Column Babylon 5 Rewatch Babylon 5 Rewatch: “No Compromises” Captain Elizabeth Lochley takes command of Babylon 5 ahead of Sheridan’s inauguration… By Keith R.A. DeCandido | Published on March 2, 2026 Credit: Warner Bros. Television Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Warner Bros. Television “No Compromises”Written by J. Michael StraczynskiDirected by Janet GreekSeason 5, Episode 1Production episode 502Original air date: January 21, 1998 It was the dawn of the third age… The EAS Acheron arrives with the new CO of B5: Captain Elizabeth Lochley. Corwin greets her and apologizes but the rest of the senior staff is busy handling crises. Lochley thinks that’s the sign of a badly run station. A former EarthForce soldier, John Clemens, has kidnapped a Ranger and tied him to a chair. Clemens kills the Ranger and sends him off with a sign attached to his corpse that reads, “Special delivery for Babylon 5.” Sheridan and Delenn get ready for the day, with Delenn having to go off to a meeting with the Gaim ambassador. They’re still keeping separate quarters, and alternating where they sleep together, as they both sometimes need to have meetings in their own quarters. Lochley and Sheridan meet in the former’s office (which used to be the latter’s office). Sheridan explains that he specifically wanted an EarthForce officer in charge of the station by way of moving past the recent unpleasantness—despite the fact that the ISA is negotiating to buy B5 from Earth and most of B5’s personnel are still wearing the Army of Light uniforms. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Sheridan makes it clear that matters military and directly related to station management are her bailiwick, while he is responsible for anything political. Lochley also says Sheridan never asked her which side she was on during the civil war. He agrees that he never asked her and ends the meeting. A maintenance drone finds a capsule that contains the corpse of the Ranger. Corwin reports it to Lochley, who says that the Ranger died of a PPG wound, not exposure to space. Lochley orders the body sent to medlab for an autopsy. Garibaldi is driving Allan crazy with regard to security for Sheridan’s official inauguration as president of the ISA. Allan assures him that it’ll all be okay. Unbeknownst to them, Clemens is watching them make plans. While eating dinner, Lochley is telepathically approached by Byron, who asks for a meeting in Brown 3 and to come alone. Then she’s summoned to medlab, where Franklin reports that the shot was either phenomenally lucky or done by an expert. Sheridan meets with G’Kar and asks that he write the oath of office for his inauguration and also to write a declaration of principles for the ISA. G’Kar is honored and promises to work night and day on it. Sheridan looks like he thinks he’s created a monster… Lochley meets with Byron along with a bunch of other telepaths, but did not come alone, because she’s not an idiot. The security personnel who accompanied her determine that the telepaths have no weapons. Byron and his people don’t wish to join Psi Corps, they just want to be left alone, and wish to form a colony on B5. Lochley will consider it, and meantime allows them access to medlab, as some of them are ill, notably a young man named Simon, who doesn’t speak. When Franklin examines him, Simon shares a mental image of him with a woman. Byron says that nobody knows who that woman is or why that image is so important to Simon. The telepaths also all disappear from medlab when Franklin is distracted at one point. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Delenn finishes her meeting with the Gaim ambassador. Clemens follows the latter back to his quarters and kills him, taking his protective suit. Sheridan returns to his quarters to find both a text message and an audio message threatening his life. He immediately meets with Delenn, Mollari, G’Kar, Lochley, and Garibaldi. Garibaldi and the three ambassadors want him to postpone the inauguration, but Sheridan refuses to give in to fear and wants to go ahead with the inauguration as scheduled; Lochley agrees with him. Garibaldi approaches Lochley afterward, castigating her for taking Sheridan’s side, as the president sometimes needs to be saved from his own worst instincts. Lochley’s response is to ask what the hell Garibaldi—a civilian—was even doing in that meeting. It would be one thing if he reenlisted, but he didn’t. So Lochley doesn’t feel any great urge to pay attention to anything he says. Simon is crawling around the station ductwork and sees Clemens putting on the Gaim suit. Simon telepathically sees Clemens’ plan to assassinate Sheridan. He also makes a noise that Clemens hears, so the latter shoots his PPG into the ceiling, badly wounding Simon. Sheridan arrives at the inauguration. G’Kar has created the oath of office, and also has put together a book that has bits from every religion that is represented in the ISA. Garibaldi has managed to figure out who sent the death threat, though he only has an EarthForce personnel record, not a physical description. Simon stumbles into the inauguration, bleeding, and dies, but is able to out Clemens before he can kill Sheridan. However, Clemens gets away and is able to steal a Starfury. He threatens to blow Sheridan away, as he is holding the inauguration in a room on the outer edge of B5 with a window for some reason. However, Garibaldi takes a Starfury of his own out and grapples Clemens away from the window, at which point station defenses are able to blow it up. Not wanting to give anything else a chance to go wrong, G’Kar asks if Sheridan wants to be president. He says yes. G’Kar has him put his hand on the book and say, “I do.” Sheridan does so, and G’Kar says it’s done, and that’s that. