House of R - Fall Hype Meter 2024 | House of R

Episode Date: August 20, 2024

The season is upon us to celebrate the hype of fall! Mal and Jo jump in to make their picks for all the latest fandom outings that you just can't miss (06:39). Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Producers: Steve Ahlman and John Richter Additional Production: Arjuna Ramgopal Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum Business to keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 US-based support. Millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need WeatherTech floor liners in the summer unless you hit the beach or go camping.

Then you'd want a cargo liner. Or a road trip goes sideways, ketchup goes rogue, ice cream drips. Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need weather tech unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. I heard you guys were having a party. Hello. Hey.

Shall we? Ward is coming to Midlands. You're green. Is anyone there? Yes, plow! All together and when it charges break for the wall. I thought you was still let out. Arkham?

I am the one keeping the storm at bay. I'm giving you a chance, sweetie. Galatria. Sisterhood above all. What happens next? Greetings. And welcome to House of Rar, a Ringerverse podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network. I'm Mallory Rubin, and it is my absolute pleasure to invite you not only to Middle Earth, to the Witches Road, to Gotham, to wherever else we might be journeying today.

And also, of course. back into the House of R. Joining me today, telling us she knows we believe the ring is deceiving her, but she believes it is guiding her. I'm sure it'll be fine. It'll be fine. It's Joanna Robinson. What could possibly go wrong with a powerful ring?

Nothing. I think it will only fill us with purpose. Schalladriel here. Oh my God, we're so close to rings of power. It's so exciting. We started getting so many emails from people with their rings of power hype. It's very real. I can't wait.

I can't wait. Joanna. Mallory? You said hype. And it's fitting that you did because we are here for a cherished seasonal tradition, the house of our hype meter. Before we refresh everybody on the rules and on speaking of proud traditions, how we have decided to define a season. Let's say.

Some quick programming reminders. Yeah. Over on the ringerverse, you can hear. the return of the Midnight Boys. Poo! Poo! Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 21st. They will be having a state of the summer franchises chat. By the time you're listening to this,

you will already be able to find the latest Mint Edition in your Ring of Verse feed on Alien Romulus and Watchman Chapter 1. For us, here in the House of R, it's a one pod week. And in case you hear us, you know, notice us weaving in and out of time a bit on the pod today, we are banking this a few days early because we're going, we're both going on vacation next week. We're going dark next week. So we're banking the hype meter before we head out of town.

Letting you know that because if there's like a trailer, a new trailer that came out or a new date for a show or something and that's not accounted for in the hype meter, that's why. Also, this will be the only pot of the week. And then we will be back with you next week twice as usual for the Rings of Power, season two primer at the top of the week, thrilling. and The Rings of Power season to premiere deep dive at the end of the week. Thrilling. Three episodes of Rings of Power are dropping at once next week. Wild. Lock in, folks.

Joanna. Yes. How can everybody follow along? Oh, gosh. I'm thrilled to the bone that you asked me this. Listen, why don't you just subscribe to the pod? Both Ringerva and Hassevar while you're at it. Sounds like a good plan to me.

And a few other ringer pause while you're at it. There's a lot going on. It's great stuff for you to listen to. also on social on Instagram on TikTok on Twitter on Facebook and make sure that all of Jomey's hard work

is not for not and that you enjoy all the added content that he puts up there for you for your enjoyment the email's open stays open it was flooded with dragon emails last week and now we're starting to get hobbit emails it's hobbs and dragons at gmail.com

it's how you can get in touch with us we got an email from someone just yesterday, I think, telling us that she was like, could not bear to be separated from us. So sweet. She had never watched any Lord of the Rings or read any Lord of the Rings anything. And she watched the Peter Jackson trilogy. And she's like, this is my new favorite story. This is the best thing I've ever seen.

I love it so much. Sam, Aragor, blah, blah, blah. Oh, my God, the best time. And I was just like genuinely could not be more thrilled. So welcome. to Middle Earth. This is the stuff. This is the stuff.

It is a power. I'm so excited. So, yeah. Delightful. There you go. You still have a few days. If you're hearing this and you're inspired, you can watch season one Rinks of Power.

You can watch all of the films, perhaps read the text, or do none of that and just join us. Watch Rings of Power season one. Mallory's deep in a rewatch and is sending me tattoo ideas. So that's how you know. We're backing it. It's true.

Okay. You can also watch full episodes of The House of R and Midnight Boys on YouTube. So check out the Ring ofverse YouTube channel. Hit subscribe if you haven't yet. You can also watch those episodes on Spotify, delightful stuff. What a time. Great.

Thrilling. Delightful. Exciting. Also, the last programming reminder, it's usually the friendly neighborhood spoiler warning. Tough one for a hype meter always because we don't know what's going to happen in the new stuff that's yet to come out that we're going to talk about. So obviously no future plot points will come up.

We're just going to talk about things we see in trailers, casting news, like that stuff. Yeah. But nothing beyond that. Yeah. What is it vaguely about? Exactly. Will some stuff from prior installments or the larger, like, IP world that we're talking about come into play? I mean, yeah.

Maybe. Yes. Here and there. Yes, for certain. For certain. I would say definitely. Okay, you've been warned. Great.

I love a hype meter. Joanna, you, uh, you've told us, you mentioned this to me. You mentioned it to John. You mentioned it to Arjuna. You mentioned it to Steve that you would formally like us to start calling you the shareer of gifts. So I guess we should share a gift now. We should share the fall height meter rules before we dive into the pot. No, I prefer you call me Joanna, who was Hal Brand and is also Sarah.

Thank you so much. Okay. All right. We'll amend that moving forward. Thank you. It's definitely going to help the runtime of the pots. Not a problem. Okay.

Anyone who's listened to a hype meter before will be very familiar with the setup because we're sticking with it. Here's how it goes. Process. We will be counting down from 10 to 1 and our lists are surprises. I don't know what is on Joanna's fall height meter and Joanna does not know what is on my fall height meter. So if we have picked the same title at any point, which surely will happen, we will discuss it at the higher of the two spots. I am going to predict that we have the same top three. I am not sure if we have it in the same order. We'll find out. I don't know how much overlap we'll have on that. I don't know. I think we definitely have, I think, two of those three for

sorton. And I'm not sure. Interesting. About one of those three. What's your prediction for overlap overall? Oh, 80%. I didn't, I didn't go too well this time. I'm following your meat ball down the middle. Yeah, fastballs down the middle. Eligibility. Like one or two that maybe you don't have. But other than that, I think we're just. I'm excited. Yeah. I'm excited. Eligibility. These are, as always, genre picks. If we could. could, if we will certainly, or could potentially, if there is a world in which we could potentially, will this come up for one selection today, we'll find out. Yes.

