During the 2004 Oscar season, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King pulled off a rare clean sweep of every Academy Award it was nominated for, including Best Picture and Best Director for Peter Jackson. A decade later, it was quite a different story for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, the finale of Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. That film only received a single nomination for Best Sound Editing, and it didn’t win.
So why wasn’t The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies as beloved as The Return of the King? We’re revisiting this question because The Battle of the Five Armies hit theaters 10 years ago this month. This is also a timely question considering that the animated film, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, will be out in theaters later this month as well.
In retrospect, Jackson faced an uphill battle from the start, but he and his collaborators, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, made a few missteps of their own that contributed to the less enthusiastic response that The Battle of Five Armies received.
The cast is immaculate
New Line Cinema
One area where The Hobbit films did not disappoint is the cast. Martin Freeman, one of the stars of the original version of The Office, was well-chosen to play a young Bilbo Baggins, the Hobbit at the center of the story. Freeman captures Bilbo’s humanity and compassion, as well as his willingness to embrace the adventure alongside a group of dwarves.
Richard Armitage also brought a lot of gravitas to the exiled dwarf king, Thorin Oakenshield, who doesn’t always see eye to eye with Bilbo. That personality conflict boils over in this film, but their eventual reconciliation is one of the movie’s more affecting moments. Jackson also brought back a handful of cast members from his earlier films, including Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey. That was a wise choice, but bringing Orlando Bloom in to reprise his role as Legolas might have been a step too far. He really seems out of place in all of his scenes across the newer trilogy.
The director switch
New Line Cinema
Jackson was originally planning to step aside and let Guillermo del Toro direct a two-film adaptation of The Hobbit. Del Toro remains a credited screenwriter alongside Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens on the three films that followed, but he departed the project after it faced numerous delays. That’s when Jackson stepped in to take over the films.
Few, if anyone, would have argued against Jackson returning to the world of Middle-earth. The Lord of the Rings trilogy set the standard for fantasy in films. But the key difference is that Jackson had years to prepare to shoot those movies, and a lot less time to get ready for The Hobbit films. Jackson has openly said as much during behind-the-scenes features for the second trilogy. That may be why The Battle of Five Armies and its two predecessors don’t feel as fully realized as the previous trilogy.
Two films become three
New Line Cinema
Splitting The Hobbit into two movies was an understandable decision. The 1977 animated adaptation of The Hobbit struggled to tell the entire story in an abbreviated fashion. There’s a lot that happens in the book, and giving it two films seemed like the right way to go. One of the ways that Jackson and company slipped from the path was their decision to make two films into three movies.
Bilbo Baggins has a quote in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings in which he states that he feels “sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” That’s an apt comparison that fans have made for years about The Hobbit trilogy. Three films pushed it too far. And while there are a lot of exciting sequences in the last film, the middle chapter, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, suffered from the decision to make it a separate movie.
Taking down the dragon
New Line Cinema
The Battle of the Five Armies opens with one of the film’s most thrilling scenes, as the dragon known as Smaug attacks the people of Laketown and destroys their homes. Sherlock and Doctor Strange star Benedict Cumberbatch lent his voice to Smaug, and he gives the dragon a deliciously wicked persona. Smaug enjoys raining destruction down on these people, and he considers it his revenge for the dwarves stealing from his treasure.
Among the townspeople, Bard the Bowman (Luke Evans) steps up to face the dragon. The scene is a little drawn out compared to the novel, but it’s still one of the highlights of the film.
The love story that didn’t shine
New Line Cinema
Tolkin didn’t have a lot of prominent roles for female characters in The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings. Jackson compensated for that in the original trilogy by elevating the love story between Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Arwen (Liv Tyler). So Jackson and his team tried to recreate that dynamic in The Hobbit films with the dwarf Kíli (Aidan Turner) and a female elf named Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly).
While it was an admirable attempt, creating Tauriel for the film meant that she didn’t have a natural place in the narrative. All of her scenes were invented for the movie, and she doesn’t have enough screen time with Kíli to justify the idea that they had fallen in love despite barely knowing each other. Tauriel’s tears over their broken connection felt forced and false at the end of the movie, and the scene lacked the power or the impact it was meant to have.
The further adventures of Gandalf and friends
New Line Cinema
One of the ways that The Hobbit was stretched out to three films involved adding things that weren’t in the novel. Tolkien did create appendices which revealed where Gandalf disappeared to for portions of the story.
Jackson expanded that into a sort of Middle-earth Avengers as Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Elrond (Hugo Weaving), Radagast the Brown (Sylvester McCoy), and Saruman (Christopher Lee) team up to rescue Gandalf from Sauron. But their confrontation is short, and it falls flat on the screen after building up to that moment. It simply lacks the epic scale of the conflict with Sauron from the previous trilogy.
The final battle delivers on its promise
New Line Cinema
In the novel, Tolkien largely sidelined Bilbo from the titular battle of the five armies and he didn’t seem to have much of a desire to flesh that out. Because film is a visual medium, Jackson and company wouldn’t have been able to get away with making a similar decision. And as seen in The Two Towers‘ battle for Helm’s Deep, they were already experienced with expanding minor sequences from the novels.
The final battle of this film still falls short of the highs of Return of the King, but it does capture an epic scale as the armies of humans, elves, and dwarves forget about their quarrel with each other long enough to face an overwhelming force of orcs. And unlike the original trilogy, a handful of major characters in this film don’t make it out of the battle with their lives.
One last goodbye
The Last Goodbye – Billy Boyd (Official Music Video) | The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies
It’s unfortunate that The Battle of the Five Armies was so badly snubbed by the Oscars, because it absolutely deserved to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Billy Boyd, the actor who played Peregrin Took in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, wrote and performed The Last Goodbye, the song that plays over the end credits. It’s a truly beautiful tribute to both trilogies, and a fitting way to close out the franchise.
Except the franchise will never truly end, even though most of Tolkien’s original stories have already been adapted. Amazon’s Prime Video is exploring an earlier era of Middle-earth in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, while Warner Bros. is planning new live-action movies including The Hunt for Gollem, with Andy Serkis directing and reprising his role as the title creature.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies may not be a masterpiece like the earlier LOTR films, but it’s still easily among the best fantasy movies ever made. And since both the theatrical and extended versions are readily available to stream on Max, it’s worth revisiting this holiday season.
Watch The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies on Max.
The film seems targeted both at Warhammer diehards and newcomers alike, as the trailer opens on Heder searching for “the center of grimdark and everything gnarly,” while the camera comically zooms out to reveal he’s standing in front of a massive statue of a Space Marine. The film’s description implies Heder’s search began due to a “chance encounter at a game store,” but the admiration for the art of wargames comes through in the trailer’s cinematic composition and editing. Shots of miniatures and core texts are interspersed with interview clips and medieval architecture (rightfully) framing Warhammer and the culture around it as esoteric and arcane. Heder’s comedic ignorance of the hobby balances the, pardon the phrase, grimdark aesthetic, making the trailer feel like the final documentary will be accessible to even the most uninformed viewer.
The trailer culminates with a directive for Heder: “If you want to talk to the grandmaster, go find John.” This, of course, refers to artist John Blanche, who is credited with defining the visual language of Warhammer during his 46-year long tenure at Games Workshop. Blanche famously retired in June of last year, making rare media appearances that can be found on his personal blog. The trailer ends with a dramatic sequence of Heder knocking on what one could assume to be Blanche’s front door, before quickly cutting to an over-the-shoulder shot of a man, ostensibly Blanche, taking off his glasses in preparation.