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Byron meets with Sheridan. Lochley apparently denied their request to build a colony on B5, but Sheridan decides that that’s a political decision, and he therefore grants them permission. Garibaldi informs Lochley that he’s been appointed head of the ISA’s covert intelligence division, so now he has good reason to be in on meetings. Lochley looks less than thrilled. Garibaldi also says that Clemens—who did some pretty icky things on orders from the Clark Administration, and was wanted for war crimes—served with Lochley in the past. Lochley allows as how he did, yes. Unlike Sheridan, Garibaldi does ask which side Lochley was on. She just says, “Earth. Weren’t we all?” Get the hell out of our galaxy! When he was a young officer, Sheridan had a sergeant who always washed his socks every day separately from the rest of his laundry. It was so he had something to look forward to every day and a reason to live: he had socks to wash. Never work with your ex. Lochley is not impressed with the chaos on B5, and assumes that means it’s run badly. She’ll probably be relieved of that notion before too long… The household god of frustration. Garibaldi is made director of covert intelligence, because there’s really not much place in the opening credits for a PI or the head of a large corporation on Mars. Also, it never occurs to him, in all his fulminating about how important it is to have good security for Sheridan’s inauguration, to maybe not have it on the outer hull of the station in front of a window. If you value your lives, be somewhere else. Delenn insists that she and Sheridan maintain separate quarters for political reasons. It’ll be easier once the ISA capital is set up on Minbar. In the glorious days of the Centauri Republic… Mollari is against the idea of an inauguration being so big and bombastic, as it just invites trouble. Though it take a thousand years, we shall be free. G’Kar’s been writing a book that is already creating a bit of a sensation among Narns. He also reveals that Narns choose their own name upon reaching adulthood. We live for the one, we die for the one. Clemens targets a Ranger to use as a means of messing with Sheridan’s head because part of the Rangers’ remit is to pass on information, and he has information he wants Sheridan to have, to wit, that he’s coming for him. The Corps is mother, the Corps is father. Byron and his people are powerful telepaths who don’t want to do any of the things we’ve seen human telepaths do: neither join Psi Corps nor fight Psi Corps. They just want to be left alone. Credit: Warner Bros. Television Welcome aboard. Robin Atkin Downes, having previously played the Minbari named Morann in both “Atonement” and In the Beginning, kicks off the recurring role of Byron, which will continue for seven more episodes; he’ll be back in “The Paragon of Animals.” Christna Gavin makes the first of two appearances as Sarah, returning in “A Tragedy of Telepaths.” Recurring regular Joshua Cox is back from “No Surrender, No Retreat” as Corwin; he’ll return in “A View from the Gallery.” Anthony Crivello plays Clemens and Timothy Eyster plays Simon. Trivial matters. TNT—one of the cable stations owned by the Time Warner conglomerate that also owns Warner Bros.—agreed to pick up B5, agreeing to not only air the planned fifth season, but also the spinoff series Crusade and four B5 movies. The first of those movies, the prequel In the Beginning, debuted on the 4th of January 1998, a couple of weeks before this episode. The first thirteen episodes of season five aired straight through from late January to mid-April, then three more episodes aired in June. The second movie, Thirdspace, which took place during season three, aired in July, with the final five episodes airing in late October and November. The third movie, River of Souls, which was contemporary with season five, aired the same week as the series finale, “Sleeping in Light.” The final TNT movie was A Call to Arms, which aired in January 1999 and served as a pilot movie of sorts for Crusade, which debuted in August 1999. (This rewatch will look at all four of TNT’s movies between the end of the fifth season and the start of Crusade.) As with every other new season, there was a new opening credits sequence. This time the voiceover is a kind of “best of” of scenes and lines of dialogue from the first four seasons of the show, meant to bring new viewers up to speed. Claudia Christian and Jason Carter are no longer in the credits, with Tracy Scoggins as Lochley added to the “Also starring” secondary stars. This is the first time we’ve seen a Gaim without a helmet on. The echoes of all of our conversations. “On my world, we have learned that an inauguration is simply a signal to assassins that a new target has been set up on the firing range.” —Mollari being remarkably prescient with regards to Sheridan’s inauguration. Credit: Warner Bros. Television The name of the place is Babylon 5. “Let’s eat.” My memories of B5 from three decades on is that the show was on a bell-jar-style curve: low on the ends, high in the middle. The first and final seasons were both poor, but the middle seasons were excellent. I’ve already had to revise my opinion of season four, as I wrote last week, and I went into “No Compromises” wondering if I might do the same for season five. Sadly, this is not an auspicious start, and it’s primarily on the back of two disastrous bits of casting. The first is in the opening credits, and that was one that filled me with dread in 1997 when it was announced: Tracy Scoggins as the replacement for Ivanova. I knew Scoggins mainly from her being terrible