Could potentially cover a given property on House of R on Ringervorce. It can be selected in the height meter timeframe. Okay. We have yet in any height meter to actually follow the literal season starts on this date and ends on this date. We're rebels. We're storytellers. We weave our own universes in our world. Exactly right. So in our world, fall 224 will begin today, August 20. And it will run through the end of November. We're basically shifting fall up a month. And we're doing this for two reasons. We want to be able to include some stuff that comes out at the end of August. And there's actually a lot of stuff coming in December. So, you know, we got to think ahead. Winter height meter. I mean, the wind. winter height meter is going to be a doozy. So if you came to this pot today and you were excited to hear Craven selected at number one, great news. You will get to hear that. It's just going to come in the winter height meter in a few months. And remind the kids when Craven appeared on the

hype meter before. I did select Craven in a hype meter. And I want to say that was last winter, like previous calendar year. Though the hype continues. The hype is sustained. I just need you You know that anytime someone mentions Craven and a slack and a text, whatever, Mallory's like, most anticipated movie year. The bit is like ongoing. Genuinely, you can't wait to watch this movie. I'm excited. I'm so excited to podcast about it with you from the crevice that is like one of the ridges on Aaron Taylor Johnson's torso. Right in an abnuck.

Right in an abnuck. I'll see you there. Greasy abnuck. All right. Releases that can conclude. in the date range we just share are not eligible. No. This is releases that begin in that time period.

Okay. Finally, wild card and honorable mentions. As always, nine out of the ten picks must be currently confirmed. Now, we cannot be held accountable for a release moving. Again, Craven the Hunter has moved so many times that it previously appeared on a 2023 height meter. Nine out of the ten, they must have a release. stayed in our range currently one can be a wildcar pick which means reasonably assumed to come

out in our time range if you can make the case that it might come out you can pick it but you do not have to devote one of your spots to a wildcar pick you do not have to it's elective where where are you on your stranger things is coming out in 2024 stance that you took earlier this year i've moved on okay i mean i had to i had to try it in the hype draft i respect it i think i would have regretted forever if I hadn't at least attempted it. Yeah. But I moved on pretty quickly after that. After being denied.

Finally, honorable mentions, if we had some extra contenders that we were bummed to leave off the list or just some things that we want to mention. Yeah. We'll run through them, lightning around rapid fire style at the very end. If anyone who is on this video call with us is absolutely appalled by something we left off, you know, guys, you can jump in at the end. We'll see.

A lot of stuff to be excited about. Okay, should we just dive in? Let's do it. top 10 is it time. What's it? Joanna, kick things off. What's your number 10? Okay.

I always on these, try to put a book installment in, and so we're going to start at the bottom here, number 10, with a book installment, because my book selections this time around are like a little on the weak side, actually. One is, this is a high meter, but it's also like, it's like a hope meter. Like, we hope all of these things are as good as. they have the potential to be. So I only have one smuggle and then like one actual. The smuggle is, I probably won't even read it.

I just need to say it because I've gotten so many emails about it. Brando Sando himself is putting out the fifth installment in the Stormlight archives Nights of Wind and Truth. It is December 6 just outside of our date range. So there are many ways in which it doesn't qualify. A, I probably won't read it. B, it doesn't come like inside the date range. I just didn't want to get anyone saying, why didn't you mention Stormlight?

So Stormlight has been mentioned. Brando Sandoh heads, I hope you're thrilled and excited to get another stormlight installment. I will be selecting, however, and again, this is like Hope Meter Fodder. September 10th. This is my number 10. T.J. Clune, who wrote. Yeah, yeah. Somewhere we on the sea.

We have the same number 10. I have a copy of it right. I have an advanced copy of it right here. I haven't read it yet. But I think you liked Surly and C a bit more than I did. You loved it. I liked it. So since it's our number 10, we can both talk about it here.

You loved it. I liked it. I am like, but there was just like such good foundation there that in like the hope meter fashion, I'm like hopeful that this takes it to like another level entirely. And I just have a great time with it. But if it doesn't even like ratchet it up, I had a fun, fine time reading the first. first book. So I think I'm going to definitely enjoy somewhere beyond the sea. So yeah. Delightful. Look at us. This is, wow. I mean, if we have, we both have this at 10, we might have more overlap than I,

than I was anticipating. Goodness. And I like that you're, you're saying hope meter, because it's, that's, you know, it didn't say that in the rules refresher, but we should just offer a quick reminder. The height meter is not about, like, predicting, and this has nothing to do necessarily with somewhere beyond the sea, but just in general, it isn't about, like, predicting, ultimately how successful any of these releases will be. It's just like anticipation. What are we looking forward to? What are we excited to share with each other with all of you, etc? So I also have somewhere beyond the sea at number 10. I really, really, really loved the 2020s, the House of the Surreliancy. I did not enjoy the next clune book I read quite as much under the whispering door, but I really loved the first surreliancy book. And I just, first of all, I read it as part of my Kuse book club, now known as Pulp Book Club, as a previously discussed on a prior pod, Pals United in Literary Pleasure.

And also the paper pulp and orange pulp go cues. Okay. Do you guys have merch yet? One of our pals, Suzanne, made everybody custom bookmarks with the pulp. I feel like you should start buying like a merch from the band pulp and just repurpose it as your own merch. You know what I mean? Let's do it. This is like when I wore a Pamplemose T-shirt in front of you the first time.

You're like, is that for the band? I was like, this is a La Croy shirt. You can always make it work. But not only am I looking forward to reading this next installment and what is now called the Surulian Chronicles. Wow. My assumption is that we will continue to get. Strap in. Installments.

With my beloved college buddies with our book club, I really was just so fond of the characters in the first book. And so the idea of like, and it seems like this is going to be a very, I won't share like particulars from the story for anyone who has. hasn't read it, but it seems like this second installment is going to be very Arthur-centric, and I really loved Arthur, so that's exciting. I have said before, I'll just say again, Theodore was to me one of the best characters who had ever made his way into my life when he came out of his little couch den and rested his chin on that waiting leg. My heart just melted. So I'm just excited to be back with the gang, you know, found family. Found family. Magic and love. It's very Charles Xavier's School

for gifted children sort of coded story with like a very cozy, um, lovely story of found family. So yeah. Lovely is a great word for it. Love it. Yeah. I'm excited.

Okay. What's your number nine? I have peppered this list with the remaining witch properties of the year. And number nine, uh, coming out November 22nd is the musicale wicked part one. I do not have this on my list. Take it away. An adaptation of a stage musical that is an adaptation of a Gregory McGuire book.

Like, how long have I been with this story of, like, I bought that book like a gazillion years ago? I actually saw this in London during my semester abroad, which was like a gazillion years ago. A hundred years ago because I am ancient. It was great. This is a little low on my list just because, I don't know, there's some aspects of this movie. It's directed by John Chu, who I, I don't know. I thought didn't do the best job within the heights and stuff like that. So, like, I'm a little worried about, like, the look of it, stuff like that.

But I am really excited for Cynthia Arrivo, who is incredible, who's going to be playing Elfaba. Jeff Goldblum is going to do his thing. Michelle Yo is here. Johnny Bailey. I love Johnny Bailey so much, and I'm really excited that he's playing Fierro. Dinklage is going to be here. Boen Yang is going to be here. It's going to be a good time.

