Lego My Starship!

Geek culture expands with major announcements for Star Trek's 60th anniversary, DC's Superman sequel, and Star Wars potentially coming to the world's largest screen at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

• Star Trek celebrating its 60th anniversary with a Rose Parade float, new series including Starfleet Academy, and first-ever Lego collaboration
• James Gunn announces "Superman: Man of Tomorrow" for July 2027, featuring Superman and Lex Luthor potentially teaming up
• Star Wars may be screened on the world's largest display at the Sphere in Las Vegas ahead of A New Hope's 50th anniversary
• Call of Duty movie officially in development at Paramount under David Ellison's leadership
• HBO's "Welcome to Derry" IT prequel series starring Bill Skarsgård premieres October 26th
• Amazon's Tomb Raider series starring Sophie Turner begins production January 2026
• Max Jean joins the cast of the Highlander remake alongside Henry Cavill and Russell Crowe

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Chapters

• 0:00 Show Introduction
• 1:51 Star Trek's 60th Anniversary Plans
• 5:39 Superman: Man of Tomorrow Revealed
• 8:19 Star Wars on World's Largest Screen
• 10:36 Call of Duty Movie Development
• 13:47 TV and Streaming Updates
• 18:19 Closing and Contact Information

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Tonight. Star Trek gets the Lego treatment, james Gunn reveals the man of Tomorrow, star Wars gets big and Call of Duty the movie. All that and more on this edition of Multiverse Tonight. Welcome to Multiverse Tonight, your source for geek news. We dissect films, games, comics and much more, bringing you insightful commentary on pop culture. This is Multiverse Tonight. Now here's your host, thomas Townley. Well, hello there and welcome to episode 248 of Multiverse Tonight. I'm, of course, your host, thomas Townley, and it's Star Trek Day Today.

Speaker 1: 0:39

59 years ago, the first episode of Star Trek, the original series, aired on NBC. So we'll have a little bit of Star Trek Day news coming up here in a minute. I've been doing fine. It's lovely weather right now. Summer has taken its own vacation and has left the building pretty much, where it's still getting like 70s and 80s during the day, but it's getting like cool 60s at night. You know something bad's going to happen eventually, but there's nothing we can really do about. That is there. Now let's get on with the Star Trek news.

Speaker 1: 1:51

Star Trek news begins with Star Trek gearing up for its 60th anniversary next year and promising a year of fan-focused celebration. Now these will include special events, new partnerships, a parade float in the Rose Bowl and the debut of several new series Star Trek, starfleet Academy, a new series on YouTube called Star Trek Scouts, and a scripted podcast, star Trek Con. Now, the latter two launched just today, september 8th, in conjunction with Star Trek Day, which commemorates the 1966 pilot premiere of Star Trek, the original series. Now the festivities will kick off with a customized float at the Rose Parade on New Year's Day in Pasadena, california. The float's design will buy the franchise's core values of hope, inclusivity, exploration and unity, and will also highlight the upcoming Star Trek Academy series starring Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti, introducing a new group of cadets navigating friendships, rivalries, first loves and new adversaries threatening both the Academy and the Federation. Though we do not have yet an official release date for the series, star Trek Scouts marks the franchise's entry into preschool programming. Developed by Nickelodeon Digital Studios in collaboration with CBS Studios, it follows three eight-year-old friends, jr, Sprocket and Rue, as they train to become Starfleet explorers through various out-of-this-world missions.

Speaker 1: 3:10

The universe of Star Trek is also expanding with Star Trek Con, a podcast tracing the untold events on City Alpha 5 and chronicling Con's transformation from a superhuman visionary into the vengeful villain we see in Star Trek 2. Naveen Andrews will voice Khan, supported by a cast including Ren Schmidt, sonya Cassidy and Star Trek veterans Tim Russ and George Takai. New episodes will be released weekly on Mondays until November 3rd, available on major podcast platforms and YouTube. New partnerships are also part of the anniversary celebrations, including a Do Something Boldly, go Green environmental campaign and the first-ever collaboration to bring the Star Trek world to Legos, with more details to follow Digitally. The franchise will expand into the comic space with Webtoon and launch an official anniversary website, startrek60.com, serving as a hub for activities and information For dedicated fans. Star Trek the Cruise will set sail on February 20th through the 27th next year, featuring legacy actors William Shatner, walter Koenig and 20 other performers from across the Star Trek universe. Meanwhile, star Trek Strange New World Season 3 concludes this week and the 4th and 5th seasons are already anticipated.