in the first season of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as Cat Grant and from her being even more terrible as Cassandra in three episodes of Highlander: The Series, plus she was replacing my favorite character on the show. While the character of Lochley is well written—J. Michael Straczynski was smart to make her nothing like Ivanova—Scoggins is mostly just incredibly wooden in the role here. Jerry Doyle isn’t exactly what you’d call a master thespian, but he acts her totally off the screen in their two scenes together. Just in general, she comes across as ineffective and ineffectual. Bad as she is, she’s Meryl Streep compared to the dreadful don’t-hate-me-because-I’m-beautiful performance of Robin Atkin Downes. He looks like he should be posing for a romance novel cover, which is not the appropriate look for a telepath living on the raggedy edge. B5 has generally sucked at showing people who look like they’re living difficult lives. Probably the most egregious example prior to this was Alison Beldon in “Legacies,” not to mention the general portrayal of the folks in downbelow being way way too kempt. On top of that, Downes’ Byron comes across as vapid and dull, making it very hard to give a damn about the character. Which is a problem, given his importance to the first half of the season. It’s telling that a child actor, Timothy Eyster, gives a more charismatic performance while not talking as Simon than Downes can manage. As ever, Andreas Katsulas is able to help rescue the episode from total awfulness. His reluctance modulating into enthusiasm, then modulating further into obsessive perfectionism when Sheridan asks him to write the oath of office and declaration of principles is an absolute delight. So is his fuck-it moment at the end when he swears Sheridan into office in about six-and-a-half seconds. Still, this is overall an inauspicious start to the final season. Next week: “The Very Long Night of Londo Mollari.”[end-mark] The post <i>Babylon 5</i> Rewatch: “No Compromises” appeared first on Reactor.

News Scream 7 The Many Controversies Haunting Scream 7‘s Release How Scream 7 went from franchise sequel to one of the year’s most controversial films By Matthew Byrd | Published on March 2, 2026 Photo: Paramount Pictures Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Paramount Pictures Scream 7 was released in theaters on February 27, 2026, following a prolonged production process mired in controversy. The film is currently the subject of boycotts and protests due to events related to its production and content as well as much larger global political and industrial events that the film’s production has touched upon. At present, there is little indication that the controversies surrounding this film will be resolved anytime soon. Given that they are both numerous, spread over a long period of time, and especially relevant to recent events that both reshape and reinforce them, it can be difficult to keep up with them, if you were aware of them at all to begin with. This is a breakdown of the situation surrounding Scream 7 based on the major events that have occurred to date. What Scream 7 Was Originally Supposed to Be Scream 7 reportedly began production in 2023, shortly after the release of Scream VI. At the time, it was believed that Scream VI directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett were attached to the sequel. Notably, they had previously expressed interest in bringing back Neve Campbell as Sidney in Scream VI. That agreement reportedly fell apart due to pay disagreements, though it’s believed they were interested in finding a way to incorporate Campbell into their plans for Scream 7. Little else is known about what Scream 7 looked like at this early point in the production process. However, it is widely believed that it would have been a continuation of 2022’s Scream and Scream VI, which continued the events of the previous Scream films while introducing a large cast of new characters who were slowly becoming more prominent than the franchise’s legacy characters. However, the first major shake-up for the film happened in August 2023 when Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett left Scream 7 due to scheduling conflicts believed to be related to their next project, 2024’s Abigail. Since then, Gillett has said that the pair were “exited” from the film, but did not elaborate on the exact meaning of that phrase. The duo also noted that they had hoped to offer “An end to the Sam Carpenter story” started in the previous movies but that they “designed Scream VI so that the story feels complete.” Director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day) was then brought on to helm the sequel. At the time, everything seemed to be back on track. Why Melissa Barrera Was Fired From Scream 7 On November 21, 2023, we learned that actor Melissa Barrera (who portrayed Sam Carpenter in Scream VI and 2022’s Scream) had been fired from the production of Scream 7. The news came as quite a shock given that Carpenter was one of the central characters of the previous films and seemed to be an irreplaceable part of the franchise moving forward. We soon learned that Barrera had actually been fired from the project due to social media posts she had made about the Gaza war not long after Israel began invading and bombing Gaza in response to a surprise attack launched by the political and militant group Hamas (and aided by other militant groups) on October 7. The tactics utilized by Israel soon drew criticism from politicians and citizens across the world, including Melissa Barrera, who accused Israel of committing genocide in the region. At the time, it was suspected that Barrera was fired over an Instagram story that contained the following message. “Gaza is currently being treated like a concentration camp. Cornering everyone together, with nowhere to go, no electricity, no water… People have learnt nothing from our histories. And just like our histories, people are still silently watching it all happen. THIS IS GENOCIDE & ETHNIC CLEANSING.” A representative from Scream 7 production company Spyglass Media Group later told Variety that Barrera was fired because the studio has “zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech.” In that same article, Variety suggests that Barrera may have been fired for a post that said, “Western media only shows the [Israeli] side. Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.” As that same report noted, that particular statement was criticized by some who alleged that it was intended to further the conspiracy theory that suggests there is a controlling Jewish influence in the media that dictates its messaging regarding certain subjects. However, there was no indication at the time that there was a specific message that caused Barrera to be fired, and that it was instead a response to the series of messages posted by the actress. Melissa Barrera also shared the following Instagram post in response to Spyglass’ statement: “First and foremost I condemn antisemitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and prejudice of any kind against any group of people… Every person on this earth — regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or socio-economic status — deserves equal human rights, dignity and, of course, freedom. I believe a group of people are NOT their leadership, and that no governing body should be above criticism. I pray day and night for no more deaths, for no more violence, and for peaceful co-existence.” The decision to fire Melissa Barrera drew immediate criticism from fans and industry members. However, the most impactful responses would soon come from inside the house. Why Jenna Ortega and Christopher Landon Left Scream 7 The day after Barrera’s firing, we learned that actress Jenna Ortega (who played Tara Carpenter in Scream VI and 2022’s Scream) had also decided to leave the production of Scream 7. At the time, the shocking departure of Carpenter was officially attributed to a “scheduling conflict” related to the actress’ shooting obligations for the Netflix series Wednesday. Skipping ahead a bit, Ortega later disputed that claim in a 2025 interview where she stated that she actually left the production due to Barrera’s firing and the other creative changes made to the project during that time. “It had nothing to do with pay or scheduling,” Ortega told The Cut. “The Melissa stuff was happening, and it was all kind of falling apart. If Scream 7 wasn’t going to be with that team of directors and those people I fell in love with, then it didn’t seem like the right move for me in my career at the time.” In the case of both departures, little effort seems to have been made by Spyglass or Scream 7 distributor Paramount Skydance to convince either actress to return to the project. Barrera’s firing was a nearly instantaneous decision, and it’s not clear how much (if any) communication happened between the actress and the studio between the time of the posts and the time of her firing. There is also no official indication that any attempt to remedy the situation (especially in regards to Ortega’s departure) was ever made. The idea that Ortega had left due to scheduling conflicts was widely spread at the time by official studio sources. Director Christopher Landon also exited Scream 7 around that same time. While the news of Landon’s departure didn’t hit until December, the director later said he had actually made the decision to leave the production weeks before. At the time, the only official explanation for Landon’s departure was a message that the director left on Twitter that read “This is my statement: [broken heart emoji] Everything sucks. Stop yelling.” However, the director later clarified his position in subsequent interviews. “There was no movie anymore,” said Landon in an interview for the book Your Favorite Scary Movie. “The whole script was about her. I didn’t sign on to make ‘a Scream movie.’ I signed on to make that movie. When that movie no longer existed, I moved on.” Landon also endured quite a bit of blowback over the Barrera firing, even though he says he was not involved with the actual decision in any way. Here is what the director had to say in a 2025 interview with The Hollywood Reporter: “People were threatening to kill me and my family, to the point where the FBI was getting involved. I got messages saying, ‘I’m going to find your kids, and I’m going to kill them because you support child murder. The head of security at various studios and the FBI had to examine the threats.” At this point, Scream 7 has lost its originally intended directors and two of its biggest stars. The project is also mired in controversy over the nature of those most recent departures. However, Paramount Skydance and Spyglass remained determined to see it through to completion. How Scream 7 Was Reworked After the Firings and Departures In March 2024, actress Neve Campbell announced that she had agreed to play Sidney Prescott in Scream 7. In that same Instagram post, she confirmed that Kevin Williamson (writer of the original Scream) will return to co-write and direct the upcoming sequel. Aside from the fact that some suspected that Campbell would never return to the Scream franchise, the news came as a surprise for the simple fact that we hadn’t really heard anything about the production of Scream 7 following the departure of several key pieces of talent the previous