Ariana, yes, is also here. But she was good in the trailer. I was very skeptical. She's good in the trailer. So I still have some reservations about like how synthetic it looks just like very CG painted. But I'm hopeful. And I still think it was a mistake to divide it into two musicals. I still think that's like a little bit of an overreach.

But that's going to be more of an issue for part two than it is for part one because most of the good songs are going to be in part one. So musicals, which stuff. Wicked, I am ready for you. November 26th. I'm going to throw this out there. Not only not your last, which stuff go, not your last musical. Correct. Yeah.

Correct. Listen, I can only... Is Joanna's season? It really is. I can only be myself. I was like, what a time to be Joanna Robinson. I know. Boy.

Thrilled for me, honestly. I'm thrilled for you too. Truly. Thank you. I don't know if my number. number nine made your top ten, though I know it's something you're looking forward to. Silo season two. It's been number eight.

I know. Pretty good. Delightful. So we should just talk about it. We should just talk about it. Okay. So this is coming November 15th, Apple TV Plus, another 10 episodes. And this is adapting the second half, in essence, of the first book in Hugh Howie's

Wool series, showrunner, Graham Yost of Justified Fame. This was part of why we were looking forward to season one so much. And Rebecca Ferguson, anything. My wife Rebecca Ferguson and my husbandy and Glenn.

Wow. We kind of caught up with season one toward the end and then did a pod on it. And I had been like wanting to read wool for so long. I'd had it on my bookshelf for years. Yeah. And, you know, read like the first,

however many pages before our pot, but then as soon as we finish the pod and finished the season, finally sat down and read the book and just really, really enjoyed it. So I'm excited to be back in the world. I quite enjoyed the first season. I liked that not only the way

that the world of the Silo series was brought to life, but that kind of genre mashup inside of the larger dystopian sci-fi universe, detective story, mystery unfolding, a thriller. So excited to see what that kind of blend and flavor is in season two of this very

specifically rendered universe. And Steve Zahn joining the cast in season two is a thrill. The best news we've ever heard. I just can't. I love Susan. Yeah. So this is sort of similar to Surreli and C for me in that this was like a BB plus for me. We did binge it quite hastily in order to cover it. It wasn't our ideal way to cover it

at all. There was a lot going on during its initial run that we couldn't cover it week to week. This is something that we'll probably, I think, judging by the schedule, have, and the fact that we're putting out, you know, like two episodes a week now, stuff like that, like have space to cover this week to week. No promises, but definitely possible. Certainly not hastily. Certainly more than once. Yeah, certainly not hastily binging it at the last minute the way that we did last time. I think this world is incredible. I love the world of the silo.

A lot of great performances. Rebecca Ferguson, as we mentioned, Tim Robbins with a mask off now is going to be, like, you know, fun to watch. Dame Harriet Walter doing, like, extremely baffling accent work that, like, frankly astonishing. just endears me more to this project. Are they going to make Steve Zahn do an accent who's to say? I can't wait to find out. Yeah. So this is more, this is once again on like the sort of like hope meter. I am hoping they take the foundation of season one, which is quite good and build on it to something even better and stronger. And I am excited. I haven't read beyond that sort of like first chunk of the first book that we read to talk about it on the pod. And so I'm excited. I do want to like read the, read the book before beginning to, but I know that they're deviating from the book.

The second you come across the character, Steve's on, it's playing, you're going to be like, the excitement you already feel for him entering the story. This is just going to, like, explode. Okay.

Skyrocket, yeah. I know that they're, like, deviating from the book a lot, and I think they're going to, I think the ideas are going to do, like, flashbacks as part of it to get some of the,

like, origin of the silo story in there, whatever. Anyway, I'm, I'm number eight, Silo, season two, November 15th. Okay,

my number eight is something that I, I just, I have no doubt you have higher. Joker. I have it higher. Yeah. Okay. I mean, of course.

Let's put a pin in that for now. And then I look forward to you singing your explanation to me for wherever you selected it. So that's just your number seven then? Yeah. Like genuinely. How are there two musicals on this list? Kind of three musicals on this list. I am just so thrilled.

Okay. Number seven. Not a musical. That we know of. You mentioned Gotham. Mm-hmm. Penguin? I have this.

I have this higher. Back to you, Mallory Ruman. Back to you. I have seen episode one of Penguin. So that's informing my placement of it. Okay, back to you. Okay. I can't wait to find out if this is higher on your list or not on your list.

I'm going to guess not on your list. My number seven is one of the. Part of one of the most important franchises of our recent shared experience, it is the third and final film in this beloved property. Really? Yeah, I do. I watched the trailer and I just got really excited about it. I mean, it was hard for me to put it this low.

Venom the last dance, of course, is what we are alluding to. Okay. So we will circle back to Joker. We will circle back to Penguin and we will circle back to Venom. This is how I spot in the height meter where we're like, Arjuna, Steve, make sure we don't forget to actually talk about these. Yeah. That takes us to my number six.

Right back to the old Zazlov.com. It's Dune Prophecy, November 2024. Wow. You're surprised it's so low? Yeah. I'll tell you why. Okay. I have this way higher.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have it in your top three? I do. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Now I think I know what your number, what you're, what you're, what you're, Top two are. Okay.

Okay. Wow. Oh, what's your number six? Okay. My number six. We'll be releasing on the big screen in the cinema on November 22nd. I have it higher. Well, so you're leaning into the bit with me.

You're, we have to cover this. We have to. It's so as core, we have to cover it. Okay. Great. All right. That's Gladiator two is my number six. We'll get to it.

This is how many minutes of the pond in a row can we go without actually talking about a property? It's over. It's time. My number five? Yeah. Ben in the last dance. October 25th. This comes out.

I don't know what to say. I would like I had seen this trail already because I definitely seen Venom horse. But I sort of just like hadn't been like constantly thinking about it. And then I was like, well, I was processing the genius that awaits. I was like, I didn't. In my initial rough draft of this list, I did. didn't have it. And I was like, Mallory will hit it. I don't need to hit it. Like, it's going to be fine. And then I rewatched the trailer. I was like, you know what?

This just looks like a really fun, fine time at this. This looks like an absolute shit show and I'm kind of here for it. I think it's going to be really fun. Juno Temple. I'm just like such a massive fan of after Fargo, Ted Lassow, et cetera, et cetera. So I'm excited. I hope her role isn't like a thankless hot blonde in a lab coat. It might be. Uh, Chumato Joe Forst? here. I know. Never a bad move. The past is incredible.

Never a bad move. Yeah. It's like so and Stephen Graham who is always wonderful. So like I, uh, I don't know. I'm just excited. I'm excited that they're calling it sort of like a sense of an ending to it and stuff like that. Like, uh, and you know, Tom Hardy just still giving it is all.

