This year, HBO Max stepped it up for its Lanterns Training Headquarters activation, and it’s easily the top activation during this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. This 30-minute experience really made fans feel like they were training to become Green Lanterns. There were different missions and routes, depending on your group number. In my group, we had to blend in with the locals at a local bar, train at the shooting range, and search for the Lantern left by Hal Jordan.

I chatted with a fan who waited 13 hours to participate in the activation. After having done the experience, he said it was worth it. It definitely left an impact thanks to the sets, special effects, and the actors.

Once we had completed two of our missions, we were all given our very own Green Lantern ring. We got to recite the Green Lantern oath. Once we finished the last line, “Beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!” the rings lit up the room with a green hue. I literally got goosebumps.

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Lanterns will debut on HBO and HBO Max on August 16, 2026.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe is a spin-off series of The Big Bang Theory. Available now on HBO Max, it follows Stuart as he is tasked with stopping a “multiverse Armageddon” due to accidentally damaging the device. Since Stuart is a comic book shop owner, it was fitting to hold the Stuart Fails to Save the Universe activation inside a comic book shop.

The experience includes going through the shop in search of The Device.

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The post Lanterns and Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Are Easily the Best SDCC Activations This Year appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Check out our video interview below!

About Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 4 sees the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise – led by Captain Christopher Pike – embark on a series of thrilling and emotional adventures across the stars. As they journey to strange new worlds, they will battle inner demons and external threats, encounter colorful new characters, reunite with familiar faces and confront terrifying aliens. Through it all, they strive to embrace a bright, hopeful future.

The post Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Cast on Hidden Talents, Challenging Episodes, and Dream Vacations appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Check out the trailer below:

Shannon portrays Juju, who is struggling to survive in the mean streets of the Bay Area. He talks about the similarities between Ekko and Juju.

“Closer to the end of the movie, Juju figures out some things about what he wants,” Shannon tells Nerd Reactor. “I think at the beginning, he’s kind of just all over the place, and that is actually very similar to the arc that we built for Ekko. Ekko’s always been sure of his goal, even if the angle in which he went to get it includes fighting with Jinx time and time again and getting nowhere, all the way to deciding, ‘I’m gonna leave this place, this alternate universe where everything is perfect and exactly like I want, to go back home to I don’t know what, but to save the universe.’

“That’s exactly it. If you were responsible for it, for your actions, it’s important to know and be very sure of what you believe in and what you’re willing to put up with and what you’re willing to let go of for the sake of that truth that we all hold deep within us. I think that desire to lead and to do what feels right shows up in Ekko and Juju.”

About Splash City

Synopsis: In this gritty crime thriller, two brothers, Juju and Slim, struggle to survive the streets of San Francisco, where loyalty can turn into betrayal in an instant. While Slim sees basketball as his way out, Juju falls deeper into a life of smash-and-grab robberies under the control of a backstabbing crew leader. As tensions rise, the brothers must choose between fighting for a brighter future or succumbing to the violent legacy that threatens to consume them both.

The film is directed by Alex Ferrufino and Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr. (Berner) and written by Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr. (Berner) & David Mansanalez.

The film stars Reed Shannon, TJ Atoms, Christopher A’mmanuel, and Hazel Green.

Splash City releases on July 20, with LA on July 21st.

The post Reed Shannon on Arcane’s Ekko and His New Movie, Splash City appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

When watching Keegan portray the daughter of Anna Faris’ Cindy in Scary Movie, I was thinking to myself, “The casting director did a wonderful job.” She admits that she had the upper hand when it came to getting the part.

“A small part of me feels like I cheated my way into this,” Keegan tells Nerd Reactor. “I know I earned it, but I feel that way because I talk about this a lot, so I feel like a broken record, but I’ll say it again and again and again. I love Anna and her work so much, and I’ve been inspired by her for as long as I can remember. So I do feel like she’s always been my comedic north star.

“Whenever I would audition for comedic projects in the past, I had her voice somewhere in my head and heart. Like her voice, as in her whole performance and everything she’s done. I really have genuinely admired her. So she was living in my little creative heart. And when I got the audition, I didn’t know when I got the audition that I would be playing her daughter, but when I eventually found out, I was like, ‘Oh yes, I can let it rip, and I can really play around with this.'”

The comedy role was a stark contrast with Keegan’s role in Dutton Ranch, a drama that follows a family starting a new life.

