The weekend brought a fresh batch of trailers from some of the most anticipated pieces of media currently circulating the streaming verse and the filmosphere. We have collected all of the newest, freshest trailers that dropped as December came upon us to get us hyped for the shows, films, and anime we will be watching next year.
Many of the below trailers were originally aired at the 2023 Comic Con Experience (CCXP) from São Paulo, Brazil, which was held over the weekend.
Fallout (Amazon Prime Video)
The post-nuclear role-playing game will, through its steward Bethesda which is involved here as well, receive a live-action TV series adaptation. Called simply “Fallout” the show is heavily influenced by Fallout 3 and 4, probably more so than the original isometric RPGs from Interplay and Black Isle.
Amazon Prime will showcase the Fallout series, which is essentially the most consumable version of the universe to date. The sickly sweet candy version of Fallout begins in an underground vault (Vault 33). Essentially a government experiment masquerading as a sprawling nuclear bomb shelter, when the protagonist (Ella Purnell) must leave the vault on a rescue mission and confront the nuclear holocaust of the two-hour Great War between China and the USA in 2077 that left America a radioactive wasteland.
We actually get to see some footage of the Great War near the end of this teaser trailer, with Walton Goggin’s character – the unnamed Ghoul, pre-Ghoulification – beholding the atomic bombing of Los Angeles as eerie old-timey music irises us out. This is the location of the series, which could indicate that the New California Republic (NCR) is involved somewhat in the narrative.
Otherwise, we are getting typical Bethesda Fallout fair, and even a bit of Yao Guai action where a mutant bear attacks a Brotherhood of Steel soldier in power armour. We are tentatively excited about the Fallout series, against our better judgement, as since Fallout 3, the writing quality of the games has drastically decreased.
The CG animations look a little poor in some shots, and we’d rather they have gone for less men in power armour and more practical effects. One last point of concern is that the showrunner behind Westworld is making Fallout for Amazon Prime Video. And we all know how Westworld ended (poorly).
Fallout has also been confirmed to be a sequel to Fallout 4, taking place a few decades after the events of that game. Fallout will premier on the streaming platform on 12 April 2024.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Hot on the heels of Toho’s last kaiju flick Godzilla Minus One, which is not coming out in South Africa, we get a trailer for a Hollywood turn that is. The next film in the Monarch series from Legendary is Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire.
This one looks like an insane trip that will benefit from less questions and more giant monsters kicking ass and taking names. Who cares if you haven’t watched the last few films in the series. What happened with Mecha Godzilla? It doesn’t matter. King Kong has a robot hand now and Godzilla (who is looking quite svelt) has pink atomic energy instead of blue and together they have to face what seems to be the alpha of King Kong’s species.
A red gigantopithicus with blue eyes and lightning energy, who lords over the other giant apes in the hollow parts of the Earth. Also there are human characters and they will do things in the plot. The film also has an April release date, so circle the 12th of that month on your calendar for next year.
Suicide Squad Isekai
DC and Warner Bros. have been expanding the usually stellar animated outings from its roster of heroes and villains with forays into anime from Japanese studios. We get to see Batman Ninja from the creator of Afro Samurai in 2018, and now the studio behind Spy X Family and Vinland Saga will be working on an original Suicide Squad series.
Suicide Squad Isekai pits the squad, including Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark, Peacemaker and new faces to the squad like Clayface against the fantasy creatures that populate an ultra-tropey “Isekai” world.
Isekai are genre of anime, quite popular as of late, where a character becomes magically transported from the normal, “boring” world into a new world, usually in a stock fantasy RPG. This is exactly what’s going to happen to the Suicide Squad. It will be interesting to see what other Isekai tropes this anime pulls through. One of which is the whole power fantasy thing, where the main character is suddenly all-powerful, or suddenly irresistible to women in this new world.
It’s violent and will probably be very entertaining. There is still no release date, but expect it sometime early next year.
House of the Dragon Season 2 (MAX)
The next season of the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon has received its first official trailer over the weekend, where we get a glimpse of what we can expect in the new season. And it looks, bigger, badder, and more fiery than the first season.
Season 1 received generally favourable reviews, with the cinematography, sets, costumes, and performances particularly praised.
It seems there’s a new Targaryen on the Iron Throne, which will no doubt make things even murkier for the family who runs the Seven Kingdoms as the civil war within the house grows. We get some excellent shots that drive the fantasy of George Martin’s world. Knights in dour forests, dragons raining flames across battlefields. It’s more A Song of Ice and Fire on your screen.
House of the Dragon Season 2 will be out around June and July 2024, which is summer in the northern hemisphere.
The Boys Season 4 (Amazon Prime Video)
Arguably the flagship original series from Amazon Prime Video, The Boys is set to return for a fourth season now following its own spin-off series in the guise of Gen V.
Homelander appears like a spectre in this trailer, as the villain prepares for his final play – take control of the US’ democracy. The official description of the series says that the “world is on the brink.”
“Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son as well as his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.”
At the same time as a monologue plays, telling of the collapse of society, we get to see new faces to the series like Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Valorie Curry who is playing the superhero “Firecracker.”
At this point, we’re inching closer and closer to the inevitable end of the series. The question is now just how much more popular can the show get.
Halo Season 2 (Paramount Plus)
The fight continues against the Covenant as the Master Chief, sometimes sans helmet, does some serious space marining in the second season of Halo The Series for Paramount Plus. John-117, the elite supersoldier, leads a team of shock troops against the multi-species alien empire known as the Covenant as it encroaches more and more into human territory.
The Covenant is seemingly pulling no punches with wholesale orbital bombardments of human cities, and has now unleashed its Sangheili warriors against human forces. There is one particular clip in the trailer where a Sangheili warrior is taking apart human soldiers in the dark, the iconic energy sword of the series flashing. Is this character the Arbiter? Who knows, but the introduction of an alien comparable to Master Chief might just bring some more life to the Covenant in the series, just as it did the games.
The second season of Halo The Series drops on 8th February 2024
Star Trek: Discovery (Paramount Plus)
The final season of Star Trek: Discovery received an exclusive clip over the weekend, showing a battle between USS Discovery Captain Michael Burnam and an interesting alien creature that spits out fiery projectiles, can cloak and can fly.
Nothing much else was revealed, other than a closer look at some kind of extraterrestrial totem, that Burnham and her crew are trying to active.
The series has unfortunately been at the mercy of several real-world situations that have hampered its production. Including effects from the COVID-19 pandemic that caused the 5th season to be delayed for several years. Paramount then decided that the fifth season would be the final one, even though the showrunners have indicated that they have enough material to continue the show. Paramount is ending the show as a cost-cutting effort.
Season 5 of Star Trek: Discovery is set to premiere in April 2024 on Paramount Plus.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
We’re back Down Under for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. A film that explores the origin story of the same character from Mad Max Fury Road played by Charlize Theron. It stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth and looks to be an expanding of the universe first revealed in Fury Road, itself expanding on the Mel Gibson films from the 80s and 90s.
We get to see a younger Immortan Joe, and his War Boys, as well as Hemsworth’s character which seems to be the main villain in this film. In terms of plot, the trailer reveals that Furiosa is taken from her home and is raised in abject slavery. At some point in this time she finds guns, cars and loses her arm. We then get bombarded with more Road Warrior goodness, swelling stringes and psychopathic Australians.
Honestly, we’re a little bit concerned that George Miller is leaning more towards CG for action shots in the film instead of a slavish obsession over practical effects. For us, Furiosa loses a lot of the same shine that was in Fury Road. We’re hoping that this may not be the case.
The film is slated to release on 24th May 2024.
[Image – Vanity Fair on X]