Absolutely. I just, I'm excited about this. You liked carnage way more than I did, but, and it's possible. that I won't love this as much as I'm hoping I will love it, but it kind of looks like something I hope I will love. So that's where I am. I genuinely enjoyed the first two Venom movies. Genuinely. One of my fond memories is that Venom Let There Be Carnage came out the weekend before you began working at The Ringer. And so while we had potted together before and been in touch and we're obviously like preparing for you to start officially, I would say like technically like the first. work planning conversation we had was, hey, do you think we could squeeze in a Venom pod between your official orientation and onboarding? Turned out the answer was no. It was enough. I like to think of that as like the moment that our shared ringer journey really began. If anybody out there is like,

hey, what's the movie going to be about? Let's, I'm just going to read the official, please, the official summation here. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds. and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie's last dance. It makes me so happy to think about all the people for years and years to come who are going to be Googling the last dance looking for the outstanding Michael Jordan documentary and come across Venom the last dance instead. Just an incredible time to be people watching content in 2024. I can't wait for this movie. Amazing. Amazing. Okay, so you had that at five.

So that means, I headed at seven, you headed a five, so we're on my number five. This is my wild card pick. I decided to use a wild card. Okay. Sam in, season two? Coming soon. Oh, boy. Okay.

In the HBO mashup trailer, what's coming in the rest of 2024 and then what's coming in 2025, this was in the pre-2020 part. It was 100% in the 2024 part and it had a new series coming soon tag. Could that end up meaning December and putting it outside of our eligibility window? Yes. But I think because it's confirmed for 2024, I'm allowed to use it as my wildcard. It is the franchise. Oh, yeah.

I'm really excited about this. I'm really excited. I know some people have seen it and they really liked it. So, yeah. This looks fantastic. Yeah, yeah. Sam Mendez, Armando Ionucci, joint job, a 30-minute HBO prestige, comedy, a satire of our IP superhero obsession would always be welcome. But like, especially in

this moment of our Ianucci VEP Renaissance, everybody revisiting VEP. And in this particular moment of like resetting or reinventing for so many actual superhero properties, it's just going to be a welcome area to spend time. The cast is amazing. A lot of our faves, Joe, are in this cast. A lot of our faves. Mesh Patel is here. Cash is here.

Billy Magnuson is here. Richardi Grant is here. Daniel Brul is here on and on and on the list goes. Daniel Burl. I think this is going to be fantastic. It's just hard to imagine that this wouldn't be great. I love Yanucci. Never, never misses.

Never misses. is Anuchi. You saying Kimmash Patel is like, should I rewatch Station 11? Yes. I just assume you always are. This is going to be what I watch on my flight today, maybe. Chiri.

Cheery flight watching. I'll just be sobbing on the plane. Okay. My number four, correct, is Joker Folly at you. Okay. So I had that at eight. Yeah.

Not surprised you have it in that. the top five. Tell us. Tell us why it's a top five. Listen, part of this is a bit because I hear all the ways in which people are like, there's no way this is good. And I didn't love the first Joker film. And I am not

like a huge Todd Phillips fan in general necessarily. So why am I on this? I love Harley Quinn as a character. I love Harley Quinn. I really like Lady Gaga in general. And I love a musical. And I like, so when I found out the Lady Gaga was playing Harley Quinn,

I was like, I was already like, that's interesting to me. When I found out it was a musical, I was like, okay, that's interesting to me. When I saw the trailer, I was like, nothing about this trailer is just waiting me for my interest in this film. The trailers have been really good.

Yeah, this sort of like surreal, I don't know, I'm just really excited. The trailers have been like expertly cut, you know, and I just, I'm just very hopeful. that this is very good. Brendan Gleason is joining Joaquin Phoenix in his Oscar

winning role as the Joker. Do we talk enough about Joaquin Phoenix winning Best Actor? No. For the Joker. For playing Arthur Fleck? Do we talk enough about this? We don't. Lady Gaga is here.

The stairs are back. Catherine Keener is here. I don't know. I just I've just decided long ago to be excited about this movie. Harry Lottie, who plays my favorite character on television, Rob from industry, actually second favorite.

Jackson Lamb is probably my favorite character on TV. What about something, something handsome Gilded Age? Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I am a fan of the work that Morgan Spector is doing on the Gilded Age. There you go.

But yes, Harry Lottie, you have been texting the industry text. He's tremendous. Coming fast and furious. Okay. So, yeah, Joker followed you. That's where I am. I've just decided to be hopeful. And if it's terrible, we will all experience that together.

Yeah. Again, hype meter, you know? We live in the moment while we can. Yeah. I'm excited. I think both of these trailers that have come out have been really good. The, this feels like one where it's either going to be a complete whiff or we're going to be like they actually pulled it off. Yeah.

Wow. Right? Because they're all really going for it. So it's either going to be like, oh my God or like, oh my God. Yeah. And I can't wait to see like how I think that the way you're identifying that there's this kind of like surreal quality to it, how that particular tone and aura sustains across the entire film, across the like reported 15 musical numbers. I want to see the vision brought to life. I'm looking forward to it. And this is pretty soon. I mean, October 4th and it premieres a month before that, right?

It premieres September 4th in Venice. So we'll know. What is the reaction? We'll have some idea. October 4th, as you know, is the day after my birthday. So I'm considering this a birthday gift to me. There you go. From my best friend, Todd Phillips.

Thanks, Todd. Fantastic stuff. I love it. Okay, well, let's stay in the D.C. universe for a moment here. because four is where I have the penguin. Let's do it. I'm excited for the penguin. I mean, yeah.

It looks good. It looks good. I love Colin Farrell. I loved the Batman. I thought that... I loved the Batman, yeah. I mean, it feels like so long ago already. It's really fun now to be back in, obviously, in general, thinking about this new era of DC

with the James Gun, DC, you, and then anything that falls into the DC else worlds. umbrella and is outside of the new continuity that they'll be establishing. And like, you know, the Batman is like its own universe now inside of this larger split universe. And to go back to that world and to that tone to get like, we'll circle back to the cast in a second, but just the grimy street level crime story. D.C. Fair in the HBO prestige world. I'm genuinely really excited about that and think that this could be quite good. I've liked the trailers so far.

It's eight episodes, which also feels like a good length for this limited series. Not too short. They've got room to play, but it's not going to stretch on in perpetuity. I really liked our time with Oskop in the Batman. And I'd say that it's very, very promising stuff from Sophia Falcone,

AKA the hangman in the trailer so far. I thought you were, you know, I thought you were at Arkham still. No, no. I've been rehabilitated. Well, that always, that always goes fine in a DC story. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to this.

I am, you know, a lot of things are starting at once. We'll be covering rings of power still. And then Agatha and Penguin are the same week. So it's a, it's a busy time in our world. We haven't figured out yet exactly like how we'll be navigating all of that. But I'm looking forward to watching Penguin. and potentially chatting about it together, certainly a little bit at least. Did you know about one in three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis,

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No, definitely. I mean, we definitely want to cover the show. Absolutely. I'm not. I've seen... You had this at seven. Okay. So I've seen the first episode.

