Frankenstein director Guillermo del Toro has discussed his now-cancelled plans for the DC universe, which included two years of work on a Justice League Dark screenplay, and the suggestion he could have helmed Superman movie Man of Steel.

Speaking on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, del Toro was open with his ideas for Justice League Dark, which he worked on between 2013 and 2015. The director has spoken in the past about his plans to feature John Constantine, Swamp Thing, The Spectre and Deadman in the team-up movie, which at one point would have been part of the now-defunct DC Extended Universe.

Now, del Toro has revealed more about the project — which would have featured Constantine as its star, and seen his crew call on a certain Bruce Wayne for backup.

It’s hard to believe at this point but it’s true: Euphoria is coming back for Season 3, and HBO Max has released the first footage from the upcoming return.

In the sneak peek — which is part of HBO Max's overall 2026 teaser — Zendaya’s character, Rue Bennett, can be seen dancing with a group of women before kneeling down in a church pew and looking up at the altar. “There’s no turning back,” she says in the clip. Next, we see her running for dear life, turning her head to look behind her for someone or something on her tail (knowing Rue, this is probably drug money related).

Hard launching 2026.

See what's coming to HBO Max next year. pic.twitter.com/XzfKDFLzfK

— HBO Max (@hbomax) December 12, 2025

From there, we see a car driving recklessly in the desert before it cuts to Lexi (Maude Apatow) shmoozing with a table full of men at a fancy party, Maddy (Alexa Demie) putting on makeup, Nate (Jacob Elordi) dancing in front of a living room TV with his button-down shirt open, Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) beaming in an animal costume, and Jules (Hunter Schaefer) sighing and leaning her head back on a chair. “A few years after high school, I don’t know if life was exactly what I wished,” Rue explains over the visuals.

Then, we see Rue and a new character driving recklessly once again in that aforementioned car. In a separate shot, the new character — a man in a cowboy hat who is sitting between two beautiful women — tells Rue, “You walk up into my house and you don’t even introduce yourself.” It seems like he's probably a bad dude, but who's to say just yet.

There’s definitely going to be a bit of a time jump here — and frankly, how could there not be with how much time it’s taken to produce Season 3, over four years since Season 2 premiered — so it’ll be interesting to see how the show tackles that inevitability, especially considering how many new storylines and characters it’s going to give us. It’s a lot, so we’re curious to see if the show falters or continues to fly.

Season 3 of the once beloved series doesn’t yet have an exact release date but, as of now, it will be arriving in April of next year.

Image credit: HBO Max.

Lex Briscuso is a film and television critic and a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter at @nikonamerica.

Gainax, the animation studio behind influential anime including Neon Genesis Evangelion, FLCL, and Gurren Lagann, officially shut down on December 10, 2025. This was revealed by Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno in a statement published on the website of his company Studio Khara, in which the anime director shared his personal thoughts on what he described as a “truly disappointing end” to Gainax’s “nearly 42 years’ of history.”

Anno was one of a group of university students who founded Gainax back in the early 1980s. The company would experience huge success with 1995’s Neon Genesis Evangelion, which became popular worldwide. Evangelion suddenly brought in massive profits for Gainax, however money management issues followed, with then-Gainax president Takeshi Sawamura arrested for tax fraud in 1999. A series of other scandals followed, including Gainax selling off rights to anime series without permission, non-repayment of loans, unpaid royalties, and Gainax representative director Tomohiro Maki’s arrest for sexual harassment of a teenage voice actress in 2019 (Kyodo News). In July 2024, Gainax filed for bankruptcy, which led to the company being dissolved this December.

Although Anno himself left Gainax in 2007 to found his own company Studio Khara, Khara would become Gainax’s largest creditor. Speaking about Gainax’s dissolution in his recent statement, Anno said: “as one of the people who remained there for over 20 years after the company’s founding and remained a shareholder until today, it’s a truly disappointing end, but I accept it quietly.”

In his statement, Anno thanked all of the companies and staff who, since Maki’s 2019 arrest, had worked hard for nearly six years on Gainax’s liquidation. “Thanks to their cooperation, we were able to safely return the rights to each work, as well as various production materials and documents to their rightful owners via proper procedures,” Anno said.

