Author: Trafficblast

BioWare was once working on a first-person, space-faring Mass Effect game for Nintendo DS, but the project was eventually disbanded.

Talking to MinnMax, ex-BioWare producer, Mark Darrah, spoke about the game – called Mass Effect: Corsair – and revealed what the project was intended to be. “It was going to be a DS game, it was going to be first-person, you’d fly around a ship,” he said. “We were going to put it out in a part of the galaxy that was more pirate-y and not really fully explored.”

“It was going to kinda be a combination of Privateer and Star Control,” he continued. “You would be independent, you’d be more like a Han Solo character, not a Spectre. And you’d be flying around, picking up cargo, exploring, and sell that information back to the human Alliance.”

By that description, it sounds as if Corsair was planned to take place in Mass Effect’s Terminus Systems; a sector of lawless space beyond the reach of the Council and the Earth Systems Alliance. Players would have had control of their ship, and been able to engage in space combat.

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Not much had been put together when BioWare hit a stumbling block, though. “Pretty much all we had was the beginnings of the flight controls, we didn’t have the rest of that game put together,” said Darrah. “We were figuring out how it worked from an IP perspective, still.”

That stumbling block was the DS itself; more specifically its cartridges. “The problem is that the economics of the Nintendo DS are just terrible,” said Darrah, explaining that the cartridges needed for Mass Effect: Corsair cost $10.50 each. And with DS games retailing at $30, it meant very little money for development costs after the cartridge has been purchased and localisation paid for.

“That was the problem, ultimately,” he said. “We know how to make big games, not games that had control of their cogs. It didn’t make sense. EA was predicting we’d only sell 50,000 copies.”

Darrah said that the team on Mass Effect: Corsair eventually transitioned to mobile, and the creation of Mass Effect Infiltrator, a third-person shooter made for iOS, Android, and Blackberry.

For more from BioWare’s sci-fi galaxy, check out our Legendary Edition reviews of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. BioWare also recently revealed the fate of the planned Mass Effect movie.

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Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer.

The NCAA has approved legislation allowing college athletes to earn profits from their name, image, and likeness, according to an NPR report.

Previously, college athletes had limited compensation packages for things like scholarships or other forms of educational payments. Under new laws, however, college athletes can now make money performing activities professional athletes engage in. This includes things like endorsement deals, signing autographs, and social media content. This may also include college sports games, like EA’s college football title possibly launching in 2023.

We’ve reached out to EA for comment and will update should we hear back.

NCAA president Mark Emmert said it’s “an important day” for college athletes and that the organization will “work with Congress” to enact more widespread legislation.

“This is an important day for college athletes since they all are now able to take advantage of name, image and likeness opportunities,” Emmert said. “With the variety of state laws adopted across the country, we will continue to work with Congress to develop a solution that will provide clarity on a national level.”

The last college sports game was NCAA Football 14. There hasn’t been a college basketball game from EA since 2009, with both franchises unceremoniously ending in the same year thanks to the O’Bannon v NCAA lawsuit.

Development on Electronic Arts’ upcoming college football game, which was announced back in February, is only just getting started, according to the publisher. It will feature over 100 teams and replicate their logos, stadiums, uniforms, and gameday traditions; however, EA is not working with the NCAA at all on the new game due to various ongoing lawsuits and these legal proceedings. This is also why the company is doing away with the “NCAA Football” branding moving forward.

Thor: Ragnarok didn’t just break the mold for its stoic hero, it shattered it like Hela did Mjolnir. Director Taika Waititi is set to do the same with his second go-round in Thor: Love & Thunder, and Karen Gillan’s Nebula will be part of that “bonkers” atmosphere, the actress said in a new interview with Collider.

“Taika really brought out the bonkers side [of Nebula],” Gillan said. “I think everyone is just really, really funny and bonkers and wild.”

Nebula joined the MCU in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. As Gamora’s sister and Thanos’ daughter, she was a major antagonist for the Guardians and later the greater MCU as she struggled between loyalty to Thanos and then to Gamora, finally breaking out of that mold in Avengers: Endgame. While the Guardians movies are undeniably funny, Gillan has always had to play it straight as the dour cyborg. While the overall atmosphere of Thor: Love & Thunder is wild, Nebula probably won’t be the one making the jokes.

