NERF and Minecraft have mashed up once again, this time in the form of a Minecraft Dungeons-inspired Sabrewing motorized NERF bow.

The Sabrewing Bow comes with an 8-round clip, and fires darts one at a time by pulling "back the string with the priming handle to power up the motor" and hitting the fire button. It also includes a clip-worth of darts, so you can go full-bore right out of the box.

They're NERF Elite darts, too, which means they travel fast, far, and surprisingly accurately. As someone who remembers the days of plastic toys that shot crappy suction cup darts, I am constantly delighted by the advancements we, as a society, have made in the world of foam projectiles. Take a look at the slideshow below to see the NERF Minecraft Sabrewing Motorized Bow.

If you haven't played Minecraft: Dungeons, I highly recommend it. I reviewed Minecraft: Dungeons back when it came out, and it's a ton of fun, and they've been making improvements ever since. It's a nice intro to Diablo, basically, but with Minecraft. Plus it's really pretty. While you wait for the blaster to come out, go play Minecraft: Dungeons, it's on Game Pass.

Seth Macy is Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him hosting the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast.

Great news, anime fans! If you were looking for a way to catch up with your favorite anime shows while on the go without draining your smartphone battery, Crunchyroll has announced today that it now has a dedicated app on the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo Switch owners will be able to stream content on the Crunchyroll app offline on the hybrid console, thanks to Epic Games' Unreal Engine tech. Crunchyroll is the latest to join the Nintendo Switch's limited library of streaming/video content apps following the release of the Pokemon TV app, in addition to services such as Funimation, Hulu, and YouTube.

Crunchyroll also confirmed that the Switch app will allow users to stream while the console is in docked mode, handheld, and tabletop mode, allowing fans to experience streaming their favorite anime on Crunchyroll however they want on the Nintendo Switch.

While a new streaming service is always a win for the Nintendo Switch, some fans are still irritated that Netflix, arguably one of the biggest streaming services right now, still does not have a dedicated app on the console. Nintendo said that streaming services like Netflix would come to its hybrid console "in time," but that was back in 2017. With the recent news that the 3DS and Wii U eShops will be discontinued early next year, both of which had Netflix apps before it was discontinued in January 2021, now would be a good time for the Switch to support Netflix.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Great news, anime fans! If you were looking for a way to catch up with your favorite anime shows while on the go without draining your smartphone battery, Crunchyroll has announced today that it now has a dedicated app on the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo Switch owners will be able to stream content on the Crunchyroll app offline on the hybrid console, thanks to Epic Games' Unreal Engine tech. Crunchyroll is the latest to join the Nintendo Switch's limited library of streaming/video content apps following the release of the Pokemon TV app, in addition to services such as Funimation, Hulu, and YouTube.

Crunchyroll also confirmed that the Switch app will allow users to stream while the console is in docked mode, handheld, and tabletop mode, allowing fans to experience streaming their favorite anime on Crunchyroll however they want on the Nintendo Switch.

While a new streaming service is always a win for the Nintendo Switch, some fans are still irritated that Netflix, arguably one of the biggest streaming services right now, still does not have a dedicated app on the console. Nintendo said that streaming services like Netflix would come to its hybrid console "in time," but that was back in 2017. With the recent news that the 3DS and Wii U eShops will be discontinued early next year, both of which had Netflix apps before it was discontinued in January 2021, now would be a good time for the Switch to support Netflix.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

Last year Wizards of the Coast announced a Magic: The Gathering crossover with Street Fighter, and today we’ve got the first official look at the eight cards that will be part of that Secret Lair drop – as well all 33 cards included in the other drops that will be part of the upcoming February Superdrop.

The Street Fighter Secret Lair will include eight legendary creature cards (as well as one more secret card that will be revealed during the Capcom Cup Pro Tour this weekend), each of which depicts one of the fighters from Street Fighter 2’s original roster.

