard filed a motion to impound ballots with the NLRB and the votes tally be postponed as part of an earlier request to revisit a ruling that qualified the Blizzard Albany QA team as its own bargaining unit.

The argument is that publicizing the votes could affect a vote if it’s later decided that the unionization vote be held studio-wide and not just within the QA testing team.

In a statement to IGN, Activision Blizzard says, “We deeply respect our employees’ right to choose whether to be represented by a union and to make an informed decision for themselves in a process where every voice is heard. Given the significant impact this decision could have for everyone on the Albany-based Diablo team and the tight integration of our operations there, we believe strongly that each of the 107 eligible employees deserve to have their votes counted, not just the 18 quality assurance testers who are important employees but make up a small fraction of the team.”

The CWA countered with their own statement saying, “Sadly, it’s no surprise that a company that has repeatedly tried to silence its employees, including by hiding reports of sexual violence, would want to muzzle workers’ voices once again by trying to stop them from voting in a union election.” The CWA adds that “Instead of staying neutral, Activision’s management continues to present the same failing arguments in a desperate attempt to interfere with workers’ legal rights to make their own decisions about forming a union and negotiating a collective bargaining agreement.”

This is the latest flashpoint in the ongoing effort to unionize Activision Blizzard, one of the most public unionization efforts in the video game industry. The effort has been ongoing since news of the sexual harassment scandal within Activision Blizzard broke out.

The effort has included a successful unionization vote at the Raven QA team, which formed a union on a 19 to 3 vote tally.

Matt T.M. Kim is IGN's News Editor. You can reach him @lawoftd.

Joe and Anthony Russo, the directors behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War, as well as both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, aren’t planning to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe any time soon.

The brothers spoke to Variety about their experience working with Marvel on those films, and said the two are still in conversations with the comic book movie studio, but still want to put some distance between themselves and 2019’s Endgame. To the point where they say they have no plans to return to the MCU until 2030, at the earliest.

“We’re always talking; we’d need to see what would work,” Joe Russo told Variety. “We won’t be ready to do anything with Marvel until the end of the decade.”

In the time since Endgame, the Russo brothers have worked as directors, writers, and producers on other films, from directing the middling Gray Man on Netflix, to producing one of the year’s standouts: Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Right now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is working its way up to the next Avengers films: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, set to premiere in theaters on May 2, 2025 and May 1, 2026 after Disney pushed several MCU projects last month. The former will be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who previously directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings last year.

The next movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is premiering in theaters on November 11.

Kenneth Shepard is a writer covering games, entertainment, and queerness all around the internet. Find him on Twitter at @shepardcdr, and listen to his biweekly video game retrospective podcast Normandy FM, which is currently covering Cyberpunk 2077.

Joe and Anthony Russo, the directors behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War, as well as both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, aren’t planning to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe any time soon.

The brothers spoke to Variety about their experience working with Marvel on those films, and said the two are still in conversations with the comic book movie studio, but still want to put some distance between themselves and 2019’s Endgame. To the point where they say they have no plans to return to the MCU until 2030, at the earliest.

“We’re always talking; we’d need to see what would work,” Joe Russo told Variety. “We won’t be ready to do anything with Marvel until the end of the decade.”

In the time since Endgame, the Russo brothers have worked as directors, writers, and producers on other films, from directing the middling Gray Man on Netflix, to producing one of the year’s standouts: Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Right now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is working its way up to the next Avengers films: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars, set to premiere in theaters on May 2, 2025 and May 1, 2026 after Disney pushed several MCU projects last month. The former will be directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, who previously directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings last year.

The next movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which is premiering in theaters on November 11.

Kenneth Shepard is a writer covering games, entertainment, and queerness all around the internet. Find him on Twitter at @shepardcdr, and listen to his biweekly video game retrospective podcast Normandy FM, which is currently covering Cyberpunk 2077.

Before the film was rewritten after the death of Chadwick Boseman, the sequel to Black Panther would have focused on the events of Avengers: Endgame.

In an interview with Inverse, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Director and Screenwriter Ryan Coogler says while the story has shifted in the wake of Boseman’s death, the original screenplay for the Black Panther sequel was always going to be about grief, as it would have dealt with the fallout of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame; both of which focused on Thanos’ plan to eliminate half of all life using the Infinity Stones.

While the movie coming to theaters next week is about mourning Boseman’s character of T’Challa, the original script was about grieving the five years lost in the time between his death in Infinity War and resurrection in Endgame.

“The tone was going to be similar,” Coogler tells Inverse. “The character was going to be grieving the loss of time, you know, coming back after being gone for five years. As a man with so much responsibility to so many, coming back after a forced five years absence, that’s what the film was tackling. He was grieving time he couldn’t get back. Grief was a big part of it.”

Following Boseman's death, Coogler reworked the movie with co-writer Joe Robert Cole to center other characters, though Namor the Sub-Mariner was always planned as the antagonist, even in the original script. Namor is played by Tenoch Huerta in Wakanda Forever.

“Who the protagonist was, the flaws of the protagonist, what the protagonist was dealing with in their journey, all of that stuff had to be different due to us losing him and the decisions that we made about moving forward," Coogler says.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever arrives in theaters on November 11, with Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, and Angela Bassett reprising their roles from the first film. Newcomers include Huerta as Namor and Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams/Ironheart.

Kenneth Shepard is a writer covering games, entertainment, and queerness all around the internet. Find him on Twitter at @shepardcdr, and listen to his biweekly video game retrospective podcast Normandy FM, which is currently covering Cyberpunk 2077.