However, Anno added that the investigation into Gainax revealed “a lack of respect” for production materials, creations, and staff. “After we (Studio Khara) had provided an emergency loan during Gainax’s financial distress, we witnessed firsthand Gainax's lack of integrity regarding repayment," he said. He also alleged that during the investigation, he learned of various misrepresentations made by former Fukushima Gainax representative director Yoshinori Asao, as well as Hiroyuki Yamaga and Yasuhiro Takeda, whom “I had thought were my friends since our university days.” Anno said he learned that Yamaga, who was president of Gainax at the time, allegedly made hostile statements against Studio Khara, tried to come up with ways to avoid repayment of Khara’s loan, and told Gainax employees to say he was in hospital whenever anyone from Studio Khara called.

Anno is referring to a loan of 100 million yen (approx. $641,000) that Gainax’s Yasuhiro Takeda asked Anno’s Studio Khara for in 2014 to prevent Gainax from going under. However, not only did Gainax not pay back the loan as agreed, it apparently also sold off the rights to Gunbuster, Diebuster, and FLCL without permission from the creators and began to sell off production materials (storyboards etc.) of past works to raise money. As reported by Anime News Network, Anno said at the time: “I could have shrugged off the loan that never got repaid, but we were anxious to preserve the production materials we had poured blood, sweat, and tears into.” Anno’s Studio Khara sued Gainax for 100 million yen in 2016, winning the case. In the recent statement, Anno also mentioned that Studio Khara filed a separate lawsuit in 2023 regarding issues with rights transfers and a lack of transparency on Gainax’s part.

“I have come to realize that we can never return to the relationship we once had, and I feel deep disappointment from the bottom of my heart,” Anno said of the former university friends with whom he founded Gainax.

However, Anno finished by thanking one university friend. Yasuhiro Kamimura was Gainax’s latest representative director, and Anno expressed gratitude to him for dealing with the fallout left by the former management. The Evangelion director praised Kamimura for sincerely dealing with creditors and working hard to prevent any losses of rights or materials.

Image credit: Netflix.

Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.

Our first glimpse at footage from DC Studios series Lanterns has arrived, featuring Friday Night Lights' Kyle Chandler and Krypton's Aaron Pierre as members of the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps.

The clip, seemingly part of a longer showreel of upcoming series headed to HBO Max, offers our initial look at Chandler and Pierre's characters following an earlier photo tease back in February of this year.

Lanterns has been pitched as a buddy cop detective drama with similarities to Slow Horses and True Detective, all set within James Gunn's broader DC universe that was kickstarted this summer by blockbuster movie Superman and will continue next year with Supergirl.

First teaser for ‘LANTERNS’.

Releasing in 2026 on HBO Max. pic.twitter.com/DXJuYNtrXH

— DC Film News (@DCFilmNews) December 12, 2025

This series sees Green Lantern Corps veteran Hal Jordan (Chandler) paired with younger hero John Stewart (Pierre) in a "dark, Earth-based mystery as they investigate a murder in the American heartland." Today's trailer sees the two space cops squabbling in a car, before it gets driven off of a cliff. It's a dramatic moment, though it also seems like both of them will be fine.

According to DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran, speaking this week during an interview with CBR, Lanterns is now set to launch in the "late summer" of 2026, having previously been expected early next year.

"It was about when it made sense for it to be released, so [HBO Max] could get the right lead in, the right promotion," Safran said. "Because it's an important show for everybody, and the show is going to be great. It was about the right timing, so it's going to be... it's late summer. But there's a reason for it."

Intriguingly, this pushes Lanterns' expected arrival window after the launch of Supergirl, which is set to arrive in theaters on June 26, 2026. Yesterday brought a first trailer for that DCU project, too, showing Milly Alcock's hungover Kara Zor-El getting into trouble alongside her super canine sidekick Crypto.

As for how Lanterns will fit into the wider DCU, it has already been confirmed that the series will see the return of fellow Green Lantern Corps member Guy Gardner — once again played by Nathan Fillion, and introduce the villainous Sinestro, played by Ulrich Thomsen.

Image credit: HBO

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

165 workers at id Software, the studio behind the Doom and Quake franchises, have elected to unionize with the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in yet another wall-to-wall developer union within Microsoft.

The new union encompasses developers, artists, programmers, and other disciplines, and has been formally recognized by Microsoft in accordance with its pledge to remain "neutral" with regard to unions within its ranks and voluntarily recognize any that emerge. Union members suggest issues of concern for the group include the instability of the games industry writ large, as well as the necessity of remote work.