“I don’t know if it’s [personal] levity,” Gillan continued. “Like I don’t think she’s finding herself funny or being funny, but in her seriousness I think we will find her funny, and just that pure aggression that we’ve tapped into.”

Thor: Love & Thunder wrapped filming earlier this month according to Chris Hemsworth, and is currently scheduled to hit theaters on May 6, 2022. The film has an equally bonkers cast. Along with stars Chris Hemsworth and the returning Natalie Portman, a number of Guardians characters including Nebula, Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) will appear; we’re expecting to see other mainline Guardians as well. Christian Bale will play Gorr the God Butcher, and Russell Crowe will graduate from gladiator to Greek god as Zeus in the film. The Asgardian Actors are returning as well, including Matt Damon and Sam Neill as Loki and Odin, who appeared in the play scene in Thor: Ragnarok. Melissa McCarthy will join them as Hela.

Going directly from the Legendary Edition of Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2 is a dramatic change. Where the first game can still look and feel a bit janky, the second now plays like a fully modern third-person, cover-based shooter that, thanks to its 4K upgrade, looks almost good enough to have been released for the first time in 2020 rather than 2010. Its gunplay may not be the best of its kind, but it’s certainly fun enough to keep battles interesting throughout the length of the campaign. Of course, far more importantly, Mass Effect 2’s story and characters are top-notch and memorable, building on BioWare’s already amazingly well constructed science fiction universe and culminating in what is – without hyperbole – one of the all-time best finales in gaming history.

The improvements in the Legendary Edition are largely graphical – the 4K textures are almost as sharp as a modern game, though I spotted things like guns or random props that looked a little blurry here and there. Granted, the facial animations don’t compare to the motion-captured performances we see in games like The Last of Us Part 2 or Spider-Man: Miles Morales, but they’re a step up from the first game and good enough to not distract from what’s happening on screen. Playing on Xbox Series X, it ran flawlessly at 60fps (my TV’s not quite capable of 4K/120Hz, but EA says Mass Effect is), with the biggest visual problems I saw amounting to some small animation glitches. The same powerful photo mode is available throughout all three games in the trilogy too, and Mass Effect 2 is a great way to take advantage of it, being a significantly better-looking game than the original. (It’s quite annoying, though, that the Series X’s Quick Resume is not supported, so my kid’s obsession with New Super Lucky’s Tale meant I had to go through the start screen every time.) 

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Outside of that, all of the DLC is now integrated into the campaign in a way that’s much smoother. Having a bunch of stuff unceremoniously dropped into my inventory because I bought something never felt good, and having to use credits to buy them at in-game stores instead is literally a small price to pay for better immersion. There are some visible seams around where the DLC was welded in, however – it’s still very noticeable that the two permanent companions that were added, Kasumi and Zaeed, are less conversational than the rest of the team once they’re on your ship. 

I also greatly appreciated the tweaks made to the planet scanning and mining minigame – it’s still fairly tedious to manually scan over globe after globe looking for minerals to use on upgrades for your ship and gear, but slightly less so thanks to conveniences like the markers that show where you’ve already launched a collection probe. And it’s still preferable to driving around empty worlds in the Mako in the first game.

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Part of why Mass Effect 2 holds up so well is its unusual structure. Its main quest is to stop a group of aliens who’ve been abducting entire human colonies, but the real meat of it is building your team – first (usually) by recruiting them and then with a second mission in which you earn their loyalty and unlock their extra skills. Each one of the 12 characters (including returning favorites Garrus and Tali) has an interesting backstory to delve into, and they’re all different and distinct. Even though there are several stories that deal with family, resolving Jacob’s quest to find his father is completely different in tone from those involving Samara’s daughter, Miranda’s sister, or Thane’s son. Meanwhile, Kasumi’s mission is a short heist, while Jack’s is a jailbreak and Grunt’s is a straight test of combat befitting of a krogan warrior. The arrogant and hilariously blunt salarian, Dr. Mordin Solus, stands apart as a breakout new character. All of that variety in the stories it tells is one of Mass Effect 2’s great strengths, and being able to choose which order to do them in and which characters to bring with you on each mission is just enough openness to make me feel like I was in control of the story.

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Through these encounters and conversations with your squad afterwards you get to know these characters well by the end of the roughly 40-hour story, and that means when their lives are legitimately endangered in the finale there’s real tension to it – especially knowing that the consequence of making the wrong choice is that those characters will be absent from the sequel if you carry over your save file. It’s masterfully done, and that final mission remains unsurpassed in my mind, even 11 years later.