year. Now, the movie was apparently not only back on with a new star, writer, and director, but was seemingly being re-imagined as more of a nostalgic callback to the original movies rather than a continuation of the softly rebooted world that we had come to know from the previous two Scream films. The velocity of that pivot became apparent in the coming weeks when we learned that Courteney Cox, Patrick Dempsey, Mason Gooding, Matthew Lillard, and David Arquette had all agreed to reprise their previous roles in the franchise in the upcoming installment. At the time, the Arquette casting arguably raised the most eyebrows. Not only was Arquette’s character believed to be dead, but the actor believed his appearance was supposed to be a surprise and didn’t expect a public announcement. We eventually learned that Williamson’s new Scream 7 script focused on Sidney and her relationship with her daughter (played by franchise newcomer Isabel May). While cast members from the recent, re-imagined Scream movies would return in this latest installment, the movie had gone from what was believed to be a rough continuation of 2022’s Scream and Scream VI to something else entirely. In subsequent years and months, we would learn just how much work had to be done to turn Scream 7 around. Variety recently reported that the costs associated with rewriting the Scream 7 script as a result of the firings and departures were around $500,000. Though described as a somewhat reasonable figure given the size of the property and the scope of the situation, this figure is also the result of a highly controversial series of decisions that not only negatively impacted the lives and careers of those involved but drastically impacted the creative direction of the franchise. So far as that goes, the far bigger number associated with the film’s reworking is Neve Campbell’s salary. That same Variety report reveals that Neve Campbell was ultimately able to secure a $7 million deal to star in the film. Campbell has said that she didn’t think she could “live with herself” if she had accepted the offer she received for Scream VI, and received the support of many of the series’ legacy cast members for her decision to skip that film. What the Scream 7 Cast and Crew Have Said About Melissa Barrera’s Firing Previously, Melissa Barrera also supported Campbell’s decision to skip Scream VI over the feeling that the actress was not being valued properly by the studio. She called Campbell “brave” for her decision to sit out. Campbell has not yet publicly commented regarding their feelings about Barrera’s firing and the film’s other behind-the-scenes controversies. For that matter, few members of the current Scream 7 cast and crew have publicly commented regarding the matter. In the aforementioned Your Favorite Scary Movie book, Jasmin Savoy Brown, who plays Mindy Meeks-Martin in the film, noted that the situation has been “really sad and stressful” and said that “actors are expected to know as much about politics as politicians. And, in today’s day and age when everything is online, everyone thinks they’re an expert in everything, which isn’t the case. I also think there is a clear difference between talking politics and standing up for people who don’t have a voice. It’s not politics, it’s human life.” More recently, Scream 7 star Anna Camp shared a social media post that stated “Boycotts didn’t work, the critic’s hate didn’t work, the pathetic leaks didn’t work… Audiences, casual moviegoers and fans have overwhelmingly shown up for this movie in the face of a smear campaign by critics due to political reasons, an online boycott that has ranged from annoying to harassment.” Camp later apologized for the post and claimed she had “reposted someone else’s story that does not reflect my personal beliefs.” No further explanations for how or why the post was shared or what Camp’s personal beliefs are have been provided at this time. Though he is not in the recent Scream films, legacy cast member Jamie Kennedy is one of the few members of that franchise to publicly criticize Barrera’s firing. While Kennedy’s politics differ greatly from Barrera’s, Kennedy stated that Barrera should be “allowed to have her beliefs” and suggested that the studio should have simply talked to her if they had a problem with what she said or how it was said. Officially, Scream 7 began filming on January 7, 2025. Though most of its filming went by without further high-profile incidents (beyond the subsequent interviews which clarified the nature of the initial controversy), the project continued to face scrutiny from fans who would become far more vocal about their concerns as the film neared release. The Scream 7 Protests and Boycotts Scream 7 has faced protests and calls for boycotts ever since Melissa Barrera was fired in 2023. That incident touched upon much more widespread protests regarding the Gaza war occurring at the time and drew the additional ire of franchise fans who bemoaned both the decision to fire Barrera and the changes in creative direction that decision would inevitably result in. Rather than be naturally quelled by time, those protests have arguably become more vocal in the weeks leading up to Scream 7’s recent release. Around 25 protesters gathered at the Scream 7 premiere with Palestinian flags, signs that, among other things, encouraged people to cancel their Paramount+ subscriptions, and chants that included “Palestine will live forever!” The protest’s organizers (who include Entertainment Labor for Palestine, CODEPINK LA, and Jewish Voice for Peace-Los Angeles) issued a statement that confirmed they were there to bring “attention to the industry’s widespread silencing of pro-Palestinian voices and its whitewashing