Netflix’s Tudum event returned this year with a frenzy of new trailers and announcements. The global event was held live from Brazil, early Sunday, bringing teasers for the much-anticipated live-action adaptations of the swashbuckling pirate animes One Piece and Avatar: The Last Airbender, whose last real-life adaptation was a glorious mess. Gal Gadot, Alia Bhatt, and Jamie Dornan star in an action-fueled trailer for Heart of Stone, while Zack Snyder fans are treated to a behind-the-scenes look at his upcoming space opera Rebel Moon. The biggest highlight, however, has to be 3 Body Problem, Netflix’s adaptation of the acclaimed sci-fi novel by Liu Cixin.
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All these and more were announced at the Netflix Tudum 2023 event — here’s a compilation of the biggest ones:
One Piece
Based on the iconic manga and anime from Eichiro Oda, a live-action adaptation of One Piece has been gestating for years now, with Netflix finally picking it up in 2020 with a 10-episode order. The teaser evokes the sense of the introductory chapters — East Blue Saga — wherein the protagonist Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) heads out on a quest to form his own pirate crew, recruiting the likes of the green-haired swordsman Zoro (Mackenyu), the enigmatic thief Nami (Emily Rudd), the loudmouthed Usopp (Jacob Romero Gibson), and the uber talented romantic chef Sanji (Taz Skylar).
The teaser offers a brief glimpse at the villain Buggy D. Clown as well, alongside Luffy stretching his arm out for the Gum-Gum Pistol attack. One Piece sets sail August 31 on Netflix.
3 Body Problem
From the creators of Game of Thrones – David Benioff and D. B. Weiss – comes 3 Body Problem, an adaptation of the Chinese author Cixin Liu’s book, wherein a young woman’s fateful decision in 1960s China reverberates across space and time to alert a group of brilliant scientists in the future. It’s essentially the story of an impending alien invasion that spans decades, with the original novel claiming the Hugo Awards, and several other nominations, including the Prometheus Award. 3 Body Problem is slated to release in January 2024.
The Archies
Zoya Akhtar welcomed us to her reimagined world of The Archies, which is billed as a musical drama set in the swinging 1960s in India. It stars Agastya Nanda as the titular redhead Archie Andrews, Suhana Khan as the pompous Veronica Lodge, Khushi Kapoor as the kind-hearted Betty, and Mihir Ahuja as the gluttonous Jughead. The film finished production in December last year and still does not have a release window.
Berlin
Netflix has served a teaser for Berlin, the Money Heist spin-off series focusing on the origin of the iconic jewel thief Andrés de Fonollosa/ Berlin, who constructs a series of heists across Europe with the biggest prize in an auction house in Paris. However, he also has his eyes set on another prize – a mysterious woman who happens to be the wife of the person he’s trying to rob. Things get complicated when Berlin falls in love with her, complicating things with his loyal crew. Money Heist Berlin is eyeing a release sometime in December.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
It’s hard to wash away the horrid memories of M. Night Shyamalan’s adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which heavily steered away from the source material. No footage was shown for Netflix’s take on it, but you’d naturally expect it to correct the faults of the previous one. However, I’m not feeling too optimistic about this one, considering its showrunners and creators of the franchise Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko departed the project due to creative differences in 2020. Meanwhile, Netflix remained committed to the series, which comes out sometime in 2024.
Heart of Stone
Gal Gadot, Alia Bhatt, and Jamie Dornan lead this action spy thriller that’s billed to kickstart a franchise akin to Mission: Impossible. In it, an intelligence operative Rachel Stone is racing to stop a hacker from stealing a nefarious world-threatening MacGuffin known as ‘The Heart.’ Gadot signed an eight-figure deal (in dollars) for Heart of Stone, while Bhatt makes her Hollywood debut. The film drops August 11 on Netflix.
Rebel Moon featurette
So far, we’ve only gotten to see glimpses of Zack Snyder’s space opera through images, but this featurette gives a sense of the tonal aspects and the atmospheric scale of it all. In Rebel Moon, an enigmatic young woman Kora (Sofia Boutella), sets out on a mission to seek out warriors from nearby planets to help take a stand against an oppressive empire led by the Regent Balisaurus. The film will be divided into two parts, with the first one slated to release December 22. Snyder has also planned additional explicit cuts of both films that are intended strictly for adults and will be released at a much later date.
The Witcher season 3 clip
Young Ciri (Freya Allan) runs into some bandits in this brief clip from The Witcher season 3, only to be saved by her adoptive father Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill) and the powerful sorceress Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), leading to a portal-warping fight sequence. As the elves enter the scene, Geralt partakes in some intense swordplay, occasionally casting the Quen sign to shield himself and Aard to blast foes away in pure synchronicity. This season marks Cavill’s final stint as the monster hunter before Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games) takes over from season 4 onwards. The Witcher season 3 Vol. 1 releases July 29 on Netflix.
Squid Game season 2 cast announcement
We still don’t know much about how Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-Jae) plans to exact his revenge on the Front Man and his organisation that was responsible for the deaths of 455 players who participated in a series of life-threatening games for the big pot of money. Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has been quite secretive about the second season of Squid Game but has revealed four new faces that would be joining the new cast – Yim Si-Wan, Kang Ha-Neul, Park Sung-Hoon, and Yang Dong-Geun.
Squid Game: The Challenge
The global phenomenon Squid Game was turned into a reality show, with reports of some harsh injuries on set. In the brief first-look clip, we see that the sets from the show were recreated from scratch, including the giant doll from the Red Light, Green Light game. A total of 456 participants from around the world were chosen for the reality spinoff, and they will compete until one victor emerges — winning $4.56 million (about Rs. 33 crore).
All The Light We Cannot See
Based on the award-winning novel by Anthony Doerr, All The Light We Cannot See thrusts two teenagers, Marie-Laure (Aria Mia Loberti) and Werner (Louis Hofmann), against the backdrop of World War II, as they share a secret connection that becomes a beacon of hope during those dark times. Mark Ruffalo (Zodiac) and Hugh Laurie (House) also star in the limited series, which is written by Steven Knight, best known for Peaky Blinders.
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