“I’m very proud to be a part of this effort to organize our studio, to have a voice in decisions that directly affect myself and my coworkers,” said senior VFX artist and organizing committee member Caroline Pierrot. “In an industry that has proven to be very unstable over the last few years, more unions means more power to the workers and a real shot at shaping the future of the industry for the better."

Microsoft has seen a cascade of new unions formed at its game studios in recent years, a large number of which have been under its most recent acquisition, Activision Blizzard. Diablo developers unionized this past August, as did Blizzard's story and franchise development team, the entire World of Warcraft team unionized last year, and the Overwatch developers followed in May of this year. Meanwhile, Raven Software workers won their first contract earlier this year, Zenimax QA workers won a contract in May, and Bethesda's union is still in active negotiations.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.

Amazon has pulled its AI-powered Fallout Season 1 recap after fans noticed it made significant errors ahead of the launch of Season 2.

Prime Video began testing generative AI recaps last month for some of its shows, including Fallout. The idea is the AI will look at a show’s plot points then sum it all up in a short video alongside AI voiceover and music. According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Amazon is betting AI can identify key plot points for a series to be synchronized with a voiceover narration and dialogue snippets.”

“Video Recaps marks a groundbreaking application of generative AI for streaming,” VP of technology at Prime Video, Gérard Medioni, explained in a statement. “This first-of-its-kind feature demonstrates Prime Video’s ongoing commitment to innovation and making the viewing experience more accessible and enjoyable for customers.”

But as reported by GamesRadar, fans soon discovered it did a poor job on Fallout. For example, Amazon’s AI appeared to have been fooled by Season 1’s flashback scenes, which it said were set in 1950s America via a monotone text-to-speech-sounding voice. Of course, as all Fallout fans know, those flashback scenes take place in a retro futuristic 2077 — the year the bombs fell.

There are further mistakes, including the narrator saying Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul gives Ella Purnell’s Lucy MacLean a choice to “die or leave with him” while on her quest to find her villainous father, Kyle MacLachlan’s Hank, in New Vegas (the setting of Season 2) This makes it sound like The Ghoul planned to kill Lucy if she didn’t go along with him, but in the actual show it’s more a choice of staying or leaving.

The Verge reports the Fallout recap alongside those for other shows no longer appear on a series’ detail page when you navigate to the next season. Prime Video has yet to comment.

It’s an embarrassing error for Amazon, which will be keen to avoid any negative headlines in the run up to the hotly anticipated launch of Fallout Season 2. But it’s not the first time the megacorp has raised eyebrows for its corner-cutting use of AI. Earlier this month, Amazon removed an English dub track that featured AI voices from the anime series Banana Fish after a fan backlash.

We've got plenty more on Fallout, including a Season 1 recap of our own, below.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The Wizard World of Harry Potter is headed to Fortnite, as Epic Games offers Hogwarts Legacy for free via its PC Store.

As announced last night at The Game Awards 2025, Hogwarts Legacy is now free to claim from the Epic Games Store until December 18, at 11am ET. Shortly following the announcement, users reported that the store was struggling to load — with many linking the troubles to a flood of wizard wannabes rushing to claim their copy.

Anyone with more than two hours of Hogwarts Legacy gameplay time on their account by December 18 will be granted a Chocolate Frog Back Bling in Fortnite, Epic Games has said. And that's not the only Harry Potter content coming to its battle royale game.

Clearly, all is not well in the world of Call of Duty. Black Ops 7 appears to have struggled for players and sales relatively speaking amid tough competition from the likes of EA’s Battlefield 6 and Embark Studios’ Arc Raiders, and coming out just a year after Black Ops 6. Microsoft is yet to announce a player count or a sales figure for Black Ops 7, nor has it detailed any boost to Game Pass subscriber numbers as a result of its launch. Clearly, it hasn’t met its expectations.

Last month, sales data suggested Black Ops 7 was struggling not just against rival shooter Battlefield 6, but also last year’s Black Ops 6. The Game Business reported that Black Ops 7’s European launch saw opening week sales down 63% versus Battlefield 6 during the equivalent launch periods for each shooter, and Black Ops 7 also down by more than 50% versus Black Ops 6. All in all, Black Ops 7 had a “terrible” launch, The Game Business’ chief Chris Dring said in a post on social media.

