Movies & TV The Vampire Lestat A Bus Full of Ghosts: The Vampire Lestat, “The Devil’s Road” “The wheels on the bus go me, me, me …” By Molly Templeton | Published on June 29, 2026 Image: Sophie Giraud/AMC Comment 0 Share New Share Image: Sophie Giraud/AMC While I find many things about the vampire Gabriella quite frustrating at this point in this (otherwise excellent) season, I do have to admit that there is something funny about a vampire rock star on the road who is calling, incessantly, for his mother. It’s funny-weird, not funny-ha-ha. It’s tragic and lonely. It’s fairly upsetting.  And it made me think back to the beginning of this season, and to why Lestat’s elaborate recorded diary begins when it does. It’s not the start of his tour. It’s not when he first learned about Daniel’s book. It’s not even the first attempt on Lestat’s life. It’s the moment Gabriella shows up—well, with a little prelude, first, so that we know what he’s been dealing with. This “omniscient history” picks up when Gabriella, with her tiresome interest in evil, enters the scene. Is there an evil older than you? she asked Armand last week. (“Just checking” cracked me up.) Now she’s on about creating Dante’s hell on earth. Perhaps I am a little jaded given the current state of world affairs, but that seems sort of… boring. And every time anyone mentions the Great Conversion, I think about what they’re going to eat. We’ve been given plenty of hints, what with Killer’s bathtub snacks and the reference to a blood farm, but I can’t help it: I hear Spike from Buffy calling humans “Happy Meals with legs.” It’s a weird relationship: We become them, but then they still need us. The would-be murderer’s manifesto was not entirely wrong. (I hate saying this. I hate murderer manifestos.) But because this is The Vampire Lestat, and because this is Lestat’s version of history, and because this man is narrating his own dissolution, I am withholding judgement. I am waiting to see what exactly we’re doing here. I am waiting impatiently, and excitedly, and with a slight edge of worry. But I also have a reasonable amount of faith. And also a lot to talk about. This week’s narrative dances especially compellingly from Lestat to Daniel to Louis and back again, and I think I want to take each little thread of story and pull it loose from the rest this time. First: Alex. Alex who doesn’t call this guy he met his sponsor, no, he’s not using that word. But the guy is like a god. The guy took away all the shit that Alex had been unloading on his bandmates and friends. Alex, bud, do you mean this, like, literally? Did Armand go fishing in your mind and take the big fish home for dinner? Alex has not come clean to his bandmates about his new pal, but he also doesn’t look the least bit surprised when Lestat calls out the vampire Armand mid-concert. He knows who he’s dealing with. Or he thinks he does. Image: Sophie Giraud/AMC I have a lot of questions about Armand and his amends-making tour. The first is practical: making amends is step nine. I know we haven’t seen Armand for a minute, but how long has he been going to meetings? Was this actually a regular thing or just something he did while stalking Alex? Does he mean any of it or is he just borrowing the language and process of recovery to seem more sincere? (Also: what higher power does he appeal to? What does he think he’s addicted to?)  Because I love the way Assad Zaman turns Armand’s fragility to ferocity in a split second; because I love that wide-eyed gremlin stare; because I am a sucker for exactly this kind of character, I want to believe him. But I don’t. I’m not really supposed to: Armand has rarely given anyone any reason to trust him. And if this is all Lestat’s story, then Armand’s amends are even more suspect.  Still, there is sincerity there. I can’t decide if there’s more of it with Daniel or Lestat, but at the same time, in both exchanges, Armand does something that calls all of the rest of his words into question. With Daniel, it’s the way he talks about love. It’s his denial that there was any theater in their exchanges in Dubai, and that he says it was not love for Louis that made him behave the way he did there. It comes out of left field and it effectively disarms Daniel—who has, until that moment, really had it in for Armand in both their interactions, vicious and angry and blaming the vampire for literally every problem in Daniel’s life. Daniel’s professionally antagonistic personality goes to 11 when he turns it on Armand. Everything is personal. His transformational trauma is on full display. Eric Bogosian in full rant mode is a beautiful thing to see—especially when you can see how much it takes out of Daniel to do that. There’s no satisfaction anywhere. Image: Sophie Giraud/AMC (I know that these two are canon in the books. I just don’t think we’ve seen anything on the show to sell the idea. Yet. But, of course, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.) With Lestat, Armand undermines himself at the end, when Lestat already knows exactly what he’s going to say about how he ought to stop playing music, stop putting himself out there, stop everything because it’s dangerous. This is why Armand turns up on the tour bus. He can’t take his eyes off Lestat, but he’s also perfectly willing to leave his letter—written from the depths of his soul! So full of flattery!—behind so long as he can get that little warning off.  Armand keeps his true motivation close. Lestat says Armand will do more damage than the Queen (capitalized in the subtitles; he’s always talking about Akasha) ever did. Or has he done that much already? What does he think, in that gleefully awkward concert scene, when someone yells “Armand told the truth”? Despite my iffiness about Gabriella, I have to return to the question I always return to: Is this really her? Or is this Lestat’s version of her? There’s so much here that I cannot get a handle on, because Jennifer Ehle’s performance is so slippery. And because from Lestat’s perspective, everything she does is about him.  Image: Sophie Giraud/AMC Or, you could say, everything she does is about using him. She leaves him alone, she comes back, she makes him miss her, she makes him beg for her to come back; she fucks with his head (and his body double); in flashback, we see that she’s been having extravagantly loud sex in his earshot ever since ye olden days. When he was a child, she was as close as he got to safety in his home. Once she became as powerful as him, she stopped being safe. The entire scene in the inn is distressing in concept, but the execution is breathtakingly horrifying: Ehle and Sam Reid play it so intensely, so viscerally, so nakedly.  A huge part of what makes this show so bold and powerful—beyond the messy immortal bitch drama; beyond the full-throated commitment to this season’s rock star lifestyle and incredible stage performances and lavish details—is the way it is committed to showing people containing multitudes. You can be an arrogant rock star and a wounded little boy, a murderous fiend and a heartbroken lover, a capitalist and a vampire, a vengeance-seeker stuck on grief, a manipulative schemer who longs for love and creates impossible art. Humans reinvent ourselves all the time. Vampires just get more time to do it. More versions of themselves to be. Gabriella, though, feels one-note. Manipulative, conniving, performing sultriness, withholding, alluring yet annoying. This show is too smart to have slipped, to have left her this way unintentionally, and so I am constantly trying to figure out why she feels so monotone. Is it because for Lestat, she is and can be only his mother, lover, basis for so many of his problems? Can someone with his screwed-up childhood ever see a parent as a full person—a person with her own traumas and terrible history—even when she’s explicitly rejected the role of parent?  