Happy Halloween ToB fans! Julian, Daniel and Jeremy are back to discuss the latest in film and TV news on this spooktacular episode. The guys discuss Shazam! casting news, Fincher turning down Star Wars Episode IX, Netflix tidbits, some fun Halloween themed stories and everything is wrapped up with a spoiler-free review of Stranger Things 2. All this and so much more on a frightful episode of the Tower of Terror Podcast!

Remember to Subscribe and leave a 5 star review on Apple Podcasts if you love the show!

Show Notes

Movies

According to THR, James Mangold is apparently working on an X-23 (Daphne Keen) spin-off.
The Venom movie has officially begun production and we also learned that much of Tom Hardy’s performance will be motion capture.
Ben Mendelson is up for the villain role in the Captain Marvel film according to Variety.
Justice League will only be 121 minutes long including credits, making it the shortest DC(EU) movie to date.
THR is reporting that Justice League is looking to open at around $110 to $120 million range domestically.
Zachary Levi has been cast in the lead role for the Shazam! film.
Deathstroke is getting his own movie and, The Raid director, Gareth Evans is in talks to write and direct.
We finally know the official name to for the Han Solo, solo movie, simply called Solo: A Star Wars Story.
David Fincher, in an interview with Empire, revealed that he met with Lucasfilm to discuss directing Episode 9.
- Check out this great video that examines Fincher's visual style.
It looks like Justin Lin will return to direct Fast and Furious 9 and 10. Although not officially confirmed, Vin Diesel, speaking on Facebook HEAVILY hinted at it.

TV

CBS has announced that Star Trek: Discovery will return for a second season. Unfortunately for american viewers it will still be on CBS All Access.
Deadline is reporting that Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin will return for season 3 of Daredevil.
Marvel’s The Punisher will premiere on Nov 17th.
Marvel TV exec Joeph Loeb confirmed in an interview with Inverse that they made the decision to bump back the release of The Punisher due to the events in Las Vegas.
Netflix aims to release 80 original films over the course of 2018 according to an interview by Variety with chief content officer Ted Sarandos.
Sarandos also said that they plan on spending $8 billion dollars next year across their original film and television projects.
Netflix revealed some info on what they call “binge racers”: people who watch an entire season of a show within the first 24hrs of its release, and what were the most "binge raced" series on the platform.
A recent episode of Arrow on CW name dropped Bruce Wayne and Gotham.

Halloween!!

C4 Comic Con - Jeremy’s impressions.
Exploring the year's top Halloween costumes according using Google's "Freightgeist" tool.
Discussing Julian's "Recipe to a Horror Fan" blog post.

What We've Been Watching

Stranger Things 2
This Is Us

May 27, 2026

SSSW - The Mandalorian and Grogu

It's hard to believe it's been so long since the last Star Wars movie hit theatres. After years of announcements, failed projects, and even a change in leadership at Lucasfilm, the first movie in nearly a decade is a follow-up to the first ever live action Star Wars show. Maybe that's fitting for a new era, under new management. The film itself is a fast paced, action-packed, adventure that hails back to the old serials that George Lucas loved. While it is certainly a fun time at the movies, with exciting set-pieces, characters inclusions from across the lore, all of which set on planets with diverse biomes (i.e. some of the things Star Wars does best). Unfortunately, the movie lacks compelling stakes, character depth (where's Din's arc?), much of any plot to speak of, or even a sense of real "importance" - and while that may be a bit intangible, it prompts the question: why was THIS movie the first to bring Star Wars back to feature films in almost a decade? Julian and Rachel try to answer that question and dive deep into all the nerdy details.

May 6, 2026

SSSW - Maul: Shadow Lord - Chapter 9 & 10 / Season Finale

There it is, folks - the season finale to the latest creation from Lucasfilm Animation. It was certainly gorgeous to look at, with the new painterly stylings, and there was no shortage of thrilling action to sink your teeth into, nor did they skimp on the stakes. But while the season started off on a welcomed unfamiliar foot, by the end of this season, and certainly in these final two episodes, the hallmarks of what we've come to know from Star Wars animation showed their head. Early on, the admitted inspirations from films such as 'Heat' and 'The Dark Knight', provided a needed grit to a show which was ostensibly following a villain. This provided the show with a fresh personality - distinguishing itself from it's predecessors in animation. Unfortunately, the creatives couldn't seem to maintain that tone, as by this two-part season finale the old tropes and predictable beats of 'Clone Wars' rose into prominence. And while the appearance of a certain fan favourite character adds some very cool action, the unoriginality from a narrative perspective robbed the final moments of the needed pathos and drama required to land the plane in the most satisfying of ways.

April 30, 2026

SSSW - Maul: Shadow Lord - Chapter 7 & 8

There's two of them now?! With the arrival of another Inquisitor things really start to escalate on Janyx. We see Maul at his lowest since probably his spider-leg days (he goes on a self-guided therapy session/vision quest that results in something quite inspiring actually!), providing us a deeper understanding of his motivations, beyond simply "revenge!". Meanwhile, Devon continues to be the most interesting character on the show as she takes two steps forward, one step back, flirting with the dark side (though bonus points for the slick ride she acquires for their getaway). On the action side, the show continues to bring the goods, with dynamic, large scale battles (heavy on LAATs which is always a treat), intimate lightsaber combat, and a special shout out to the speeder chase this week that included a new Star Wars techno track (get outta here Niamos!), which combined for a chef's kiss of a sequence. The finale is next week, dropping on Star Wars Day (May the 4th), so stay tuned to see how much the show wants to tie up and how much it wants to leave dangling ahead of season 2!

April 25, 2026

Episode 205 - CinemaCon 2026 + News Roundup

It's been a minute since Matt and Julian sat down to cover the latest in film and TV news. Some might say it's been dearly missed. Well wait no more folks because this week it's all news and nothing but the news so help me god! If the last few weeks (months?) of stories weren't enough, CinemaCon 2026 also just concluded which had it's own news deluge. The guys unpack it all (well most of it anyway)! Of utmost priority is the news of Michael B Jordan and Austin Butler's reboot of 'Miami Vice', which is close to Matt's heart. Plus 'Spaceballs 2' gets a title and release date, trailers for 'Dune 3', 'Clayface' and 'Street Fighter' all surprise (in a good way), and a new 'Lord of the Rings' movie is announced (and you won't guess who's writing it!). Plus, a 'Game of Thrones' movie, more 'Transformers' and is 'Avatar' over? All this and so much more on this week's Tower of Babble Podcast!

Episode 104 - Stranger Things 2

Show Notes

Movies

TV

Halloween!!

What We've Been Watching

Support the Show

REcent Episodes