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The 2004 USA Network miniseries Spartacus is a largely overlooked but worthwhile watch. Inspired by Howard Fast’s 1951 novel of the same name, it shares a similar visual style with both Stanley Kubrick’s film and the later Spartacus series on Starz. This version of Spartacus tells the story of the gladiator’s life and his fight to start a slave rebellion. While it was well-received by viewers at the time, it’s now hard to find – it’s not on any streaming services and can only be watched by purchasing physical copies.

As a film and TV obsessive, I’ve always felt that The Prisoner really broke the mold. It wasn’t just a clever mystery; the way it built its world and told the story – starting with the result and then showing how it happened – was totally unique. It wasn’t afraid to get weird, too, with those surreal, dreamlike sequences. Honestly, I think it laid the groundwork for a lot of the mind-bending, puzzle-box dramas we see on prestige TV today. Everyone talks about Twin Peaks as being influential, and it absolutely is, but I’d argue that The Prisoner was the first to really do a lot of these things – it’s the original, and so much of what followed wouldn’t exist without it.

Wow, everyone was trying to watch the new show Pluribus as soon as it dropped! It was crazy – it actually seemed to overload Apple TV, with thousands of people reporting issues. Seriously, it felt like we were all thinking the same thing – we had to watch it right away! And the response has been amazing – everyone’s loving it!

The addition of this character, and the choice of actor to play him, is more than just a great casting – it’s a game-changer that promises to fundamentally shift the focus of Villeneuve’s Dune trilogy. Scytale isn’t a typical villain; for those familiar with the books, he’s a cunning and layered character whose power lies in manipulation and psychological complexity, not brute force. Seeing Pattinson take on this role is incredibly exciting, as he consistently delivers nuanced performances that perfectly capture the ambiguity, inner life, and unpredictable nature this character requires.

Dane Trachtenberg contributed to the stories of Prey and Predator: Badlands alongside Patrick Aison, and worked with Micho Robert Rutare on Killer of Killers. He also produced both Killer of Killers and Badlands. Trachtenberg has done more than just refresh the Predator franchise; his three critically praised films have effectively resurrected it.