Kevin Costner recently released the first entry in his series of Western films dubbed Horizon: An American Saga. However, for the vast majority of Yellowstone fans, the only saga they want is the conclusion of the Dutton family’s story and a glimpse of what comes next. Costner reinvigorated his career by headlining Yellowstone as John Dutton, but his clashes with Paramount Network and showrunner Taylor Sheridan have led to Costner’s departure from the series.
Although we’re still several weeks away from the return of the series, we’re sharing everything we know about Yellowstone season 5, part 2. And we’ll keep updating this post when anything newsworthy comes up.
When will Yellowstone season 5, part 2 premiere?
The Paramount Network
To celebrate the sixth anniversary of Yellowstone‘s premiere, Paramount Network has finally announced when the final episodes will release. Yellowstone season 5, part 2 will begin on Sunday, November 10 on Paramount Network. Viewers in Canada will be able to watch it on Paramount+ on the same day. In America, Peacock retains the streaming rights for Yellowstone, but it’s currently unknown how quickly those episodes will appear on the service.
Additionally, Paramount is attempting to bring in an even larger audience by sharing the midseason premiere with CBS. AT 10 p.m. on Sunday, November 10 — two hours after its premiere on Paramount Network — viewers will get a chance to see the encore presentation of the first episode from Yellowstone season 5, part 2. For now, only one episode from the new season will be on CBS.
Can you watch Yellowstone season 5, part 2 any other way?
Paramount Network
Sure! You can try live TV streaming options like Sling, Hulu Plus Live, and YouTube TV. The cheapest and best possible, though, is Philo. Philo is a live television streaming service that offers more than 70 top-rated channels and the entire AMC+ library for just $28/month. Some of the channels include A&E, MTV, Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, MTV, BET, and the Paramount Network, which is the home of Yellowstone.
Philo also has over 90 free channels available to watch anytime without creating an account. In addition, the service has a library of over 75,000 content titles on-demand and an unlimited DVR that saves recordings for a year. Philo can be used on mobile phones, tablets, TVs, and desktops so you can watch the Dutton clan pretty much anywhere on any device.
Is there a trailer for Yellowstone season 5, part 2?
Yes! At long last, the trailer is here, even if it seems somewhat disingenuous to include clips of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton, considering he won’t be in the season unless there’s some previously unrevealed footage with him.
Yellowstone Official Trailer | Paramount Network
The trailer plays up the drama ahead and teases some surprising alliances as the fate of the ranch is determined. It also touches on the increasingly dangerous feud between Jamie and Beth. That builds on the previously released teaser for Yellowstone season 5.
Jamie seems to be desperate to get Beth to back down, and he suggests that their family legacy is at stake. For her part, Beth doesn’t care. She’ll burn it all to destroy Jamie.
What’s happening in Yellowstone season 5, part 2, episode 1?
Ahead of the mid-season premiere, Paramount Network revealed that the name of the episode is Desire Is All You Need. The short synopsis states that, “After an event rattles the state of Montana, nothing will ever be the same.” The event in question is likely the death of Montana governor — and Dutton family patriarch — John Dutton, due to Costner’s departure from the series.
Paramount Network has also dropped an ominous poster for the final season.
Paramount Network
What happened to John Dutton in the mid-season premiere?
Warning: There are spoilers ahead for the mid-season premiere of Yellowstone season 5.
The show didn’t waste any time revealing what happened to the Dutton family patriarch. Governor John Dutton is dead, seemingly by his own hand. While appearing on SirusXM’sThe Michael Smerconish Program, Costner reacted to the fate of his character. “I heard it’s a suicide, so that doesn’t make me want to rush to go see it,” said Costner. When Smerconish noted that John wasn’t likely to commit suicide, Costner added, “Well, they’re pretty smart people. Maybe it’s a red herring. Who knows? They’re very good. And they’ll figure that out.”
Costner’s instincts may be correct, as the show insinuates that John Dutton’s death was staged to look like a suicide by a hitman sent by one of his enemies. Either way, the Dutton family has been devastated by his death, and the war between Beth and Jamie Dutton is only going to get more intense.
Who is in the cast of Yellowstone season 5, part 2?
Paramount Network
The core cast expected to appear in Yellowstone season 5 part 2 includes:
Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton
Kelly Reilly as Bethany “Beth” Dutton
Wes Bentley as James Michael “Jamie” Dutton
Cole Hauser as Rip Wheeler
Kelsey Asbille as Monica Long Dutton
Gil Birmingham as Chief Thomas Rainwater
Brecken Merrill as Tate Dutton
Denim Richards as Colby Mayfield
Forrie J. Smith as Lloyd Pierce
Ian Bohen as Ryan
Jen Landon as Teeter
Finn Little as Carter
Ryan Bingham as Walker
The first photos of Yellowstone season 5, part 2 have arrived
Emerson Miller / Paramount Network
With the new episodes now just a few months away, Paramount Network has released the first photos of Yellowstone season 5, part 2. And the first pic, seen above, doesn’t look very good for John Dutton. His estranged adoptive son, Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley), is appearing alongside Governor Perry (Wendy Moniz), which may be how the show chooses to acknowledge the death of the previous governor, John.
Emerson Miller / Paramount Network
The second pic features Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) and Mo (Moses Brings Plenty) presumably making their own plans for Yellowstone ranch.
Emerson Miller / Paramount Network
Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) has a quiet moment with a resting Carter (Finn Little).
Emerson Miller / Paramount Network
It wouldn’t be Yellowstone without a porch side scene. In this case, Monica Long (Kelsey Asbille), Tate Dutton (Brecken Merrill), and Kacey Dutton (Luke Grimes).
Emerson Miller / Paramount Network
Chances are very good that the future of the show will revolve around Rip Wheeler and Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly).
Paramount Network
Rip and Beth are seemingly joined at the hip, and their bond may determine whether the Duttons still have control of the ranch at the end of the season.
Luke Grimes teases the series finale of Yellowstone
The cast of Yellowstone has been privy to the ending for months, but now Luke Grimes is sharing his thoughts about the series finale.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Grimes told EW. “I think it’s a perfect ending for the show for every character. It’s just a testament to what a good writer Taylor [Sheridan] is, and it’s a very, very profound, beautiful ending. I can’t wait to sit down and watch it one day.”
Did Kevin Costner’s departure change the ending of Yellowstone?
Inevitably, some things had to have changed if the original plan was for Costner to finish out the series. But according to Kelly Reilly, John Dutton was already meant to be written out of the series by the final episode.
“The absence [of John Dutton] was part of the ending,” Reilly told EW. “That’s not something that we had to pivot, that was already written into the tapestry of the story. It was always going to happen, it just happened a little bit differently.”
Will Kevin Costner return for Yellowstone season 5, part 2?
Paramount
Despite the hope that Costner and Paramount Network would work something out, the actor has definitively announced that he will not be back for the final episodes of Yellowstone.
In a video posted on his Instagram account, Costner said, “I just want to reach out and let you know that after this long year and a half of working on Horizon and doing all the things that that’s required… and thinking about Yellowstone, that beloved series that I love, that I know you love. I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue, season 5 or into the future.”
“I loved it and I know you loved it, and I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning,” Costner added. “I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop, and I’ll see you at the movies.”
Costner’s public attempts to restart a dialogue about his return began earlier this year. Matthew Belloni of Puck News reported in March 2024 that Costner was telling people he will return in some capacity, perhaps in a cameo.
“Kevin Costner has been telling people he’s planning to return for at least a cameo and possibly more, but there are currently no discussions for him to do that,” Belloni wrote. “Even if Costner significantly lowers his financial and time commitment demands, Sheridan may not want to bother reopening his finished scripts to accommodate a send-off for John Dutton.”