It is actually, genuinely, impossible to talk about Gabriella without talking about Lestat, because the writers have so elegantly bound them up in each other. Mostly, what Lestat does this episode is come apart at the seams. He has his great little moment with the cop, and he throws himself full-bodily into that performance for and at Armand (in Baby Lu pigtails, no less). But half the time, his past bleeds into his present; the ghosts aren’t even just muses anymore, but minor figures, like a man he spoke to once in an Italian inn a century ago. He leaves the decision of which record label to choose up to Dee and dissolves into unstable chaos—though he does still manage to fend off Daniel, to whom he continues to lie about his mother.  Image: Sophie Giraud/AMC Lestat’s stories are carefully tuned. Nicki was his first love, not his great love. Louis was full of lies. And Gabriella certainly wasn’t the original wound in the core of his little vampire heart, the first one to leave him after professing her love for him. The beach where she did it butts into the episode repeatedly, the waves crashing, the night empty. It’s almost too pat, the way everything ties back to her abandonment, and the power she has when she comes back. I am forever waiting for the other chopped-off hand to drop. (Nicolas, meanwhile, ghosts moonily about and asks if he comes in third when Louis and Gabriella are missing. Nicki’s ghost is not having nearly as much fun as he was at last week’s concert.)  Lestat pulls himself together for the next show, and what we see of it is blistering and ridiculous. Every line of “Big Boss” is calculated to do the most damage to Armand’s psyche (“You’ve got a lot of rules for a theater kid.”) and the stage banter is even worse (“Look deep into his uwu Japanime eyes as he mind-cocks you off a cliff”). And Sam Reid just owns that stage. The physicality with which he embodies this role constantly astonishes me, whether it’s the fraught expression with which he stares at Gabriella or the way he powders that policeman’s nose or that cocky, luxuriant blood shower. Even just the way he sits (in that shirt with its blood-colored pattern!) while deflecting Daniel’s jibes. Every detail is masterful. The assassination attempt is quick and horrible and I’m really glad Christine isn’t dead. Lestat, not-so-mortally wounded, just keeps flashing back to his mother leaving him right after the planned world domination. Now, everyone leaves him again, or so he tells Gabriella when she shows up. (To be honest, I assume he sent them away for their own safety.)   Once again, Gabriella is not here because Lestat needs her, but because she wants something. She has been hanging out with “the voices.” The voices listen to Lestat’s songs. The voices think he is speaking to them. They are longing for communion. She just wants him back on stage—but for her own purposes. He’s a tool to her, like he always has been. And he’s so incapable of seeing through her maneuvering that he might just do what she wants, even if he doesn’t really mean to. Image: Sophie Giraud/AMC By the end he and the band are in the studio, finally making that album that he said they would make when they were ready. Is this before or after the last five shows? Did the last five shows get cancelled? Will there be a post-assassination attempt comeback in grandiose style? (I wouldn’t be mad if the show at the end of The Vampire Lestat, the novel, became the show at the end of The Vampire Lestat, the first season.) I wasn’t intending to save Louis for last, but this thread just wrecked me. The defining emotion of the end of Louis’ human life was grief for his brother. There’s an argument being made this season that the defining emotion or trauma of the end of every vampire’s human life remains key to their psyche forever: Lestat’s abuse and nonconsensual transformation at the hands of Magnus, Daniel’s rage at Armand, Gabriella’s warped feelings for her child-turned-savior.  Louis couldn’t do anything about losing his brother, or the way the rest of his family slipped away as they aged and he didn’t. He tried to do something about what happened to Claudia, but it’s pretty clear that none of the murders—not in Paris, not in Detroit—have brought him any peace. So he tries again, this time with the opposite tack. He tries making a connection. He’s damaged and hurting and haunted by loss, but he tries.  Image: Sophie Giraud/AMC But he’s kind of trying to play a player. Delainey Hayles is excellent in this role, entirely un-Claudia-like, brazen, observant: the minute Regina called out Louis’ cashmere sweatsuit, I started to notice just how nice, how perfectly cut, even his most casual clothing is. Against the chaos of Lestat’s unraveling, their moments in the diner have an almost refuge-like quality, even if it’s all fake. It’s all Louis projecting, and Regina trying to figure out what exactly this very rich, very gay man wants, if not her ass.  “It’s mental,” is her initial response to realizing why Louis is there. She kicks him out and tells him to turn into a bat (bless). But she’s canny and street-smart and she knows he’s the 566th richest man in the world (or thereabouts) and that this is an opportunity. And when she calms her face, stares directly into the camera, and says, “What now, Daddy Lou?” I shrieked. I thought he wanted company. I did not necessarily think we were headed to well-paid role-play. But it’s totally in keeping for Louis, who has been paying people for companionship as long as we’ve known him. But: Last week, when Louis went on his Talamasca-encouraged murder bender, there was no voiceover. It was not entirely clear if we were still in Lestat’s narration, though I assume everything this season is Lestat’s version of history. This time, though, Lestat sets up the situation, saying that “he who licenses or franchises the night” can work wherever he likes, so he works in this diner with this not-Claudia. “Being in the same space with her was satisfying in a way the destruction of the vampire Bruce was not,” Lestat tells us. “He told himself he was in control. We all did, that year.” Image: Sophie Giraud/AMC Two things to say about that: One, the swelling score that comes in for Louis’ last encounter with Regina is the same swelling score that happens when Lestat and Gabriella are making their plans on the beach, and we know how well that turned out for Lestat. And two: How does he know? I know this is the question for all of it. How does Lestat know about any of the things for which he is not present? But for some reason, the moments where he’s in Louis’ head jar me the most. It is an “omniscient history,” but how does our narrator become ever so omniscient?  Regardless, Louis’ experiment with Regina ends one of two ways: She becomes the vampire Regina, her own person with her own history of psyche-forming trauma, or she ages and dies. Maybe the latter would give Louis some sense of phantom closure.  