“It’s so fun because that’s my favorite thing about this job, getting to play around in different universes and different genres. I didn’t know I could do a comedy until this, or I didn’t know I could improv. I just always thought of myself as not super gifted at those things. The more I get to zigzag between all these crazily different worlds, I feel like the more personally fulfilled and successful I feel.”

Dutton Ranch is now available to stream on Paramount+, and Scary Movie is currently in theaters.

The post Olivia Rose Keegan Reveals How Anna Faris Inspired Her Scary Movie Performance appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

J.K. Simmons, known for his roles as J. Jonah Jameson in Spider-Man and Omni-Man in Invincible, portrays Eamon Sweeney, the boss of The Westies, inspired by real-life gangsters.

“JJJ is pretty much all bark, as you said, and he barks very loudly and quickly,” Simmons compares his Spider-Man character to his The Westies character. “I think one of the things, and this was just on the page to me, in the way that Michael and Chris wrote it, there’s a quiet menace there, and you see the same thing often with a lot of characters in the show, really.”

As Sweeney, he has to deal with other criminal organizations and the younger members.

“You see it with Hamish Allan-Headley as John Gotti,” Simmons added. “You see it with Titus, you see it with Jimmy. I mean, a lot of the time, the younger ones might tend to be a little more there, might be a little more bravado and in your face, but the older guys who have survived for this long, I think that quiet menace is very organic to who these guys are.”

The showrunners wanted more freedom in the story, and so they decided not to make this a biopic or docudrama.

“We’re not doing a biopic or a docudrama, so we’re not using the names of Jimmy Coonin or Mickey Featherstone or Mickey Spillane,” Panes said. “You know, what we’re doing is creating a fictionalized show inspired by a multitude of characters from that era, so to distill the essence of it, because we want audiences to stay with these characters over multiple seasons and grow with them and three-dimensionalize them and make them kind of people you want to invite in.”

About The Westies

Synopsis: The Westies is a gritty and kinetic crime drama centering on New York City’s infamously violent Irish gang of the same name. The series is set in the early 1980s when the construction of the Jacob Javits Convention Center on the Westies’ home turf in Hell’s Kitchen promises a financial windfall. Despite being outnumbered fifty-to-one by the Five Families of the Italian Mafia, the Westies’ legendary brutality and cunning have given them the leverage necessary to share the spoils through a fragile détente. But internal conflict between the brash younger generation and the old-school leadership threatens to set a match to this powder keg, which will sweep the Westies into the FBI’s ever-deepening investigation into the Italian mafia.

The series stars J.K. Simmons, Titus Welliver, Tom Brittney, Stanley Morgan, Sarah Bolger, Jessica Frances Dukes, Hamish Allan-Headley, Vincent Walsh, Allen Leech, and Hillary McCormack. Additional cast includes Aidan Wojtak-Hissong, Jeremy Walmsley, and Rohan Mead.

The series is written by Chris Brancato and Michael Panes.

It’s directed by Alan Taylor (101, 102), Chris Grismer (103, 104), John Fawcett (105, 106), and Adam Kane (107, 108).

Executive prodicers are Chris Brancato, Michael Panes, Raymond Quinlan, Alan Taylor, Frank Siracusa, and John Weber.

The post J.K. Simmons on Finding the ‘Quiet Menace’ Behind His Westies Mob Boss appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Moderated by Lisle Wilkerson, best known for voicing Nina Williams and Christie Monteiro in the Tekken series, the panel was lively, entertaining, and engaging. The first half of the panel focused on the popular WEBTOON manhwa ELECEED, which is being adapted into a TV anime series by DandeLion Animation Studio and will premiere worldwide in April 2027. The shonen web series, translated into 10 languages and still ongoing, is currently at chapter 393, with new updates weekly. For fans of the manhwa, Penguin Random House will also be releasing the print editions in North America next year.

ELECEED

At the panel, special ELECEED guests included the illustrator ZHENA and the author Jeho Son, who shared behind-the-scenes stories with the audience. When asked what anime had first inspired their craft, Jeho Son said it was Laputa: Castle in the Sky, one of Studio Ghibli’s most influential films, that he kept watching over and over. For ZHENA, it was the Rose of Versailles that made her heart beat so hard that she hopes her work might do the same for others one day.

Fans of the manhwa also learned that the cat version of the character Kayden, was originally supposed to be a dog. Jeho Son said that while preparing to pitch ELECEED to ZHENA, he changed his approach at the last minute and presented it as a “fat cat on the streets” story rather than a heavily action-oriented one, believing the latter would’ve made her less likely to join the project. In response to this remark, ZHENA emphatically nodded. And since ZHENA’s own cat is orange, it eventually became the final look of the important character. 