You can flip through the gallery below to see all eight cards, and read on for the rest of the Superdrop reveals and details:

WOTC’s Mark Heggen tells me they began conversations with Capcom for this crossover about two years ago, and that they tried a bunch of different character lineups and creative angles, but that it ultimately made the most sense to focus on the these eight classic fighters. The team even considered making cards based on specific moves or iconic things that weren’t characters themselves (for example, something like a “Round One” or "Perfect" card), but that they instead decided to represent moves as abilities on each creature.

Those abilities are surprisingly wide-ranging mechanically too, featuring everything from Multikicker on Chun-Li to the equivalent of Skulk on Dhalsim to the Untap symbol on Ryu. That last one is a particularly odd choice given it’s only shown up on a single card after its initial introduction in 2008's Shadowmoor block, but Heggen says it was explicitly used as a visual joke here: the symbol looks like the quarter-circle joystick motion required to do Ryu’s Hadoken ability in the video games.

“What happened is the team, for all of these, they sat down at the very beginning and just started going through everything Magic's done and saying ‘is there a fit?’” Heggen explains. “When we're doing the Secret Lair executions of this, it really does unlock the team to go wherever they want to go with it. You would not put all these abilities in a set, we would probably think real hard about putting Untap or Multikicker. You can't just weave these into any of our products, but when you're doing these one-off cards and you're trying to build a Chun-Li that's gonna go on to live a wonderful life in Commander decks where people are pulling through all of Magic, it just unlocks all of that.”

Heggen says that Commander is “the primary lens through which [we’re] viewing these,” but that there’s no “arbitrary threshold” they have to hit in terms of viability or popularity in the format. Commander is unique in that it’s one of the few formats where building the strongest deck you possibly can isn’t necessarily the goal, so Heggen says that “if we make a card that leads to a certain kind of deck with a certain kind of attitude, it will find an audience and that audience will play that deck and enjoy that deck and have fun with that deck, and not simply because it's the right power move.”

Flip through the gallery below to see all the cards in the February Superdrop.

Of course, these cards are legal to play in other Eternal formats like Legacy and Vintage as well, which WOTC also considers from a balancing perspective. Heggen reassures me that they are “thoughtful” about what new Secret Lair cards are doing to strategies outside of Commander, saying “we're not trying to accidentally ruin those formats by casually printing hyper-powerful cards into them.”

That said, the concept of mechanically unique Secret Lair cards existing at all has been a hot topic in the community regardless of power level. Last year I spoke to dozens of players and found a variety of mixed opinions on the matter, but since then some of the displeasure with the idea has softened after WOTC revealed that in-universe reprints of these licensed crossover cards would be available in certain booster packs at a higher rate than many people had assumed they might be – a move Heggen says has “always been the goal” since they decided to make them.

“Before we showed them the numbers, so to speak, with Stranger Things, we weren't surprised that people were a little bit skeptical,” Heggen admits. “Now that we're making these in-world equivalents for these cards, we want those to be around and we want people to be able to get their hands on them. They are not meant to be the ‘chase objects’ – 10 years from now, we want these Street Fighter ones to be the cool ones that have a little bit more caché and are a bit more interesting to see. We want their in-world equivalents to be the ones that are there for people who are just looking for the gameplay.”

The Street Fighter Secret Lair is part of the February Superdrop alongside seven other drops as well, most of which are themed around the recent cyberpunk-themed set, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. We have the pleasure of revealing the cards from those drops too, which you can see in the gallery above. Here are the names and official descriptions of each.