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Even though I remember being somewhat disappointed with the choice back in 2010, history has validated BioWare’s decision to almost completely abandon inventory management in favor of a simplified system where you simply pick your squad’s guns from a list of weapons available to each class. Especially with a larger roster of companions, the thought of collecting enough gear to individually equip all of them with weapons and armor seems like it’d be a major chore.

Likewise, the switch to using ammo instead of the original Mass Effect’s weapon cooldowns is a change I’m fairly neutral on. It can force you to vary your weapon use in prolonged fights, but the large amount of ammo that drops from enemies and unlimited use of biotic and tech abilities from you and your two squad members meant that was rarely a problem (and this was playing on the Veteran difficulty setting).

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Combat works well in large part thanks to weapons that all look and sound powerful when fired – especially my Vanguard class’s favored heavy pistols. There’s also a substantially wider variety of enemies to shoot at this time; you don’t even encounter the main enemy – the Collectors – until you’ve already spent a good number of hours fighting mercenaries, robots, Geth, and more, and their AI can put up a respectable fight. Controlling your squad in combat is simple, but positioning them doesn’t seem all that important unless you’re playing at the highest difficulty level; I rarely bothered because they were usually smart enough to stay out of harm’s way while also contributing to the battles. Their main usefulness is their powers, which you can use as though they were your own. I had a lot of fun using a biotic character like Miranda or Jack to bowl over a group of enemies with a shockwave, then simply shooting them while they were down and out of cover.

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During this playthrough I went out of my way to make every Renegade decision I could, often taking a “shoot first, wound the hostage” approach to conflict resolution and ruffling feathers wherever possible. I’d never played this way before, and it certainly gave things a different flavor than what I remembered from playing as a male Paragon when it first came out. Sure, it was a significant pivot from my Shepard’s behavior in Mass Effect 1, which was mostly Paragon but with an occasional tough-love edge to her, but the surprising intro sequence that leads to Shepard being recruited into the pro-human, borderline-terrorist organization Cerberus more than justifies a personality shift for the character if you choose to go that route.

Working for the Illusive Man has its advantages, such as an entertaining performance from Martin Sheen, who creates enough ambiguity about his true motives that he fills the role of a nuanced villain without actually being Shepard’s antagonist. He also provides a fancy new version of the Normandy that comes equipped with an AI (voiced by Battlestar Galactica’s Tricia Helfer) who banters with Seth Green’s Joker in the pilot’s seat. In fact, it’s a constant delight to spot all the recognizable actors who populate the Mass Effect universe, including Yvonne Strahovski as Miranda, Carrie-Anne Moss as Aria, Lance Henriksen as Admiral Hackett, Shohreh Aghdashloo as Admiral Shala’Raan, and Michael Dorn as Gatatog Uvenk, among many others.

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One thing Mass Effect could never seem to get right is its vehicles. Despite jettisoning the Mako, Mass Effect 2’s Firewalker DLC added in the Hammerhead hovercraft, and it’s only a slight improvement that is fortunately used sparsely in optional missions. Zipping around in the Hammerhead is an okay change of pace from on-foot combat, but rarely more than that – all you can do is jump, shoot, and hover over glowing spots to collect things. The missions where you fight enemies are annoying because of how fragile your shields are, but it becomes a non-issue when you realize you can easily blast targets from such a distance that they can’t fight back.

Overall, I can’t give you the precise number of hours played on my save file because a bug resets the clock every time you load it up. But when you factor in all of the DLC missions – which are mostly excellent and included a couple of lengthy and involved episodes I’d never gone back to play before – it’s easily over 40 hours if you go out of your way to do as much as possible before going into the final battle, as I did. The vast majority of those hours are outstanding.

Warning: Full spoilers follow for Loki: Episode 4.

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Wow (Owen Wilson voice, if you’d like), what an episode of Marvel’s Loki!

“The Nexus Event” completely changed the game and, needless to say, it’s left us with a ton of questions.

Which makes it perfect for Slackin’ Off!