ZHENA also kept expressing that she was nervous working on the project, and Jeho Son explained that it was because he kept on emphasizing to her that the human version of Kayden had to be the “best-looking and coolest character ever,” while the cat version had to be the “laziest and most pitiful-looking.” It all worked out since the manhwa is almost 8 years old now and still going strong.

When an audience member asked how much input the author gives the artist beyond the Kayden character, it was revealed that although Jeho Son spearheaded the story, ZHENA provided feedback on certain characters, especially the ones she had worked hardest to draw. He couldn’t bring himself to kill off characters she felt particularly attached to!

Fans can look forward to the anime premiering in April 2027, but in the meantime, here’s the newest trailer:

RE:BEL ROBOTICA

The second half of the panel brought in a new guest, illustrator Mika Pikazo, known for her vivid, colorful style and most recognized for her character design work on the video game Fire Emblem Engage. Mika’s work was also featured prominently at this Anime Expo, as she designed the newest promotional art for the official magazines, banners, flyers, and more. You can’t mistake her style, which focuses on expressive eyes, hyper-saturated neon color palettes, chaotic composition, and sharp line work, which was heavily influenced by her 2.5 years living in Brazil after graduating from high school. 

Now, she’s working on an anime that was originally a self-published manga from Comiket called RE:BEL ROBOTICA with animation studio SILVER LINK. When the producer first saw her doujinshi, he was drawn to her beautiful use of color and wanted to bring that unique visual style to life through animation. The work also asks what the world will be like in 2050. Will advanced technology really make people happy?

There’s an incredible team surrounding the anime, including:

• Director Shin-Onuma, known for the Fate Prisma Illya series 
• Screenplay by Ryo Yoshigami, known for Psycho-Pass
• Composer Yuki Kajiura, known for Demon Slayer, Sword Art Online, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, and more

All we know is that the anime will officially premiere sometime in 2027. In the meantime, here’s the newest trailer, until we get more updates:

Anime Expo, the largest celebration of Japanese pop culture in North America, will return next year to the Los Angeles Convention Center from July 2 to July 5, 2027.

The post ELECEED Anime and Mika Pikazo’s RE:BEL ROBOTICA Revealed at Anime Expo 2026 appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

When asked what they were most excited about for Season 3, both spoke about the wider world compared to Season 1, seeing more of Maomao’s different facial expressions, more mystery solving, and having a lot of fun interacting with many new and current characters. 

“The Apothecary Diaries has constantly grown in scale, in the story, and in the world. Because of that, there are more things to distract or for Maomao to be curious about,” Yuki Aoi said, “but personally, I’m really looking forward to interacting with Lahan.” 

Takeo Otsuka said, “Of course, I love her relationship with Jinshi, but I’m particularly excited for Season 3, a character called Lahan.” We’ll definitely pay attention to Lahan since both VAs mentioned his name. Since he’s Maomao’s biological cousin and adopted older brother, their scenes together often have an entertaining “older brother and younger sister” dynamic. Lahan is also a genius with numbers and investigates financial and political matters alongside Lakan.

The Voice Recording Process

When asked whether the VAs had any warm-up rituals before delivering lines or embodying the character, both said they don’t have routines and that, when they’re acting across from each other, the exchange naturally brings the character to life. 

This information surprised me, since I wasn’t aware that Japanese voice actors work in a group setting, since I’ve seen so many American VAs working solo in a booth! This makes so much more sense, though, as the dialogue feels more conversational. “Many, many people! We have a whole cast. Like 20 people and 4 microphones, so we all kind of have to dodge each other as we go to the mic and record,” Yuki Aoi said, laughing. 

Later on in the panel, Yuki Aoi mentioned that the group recording process feels like elementary school in the best way, since the vibes are so much fun.

Takeo Otsuka praised her by saying, “She makes it look so easy, and she kind of leads the way with her voice when she steps up to the mic. The entire studio just goes into Apothecary mode, like we’re all in her world, in her universe.”

Can You Guess Their Favorite Lines?

Of course, I had to ask what their favorite lines were, and for Yuki Aoi, she reminisced about two lines. 

“This is poison. I’ve been made to say it so many times, even though it only appeared in the anime once, but I remember adjusting the tone a lot with that line. There aren’t that many lines when, after you eat, you say it’s poison, so I thought it was really impressive and unique.”