And I don't, I, like, I don't want to watch ahead because I, like, if we're covering it week to week, I don't want to watch ahead. But it was the kind of premiere where I'm like, I really want to watch a couple more to get. Like, I don't feel like I have a full flavor of what this is going to be. It was a lot of setup, I think. Christine Miliani's character doesn't play, like, really a part in the first.

You know, so it's just sort of like, she's second build. I don't really have a flavor for her, like a taste for her yet, which I think is going to be key to the whole thing. But there's so many reasons to be excited about it. Like visually looks very good. We're back in that same visual palette, which I love for the Batman. Craig Zabel, who is running things directing the first couple episodes, is knocked out of the park with Marevistown. So, like, the idea of taking a Marevistown sensibility to Gotham, it's very excited.

Helen Shaver also is coming into direct, and she directed some of my favorite episodes of Station 11, speaking of. So, like, incredible talent working on this. An incredible cast. Clancy Brown is here. as Maroni, another crime boss that's that of notes, Theo Rossi, one of my favorite sons of anarchy cast members is here. Mark Strong is here in an undisclosed role. We've got a couple people from the expanse are here.

So like there's just like a lot of talent in the mix here in a world that I loved, the Batman I loved. So there's like a lot of potential here. And this picks up like just days after the defense in the Batman. So we're not just in that world, but we're in that time period. this is like penguins rise, right, in the underworld and pursuing his new power as a crime lord. That's kind of the moment we're set in post-Carmine Falcone's demise. Timely demise.

So, yeah. So I'm, I think what I will say, no matter what, if you're like super excited for this or you're whatever, I would say, let's wait until episode two. like episode one just feels like such a like slip into a like gently warm bath and then like we'll sort of turn up the temp on it as we go so on it's fantastic it's true i love doing exactly that uh so i'm curious to see where we go from there i guess is how i feel yeah wonderful okay joanna does this take us already to your number three yeah where's the thing along here as you mentioned you were like you're you're you're joining me on the on the bit i mean we're we're here we're here we're to talk about Gladiator 2, which is coming out November 22nd.

And we gave you some shit about this on the hype draft, admittedly. Some. Some a modicum, a smattering. You can handle it. Listen, as the number one shit giver, you can take some shit from us. Well, I've tried to be nice in recent drafts, and it hasn't worked out. The Cow brothers, Paul Mescal and Petro Pescal are here. We're so blessed with this cast.

Danzel Washington, Joe Quinn, Fred Hysinger from White Lotus, Derek Jacoby, Roy McCart, the Hound is here. The Gladiator is a stone cold classic film, and there are so many reasons why I was like, I don't know that I want this, namely Ridley Scott's very patchy, you know, track record with his own revisiting his own franchises. or in this case making a franchise, which the Gladiar wasn't to begin with. But then we're headed to Thais O'Clock in the trailer.

You were sold. The cast is just... Cass is unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. What we have seen has looked incredible. I don't think Denzel Washington is physically capable of ever giving a bad performance in anything. And so if, you know, and we love Pedro.

We love Paul and like all that sort of stuff like that. Denzel is just sort of like this, this like sturdy, ionic column in the center of, or maybe he's a Doric column. I don't know. But like he is a column of some sort at the center of this. He's going to hold this all together. And I think this is just going to be, I think this would be great. And we are definitely covering it.

It's sword and sandal. That is genre. That counts. We're covering it. Absolutely. Thank you. Okay. You know what?

I was about to say, where was this during the hype draft? but fuck that. Like the drafts are about competitive spirit, so I respect you trying to tear me down. You're welcome. That's the point. But in the spirit of friendship and shared experience, we are now moving forward united as one,

and that is beautiful. I did have a moment when I was like locking my list where I'm like, man, there are a couple of things that I'm really bummed to leave off of the top ten. We have our honorable mentions, but even so, it's like, oh, man, I'm not going to, this isn't going to be in my top ten. like should I not keep leaning into the bid?

Am I really going to keep something out of my top 10 so that I can include something in Gladiator 2 that the, listen, the bit is even a bit. It's just a fact. The voting public rejected the strategy. However, I think the public is also very excited for Gladiator 2. How could they not be? This, the first trailer,

every now and then you see a trailer and you're like, it renews your appreciation for how the trailers and art form in and of itself, a supreme art form. The trailer was so fucking weird, but in the best possible way. Yeah. It's really just incredible amount of water. Sublime. Sublime.

I, you know, the gods have spoken. That's in the trailer and that's how we feel about it as well. We will be covering. Gladiator 2. Steve, Artuna update the calendar. We will be covering. Gladiator 2. The gods have spoken sounds like prophecy to me and prophecy is House of

our, so here we are. Yes, it is. Chosen ones, a hero of higher birth hiding in obscurity. I mean, come on, myth-making, legend, war. It does make me feel just like astonishingly old to confront the fact that gladiator came out nearly 25 years ago. It just doesn't seem like that should be possible. It just doesn't seem like that should be true or possible. And yet, and yet, here we are.

Paul Meskell is a global treasure. So excited to watch him perform. Can't wait for the film. Can't wait to share it with you. Okay. That was your number three. I'm most six. I just want to get on the record to say I am most excited for our pasty blonde.

Our co-emperors. Emperors. We love some brothers who look fairly inbred. Joe Quinn. And again, just like really making the most out of his time here. And you know, we get like half of the Fantastic Four in this movie with Pedro and Joe Quinn. Yeah. Delightful time.

Delightful time. Okay. That was your three. My six. So that takes us to my three, which I suspect is your two. And it is Agatha all along. That is my two. Okay.

So we'll talk about it in a moment. Or now. Now. We're on the number two. Which stuff. I think that's where we are. Which stuff go. And musical stuff, go.

You have it all, Joe. All of it. Musicals, which is. It feels like it was made for me, genuinely. I'm happy for you. I'm excited for us and I'm happy for you. Truly. I posted this on Instagram.

I have this like Moonstone pendant. I'm not a witch, but I have this Moonstone pendant that I wear every single day. And it exploded the other day. You did post this on Instagram. Yeah. It was like genuinely. devastating to me that this happened. Sorry to talk about this on a podcast, but I have a point. The point is I was talking to my therapist about it. Wow. She's from California. I was talking

my therapist about it. She told me to throw it in the ocean as part of like letting things go. And then my friend was like, is your therapist a witch? And I was like, maybe I wouldn't be upset about it. So which stuff go is just going. It's just ongoing. It's all connected. It's just ongoing. Agatha, House of Carpness, Kevin of Chaos, Dark Cold Diaries, Agatha All Along, whatever you want to call it.

Which was your favorite title of the bit titles before we got to the real title? Or is this the winner the winner? I think the bit is really funny. Yeah, this idea. I enjoyed it as well. Yeah, I think it was really funny.

At first I was like, what's going on? They got me completely. I was like, what's going on here? And I almost think like maybe the first title change wasn't the bit, but then they were like, let's make this a bit now.

