The stars of STARZ’s Powerbook II: Ghost appeared on the red carpet this week on the worldwide premiere of their second season.
This week marks the end of the third season of HBO Max’s Doom Patrol. As everyone is curious about how this season will end, there are a number of questions circulating among the community. In the early part of this week, Doom Patrol received a fourth season renewal that’ll air in 2022.
HBO Max’s Doom Patrol will conclude their third season this week. There are a number of questions among the community as everyone is curious on how this season will end. Earlier this week, news broke that Doom Patrol got renewed for a fourth season which will premiere in 2022. Here to preview the finale is Elasti-Woman/Rita Farr herself April Bowlby in this exclusive interview.
The Knockturnal: what can fans expect on the season three finale?
AB: “Oh my gosh! Well, they can expect a giant robot, which is very one of my favorite parts of the episode. I think they get to see that the Doom Patrol has faced their greatest fears, which is things that are the worst moments of their lives repeating over and over with their subconscious journey. And from that, they come out of it and they come out of it so much stronger than they were before, and they’re unified. And I think that from that point, certainly Rita is the leader which I enjoy a lot. And then everyone kind of just is hoping for wackiness and insanity and a feel good victory moment for the Doom Patrol.”
The Knockturnal: Rita at the start of the season felt like she was very connected with the characters, but now going towards the end of this season, the bonds are kind of shifting. What is your take on that?
AB: “I think that it’s great storytelling. I love that Rita found safety in her team and her lovely, dysfunctional family of the doomies. And I like that because she fell in love and then that love was taken from her. Now she has the drive of revenge, and I think it’s a beautiful story to tell that when you have that possession in you, you really can’t see anything else. And she does hurt the ones that she loves because she wants to punish the person who took away the love of her life. And it’s a sad thing to see. But it’s really interesting to see Rita in that new color of fearless Revenge. So I think it’s a fun storyline.”
The Knockturnal: I really think it’s fine too, especially since her interactions with Jane were also affected. Can you tell me about the development of bringing this kind of conflict together between the characters?
AB: “She’s not really been with the Doom Patrol for most of the season because Rita’s back in time with Madam Rouge. And then I think she asked Jane to like, step up and come along on this journey with her. And Jane is like trapped in underground and so many emotions are going on with that. And she doesn’t know what the pecking order is anymore and feels very vulnerable. And Rita has no time for that. And she just is like, ‘Do not fail me again and get your shit together.’ And poor Jane just can’t because her underground is falling apart and Kay is in danger. But Rita has no time for that. She’s just like excuses, excuses, and she really wants everyone to get on her page. And then a funny thing that happens towards the end of this season is that everyone’s lost their powers. And so Rita is the only one that’s leading the ship. And Kay is primary now. So it’s just like a lovely little girl, and Vic is traded his his powers to be a normal guy. And then you’ve got Robot Man who’s who’s got Parkinson’s. So it’s just not working out for Rita, and I think she’s very frustrated.”
The Knockturnal: It’s very good to see this show and Titans to get their footing on the ground now. So are you excited for the next season and are you excited that both these shows are the same shared universe is keeping the momentum up since Doom Patrol will be back for the fourth season in 2022?
AB: “Yeah, I am so excited for a fourth season because I think Doom Patrol deserves a victory moment. I feel like we’re just the wacky team that can’t quite get it together, which I love, but I feel like in the fourth season, perhaps we can really find our stride and start fighting in a fun, funky, cool way. Fighting evil to preserve the good. And with Titans, it’s a super blast that we’re in the same universe.And since Rita was born on Titans, hopefully one day we can have a crossover episode. That’s what I’m pitching.”
The season three finale of HBO Max’s Doom Patrol will stream this Sunday night!
STARZ’S Powerbook II: Ghost is set to premiere their second season in a number of weeks. Picking up immediately after the cliffhanger from the previous season, we will now see how Tariq St. Patrick (Michael Rainey Jr.) will handle covering up the murder he committed.