And then when Jinshi gets a scar on his face.

“You’ve become more manly than before. Maomao wasn’t looking at a physically manly Jin-Shi due to the scar. I think she was looking at the soul of a manly Jin-Shi. So it really shows where Maomao is focused on in terms of her definition of manly, and it’s like an almost spiritual growth.”

For Takeo Otsuka, his favorite line, “Is my pretty face the only value I hold? Because it’s really interesting to see how their relationship progresses and when Maomao’s definition of manliness changes. For Jinshi, there aren’t that many people he can say that to, so I think there’s a lot of meaning in saying that to Maomao.”

Special Stage at Peacock Theater

The official evening panel was packed with excited fans, and they warmed up the audience pre-show by inviting Maomao cosplayers to the front to perform a “Maomao catwalk” to compete for Crunchyroll pins and signed copies of The Apothecary Diaries manga. 

We were then blessed by a new 52-second trailer for the movie, coming out in Japan on December 11, 2026, titled The Apothecary Diaries: The Deceased Consort’s Hidden Treasure.

After energetic introductions and the voice actors confirming that Season 3 dubbing had already begun, they moved to the standing microphones to treat the audience to not one but four live dubbing clips!

The scenes:

• Jinshi and Maomao’s first meeting, where he wrote a note to single her out
• ****THE FROG SCENE*****
• Jinshi asks Maomao if he was just a pretty face to her
• Jinshi gifts the ox bezoar, and Maomao loses all composure

Obviously, the crowd went wild for THE frog scene, but it was also interesting to see how the characters’ dynamic changed from their first meeting to near the end of Season 2 in just a few clips, performed so well by the voice actors.

Takeo Otsuka, after performing Jinshi live, said, “All of your reactions were just so perfect! I was like, man, should I overact a little bit, should I exaggerate a little bit more? I’m really getting into this. It’s my first time doing this in front of such a huge live audience, but I had so much fun; you guys made it a lot of fun for me.”

They further expanded on what it was like to see and perform these scenes back-to-back, from the first episode to the most current available. Yuki Aoi said, “Maomao’s perspective on Jinshi has definitely changed. She sees his straightforwardness, seriousness and sincerity that she wasn’t aware of before. Jinshi, in my opinion, is a person who has been desired by people since birth. So when he gave the ox parts, the fact that he’s doing something for someone else to the degree that he is, and adding more work to his plate as if he doesn’t already have enough, really shows how their relationship has changed.”

Takeo Otsuki remarked, “Maomao now really sees the more stoic and mature and composed version of Jinshi. But because they’ve spent so much time together, I don’t know if Maomao is aware of it yet, but I can certainly see her beginning to open her heart to Jinshi.”

And with this, we eagerly await The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 – Part 1, which will premiere on Crunchyroll in October, with Part 2 following in April 2027. A huge thank you to Mikey McNamara for helping to translate our interview and to studio OLM, TOHO animation STUDIO, Crunchyroll, Natsu Hyuuga, and Touko Shino for bringing this beloved world to life.

The post The Apothecary Diaries Japanese Voice Actors Tease Bigger, Exciting Season 3 for Maomao & Jinshi appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Memory is one of the important themes for this season’s Silo. Nerd Reactor had the chance to ask the cast and creator about what memories they would like to keep.

Rebecca Ferguson shared two important memories, one involving BBC’s The White Queen, and the other with Tom Cruise for Mission: Impossible.

“The biggest thing for me was I was cast in the White Queen, which was a BBC production,” Ferguson tells Nerd Reactor. “I was the lead of this 10-part drama series, and I remember sitting with Max Irons next to me, and there were so many essays. I’d never done anything like this. I’d done like one film in Sweden, basically, and I remember looking at him going, ‘King and Queen of England? Like this is bonkers. Look at us.’ And I remember just feeling big and it felt exciting.

“I think the second one was when I got a phone call on a camel in the desert saying that Tom Cruise wanted me to be in Mission [Impossible]. That was weird. The camel was called Barbie.”

Silo creator Graham Yost talks about one of his fondest memories regarding Speed, which he wrote the screenplay.

“So the first time I saw the entire movie, Speed was in a small theater on the lot at 20th Century Fox,” Yost said. “And there’s this moment where Keanu Reeves, as Jack Traven, jumps from the car that he’s commandeered onto the bus. And as he jumped onto the bus, it was shot perfectly. Keanu was fantastic. The thought that went through my head was, ‘My life just changed. My life is going to be different.’ I don’t know if this movie’s going to make a lot of money, but I know that it’s a good movie. And that was only 30 minutes into the movie, and little did I know how amazing it was gonna be from then.”

