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Game of Thrones prequel The Hedge Knight is coming to HBO

Another Game of Thrones spinoff set in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire world is on the way.

HBO has confirmed that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight has been ordered by the network. It’s unclear when the TV show will release.

If The Hedge Knight sticks to the plot of its source material, Martin’s Dunk and Egg novel, it follows the journey of knight Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg (Aegon V Targaryen) as they travel across Westeros. The Dunk and Egg novel takes place 100 years before the Game of Thrones series.

This is the second Game of Thrones TV show prequel from HBO, following House of the Dragon. It’s unclear when the second season of House of the Dragon will release, but production has been confirmed to have started. HBO is also working on a series about Game of Thrones lead Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and several other projects based on R.R. Martin’s novels.

HBO has confirmed that The Hedge Knight will be written and executive produced by Martin and Ira Parker (the team behind House of the Dragon). The network has also announced plans to create a TV series based on the Harry Potter franchise.

Image credit: HBO

Via: The Verge

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HBO officially developing ‘decade-long’ Harry Potter TV series with new cast

Warner Bros. Discovery has confirmed that it’s developing a live-action Harry Potter TV series for HBO.

The company says this will be a seven-season series, with each season focused on one of author J.K. Rowling’s seven novels. As a result, a new, younger cast will be featured, rather than the now-adult actors who starred in the Daniel Radcliffe-led films. Altogether, Warner Bros. says this will be a “decade-long series.”

News of the series surfaced earlier this month but is only now being confirmed by Warner Bros. Discovery. As that original report stated, Rowling will remain involved as an executive producer, giving her some degree of creative control, although an actual showrunner and writer have yet to be hired. Additionally, Warner Bros. is in talks with David Heyman, the producer of the eight Harry Potter films, to serve as executive producer on the series.

An estimated release window for the first season of the series was not provided. Given that the series is being produced for Max — a newly rebranded combination of HBO Max and Discovery+ — in the U.S., it’s likely that it will stream on Crave in Canada.

For years, there have been many rumblings about how Warner Bros. would continue with the mainline Harry Potter series after 2011’s The Deathly Hallows — Part 2. While there’s been speculation that the company might want to adapt the sequel The Cursed Child play with the likes of Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, nothing official was ever confirmed.

Instead, the company has released three spin-off prequel films in the Fantastic Beasts series — all of which have been written or co-written by Rowling — between 2016 and 2022. However, reception to the Fantastic Beasts series has been middling, with last year’s Secrets of Dumbledore even garnering negative reviews and becoming the lowest-grossing movie in the entire ‘Wizarding World’ franchise.

Given that this will be the first attempt to adapt Harry Potter’s story without Radcliffe and co. playing the beloved characters, it remains to be seen how audiences will receive the series. Additionally, Warner Bros. Discovery has to navigate the ongoing controversies surrounding Rowling herself.

Since 2019, the author has made repeated comments about transgender people that have been condemned for helping to spread hatred and abuse toward an already marginalized community. Members of the LGBTQ+ community have criticized Rowling for her anti-trans rhetoric, as have Harry Potter cast members like Radcliffe, Watson and Grint. Most recently, Rowling led many to call for a boycott of Warner Bros.’ best-selling Hogwarts Legacy, a video game based on the Wizarding World, due to the fact that she would ultimately profit from its success.

Image credit: Warner Bros. Entertainment

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HBO planning to reboot Harry Potter into seven-season TV series: report

Warner Bros. is nearing a deal to produce a live-action streaming series for HBO Max based on the Harry Potter book series, according to Bloomberg.

The outlet says the plan is to have seven seasons, each focused on one of the novels. While the Harry Potter films were overall critical and commercial successes, they naturally had to cut a fair amount of material to fit into roughly two-hour runtimes. Therefore, Warner Bros. is intending to use the TV format for a more in-depth exploration of the storylines of the books on HBO Max. (In Canada, most HBO Max originals stream on Crave, so presumably, this series would as well.)