Speaker 1: 4:27

And if you're watching this on YouTube, you'll see the brand new Captain Picard Lego minifig. Yeah, this might be. I might actually have to buy one or two of these sets. I know I'm going to catch grief for it from the wife, but damn it, all you got me. You got me with Star Trek. I at least have to have each bridge set. I guess Sounds like the 60th anniversary like each bridge set, I guess. But you know, sounds like the 60th anniversary is going to be an interesting one, hopefully with no specials and no soprano saxophone, if you know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 5:19

Anyway, let's go on to the DC Comics News, and DC Comics News begins where else? With James Gunn revealing that not only is Superman Yang a sequel, but it's pretty high on that priority list as it now has a release date. The sequel is titled man of Tomorrow and it will be released on July 9th 2027, although that's not the only noteworthy detail. Gunn shared an image from superstar artist Jim Lee to go with the announcement, and it features David Cornswet's Superman in full movie costume standing alongside Nicholas Holt's Lex Luthor, which is a big reveal in itself after the events of the first film. On top of that, lex is sporting his iconic green and purple armor, so it would suggest that Superman and Luthor might be teaming up to take on an even bigger threat in the film. Now, while it feels like they will be teaming up during the film, that doesn't mean we won't see Superman and Luthor throw hands at some point.

Speaker 1: 6:25

Both Corn Sweat and Holt shared new art pieces featuring their characters starring, with Corn Sweat sharing artwork by George Jimenez. The artwork shows Superman and Luthor staying side by side, like the piece shared by James Gunn, though that changes in the next piece, holt shared artwork by Mitch Gerads. But this one takes a turn and shows Superman and Luther battling. While it seems we will see them working together at some point, rest assured that whatever might align them won't hide the fact that this is still Superman and his greatest nemesis, which the first film showed that fans just how ruthless Luther can be.

Speaker 1: 7:01

The question then becomes who is a big enough villain that Superman and Lex Luthor need to team up against to take down? There are several compelling options. In that regard. General Zod comes to mind, although, frankly, haven't we seen enough of General Zod as this brainiac and dark side. But we'll just have to wait and see. Personally, I would rather see Brainiac. We've never really seen Brainiac done in the movie space. We've seen Zod. We've seen Darkseid Go for Brainiac. Give us this or give us something. Give us Doomsday, you know, or make that the third film, man of Steel, man of Tomorrow, make the third film Last Son of Krypton, and have it be Superman versus Doomsday, ending with Superman getting killed. So you have to have the return of Superman. Just a thought. Anyway, let's go on to the Star Wars news. Roger roger, the largest screen in the world, might be traveling to a galaxy far, far away soon.

Speaker 1: 8:27

On Sunday, bloomberg reported that James Dolan, chief executive of the spear, the entertainment venue in Los Angeles in Las Vegas, is in talks with the Walt Disney company to play a few of its titles they have in their catalog, including star Wars. The news comes on the heels of a highly successful run of the wizard of Oz, the 86 year old movie that has already sold 200,000 tickets in just a few weeks. Up until recently, the site was used as a concert venue, the largest in the world, but Bloomberg argued that it is actually a movie theater, and this is substantiated by the profit margins they've seen so far. When U2 and the Backstreet Boys play the Spear, the band gets more than half the ticket price. When the Wizard of Oz plays there, the Spear keeps around 70%, according to a research firm.

Speaker 1: 9:11

Now the Wizard of Oz at the Spear has not been free of controversy. The film was trimmed down to 70 minutes, retooled with AI for a modern audience. Critics and film historians have panned the experiment as they were trying to add more fuel to the fire. Dolan and Warner Bros Discovery CEO, david Zaslav, admitted a few days ago to having digitally inserted themselves into the movie. All of this, of course, would be hanging over a screening of A New Hope in the Spear. Star Wars movies are very familiar with altered versions of the original cut, but it seems doubtful that George Lucas allowed Disney to alter his six original movies in any way when he sold them to the company in 2012.

Speaker 1: 9:52

For now, this seems to be in the preliminary stages at best, but heads are all returning thanks to the cloud provided by the Wizard of Oz, and now it's time to start thinking about expanding the business. With the 50th anniversary of A New Hope coming up, it would be a rising tide that lifts all boats. The 1977 movie has already been announced to be returning to theaters in late April 2027. Now let's go on to the geek news Everyone's dying to see. It Reads the tongue-in-cheek caption on HBO Max's X announcement for the it Welcome to Derry release date.

Speaker 1: 10:43

The anticipated it prequel series starring and execs, produced by Bill Skarsgård, in its return as the terrifying clown Pennywise, will launch on October 26th on HBO Max. It Welcome to Derry is set in the world of Stephen King's it universe and expands the vision established by filmmaker Andy Muschietti into films which amassed a combined $1.17 billion worldwide. The series stems from a story by Andy Muschietti, barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs based on King's novel it. In addition to Skarsgård, the cast includes Taylor Page, joven Adepo, chris Chalk, james Remmer, stephen Ryder, madeline Stowe and Rudy Mancuso Chris Chalk, james Remmer, stephen Reiter, madeline Stowe and Rudy Mancuso.

Speaker 1: 11:26

Paramount, now under Skydance and the leadership of chairman and CEO David Ellison, is developing a live-action feature film based on Activision's best-selling video game, call of Duty. This project holds particular significance for Ellison, a longtime fan of the game. Paramount has officially finalized the film deal with Activision, with Activision also serving as a creative partner. The studio known for Top Gun Maverick sees Call of Duty as a natural fit. This isn't the first attempt to bring the franchise to the big screen. Activision Blizzard Studios previously tried in February 2018 with Sicario 2's director Stefano Salima, but that effort did not materialize.