I think House of Harkness, the original title, always, like, I don't know, invoked like a fashion house to me in a way. I don't know. It just sort of, I liked it. But did you have a favorite? I liked them. I liked House of Harkness. I like Open of Chaos, Dark Old Diaries.

I like them all. I enjoy Agatha all along as connective tissue to the iconic musical number from WandaVision and as like a summation and Coleman. of the title bit. It was Agatha all along. Great stuff. I don't know how musical

this thing is going to be. We know that there is one musical number. They performed it at D-23. The ballad of Witches Road. So good. Just phrase, Witches Road.

Walk the Witches Road. Wonderful. You know, and you have like a musical legend like Patti Lupin in the cast. just so exciting. Aubrey Plaza

looks to be giving a fourth wall breaking like really fun like antic performance that we love. And Joe Locke, who I love from Heart Stoppers here, I'm really excited for people

who haven't seen Heart Stopper just sort of like see. I hope he like brings the same, just like joy and like vulnerability they brings from that show into the show.

To his role of teen? Teen. Just a teen. Just a dude being a guy, being a teenager, definitely not Wanda's son, Billy. Absolutely not Billy, A.K. Wiccan.

That is definitely not who we're doing here. So, like, we have these witches, this covenant of witches, Agatha does not have her powers. These various witches, either, I think maybe they all don't have their powers or they all want something, very like Wizard of Oz in that way. And they all want to, like,

go see the wizard, go walk the road. At the end of the road, you get your heart's desire. And so I'm imagining, I do not know much about this, what this show is going to be. I'm imagining for teen, Billy, it might have to do with his mom. And like, if that means we get more Wanda stuff of some kind, again, again, we might be Ralph Bonert again. Absolutely, I'm ready for that.

But like, I, uh, I'm excited. I, I, I feel unsatisfied. And we're in the Wanda universe. Like, we're in the Jack Schaefer version. Exactly. I'm unsatisfied with how Wanda story ended in Multiverse of Madness. I was very like, you know, forthright with that at the time. Jack Schaefer, who launched Wanda Vision is here.

So, like, I'm hoping. Not even necessarily that we'll get more Elizabeth Olson. I'm not saying, like, Mephisto's going to be here. Elizabeth Olson's going to be here because Wilson seems like rather done with the MCU. But I'm hoping some sort of different ending for Wanda of a sorts would be exciting for me. And I just think it like, it looks cool. It feels very like, I mean, it'll still be running into October, but it's just like a very nice. Yeah, it's just like a very nice Halloween-y-feeling kind of show.

I like the Halloween season, screaming, even though it starts September 18th. Yeah. You know, as candy enthusiasts, I have no qualms about extending Halloween season into. People are already shot. I mean, like, I know the aisles of Target already have their, like, ceramic pumpkins out. Like, I am convinced that, you know, the Halloween season just extends further and further into summer as we go along. Because you got to make way for Christmas season, which is also always encroaching. But, yeah, like, you know, if this is the pumpkin spice lattes of shows and pumpkin spice lattes are delicious.

They are delicious. I am, yeah. I've just decided to be really excited about this show. And I am, if it is not good, we'll talk about it. But this is the hope meter. This is the hype meter. Would not be the first time we were looking forward to a Marvel show and then it was not good. But you know what?

They've had a lot of time. They've had so much time to so much time in space this year. Deadpool Wolverine. Echo binge drop isn't really even a part of it because that was already like done and they just dropped it. So they had all year to perfect and fix this and make this good. And so I'm just like really hopeful that it's what we want. Jack Schaefer is just. A great storyteller.

Yeah. Who complains about getting to spend time with Catherine Hahn? Nobody. Oh, I think I forgot to say the words, Catherine Hahn. Catherine Hahn reprising her instantly iconic role. Yeah. As Agatha Harkness, both the trailers have been good. The original, like the teaser trailer, opening with a like fairly protracted

pair of these towns' roof was, I almost didn't need to see anything being. on that. I was in. I mean, I was already excited, but when we got the Wooder utterance, I knew we were once again in good hands. So you pair that with the cast. The very particularly calibrated all in on this energy conveyance in the trailers that we've seen so far, the musical number, Darkest Hour, Wake Thy Power? Sure. I'd love to. Thanks for asking. Thanks for the offer. We love a test. We love a trial. A trial with our powers? The Witch's Road with us. Please.

Is the thing you think you want that's waiting at the end really the thing you want, Joe? Or was it the friends you made along the way? Exactly. Or was it the friends you assembled a coven? Or was it the friends you betrayed along the way? I didn't need to find out. Oh, man. Okay, so that's your two. Obviously, there was no question that we were going to have the same number one. So that's your two, my three.

Yeah. Also, just last thing on Agatha, they have been like, In reading, like, all the interviews or all the lead-up or whatever, they have been implying, like, I think people are, I don't think this is going to be like hocus pocus. Like, I think people are going to die on the witch's road is the implication. So, you know, I think it's going to have like a fun tinge of darkness to it as well. Okay. Great stuff. I always love when we hit the point in the pod where we call murder fun. A murder.

A murder. Okay. So my number two. Yeah. is Dune Prophecy. Where did you have this? You had this at six. Six.

Okay. I, this is coming in November. Exact date. Annoyingly still TBD. I'm going to, I'm going to guess November 17th if we basically just count when the weeks until Penguin ends. So let's say probably mid-November. This is, of course, the prequel to Dune.

It's going to be set 10,000. years before the primary text centered on the Benny Jesuit. The word, it used to be called a Dune sisterhood, but the word prophecy is just right there, right there in the title, Joe, and we love prophecy, as you previously mentioned on this very podcast today, here on this episode.

Lots of creative overhauls with the series to date. As we like to talk about, sometimes that can be a harbinger, sometimes it can be alarming, and sometimes it means that hopefully in that time, they got it right and we're going to get a banger. So Dune Part 2 is still to me the movie of the year. Let's keep the, right? Absolutely. Let's keep the Dune hype going. Let's keep the Dune hype going. Dune as a property, no stranger to the small screen, right? Frank Herbert's Dune,

Frank Herbert's Children of Dune over on the sci-fi channel. Dune is of course also no stranger to franchise expansion in terms of the number of texts from originally from Frank Herbert and then all of the subsequent additional novels and tales from from brian herbert and and Kevin Anderson this is a different kind of expansion though in the duneverse and i'm excited to see how that goes and how that feels and to play in a point in the world that feels like new and distinct but also seamlessly connected to like building that bridge toward the thing we're also familiar with and love so much. Like, it's the road to Lisa and Al-Gaib. So I really hope this is good. I think if this is good, it's going to be a great thing for us to be able to cover and talk about every week.

