Happy Saturday! Posting the trailers roundup a day early this weekend since I’ll be on vacation starting Sunday (and shout out to the reader who said he preferred when we did the roundup on Saturdays, you got your wish at least for this weekend).
The internet (or at least the little corner I inhabit) seemed divided into camps this week: people who really like the Apple TV Plus show Ted Lasso and people who… don’t. It’s OK to not like things! I had a longer rant prepared about how the effort to look cool online seems so exhausting but really, who cares, Ted Lasso has returned for season two and it’s still a lovely, warm-hearted show about a bunch of very likeable weirdos.
We ended up with a very sci-fi themed roundup this week which was not by design, but happened thanks to several new releases coming out during Comic-Con @ Home.
Dune
Beautiful people looking wistfully at each other across sweeping landscapes as the wind tousles their hair— the first few seconds of the Dune trailer almost feel like a perfume commercial. But then we get down to brass tacks and the trailer… pretty much tells you the movie’s entire plot, as my colleague Chaim Gartenberg noted in a first look. Yes, the sandworm makes an appearance. Directed by Denis Villeneuve, the much-awaited and oft-delayed Dune, starring Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Stellan Skarsgård, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Dave Bautista, and Javier Bardem, comes to HBO Max and theaters on October 22nd.
Star Trek: Prodigy
In this new 10-episode series, a group of young aliens steals an abandoned Starfleet vessel called the USS Protostar, and are slowly trained in the ways of the Federation by a hologram version of Star Trek: Voyager’d Captain Janeway (with Kate Mulgrew voicing the character she played on the series). Star Trek: Prodigy comes to Paramount Plus this fall.
Star Trek: Lower Decks
The popular animated series that pokes fun at Star Trek lore returns for a second season, following the support crew of the USS Cerritos as they work aboard Starfleet’s least important ship. Star Trek: Lower Decks has already been renewed for a third season, and while last season took a few episodes to get its footing, the show ended up on a lot of “best of 2020” lists. Season two of Star Trek: Lower Decks also debuts on Paramount Plus this fall.
The Last Duel
Based on a true story (and a book by Eric Jager), The Last Duel tells the 14th-century tale of the last judicial trial by combat in France. Jodie Comer (looking very different from Eve) plays Marguerite de Carrouges, wife of knight Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon). She accuses Jacques LeGris (Adam Driver) of rape, which he denies. King Charles VI (Ben Affleck), grants permission for them to settle things with a duel that will determine who is telling the truth. Oh and if her husband loses the duel, Marguerite gets burned at the stake for bearing false witness. Ridley Scott directed The Last Duel, which comes to theaters October 15th.
Blade Runner: Black Lotus
This is the first trailer for this anime series, just revealed at Comic-Con. Blade Runner: Black Lotus is set in Los Angeles in 2032— so roughly halfway between the Harrison Ford Blade Runner movie and the Ryan Gosling sequel. A replicant named Elle (Jessica Henwick in the English-language version and Arisa Shida in the Japanese-language version) aka Black Lotus, has special powers and is being chased by some scary people. Directed by Shinji Aramaki and Kenji Kamiyama, the English version of Blade Runner: Black Lotus comes to Adult Swim and the Japanese version comes to Crunchyroll this fall.
UFO
JJ Abrams is executive producer on this four-part documentary series that according to Showtime will explore “unsettling theories of a subject that recently reached national headlines,” namely a 2017 New York Times article about a secret UFO program at the Department of Defense. UFO debuts on Showtime August 8th.
Bonus: Doctor Who
Good luck deciphering any details from this teaser trailer, which manages to repeat itself within the course of a single minute — or does it? Perhaps repetition is the point and it’s trying to tell us something about a time loop. Either way, it’s our first look at Doctor Who’s thirteenth season and Jodie Whittaker’s latest outing, and showrunner Chris Chibnall says its eight episodes will serve as chapters of a single story this time around.
Update, July 25th: Added Doctor Who.
https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/24/22591682/new-trailers-dune-star-trek-prodigy-last-duel-blade-runner-black-lotus-hbo-paramount-showtime