Secret Lair February Superdrop:

• Introducing: Kaito Shizuki — Artist Rorubei brings alternative art treatments for Magic: The Gathering’s newest high-tech ninja planeswalker, Kaito Shizuki.
• Kamigawa: The Manga: The Cards — Artist RIYOU KAMEI created cards using art from the official Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty manga.
• Li’l Walkers — Artist UTA NATSUME presents planeswalkers in an adorable Chibi style.
• Pictures of the Floating World — Artists AMAYAGIDO, AOJI MAIKO, Nagano, SHIE NANAHARA, and TOMOHITO created beautiful lands in the style of Ukiyo-e, an iconic style of Japanese art traditionally found in wood block prints and paintings.
• Shades Not Included — Artist Ben Schnuck gives lands the ‘80s-inspired synthwave treatment.
• Showcase: Neon Dynasty — These cards display neon ink foils that sport a fluorescent ink that pops right off the card and features art from artists AI NANAHIRA, ESUTHIO, SENNSU, and ZOUNOSE.
• Special Guest: Yuko Shimizu — Artist Yuko Shimizu is an award-winning Japanese illustrator based out of New York City. She brings her unique mashup of traditional Japanese art and modern concepts.

These are more standard Secret Lairs featuring reprints with brand new art, some of which are sought after cards that would cost more than the price of the drop on the secondary market if bought together. For example, Bribery in the “Introducing: Kaito Shizuki” drop has a market value of about $30, the same price as the drop itself. This isn't a first for a Secret Lair or anything, but I asked Heggen if that sort of thing is something they actively think about when choosing the cards for each new drop – and while he didn't address the prices of cards specifically, he did say picking the right ones is more of an art than a science.

“Every Secret Lair starts with its concept,” Heggen explains, “and from there we then look to the cards. We want cards that make sense.” While that’s the starting point, he also says they “don’t want to spend a lot of time and energy putting gorgeous, amazing art on cards that we don’t think anyone would ever want to do anything with,” meaning playability is also a factor to some degree. “These are not just small paintings, right? These are game objects.”

Heggen also tells me they are still looking to experiment with Secret Lairs in the future, the latest example of which is a recurring collection of basic land drops based on astrological signs. “We're just trying different things to see what works for people, what connects with people, and what is the best experience for people following along at home,” pointing to the fact that the astrological lands will be on a cycle separate from the regular Superdrops and will be available to order any time during the year.

That experimentation goes for the licensed crossovers as well, as collaborations with Warhammer 40,000, Fortnite, and Lord of the Rings have all already been announced. “We're still in that phase with these where these go back to our very first brainstorms,” Heggen tells me, saying they are still working through the top of the list of ideas they initially came up with years ago – while continuing to add to that list too. “We just can't stop thinking of cards we wanna print and artists we wanna work with and hilarious gags that make us smile. We have a ton of fun stuff in the pipeline and and we'll try different things until we get it right.”

The Street Fighter Secret Lair will be available alongside all of the February drops until March 18 on the Secret Lair website, with the final secret card being revealed on February 19 during the Capcom Pro Tour 2021 Season Final.

Last year Wizards of the Coast announced a Magic: The Gathering crossover with Street Fighter, and today we’ve got the first official look at the eight cards that will be part of that Secret Lair drop – as well all 33 cards included in the other drops that will be part of the upcoming February Superdrop.

The Street Fighter Secret Lair will include eight legendary creature cards (as well as one more secret card that will be revealed during the Capcom Cup Pro Tour this weekend), each of which depicts one of the fighters from Street Fighter 2’s original roster.

You can flip through the gallery below to see all eight cards, and read on for the rest of the Superdrop reveals and details:

WOTC’s Mark Heggen tells me they began conversations with Capcom for this crossover about two years ago, and that they tried a bunch of different character lineups and creative angles, but that it ultimately made the most sense to focus on the these eight classic fighters. The team even considered making cards based on specific moves or iconic things that weren’t characters themselves (for example, something like a “Round One” or "Perfect" card), but that they instead decided to represent moves as abilities on each creature.

Those abilities are surprisingly wide-ranging mechanically too, featuring everything from Multikicker on Chun-Li to the equivalent of Skulk on Dhalsim to the Untap symbol on Ryu. That last one is a particularly odd choice given it’s only shown up on a single card since its introduction in 2008, but Heggen says it was explicitly used as a visual joke here: the symbol looks like the quarter-circle joystick motion required to do Ryu’s Hadoken ability in the video games.