Then, in a shock development, Activision promised never to release Black Ops or Modern Warfare games back to back again. In a statement attributed to "the Call of Duty team" (Treyarch, Sledgehammer, Infinity Ward, Raven Software and co.), Activision admitted “that for some of you, the franchise has not met your expectations fully. To be very clear, we know what you expect and rest assured we will deliver, and overdeliver, on those expectations as we move forward.”

Activision continued: “We will no longer do back-to-back releases of Modern Warfare or Black Ops games. The reasons are many, but the main one is to ensure we provide an absolutely unique experience each and every year. We will drive innovation that is meaningful, not incremental. While we aren’t sharing those plans today, we look forward to doing so when the time is right.”

Fast forward to this week, and Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty has painted a slightly rosier picture. When asked about Black Ops 7's performance by Variety, Booty responded to confirm that it's one of the most-played games on Xbox right now, and that he was proud of what the development team was able to achieve. He then said Call of Duty is “its own unique category” because of Activision’s ability to release content via a seasonal model, so the launch isn’t the end of Black Ops 7’s story.

Here’s the quote in full:

“Right now, it is one of the most-played games on Xbox. And I’m really proud of what the team did, in terms of feature innovation, moving the franchise forward. Shipping a major franchise like clockwork every year is a really difficult task, and I’m really proud of what the team did to move the franchise forward in that way.

“And the interesting thing about Call of Duty is, I think that as an IP, it is really well positioned to continue to deliver content for players going forward; the system of seasons. And it’s not just about the launch, but it’s kind of in its own unique category and ability in terms of how the team keeps delivering content throughout the year. So we’re real happy with where we’ve landed with that.”

Amid the doom and gloom, Microsoft has said Call of Duty (overall) ended 2025 as the number one franchise on Game Pass for total players and hours all year, which perhaps doesn’t come as much of a surprise given this is Call of Duty we’re talking about. But it does show that even when Call of Duty has a bad year relative to previous games in the series, it's still massively popular relative to other games.

Call of Duty is now at something of a crossroads. 2026’s Call of Duty game is almost certainly a continuation of Modern Warfare from Infinity Ward, but what will 2027 bring? Black Ops 8? Activision’s failure to establish a third Call of Duty sub-brand means that it has become overly reliant on Modern Warfare and Black Ops to keep the franchise going at the player numbers executives demand. Could Microsoft take the drastic step of giving Call of Duty a year off to recover from its recent struggles? Given Microsoft paid $69 billion for Activision Blizzard, it seems unlikely.

As for Black Ops 7 in the here and now, Activision has promised "unprecedented season support," saying it "won't rest until Black Ops 7 earns its place as one of the best Black Ops games we’ve ever made."

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Following official confirmation that Leon S. Kennedy will co-star in Resident Evil: Requiem, the game's developers have confirmed how much we'll be playing as the floppy-hair favorite — and it's good news for his fans.

Speaking to Automaton, director Akifumi Nakanishi revealed that Requiem features nearly equal screentime between Leon and the previously-revealed Grace Ashcroft.

"In terms of gameplay, Grace and Leon's playable sections are almost equally split," Nakanishi said, likening the game's structure as similar to Resident Evil: Revelations, which featured both Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine.

"It's almost like having two games with completely different types of tension mixed together," Nakanishi continued. "Early on, we worried players might not be able to keep up, but now we feel that the contrast gives the game a unique rhythm, like jumping into a cold bath after sitting in a hot sauna (laughs)."

Nakanishi went on to describe Leon's playable sections as a "release" after the intense horror of playing as the less-experienced Grace. But don't expect Leon's gameplay to be a doddle — as the hero will also put himself in danger to protect others. Surely Capcom won't kill him off?

"The battle this time will probably push Leon to his limits more than ever before, and this is a crucial part of the experience," Nakanishi noted. "He's the type who doesn't hesitate to sacrifice himself to save others, but he's not arrogant about it, and he has a passionate inner self. I hope you'll also look forward to the dry wit and subtle sarcasm that only an older guy can bring."

Capcom knows that Leon has a passionate set of fans, and it sounds like the game will lean into that — making him a "handsome" figure who's "cool personality-wise too." Last night's trailer showed him driving a custom-built Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT, something Capcom has secured an official license from the car company to include.

