San Diego Comic Con 2024 finished up over the weekend, and we have a pretty good idea of what the next the big players in the entertainment industry are working on for the next few years.
After scouring the internet to find all the best and most interesting bits and bobs from the panels, announcements, and interviews, we’ve pulled together all the most important bits: from new shows, to incoming adaptations, and just what Robert Downey Jr. is up to next.
‘The Boys’ is Getting a Prequel Series
One of the more successful shows backed by Amazon, The Boys has been a wild ride for the past four seasons, and looks set to finish up with its fifth season – expected to launch in 2026.
But that doesn’t mean The Boys‘ ride is over. A new prequel series, titled Vought Rising, is now in the works. The new show will be a “twisted murder mystery” that will delve into the background of the megalithic Vought corporation, and will be headlined by Jensen Ackles (as Solder Boy) and Aya Cash (as Stormfront).
The show doesn’t have a release date, but will produced by Ackles, Cash, Seth Rogan and Eric Kripke, among others, with Paul Grellong serving as showrunner.
It’s very unlikely that we’ll see this series before The Boys season five launches, but at least we know there’ll be more superpowered bloodshed on the horizon.
The Long Awaited ‘Bioshock’ Movie is Smaller, ‘More Personal’
We’ve known that Netflix has been working on a film adaptation of the critically and commercially successful video game series Bioshock for a long time, even though was only announced in 2022.
For fans of the game, it’d be easy to imagine the show as an expensive CGI-filled dive into the dystopian seafloor city of Rapture, but director Francis Lawrence confirmed on a panel at SDCC that the adaptation would be a “more personal” story, and has had its budget reduced.
According to Lawrence, Netflix has undergone a shift in priorities (and leadership) since the show was first announced, and Bioshock has been “reconfigured” into a smaller narrative, rather than the “grander, big project” it initially was set to be.
While it was fair to think that Netflix’s Bioshock might never come out, it’ actually’s starting to seem like we might actually see Rapture on film. Netflix, would you kindly hurry up?
Junji Ito’s ‘Uzumaki’ is coming to Adult Swim in September
Another one that has been long gestating, Adult Swim’s adaptation of Uzumaki, arguably the seminal work of horror magaka Junji Ito, is finally coming hitting screens on September 28.
Initially announced in 2019, Adult Swim’s version looks very faithful to the original manga, even down to the black and white ink-shaded art style, which, in our opinion, keeps the creep factor high.
Uzumaki follows the tale of a town beset by spirals. Scared yet?
No, but really, it’s very unsettling. Watch the trailer here to get an idea of the kinds of messed up shit you can do with a shape – it’s why Ito is the GOAT.
Marvel Bets on Robert Downey Jr. Again
We’ve known what is old is new again for a long time, but the seminal Iron Man lead, Robert Downey Jr., returning to the universe he famously exited wasn’t something we were expecting.
Confusingly, Downey Jr. isn’t returning as the role that put Marvel on the cinematic map, but rather as Dr. Doom in the next Avengers film, set to be called Avengers: Doomsday. Doom mostly shows up to wreck havoc on The Fantastic Four in the comics and in his prior movie appearances, but this time he’ll be taking on the wider MCU. If it’s essentially evil Tony Stark dismantling the Avengers with brains, rather than brawn, it’ll probably be pretty entertaining.
The upcoming Fantastic Four: First Steps film, however, will focus instead on the world-devouring Galactus, which seems like a much wider issue to tackle for the broader MCU, but what do I know? At least the Silver Surfer will finally get a look in.
James Wan’s Next Big Horror Show Launches in October
James Wan, the man behind huge horror hits like Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring and Malignant, is bringing his brand of spooks to the small screen.
Teacup, a Peacock Original, is launching on October 10. The series is based off of author Robert McCammon’s Stinger, has Wan acting as an executive produer, and has apparently evolved to be something more than just an adaptation.
“During production the series changed and evolved,” said showrunner Ian McCulloch. “(Teacup) is now very much its own thing: a puzzle-box mystery, and edge-of-your-seat thriller, a can’t-but-must look horror story, a family drama, a science fiction epic – of the keyhole variety, of course.”
The original story, Stinger, follows a group of people that get trapped in rural Georgia and must survive a harrowing threat. For fear of spoiling a 36-year-old book we’ll leave it there, but given Wan’s particular talents, it’s safe to expect some jump scares when Teacup finally launches.