“What happened is the team, for all of these, they sat down at the very beginning and just started going through everything Magic's done and saying ‘is there a fit?’” Heggen explains. “When we're doing the Secret Lair executions of this, it really does unlock the team to go wherever they want to go with it. You would not put all these abilities in a set, we would probably think real hard about putting Untap or Multikicker. You can't just weave these into any of our products, but when you're doing these one-off cards and you're trying to build a Chun-Li that's gonna go on to live a wonderful life in Commander decks where people are pulling through all of Magic, it just unlocks all of that.”

Heggen says that Commander is “the primary lens through which [we’re] viewing these,” but that there’s no “arbitrary threshold” they have to hit in terms of viability or popularity in the format. Commander is unique in that it’s one of the few formats where building the strongest deck you possibly can isn’t necessarily the goal, so Heggen says that “if we make a card that leads to a certain kind of deck with a certain kind of attitude, it will find an audience and that audience will play that deck and enjoy that deck and have fun with that deck, and not simply because it's the right power move.”

Flip through the gallery below to see all the cards in the February Superdrop.

Of course, these cards are legal to play in other Eternal formats like Legacy and Vintage as well, which WOTC also considers from a balancing perspective. Heggen reassures me that they are “thoughtful” about what new Secret Lair cards are doing to strategies outside of Commander, saying “we're not trying to accidentally ruin those formats by casually printing hyper-powerful cards into them.”

That said, the concept of mechanically unique Secret Lair cards existing at all has been a hot topic in the community regardless of power level. Last year I spoke to dozens of players and found a variety of mixed opinions on the matter, but since then some of the displeasure with the idea has softened after WOTC revealed that in-universe reprints of these licensed crossover cards would be available in certain booster packs at a higher rate than many people had assumed they might be – a move Heggen says has “always been the goal” since they decided to make them.

“Before we showed them the numbers, so to speak, with Stranger Things, we weren't surprised that people were a little bit skeptical,” Heggen admits. “Now that we're making these in-world equivalents for these cards, we want those to be around and we want people to be able to get their hands on them. They are not meant to be the ‘chase objects’ – 10 years from now, we want these Street Fighter ones to be the cool ones that have a little bit more caché and are a bit more interesting to see. We want their in-world equivalents to be the ones that are there for people who are just looking for the gameplay.”

The Street Fighter Secret Lair is part of the February Superdrop alongside seven other drops as well, most of which are themed around the recent cyberpunk-themed set, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. We have the pleasure of revealing the cards from those drops too, which you can see in the gallery above. Here are the names and official descriptions of each.

Secret Lair February Superdrop:

• Introducing: Kaito Shizuki — Artist Rorubei brings alternative art treatments for Magic: The Gathering’s newest high-tech ninja planeswalker, Kaito Shizuki.
• Kamigawa: The Manga: The Cards — Artist RIYOU KAMEI created cards using art from the official Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty manga.
• Li’l Walkers — Artist UTA NATSUME presents planeswalkers in an adorable Chibi style.
• Pictures of the Floating World — Artists AMAYAGIDO, AOJI MAIKO, Nagano, SHIE NANAHARA, and TOMOHITO created beautiful lands in the style of Ukiyo-e, an iconic style of Japanese art traditionally found in wood block prints and paintings.
• Shades Not Included — Artist Ben Schnuck gives lands the ‘80s-inspired synthwave treatment.
• Showcase: Neon Dynasty — These cards display neon ink foils that sport a fluorescent ink that pops right off the card and features art from artists AI NANAHIRA, ESUTHIO, SENNSU, and ZOUNOSE.
• Special Guest: Yuko Shimizu — Artist Yuko Shimizu is an award-winning Japanese illustrator based out of New York City. She brings her unique mashup of traditional Japanese art and modern concepts.