Currently, Warner Bros. is said to still be in negotiations with Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling. While she’s not expected to be a showrunner, Rowling would still be attached as a producer to ensure the adaptation is faithful to her novels. Part of Rowling’s larger deal with the entertainment giant requires her to sign off on any Wizarding World-related projects.

The last mainline Harry Potter film was 2011’s Deathly Hallows — Part 2, although three spin-off prequel films in the Fantastic Beasts series — all of which have been written or co-written by Rowling — have been released in the years since. That said, reception to the Fantastic Beasts series has been middling, with last year’s Secrets of Dumbledore even garnering negative reviews while becoming the lowest-grossing movie in the entire ‘Wizarding World’ franchise. Therefore, it makes sense that Warner Bros. would return to the main Harry Potter series, especially in a nostalgia-fueled industry.

However, news of a potential Potter reboot has been met with a mixed response, with some pointing out that we’re barely 10 years removed from the Daniel Radcliffe-led movies. Beyond that, though, the Wizarding World is now viewed as tainted by many amid ongoing controversies surrounding Rowling herself.

Since 2019, the author has been making repeated comments about transgender people that have been condemned for helping to spread hatred and abuse toward an already marginalized community. Members of the LGBTQ+ community have criticized Rowling for her anti-trans rhetoric, as have Harry Potter cast members like Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, who distanced themselves from the author while expressing support for trans people. Most recently, Rowling led many to call for a boycott of Warner Bros. best-selling Hogwarts Legacy, a video game based on the Wizarding World, due to the fact that she would ultimately profit from its success.

Should the HBO Max series go through, it remains to be seen who else will be involved and, more importantly, how Rowling herself might affect the project.

Image credit: Warner Bros.

Source: Bloomberg

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The Last of Us infects Toronto’s Union Station with special pop-up

The Last of Us is taking over Toronto.

For one weekend only, PlayStation Canada has opened a pop-up inspired by the hit franchise in the city’s bustling Union Station. There, visitors will see an infected person stuck in the wall in a creepy, zombified outgrowth. Other imagery, including materials from the game’s fictional Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA), is also featured.

Interestingly, though, the pop-up is inspired by The Last of Us Part I, the PS5 remake of the original The Last of Us PS3 game, rather than the HBO series, specifically. It’s part of the gaming giant’s “Live from PS5” campaign, a series of live-action skits in which fictional reporters cover events from PS5 games like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Final Fantasy XVI.

Those interested in attending The Last of Us pop-up in Toronto can do so at the following times:

  • Friday, March 24th (2pm to 10pm ET)
  • Saturday, March 25th (10am to 10pm ET)
  • Sunday, March 26th (12pm to 10pm ET)

The pop-up comes right before the March 28th PC launch of The Last of Us Part I, and just a couple of weeks after the finale of the hit HBO series.

Image credit: PlayStation Canada

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Ontario wool farmers spot their blanket in The Last of Us

While watching Episode 8 of HBO’s The Last of Us, Kingston, Ontario wool farmers, Jacob Murray and Rach Hawkshaw, noticed something familiar draped over Joel (via CBC).

Just seconds into the episode, the pair took note of a very familiar-looking green and grey checkered blanket sold by their company, Topsy Farms. According to Murray, an entertainment industry props buyer reached out about purchasing the blanket earlier this year.

After seeing the green and grey blanket in the episode, Murray says he contacted the prop company, and as he expected, it was his brand. In total, the blanket appears roughly 30 times in the episode.

According to Murray, in the time since Episode 8 aired, the blanket has become a sought-after item, but unfortunately, only one was left in stock. However, instead of selling it, Topsy Farms gave it away through a recent contest on social media.

“If you want a blanket that’ll survive to the apocalypse, you need Canadian wool,” said Murray in a recent interview with the CBC.

This isn’t the first time fabric and The Last of Us have combined forces to become a news story only worthy of a Friday blog post. Last Friday, we covered Pedro Pascal, who plays Joel in The Last of Us, strutting around Hollywood wearing a pair of socks from Calgary-based Friday Sock Co.

The Last of Us is now streaming on Crave in Canada.

Image credit: HBO

Source: CBC

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Here’s how to watch Succession season 4 in Canada

If you’ve been eagerly anticipating the finale of the Waystar RoyCo saga, the moment you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived.

