Spider-Man Clone Saga Show Looks Risky, but the Game of Thrones Movie and Tom Holland's Fred Astaire Film Are Shaping Up Well

Prime Video is developing a Spider-Man Clone Saga show built around Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker, and I think it is a really risky bet with a poor creative choice behind the camera. Meanwhile the Game of Thrones movie is officially happening, with a release date in 2029, and Sabrina Carpenter has joined Tom Holland's Fred Astaire movie as Ginger Rogers. I think the Game of Thrones movie is shaping up really, really well, and I am excited about the Fred Astaire film.

Before I get to those three stories, a word on two others. The pending studio merger officially became approved today, but beyond a couple of decisions I don't think there has been enough development to cover it again so soon. On Star Wars, Jon Watts, who directed the Sony Tom Holland Spider-Man trilogy before Destin Daniel Cretton came on, is now going to do a Star Wars film. I looked, and there was so little interest in Star Wars across the board. If I covered it, I would just say a lot of negative things, and it is getting tiresome being negative about Star Wars all the time. I don't really think there is much positive to say about that film right now. Let's see if casting can pique our interest.

Sony's Spider-Man mania has led Prime Video to a Clone Saga show

Spider-Man: Brand New Day made so much money that everybody wants in, and I think Sony's answer is more Spider-Man content. They're playing a dangerous game. Part of what makes it strange is how spread out Spider-Man is: the movies are at Sony, he sometimes teams up at Disney and Marvel, there are the games, there is a show on Disney Plus, and Prime Video has its own deal for other Spider-Man characters.

Prime Video developed Silk, but it never happened. Then it made Spider Noir, which a lot of us really loved. It won some Emmys and did okay in the ratings, but not well enough to offset its price tag. The rumour was 400 million dollars for a show that hardly had any action. That is nuts; they could have made a great movie for that. When it was cancelled, the message was that Prime Video was not giving up on Spider-Man, because it had another show in development that was very close to being announced. That show is this Clone Saga series.

Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker lead, with no Peter Parker allowed

I have not read the Clone Saga. It is a very old comic with that old school writing. I have tried going back to older comics for my coverage, like the original Thanos comics, and couldn't do it. I like the newer style better, the way Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns changed comics and made them, to some degree, more cinematic. As big an X-Men fan as I am, I cannot read Chris Claremont comics either.

Even so, the Clone Saga is one of the most famous storylines in Spider-Man history. Even if it hasn't stood the test of time for some people, you respect it. It recurs in his current comics: whenever a clone of Peter Parker or a version of Ben Reilly or Kaine Parker shows up, as a comic book fan I always recognise it as a reference to the Clone Saga.

The show plans to focus on two clones. Ben Reilly takes his first name from Uncle Ben and his surname from his aunt's maiden name, and Nicolas Cage actually plays a Ben Reilly in Spider Noir. I forget where Kaine comes from; I think it is a take on the Mark of Cain or something like that. They are kind of the good and bad clones of Peter Parker. When Ben met Peter, they both thought they were the real Peter Parker. Kaine is a little bit like Loki: scarred inside and out, sometimes a villain, sometimes an antihero, depending on his mood. There is no Peter Parker, because they are not allowed to use him, and I believe the show has been described as live action.

Significant changes and a showrunner I see as a mismatch

The plan is to make significant changes. They can't have Tom Holland, and they can't tell the original story because it was Peter Parker centric, so they are really taking the name and the theme. That raises my big question: how is it the Clone Saga if they are not clones of Peter Parker? Are they at least clones of each other? Maybe someone is cloning Peter's powers. I will be curious to see what they decide.

The most worrying thing to me is that the show is written by Kelvin Yu, creator of American Born Chinese. That show was very all ages, very High School Musical. We knew Lanterns would deliver when they announced Chris Mundy from Ozark and Damon Lindelof from Watchmen, because at the very least it would have something interesting going on. I don't think this showrunner matches who will want to watch this, especially if they go darker. Amy Pascal, Phil Lord and Chris Miller are expected to executive produce. I don't think it is animated; nothing says it is, and I would be shocked if it were.

Why Tom Holland is unavailable, and why I would cast Andrew Garfield

Tom Holland is going to film the Fred Astaire movie next year, I believe, and he is a producer on the Spider-Man films now. He is going to be all in on Fred Astaire, so he won't really be available to develop another Spider-Man movie. I think having him on the creative team made a big difference, so I would wait for him. Destin Daniel Cretton has also signed on to do Hawaii Five-0 as a movie. You want to keep that team intact, so maybe after those two projects you get another Spider-Man film. Holland will probably show up in Secret Wars, and it will be interesting to see how he balances that with the Astaire shoot.