These are more standard Secret Lairs featuring reprints with brand new art, some of which are sought after cards that would cost more than the price of the drop on the secondary market if bought together. For example, Bribery in the “Introducing: Kaito Shizuki” drop has a market value of about $30, the same price as the drop itself. This isn't a first for a Secret Lair or anything, but I asked Heggen if that sort of thing is something they actively think about when choosing the cards for each new drop – and while he didn't address the prices of cards specifically, he did say picking the right ones is more of an art than a science.

“Every Secret Lair starts with its concept,” Heggen explains, “and from there we then look to the cards. We want cards that make sense.” While that’s the starting point, he also says they “don’t want to spend a lot of time and energy putting gorgeous, amazing art on cards that we don’t think anyone would ever want to do anything with,” meaning playability is also a factor to some degree. “These are not just small paintings, right? These are game objects.”

Heggen also tells me they are still looking to experiment with Secret Lairs in the future, the latest example of which is a recurring collection of basic land drops based on astrological signs. “We're just trying different things to see what works for people, what connects with people, and what is the best experience for people following along at home,” pointing to the fact that the astrological lands will be on a cycle separate from the regular Superdrops and will be available to order any time during the year.

That experimentation goes for the licensed crossovers as well, as collaborations with Warhammer 40,000, Fortnite, and Lord of the Rings have all already been announced. “We're still in that phase with these where these go back to our very first brainstorms,” Heggen tells me, saying they are still working through the top of the list of ideas they initially came up with years ago – while continuing to add to that list too. “We just can't stop thinking of cards we wanna print and artists we wanna work with and hilarious gags that make us smile. We have a ton of fun stuff in the pipeline and and we'll try different things until we get it right.”

The Street Fighter Secret Lair will be available alongside all of the February drops until March 18 on the Secret Lair website, with the final secret card being revealed on February 19 during the Capcom Pro Tour 2021 Season Final.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Peacemaker season finale!

Peacemaker big finale aired last night … and it includes a crazy cameo. Now, director James Gunn has spoken about how it all came together.

The hit TV show has already made headlines thanks to its insanely hilarious intro and over-the-top action, as seen in the show’s official trailer. But after a series full of explosive action, pet eagles, and shots of Peacemaker strutting around in his pants, James Gunn has dropped a massive cameo appearance that will leave you stunned. Seriously, click away if you don't want things spoiled.

Peacemaker’s finale episode, “Cow or Never”, sees our favorite antihero head up a team to take out the farmhouse – where the Butterflies keep their food source, known as “the cow”. Once the explosive mission is finally over, team Peacemaker heads out, dragging themselves off the battlefield after suffering major injuries. And that’s when the Justice League turns up.

"We didn’t have the budget for them to show up on time," James Gunn told Variety. "Never been able to do it. They had to show up late."

That’s right – Zack Snyder’s Justice League (minus Batman and Cyborg) makes an unexpected appearance at the end of the finale episode. And it’s not mere stand-ins, either. Sure, we never get a good look at Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman or Henry Cavill’s Superman, but we see Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) trade verbal blows about a long-standing rumor that involves the King of Atlantis and a fish…

"I think before we ever shot the show, we talked to Jason about it," said Gunn. "We were like, 'Listen, [Peacemaker] says you fuck fish all the time.' And we were a little afraid he would be upset, but he just laughed. He was cool. So he was pretty much on board from the beginning. And then Ezra I just found out through some common friends liked my movies a lot. And so I asked if he would come in and shoot this scene, and he kindly agreed to do that. Actually, Marvel shot [Ezra] for us, while we’re shooting Guardians Vol. 3."

It's a hilariously unexpected moment. After all, the Justice League is still clearly together at this point. But what does that even mean?

It’s no secret that Warner Bros. chose to can Ben Affleck’s solo Batman movie in favor of The Batman starring Robert Pattinson. And with Ben Affleck turning his back on the role, it’s no surprise to see him absent from the Justice League line-up in Peacemaker.

Then there’s the conspicuous absence of Cyborg, which is clearly in part due to actor Ray Fisher’s ongoing beef with Warner Bros. And with no sign of an apology from the company, it looks as though he won’t be suiting up as Cyborg again anytime soon.