That along with the other stories that we will see on Powerbook II: Ghost that will play out. This includes Davis MacLean (Method Man) and Cooper Saxe (Shane Johnson) forming an unlikely partnership, Monet (Mary J. Blige) trying to keep her family safe and together, Cane (Woody McClain) encountering a new character named Mecca, and much more. There is enough story, politics, violence, and crime that will be furthered explored on this upcoming season.
I recently got the chance to speak with the entire cast of Powerbook II: Ghost as they all dished out the details and what to expect for the upcoming season. I also spoke with executive producer Courtney A. Kemp as she provided details about the filming progress for the second season. Courtney A. Kemp also provided a small update of Powerbook IV: Force as that series will focus on Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora).
Powerbook II: Ghost will return on November 21, 2021 on STARZ.
Tom Ruegger created Animaniacs for Fox Kids block in 1993 and moved it to The WB in 1995 until its cancellation in 1998 as part of its Kids’ WB afternoon programming block. In association with Warner Bros. Animation, it is Steven Spielberg’s second animated series produced by his company, Amblin Entertainment. Originally, it had 99 episodes and a feature film titled Wakko’s Wish. There is a large cast of characters on Animaniacs, which is a variety show
The first season of the Animaniacs relaunch streamed on Hulu in 2020. In that same year, it got picked up for a second season. Ahead of the season two premiere of Animaniacs, The show got green-lit for a third season!
Animaniacs on Hulu provided Knockturnal with an opportunity to interact with the cast and crew. Cast members of Animaniacs, which stars gene-spliced lab mice and Warners of whatever kind, help bring the series’ cast to life.
Voice actors Gabe Swarr (Co-Executive Producer), Tress MacNeille (“Dot Warner”), Jess Harnell (“Wakko Warner”), Rob Paulsen (“Yakko Warner” & “Pinky”) & Maurice LaMarche (“The Brain”) spoke with us about the enduring legacy of their famous roles.
As the series has just been renewed for a third season, they discuss their excitement about returning to these characters.
AMC premiered the second season of The Walking Dead: World Beyond on October 3. Season 2 of World Beyond will serve as the series’ final season, which has always been the setup.
A lot of fans of the franchise have mixed reviews for World Beyond’s first season. The flagship series is always compared, but this series is very different from the flagship series. A group of young people discovering life in the aftermath of the apocalypse is the subject of this series. Moreover, they are not in the thick of things, but rather hidden away and protected by walls. After finally venturing out, they are unprepared for what they find.
It has been several months since The Walking Dead: World Beyond’s season 1 finale, but in the show’s timeline it has been as short as a few minutes. In comparison to other series, the cast of World Beyond hasn’t had the opportunity to “grow” in the traditional sense, although the revelations from the end of Season 1 have impacted them in many ways.
In addition to filling in the gaps of what’s happening in other parts of the Walking Dead universe, The Walking Dead: World Beyond was developed as a two-season limited series. With their helicopters and their clandestine missions, Civic Republic (CR) and Civic Republic Military (CRM) have been in focus in this spinoff.
I caught up with cast members Joe Holt, Natalie Gold, Nico Tortorella, Jelani Aladin, and Alexa Mansour as we talked about the second season. With the second season coming to a close soon, everyone is wondering how this will tie in with the unannounced Rick Grimes Movies!
Rob Van Dam’s twenty five plus year career in the world of professional wrestling speaks for itself. His first break came in Extreme Championship Wrestling back in 1996 when he made his debut. RVD’s unique high-flying style and his character resonated with the hardcore fans. This lead him to win the ECW Television Championship in May of 1998. He held the championship until the year 2000. What is fortunate for him, is that he signed with WWE (Then WWF) in 2001.
His success did not stop there as Rob Van Dam headlined several WWE shows and won numerous of championships on the grand scale. He won his first WWE Championship in 2006 when he defeated John Cena at WWE’s version of ECW One Night Stand.
In early 2021, WWE announced that Rob Van Dam would be an inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame! With his career going from ECW, to WWE, to Impact Wrestling, Rob Van Dam is a perfect candidate for this prestigious honor. Rob Van Dam was officially inducted during the week of WrestleMania 37!