Yup, this is where we once again check in with Loki and toss around a few friendly theories and questions that have been the topic of interoffice Slack Channel chatter. Episode 4 utterly broke the TVA, revealing the Time Keepers to be nothing more than Chuck E. Cheese animatronics spouting off a supreme overlord-style spiel. As Agent Mobius slowly began to trust Loki again, and follow up on the claims that the TVA are lying liars who lie, it was also revealed that Judge Renslayer was in on the cosmic con and knew all along that the Time Keepers were nothing more than a stylish ShowBiz Pizza band.

Also, like we thought last week, those pruning wands don’t kill people or erase them from existence. They simply send you somewhere else. But where did Loki land after getting wanded? It seemed to be some sort of ravaged city (New York?) that functioned as a depot for dumped Loki Variants, including “Classic Loki” (Richard E. Grant), “Kid Loki” (Jack Veal), and “Boastful Loki” (DeObia Oparei).

Oh yeah, and a wee Croco-Loki.

So let’s bust apart “The Nexus Event” and try to untangle some of the remaining mysteries. With only two episodes left, there’s little time to lose. Here are some of our thoughts and theories. Oh, and be sure to drop your own take on Loki’s premiere in the comments — and don’t forget to vote in our poll at the bottom of the page!

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Question: What Was Sylvie’s Nexus Event?

Okay, so young Lady Loki wasn’t always a threat to the Sacred Timeline. Played by The Walking Dead’s Cailey Fleming, Loki, who would go on to call herself Sylvie, was allowed to become a pre-teen. Then, all of a sudden, while playing with a toy ship, and pretending Valkyrie was fighting a dragon, she was scooped up by Renslayer and her hunters and her entire Asgard timeline was reset.

Near the end of Episode 4, Sylvie asks Renslayer if she remembered what her Nexus Event was. Meaning, what did she do that made her go against the Scared Timeline? Renslayer said she didn’t remember, though she may have known and just didn’t want to give Sylvie any sort of satisfaction. Or, you know, she’s just cold-hearted and truly didn’t remember any of it.

Logically, Sylvie’s mere existence couldn’t have been the Nexus Event because she was allowed to live for many years. She had to have done something, right? Or, could it be because of something someone else did? Or will do?

Theory: Loki’s Love for Sylvie Is Why She Was Chased by the TVA

Last week, we wondered if the Time Keepers were secretly all Loki Variants. Now that they’ve been revealed as robots, there’s still the question of who is behind them? Renslayer is a good suspect, though she seems more wary and scared of the situation (and ready to die there at the end) than someone who’s secretly controlling the TVA from the shadows.

Then there’s the Kang of it all. Kang is still very much on the MCU horizon so it’s just a question as to whether or not he has anything to do with this story (given his connection to Renslayer in the comics).

Of course, as we said above, a Variant Loki could be behind it all and they’re in charge of the TVA, having either created the TVA somehow or conquered the TVA long ago. And this TVA Loki could be pruning all other Lokis because – well – they want to be the last Loki standing. Though, if this were true, they certainly left Sacred Timeline MCU Loki alone.

Anyhow, “The Nexus Event” is also notable because Loki fell in love. With himself, yes. Sort of. He’s fallen for Sylvie and it’s an altogether new feeling for him.

Regardless, this connection, the feelings they have for each other, caused a very special sort of Nexus Event to happen. One that was seeable and detectable within one of the worst apocalyptic events on the timeline. So whatever this is, this love, it could be the reason Sylvie was targeted as a young girl. It was simply an attempt to remove the future object of Loki’s affections. The TVA, for whatever reason, wanted to eliminate Loki’s love.

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Question: Who Is Ravonna Renslayer’s Other Analyst?

This is still in play, by the way. It was even repeated again this week during the “Previously on Loki…” part at the beginning. Is Renslayer’s other analyst Kang? Is it the evil TVA-conquering Loki? What’s the deal with this cat? Whoever it is, they’re probably the one who is 100% contributing to Renslayer’s squirreliness.

Theory: Pruned Loki Is in a Loki-Conquered New York

Sure, the series is dealing with eons of cataclysmic extinction events but it’s hard to see a destroyed city and not immediately think it’s Manhattan after the Battle of New York. It even looks like Avengers Tower is in the background, or what’s left of it. So when Loki winds up in a new limbo-like dimension, surrounded by ruined buildings and devastation, it’s easy to formulate that it might be an alternate reality where Loki won the war and New York totally fell.

Obviously, this city was still pruned from the Sacred Timeline but it’s also a place holding a handful of Loki Variants. Perhaps all ones who tried to invade Earth with the Chitauri in some fashion?