"You know, I don’t know what I can — there are reasons for [their absence], but I’m actually uncertain whether I can say what those reasons are," said Gunn. "It might have to do with future stuff."

At this point, the DCEU doesn’t seem to know what it’s doing… and this cameo just muddies the waters even further.

"Um, you know, I didn’t have a conversation [with Warner Bros.]," said Gunn. "I just wrote it and gave them the scripts. I don’t think they really realized what they had agreed to until they saw what I had shot, which was the Justice League there. And then I think the full weight of it and, you know, what does this mean for the DCU and all of that became huge pieces of conversation up to the very highest levels of Warners. And to their credit, they let me get away with it."

Whatever’s going on, this insane Peacemaker cameo can’t be understated. Just don’t expect to see Zack Snyder’s Justice League back together in full anytime soon.

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

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Peacemaker season finale!

Peacemaker big finale aired last night … and it includes a crazy cameo. Now, director James Gunn has spoken about how it all came together.

The hit TV show has already made headlines thanks to its insanely hilarious intro and over-the-top action, as seen in the show’s official trailer. But after a series full of explosive action, pet eagles, and shots of Peacemaker strutting around in his pants, James Gunn has dropped a massive cameo appearance that will leave you stunned. Seriously, click away if you don't want things spoiled.

Peacemaker’s finale episode, “Cow or Never”, sees our favorite antihero head up a team to take out the farmhouse – where the Butterflies keep their food source, known as “the cow”. Once the explosive mission is finally over, team Peacemaker heads out, dragging themselves off the battlefield after suffering major injuries. And that’s when the Justice League turns up.

"We didn’t have the budget for them to show up on time," James Gunn told Variety. "Never been able to do it. They had to show up late."

That’s right – Zack Snyder’s Justice League (minus Batman and Cyborg) makes an unexpected appearance at the end of the finale episode. And it’s not mere stand-ins, either. Sure, we never get a good look at Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman or Henry Cavill’s Superman, but we see Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) trade verbal blows about a long-standing rumor that involves the King of Atlantis and a fish…

"I think before we ever shot the show, we talked to Jason about it," said Gunn. "We were like, 'Listen, [Peacemaker] says you fuck fish all the time.' And we were a little afraid he would be upset, but he just laughed. He was cool. So he was pretty much on board from the beginning. And then Ezra I just found out through some common friends liked my movies a lot. And so I asked if he would come in and shoot this scene, and he kindly agreed to do that. Actually, Marvel shot [Ezra] for us, while we’re shooting Guardians Vol. 3."

It's a hilariously unexpected moment. After all, the Justice League is still clearly together at this point. But what does that even mean?

It’s no secret that Warner Bros. chose to can Ben Affleck’s solo Batman movie in favor of The Batman starring Robert Pattinson. And with Ben Affleck turning his back on the role, it’s no surprise to see him absent from the Justice League line-up in Peacemaker.

Then there’s the conspicuous absence of Cyborg, which is clearly in part due to actor Ray Fisher’s ongoing beef with Warner Bros. And with no sign of an apology from the company, it looks as though he won’t be suiting up as Cyborg again anytime soon.

"You know, I don’t know what I can — there are reasons for [their absence], but I’m actually uncertain whether I can say what those reasons are," said Gunn. "It might have to do with future stuff."

At this point, the DCEU doesn’t seem to know what it’s doing… and this cameo just muddies the waters even further.

"Um, you know, I didn’t have a conversation [with Warner Bros.]," said Gunn. "I just wrote it and gave them the scripts. I don’t think they really realized what they had agreed to until they saw what I had shot, which was the Justice League there. And then I think the full weight of it and, you know, what does this mean for the DCU and all of that became huge pieces of conversation up to the very highest levels of Warners. And to their credit, they let me get away with it."

Whatever’s going on, this insane Peacemaker cameo can’t be understated. Just don’t expect to see Zack Snyder’s Justice League back together in full anytime soon.