Costner teased a possible return to the show
Despite the fact that the show appears to be moving on without him, Costner reiterated his interest in coming back, via Variety in mid-June.
“I’ve supported that thing and I’ve loved it,” Costner said during a June 2024 appearance on Today. “It’s been really important to me. I would love to go back under the right circumstances I think that all of us want. For me, it really needs to be the right circumstances.”
Even now, Costner refuses to fully give up on the possibility of his return.
“Saying there’s a chance, there’s always a chance,” added Costner. “I love the thing. You’ve got to be really clear about that.”
Does Kevin Costner want to come back to Yellowstone?
Paramount
After almost a year of silence on the issue, Costner finally made some public comments about his potential return to Yellowstone for the final episodes. The good news is that he does want to return, but even Costner doesn’t know whether it’s going to happen.
“I’d like to be able to do it but we haven’t been able to … I thought I was going to make seven [seasons] but right now we’re at five,” Costner told Entertainment Tonight. “So how it works out — I hope it does — but they’ve got a lot of different shows going on. Maybe it will. Maybe this will circle back to me. If it does and I feel really comfortable with [it], I’d love to do it.”
Costner also appeared to indicate that he wants a say in the fate of his character.
“[Dutton] needs to be proactive in what happens, and I’ve kind of had my own fantasy how [the character’s final arc] might be,” Costner said. “But that’s Taylor’s thing. I said as much to him a while back. I had thoughts how it could happen, but we just have to see.”
Costner struck a more conciliatory note during an interview at the beginning of May.
“No, [Sheridan and I] haven’t [talked],” Costner said. “He’s doing special work in a lot of different ways. He’s very prolific about the things he does, and if he sees me in something that he wants to do, I’ll look at it just the way I did Yellowstone and maybe we will end up doing something together. He likes a lot of the things that I like, and the idea of us working together is not out of the question for me. The subjects he chooses are very interesting to me. I like a lot of that stuff. Yellowstone stands as something that could continue. But that is a Taylor question. But other things that he’s doing I think are really, really good. He likes the same subjects that I do.”
Kevin Costner shares his reasons for leaving Yellowstone
While Costner was feeling more hopeful about the future earlier in May, he came out with a more combative tone during his interview with Deadline on May 13, and he provided his side of the story for the first time.
“Well, I haven’t felt good about it the last year, what with the way they’ve talked about it,” Costner said. “It wasn’t truthful. So now I’m talking about a little bit about what the real truth of it was. I made a contract for seasons five, six and seven. In February, after a two- or three-month negotiation, they made another contract. They wanted to redo that one, and instead of seasons six and seven, it was 5A and 5B, and maybe we’ll do six. They weren’t able to make those. Horizon was set in the middle, but Yellowstone was first position. I fit [Horizon] into the gaps. They just kept moving their gaps.”
“I don’t want to get down in the gutter with the Yellowstone thing but what I’m telling you is straight up,” Costner said. “I have taken a beating from those f***ing guys and I know a lot of times where it’s coming from. I just elected not to get into that. But if you know me well enough, I made Yellowstone the first priority, and to insinuate anything else would be wrong. I did not initiate any of those things. They did. They were doing a tap dance and this poor guy was also having to write so much. And I don’t know why they didn’t stick up for me.”
“I could say ‘no comment’ all the way through,” Costner continued. “I won’t say my life is fair game or that any questions are fair game, but this is a realistic question. I will address it. They should have known that there was going to be an opportunity for me to say something. I didn’t have to answer the slings and arrows over the last year and a half, because I’ve just been busy working. They’ve been pretty slick about keeping their hands off; nobody was ever on the record.”
Fox Nation / Fox Nation
Costner also forcefully pushed back at the rumor that his commitments on Horizon kept him from shooting Yellowstone.
“That’s not true,” Costner said. “There were blocks of time that we didn’t get 10 episodes done. Basically, we were starting in April and May, and we’d usually go through August. We’d do 10. We didn’t even get 10 done during that time. I only worked 43 days. So that’s bulls***. That’s a lie. That’s not correct. They sent me away for seven days to go to London, to go to England during Covid, to do [promotion]. They made the contract and they picked the days.”
Costner also explained the origin of the report that he was only willing to film a week of Yellowstone season 5, part 2.
“They didn’t have the scripts for anything else,” Costner said. “So, what you read in the end was that I said, ‘Well, look, I’m doing my movie. If you want me to work a week because you want to kill me or whatever else, I can give you a week.’ I really didn’t have that week to give them, but I said, I’ll do that. And then they [spun that] into, I only wanted to work a week.”
“I’m usually working six or seven days per each, whatever they are,” Costner said. “And they took that and a source on their side spun that into, well, he only wants to work a week for a whole season. Do you think that’s who I am? I’ve never missed a day of work. I’ve never left before fulfilling my contractual obligations. A lot of times, I stay as much as I can. In fact, I worked the nine-day stretch just to try to help them in July, when I was starting [Horizon] on August 1. I worked a Saturday and Sunday for them, and they still needed four more days. I gave it to them, when I thought we were going to do this so-called B, but there was no B thing. I was just going to give ‘em those extra four days.”
Even during this interview, Costner left the door open for his return. But it certainly seems a lot less likely now.
What will happen to John Dutton if Costner doesn’t return?
Paramount Network
Sheridan had a very revealing quote on the subject when speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in June 2023. He said that Costner’s exit “truncates the closure of his character. It doesn’t alter it, but it truncates it.” This implies that John Dutton won’t survive the end of Yellowstone even if Costner does reappear.
Via ScreenRant, one of the theories regarding Dutton’s fate is that he will meet his demise from colon cancer. During the first season, Dutton survived his first bout with that illness. If that’s the way John Dutton dies, then it would bring his fate full circle.
What do the other cast members think about Kevin Costner’s exit?
Paramount Network
Luke Grimes, who plays John Dutton’s youngest son, Kayce Dutton, recently shared his thoughts about Kevin Costner’s apparent departure from the show. And he sounds largely supportive of Costner’s decision.
“Whatever happened there is unfortunate if it’s changed anything about how the show was going to unfold,” said Grimes during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I know, [Costner] got busy with his movies that were like passion projects. At a certain point, you gotta do what you gotta do, man; you gotta do what you love.”
Ian Bohen has a bold prediction about the Yellowstone series finale
Paramount Network
While speaking with Entertainment Tonight, Yellowstone co-star Ian Bohen revealed that he hasn’t seen any of the scripts from the final episodes yet, but he is aware of where the story is going. He also dropped a very bold prediction about the series finale.
“[The fans] are going to get the [best] conclusion that could possibly be written,” Bohen said. “Everything will land in a way that is perfectly set. A lot of shows just kind of finish… and they don’t satisfy you. This will be completed in a way that it will make sense.”
“I don’t know that any show has finished this strongly ever,” Bohen added. “We’re expecting to have the best series finale in history. Overconfident maybe, but I think that’s what it’s going to be. We thank everyone for their patience… It’ll be worth the wait, I promise.”
Bohen also indicated that he expects Yellowstone‘s final season to resume production in May, but it could also be pushed to later in the summer.
Will the spinoff series serve as Yellowstone season 6?
Paramount Network
That is the general idea that Paramount Network sold to fans when the end of Yellowstone was announced. However, a report on Puck states that three of the show’s principal cast members, Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser, and Luke Grimes, are in a pay dispute with Paramount Network because they want significant raises to reprise their respective roles as Beth Dutton, Rip Wheeler, and Kayce Dutton.
