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There’s a high chance that Cersei Lannister will die in the last two episodes of Game of Thrones. The only way she’ll live is if she somehow kills basically every other character on the show, almost all of whom want her dead, from Jon Snow and Daenerys to Arya and Sansa.

Episode 5, the penultimate episode to Game of Thrones’ Season 8, is shaping up to be a bloodbath, because after many episodes of restraining herself, Daenerys finally seems poised to act, thanks largely to Cersei’s provocations.

Dany knows that Jon has a stronger claim to the Iron Throne than she does. She’s lost nearly her entire Dothraki army, half her Unsullied army, and her longtime protector and friend, Jorah Mormont. She’s lost two out of her three dragon children. And The Mountain just decapitated her advisor and best friend, Missandei. If Dany was ever going to become the Mad Queen, even more dangerous than the one who currently sits on the Iron Throne, now would be the time. And Cersei would be a deserving casualty of Dany’s rage.

Mutually Assured Destruction

Cersei said in Season 1: “When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die.” That’s an oft-repeated quip, the type you see on the backs of Blu-ray cases and as the taglines on posters. But there’s a much more telling quote about Cersei that came courtesy of 2017 Grandmother of the Year Olenna Tyrell. She mused to Jaime Lannister, prior to her death, about why and how Cersei had beaten her:

“I did unspeakable things to protect my family, or watched them being done on my orders. I never lost a night’s sleep over them. They were necessary. And whatever I imagined necessary for the safety of House Tyrell, I did. But your sister has done things I wasn’t capable of imagining. That was my prize mistake. A failure of imagination.”

There is still time left for Cersei to shock and appall us–to make a play so despicable and beyond the pale that it is outside the scope of what her enemies can conceive. She already blew up the Sept of Baelor; she could blow up the rest of the wildfire that the Mad King stockpiled throughout King’s Landing, killing herself, her enemies, innocent subjects, or any combination of those groups. Whoever’s left standing may need to rebuild the city from the ground up, or abandon King’s Landing–and the Iron Throne–entirely.

Dany had a vision in Season 2, during which she saw a crumbling Red Keep and an Iron Throne covered in snow. For the longest time, fans believed the White Walkers would come to King’s Landing. But in light of their demise, theorists are reinterpreting the dream’s imagery. Perhaps the white flakes falling from the sky are not snow, but ash. And perhaps we are seeing the end result of an attack on King’s Landing.

The Pregnancy

Will Cersei’s pregnancy restrain her depravity? It’s unlikely. Time and again, Cersei has proved that she doesn’t plan ahead; she commits actions to solve her immediate problems without taking into account the repercussions. It’s why she empowers the High Sparrow to disgrace the Tyrells, and is later shocked when the Faith Militant attack her. It’s why she destroys the Sept of Baelor, killing the High Sparrow and Margaery, while remaining oblivious to the effect it will have on Tommen.

Cersei will not hesitate to do anything, no matter how extreme, because she will assume, rightly or wrongly, that she will escape unscathed. And if she’s cornered, facing death? The last time she was cornered at the end of Season 2, she was prepared to end her and Tommen’s life via poison, and nearly did so.

This is, of course, assuming that Cersei is pregnant in the first place. At the end of Episode 4, Tyrion appeals to Cersei’s maternal side—that by avoiding war, she can save the life of her unborn child. Cersei is unmoved. And this might imply, assuming that Cersei has any humanity left, that her pregnancy was a lie, and thus, she doesn’t have anything to lose.

Granted, the Cersei we’ve come to know over the past seven seasons would have taken the opportunity of that meeting outside King’s Landing’s gates to annihilate her enemies then and there, so maybe the ruthless queen really has changed.Either that, or the show’s writing has gone to hell, and we can’t expect the characters to act in predictable, logical ways anymore.

The Prophecy

In Season 5, we got a flashback to Cersei as a young girl, receiving a prophecy from Maggy, a witch who lived on her father’s lands. She says this: “You will never wed the prince. You will wed the king… You will be queen for a time, then comes another, younger, more beautiful, to cast you down and take all you hold dear… The king will have 20 children. And you will have three. Gold will be their crowns, gold their shrouds.”

All of these prophecies are either starting to come true, or already have. Cersei did wed the king, Robert Baratheon, who had many illegitimate children. Cersei did have three children by her brother Jaime: Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen, all of whom are dead. And lastly, she is queen, although Daenerys is poised to take her spot.