Succession Season 5 kicks off Sunday, March 27th at 9pm ET/6am PT on Bell’s Crave and will stream in the same time slot each subsequent week.

This season, Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) will find new allies against their father Logan (Brian Cox), including Sandi Furness (Hope Davis), Stewy Hosseini (Arian Moayed) and Nan Pierce (Cherry Jones).

Personally, I’m most interested in how Cousin Greg (Gregory Hirsch) fares when the dust settles. HBO has confirmed season 4 will be the critically-acclaimed TV show’s last.

You can find the trailer for the new season below:

A standard Crave subscription (which also includes HBO content) costs $19.99/month. Bell recently removed the ability to subscribe to Crave’s mobile-only $9.99/month subscription.

Image credit: HBO

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HBO’s The Last of Us may return for Season 2 by ‘end of 2024, early 2025’

It’s been just over a week since HBO’s The Last of Us concluded its nine-episode run. The adaptation of Naughty Dog’s critically acclaimed game received similar praise for its storytelling. Though, fans awaiting the sophomore season may want to strap in.

The Last of Us Season 2 may not arrive until late 2024 — at the earliest.

In a recent interview with The Independent, Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie Williams, discussed that production will likely begin towards the end of the year. Based on her rough timeline, Ramsey doesn’t expect The Last of Us Season 2 to debut until the end of next year. “It will be a while. I think we’ll probably shoot at the end of this year, beginning of next,” Ramsey states. “So it’ll probably be the end of 2024, early 2025.”

Ramsey’s sentiments regarding this year’s production schedule are also echoed by co-star Pedro Pascal. In a separate interview, Pascal stated that the second season would begin production in late 2023. 

None of this should come as a surprise, given historically, HBO doesn’t rush the production of its premier programming. This has been the case with Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, Westworld and more. While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic impacted the production of The Last of Us’ debut season, the series did shoot for nearly a year in Alberta, Canada. 

It’s difficult to say whether production will be as strenuous this time around or even if The Last of Us will return to shoot in Alberta. That said, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann both strive to use as many practical effects and locations as possible.

Druckmann has already confirmed that the adaptation of The Last of Us Part 2 will be “more than one season.” This past weekend, the co-creator of the game and series posted a teaser for Season 2 and the introduction of Abby, a prominent character from The Last of Us Part II. This all but confirms the trajectory of the series and the direction Season 2 will take.

All episodes of The Last of Us Season 1 are available to stream on Crave in Canada.

Image credit: HBO

Source: The Independent Via: Eurogamer

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How The Last of Us rebuilt old Alberta hospital for action-packed finale

*Warning: full spoilers for The Last of Us Season 1 to follow* 

The Last of Us ended in a big way: a tense firefight in a hospital. Like many aspects of the HBO series, it was a faithful retelling of the events of the 2013 eponymous PlayStation game.

That includes the controversial decision that Joel (Pedro Pascal) makes at the end to take Ellie (Bella Ramsey) away from the Fireflies militia group’s lab, refusing to lose her to a surgery that could have produced a cure to save humanity. This leads him to kill a slew of Fireflies along the way.

In the Alberta-shot show, this is all meant to take place in a Salt Lake City hospital, but in real life, HBO used a hospital just outside of Calgary. Per Travel Alberta, this hospital is Grande Prairie’s Queen Elizabeth II Ambulatory Care Centre.

The Last of Us Joel and Ellie in hospitalSpeaking to Variety, production designer John Paino revealed some details about how his team turned the real hospital into the climactic battlefield we see in the show.

Interestingly, Paino notes that he originally thought they’d have to build a hospital from scratch, but they found a “disused” one — the Queen Elizabeth II Ambulatory Care Centre — to use instead. From there, he says the team repainted the hospital and aged it up to make it look believably weathered for the post-apocalyptic setting. He adds that the little murals you can see when Joel visits the paediatric wing are taken straight from the game, another testament to the series’ immaculate attention to detail.