The report also indicates that those cast members have to be paid for Yellowstone season 6 even though it won’t be produced. That was a provision in their contracts for the previous series. There’s no indication yet whether the actors and Paramount Network have come to terms. If they don’t re-sign with the new show, then the spinoff series will lose key characters who could have been the bridge to the future of the franchise.
Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly tease potential returns in Yellowstone spinoff
Paramount Network
Yellowstone season 5, part 2, may not be the last time fans see Rip and Beth. In an April 2024 interview with Country Living, Hauser explained his focus is on finishing the final episodes of the series. Hauser then hinted that there could be a future for Rip and Beth in future Yellowstone iterations.
“I’m so focused on finishing Yellowstone the way it needs to be finished right now — well, just the show itself,” Hauser said. “We’ll see where that leads, but I know that there’s some stuff on the horizon when it comes to Taylor’s ideas for Kelly Reilly, myself, and some of the other cast. I’m excited to see where he goes creatively with that, but right now it’s just, let’s finish strong; let’s do the best we can.”
Reilly shared a similar viewpoint about the spinoff in a March 2024 interview with Collider. Once again, the goal for Reilly is to finish Yellowstone on a high note. However, Reilly did not close the door on appearing in the spinoff.
“I just care about finishing [the main show] with as much care, as much passion, and as much love as I can muster to put into it,” Reilly said. “That’s what I care about. I’m sort of prepping for that now, [and] that’s my tunnel vision thing that I care about most. And what goes on beyond that? There are discussions, you know. Don’t believe everything you read. It’s just nonsense. But we’re gonna, you know, let’s wait and see. I don’t have an answer right now. But we’ll see.”
Which Dutton will survive: Jamie or Beth?
The Paramount Network
The first half of Yellowstone season 5 featured the complete deterioration of the relationship between Beth and her adoptive brother – who doubles as the black sheep of the family – Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley). Beth and Jamie even openly contemplated murdering each other in a struggle that may destroy the Duttons. That is one of the big unresolved plotlines heading into the second half of the season.
Note that Bently’s name was not mentioned in Puck’s report about Yellowstone cast members seeking a raise for the spinoff series. If there’s any veracity to that story, it may mean that Jamie isn’t going to make it out of Yellowstone season 5, part 2. That doesn’t necessarily mean that Jamie will die, it could also mean incarceration or exile from his family. For now, we can only speculate.
Will Matthew McConaughey appear in Yellowstone season 5, part 2?
HBO
If Sheridan wanted to follow the established model for TV spinoffs, Matthew McConaughey’s new character from the upcoming spinoff would be introduced in Yellowstone season 5, part 2. The only problem with that idea is that there’s no official report that McConaughey has even signed on for the spinoff.
McConaughey’s name has been mentioned in conjunction with the spinoff since February 2023. Since that time, all of the Hollywood trades have simply said that McConaughey is in talks to lead the spinoff. So it’s just talk until McConaughey actually signs on the dotted line. For now, there’s no indication that he has.
How many episodes of Yellowstone are left?
Originally, only six episodes were planned to conclude the series. But Sheridan told THR in 2023 that he has the leeway to change that, if he chooses to. “If I think it takes 10 episodes to wrap it up, they’ll give me 10,” said Sheridan. “It’ll be as long as it needs to be.”
When will Yellowstone season 5, part 2 begin filming?
Paramount Network
Via The Wrap, Yellowstone season 5, part 2 has officially begun filming after a nearly two-year hiatus. As with the previous seasons, production is on-location in Montana. Notably absent from the news was any word about Kevin Costner returning to the show. Now that cameras are rolling again, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that Costner will return, barring some last minute deal.
The current production schedule means that Yellowstone season 5, part 2 will be able to make its premiere window later this year.
Will we see more of young John Dutton in Yellowstone season 5, part 2?
The Paramount Network
While it’s still unknown whether or not Kevin Costner will return, John Dutton will be popping up in season 5, part 2. Josh Lucas, the actor who plays a younger version of Costner’s character, told Deadline on March 14 that he will return as the character for the final season of the show.
The actor revealed that part 2 will be “10 episodes or so,” which, while still vague, does narrow it down a bit in terms of how many times we’ll see the Dutton clan this season.
Amazon is closing down Freevee, its free ad-supported video on demand service. This platform was home to original programming as well as more than from the Prime Video roster. Freevee will be phased out over the coming weeks, and its content will become available as part of Prime Video. The ad-supported tier of Prime Video is included as part of Amazon’s Prime membership for $15 a month.
“To deliver a simpler viewing experience for customers, we have decided to phase out Freevee branding,” an Amazon spokesperson told . “There will be no change to the content available for Prime members, and a vast offering of free streaming content will still be accessible for non-Prime members, including select originals from Amazon MGM Studios, a variety of licensed movies and series, and a broad library of FAST channels – all available on Prime Video.”
The free viewing platform went through several rebrands since its original launch as IMDb Freedive in January 2019. It its final phase as Freevee in April 2022.
Star Wars fans have been waiting quite some time to find out when they’ll be able to watch the second and final season of Andor. At the D23 Brazil fan expo, Lucasfilm revealed that the Rogue One prequel series will debut on Disney+ on April 22, 2025. That’s almost three years since the first season premiered in August 2022, and just after next year’s edition of Star Wars Celebration.
The show focuses on Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) in the years leading up to the events of Rogue One. It details how he came to work against the Empire as an important operative for the Rebel Alliance. Andor has been widely hailed as one of the best pieces of Star Wars media over the last few years, and now you know when you’ll be able to watch more of the rebel spy’s story.
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In the meantime, Star Wars fans will be able to check out the seemingly Goonies-esque Skeleton Key. The series stars Jude Law and focuses on a group of kids discovering a spaceship and going on an adventure. The first two episodes will hit Disney+ on December 3.
Each week on Polygon, we round up the most notable new releases to streaming and VOD, highlighting the biggest and best new movies for you to watch at home.
This week, Look Back, the critically acclaimed anime film based on Tatsuki Fujimoto’s manga of the same name, is finally available to stream on Prime Video. That’s not all, though; the time-travel comedy My Old Ass starring Aubrey Plaza also arrives on Prime Video this weekend alongside Poolman on Hulu, Black Cab on Shudder, and the Christmas rom-com Meet Me Next Christmas on Netflix. There are also several new releases available to rent or purchase on VOD, including A Different Man starring Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson.
Here’s everything new that’s available to watch this weekend!
Genre: Holiday rom-com Run time: 1h 45m Director: Rusty Cundieff Cast: Christina Milian, Devale Ellis, Mitch Grassi
This holiday rom-com follows a woman who serendipitously met a handsome stranger in an airport one Christmas. After feeling the sparks, they decided to meet next year at a Pentatonix concert. Flash forward a year, and she can’t get a ticket to the sold-out concert! So she hires a personalized concierge service to help her get a ticket. But of course the concierge is handsome and charming… Who will she choose? Will she get to see Pentatonix live?