The show left out, however, the final line of the prophecy, from the book A Feast For Crows:

“And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.”

Valonqar is a High Valyrian word that translates to little brother. Assuming that this “little brother” kills Cersei–and that the ending of the show roughly approximates the end of the books–here are some theories about who that murderous little bro might be.

Little Brothers

Cersei has two “little brothers.” The first, more obvious candidate is Tyrion, who is both small in stature and younger than Cersei. He would have the motive to kill her, although the means and opportunity for him are less clear.

Jaime, despite being Cersei’s twin, is technically younger than her, because she was born first. He is currently heading back to King’s Landing. If he remains “loyal” to her and stays by her side, he could be in the best position to kill her—especially if she orders something drastic, like lighting the remaining caches of wildfire beneath the city.

Perhaps the valonqar is The Hound, who is consistently referred to as the younger brother in relation to his older brother, The Mountain. Assuming the two men fight each other in what has come to be known by fans as Cleganebowl, The Hound may also get close enough to Cersei to kill her, because The Mountain is acting as Cersei’s personal guard. Where she goes, he goes too.

And lastly, the valonqar could be Arya, who is the youngest surviving child of Ned Stark. Fans debate whether the term valonqar could be gender neutral (like Azor Ahai proved to be), but even if it’s not, Arya has been mistaken more than once over the years for a boy. Arya has also sworn herself to killing Cersei and is likely heading to King’s Landing at the end of Episode 4 to do just that.

Whoever kills Cersei, the audience won’t know until the very last minute. All four leading candidates will be in close proximity to her. Tyrion will be nearby as Dany’s advisor. Jaime is currently traveling to King’s Landing. And The Hound and Arya are also traveling to King’s Landing, having met up along the way.

Cersei has never been able to escape her fate before. It’s unlikely she’ll start now.

The mystery at the center of Detective Pikachu takes protagonist Tim and his buddy Pikachu all through Ryme City as the pair try to find out what happened to Harry Goodman, Tim’s detective father. Of course, things escalate as they get nearer to the truth, with sinister figures (and their Pokemon) trying to stop Tim and Pikachu from solving the case. Be warned: We’re about to explain, as well as spoil, the ending of Detective Pikachu, so read on at your own risk!

Things get a little confusing as the movie progresses, though. Tim and Pikachu, along with journalist Lucy and her partner Psyduck, discover a strange laboratory. It turns out that Howard Clifford, the founder of Ryme City, had the powerful psychic Pokemon Mewtwo captured and studied in that lab in order to discover the secrets of Pokemon evolution. Through their work on Mewtwo, the scientists discovered two things: the strange R chemical that’s key to the mystery, and a Mewtwo power that nobody previously knew about.

At the climax of the movie, Tim learns the truth about what’s happening: Howard is obsessed with Pokemon evolution and wants to find a way for humans to evolve into better versions of themselves. He intends to beat his degenerative illness (and to become the ultimate Pokemon fan) by using the newly discovered Mewtwo power to transfer his spirit into a Pokemon’s body. Yup, his plan is to take over the body of a cartoon animal with magic powers.

Howard doesn’t just plan to Pokemon himself, though. He also transfers everyone else’s spirit into their Pokemon, too. Why would he want to do that? That’s a very good question. Anyway, let’s press on.

As Howard explains it to Tim, there’s an obstacle to transferring the humans into their Pokemon–it can only happen when the Pokemon are in a wild, crazed state. That’s the real reason for the R chemical: R causes Pokemon to lose control of themselves, and in the process, to lose their sentience. When the R chemical freaks Pokemon out, it leaves them open for the spirit transfer.

The thing is, Mewtwo doesn’t really want to cooperate with this plan. It escaped from the lab at the start of the movie, with the help of Harry Goodman and his Pikachu. As the detective pair fled the lab, Howard sent his genetically modified Greninja Pokemon to attack Harry, causing his car to crash and leaving him for dead. Mewtwo, grateful for Harry and Pikachu’s assistance in escaping, came to their aid, and Pikachu volunteered to let Harry’s spirit take over his body, in order to save Harry’s life after the crash.

That’s why Detective Pikachu can talk throughout the movie. (Why he can only talk to Tim is maybe some kind of father-son bond thing? Let’s just go with it.) It also explains Detective Pikachu’s amnesia and why he can’t remember how to use his Pikachu powers. All through the movie, Detective Pikachu is actually Harry, who can’t remember being human.