And there's just so much enthusiasm. I mean, Dune, Frank Herbert's Dune is like one of our favorite shared stories, period. So the idea of just having more Dune stories is very exciting, full stop. But given the, like, enthusiasm in the larger world around the Dune franchise right now, it just feels like this could be a moment. It feels like this could be a thing. And Maybe not. But if it is, that's awesome. Like when you get that zeitgeist going and you have a show that people are actually excited to watch at the same time and talk about together, that's the best. So I'm excited not only for Dune prophecy as a story and as an installment in the Dune universe, but I'm excited for, and this is part of what's generating the hype. So like to the top two for me, I really am like excited to see if this becomes a thing that people are just collectively very hyped about. That's my. That's my hope. We'll see. Hope meter.

Where are you doing prophecy thoughts? I've heard. Though I've not been asked personally, that HBO is sort of like, yeah, anxiously sort of like screening this for people. Yeah. In a way that makes me feel like they don't have a ton of confidence in it or at least worried about it. And that makes me a little worried about it, if I'm being honest, this is the hope meter.

So like, you know, I don't want to yuck your yum. And I think you're right to hope. And I agree with you that like if it's like what a how thrilled will we be if everyone gets on board with this show because then we just get to talk about, you know, Herbert's ideas, you know, for weeks at a time and and all of that. So that's really. We finally do the ball of fame. We'll see. No promises. No promises. Could be next to Oscars. Could be the one year anniversary. Could be the five year anniversary. Mark Strong doing double HBO Max duty on both Penguin and Dune prophecy. but also just Emily Watson, Olivia Williams, Jody May, like, Jody May, you know, Maggie the Frog, amongst other things, Last Mohicans, et cetera. Absolute legend. I'm a little worried about the, so Alison Schaepker, who is the showrunner, who is a very lovely person, was also in charge, basically like kind of took over a bit for,

Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan on season four of Westworld and season four of Westworld was like kind of a tough hang. So I'm just like a little, almost just a little anxious. But I want this to be amazing. I want this as much as you do. I want this to be great.

You're right that this is not a predictor episode. So I, you know, but I'm just nervous. But I'm hopeful, hopeful and nervous, I guess is where I am. I want this to absolutely crush, you know. Same. Yeah. And for us to have like a million.

For us to get to talk about Dune every week for like two months. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What a gift. It would be a gift. It would be a power. A power?

Does that bring us to our unsurprisingly shared number one? Yeah. We're mere days away. As we record this, it's only 13 days. As you hear it, it's only 19 days. only nine days until the Rings of Power season two. Oh, Mallory. If you're not watching this,

Mallory has a breakfast, second breakfast, 11thes, lunch, and afternoon tea, dinner and supper shirt. Wonderful. I'm not sure I should have blown this today. Because, well, that, that I think is something I have to figure out

with the home camera angle in my abhorrent posture. But I only have so many Lord of the Rings shirts. I've saved it for the season. No, I think if Adam, if you're listening, I think your assignment is clear. He did me this. So. Yeah. Time to order Mel more lower the ring shirts.

I'm excited. I don't know. I feel like I could be completely wrong. I know we're in a silo season two, a silo of like, you know, Tolkien fans or whatever. But I feel like people outside of the initial sort of like really disproportionate backlash that there was a season one. What has emerged is like a lot of people who actually really enjoyed season one and also a lot of people who watched it subsequently who didn't watch it initially because they heard all this bad stuff about it and then watched it subsequently and are excited for season two. Yeah. It feels, I mean, and it was a huge, like just objectively by the numbers, a huge hit for Amazon.

Yeah. Like there was this narrative that it was like a failure or some kind and that's just simply not the case. It maybe not wasn't like as big as maybe they were hoping it to be or. didn't like sweep the Emmys the way they hoped it would or whatever. Like I'm sure that there are metrics by which it didn't like hit the absolute top of the marks that Amazon was hoping. But it was a very, actually very popular show. Our pods were really popular about it.

That's how we kind of know is like a lot of people are listening to us talk about it and really, really engaging in it. And so I, I've said this before. I don't need to belabor, but like when we covered season one alongside House the Dragon season one, which was still fairly new-ish into our podcasting partnership, I just felt locked in with you on those two worlds, covering those and just sort of like the routine of those weeks where it was like Talk the Throne, House of Dragon Deep Dive,

rings the power deep dive, back to talk to. Like it was just sort of like, it just sort of went. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun. And like I felt like I, a huge Tolkien fan, felt like I learned so much more about Tolkien Lord. Or because, of course, what these creators are doing, Patrick and J.D., what they're doing, they're huge Tolkien fans. They have spent way more time than even we have, certainly studying this text and studying the themes. And so, like, because they are writing a story that hasn't been written before set in this world, they are lifting language where they can or certainly digging into various, like, themes.

So we would talk about, like, Tolkien and Trees. or Tolkien the concept of the creator or like, you know, like all this sort of stuff like that that like just really helped me enhance my own. Same. Same. Uh, talking knowledge. And I found that so fun and valuable. And I'm excited to do it again. Like, really genuinely excited.

Same. I can't wait. Obviously, we'll, you know, because we are mirror days away from doing a primer pod, we'll talk about more of the specifics of the story like in that pod. But in terms of like the vibes, I. Immaculate. You stated it perfectly. I can't wait. I've loved the,

all three of the trailers. The Comic-Con won the middle of the three trailers. Like, because they've all been different. We had the teaser, which we actually did a breakdown pod on. Then we got that really meaty Comic-Con trailer.

And then the more recent trailer just this week, when you're listening to it, when you're listening to the spot last week, was more of the like battle action trailer. Yeah. But hearing in, I think it was the middle trailer. I can't remember.

But the endurance, like, in this moment, the great tale of our age is being written. I love the kind of like meta celebration of that. Like, why can't this be one of our great shared experiences over half a decade or however long it ends up running? I mean, it's been two years since season one, so maybe more like a decade. But it's just, it has been joyous to be back in Middle Earth in this stunning, in a number of respects, visually astonishing, visually. stunning. Thematically, so rich. And like, as we, as we talked about a lot in season one,

just the language and flow of the show was beautiful. And I think to your point about separate that maybe like initial bad faith noise, not everybody who watched the show liked it. And that's never the case with any show, right? But for the people who did ultimately enjoy spending time in this, in this slice of middle earth, like one of the things that we talked about a lot was how you as a fan like for for both of us as fans of the world lovers of the world lovers of Tolkien's work yeah lovers it it you just felt like you were in good hands because it was so clearly made by people who love it too and that's a really that's a great feeling that's a great feeling when you care about something and you want it to be good and so to have that trust is very exciting and

then you get into like okay what are we what did we love about season one that we're excited to return to. Like, I cannot wait to be back with. I'm sure this is top on tops of your list as well. My husband, Daddy Alendale. I just can't wait. Nope. Not on my list. But I wrote Elr. I wrote Elrond. I missed him, exclamation mark. Duran and Disa exclamation mark. What are the hardwoods doing? My darling Elrond. What are the hardwoods doing? More music exclamation mark. I mean, I don't want to rewrite history. There's certainly like plot lines or episodes that we liked better than others in C's season one. I'm not saying it's like a perfect

season of television. I just think the experience of talking about it was very special. And I'm hopeful that we get to feel that. Same. Do you know how many like House of R injokes and bits? How much House of Arc canon traces back to the rings of power on? I was thinking about that as I dove into my rewatch. That was a really, really

fun thing. And then we get like, obviously we're moving forward in the timeline and the plot. We're getting the new performers who we love or joining the cast. It definitely looked from the most recent trailer like Kieran Hines, our guy is playing Saramon. He's playing a dark wizard, certainly.