of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza” as well as “raise awareness about the Boycott Scream 7 campaign and urge audiences to refrain from supporting the film.” Though Paramount and Spyglass did not officially comment on the most recent protests, many others did respond to the movement. Two of those responses are especially worth highlighting in the context of this grander story. The first came from Melissa Barrera who wrote “I see you” with a heart emoji on her Instagram page not long after the premiere protests. In a previous interview with The Independent, Barrera had this to say regarding those who supported the film and those who protested it: “There are always going to be people that love you and people that hate you, and people that are open to a story continuing, and people that think that continuing it is ruining it. If they want to go watch the next one? Cool. If they don’t? Also cool. You just gotta act according to how you preach. And that depends on what you value, what your morals are, and whether you can separate that from art or not. There are people who can’t listen to R Kelly anymore, or Michael Jackson, or can’t watch Woody Allen films anymore. And then there are people who don’t care.” The second notable response came from Kevin Williamson who told a Variety interviewer the following during a red carpet interview: “We live in a world where a lot of bad things are happening out there, and I think a lot of people want to be heard and they want to have their voice heard about the bad stuff that’s happening. My heart goes out to them. I don’t know if canceling Paramount+ is the way to do it. But I think people should listen to their inner self and do what feels good for them.” Williamson’s statement is one of the rare statements from an active Scream 7 cast or crew member regarding the ongoing protests and the controversies that caused them. His comment also reveals another layer to this story: Paramount’s involvement in Scream 7. How Paramount’s Actions Helped Fuel the Scream 7 Controversy In recent years, Paramount Skydance has been involved in a number of social scandals and controversies largely related to the political ties of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison and the ways they have been reflected in the company’s actions. From downplaying (and removing) DEI initiatives, to reworking the political direction of CBS News, to supporting President Donald Trump both vocally and through actions that further his administration’s controversial policies, Paramount Skydance has often found itself at the center of some of the most important political and media decisions facing the United States today. As of the time of this writing, they have also begun the process of completing their acquisition of Warner Bros. studio: a move that some industry insiders worry will further the company’s increasingly apparent political preferences and possible agendas. As it relates to this story, Paramount employees have already expressed concerns about the company’s internal policies regarding the Gaza war and their ability to express their thoughts on the subject safely. In October 2025, 30 Paramount Skydance employees across various departments and levels of leadership sent a letter to David Ellison in which they admonished the CEO and the company for condemning industry calls for an Israeli film boycott. In regards to Paramount’s statement that they intend to “promote mutual understanding,” the letter stated the following:“How can a company with this supposed creative mission actively ignore, suppress, and silence internal calls for years to champion stories that shed a light on the reality that marginalized and excluded communities, particularly Palestinians, face every day?” At the time, there was no indication that the letter was responded to internally or that the company formally acknowledged receiving it. The Paramount factor is not necessarily the heart of the Scream 7 controversy, though. At least not in terms of the longest-standing and most vocal protests against the film. Many of Scream 7’s controversies revolve around the firing of Melissa Barrera, the ways that decision impacted the rest of the production, and what that decision says about the changing political power landscape in Hollywood, the United States, and the world. This is a woefully inadequate place to discuss the depth of the Gaza war, its history, the many lives lost and impacted by the conflict, and the numerous political and social issues (as well as divides) that have resulted from it. It is one of the most significant global events in recent years and it will continue to impact global politics, military actions, and, most importantly, the lives of those who have suffered, died and continue to suffer and die as a result of what has happened and what will happen. That the production of Scream 7 even touches upon such an event gets to the heart of the controversy. In the Melissa Barrera firing, though, we find an example of a fear that has become especially prevalent in the very generation that the recent Scream films were targeting not long ago: the fear that freedom of speech and freedom of protest are rapidly becoming endangered rights. The scope of these protests and boycotts both online and in the world reveal the extent of Scream 7‘s dramatic changes and what the project has come to represent in the eyes of some. Scream 7 has gone from a continuation of a legacy series re-imagined for a new generation to a legacy sequel aimed to appeal to the nostalgic urges of an older generation. The fulcrum of that creative pivot was the decision to fire a key cast member over statements that touch upon some of the most crucial political and social issues of our times and the roles the film’s distributors have increasingly become more involved in during recent years. And at the end of it all, there is the movie itself. As of the time of this writing, Scream 7 debuted to a 36 Metacritic score and 33% Rotten Tomatoes score. It is, according to available shared professional review metrics, the lowest rated entry in the franchise to date. In its opening weekend, though, it grossed $64 million domestically and $97 million worldwide, which makes it the most successful opening for any entry in the franchise (not adjusted for inflation). Rumors of an eighth Scream film persist, but there is no telling where the franchise goes from here from a creative standpoint at this time. [end-mark] The post The Many Controversies Haunting <i>Scream 7</i>‘s Release appeared first on Reactor.