Additionally, Paino says he thought the Fireflies would be using construction site-esque portable generators, so his team deliberately used dim lighting accordingly. He says this gives the setting “a dark and moody vibe,” which certainly fits with Joel’s harrowing actions. Meanwhile, plastic barriers were brought in and strewn about the facility as a “nod” to when infected people were being brought in earlier in the outbreak.

The Last of Us Marlene

Marlene (Merle Dandridge)

Elsewhere in the interview, Paino touched on the pivotal giraffe scene. While the Making of The Last of Us special already revealed that this was a real animal named Nobu from the Calgary zoo, Paino expanded on some of the work the team did with it. Impressively, he says the crew spent a month and a half setting up green screen panels in an enclosure containing Nobu while trainers kept the giraffe comfortable. This would allow Pascal and Ramsey to approach the giraffe and feed it while giving the VFX team the ability to make the filming location look like the building rooftop in the show.

“That’s Hollywood magic of [visual effects supervisor] Alex [Wang] isolating the giraffes and putting them on our set,” said Paino. “That was probably the most complicated piecing of VFX stage, scenery and location I’ve worked on.”

Over the course of the show, Paino has provided a slew of interesting behind-the-scenes looks at the production. This includes transforming Canmore — Pascal’s favourite place in Alberta — into Jackson, Wyoming and an old Calgary mall into an abandoned playground for Ellie and Riley (Storm Reid). Overall, he says he was “shocked” at how “clean” Alberta ended up being compared to the United States. 

The Last of Us is now streaming on Crave in Canada. Season 2 — which will partially adapt The Last of Us Part II — is currently in development, although a release window has yet to be confirmed. That said, Pascal recently suggested that it will once again film in Alberta.

Image credit: HBO

Source: Variety

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Pedro Pascal raves about Canada, suggests The Last of Us Season 2 will also film here

Pedro Pascal took some time during the Oscars to send some love to Canada.

Speaking to eTalk on the award show’s red carpet, The Last of Us star was asked whether Canada “did [him] proud” after filming the popular HBO series in Alberta for a year.

 

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“Incredibly proud,” Pascal responded. “We couldn’t have done it without Canada, frankly, because of its physical landscape, because of our crew. 12 months — I miss it.”

Notably, Pascal went on to say that “we’re going back,” suggesting that Season 2 of the series will once again film in Alberta — or, at least, elsewhere in Canada. This echoes comments from co-star Bella Ramsey, who told Comicbook.com she’s “really excited” to be “back in Canada” for Season 2.

It should be noted that HBO hasn’t yet made a formal announcement regarding where or even when The Last of Us‘ sophomore season might film. For all kinds of business reasons, changes could happen, especially since we’re presumably months out from the start of production. Still, Pascal and Ramsey’s comments now suggest that the current plan, at least, is to return to Canada.

Elsewhere in his brief chat with eTalk, Pascal was asked to give a shoutout to his “Canadian fans,” but that wasn’t enough for him.

“A big shoutout to my Canadian family — I miss you!”

Pascal has been quite open about his love of Canada during The Last of Us promotional circuit. Speaking to MobileSyrup ahead of the show’s premiere, the actor raved about “the warmth and the dedication” of the Canadian crew, saying that it ended up being “essential” to film here. He also gave a special mention to Canmore, which stood in for Jackson, Wyoming in Episode 6, calling it a “magical little town.”

The entire first season of The Last of Us is now streaming on Crave in Canada. A release window for Season 2 has not yet been revealed, although we know it will adapt The Last of Us Part II. That said, the creators have confirmed that at least two seasons will be needed to fully cover the events of the sequel.

While you wait for Season 2, here are several other Pedro Pascal shows and movies to stream in Canada.

Image credit: HBO

Source: eTalk

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Miss The Last of Us? Here are other Pedro Pascal movies and shows to stream in Canada

After nine exciting weeks, the first season of The Last of Us has officially come to an end on HBO Max and Crave.

While we know that at least one more season of the hit HBO series is on the way, it’s unclear when we’ll actually get that.