Where to watch: Available to stream on Hulu
Photo: Darren Michaels/Vertical
Genre: Mystery comedy Run time: 1h 40m Director: Chris Pine Cast: Chris Pine, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Danny DeVito
Chris Pine’s directorial debut stars himself as Darren, a unflinchingly optimistic pool cleaner in Los Angeles — who’s also determined to make his community a better place à la Erin Brockovich (though the local city council is increasingly annoyed by him). After being contacted by a beautiful and mysterious woman, Darren embarks on a quest to unearth corruption in the city.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Image: Studio Durian/GKIDS
Genre: Coming-of-age drama Run time: 58m Director: Kiyotaka Oshiyama Cast: Yuumi Kawai, Mizuki Yoshida
Based on the one-shot manga by Chainsaw Man author Tatsuki Fujimoto, Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s coming-of-age anime drama centers on the life and friendship of Fujino (Yuumi Kawai) and Kyomoto (Mizuki Yoshida), two grade school classmates who bond over their shared love and passion for drawing manga. We added it to our list of the best animated features of the year, so you should definitely check it out.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Prime Video
Photo: Marni Grossman/Amazon MGM Studios
Genre: Comedy Run time: 1h 29m Director: Megan Park Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Maisy Stella, Percy Hynes White
In this time-wimey comedy, a teenage girl named Elliot (Maisy Stella) does a lot of shrooms and somehow ends up in contact with her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza). Her older self has lots of words of wisdom but one big warning: Don’t fall in love with the cute boy working on her family’s cranberry farm that summer. Stella and Plaza share a very easy and fun chemistry that makes their interactions a delight to watch. And the movie is especially poignant in the lessons that both versions of Elliot take from each other.
Beyond the time-travel setup, My Old Ass’s most immediate hook is the leads and their easy rapport. This movie could have just been a collection of hijinks and jokes about touching your older self’s butt. But Park uses the timey-wimey elements to craft a story about those unheralded last moments, the ones we don’t realize will be watersheds on the way to growing up. Younger Elliott is eager to leave everything behind and move on to her next great adventure, but older Elliott is able to offer some perspective. At the same time, older Elliott gets to savor her bygone youth and tap into the days of being a fearless teenager who could conquer the world. My Old Ass is about growing up — the joy, the pain, and those little moments that resonate with us far longer than we think they will — and Park smartly pulls it off by drawing on Elliott’s perspectives of both the past and the present.
Where to watch: Available to stream on Shudder
Image: Shudder
Genre: Horror Run time: 1h 27m Director: Bruce Goodison Cast: Nick Frost, Synnove Karlsen, Luke Norris
This new horror movie, c0-written by Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead), stars Synnove Karlsen (Last Night in Soho) and Luke Norris (The Duchess) as a couple who hail a black cab after a night out with their friends. Things take a sinister turn when their driver (Frost) abducts them and drives them out to a deserted (and supposedly haunted) stretch of road. What horrors await them when they reach their final destination, and will they leave a good tip?
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: A24
Genre: Psychological thriller Run time: 1h 52m Director: Aaron Schimberg Cast: Sebastian Stan, Adam Pearson, Renate Reinsve
Sebastian Stan (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) stars in A Different Man as Edward, an aspiring actor wracked with insecurity over his neurofibromatosis. After undergoing a radical medical procedure to transform his appearance, Edward’s life appears to be looking up — that is, until a man with neurofibromatosis named Oswald (Adam Pearson) comes into the picture. Will Edward be able to find peace with Oswald and his own past?
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: Music Box Films
Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 35m Director: Alessandra Lacorazza Cast: René Pérez, Sasha Calle, Lio Mehiel
This drama follows a pair of siblings who live with their loving but emotionally unstable father during their yearly summer visits to his home in New Mexico. Told over the span of multiple years, In the Summers is a affecting portrait of a strained parent-child relationship.
Where to watch: Available to rent on Amazon, Apple, and Vudu
Image: StudioCanal
Genre: Drama Run time: 1h 58m Director: Nora Fingscheidt Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Paapa Essiedu, Nabil Elouahabi
Saoirse Ronan stars as a young woman, fresh out of rehab for alcoholism, who returns home to the distant Orkney Islands in Scotland as she figures out what to do with her life and struggles to connect with others. Eventually, she takes a job with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and finds comfort in biology and birdwatching. The Outrun was originally a memoir of the same name by one of the movie’s screenwriters, Amy Liptrot, and premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Venom: The Last Dance is set to win the North American box office for the second weekend in a row, according to a forecast by Boxoffice Pro.
Sony Pictures’ sci-fi action movie is projected to earn between between $17 million and $23 million at theaters across the U.S. and Canada after raking in $51 million on its debut a week ago.
Starring Tom Hardy (Venom, Mad Max: Fury Road), Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, The Martian), and Juno Temple (Ted Lasso, Killer Joe), Venom: The Last Dance currently has an audience score of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, but a paltry 39% rating from more than 160 reviews by professional critics. It also has a less-than-stellar 6.2 rating on IMDb, while Digital Trends’ gave it only 1.5/5.
The movie’s official logline reads: “Eddie and Venom, on the run, face pursuit from both worlds. As circumstances tighten, they’re compelled to make a heart-wrenching choice that could mark the end of their symbiotic partnership.”
Check out the trailer below:
VENOM: THE LAST DANCE – Official Trailer (HD)
Eyeing second spot at this weekend’s domestic box office is a new movie starring Tom Hanks called Here.
Forecast to earn between $3 million and $7 million, Here is described as “a generational story about families and the special place they inhabit, sharing in love, loss, laughter, and life.” The movie is directed by Robert Zemeckis and is notable for its use of generative AI technology to face-swap and de-age the actors.
Also starring Robin Wright (Forrest Gump, Unbreakable) and Paul Bettany (WandaVision, A Beautiful Mind), Here hasn’t got off to a great start on Rotten Tomatoes, currently scoring only 38% from just over 50 reviews by professional critics (the Guardian’s 1/5 review calls it “a total horror show”), and just 5.6 on IMDb.
Watch the trailer below:
Here – Official Trailer (HD)
There’s a chance that Smile 2, on its third weekend, could nab second spot from Here, as the horror movie is forecast to take between $3 million and $5 million. Its ratings are certainly better, scoring 85% among professional critics and 81% among audience-goers on Rotten Tomatoes, and 7.2 on IMDb. Check out the trailer below:
One thing I did not foresee happening this year was us getting a new entry in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach series. But the author announced exactly that back in April, and I’ve pretty much been counting down the days until the book’s release ever since. Absolution, the fourth novel in what previously stood as a trilogy, hit the shelves this week and it takes us back to the beginning of Area X and the ill-fated first expeditions to explore it.
For the uninitiated, the series deals with a strange coastal region in the US that’s inexplicably been shut off behind an invisible border and has returned to a wild state. A shady government agency has been tasked with studying it, but the people who set out on those exploration missions either never come back out, or come back different. The series includes Annihilation (which inspired the 2018 movie starring Natalie Portman), Authority and Acceptance.
Ten years after the series was originally released, a prequel feels like the perfect way to dive back into the mysteries of Area X and the Southern Reach. The trilogy concluded in a way that answered some questions but also left so much else up in the air. And while you probably shouldn’t expect Absolution to neatly wrap it all up, it does give us more insight on the early days of the anomaly and the perspective of key characters in that timeline, like Lowry. Absolution is hefty — it’s structured so there are three novella-like parts, and is nearly 500 pages long in all. Which is great, because I can’t get enough of Area X.
Venom: The Last Dance may be one of those “You just had to be there” experiences. It feels cluttered, confused, and yet remarkably inconsequential. We’re told that the entire universe is at stake in this story, and yet nothing in the movie feels particularly threatening or even meaningful. So many different threads, ideas, and characters are introduced and then dispensed with, ignored, or contradicted, to the point where nothing lands — not even the supposed ending of this movie series.
As Polygon’s entertainment editor, I’ve learned that when a comic book movie baffles me this much, I’m probably missing something that was mangled from the source material. It’s always possible the story made more sense in its original form. So I turn to our resident comics super-expert Susana to help me unpack what I just saw. I asked her my big questions from Venom: The Last Dance to see if there’s any way bringing in some extra background lore could help save this messy, overstuffed, suspiciously goofy movie.