LITTLE SIPS Image: Sophie Giraud/AMC The opening tour-chaos scene was all entirely great and I’m a little obsessed with the little red scarf-hood Lestat is wearing in it. Through the woods to encounter the big bad wolf? THE VAMPIRE BOURDAIN. I kind of can’t believe they put that in here. Two years ago, Playbill asked Bogosian about the Bourdain comparisons, and I loved his response: “I’d say both of us owe tribute to Lou Reed, in terms of black leather jackets, curly black hair, and that certain tone of voice that’s sort of baked in sarcasm.” The good doctor Fareed is reading Italo Calvino’s novel The Castle of Crossed Destinies, which is apparently a story in which a group of travelers lose the power of speech after passing through a forest, and thus try to communicate using tarot cards. A very interesting choice for a show in which everyone’s story is being filtered through one perspective, no? And our second Calvino reference so far. The voice at the end of the opening titles that asks “Do you hear that, Armand?”—who is it? Is it Lestat? It doesn’t sound quite like him. Adding “Chipottle” to the list of Lestat’s best pronunciations along with “Reddeeeet” and whatever the hell he did to Saskatchewan.  Whyyyyyyyyy was the Talamasca paying to push that video—”the deepfake Antichrist”!—to go viral? Can we get Raglan James back to answer some questions? “Can I eat this much cocaine?” Daniel announces his strikes with the names of Pulitzer winners. Dork.  It’s really very interesting that Armand says he can’t control the way everyone vanishes when he and Daniel are around one another. But he can wave off two followers on the street with a literal wave of his hand.  In case you want to know what Louis’ new penthouse theoretically looks like: this is Domino Square. The boss yelling at Regina sounds a lot like Eric Bogosian.  “Because you are a fuck cloud, Armand.”[end-mark] The post A Bus Full of Ghosts: <i>The Vampire Lestat</i>, “The Devil’s Road” appeared first on Reactor.

News Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction Here Is the Shortlist for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction Congratulations to all those selected! By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on June 29, 2026 Image by Wes Guderian, 1970 | Courtesy Ursula K. Le Guin Foundation Comment 0 Share New Share Image by Wes Guderian, 1970 | Courtesy Ursula K. Le Guin Foundation Today, the Ursula K. Le Guin Foundation announced the shortlist for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, a $25,000 prize given annually to the author of a book that reflects the concepts and ideas that were central to Le Guin’s own work. The foundation’s selected finalists are below. A panel of authors—Nicola Griffith, Mat Johnson, Fonda Lee, Darcie Little Badger, and Peter Rock—will select the final prize winner, which will be announced on Le Guin’s birthday: October 21, 2026. Here are the nine books shortlisted: Audition by Pip Adam (Coffee House Press) Sunward by William Alexander (Saga Press) Call and Response by Christopher Caldwell (Neon Hemlock) Midnight Timetable by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur (Algonquin) The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes (Tor Books) Notes from a Regicide by Isaac Fellman (Tor Books) Mad Sisters of Esi by Tashan Mehta (DAW Books) One Message Remains by Premee Mohamed (Psychopomp) Slow Gods by Claire North (Orbit) Since 2022, the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction has recognized authors who are “realists of a larger reality, who can imagine real grounds for hope and see alternatives to how we live now.” Last year, Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera won the prize. Congratulations to all those recognized! [end-mark] The post Here Is the Shortlist for the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction appeared first on Reactor.

News Starlog STARLOG Reveals What Fans Can Expect From The New Magazine, Podcast, and Newsletter The relaunched publication will be both a tribute to the legendary sci-fi magazine and an exploration of new frontiers By Matthew Byrd | Published on June 29, 2026 Image: STARLOG Magazine Comment 0 Share New Share Image: STARLOG Magazine STARLOG Magazine is making a comeback with a new group of exciting names at the helm of the legendary sci-fi publication. When it debuted in 1976, STARLOG magazine almost immediately established itself as a foundational part of the growing science fiction cultural movement. Though initially largely dedicated to all things Star Trek, the publication soon became a destination for interviews, critiques, and updates for the biggest genre works across all mediums. Multiple attempts to revive the brand were made ever since STARLOG officially ceased publishing in 2009, but nothing substantial has come from those efforts until now. STARLOG is officially relaunching as a multimedia publication consisting of a weekly podcast, weekly newsletter (the Lodestar), and an annual print magazine. The STARLOG podcast (hosted by Jordan Hoffman and Dave Gonzales) and the Lodestar newsletter officially launched last week and will continue to be released weekly moving forward. Both will cover ongoing sci-fi/fantasy news and retro genre topics, while the podcast will also feature a weekly interview. The print magazine will initially be published annually, with the first issue arriving November 13, 2026. Its new editor-in-chief Annalee Newitz (former editor-in-chief of io9 and author of works such as Autonomous, The Future of Another Timeline, and The Terraformers) tells Reactor that the new STARLOG magazine will include a variety of stories that pay tribute to the publication’s past while appropriately exploring new frontiers. “We’re focused on original reporting, in-depth essays, analysis, and interviews. We even have a poem!” Newitz says of the publication’s debut issue. “Of course we’ll have some Star Trek surprises (I got to interview one of my heroes!).” Newitz also says that the new STARLOG will pay tribute to the publication’s former spin-off series “Future Life” by featuring science stories that cover “everything from dinosaurs to lasers.” Ultimately, Newitz wants the new STARLOG to focus on the many stories, voices, and works you may not find through other outlets. “One of the important services STARLOG will offer readers is an introduction to authors and creators they might not already know, because the algorithm doesn’t surface them on major online platforms,” Newitz explains. “So we have several curated lists of cool new titles people should check out, especially ones that aren’t being promoted by the Big Content machines.” According to Newitz, the print magazine will be built entirely around freelance contributors rather than in-house writers. The debut issue of STARLOG magazine will include contributions from authors such as Mahmud El Sayed, Mike Chen, RU Sirius, Charlie Jane Anders, Mia Tsai, Janelle Shane, Evan Narcisse, Riley Black, C.L. Polk, and Josie Riesman. The cover art was contributed by Gabriel Yeganyan, whose concept art you may recognize from games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. STARLOG will be part of the FANGORIA network and share much of that publication’s staff. Said staff includes Senior Editor Meredith Borders, Production Designer Jason Kauzlarich, and publisher Abhi Goel. The podcast and newsletter are available now, and pre-orders for the first issue of the annual magazine will begin in August. Subscribers to The Lodestar newsletter will also receive STARLOG 50, a curated list of books and other media assembled by Newitz. As a welcome bonus/throwback, Newitz says you will also be able to purchase STARLOG’s debut issue at retail outlets such as supermarkets and comic book stores when it is released later this year. For more information (including where to subscribe to all of STARLOG’s upcoming releases) be sure to check out the official STARLOG website.[end-mark] The post STARLOG Reveals What Fans Can Expect From The New Magazine, Podcast, and Newsletter appeared first on Reactor.