"Although he’s a character who carries a lot on his shoulders, we took a lot of care in refining him to be an 'ikeoji' (a cool/attractive older guy)," Nakanishi concluded. "The reactions to the trailer on that front have made us happy (laughs)."

Despite Leon's involvement now being confirmed, Requiem may still have secrets left in store. There was no mention tonight of a potential third playable character — something raised earlier this week by a GameStop listing that referenced Rosemary Winters. Be sure to check out everything announced at The Game Awards 2025 for more, as well as the winners list in full.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social

One of the big surprises at The Game Awards 2025 was not only the debut trailer for the Street Fighter movie, but the appearance on-stage of the entire cast. That’s right, the likes of Jason Momoa, who plays Blanka, Cody Rhodes, who plays Guile, and Roman Reigns, who plays Akuma turned up to hype up next year’s Street Fighter adaptation.

And then came one of the highlights of the entire show — at least for me personally as a lifelong fan of both Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Comedian Andrew Schulz, who plays Dan Hibiki, went for the cast of Mortal Kombat 2 with a joke that certainly got the attention of fans online.

“We’re not the only game that appreciates your patronage,” Schulz began. “There’s another game out there, they also flew from around the world to be here because they appreciate you. So give it up for the whole cast of Mortal Kombat 2!”

As the audience applauded in anticipation of the Mortal Kombat 2 cast actually coming out onto the stage, Schulz revealed the truth: “I’m just kidding. They didn’t come. They don’t care about you. They only care about money. We care about money AND you. Street Fighter FOREVER!”

The cast of the Street Fighter Movie just threw BIG shots at the Mortal Kombat Movie Kast at #TheGameAwards! Oh it's on! 😤 pic.twitter.com/IbclswNMnq

— David (@unCAGEDgamez) December 12, 2025

“They just started a war,” declared fighting game streamer unCAGEDgamez. “Oh it's on!” Reaction from other fans was similar. "No one from this Street Fighter cast outdoing Scorpion and Sub-Zero," said another Mortal Kombat fan. "Hadoukens fired!" one fan added.

Todd Garner, producer of the Mortal Kombat 2 movie, also chimed in with a reaction of his own. Clearly a little put out by the joke, Garner tweeted: “I don’t climb over others to get ahead.”

But then, later, he offered a more diplomatic assessment, while keeping the prior tweet live: “I hope they both are huge.”

This all leans into the long-standing rivalry between Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, a rivalry that goes back to the ‘90s and banter-filled school playgrounds. I’m old enough to remember being forced to pick a side at school while secretly enjoying both games at home. But there is a delicious full circle moment coming next year when, somewhat improbably, both Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat 2 hit theaters within five months of each other. Mortal Kombat 2 goes first, on May 8, then Street Fighter counters on October 16.

The only way we can settle this is by finally releasing a Mortal Kombat vs Street Fighter game, of course. NetherRealm development chief Ed Boon has said multiple times over the years that such a crossover was a dream of his, and he in fact tried to make it happen but negotiations with Capcom collapsed. Maybe now, with both games getting their movie adaptations next year, the time is right for a rematch?

As for Schulz’s joke, it was just that and not worth taking too seriously. Let’s remember he’s playing joke character Dan in the movie, so is almost certainly going to get beaten to a pulp in hilarious fashion. I imagine Todd Garner will enjoy that one.

Street Fighter movie cast:

• Noah Centineo as “Ken Masters”
• Andrew Koji as “Ryu”
• Callina Liang as “Chun-Li”
• Joe “Roman Reigns” Anoai as “Akuma”
• David Dastmalchian as “M. Bison”
• Cody Rhodes as “Guile”
• Andrew Schulz as “Dan Hibiki”
• Vidyut Jammwal as “Dhalsim”
• Eric André as “Don Sauvage”
• Curtis ‘50 Cent’ Jackson as “Balrog”
• Jason Momoa as “Blanka”
• Orville Peck as “Vega”
• Olivier Richters as “Zangief”
• Hirooki Goto as “E. Honda”
• Rayna Vallandingham as “Juli”
• Alexander Volkanovski as “Joe”
• Kyle Mooney as “Marvin”
• Mel Jarnson as “Cammy”

And here's the official synopsis:

Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury. But behind this battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other and the demons of their past. And if they don’t, it’s GAME OVER!

Photo by Frank Micelotta/The Game Awards via Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.