No casting has been announced. I would cast Andrew Garfield. Everybody loves him and feels he never got a fair shake, I am sure he is available, and I think he would do this. If he played Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker, I think it would do quite well. One actor in both roles would be more expensive, though, which brings back the question of how the cloning even works here.

Sony tried giving its villains solo movies and it did not work out. I'm nervous for Clayface because DC for some reason follows the same model. But it did work with Miles Morales: the Spider-Verse movies have been extremely successful and even won an Oscar. As for what the point of this show is, I think it is to give you some Spider-Man while Tom Holland plays Fred Astaire. Everyone will try the first episode, even if it looks awful.

Asked whether a Spider-Man show led by a woman, like Silk or Spider-Gwen, could work, I think projects led by women are in a tough space right now. With so many Spider-Men already out there, a Spider-Woman competing for space would be a real uphill battle needing incredible casting. Maybe a supporting role could introduce one. Spider-Gwen has been very popular in the Miles Morales films, but she isn't the lead. I also don't know why they didn't make a Catwoman show. And Madame Web went too far the other way by being all women, which I think was a mistake.

The Game of Thrones movie is confirmed for June 1, 2029

It was confirmed yesterday: the Game of Thrones movie is definitely being made, and I think it is shaping up really well. Fan interest in the big screen goes back to 2015, when the last two episodes of season four were released in IMAX, the first time a television project was shown on the big screen that way. A lot of people hoped the final episode would play in theaters. It didn't, though I attended a charity screening event for it, and we all sat there with jaws on the floor because it was so horrible, but it would have been amazing to have that experience in theaters. More finales have reached theaters since, like The Boys, which was also not good. It is hard to end a show.

The date is June 1, 2029. I do wonder if David Ellison is the one who pushed this over the top, because he likes big, bold commercial films, and Warner Bros. is in a holding pattern as it gets ready to be swallowed by Paramount. Maybe it came from the top. Summer is a weird choice to me. Game of Thrones feels like a December movie, a Star Wars or Avatar style release, but Disney has a death grip on that window and even moved in on Dune's spot. If I couldn't get winter, I would take fall. It is not totally weird, since House of the Dragon came out in summer, and I really loved its last season.

House of the Dragon season four is set for 2028, so that series will be finished by then, which I think is good. With A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms too, it gives you roughly one Game of Thrones project a year: not too much, not too little. I think they are handling the franchise exceptionally well. As for Memorial Day 2029, nobody has claimed it yet. Maybe that's because Disney usually releases then, and nobody wants to fight Disney these days.

Aegon the Conqueror brings three giant dragons and a marriage problem

The movie tells the start of the Targaryen dynasty with Aegon the First. Everyone on the show names their kid after him or a variation on his name, but it all comes from him. Even better, he had three dragons, and as House of the Dragon tells us, it is all about how many dragons you have. They are Vhagar, so old she has been around the whole time the family has, plus Balerion and Meraxes. On the size chart, Vhagar is enormous and Balerion is even bigger. Those dragons look like they need a movie screen, and it will be fun to see Vhagar in her prime.

The tricky part is that Aegon is married to two women who are his sisters, one younger, one older. That is classic Game of Thrones, but I don't know if a movie theater is the same as television. If I am trying to get my parents to see this and have to warn them the hero is married to his two sisters, they are going to ask what I am watching. I honestly don't know if the movie can get away with it, and I would advise them against it. But the purists will object if they change it, so they are in a tough scenario.

It also needs action and scope beyond the show, which is already grand. Watching the last season, I thought those sets were incredible for a show, and season three of House of the Dragon did a good job with the dragons. Maybe we get more advanced dragon riding. I am curious about the budget, and I think it has to be rated R. I can understand the argument for PG-13, but I think a lot of people would feel shortchanged. I don't think they need to tone it down; it is so popular that it should be an event you feel you can't miss, even if you don't follow the shows.

Casting: Robert Pattinson for Aegon, unknowns for the rest

Does the movie need a star? One suggestion was to go with unknowns and save the money for the screen, and that is not a bad idea in my opinion. "Game of Thrones has never needed stars. Game of Thrones has made stars." Yet a movie is a movie, so it is a tough call. Unknowns worked out exceptionally well for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and I hope they use the same casting director.

Some of you want Henry Cavill, but I keep thinking about how wonderful Matt Smith has been as Daemon Targaryen, the one star they put on House of the Dragon, doing a lot of heavy lifting. I think Robert Pattinson has a very similar vibe, and if anyone could get away with marrying his sisters, it would be him, because he is so zany. He is booked and busy, but maybe he would take a pay cut. I might want a star for Aegon and unknowns for everyone else. Sam Reid would be a wonderful choice too, but he is already very famous for Interview with the Vampire and wouldn't be a new discovery, so I probably wouldn't go with him.

