[Image by ADAM ROSE for Netflix]
With star studded cameos, a live performance from Lady Gaga and enough release dates to fill a calendar, we’ve got everything you need to know about the biggest Netflix event of the year.
After a montage of her previous projects remixed with elements from hit Netflix shows, Sofia Carson came down on a pole to kick off proceedings. A horde of masked Squid Game guards stormed the stage for a huge theatrical dance sequence that ended with one guard removing their mask to reveal Sofia underneath.
Squid Game stars Lee Jung Jae, Lee Byung Hun, Park Sung Hoon, Kang Ae Sim and Choi Seung-Hyun then came out to introduce the trailer for the third season of everyone’s favourite South Korean deathmatch.It was revealed that Squid Game Season 3 releases June 27th.
Emily in Paris fans were then treated to a sketch featuring Lily Collins as the eponymous expat, giving a presentation on the various Netflix shows of the moment.
Knives Out director Rian Johnson then introduced the new cast of the latest Benoit Blanc instalment. Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis and Jeremy Renner were revealed one by one, hinting at at key components for a murder mystery, before the detective himself, Daniel Craig, arrived to set up the trailer.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery releases December 12th.
The cast of Netflix’s live action One Piece series then showed up to queue their Season 2 trailer, which gave fans their first look at Tony Tony Chopper, a long awaited fan-favourite character from the original animated series. One Piece season 2 is scheduled for a unspecified 2026 release.
Next up, Sofia took a brief dance break, joined by Backstreet-boy AJ McLean before introducing his new unscripted singing show, Building the Band. Featuring judges Nicole Scherzinger and Kelly Rowland, the show has singers choose bandmates by listening to them sing through headphones in private rooms without seeing their faces, reminiscent of The Voice and Love is Blind. The series will also feature the late Liam Payne as a guest judge who was part of the show before his death in October last year.
Jacob Elordi then appeared in a video to introduce Netflix’s Frankenstein. The latest adaptation of Mary Shelly’s genre-defining literary thriller is directed by Guillermo del Toro for Netflix and stars Elordi, Oscar Isaac and Mia Goth.
The film, which is set for a November release, is a long time passion project for del Toro who won an Oscar for his 2017 movie The Shape of Water.
As a follow up to the cult classic, Happy Gilmore 2 then got an extended trailer, revealing performances from Margret Qualley, Eric André, Travis Kelce and Bad Bunny would be complementing the return of the iconic original cast.
This comes as the latest film from Adam Sandler’s extended contract with the streaming giant. The deal, which gives Netflix the exclusive distribution rights for any Sandler project, made him the highest paid actor in 2023.
With plenty to reveal still in the chamber, Tudum then pivoted to the latest news on flagship series Stranger Things. Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLoughlin and Finn Wolfhard got comfortable on sofas to talk the upcoming fifth season of the sci-fi triller.
Their fellow members of the original cast, Millie Bobby Brown and Gaten Matarazzo also appeared by video to introduce a montage of old clips teasing the season with release dates for the upcoming episodes. The final season will release in three parts on November 26th, December 25th, and end with a finale episode on December 31st.
Ending with a bang, the cast of Wednesday then took to the stage to to show the first six minutes of their second season of the Addams Family inspired series before kicking up a gear with an extended live music performance from Lady Gaga.
With full Wednesday inspired choreography and costuming, Gaga began her performance coming out of a coffin to sing hits Zombieboy and Bloody Mary. In a theatrical set piece, series star Jenna Ortega joined Gaga at a large dinner table as an homage to the iconic scene from the Addams Family movie, making it clear that Gaga’s performance was linked to Wednesday by more than just aesthetic.
After the performance it was revealed that Lady Gaga would be joining the Wednesday season 2 cast as Rosaline Rotwood, a teacher at the show’s Nevermore school.
Wednesday Season 2 is scheduled to release in two parts on August 6th and September 3rd.
For more stories on TV and Entertainment click here: https://illuminatedmag.co.uk/tv-and-entertainment/