This past week at New York Comic Con, I followed up with RVD and his wife and occasional wrestler Katie Forbes as we talk about New York Comic Con, his action figure collection, and his induction. It was RVD’s first appearance at New York Comic Con and he and Katie Forbes were excited to see the fans!
Y: The Last Man’s cast and crew describe the feeling they get when talking about their experiences together in a single word, which would be community. Each member of the cast, crew and showrunners repeated how close they felt to their fellow cast members.
As you know, The Last Man is based on the hit Vertigo comic by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra. The post-apocalyptic show was set to begin recording in April of 2020, but was delayed due to the pandemic. This is how actor Ben Schnetzer, who plays Yorick Brown, Y of Y: The Last Man, described it: “I remember the first call. They’re going to delay it for two weeks. Cut to seven months later.” Julianna Canfield, who portrays Beth Deville in Y: The Last Man, said: We were supposed to start on April 13, 2020, but then we didn’t know if we’d get to make the show at all. All of us were just so happy to be working and be on set after all this time sitting and wondering if we ever would.”
A lengthy quarantine was required once cast and crew had arrived on set due to quarantine requirements and travel restrictions.Nina Jacobson, the Executive Producer on Y: The Last Man explained, “We were trapped in Toronto for the entirety of the shoot. If you left, you had to quarantine.” We asked what it was like to be stuck in Toronto, actress Ashley Romans had this to say: “I didn’t feel constricted by the city of Toronto, but did feel constricted about the border being closed. It felt claustrophobic.” However, Nina Jacobson added: “The pandemic created an incredibly close camaraderie” along with the benefits of filming during the pandemic.
Photo Credit: Julian Cannon
As Juliana Canfield explains, she was worried about disappointing long-time fans, saying “Going into a property with such a dedicated fan base, I was worried. But I’ve seen such a thumb’s up from the fans.” She had never read the original source material and won’t begin until the show is over. As she explained, “I never read the comics before I got the part. I went into the audition very context free. I’m just going to stick to the scripts and when we’re finished, then I’ll go and read them as a fan out of pure interest.”
On the other hand, showrunner Eli Clark has definitely read the comic. Even though it was her favorite comic, she felt it needed an update for today’s audience. She added, “I think the conversation about gender diversity is different in 2021.” Half the population dying doesn’t mean the patriarchy or white supremacy will disappear. Although gender is altered, it still sheds light on what it is.”
Y: The Last Man was also influenced by current day politics. Eli said, “I was thinking about the conspiratorial mindset of America right now.” Eli is happy that comic book fans won’t know what to expect.
A panel featuring the stars of AEW was held at New York Comic Con on Saturday, October 9. Orange Cassidy, Darby Allin, Adam Cole, and Thunder Rosa were on the panel.
There is one panel that I wanted to cover at New York Comic Con. That is, The Beauty of Blackness in Pro Wrestling.
The panelists were Abdullah Malik, Cameron Hawkins, Faye Jackson, Jordan Rose, and Kazeem Famuyide. The major topic of discussion pertained to bringing awareness to the lack of diversity in the professional wrestling industry. This ranges from bookers who are non-white, promoters, agents, and much more.
Photo Credit: Julian Cannon
My biggest takeaway from this event was to see the panel’s audience made up of different backgrounds. I could tell that the audience was not just there to wait for another panel. The crowd wanted to be there, as it was important for them to hear the panelists discuss what they have seen personally happen to themselves and other African American wrestlers in the large scale of the WWE or on the independent circuit. I was happy to witness this.
Photo Credit: Julian Cannon
While the panel was going on, AEW superstar Maxwell Jacob Freidman interrupted the panel and even asked the audience for questions. He was in character the entire time and I must say, the panelists automatically disapproved of him crashing their panel. He did not stay for long. Faye Jackson, Jacob Rose, and even Cameron Hawkins were not thrilled to see him. Luckily, the panel continued after this brief interruption.
The beauty of Blackness in Pro Wrestling panel is available online. It is a must-watch as the most important black voices in wrestling talk about why black wrestling and wrestlers matter!