Owen Harris and Beau Willimon give the film real pedigree

Owen Harris is directing. He directed half the episodes of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and I think he did a phenomenal job: really poetic, like a medieval storybook come to life. Everyone loved that show, so he will get a lot of support. He doesn't seem to have a lot of feature experience, but I think the shows in this franchise are very cinematic, which should help.

Beau Willimon is scripting, and he did House of Cards and Andor. It is a little scary that this is all television talent, considering how the Marvel 2025 slate performed with similar talent behind the camera, but if anyone can deliver, I think it is these guys. I feel pretty good about it. They should be getting ready to cast pretty soon.

I don't see a danger of ruining Game of Thrones the way Star Wars went, because they are still working heavily off the source material and are very loyal to it for the most part. Star Wars just became something else. I think this movie will be good. As for a trilogy, I think this is a test of whether the franchise can live both on the big screen and on television, like Marvel and DC. Game of Thrones is very valuable to HBO, so they won't want to damage it, and if it is just a test, I wonder how much they will spend.

Sabrina Carpenter is ideal casting as Ginger Rogers

When I heard at the end of last week that Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter had joined the Fred Astaire movie, my first thought was that Amy Pascal did it again. She is behind the Spider-Man franchise and is also doing James Bond with David Heyman, the Harry Potter producer, and she has done a wonderful job with Greta Gerwig and Challengers. She is one of the most powerful producers in Hollywood, yet we don't know what her voice sounds like. She has known Tom Holland since she cast him as a kid, and he has talked about reaching out to her when he struggles with his sobriety. She has given him this dream role, and Holland started out as a dancer with Billy Elliot on stage.

I couldn't think of better casting for Ginger Rogers than Sabrina Carpenter. She is not the first singer to try acting, and it hasn't always gone well; Cher and Lady Gaga started out very strong and then lost their way. But she has two incredible opening acts: Alice in Wonderland for Universal and now this. Ginger Rogers famously did everything Fred Astaire did, but backwards in high heels, and I think their dance sequences together will be very exciting.

Margaret Qualley is the casting I don't love

Margaret Qualley plays Astaire's sister, who I think was his original dance partner before Ginger Rogers. A lot of people liked her after The Substance, but none of her films since have done particularly well. I think she is not a star and actually brings the project down a little. With Tom Holland and Sabrina Carpenter, then Margaret Qualley, it suddenly seems like a music video, like someone cast all their friends.

Top Hat, the right ages and the one famous date

The film to watch in preparation is Top Hat, from 1935 with music by Irving Berlin, perhaps the most famous of the nine movies Astaire and Rogers made together. Although Astaire looks older, the ages line up: he was 36 when Top Hat came out and Rogers, I believe, was around 24, while Carpenter is 27 and Holland is 30. In real life they went on one date, and the report is they shared a passionate kiss, before becoming lifelong friends and partners. One of my favourite Astaire solos is his firecracker dance from Holiday Inn. Chris Evans was once going to play Gene Kelly, but I haven't heard anything about that, and I think returning for Marvel was the right call for him.

I am curious about the singing. Astaire could sing, and Top Hat has famous songs like Cheek to Cheek. I wonder if Tom Holland is a good enough singer; we don't have to worry about Sabrina Carpenter. The 1920s and 1930s setting also worries me, because I'd be nervous selling the 1930s to Gen Z, even with these two stars.

Paul King is the answer to the period problem

That problem will be solved by the director, Paul King, who made the earlier Paddington films and Wonka. Wonka is old timey, yet King made it very modern, and it was a successful film. I loved it, and I thought Timothée Chalamet did an amazing job singing and dancing. I expect a surrealist quality that will help modernise this, so people seeing clips on social media feel intrigued rather than that it is too dated. Amy Pascal really knows what she is doing, and I'm excited about this.

I don't think Holland is a guaranteed ticket seller yet outside Spider-Man, though this might push him over the top. I think he is a good actor, not a great one, at least the last time we checked, and I don't know if Carpenter has an Oscar winning performance in her; they are both very packaged. If I were them, I would aim for commercial success and let the rest follow. I hope there is no Taylor Swift cameo, which I think would pull focus. And I wouldn't want to see Holland and Carpenter paired again afterwards, or her joining the Spider-Man films.

A few quick takes

I don't think The Mandalorian and Grogu performed very well at home; I think it was a pretty big miss. Digger really has a lot of haters, but I think Warner Bros.' ad campaign embracing the controversy is brilliant, and I think it is an incredible, beautiful film worth seeing in theaters. Christopher Abbott said the applause at D23 was muted and he took it to mean nobody knew him. We all knew who he was, and when he was confirmed as Professor X, a lot of people, including me, were disappointed. I don't think East of Eden will sell you on that casting, but maybe.

Should the Game of Thrones movie keep Aegon's marriage to his sisters, or is that a step too far for a theatrical audience?