When Tim and Detective Pikachu find Mewtwo in the middle of the movie, they accidentally lead Howard (and Howard’s Ditto, posing as his son Roger) straight to the powerful psychic Pokemon. Howard recaptures Mewtwo and uses a special helmet on the Pokemon that allows him to take control of Mewtwo with his mind. Then, Howard dispenses the R chemical that he’s hidden in the Pokemon parade balloons, zapping all the Pokemon in the city and making them wild. Finally, he uses Mewtwo’s powers to transfer all the humans’ spirits into their Pokemon.

Luckily, the R chemical doesn’t affect Detective Pikachu, because he already had Harry’s spirit inside him. That allows Detective Pikachu to fight Howard-as-Mewtwo and win. That allows them to break Howard’s control over Mewtwo.

Once the plot is uncovered and Mewtwo is back to normal, it uses its powers to undo everything Howard did, separating all the human spirits from the Pokemon and restoring everyone to normal–including Harry.

In the end, Howard Clifford is arrested for his plot to turn put an entire city of people into Pokemon bodies, Mewtwo gains his freedom, and Tim and Harry reconcile. Most everything is wrapped up, except for a few dangling threads, like what happened to those huge, genetically modified Torterra who could annihilate Ryme City with a fart, or those genetically modified Greninja who have repeatedly attempted to murder people on Howard’s orders? And where’s Mewtwo headed with the power to turn people into Pokemon? Could he zap the spirits of people he doesn’t like into anything else, like rocks or trees or lamps?

Maybe those are cases for Harry, Tim, and Pikachu to solve at some later point. Hopefully, before anybody is killed, accidentally or on purpose, or turned into furniture.

Detective Pikachu is in theaters now. Next, read our full Detective Pikachu review. Then check out how Ryan Reynolds originally wanted to play Pikachu–it could have turned out very different–and all the Pokemon Easter eggs, references, and inside jokes we spotted. We also have a video breakdown, a report from Detective Pikachu’s movie set, and the Pokemon Go tie-in event that’s happening this week.

The Detective Pikachu movie features one of the most powerful and popular Pokemon in existence: the genetically engineered, psychic cat monster Mewtwo. This is hardly the legendary Pokemon’s first big screen appearance, as Mewtwo took center stage in the original Pokemon movie, Pokemon: The First Movie – Mewtwo Strikes Back, as well as others. But you wouldn’t exactly expect Detective Pikachu, a live-action movie based on a 2016 game, to tie in directly with that 1999 film.

Of course, you’d be wrong. Warning–there are Detective Pikachu spoilers past this point!

Mewtwo may be at the center of Detective Pikachu’s mystery, but the movie eventually reveals that he’s not actually the villain. That might seem surprising, given how the psychic Pokemon has been portrayed in the past–until you realize that this is the same Mewtwo that appeared in the original Pokemon anime and movie two decades ago. He’s no big fan of humans, but given all his experiences with us over the years–including his encounters with Ash, Pikachu, and friends in the animated movies, in addition to the events of this film–Mewtwo is starting to come around to us.

The little tidbit in Detective Pikachu that reveals this crucial tie-in with the original Pokemon movie is easy to miss. When Tim (Justice Smith) is sleuthing around the Clifford Enterprises lab with Lucy (Kathryn Newton) and Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds), he comes across a fancy holo-recording that documents Mewtwo’s study and the events leading up to the Pokemon’s escape. In the recording, Dr. Laurent (Rita Ora) states that Clifford Enterprises captured Mewtwo after the Pokemon escaped from the Kanto region 20 years earlier.

Obviously, that’s significant. The Kanto region is where the first generation of Pokemon games (Red/Blue/Yellow) and anime took place, including the scene from the original show in which Mewtwo blew up Team Rocket’s headquarters and flew away. That led directly into the first movie’s plot, where Mewtwo lured strong Pokemon trainers to an island in an elaborate plot to prove its dominance (a story that was significantly changed in the transition from Japan to Western audiences). Clearly, the Mewtwo in Detective Pikachu is meant to be the very same Mewtwo who escaped Team Rocket’s clutches and later encountered Ash and his friends.

Detective Pikachu director Rob Letterman told GameSpot that he was eager to tie this movie in with the larger series, despite its many obvious differences. “I really wanted to connect it to the overall Pokemon universe,” the director explained. “It’s not meant to be a one-off thing, it’s meant to be a part of and expand the overall Pokemon universe.”