About Silo Season 3

Season three of “Silo” continues the saga of a dystopian society of 10,000 people living underground under mysterious circumstances, while revealing an origin story set centuries earlier. In the present, Juliette Nichols (Ferguson) survives her forced “cleaning” but returns with memory loss as the silo recovers from rebellion and faces a dangerous new threat. Meanwhile, in the “Before Times,” journalist Helen Drew (Jessica Henwick) and Congressman Daniel Keene (Ashley Zukerman) uncover a conspiracy that pulls them into a chain of events with catastrophic, irreversible consequences. Based on Hugh Howey’s New York Times bestselling trilogy, “Silo.”

The ensemble cast returning alongside Ferguson includes Common, Harriet Walter, Chinaza Uche, Avi Nash, Alexandria Riley, Shane McRae, Remmie Milner, Rick Gomez, Billy Postlethwaite, and Clare Perkins. Joining the cast for season three are Zukerman and Henwick, who appeared in the season two finale, along with Laura Innes, Jessica Brown Findlay, Morven Christie, Reed Birney, and Matt Craven, with Colin Hanks set to recur. Steve Zahn will also return.

“Silo” is produced by Apple Studios. The series is executive produced by Yost, Michael Dinner, Nina Jack, Joanna Thapa, Ferguson, Morten Tyldum, Howey, Amber Templemore, Fred Golan, Rémi Aubuchon and AMC Studios.

The post Silo’s Rebecca Ferguson and Creator Share the Career Memories They’d Never Want to Lose appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

Based on Kei Urana’s manga, Gachiakuta did not take long to separate itself from the rest of the shonen crowd. The series has this grungy, grimy, graffiti-covered identity that immediately makes it feel different. The world is literally built around society’s trash. Still, the show somehow turns that into something visually exciting instead of just bleak.

A big part of what made Season 1 work was how they adapted it. Gachiakuta has such a specific look and attitude on the page, and thankfully, that translated really well into animation. The action had impact, the character designs popped, and the vital instruments power system gave the fights a different rhythm from the usual. In other words, it felt familiar enough to grab people quickly, but strange enough to keep them curious.

Season 2 looks ready to push all of that further. After the events of the first season, Rudo’s journey through the Pit is only getting more complicated. His powers continue to grow, but so do the threats around him. The new teaser shown at Anime Expo gave fans another look at his abilities and made it clear that the Cleaners will play a bigger role in what comes next.

This is the point where Gachiakuta starts to feel like more than one character just trying to survive. The world opens up. New allies enter the picture, and new enemies begin to move. Also, the story begins to dig deeper into the systems that created this broken society in the first place.

Gachiakuta Season 2 director Fumihiko Suganuma described this next chapter as a “big pivot” with “a lot of growth.” Gachiakuta already had the look and the attitude. Now, it has to show how far its world and characters can go.

The post Gachiakuta Season 2 Teaser Shows What’s Next for Rudo and the Cleaners appeared first on Nerd Reactor.

During Anime Expo 2026, fans got a new look at what comes next for Frieren, Fern, and Stark. Season 3 is ready to premiere in October 2027, with the spotlight shifting toward the highly anticipated Golden Land Arc. More importantly, the new teaser visual gives fans a closer look at Macht, next season’s big bad.

The Golden Land Arc is one of the most anticipated arcs of the manga. Now, without spoiling anything, Golden Land pushes Frieren into darker, more complex territory. The arc explores a place shaped by tragedy, old magic, and unresolved history. There’s a lot of emotional weight behind it, which is exactly when Frieren tends to hit hardest.

Then there’s Macht himself. Macht is seen as the strongest of the Seven Sages of Destruction, and what makes him stand out is the way he challenges the usual idea of what a demon in this world can be. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End has always treated demons as beings that understand, imitate, and distort human emotion. Macht seems to sit right in the middle of that, and he’s the kind of villain who could have the ability to be terrifying for reasons beyond raw strength.

Season 3 will also bring back the creative team from Season 2. Tomoya Kitagawa will direct the season alongside Tomohiro Suzuki handling series composition, Evan Call returning for the music, and Madhouse once again producing the animation.

The post Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 3 Shares New Macht Visual Ahead of Golden Land Arc appeared first on Nerd Reactor.