Books The Stormlight Archive Ranking the 5 Most Cinematic Scenes from Brandon Sanderson’s Wind and Truth Which epic fights and key dramatic moments are you most excited to see? By Drew McCaffrey | Published on March 2, 2026 Wind and Truth cover art by Michael Whelan Comment 0 Share New Share Wind and Truth cover art by Michael Whelan I’m sure I’m not alone in my excitement and curiosity over the recent news that Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere is slated for screen adaptations on Apple TV, starting with movies based on the Mistborn books and a Stormlight Archive TV series. It’s a huge deal for one of the biggest authors in the current SF/Fantasy landscape. It seems like a match made in heaven: Sanderson already has some experience with screen adaptations—he was an erstwhile consultant on Amazon Prime’s Wheel of Time show, and by all accounts came away with some strong impressions on what not to do—and even more than that, his books are famous for featuring some of the most cinematically written action scenes in recent memory. How about Kelsier vs. the Steel Inquisitor? Bridge Four’s heroic rescue mission in The Way of Kings? Dalinar’s “You cannot have my pain” speech or Shallan’s encounter with the Midnight Mother in Oathbringer? And that’s not to mention the most recent installment of the series, Wind and Truth. It seems like the perfect time to look back at the five most cinematic moments from the fifth volume of The Stormlight Archive and consider just how awesome this stuff might look on the screen… #5 – Adolin and Shallan Face Off Against Abidi in Shadesmar With how strange, how deeply alien the world of Roshar is, Sanderson has been judicious in how he rolls out new environments in The Stormlight Archive. Shadesmar really doesn’t get much attention in the series until Oathbringer, and it’s not until Rhythm of War that we start seeing extended action scenes in the Cognitive Realm. But Sanderson went all-out with Shadesmar fight sequences in Wind and Truth, starting with the Heavenly Ones attacking Shallan and Adolin and the Windrunners on their journey home from Lasting Integrity. This sequence (found in Chapter 9) stands out to me for a few reasons. There’s the dual-battleground aspect, with the fight taking place both in the air and below the surface of the bead sea. There’s the absurdity of Adolin riding his horse through the air. And there’s the most cinematic element, to me: Shallan unlocking substantiation, the ability to create solid, tangible illusions. You can just picture how that would play out on the screen, maybe cutting to black or cutting away after the shocking revelation that her copy really did stab Abidi. “Reality,” Shallan hissed, “is what I decide it to be.” #4 – Humanity Arrives on Roshar Most of this list is going to be fight scenes—and for good reason, given which author we’re talking about, here—but this one from Chapter 46 is a Big Deal nonetheless. This figure wore a simple blue robe tied at the waist, and had a beard that had barely started to grey. He strained to hold the way open as thousands of refugees flooded around him, clutching their meager possessions. The sheer spectacle of the massive Elsegate opening over the muddy plains of pre-Shinovar, revealing the fiery hellscape of Ashyn. The panic, the urgency, the overwhelming movement of humanity’s survivors pouring out onto Roshar. This is the kind of scene that makes me wish it were even remotely feasible to put The Stormlight Archive on the big screen. Imagine this in IMAX: Dalinar and Navani surrounded by the mass of refugees, Shallan moving through the crowds on the lookout for the Ghostbloods. Ishar, majestic with power. In the background, their world burned. The very sky seemed to be on fire, and the people were covered in ash and soot. We’ll have to settle for the small screen on this one, but it still has plenty of drama and spectacle to offer if done well! #3 – Szeth vs. Rit in the Stoneward Monastery I’d hazard a guess that this Honorbearer duel will be on pretty much everyone’s personal Top Five from Wind and Truth. For one thing, it’s the first of the series of epic showdowns which constitute Szeth’s pilgrimmage. There’s a lot of hype built up going into this showdown in Chapter 41; we’ve known that Szeth was going to cleanse Shinover since 2020, and we knew that he’d have to handle the Stone Shamans. But up through Rhythm of War, we’d never really seen what Stonewards could do. Rit speared straight at him atop her column of liquid stone, and as he dodged, the entire floor rose in a wave. Szeth flew around the top of the vaulted room, but there wasn’t space to flee. He was forced to engage her as she rode the center of the wave of stone.