Column Babylon 5 Rewatch Babylon 5 Rewatch: “The Fall of Centauri Prime” By Keith R.A. DeCandido | Published on June 29, 2026 Credit: Warner Bros. Television Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Warner Bros. Television “The Fall of Centauri Prime”Written by J. Michael StaczynskiDirected by Douglas E. WiseSeason 5, Episode 18Production episode 519Original air date: October 28, 1998 It was the dawn of the third age… The joint Drazi-Narn fleet is bombarding the shit out of Centauri Prime. Mollari gets a badly injured G’Kar out of his cell before that entire building is destroyed. On B5, Garibaldi reports to Sheridan about the bombardment—including that the Centauri Prime defenses are either down or away—and also that Delenn’s ship never made it to Minbar. In hyperspace, Lennier is working furiously on the damaged White Star to try to get something working so they can be found. On Centauri Prime, Mollari finds the Regent—and then he is finally read in on what the hell’s been going on, as he meets a Drakh. They were servants of the Shadows, but they were left directionless when the Shadows buggered off beyond the rim and left homeless when Z’ha’dum was destroyed. They came to Centauri Prime because the Shadows used this as a base. They manipulated events to make the Centauri pariahs on the galactic stage, and also leave them in such terrible shape that they would need the Drakh’s help to rebuild. The Drakh have also borrowed a page from Mollari’s playbook: they’ve placed fusion bombs all over Centauri Prime. If Mollari doesn’t do as the Drakh wish, they’ll set off the bombs, killing billions beyond the millions who are already dying from the Narn-Drazi bombardment. Sheridan arrives at Centauri Prime with a fleet of White Stars, and demands that the Narn and Drazi stand down. Na’Tok refuses, and points out that the Centauri fleet that was sent away is on their way back. They won’t care if the attack was authorized or not, and Sheridan can either join the fleet or get caught in the crossfire. Credit: Warner Bros. Television The Regent informs Mollari that the Regent himself is the scapegoat that will allow the war to end. After the Regent dies, Mollari will become emperor and he can order the fleet to stand down, saying that the Regent is responsible for all the awful things that have happened. Just before the Keeper leaves his shoulder and he dies in Mollari’s arms, the Regent admits that he has failed in his duties and responsibilities. Mollari goes to G’Kar. He doesn’t share any information about the Drakh, but he does say that the Regent is dead and is responsible, and that Mollari is now emperor—which means G’Kar can no longer be his bodyguard. Mollari also warns G’Kar that he will hear strange things about the emperor in the coming years. G’Kar says he understands, and also forgives Mollari for everything he’s done. Then Mollari goes to the Drakh, who extracts a Keeper from his person, which attaches itself to Mollari. The new emperor then calls off the Centauri fleet and surrenders to Sheridan, and declares that the Centauri Republic is withdrawing from the IA. Sheridan, in turn, demands reparations from the Centauri. Sheridan also informs Mollari of Delenn’s disappearance. In private, Mollari begs the Drakh to spare Delenn. In public, Mollari meets with Sheridan and agrees to rescue Delenn, but it is a favor he is doing that Mollari will call upon to return some day. Mollari also claims that the Regent bought the Shadow tech used on the unstaffed ships that assaulted the cargo ships on the black market. In hyperspace, the White Star has drifted off the beacon. As a last-ditch Hail Mary, Lennier fires the last of the weapons, hoping that will work as a flare. A Centauri fleet sees that and finds them. Thinking they’re about to die, Lennier confesses his love for Delenn, who replies, “I know”— —and then the Centauri tow the White Star back to normal space. Lennier thumphers, and Delenn lets him off the hook, pretending she didn’t hear what he said. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Sheridan and Delenn are reunited on Centauri Prime. Along with G’Kar and Vir, they watch Mollari’s inaugural speech, in which he blames the Regent for the recent unpleasantness—but also excoriates Sheridan and the IA for their attack and their demand for reparations. After the speech, Mollari urges them all to depart. He officially appoints Vir the Centauri ambassador to the IA. Sheridan and Delenn are understanding of his need to project strong leadership in light of what’s happened. Delenn also says she senses a darkness about Mollari. Mollari then walks alone to his official inauguration. Back on B5, Sheridan, Delenn, Garibaldi, Franklin, G’Kar, and Alexander meet to discuss the Shadow tech that the Centauri used. Franklin talks about how weapons from the Soviet Union went on the black market after that nation collapsed, and were later used to destroy San Diego. He worries about history repeating itself. When Garibaldi suggests going to the Vorlon homeworld to see what they can scrounge, Alexander unexpectedly says that the Vorlon homeworld is off-limits to the younger races for another million years—and Alexander has no idea how she knew that or why she said it. Get the hell out of our galaxy! Sheridan proves to be utterly impotent and useless, as everything that happens is despite his best efforts, not because of them. He also seems very upset that Mollari won’t treat him as a friend, but only as a fellow politician. If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Apparently, Mollari thinks highly enough of Delenn to beg the Drakh to allow him to rescue her. In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… The Centauri Republic ends the episode completely broken, utterly isolated, and under the secret control of allies of the Shadows. Though it take a thousand years, we will be free. When G’Kar thanks Mollari for saving his life, the latter is dismissive, saying G’Kar would’ve done the same for him. G’Kar replies, “Yes, but I am the better person.” The Shadowy Vorlons. Apparently, the Vorlons left their planetary defenses on, and also left an embedded message in Alexander’s brain to assure folks that they should stay away from their homeworld until they’re ready. No sex, please, we’re EarthForce. Lennier admits his love for Delenn when he thinks he’s going to die, and Delenn pulls a Han Solo and says she knows—then she lets him off the hook when they wind up not dying. It’s all rather tiresome…. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Looking ahead. More a “looking behind,” as the status quo on Centauri Prime that we saw in Sheridan’s jump forward in time in the “War Without End” two-parter is set in motion here, with Mollari being made emperor and receiving his Drakh Keeper. The Drakh also mentions wanting to do their work on Centauri Prime without interference from the IA or anyone else. At least one aspect of that “work” will be seen in A Call to Arms and Crusade when they unleash a plague. Welcome aboard. Back from “Movements of Fire and Shadow” are Wayne Alexander as the Drakh, Damian London as Virini, and Robin Sachs as Na’Tok. It’s the final appearance of all three in those particular roles. Alexander will be back as Lorien in “Sleeping in Light,” and also appear as a Drakh in the movie A Call to Arms and as Soul One in River of Souls. We’ll next see Sachs as Coplann in In the Beginning. Also Simon Billig makes the first of two appearances as a Ranger who’s there to give Sheridan someone to talk to; he’ll be back in “Objects at Rest.” Trivial matters. The first scene in The Long Night of Centauri Prime, the first book in the “Legions of Fire” novel trilogy by the late great Peter David, is the scene from this episode of Mollari getting his Keeper. The trilogy then continues the story of Mollari’s reign as emperor over the next several years. This episode has flashbacks to “Into the Fire” (Mollari using bombs to destroy Shadow ships, Morden rather prophetically swearing vengeance on the Centauri by the Shadows’ allies), “Born to the Purple” (Mollari and Adira in bed together), “The Parliament of Dreams” (Mollari getting very drunk), “The Coming of Shadows” (Mollari’s vision of him and G’Kar killing each other, G’Kar buying Mollari a drink), “The Long, Twilight Struggle” (Mollari watching the bombardment of the Narn homeworld), and “Darkness Ascending” (Delenn hugging a surprised Mollari). This is Damian London’s last on-screen appearance in anything. He turned 67 the year this episode aired, and he’d been acting since the age of 16, so he likely retired after this. He died in 2022 at the age of 91. Mollari first saw the Drakh in shadow when he stopped the prime minister from being assassinated in “In the Kingdom of the Blind.” The Shadows went off beyond the rim with the Vorlons and other First Ones in “Into the Fire.” Z’ha’dum was destroyed in “Epiphanies.” The Drakh’s animus toward Delenn was seen in “Lines of Communication.” In the framing sequence of the movie In the Beginning, which takes place a decade and a half after this episode, most of the windows in the palace are boarded up, so the emperor can’t see the devastation on Centauri Prime. Vir makes the suggestion to board the windows to Mollari here. In a rarity for this series, there was a “previously on Babylon 5” bit at the beginning to fill folks in, since the previous episode (a) ended on a cliffhanger, and (b) aired four months previous. In truth, the show should have done this on the regular…. The echoes of all of our conversations. “When we first met, I had no power and all the choices I could wish to make. Now I have all the power I could ever want—and no choices at all. No choices at all…” “Mollari, understand—I can never forgive your people for what they have done to our world. My people can never forgive your people. But I can forgive you.” —Mollari and G’Kar having a moment. Credit: Warner Bros. Television The name of the place is Babylon 5. “I am still Centauri, and I am not afraid.” It’s funny, when B5 was ramping up in the early 1990s, the thing I was most dreading were the Centauri. Most of the aliens looked sufficiently alien and interesting, particularly the Minbari and Narn. But the Centauri looked like something out of a low-budget 1930s movie serial with their big eyebrows and ridiculous hair and outrageous accents. On top of that, the two actors playing the Centauri in the opening credits were the guy who played Sid the Snitch on Hill Street Blues and the guy who played Flounder in Animal House. And then “The Gathering” aired, and Peter “Sid the Snitch” Jurasik’s Londo Mollari turned out to be one of the absolute best things about it. His lament to Garibaldi at how far the Centauri had fallen was magnificently written and delivered. Here we are now toward the end of the series’ run and, contrary to my initial expectations and fears, the rise and fall of the Centauri Republic over the course of five seasons has absolutely been the best through-line of the series. Yes, they still look ridiculous, and yes, those accents are ludicrous (and inconsistently applied). But the writing and acting has just been superlative, from people you’d expect it from (Turhan Bey, Malachi Throne, Majel Barrett, Lois Nettleton, Jane Carr, Ian Oglivy, Gerritt Graham, Julian Barnes, Carmen Argenziano) and from actors whose performances were a pleasant surprise (Wortham Krimmer, William Forward, Blair Valk, Damian London, Fabia Udenio, and, of course, Jurasik and Stephen Furst). This aptly titled episode concludes the Centauri arc in magnificent fashion. Jurasik perfectly plays Mollari’s helplessness as the noose slowly tightens around his neck without him able to do a damn thing about it. The only thing he manages to accomplish is save Delenn and Lennier’s lives. (That is, by the by, the only part of the episode I dislike, as the entire Lennier-loves-Delenn arc has been oogy and reductive and tiresome. Delenn’s speech shouldn’t have been letting him off easy and pretending she didn’t hear him, she should’ve told him to grow the fuck up and get over his big self.) The real tragedy of Londo Mollari here is that in the end he does what he’s always done: what he thinks is best for the Centauri people. This makes him rare among the aristocracy on his world—most of the people we see in that sphere are opportunists who are interested mainly in improving their personal positions. There are exceptions besides Mollari—Emperor Turhan, Urza Jaddo, Lord Jano—but they are few and far between, and, more to the point, they’re all dead. Every decision Mollari makes is dictated by his desire to prevent loss of Centauri lives. The Drakh’s planting of fusion bombs is a masterstroke, especially since they got the idea from Mollari himself, and it cuts off Mollari’s attempts to negotiate with the Drakh at the knees. He isn’t Cartagia who assumes that the