[Ed. note: Widespread spoilers ahead for Venom: The Last Dance.]
Venom in Columbia Pictures VENOM: THE LAST DANCE. Photo Courtesy: Sony PicturesImage: Sony Pictures
Tasha: Susana, let’s start with the McGuffin at the center of this movie: The codex, a nigh-magical hoobajoo that only the Eddie Brock/Venom symbiote (both voiced by Tom Hardy) share, and that the movie’s villain, Knull (Andy Serkis) wants, for Reasons.
Did you follow any of that, Susana? We’re told Venom has a codex because Eddie died at some point in these movies, and the symbiote revived him. But the film pretty pointedly doesn’t explain what a codex is or why it would be so rare, much less why it would work as a key to break Knull out of cosmic prison.
Susana: That’s easy enough — the “codex” is an idea adapted from Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman’s 2018 run on Venom. In the comics, a “codex” is a little trace of symbiote stuff that symbiotes naturally leave behind in the bodies of their hosts, particularly the nervous system. In a pinch, it can be used to tap into the symbiote hivemind. (In the comics, all symbiotes are connected in a species-wide hivemind, natch.)
In comics, it isn’t one codex that’s the key to freeing Knull, but lots and lots of codexes. That’s the main difference here: In the comics, codexes are the furthest thing from rare. They literally happen any time a symbiote bonds with a host for more than a fleeting moment. And thanks to the Venomverse and Venomized events, which were based around symbiotes bonding with all your favorite characters so you can see how cool they look in a Venom-ized suit, basically everybody of note in the Marvel Comics universe has a codex.
Knull was freed in the Absolute Carnage event, in which a Knull-communing Carnage went on a spree of ripping out people’s spines and eating them, in order to connect their codexes up to Knull, which would allow the god to regain control of the symbiote hivemind.
Tasha: In a way! It at least tells me more than the movie does about what a codex is supposed to be or how one is formed. And I can see why people making a movie would want to switch the dynamic from “This thing is available all over the universe” to “Our protagonist is a unique and special snowflake, and his McGuffin means the action will follow him from scene to scene, wherever he goes.”
So why would a codex/a lot of codexes free Knull from alien space jail? And given that we get no information about him in this movie except “He’s the god of symbiotes, and also, they hate him,” is there a backstory to him that would make him make more sense? Like, why does he want to destroy the universe, and why would this rando death-metal-guitarist guy have the power to destroy the universe?
Susana: In Cates and Stegman’s comics, Knull is a primordial god of the void, who ruled over the formless black nothing that stretched between the destruction of the 6th Cosmos and the creation of the 7th (our current one). He sees anything that isn’t the darkness of empty space as an encroachment on his domain.
The Silver Surfer and Knull, wielding All-Black, the Necrosword, duke it out at the dawn of time in Silver Surfer: Black.Image: Donny Cates, Tradd Moore/Marvel Comics
Tasha: That is the most metal thing you’ve ever said.
Susana: Oh, I’m just getting started. Being the Most Metal is what cosmic superhero comics are all about!
When the Celestials started making the 7th Cosmos, Knull took that as an insult. Bathed for the first time in the light of creation, the god of the void reached into his own shadow and created the first symbiote, in the form of the Celestial-killing blade All-Black, the Necrosword. (All-Black was invented by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribić for their series Thor: God of Thunder. Cates and Stegman retroactively gave it an origin with Knull.)
The Celestials cast Knull back into the void, but he spent his time manifesting symbiote life from pure darkness, creating a shape-shifting, parasitic horde species fully controlled by a hivemind linked with his own divine consciousness. Then he launched that horde into the universe to devour all that it found.
Eventually, Knull’s control momentarily lapsed after a big fight with a young Thor (immortalized by human storytellers as the epic of Beowulf), and his symbiote army bonded with mortal hosts, discovering the concepts of “honor” and “nobility,” as Knull put it. The freed symbiotes rose up and imprisoned Knull in a massive ball of their own bodies, which, until 2018’s Venom #4, had always been understood to simply be the symbiote home planet.
Image: Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman/Marvel Comics
Tasha: OK, gross. And this is why the symbiotes in Venom: The Last Dance are willing to bond with any and every human, including the ones who imprisoned them in tubes in an underground bunker, if it helps them fight off his creatures?
Susana: By comics canon, yeah. The symbiotes hate him because he was a god-tyrant, and they don’t like being his slaves. He wants to kill the universe because it is anathema to him. And he can do it because he’s a primordial cosmic entity.
Tasha: And why does he have an army of unkillable CG mega-bugs?
Tasha: Speaking of unrelated Venom stuff, I assumed all those symbiotes who show up for the big battle at the end and have distinctive colors and powers are from the comics? That whole sequence smelled like fan-candy to me, apart from the fact that most of those characters immediately get mulched. Was there anyone in there that Venom fans would care about?
Image: David Michelinie, Mark Bagley/Marvel Comics
Susana: It’s basically fan candy, but for just… an unspeakably small group of fans. The list of times Marvel Comics creators have tried to make a new symbiote/host hero or villain stick is longer than my arm, and most of them don’t rate more than a footnote. I’m checking wikis for all of these guys, but the ones on display seem to be based on Toxin (Officer Mulligan’s green form), and five more symbiotes roughly inspired by Venom: Lethal Protector. That 1993 miniseries, written by David Michelinie and drawn by several artists, introduced a litter of high-key toyetic offspring of the Venom symbiote.
Those five symbiotes were Riot (gray, turns his hands into hammers, etc.), Phage (brown, turns his limbs into spikes), Lasher (green, has extra back tentacles, attaches to the lady with a Christmas tree pin), Agony (purple, uses hair tentacles, attaches to Juno Temple’s Dr. Teddy Payne), and Scream (orange/yellow, also weaponized hair), and they seem to be the templates for Last Dance’s extra symbiotes. It’s complicated, though, because the movie doesn’t name any of them, and Riot was technically already used as the villain of 2018’s Venom (played by Riz Ahmed).
There’s also a two-headed symbiote at one point, but that one seems to be an original design, as best as I can research.
Tasha: How big a deal is Agony in the comics? Big enough to support her own movie? While The Last Dance’s post-credits scene leaves Sony a possible opening for a further Venom sequel, the film (title and all) seems to be aimed at shutting down the Tom Hardy Venom series, though Hardy has signaled he’d return if Venom got to fight Tom Holland’s Spider-Man in another Sony Spiderverse/MCU crossover.
So much of the way this movie treats Dr. Payne — as if her motivations and backstory are important, even though she doesn’t actually do much in the film, and as if her getting her own symbiote is a climactic, cathartic triumph for the story — only really makes sense if this movie is also being positioned as an Agony origin story that could be used to launch a new symbiote franchise. Which feels a lot like Sony trying to use Madame Web as a cinematic origin story for a bunch of new Spider-Women, but I digress. Clearly Agony doesn’t have Venom’s cultural cachet, but is there anything notable or interesting about her that could support a movie?
Susana: So, Teddy Payne appears to be a genderbent version of Dr. Thaddeus Paine, who featured as the villain of 1996’s Venom: The Hunger, by writer Len Kaminski and artist Ted Halsted. But his backstory has nothing in common with Dr. Payne’s other than a homophonic name and the fact that they’re both scientists, and he’s never merged with a symbiote in comics history. Payne is, in everything but name, an original character.