Or maybe this is New York but the government succeeded in wiping it out with the nuclear blast? The one that Tony Stark prevented from happening?

Either way, we’re all here for Alligator Loki’s attempt to ambush our planet with alien hordes.

Question: How Long Has Ravonna Renslayer Known About the Time Keepers?

How long has Judge Renslayer been in on the bit? One can assume this is how she was given a promotion from Hunter to Judge, but when did that happen? And when we see her in the flashback, nabbing young Loki and then having to face the Time Keepers after said Loki escapes, are the Time Keepers real at that point? Were they ever real?

Is this incident, where she lost Sylvie, the reason Renslayer knows about all the TVA lies? And if so, was she only kept docile because of her promotion or is there some other threat looming over her head?

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Question: Does Everyone Go to Their Own Variant Apocalypse Pocket?

Loki got wanded off to a place that was full of other Loki Variants (and may be Loki-related as a locale). Does this mean Mobius has been transported to his own private Mobius dumping ground? Does he see versions of himself from all across time and space? And are any of them played by his real-life brothers and/or riding jet skis?

Question: Who’s FDR High School Pen Is It?

Okay, we didn’t get a full visual callback to it in Episode 4 but Mobius for sure took a glance, once again, at Renslayer’s FDR High School pen as they were signing off on the Loki case documents. Back in Episode 2, Mobius mentions the Franklin D. Roosevelt pen and how he’d never seen it before, mentioning how it must be a gift from Renslayer’s other analyst. He eye-checked it again this week.

So is this actually Renslayer’s pen from her previous life, before she was scooped up by the TVA and had her mind wiped? And is this part of the bargaining chip for her cooperation with a corrupt TVA? Can she pop back into her old life? Or is the pen a symbol of someone else she cares about?

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Do you have any lingering questions or theories? Share them below, and vote in this week’s poll too! And for more on the show, check out the Loki release schedule, find out if there are Loki post credits scenes each week, and learn about how Loki evolved from Marvel villain to agent of chaos.

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The 2021 Call of Duty codename may have just leaked on Battle.net, and an accompanying logo offers clues for the setting for this year’s game.

According to Tom Henderson, Call of Duty 2021 has been added to Battle.net along with the name Slipstream. A logo was also included which shows the Slipstream name and a design that features the name filled in with a sky design. It’s unclear if Slipstream is the official title or just a temporary codename.

Call of Duty 2021 has updated on https://t.co/hsFaJ0phsm as “Call of Duty: Slipstream” with the attached logo. Looks very WW2 to me. pic.twitter.com/O35cusy2lW

— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) June 29, 2021

That there will be a new Call of Duty game this year is not new. For over a decade Call of Duty has reliably been an annual franchise, delivering a new game each year without fail even compared to other year franchises like Battlefield and Assassin’s Creed which have slowed down their pace.

The Slipstream codename and logo are reminiscent of fighter planes, potentially hinting at some kind of theme. But other than the project remains a mystery.

We do know that, again, Activision has confirmed a new Call of Duty game will be coming out this holiday, and that Sledgehammer is the primary developer on the title.

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However, last we heard, the code name for the project was called Vanguard, and reports from Eurogamer have said that it will return to World War 2, the setting for the last Sledgehammer Call of Duty game.

Call of Duty leaks are also a yearly occurrence, and folks usually find out the next entry before an official reveal. Last year, the Xbox store listing accidentally leaked the codename and logo for 2020’s Call of Duty which was The Red Door. The soviet-era reference eventually gave way to Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.

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Matt T.M. Kim is IGN’s News Editor.

Don’t Breathe 2 sees the return of Stephen Lang’s Norman Nordstrom back for more following the 2016 horror thriller. Now, eight years later, Norman seems to have found peace, having recreated the family that was stolen from him as he serves as a guardian to an 11-year-old girl, Phoenix (Madelyn Grace). When intruders attempt to disturb the life Norman had built for himself, the evil inside of him is activated, resulting in deadly consequences. 

With the sequel putting Norman as the protagonist of the story, many have questioned whether or not the character deserves redemption or if the character should be seen as a hero or anti-hero since he was the antagonist in the first film. In Don’t Breathe, Norman does some unspeakable things ranging from brutal murder to kidnapping to sexual assault. Yet, in this film, Norman seemed redeemed for protecting a little girl from people who want to do her harm. 