destruction of Centauri Prime will elevate him to godhood or Lord Refa who will do anything for more power. He’s a patriot, who does what he does for his home and his people. Sadly, the best he can do is mitigate the damage, as the Drakh’s plan is far too entrenched and subtle for Mollari to be able to do much about it at this late date. He does manage to keep his personal relationships with G’Kar, Sheridan, Delenn, and Vir in a decent place, though he is forced to utterly trash his political relationships with the former three. And in the end, he sits on the throne, alone. Back in “The Hour of the Wolf,” G’Kar mused that Mollari was the loneliest person in the universe, and this episode bears that out. There were really only two people on Centauri Prime he trusts, G’Kar and Vir, and he sends them both away. In truth, this is all his own damn fault. Back in “Signs and Portents,” he gave a good answer to Morden’s “What do you want?” query, and in “Chrysalis,” he agreed to let Morden’s “associates” destroy Quadrant 37. Every awful thing that has happened since then derives from that moment when Mollari agreed to let Morden do him that favor. And now he sits alone on a throne with great power and no power all at the same time. It’s a bravura performance by Jurasik, magnificently aided and abetted by J. Michael Straczynski’s script and another superlative, spooky turn by London in his swan song, as well as Wayne Alexander’s magnificently creepy Drakh. This season has been hit-and-miss—and a lot more miss than hit—but what’s worked has been the stuff with the Centauri. Indeed, that has been the case from jump. These silly-looking people with their absurd hair and dopey accents and huge eyebrows have provided a brilliantly complex and nuanced political thriller over the course of these five years. Next week: “The Wheel of Fire.”[end-mark] The post Babylon 5 Rewatch: “The Fall of Centauri Prime” appeared first on Reactor.

Movies & TV House of the Dragon Fishfeed, Severed Heads, and Political Theater: House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 2 The cooler heads of an older generation meet violent ends, and Rhaenyra puts on a brave face… By Tyler Dean | Published on June 29, 2026 Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO After last week’s explosive premiere, this week seemed like it was going to be relatively quiet by comparison. Not so! This week offered up some huge twists and turns (and a few surprises for book readers as well). Spoilers for episode 2 below… The Title The title of episode 2 is the perhaps slightly too-on-the-nose “Queen’s Landing.” I enjoy a pun from time to time and this one is decent, but still—use them sparingly. At any rate, this title clearly refers to Rhaenyra landing at King’s Landing as queen. It’s a nice bit of historical parallelism: after all, King’s Landing is so named because it’s where Aegon I Targaryen first arrived in Westeros during his conquest. So here, Westeros’ first reigning Queen arrives at the same spot.  Were I to put on my college professor pince-nez and maybe stretch the metaphor a bit, I’d say that the name, simply by being such a clear inversion of a well-worn norm, evokes some of the struggle of Rhaenyra becoming queen—we hear “Queen’s Landing” and it sounds wrong. Such is the scale of the patriarchy that Rhaenyra must dismantle. Unraveling the Opening Credits The titles have added two key moments from the Battle of the Gullet. the first shows a duel between Sharako Lohar and the Sea Snake aboard a sinking ship. Blood pours from Lohar, indicating, as it always does with these titles, that the character has died. The second is of Jace, shot through with crossbow bolts, lying in the water, telltale blood soaking through the fabric.  Speedrunning the War Credit: Theo Whiteman/HBO The Dance of the Dragons is described by Archmaester Gyldayn as a major military undertaking, with a fair amount of space in Fire & Blood devoted to the movements of armies and minutiae befitting real-world military history (one of Martin’s pet interests). Obviously, House of the Dragon was never going to have the budget to showcase all of the various battles and skirmishes, and it would have been hard to make them sufficiently interesting or different from one another. It’s also telling that any extended military campaign in Martin’s books, though well thought out and meticulously planned, tends to unfold off-page. Gyldayn discusses the Riverlands campaign from the remove of more than a century. When Robb Stark fights his way through the Riverlands and the Westerlands in A Clash of Kings, we only hear about it as news reaches characters who are hundreds of miles away.  So, for the completionists among you, Ryan Condal et al. appear to have condensed three interconnected battles in the Riverlands into a single, massive one. At the Battle at the Red Fork (named for the “red” fork of the Trident River), the Lannisters fought Riverlander Lords Piper and Vance (the former of whom was one of the gaggle of riverlords that Daemon contended with last season). Lord Jason Lannister is killed by one of Piper’s men and his army flees East. A few days later the riverlord Joseth Smallwood defeats the Lannister bannerman, Lord Tarbeck the Battle of Acorn Hall. This leads to further Lannister retreat. Finally, Lord Roderick Dustin—called Roddy the Ruin (and played by Tommy Flanagan)—arrives from the North with his Winter Wolves and destroys the remainder of the Lannister host at the edge of the Gods Eye, killing Lord Humphrey Lefford (who we saw joining Jason’s host at the end of last season), in what is officially called the Battle by the Lakeshore but which is nicknamed the Fishfeed for how many soldiers died in the waters. It’s the bloodiest battle of the Dance of the Dragons, and the end of a credible threat from the Lannisters in their support of the Greens.  