Skip to main content

Between the Streams: Venomless trailer, Game of Thrones Star Wars, ‘Solo’ time

DT’s weekly entertainment show, Between the Streams, is your guide to all of the hottest, most important, and (of course) dumbest new developments in streaming and entertainment, providing a handy recap of the week that was and a preview for what’s ahead. Follow us here at 2 p.m. PT every Friday, or add us via RSS, iTunes, or Stitcher at the links below to take BtS on the road!

badge_itunes-smallest   stitcher-smallest   rss-smallest

When it rains, it pours. Or, more seasonally correct, it blizzards? In either case, we got an absolute deluge of cool entertainment news this week, so hang on to your hats as today’s show is going to be a doozy.

Perhaps the biggest news this week came from the ever-expanding Star Wars universe. Not only did we get a first look at Solo, the seemingly ill-fated Han Solo origin story (the trailer for which actually looked pretty decent to this podcaster), but we also got news from Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy that Game of Thrones writers/producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss will be getting their hands on their own series of Star Wars films.

For those keeping count, with Rian Johnson’s planned trilogy, a ninth and ostensibly final film in the Skywalker saga, and at least two but more likely three films from the melodramatic duo at GOT, along with rumored other side stories in the works like an Obi-Wan solo film, that officially adds up to a crap ton of Star Wars movies. Now, we already knew that Disney would be making Star Wars flicks for at least the next 10 years, and likely for the foreseeable future of humankind, but seeing them all laid out like this is a different thing. On today’s show, we’ll ask (and for ourselves answer) the question, are all these films starting to tarnish the beloved brand? Spoiler alert: Yes. Yes, they are.

But we digress. There’s plenty more to talk about on today’s show, including some new glimpses at Hollywood’s ever-deepening dive into the many realms of superhero films. Since we last hit the airwaves, we’ve gotten a look a the new Deadpool 2 trailer (awesome), the latest Avengers: Infinity War trailer (not bad), and of course the Venom trailer (where’s the beef?), which showed literally zero signs of the monster himself to the disappointment of virtually everyone online. Sure, we did get a Legion-esque look at Tom Hardy apparently losing his mind in a CT machine, but there really wasn’t much about this trailer to be excited about. Luckily, it’s rated R, and it stars Tom Hardy, so that’s still plenty to keep us interested.

Speaking of superhero oversaturation, how about that weird stand-alone Joker movie, which has now morphed from a Martin Scorsese/possibly Leonardo DiCaprio venture to a Todd Phillips flick with Joaquin Phoenix in the title role and little discussion of Scorsese in the latest news. Just what the hell is going on with this movie anyway? If we didn’t know better, we’d say it was nothing more than a distraction for our imaginations to lead us away from the next huge, embarrassing DC failure. We’re talking to you, weird CGI mustache-less Superman.

And speaking of Henry Cavill’s untamed ‘stache, we also got a look this week at the Mission: Impossible – Fallout, the movie for which the Superman actor grew that menacing face hair, which shows all the familiar action, suspense, and Tom Cruise stunt bravado you were hoping for. And Alec Baldwin, too.

But that’s far from everything prominent that hit the web this week. We’ll also hope to get to Jessica Jones season 2, Jurassic World: Fallen KingdomWestworld season 2, and more.

So tune in and hit us up live at 2 p.m. PT today, or take us along for the ride with our podcast version by following the links at the top of this story.

Editors' Recommendations

Ryan Waniata
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Ryan Waniata is a multi-year veteran of the digital media industry, a lover of all things tech, audio, and TV, and a…
5 video games to play after you’ve watched the Star Wars show Andor
video games to play after andor star wars disney plus squadrons

While the oversaturation of content on Disney+ is beginning to affect quality -- Star Wars included -- Andor is making an impressive effort to revitalize the IP. Its down to earth and gritty scope is a breath of fresh air, and it's making familiar ground feel worth revisiting. As the show spurs renewed excitement over Star Wars, the video game medium offers some great experiences for fans looking to chase that Andor hype.

We've yet to get a similarly grounded, stealth third-person shooting game in this universe for the modern age. Perhaps the canceled Star Wars 1313 might have scratched that itch to some degree, but games like Fallen Order and Battlefront II can touch on related thematic points.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

Read more
Star Wars’ distant past has potential for Game of Thrones-like drama
A collage of characters in Star Wars: The Old Republic promo art.

While pondering yet another big IP Disney+ series can seem like an exhaustive thought considering its current breakneck output, Andor's critical success for both the streaming platform and the Star Wars franchise as a whole gives a taste of the potential that the Old Republic could provide to a TV series. That's in addition to the benefit of being heavily separated from the Skywalker Saga legacy.

No series needs to be darker and more serious to be inherently better, but the level of tension and drama found in Cassian Andor's gritty origin story should be a seamless fit somewhere within the literal thousands of years worth of history in Star Wars' distant past. In the Old Republic, there's no shortage of Jedi, Sith, intergalactic factions, political intrigue, and more that could give Disney+ and Lucasfilm a major and long-running Game of Thrones-level drama to keep audiences reeled in season in and season out.
The Old Republic provides an embarrassment of riches

Read more
Andor has a chance to make Star Wars feel fresh one more time
Diego Luna walks through a scrapyard of ships in a scene from Andor.

After the long road starting from the lead character's inception in 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to the series' announcement in 2018, Andor has finally premiered on Disney+ with the potential to be the most ambitious show on the streamer since The Mandalorian. The three-episode premiere made a solid first impression, showcasing exciting new elements to see front and center in a Star Wars production.

It's grounded, grittier, and setting the stage for tantalizing character drama and political intrigue across its cast of characters. At the same time, it's still early days for this 12-episode season (and 24-episode series overall), and Lucasfilm has been falling back into the trap of timeline overfamiliarity. The budding age of the Rebellion on its face is far from original for a franchise with such boundless possibilities, but Andor's moving pieces could make this era worthwhile -- at least one more time.
The post-Revenge of the Sith, pre-A New Hope dilemma

Read more