As for Agony, I’m going to be honest with you as a comics expert: If I’ve ever read a story with Agony in it, I don’t remember. Commenters are free to call that a gap in my knowledge, but I’m going to call it an indication of Agony’s lack of an established footprint in Marvel Comics canon.
Venom in Columbia Pictures VENOM: THE LAST DANCE. Photo Courtesy: Sony PicturesImage: Sony Pictures
Tasha: I mean, I’ve never read a Venom-centric comic, and I knew who Venom was well before the first movie, but I had to ask you who Agony was. I’m coming to all of this in ignorance, so I’m sure not going to claim you should know more about a character I’ve never heard of.
Speaking of characters I’ve never heard of, though, any idea who the mysterious guy in the control room is? The secretive silhouetted guy who’s so important that he can single-handedly shift control of the apparently massive government-run Imperium project from Dr. Payne to General Strickland on a moment’s notice? The guy who has somehow put up identical networked facial-recognition surveillance cameras all around the world, from downtown Vegas to random alleys in Mexico? Clearly this dude, whose presence and power and intentions and motives are never explained, is some really important and exciting comics reference, right?
Susana: I have no fucking idea who that man is. Maybe we’ll find out in Kraven the Hunter. Maybe it was just a dropped plotline.
Tasha: I admit that after seeing the first Kraven trailer in a theater last week, I have a really hard time believing the tone that movie seems to be going for could jibe at all with the hot-nonsense tone Venom: The Last Dance is keyed to. Speaking of which… A lot baffled me about this movie, including how the Venom symbiote is constantly abusing and overruling Eddie — literally ripping food out of his mouth or shoving food into it, grabbing and controlling his body, not to mention wrecking his career, his relationships, and his life. And yet Eddie calls the thing his best friend.
But the thing that alarmed me the most was when Eddie wants to leave Vegas ahead of the various threats coming after them, and the symbiote wants to hang out and dance with Mrs. Chen (Peggy Lu), who… really seems to have a thing for Venom. I mean, the whole “Dancing Queen” scene is clearly a goof, but it also involves kinda hentai levels of tentacle-caressing. (Completely apart from being a sequence that makes no sense, since the symbiote is clearly scared of the Xenophage coming after him and Eddie, and yet after an hour of avoiding merging into Venom because it’s dangerous, he drops that concern entirely in order to force Eddie into a dance sequence.) Is Venom… flirting? Do I have to consider Venom a sexual being now?
Image: Sony Pictures
Susana: Do you have to consider Venom a sexual being now? I don’t know if that’s my question to answer, Tasha. What a man and his goo-monster do in the privacy of their own home is none of my business.
I didn’t read that sequence as having a flirtatious vibe, but that might have been because I was furiously scribbling notes on how wild it was to cut to that scene from one of Dr. Payne sadly contemplating the childhood loss of her twin brother.
Tasha: I mean, what they do in the privacy of their own home is one thing, what they do in a Vegas penthouse is… well, even as I’m typing this, I’m realizing that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I’m just saying, there are already so many consent problems around Eddie and his bestie and their merged Venom form, and this movie really seems like it’s aimed at feeding the fandom debates (and the fanfiction) about whether Eddie’s tolerance of the symbiote comes from some kind of submissive kink.
But the less said about that, the better. I have so many more questions for you here. Why does Area 51 demolish its buildings with vast tanks of acid? Why does acid that dissolves concrete and rebar into dust within seconds not have any effect on the ground or anything below it? Why is a giant never-ending dust waterfall considered a subtle cover-up for a secret base? Why do the acid-tank biometric controls apparently have settings for “some acid” and “more acid” which have to be activated separately?
And why does Eddie lie to that poor kid Leaf about aliens not being real? I get that he’s trying to be comforting in the moment, but this is a universe where not believing in aliens can get you killed extremely messily, and the lie doesn’t come across as helpful, just crass. And cowardly. And ironic. And obviously a setup for Eddie having to take it back 20 minutes later.
Susana: Some questions are beyond even the power of your friendly neighborhood comics expert.
With his blood-soaked tales of violence and vengeance like The Night Comes for Us and Headshot, Timo Tjahjanto earned a reputation as one of the world’s goriest action directors. But he doesn’t see himself that way.
Tjahjanto began his filmmaking career making slasher movies as half of the Mo brothers, teaming up with his longtime friend Kimo Stamboel. Since the end of their formal partnership, the Mo brothers have largely worked on their own projects, with Stamboel working in the horror genre and Tjahjanto primarily (but not exclusively) making violent action movies.
Tjahjanto took the action world by storm with 2018’s The Night Comes for Us, a brutal thriller led by two of Indonesian cinema’s foremost martial arts stars, Iko Uwais and Joe Taslim. The movie occasionally gets labeled as “action horror,” in spite of its fairly conventional crime-thriller narrative, because of how unflinchingly Tjahjanto depicts extreme, bone-breaking, blood-soaked violence. The stylish, carnage-filled fight sequences left a mark on action cinema other directors are still scrambling to match.
Star Aurora Ribero in The Shadow StraysImage: Netflix
His new movie, The Shadow Strays, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, and finally dropped on Netflix on Oct. 17. It follows a teenage soldier who is being trained as a member of an elite group of top-secret assassins called the Shadows. When a mission goes wrong, she’s sidelined by the Shadows and gets entangled in a dispute between her young neighbor and local gangsters. Like most Tjahjanto projects, the film features several decapitations and “gallons” of blood. (The director estimated 85% of the blood was practical — like many splatter fans, the man loves squibs.) It’s also one of 2024’s best action movies.
But Tjahjanto doesn’t consider himself a particularly gory filmmaker — he sees his movies as a way to be honest about real-world consequences of violence. A self-described “indulgent” filmmaker, Tjahjanto — wearing a Nine Inch Nails shirt and feeling “exhausted and relieved” after recently wrapping filming on the upcoming Nobody 2 — spoke with Polygon about his approach to gore in action, his cinematic influences, and sticking with practical blood when the rest of the industry is moving to CG effects.
This interview has been edited for concision and clarity.
Polygon: I think of you as one of the gorier action directors working today. Do you see yourself that way?
Timo Tjahjanto: I don’t know. I don’t really think so. Granted, I haven’t seen them — not because I don’t want to see them, but just because of the timing of it all and the accessibility of it all — but I’ve heard there are films like Kill and Project Wolf Hunting that seem to be doing quite OK in that department. From what little clips I’ve seen, they seem to be way bloodier.
I think there was a phase in my life — when I just started as a filmmaker, I did this little film with Kimo [Stamboel], my friend. It’s called Macabre, one of the first Indonesian slasher films. And I think at the time, our goal was like, Let’s be the goriest Indonesian flick ever. But weirdly, after The Night Comes for Us and everything, I just don’t feel like I was necessarily aiming for gore. I think it’s just that there needs to be a certain, weirdly enough, respect to violence and what it can do to the human body. I feel like we have to, in some way, hold ourselves accountable as filmmakers to show just how traumatizing violence can be.
The Night Comes for UsImage: Netflix
We live in a violent world. If you see what’s on the internet, what’s on formerly known as Twitter, X, just the accessibility of violent content — people from a lot of parts of America, for example, there’s a lot of people getting riled up and start beating each other up for nothing. Not that I’m saying America is the only violent place. I think the world generally has become a much more violent place, or much more exposed to the media. It’s weird when people see my films like, Holy shit, that’s so gory and violent! I’m like, Man, have you seen the real world? It’s so fucking crazy out there that I feel like sometimes my film is a PG version of it.