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

FX's Fargo has been renewed for a fifth season, with series creator Noah Hawley returning to take the lead on the all-new installment.

The award-winning anthology series has travelled through various decades, cities and families, delivering a self-contained narrative each season. The newly-announced fifth season will be no different as the next chapter will transport viewers to 2019 at a time that will pose such questions as, "when is a kidnapping not a kidnapping, and what if your wife isn't yours?"

Hawley and his production company 26 Keys will head up the creative team for the fifth season of the hit crime drama alongside Warren Littlefield of The Littlefield Company, who will serve as an executive producer together with Joel and Ethan Coen, the brothers behind the original film that inspired the series, and Steve Stark of Toluca Pictures.

"Noah Hawley is a masterful storyteller who has successfully created four wholly original seasons of one of the most brilliant series on television," said Michael Wright, President of Scripted Television at MGM, the studio responsible for distributing the series. "We cannot wait to see his vision for season five come to life with our partners at FX."

Fargo's first season aired in 2014 and was followed by the second season in 2015 and the third season in 2017. The show was last on the air with its fourth season in 2020. After that, Hawley jumped into creating a new TV series based on the Alien film franchise. As of June last year, two scripts had been written for that, with production set to begin this spring.

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

FX's Fargo has been renewed for a fifth season, with series creator Noah Hawley returning to take the lead on the all-new installment.

The award-winning anthology series has travelled through various decades, cities and families, delivering a self-contained narrative each season. The newly-announced fifth season will be no different as the next chapter will transport viewers to 2019 at a time that will pose such questions as, "when is a kidnapping not a kidnapping, and what if your wife isn't yours?"

Hawley and his production company 26 Keys will head up the creative team for the fifth season of the hit crime drama alongside Warren Littlefield of The Littlefield Company, who will serve as an executive producer together with Joel and Ethan Coen, the brothers behind the original film that inspired the series, and Steve Stark of Toluca Pictures.

"Noah Hawley is a masterful storyteller who has successfully created four wholly original seasons of one of the most brilliant series on television," said Michael Wright, President of Scripted Television at MGM, the studio responsible for distributing the series. "We cannot wait to see his vision for season five come to life with our partners at FX."

Fargo's first season aired in 2014 and was followed by the second season in 2015 and the third season in 2017. The show was last on the air with its fourth season in 2020. After that, Hawley jumped into creating a new TV series based on the Alien film franchise. As of June last year, two scripts had been written for that, with production set to begin this spring.

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

Netflix has announced that Stranger Things season 4 will premiere on May 27. However, this fourth season is almost twice as long as previous seasons, and so will be split into two volumes, with the second batch of episodes being released five weeks later on July 1.

The news, announced on Netflix's website, comes accompanied by a letter from The Duffer Brothers, the creators of the show. As well as explaining that this fourth season has a runtime of almost double the previous seasons, the creative duo also revealed that Stranger Things will conclude with its fifth season.

"With nine scripts, over eight-hundred pages, almost two years of filming, thousands of visual effects shots, and a runtime nearly twice the length of any previous season, Stranger Things 4 was the most challenging season yet, but also the most rewarding one," said The Duffer Brothers.

"It's also the beginning of the end," they continued. "Seven years ago, we planned out the complete story arc for Stranger Things. At the time, we predicted the story would last four to five seasons. It proved too large to tell in four, but -- as you'll soon see for yourselves -- we are now hurtling towards our finale. Season 4 will be the penultimate season; season 5 will be the last."

At nine episodes, season 4 has a similar episode count to previous seasons of Stranger Things. It appears, then, that each episode may be feature-length in runtime to make the season as large as The Duffer Brothers claim.

As for the plot of season 4, Netflix offered this synopsis: It’s been six months since the Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins. Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time – and navigating the complexities of high school hasn't made things any easier. In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down.

For more from Stranger Things, check out season 4's episode titles and the official map of Hawkins. And while season 5 may be the final one, there could be more Stranger Things in the form of spin-off shows.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.