A dark wizard. They have not confirmed, but I just saw those eyebrows and I was like, okay. I think, I don't know why. I don't know why either this is not Gandalf and Saran. Right. For legal reasons. Or I don't know why. Otherwise, they would, like, hold that back from us.

Do you know what I don't know. I don't quite know what's going on with the wizard stuff. Wizard stuff go. But they're also the two blue wizards that were in the east. And it's possible that they're like, we've decided that our two blue wizards are going to be Gandalf-esque and Sauramond-esque. Like, you know, that makes a lot of sense too. But anyway, Karen Heides is certainly playing a shady-seeming wizard. And that's exciting.

A dark wizard with robust eyebrows. I will also just say, again, we'll talk about more of the particulars next week, but let us not exit the hype meter without remarking upon the work that one of the patron saints of this podcast, Calabram Borr is doing in these trailers, experiencing a harrowing mental break. I was like forever want to live in that shot of him like just dumping rings into the fire, just looking. like he has lost every inch of his mind. Amazing. And of course, I just, when we got to hear, like, you will give me the nine from a hot saron who fucks. I got a chill, like a full body chill.

This is just going to be great. I can't wait. Elon. Elon, what is he doing? I'm excited. Okay, Tom Bombadil. What time to be alive? Barrow whites?

What a time to be Dave? What a time to be Danzazas? I know. They're doing barrel whites? Like, come on. It's. Yeah. Get some end action in the trailer still lifeless stuff.

Guys, guys. Wonderful. Thrilled, can't wait. Love you. Love Middle Earth. Delighted. Runners up. Yeah.

Honorable mentions. Okay. So, Arcane. I was sad to leave Arcane season two off my list. Mostly because I don't want Jomey to yell at me, but also because I really enjoyed season one. That's coming this November on Netflix. And on the animation front,

your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is also coming in November on Disney Plus. I'm really looking forward to that. That was a tough one to keep off my list. I, this is like a real good. Keep Hope Alive situation. The Crow movie. I have no reason to expect

the Crow movie will be good. They have been trying to remake this movie for a gazillion years. But what if it is? What if it's great? It's a question worth asking, I think, and the crow is definitely a ring or burst material.

And then Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, which I think is also ringer burst material. And again, like, I don't know, I'm pretty skeptical of its existence in the first place. But what if it's great? I don't know. It might be.

It might have a great time with it. So, yeah, those are my sort of almost maybe made it. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Those were my, the two that I was like, I wish I'd gotten these on the list were arcane and friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Just a rapid fire or a few other thing.

This is not a comprehensive list of everything else that's coming. But a few other things that people might be like, oh, you didn't mention this. The Walking Dead, Darrell, sorry, let me say it the right way. The Walking Dead, colon, Daryl Dixon. Darrell Dixon dash in the book of Carol. I will just say, Oh, you didn't mention by someone I mean, Ben Lindberg

who's listening to this, like, why didn't you mention Darrell? So this was my, the first Darrell season was my first walking dad experience in years. I returned to dip to toe back into the universe for that show. And I liked it.

I like that Darrell season. I don't know what that means for the future. I am not ready to recover. committed full, but enjoyable season of television. On the Ben Lindbergh beat, just quickly mention that there are a number of exciting video games coming out this fall that you'll be able to hear

Ben and co cover on Button Mash, including Star Wars Outlaws. Astrobot, the ringer video game slack, has been abusing about Astrobot. Steve, are there other video games that you want to shout out for fall hype? Yeah, there's a new, Warhammer 40K that looks pretty interesting.

And there's another one, Blacksmith Wu Kong. Mm-hmm. Great stuff. Thanks, Steve. Legend of Zelda. Oh, yes. Finally gets to play as Zelda. Delightful.

Delightful. What else? Only the titular role. Yeah. Yeah. Final season of what we do in the shadows. Oh, yeah. Love that show.

Yeah. Yeah. That maybe should have been on my life. That's ending. I love that show. It's great. It's fantastic. Remember when we played that vampire game and you're like, I know that vampire. I watch a vampire show. Correct. It's like, he's an energy vampire. I knew that one. Someday I'll get you to watch interview with a vampire someday.

I will. I plan to. It looks great and it's important to you. And so one day, one day I will watch. You watch all of Doctor Who. I'm not, I don't question your commitment to Sparkle Motion. I have a TARDIS. I know. There it is. You could probably already see that in the actual video, but you couldn't see it in this very slender preview video. So had to turn the camera. Yeah. All right. Plenty of other stuff coming as well. And also, of course, we should always say stuff will take us by surprise. Things that we were not anticipating releasing at all. Things we did not know would be good and hadn't known to look forward to. We'll captivate our hearts and minds. And we look forward to talking about them with you in real time. And, you know, there's always more coming out than we can talk. about, which is part of why Ringiverse recommends exists now. So we're always looking for new ways to engage with you. This is honorable mention section. God, with the Ringervor's recommends really just being, this has ended up being about Limburg here at the end. Thrill for him. Ben, Benny Boy. Who's that guy? Ben. All right. Anything else from you, Joe? Guys, anything else that you're like,

how could you not mention Thing X? Tomb Raider. Star Trek, Lower Dex, Season 5. Lower Decks, Lower Decks. Thank you, Arjuna. Thank you, Arjuna. Yep. From the bottom of of an echoey wind tunnel. Or Judy did not know that he had to be on bike today. Yeah. Harley Quinn, Creature Commandos. Terminator Zero. Herly Quinn is a good show.

It's great. Great one. We did it. We did it. Okay. Fall is going to be loaded. There you go. There you go.

That's the takeaway. Can't wait to do a height meter for winter and talk about Craven. Genuinely can't wait. I look forward to seeing you in a few months. That's a wrap on the fall, not really fall. Fine print, not really fall. Hype meter. Thank you as always. What if all this stuff is good?

That would be amazing. That would be great for us. Yeah. Thank you to our hype lords. Steve Allman and John Richter for producing this episode. Arjuna Ram Gapal for his additional production work on this episode and activating his mic with the very end there. Shyam in. And Jomea Denneron for his work on the social for this episode. We will see you next week for

First, our Rings of Power season two primer. Then second, for our Rings of Power, season two, premiere, deep dive. That's going to be a meaty one. And since it will already have happened, by the time people listen to this, Mal and I are seeing more of the Rings musical this weekend in Chicago. We're very excited. So we'll be talking about that eventually on a pod. We have a plan to talk about that.

Boy, do we. Boy, do we. I cannot wait. Okay, until then, remember. remember every soul in middle earth is in peril will you abandon them don't do it don't abandon them catch up and then join us for the pods