Don’t Breathe creators Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues revealed during a special footage Q&A on Tuesday in Los Angeles that Norman is ‘definitely not an anti-hero or hero’ in any sense. Alvarez wants the audience to determine how they feel for Norman and doubles down on the harsh truth about the character. 

“It’s tricky and it is difficult to navigate a character like this,” says Alvarez. “We have to, as writers, show empathy in a way to anybody.”

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Alvarez understands that it is hard to forgive Norman for the pain and suffering he had caused in the past, and he doesn’t want the audience to necessarily forgive him. By setting Norman up as the protagonist, Alvarez and Sayagues want to show more of Norman’s intimate moments and that he lies somewhere in the shades of grey area of the hero-villain spectrum. The true protagonist in the story is Phoenix and Norman serves as a ‘shadow’ figure protecting the child for his own reasons.  

“He has more of a protagonist place in the story, but the story is us putting it out there and letting you decide how you feel about it,” Alvarez explains. “Hopefully, he will challenge you and then you make the right call. It’s totally up to you to decide what that is. We really try hard to lay out the facts and not be biased and [not] force you to feel a certain way.”

Lang previously told IGN that his character is really complex and that although he does horrific things, there is a certain empathy for him. He shares, “Certainly, the blind man, certainly, there are many positives to the guy, but every positive in his life has been kind of broken in front of him and thrown in his face and what you’re left with–what you’ll meet–is a man who is deeply embittered and really teetering on the edge of an abyss. But, even in that darkness, the thing that we won’t talk about that he’s doing when you think about it in his own twisted way is a life-affirming thing. To me, it just bespeaks sadness. It just talks about how really sad he is. I think that operates on an audience. It produces empathy and produces sympathy even as you’re absolutely horrified by it.”

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Alvarez says no one knows the character as Lang does and that he has become the gatekeeper of Norman. “When [Lang] thinks about playing [Norman], he loves him. We know who [Norman] is. We admire some of the qualities, but we are aware of who he is and what he does. So, it’s always kind of back and forth [with Lang],” says Alvarez. “For us, it’s about how we frame the story. It’s great to have someone [like Lang]. He never judges the character. Good actors always say that we don’t judge the character. He definitely doesn’t when he’s playing it, but once he’s done, he’s like ‘[this character is] psycho’. He really tries not to and that’s why I think he comes alive on the screen.”

Don’t Breathe 2 stars Stephen Lang (Avatar, Tombstone), Madelyn Grace (Grey’s Anatomy), and Brendan Sexton III (El Camino, Black Hawk Down). It will be released exclusively in theaters nationwide on August 13.

“Stay out of his life.”

The first trailer for the Sopranos prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark is now out, and it promises a new and unique take on the world of the beloved HBO mob series. Set in the late ’60s and early ’70s, Many Saints will tell the story of Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), the father of the show’s Christopher Moltisanti who we only ever heard stories of from Tony and Chrissy prior to this.

Judging by the trailer for Many Saints of Newark, however, a young Tony Soprano will play a larger role in the film than fans might’ve expected, with the late James Gandolfini’s son Michael taking on the part from his dad. We spoke to the film’s director Alan Taylor, who also helmed some of the greatest episodes of the show (“Kennedy and Heidi”… oof), about how Many Saints connects Dickie’s world to Tony’s, what it was like casting Michael Gandolfini, and much more.

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A Dickie Moltisanti Movie or a Tony Soprano Movie?

It was intriguing that when the oft-rumored, seemingly unlikely Sopranos movie was finally announced, it was revealed that Dickie Moltisanti would be the central character. Christopher, who was Tony’s “nephew” and heir apparent on the show, never knew his father, who died when he was just a baby.

Despite the prominence of young Tony in the trailer, Taylor says that the new film is “absolutely Dickie’s story.

“He is, in my mind anyway, a kind of classic Sopranos man for all kinds of reasons, and that’s why we can explore all the same themes and tones through him that we know from the show,” says Taylor.

At the same time, the marketing department has to sell the movie, just as they have to sell any other movie, and so tying Dickie to the more familiar aspects of The Sopranos is integral to the film’s success. (Cue the “Woke Up This Morning​” theme song.)

“I think our interest in him, and… the audience’s interest in him, comes from the fact that he is the guy that most shaped the guy we all know and have a complex relationship to,” says Taylor.