I’m glad you brought up the respect for violence, because one of the reasons I’m drawn to your approach to gore in action is because it feels more honest. If you’re not showing that level of destruction, you’re sanitizing the violence, and not being honest with the viewer about the actual effects of what’s happening.
That’s what I always try to do. I think the human body is weirdly fragile and resilient at the same time. If any of your bones have been broken, or if you’ve ever had a deep cut, it’s so weird how biology reacts to it all.
But beyond that, gore can also add stakes to a scene, it can add excitement, it can add humor. How do you balance those elements?
Well, that’s the thing. I think at a certain level, violence has to become funny. And I learned this from, or I copied this from, the great Takashi Miike. I think he’s always walking that line, realizing that the world is a crazy, fucked-up place, and one way you can deal with it is by using a lot of humor. If you watch something like Ichi the Killer, for example, that thing is dark, man. In Takashi Miike’s world, everything is fair and square. Women, men, we are both capable of violence, and we are both capable of being the victim. And I try to do that in my films.
The Shadow StraysImage: Netflix
One example I think is interesting is The Big 4, which has a tonal difference from your other movies.
Well, I think just because it’s gory doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be a feel-bad movie. I think that works quite well. Bad Boys can be a feel-good experience, and it has its moments of violence. And gore, especially if you’re talking about Bad Boys II — Michael Bay really pushes the limit to what kinetic violence can be. And I always feel like, you can make a less violent film and it becomes a much gloomier film, but you can also make a much more splattery and “head getting blown off by a shotgun” movie, and it still in the end has a heartwarming quality to it. Look at Shaun of the Dead, one of my favorites. And that thing is the ultimate feel-good film… depending on how you look at it.
You brought up Macabre earlier. Do you think your horror roots have an impact in terms of your perception of gore in action?
Kind of, yes. But having said that, I think it’s also childishness. Look, part of the beauty in horror is, you don’t necessarily need to be gory in terms of the approach to thrills. And as much as I would love to say, “Oh, I’m very well-versed in horror,” I think right now I’m only well-versed in a specific type of horror, which is one that is often violent. I think a lot of that comes from me growing up on Friday the 13th and Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Texas Chain Saw Massacre has such a huge impact on me in terms of how I look at violence, which is relentless.
I probably watch it maybe once or twice a year. It never ceases to amaze me. When you’re in your teens and you watch it, you think it’s the bloodiest film ever. And then when you watch it again after you’ve grown up, there’s hardly any blood in it. It is pure terror and it’s pure viscerality without actually showing you anything. And there lies the genius of Tobe Hooper making this film. So yeah, I’m just a little bit less disciplined than people like Tobe Hooper.
Tjahjanto and Ribero on the set of The Shadow StraysImage: Netflix
I loved what you had to say to some critics of The Shadow Strays about how filmmaking is an indulgent act, and I really appreciate that you see it that way, that making art is something that you do for yourself, and the hope is that other people are on board with you.
I think that’s the thing. I don’t mean that to attack a critique: I think when I saw the critique, I was like, Oh, well, I agree with a lot of it. I think honestly, I’m the kind of filmmaker who always goes for character first and plotting later. So that’s why my plots tend to be simplistic. And I do admit that I feel, well, most stories have been told. For me, it’s better to rely on the humanity of the characters and hope that the audience can hold onto that.
But when people say, “Hey, too much self-indulgence can be too much of a good thing,” I feel like, Well, no. Because here I am given enough freedom, thankfully, by Netflix to do almost everything that I want to do, and I think I have to sort of indulge in it rather than restrain myself, even though I am still restraining myself. If I went full indulgence, I think you’d see a lot of kinkier shit in it, and all these sick sort of violent images that I have. I always feel like, a movie-watching experience, you have to be able to give everything you’ve got to the audience. It’s not like a series, it’s not like The Boys, where you might fail in the first episode or second episode, but you can make it up in the eighth episode.
I just feel like, Well, I have this many hours, and I just want to give my audience the shit that they want. Look at RRR — that film is self-indulgent as fuck, and it’s one of the best films ever made in the world. I just feel there’s a time for self-restraint, but action is one of those genres where you just need to keep on pulling the trigger. Someday I’ll be a better writer and I’ll probably do better plotting, but for now, I’m still learning.
The Shadow StraysImage: Netflix
The depiction of blood and gore has changed over time, with new technology leading a lot of productions to move away from practical blood and squibs and over to VFX blood. What’s your philosophy on that?
It’s weird. I saw that there was a critique [of The Shadow Strays] that says, Oh, the use of CGI blood. Weirdly, Shadow Strays is like 85% practical blood. I think that it’s just because of the technology that I use, which is a lot of blood tubing and all that stuff. It does look excessive to the point that you think it’s actually CGI. I pride myself in taking a lot of time for The Shadow Strays. Things can get long in the shooting process, just because placing all those squibs and blood tubes takes time.
That’s what I always hear, is how much it expands the budget and your time just from cleaning up between takes.
Exactly. And costumes, and all those little things. Fortunately, making films in Indonesia, I can sort of afford it. So I actually indulge the fuck out of making all those things. Watching The Shadow Strays so many times through editing, I had the suspicion people are going to think this is actually CGI blood, even though it’s actually meticulous condom use and timed blood tubes and all that stuff. I’m a proponent of using as many squibs as possible. I know that’s cumbersome. But actors react better to it. They react, they feel the pain. They feel like, Oh shit, blood’s really spurting out of me. And that always helps.
There are some enhancements, just because sometimes the blood doesn’t redirect the way it should. But man, we were having fun. There were always gallons of blood behind the camera where we pump it up there. Especially for the first sequence — that whole Japanese sequence is me being inspired by Takeshi Kitano’s Zatoichi, but he was using CGI blood. I was thinking, I want to be like Kitano, when he just completely goes batshit with blood, but I’m going to try to use practical blood tubes. So that’s what we did, man.
The Shadow StraysImage: Netflix
You’ve mentioned Kitano, you’ve mentioned Miike, you’ve mentioned Tobe Hooper. Are there any other big figures for you when it comes to depicting violence on screen and their use of gore?
Martin Scorsese. When he’s shooting violence, it’s almost like he sometimes reverts back to being a young filmmaker. And I think he always has that spirit of being a young filmmaker. That’s the beauty of him. He can be 89 and he still shoots like a 35-year-old Sam Peckinpah on coke and LSD. One of the best violent scenes that I think is often overlooked is actually in The Departed, when Jack Nicholson and Ray Winstone got ambushed. Just like this fucking crash zoom lands and [there’s] fucking blood and [mimics the blood spraying everywhere] and all that shit. And I was like, Man, that’s fucking beautiful! I want to steal that shit. But I still don’t have enough skill to do it. Someday!
Do you have a favorite spot of gore in The Shadow Strays?
Aurora [Ribero], who plays 13, I always said to her, “You are skilled, but you are also clumsy. That’s the whole point of your character. You have a lot of endurance because you are young,” as she is truly in real life, “but you are often clumsy in your fighting. But once we hand you a sharp-edge weapon, you go berserk.” Whenever she’s given any weapon of sharp edge, be it a kitchen knife, be it a fucking screwdriver, she just goes crazy. I always loved that.
By the end of shooting, she became so good at it. It’s so fucking cool. She never had any martial arts experience, and whenever she does the stabbing, it’s almost like somebody who’s been living in prison for 30 years and is a master shanker. She’s so good. And there’s a whole sequence later in the film, when she fights a certain somebody and she just uses a screwdriver to go crazy — I think that’s one of my favorites, just because of how ridiculous it looked with the blood and everything, and just how well it makes sense, because at this point she doesn’t have anything to lose. She’s just going crazy, and I love that.