Letterman was especially interested in connections to the first Pokemon movie, Mewtwo Strikes Back, and not just because of the obvious connective tissue of Mewtwo’s prominence in both films.

“There’s a lot of references to that because that was the first Pokemon movie I watched with my kids, so that one was important to me, and Mewtwo plays a big role in this film,” the director said, pointing out even more similarities beyond the Kanto reference: “There’s a lot of nods to that, even in the opening–just the air bubbles in the containment chamber the Mewtwo is in are crafted after the anime air bubbles from the opening of the first movie. There’s a lot of subtle hints in there that connect us to the rest of the universe.”

In Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow, players could capture Mewtwo from a cave that was only accessible after they beat the Elite Four. In the anime and animated movies, Mewtwo rarely reappeared in any major way after the first movie, besides a 2001 TV special called “Mewtwo Returns” and a role in the 2013 film Genesect and the Legend Awakened, where the psychic cat is much friendlier to humans.

Is Detective Pikachu a direct sequel to Mewtwo Strikes Back? Not exactly, but it’s certainly safe to say that it’s set in the same universe. Mewtwo still isn’t crazy about people, but it’s clear that his days of “kill all humans and take over the world” are over.

Detective Pikachu is in theaters now. Next, read our full Detective Pikachu review. Then check out how Ryan Reynolds originally wanted to play Pikachu–it could have turned out very different–and all the Pokemon Easter eggs, references, and inside jokes we spotted. We also have a video breakdown, a report from Detective Pikachu’s movie set, and the Pokemon Go tie-in event that’s happening this week.

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Although it’s still not enough to make a definitive confirmation, we now have another clue pointing to the next Call of Duty game being Modern Warfare 4. Or rather, five more clues.

The LinkedIn profiles for at least five former Infinity Ward developers show they are back with the Modern Warfare studio. Each of them has a history with the Modern Warfare series. Infinity Ward animation director Mark Grigsby worked on the first two Modern Warfare games, as did game designer Alex Roycewicz, multiplayer design director Geoff Smith, and studio art director Joel Emslie. Infinity Ward founder Zied Rieke–who left the company after working on all three Modern Warfare games–has returned as gameplay director.

All five men have had lasting impacts on Call of Duty. Grigsby helped define Call of Duty’s weapons, even creating the popular knife melee attack in Modern Warfare. Both Roycewicz and Smith designed some of the franchise’s most memorable multiplayer maps, such as Modern Warfare’s Overgrown and Wetwork. Emslie designed some of the more noteworthy characters and items in Call of Duty, such as Ghost and the ghillie suit. Rieke had a huge effect, being the one responsible for designing the original team deathmatch spawn logic in the first Call of Duty and the flashing regenerating health system in Call of Duty 2–both of which continued to be implemented in and influence many Call of Duty titles.

Prior to taking on their current roles at Infinity Ward, each of the five were contributing their talents to other games. Grigbsy, Roycewicz, Smith, and Emslie were all at Respawn, working together on Titanfall and Titanfall 2. Rieke was at Respawn during development of Titanfall, but then went on to found Darwin Game Studio in 2012 and then join Naughty Dog in 2013 before returning to Infinity Ward.

Infinity Ward is the developer behind 2007’s Modern Warfare, 2009’s Modern Warfare 2, and 2011’s Modern Warfare 3. It’s long been suspected Infinity Ward would be the next developer to release a Call of Duty title, as per the pattern of studios working on the franchise. That’s now been confirmed (the Call of Duty game the studio is working on is even already in a playable state).

Rumors that Modern Warfare 4 would be the next Call of Duty game first surfaced when Infinity Ward senior communication manager Ashton Williams dropped a hint pointing back to the series. However, neither Infinity Ward or Activision has provided more than hints as to whether the rumors are true.

Activision has normally unveiled the title of each Call of Duty game in May, so we might be getting some form of announcement soon and then further details and a gameplay reveal at E3 2019. We don’t know much about the new Call of Duty other than that it will include a traditional single-player campaign, unlike last year’s Black Ops 4. Activision has also confirmed the game will have a “huge expansive multiplayer world” and “fun co-op gameplay.” Given that Call of Duty has enjoyed a wealth of multiplayer modes in the past though, ranging from the objective-based Zombies to battle royale Blackout, these descriptions could mean anything.

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