Speaker 1: 12:05

Call of Duty is one of the most successful video game franchises of all time, holding the title of number one best-selling video game series in the US for 16 consecutive years, and has sold over half a billion copies worldwide and reached millions of players globally. David Ellison expressed his enthusiasm, saying, quote as a lifelong fan of Call of Duty, this is truly a dream come true. From the first Allied campaigns to the original Call of Duty, through Modern Warfare and Black Ops, I have spent countless hours playing this franchise that I absolutely love. Being a trusted Activision players worldwide to bring this extraordinary storytelling universe to the big screen is both an honor and a responsibility that we don't take lightly. We're approaching this film with the same disciplined, uncompromising commitment to excellence that guided our work in Top Gun Maverick, ensuring it meets the exceptional high standards this franchise and its fans deserve. I can promise that we are resolute in our mission to deliver a cinematic experience that honors the legacy of this one in a million brand thrilling longtime fans of Call of Duty with captivating a whole new generation. Unquote.

Speaker 1: 13:16

Now, what do you think of Call of Duty? The movie? You know, and it's, you know, it's very Call of Duty. The games go all the way back to World War I, all the way forward to some far off future conflict. So where exactly will they base this game? In the distant past, distant future now? Well, you know? Civil War 2? Where, who knows. I do know one thing I'm not going to see it because Call of Duty is not my bag. Anyway, hulk Hogan's Rockin' Wrestling is headed to the WWE Vault on YouTube.

Speaker 1: 14:02

The classic animated series Hulk Hogan's Rockin' Wrestling, which originally aired from 1985 to 1986, is set to debut on the WWE Vault YouTube channel beginning this past Saturday, when WWE has released episodes in batches of four every Saturday morning. The episode will be released chronologically at 6, 8, 10, and noon Eastern Time. The show featured Hulk Hogan and a team of babyface wrestlers including Andre the Giant Junkyard Dog, jimmy the Superfly Snooka facing off in humorous situations against a group of heels led by Roddy Roddy Piper, alongside characters like the Iron Sheik and Bobby the Brain Heenan Mean Gene Okerlund was also a character. Interestingly, none of the wrestlers provide their own voices due to their busy schedules, with Brad Garrett voicing Hogan. The first four episodes to be released on the YouTube channel were Junkyard 500, junkenstein the Four-Legged Pickpocket, clean Gene, andre's Giant Problem and Gorilla my Dreams. A total of 26 episodes were produced. The news comes just over a month after the passing of Terry Bollea, also known as Hulk Hogan, at age 71 in Clearwater, florida.

Speaker 1: 15:12

Amazon Prime Video's live-action Tomb Raider series, an adaptation of the popular video game franchise, is slated to begin production on January 19, 2026. Amazon MGM has confirmed that Sophie Turner will star as Lara Croft. The series was first reported to be in development in January of 2023 and greenlit in May of 2024, with Turner's casting coming in November 2024. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is the creator, writer and executive producer for the series. Chad Hodge has joined as an executive producer and co-showrunner alongside Waller-Bridge, while Jonathan Van Telken will direct and also serve as an executive producer. Jonathan Van Telken will direct and also serve as an executive producer. Waller-bridge expressed her excitement about Turner's casting and the creative team, emphasizing her passion for bringing Lara Croft to life at such a grand scale. Turner shared her enthusiasm for taking on the iconic role, acknowledging the massive shoes to fill left by previous portrayers, angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander, but expressed confidence with Waller-B Bridge at the helm. The series is expected to be produced by Crystal Dynamics and this is part of Waller Bridge's overall deal with Amazon MGM Studios.

Speaker 1: 16:27

The 2025 Creative Arts Emmys were passed out this past weekend and here is a rundown of the winners. The geek winners, that is, the studio, gained nine wins, including guest actor for Bryan Cranston, costumes and editing. The Penguin picked up eight, including makeup, costumes, vfx and sound. Severance won six for guest actress, merit Weaver, sound and title design Andor received four for costumes, production design, editing and visual effects. Arcane won four for animation, sound editing and visual achievements, and Love, death and Robots got four for including animation design and production. The Boys got three, including stun and Love, death and Robots Got four including animation design and production. The Boys got three, including stunts and original song and performance highlights include Julian Nicholson for guest actress for Hacks, desi Lydic for short-form comedy for the Daily Show, julie Andrews won voiceover for Bridgerton, arcane won best animated program and Octopus won for motion design. And finally, tonight breaking news Max Jean has joined the cast of Chad Stalski's Highlander remake at Amazon MGM Studios, united Artists, alongside previously announced Henry Cavill, russell Crowe, marissa Abella, karen Gillian, jamon Hounsou and Dave Bautista.

Speaker 1: 18:07

So we're still going on with the need to be only one. There needs to be only one, of course. Anyway, thank you for tuning in. That brings us to the end of our show for today. Now please be sure to check us out on social media. We're on Twitter, at Blue Sky, at Multiverse, tom Threads, facebook and Instagram, as well at Multiverse Tonight, if you found some value out of the show. Thank you very much, and be sure to check us out on social media Now.

Speaker 1: 18:42

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