Taylor later elaborated: “So to make that connection [to the audience] and convey this basic idea, we thought, ‘Okay, you know Tony. Or at least you’ve heard about him. What you don’t know is that this is the guy that made him who he is. And we’re going to tell you his story.’ So there is a kind of handoff within the trailer.”

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Indeed, we always knew that Dickie was a very important presence in Tony’s life and development. The show always gave the impression that Dickie was a mentor to Tony as much as Tony was a mentor to Christopher, and that Tony had an undying affection for him even all these years after Dickie’s death. (And by the way, Taylor promises that we will find out the full story of Dickie’s fate in the movie.)

“His relationship to Tony is key, for him and for Tony,” says the director. “But all of our stories in the movie, and there’s a few, all are grounded in Dickie. So his relationship with Harold, this character that Leslie Odom is playing, and the conflict between them — it’s very much Dickie’s conflict. And there’s a love story with this wonderful actress. And Dickie’s relationship to Ray Liotta is a huge part of the movie. So it’s all very Dickie-centric, but our way in, and even the way the movie starts is sort of taking us through Tony to Dickie.”

Which brings us to that last line in the trailer when Ray Liotta’s character says to Dickie, “Stay out of his life.”

“That is one of my favorite lines in the trailer,” says Taylor. “And I’m glad they ended it there, because what we’re saying is, ‘This relationship shaped Tony more than any others, and the best advice this guy got was to stay away from Tony.’ So it’s a loving family relationship, but it’s a loving family relationship in the Sopranos’ world. So…”

Casting Michael Gandolfini as Tony Soprano

The sad passing of James Gandolfini in 2013 seemed at the time to mean that a return to the Sopranos world in some form was unlikely (the series had ended in 2007). But the prequel setting of The Many Saints of Newark also gave Taylor and Sopranos creator David Chase, who also wrote the film with Lawrence Konner, a unique opportunity to cast Gandolfini’s son Michael in the role. It was also a stressful proposition for the director to make a Sopranos story without James.

“That was central to our conceiving of the movie, I think, and sort of like a touchstone in a way,” says Taylor. “And it’s not like we jumped off immediately and did that. We had been actively looking for the youngest Tony and for the more teenage Tony. But this idea was always sort of hovering there as a possibility for Michael before we even knew if he’d be comfortable doing it or interested. And then when we did decide to go that way, we put him through the ringer. We made him come in and audition and show that he could do it. And I was really happy with the audition he gave, but there was also this wave of, ‘My God, this is so the right thing to do.’”

Even the glimpses we get of Michael’s take on “teenage Tony” in the trailer indicate a performance that just might do what might’ve seemed impossible — to recreate the intense presence and aura of James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano.

“In our dinner, before we started shooting, [Michael] stood up and said he wanted to thank everybody for this chance to say hello to his father again, and goodbye again,” recalls Taylor. “And everybody fell off their chairs. But I think he became sort of the heart of the movie for us. And it made us feel like we were doing something right by having him there. He seemed to enjoy it and rise to the occasion. And there’s a few moments in the movie where you sort of see him become the character we know from the show. It’s really compelling.”

Of course, as the director says, you can’t tell Tony’s story without his mom being a big part of it. And Vera Farmiga is here as Livia Soprano, the complicated character from the show with an even more complicated relationship with her son. Taylor said that he actually shot more with Farmiga that didn’t make it into the theatrical cut of the film, and that he’d love to do an extended version at some point with that extra footage.

“There was some wonderful stuff that helps [you] understand her inner psychology,” he says. “But some of that fell by the wayside. She’s very important in his life. You get the dynamic [in the theatrical cut]. She’s younger and beautiful, and you still see a kind of flirty energy between her and [Tony’s dad] Johnny — in between the smashing plates and throwing pots and trying to shoot each other! You see this younger couple and why he was attracted to her. And you get a moment with her where you… It’s really sort of heartbreaking. The mothering impulse is there too, but you see this is before it was totally sort of curdled as time went on.”

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Taylor also drops some hints about the film that will surely have fans looking back at episodes of the show in a new light: “She has a crush on Dickie sort of, because Dickie is sort of the elegant one. And Junior can be jealous of the fact that Livia and Tony both seem to like Dickie more than him.” But also, Livia’s trajectory fits into the bigger scheme of Many Saints’ story and themes, including Dickie’s arc. “Dickie is somebody who’s really trying to change his cycle, and trying to change his destiny,” says Taylor.

