The Week of the Cast Photo; Han Solo, ‘Alien: Covenant,’ MST3K and ‘The Predator’

Ever since Disney and Lucasfilm released that now legendary black-and-white image of the first table-read for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, studio PR heads have taken notice. This week, the world was given not one, but four new cast photos for upcoming, geek-relevant releases…

Untitled Han Solo Star Wars Story

The next Star Wars Story release is the currently untitled young Han Solo adventure film due out on May 25, 2018.  This week, the studio released a cast photo celebrating the start of principal photography at Pinewood Studios in London. The photo showcases the films directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (I’m a huge fan!) alongside a cast that includes Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke, Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian, Thandie Newton (not pictured), Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca. Sadly, absent from the photo are the film’s writers, Lawrence and Jon Kasdan, who have penned what is sure to be an adventure-comedy-space-opera for the ages.

Alien: Covenant

There is no way I can name everyone in this cast photo released by the producers of the new Alien film, but I can certainly point out Michael Fassbender, Danny McBride, Billy Crudup, Katherine Waterston and James Franco. This is officially Ridley Scott’s follow-up to The Martian, which has quickly moved its way onto my favorite films of all time list. Plus, I included Alien: Covenant in my list of the “can’t miss” movies of 2017, so it should be clear that this one has my chest bursting with excitement.

Mystery Science Theater 3000 Season 11

Could Netflix possibly get any better? The answer continues to be a yes, as the company constantly releases a barrage of original programming for literally every taste. On Friday, April 14th, the 14-episode revival of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 premieres after a successful crowd-funding campaign in 2015. The cast photo is a geek’s’ dream, featuring Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt as the Mads, Hampton Yount (who is voicing Crow T. Robot), Jonah Ray, Baron Vaughn (who is voicing Tom Servo) and show creator Joel Hodgson. Rumored guest stars for this new season include Jack Black, Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris, Jerry Seinfeld and Mark Hamill. April can’t come soon enough!

The Predator

On his Twitter feed this week, director Shane Black revealed a partial cast photo for The Predator. Shane Black is one of, if not the best action filmmaker working today. He’s done everything from Lethal Weapon to Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys, so when he says he is making an R-rated, non-reboot Predator film, don’t write it off. The cast photo features Sterling K. Brown (This is Us), Trevante Rhodes (Moonlight), Keegan-Michael Key (Key and Peele), Boyd Holbrook (Narcos), Olivia Munn (X-Men: Apocalypse), Jacob Tremblay (Room) and Black himself. There have been rumors circulating that Arnold Schwarzenegger could in some way reprise his role from the first Predator film, but judging from his absence, maybe not. Fun fact, Shane Black made a brief appearance, as an actor, in the original Predator film in 1987. The Predator is due out next February.