Naturally, then, we’re now all left with a Pedro Pascal-sized hole in our Sundays. While a predominantly helmeted Pascal can currently be seen in new episodes of The Mandalorian, that doesn’t help the many people who want to actually see the internet’s favourite daddy.

With that in mind, we’ve rounded up some of the prolific Chilean-American actor’s movies and TV shows. Naturally, this isn’t a comprehensive list, considering his career spans a few decades, but it does contain his biggest hits. Read on more where you can stream more Pedro Pascal content in Canada.

Crave

Game of Thrones

Pedro Pascal as Oberyn Martell in Game of Thrones

Image credit: HBO

Pascal’s breakout role came during another HBO series, Game of Thrones (notably, the same is true for his The Last of Us co-star, Bella Ramsey). His short but memorable seven-episode stint on the series saw him play the vengeful and lustful Oberyn Martell.

Stream Game of Thrones here.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Pedro Pascal in Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Image credit: Lionsgate

While Tom Gormican’s 2022 action-comedy is focused on a fictionalized version of Nicolas Cage, critics agree that Pascal basically steals the show. His character, billionaire and Cage superfan Javi Gutierrez, hires the actor for a birthday party, leading them to develop a bit of a bromance amid increasingly wild antics.

Stream The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent here. The movie is also available on Prime Video via Starz.

Disney+

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Pedro Pascal in Kingsman

Image credit: 20th Century Studios

In Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman: The Secret Service sequel, Eggsy and his allies must protect the world from a CEO and her drug cartel. While the movie as a whole received a mixed reception, Pascal certainly was one of its better aspects, portraying the fun lasso-wielding American spy, Agent Whisky.

Stream Kingsman: The Golden Circle here.

The Mandalorian

The Mandalorian

Image credit: Lucasfilm

Of course, this is the most obvious answer. For many, this is the actor’s defining role, and the one with the most crossover with The Last of Us. In the Jon Favreau-created Star Wars series, Pascal plays the titular bounty hunter as he goes on adventures with a little creature named Grogu.

Stream The Mandalorian here.

Netflix

The Equalizer 2

Denzel and Pedro Equalizer 2

Image credit: Sony Pictures

In Antoine Fuqua’s second Equalizer movie, retired marine Robert McCall (Denzel Washington) seeks revenge after the murder of a friend. Notably, Pascal plays the villain, Duke York. Denzel and Pedro — what a combo!

Stream The Equalizer 2 here.

Narcos

Pedro Pascal Narcos

Image credit: Netflix

Inspired by true events, this acclaimed Netflix series explores the rise of the cocaine trade in Columbia and the efforts of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to combat it. Pascal has one of the main roles, Javier Peña, who’s a real-life DEA officer, appearing in all three seasons.

Stream Narcos here.

Triple Frontier

Triple Frontier Pedro Pascal

Image credit: Netflix

J.C. Chandor’s 2019 action-adventure flick follows a group of former U.S. soldiers who reunite for a South American heist. In the movie, Pascal plays Francisco “Catfish” Morales, the pilot of the group, which also includes Ben Affleck, Oscar Isaac, Charlie Hunnam and Garrett Hedlund.

Stream Triple Frontier here.

Miscellaneous

Dishonored 2

Dishonored 2 Paolo

Image credit: Bethesda

Given that we cover gaming on MobileSyrup, I’d be remiss not to mention that Pascal’s first and only video game role was in 2016’s Dishonored 2. In the acclaimed first-person stealth-action game, Pascal voices a gang leader named Paolo.

Dishonored 2 is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Wonder Woman 1984

Pedro Pascal WW84

Image credit: Warner Bros.

Patty Jenkins’ 2020 follow-up to her acclaimed 2017 Wonder Woman movie was largely panned, but most people agree that Pascal absolutely stole the show here as the charismatic businessman, Maxwell Lord. Life is good, but with Pascal as a delightfully unhinged villain, it can definitely be better.

The movie isn’t actually on any subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, so your only option is to rent or buy on platforms like iTunes and Google Play.

What are your favourite Pascal performances? Beyond The Last of Us, what are you hoping to see him in next?

Let us know in the comments.

Image credit: Shutterstock