The celebration we see in this episode brings Lord Roderick, Alysanne Blackwood (more on her later), and Oscar Tully (the young Lord Paramount of the Riverlands) together with Daemon and Ser Simon Strong of Harrenhal. It serves as a reminder of who continues to matter in the Riverlands theater of the war and dispenses with some of the less important characters who were given the spotlight in season 2. I mostly feel bad for all those Ser Pate “the Lionslayer” of Longleaf fans out there who never got to see their guy on the big screen, having a moment. The Political Is Personal Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO This episode takes some time to expand on a plot point that Gyldayn glosses over in Fire & Blood: Alys Rivers’ political machinations. Gyldayn describes some later events with Alys that point towards her conversation with Daemon in this episode, but he does not name her desire to possess Harrenhal as a potentially centuries-long ambition which she desires above all else. Of course, Gyldayn also has to contend with multiple conflicting accounts, some of which insist that Alys is simply a middle-aged midwife, while others grant her oracular powers and the ability to curse those her cross her.  The show seems to be very clear on the idea that Alys Rivers is likely between 180 and 210 years old, having always lived in Harrenhal (construction was completed 182 years before the current year in HotD, but began roughly forty years earlier). She implies she’s old enough to have seen it pass from lord to lord (it’s been through five different lordly families already—six, if you count a brief interregnum when a heartbroken Targaryen queen lived there in last years of her life) and has been its only good faith steward. It feels like a strong choice as the show is expanding Alys from spooky deus ex machina to full-fledged character.  The Death of Mercy and Forethought Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO Two veteran actors exited the series this week: Rhys Ifans and the incomparable Simon Russell Beale, playing Ser Otto Hightower and Ser Simon Strong, respectively, gave their final bows. It’s always a bit bittersweet as a book reader when you know a beloved character is doomed and their final moments are fast approaching, but losing both in the same episode was rough! It makes for a great pairing, as Ser Simon and Ser Otto represented the last of an older generation of Westerosi statesmen who either argued for a way out of war or possessed the guile to wage it sensibly.  In the case of Ser Simon, the show has Aemond’s entry into Harrenhal mirror that of his thematic twin, Daemon’s, last season. Where Daemon entered sneaking about, with Caraxes lurking in the shadows, Aemond, by contrast, comes in swinging, with Vhagar incinerating the garrison. There is also a dark reflection of Daemon’s first encounter with Ser Simon and his sons. To the very last the castellan argues for the dignity of non-violence, explaining that he does not intend to oppose Aemond and will not raise a sword to save his own life. But Aemond is not Daemon. When he stabs Ser Simon it is a gut punch to the audience, a brutal reminder that the Prince Regent is still in an ASoIaF show and mercy has never been his virtue. So RIP to Ser Simon, and a bittersweet farewell to Simon Russell Beale, one of the great thespians of our age and a delightful presence on HotD. He will certainly be missed. And then there is the matter of Otto Hightower. While this episode does correspond to the moment in Fire & Blood when he is executed, Ryan Condal and company pulled a bit of a bait-and-switch with book readers, as Otto’s kidnapping (apparently by Larys Strong) and disappearance from court is not a plot point in the original text. As a result, there was a lot of speculation surrounding who had taken Otto into custody. Was he in the grasp of the rebellious House Beesbury? Had he been taken by one of the currently unaligned factions—Dalton Greyjoy, perhaps? But no, he had been returned to the Black Cells of the Red Keep to be used as an offering to Rhaenyra should she ever prevail. With him, we’ve lost the architect of the Green’s perfidy, and the steady hand guiding Aegon to victory. We’ve also lost Rhys Ifans, arguably the biggest name to join HotD thus far. He’ll be missed, and I have just the slightest disappointment that he wasn’t involved in one last double-cross, if only to get Ifans into two or three more episodes.  Now that Simon Strong and Otto Hightower are dead, we’ve lost some of the last members of the older generation who helped craft and maintain the years of peace under King Viserys. Martin loved a plot where the younger generation misunderstands the restraint of their forebearers: calculating Tywin Lannister gives way to his impulsive daughter Cersei; shrewd Jon Arryn gives way to his unfit and unthinking son, Robert (Robyn in the TV show). Now, the Hightowers default to their children—weak-willed Aegon, sociopathic Aemond, and whatever is going on with Ormund. And the last living member of House Strong is Larys, whose motives remain inscrutable, and who is clearly not a friend to Aegon.  DragonWatch Some great closeups here of Caraxes drinking from the lake. I’m always a sucker for the show treating the dragons like animals and seeing those weird little equine mouth movements is a great detail. I know a lot of folks who can’t watch the show because it is, ultimately about the death of the dragons and fair enough—I would never want anyone to have to suffer through fictional animal distress if that is too big a trigger for them—but they are also missing out and truly delightful little moments like these.  We also get our first shot of Syrax this season. I’m convinced that they took part of her design from the cover art of the Eragon novels with that smooth, canine muzzle and those back-curving horns. We also see a few shots of Moondancer, Sheepstealer, Seasmoke, Vermithor, and Silverwing.  But this episode is the Vhagar show. She’s magnificent and terrifying as she brings fire and ruin to Harrenhal. This is the second time one of Aegon the Conqueror’s dragons has visited Harrenhal, and neither time has been good for the city or the family in residence. The show has a delightful ability to emphasize how old and decrepit she looks while also reminding us that Vhagar’s likely the largest living thing on the planet—and certainly one of the most dangerous.  Odds & Ends Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO Jace’s body is brought back to Dragonstone by Baela but he is handled by the dragonkeepers. While this is likely because Baela enters via the dragon dock, it also illustrates the collapsing of the Targaryen body: Jace is a dragon and, thus, must be handled by the order that keeps dragons.  Rhaenyra spent the aftermath of Luke’s death searching for his remains and refusing to believe he was dead. Here, she must confront Jace’s death head-on and go through the denial stage in a matter of moments before crashing straight through to anger. Give Emma D’Arcy their Emmy already!  