“I think some people sort of drive each other crazier over time,” says Taylor. “And I think she and Johnny had a relationship that sort of curdled both of them. But it’s nice to see the glimpses that could have gone the other way. Livia didn’t have to turn out like Livia. We see a very concrete moment that could have changed Livia’s story in the movie. And Tony and Dickie are both involved in that. These people we know… We think we know who they are. This is just a reminder that it didn’t have to go that way, or did it sort of have to go to that? It’s the question of how locked in are we?”

The Many Saints of Newark will be released in theaters in the US on October 1 and will be available on HBO Max 31 days from the theatrical release.

Tilda Swinton is glad the controversy surrounding her casting as The Ancient One in Marvel’s 2016 Doctor Strange movie happened, citing that “sometimes, it needs to get messy” for things to get better.

Swinton’s remarks come as part of a larger discussion surrounding her role in Doctor Strange with Variety, who interviewed the actress about everything surrounding that controversy. This interview comes after Marvel Studios boss, Kevin Feige, commented on the same controversy last month.

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At the time of the controversy, Marvel Studios released a statement that said “the Ancient One is a title that is not exclusively held by any one character, but rather a moniker passed down through time, and in this particular film, the embodiment is Celtic,” as noted by Variety.

The statement went on to say that Marvel Studios was “very proud to have the enormously talented Tilda Swinton portray this unique and complex character alongside our richly diverse cast.” That remained Marvel’s stance on the matter until last month, when Feige said he regretted whitewashing the role, which has been historically portrayed by an Asian male.

“We thought we were being so smart and so cutting-edge,” Feige said. “We’re not going to do the cliché of the wizened, old, wise Asian Man. But it was a wake-up call to say, ‘Well, wait a minute, is there any other way to figure it out? Is there any other way to both not fall into the cliché and cast an Asian actor? And the answer to that, of course, is yes.”

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When Variety told Swinton that Feige had said that, she said was not previously aware of his comments, but that she is “very, very grateful that he said that.” She went on to admit that she did have a question mark in her mind when she was cast as The Ancient One.

“I remember at the time having a question mark in my own mind, and being attendant to the public response to the idea that a Scottish woman will be playing this character, and being aware that there was no resistance at all — there was widespread welcome — which shifted at a certain point, for very good reason with which I had an enormous amount of sympathy.”

Swinton said “conscious” criticism grew “righteously” and that now, she relishes the conversation between an audience and a film’s narrative.

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“The audience feels even more empowered to contribute to the narrative and to feel heard within the narrative, and that’s a really healthy social development.”

Swinton found herself in more controversy at the time after reaching out to comedian Margaret Cho, who is of Korean descent, to ask about why Asian people were offended by her casting, according to Variety. Swinton had never met or spoken to Cho, but seemingly reached out to Cho because of Cho’s Asian descent.

Cho said Swinton “wanted to get my take on why all the Asian people were so mad… and it was so weird,” according to Variety. Swinton then released the full email exchange between herself and Cho as a response and in it, Cho said Asian and Asian American stories “are told by white actors over and over again and we feel at a loss to know how to cope with it.”

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Cho later said that this email exchange made her feel like a “house Asian” as she was asked to essentially explain “whitewashing” to Swinton on behalf of all Asian and Asian-American people.

Swinton told Variety that her decision to reach out to Cho was “questionable,” “naive,” and “clearly confusing,” but that beyond starting the email exchange in the first place, she had “zero regrets” in regards to the conversation with Cho.

Despite that, Swinton admits that this email exchange and the wider Ancient One controversy that surrounded her was a “hot moment.” However, she’s grateful that it happened, despite it being a “hot, sticky, gnarly moment.”

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“But the way in which people get listened to is by speaking up and getting hot. And sometimes, it needs to get messy.”

For more about Doctor Strange and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, check out our thoughts on the movie that featured Swinton in IGN’s Doctor Strange review and then watch this video about how MCU fans spotted some Doctor Strange-related changes to WandaVision. Read about how Doctor Strange: In the Multiverse of Madness is inspired by Anthony Bourdain and Indiana Jones after that.

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Wesley LeBlanc is a freelance news writer and guide maker for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @LeBlancWes.