No Tyland Lannister this episode. Obviously, his being pushed overboard by Lohar during the battle happened too quickly for us to ever take the possibility of his death seriously. And Martin has a habit of having Masters of Ships fall overboard during catastrophic naval battles and survive, if a bit worse for wear (see Davos Seaworth in the original show). I’m quite surprised to see Amanda Collin return this season as Lady Jeyne Arryn. Obviously we are all unsullied (to bring back an old fandom term for the show being well and truly off-book) when it comes to Rhaena’s plot this season, but I will admit I did not anticipate her returning to the Vale let alone having Jeyne brought back into the fold. Fire & Blood says rather little about this Lady Arryn during this year of the conflict so, at the very least, this is a relatively blank part of the canvas to fill in and have dovetail with her later exploits. I have always loved the diegetic music in ASoIaF shows but the “Fishfeed” song is a bit silly, given that they only just finished the battle for which the song is named. But Matt Smith capering about and goofily mugging while next to Jason Lannister’s severed head maybe makes the slight unbelievability of the scene worth it? That scene also gives us the first appearance of Annie Shapero as Alysanne Blackwood. In Fire & Blood, Alysanne is the martially trained aunt of the teenaged lord of the House, Benjicot. The show decided to keep Benjicot off screen and, replace him with his uncle, the duplicitous Ser Willem Blackwood, whom Daemon killed at the end of last season. Whether Alysanne is his sister or his cousin in this version of events remains to be seen. That line of kohl across her eyes is a great design choice.  Great deadpan delivery from Matthew Needham’s Lord Larys when he proclaims “I was mistaken, I am surprised,” and, later, “it seems our journey to Dragonstone will be somewhat delayed.” In the absence of Tyland Lannister and his big Tyrion energy, Larys is keeping the wry wit going. Now knowing that Aegon and Larys are headed to Rook’s Rest (which we saw last season when Rhaenys was killed), I think I have an idea of what the show will do with his time that’s unaccounted for in Fire & Blood. I won’t say it just yet—no need to spoil things on a hunch—but if you’re a book reader, I’ll be curious to know your thoughts.  In Gyldayn’s account, the Gold Cloaks simply allow the Blacks in because of their love of their former commander, Daemon. I’m a fan of Alicent being quite proactive in preparing the way for Rhaenyra. We see this in the introduction of Ser Luthor Largent. He’s being played by Tom Cullen, who you likely know from Downton Abbey or Knightfall. He also played Guy Fawkes in the HBO miniseries Gunpowder alongside fellow ASoIaF alum Kit Harrington.  Daemon tells Rhaenyra his visions of Danaerys and the Song of Ice and Fire. I love how much this show loves Martin’s strange prophecy. I wish the original show hadn’t treated that prophecy as essentially pointless.  Rhaenyra tells Lord Celtigar to let Ser Lorent choose how he will die and we hear no more of the matter. In the book, Jace doesn’t imprison Rhaenyra with Lorent’s help—so all of this is new to the show. Have we seen the last of him? Would they really kill him off without so much as a death scene? We get a brief shot of Cley and Mujja, Ulf’s drinking buddies from last season! I did not think we’d see them again.  The Blacks imprison Ser Rickard Thorne this episode and have a throwaway line about how he was always spying on Alicent rather than being her good faith protector. In the novels, Ser Rickard is involved in a very important upcoming plot point that features a character who was cut from the show. As a result, I doubt we’ll see him again. But if you are missing his actor, Vincent Regan, you can catch him in a very, very different role—his gonzo performance as Admiral Garp on Netflix’s live-action adaptation of One Piece!  In dealing with Otto Hightower, who served her father as Hand for many years before becoming her bitter rival, Rhaenyra participates in the long-standing Song of Ice and Fire tradition of being forced to execute an old friend or former ally via decapitation in order to prove their strength to an assembled crowd: Theon Greyjoy must execute Rodrik Cassel, Robb Stark must execute Rickard Karstark, etc. As in the former case, it is a similarly botched attempt, requiring multiple strikes. Whether or not this is a portent of Rhaenyra’s loss remains to be seen.  We also lose Lord Jasper “Ironrod” Wylde, Aegon’s Master of Laws. Martin has Gyldayn characterize him as a philanderer but not as a rapist—so this last-minute turn was a bit of a surprise (and definitely a slightly unwelcome one). I suppose the plot point helps to further explain why Archmaester Orwyle survives the purge (as he does in the book). In Conclusion Credit: Ollie Upton/HBO An absolutely riveting follow-up to the gorgeous and harrowing season premiere! As loath as I am to lose Simon Russell Beale and Rhys Ifans, the best part of Rhaenyra’s return will be the ability to spend some time with Rhaenyra and Alicent speaking face to face on a regular basis. The two secret meetings last season were great, but we can now expect a period of regular contact between our two protagonists and more of the crackling chemistry between its stars (seriously, go watch every BTS interview Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke—they are perfect together). Restarting their relationship with Rhaenyra having just executed Alicent’s father is also a clever touch (about which Gyldayn says little) and potential fuel for future conflict, especially given Alicent’s extremely complicated feelings about her relationship with Otto. And that last look on Rhaenyra’s face as she tries to turn an abashed and sorrowful mien into an impassive and imperious one is a great shot—her resolve shaking, the need to continue down the path she has set even as she glimpses how bad it might get… Terrific.  But what do you folks think? Are you ready to move ahead into the pointless slaughter of the Dance of the Dragons? Are you going to miss Simon Russell Beale and Rhys Ifans as much as I will? Are you also looking for an Alysanne Blackwood makeup tutorial? Let me know in the comments![end-mark]  The post Fishfeed, Severed Heads, and Political Theater: <i>House of the Dragon</i> Season 3, Episode 2 appeared first on Reactor.