[…]A moment later, jets of [the floor] launched upward like streamers, trying to catch him—splashing against the ceiling, then hardening. And whoo buddy, does this live up to the hype! The way this scene is written, with Szeth flying around, the floor shifting and warping, Rit re-creating the entire inside of the monastery… it honestly reminds me of the sheer dynamism of the fight between Kelsier and the Steel Inquisitor in The Final Empire. Sanderson excels at these high-movement fight scenes. It’s clear what’s going on, despite the chaos, and it’s the sort of visualized action that’s practically made for the screen. On top of that? It all leads up to Szeth finally unlocking Division. Finally. Szeth swelled with a power that was immediately familiar. The stone had captured him, holding him, but that allowed him to touch it. Time to burn. Burn, baby, burn. #2 – Adolin vs. the Thunderclast If there’s anything in Wind and Truth that comes closest to the spectacle of a Michael Bay movie, this is it. I mean, right? From Chapter 82: Adolin pulled the chain out of the crumbling facade of the building, then spun to see a terrifying sight: a hand, large enough to blot out the sky, swinging for him. Giant freaking rock monster plowing through the city, wreaking havoc, leaving total carnage in its wake. Adolin rigging a trap, multiple Shardbearers working together to take it down. Heavenly Ones zooming around overhead, using boulders as bombs. Tons of splashy visual effects potential there, plus the added emotional weight of Adolin’s loss at the conclusion of the sequence. The thunderclast reached down and grabbed the chain in its fists. Then, straining for a moment, snapped the chain with a sharp peal of breaking metal. It threw the remnants to the street, then continued on, relentless, toward the dome. Great stuff. #1 – Szeth vs. Pozen and the Edgedancer Yeah, this scene (found in Chapter 53) stands head-and-shoulders above everything else for me: The adrenaline pulse of Szeth abruptly yanked into the Cognitive Realm and ambushed. The visual possibilities offered by this setting. The pure competence of everyone involved, as they manipulate Shadesmar around them. The always-exciting breathless momentum of an Edgedancer zooming around. The walls of the large tube hardened, and Szeth now scrambled on curved, solid ground. He ran for the open end of the tunnel as—just behind him—the wall crashed open and the Edgedancer entered. She skated along the side of the tube, her powers giving her grace and speed. Szeth spun and Lashed himself backward to stay ahead of her, but the tube kept extending, beads falling into place. And Nightblood. Oh yeah, Nightblood. For how long has this fandom been asking Sanderson what Nightblood looks like in Shadesmar? A decade? Now we know, and it’s glorious. Szeth ripped his right hand from the beads.And released an explosion of light.In that hand he held not a jet-black sword, but a blazing, radiant line of golden light. Glowing like the sun itself, so bright it made the Edgedancer gasp and stumble back, shading her eyes with her left hand. I can see Szeth shifting through the bead sea, using the tunnels around him, deflecting and anticipating the Edgedancer Honorbearer. Finally wielding Nightblood in a blazing spectacle to kill the Honorbearer—permanently. If done right, the lead-up to this could lead to one of the most talked about moments in the whole show. Honorable Mentions There are plenty of other great scenes in Wind and Truth that practically beg to be adapted to the screen. I debated including Szeth’s final fight with all the Honorbearers, using Nightblood to wield all the Surges. Or how about Lift saving Zahel from the Feruchemist Axindweth? Another that stood out was Adolin’s “Momentum” chapter, early on in Azimir. (That one could even integrate flashbacks to Dalinar in The Way of Kings; that’d be a great visual adaptation twist.) What would make your list of best scenes to adapt from Wind and Truth? What key moment did I leave off that deserves a spot? And what scenes in general are you most excited in the upcoming adaptations? Let me know in the comments![end-mark] The post Ranking the 5 Most Cinematic Scenes from Brandon Sanderson’s <i>Wind and Truth</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Books SFF Bestiary Don’t You Dare Call Princess Donut a Sidekick Ten pounds of tortoiseshell floof and outsize attitude… By Judith Tarr | Published on March 2, 2026 Comment 0 Share New Share Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler series, which is about to expand to eight volumes (and counting) has been on my radar for a while. LitRPGs are not my wheelhouse, and I’m kind of allergic to endless series with cliffhangers, and my TBR pile already reaches halfway to Mercury. But one thing I did not know, and it trumps them all. There is a cat. Not just any cat. A champion show cat. Her name is Princess Donut, and she is the Protagonist. Yes, yes, the title character of the first volume is Carl, a human male of the Galoot subspecies as they used to be called back in the days of Heinlein and the Great Old Ones. Carl is the narrator and the viewpoint character. Donut is the heart of the team. She’s the leader. Carl is the (unwilling, frequently annoyed, ultimately resigned) sidekick. Don’t listen to anyone who tries to tell you she’s the co-protagonist or “deuteragonist.” Certainly don’t believe that she’s any kind of secondary character. It’s all about Donut, as she herself will tell you. As soon as I started reading Dungeon Crawler Carl, I understood why it’s such a hit. It’s compulsively readable. The characters are broadly drawn but they have depth to them; they’re not caricatures. They make you care about them. Even the monsters. What could be a mind-numbing sequence of gaming moves with detailed stats and frequent blood, guts, and loot, becomes a surprisingly nuanced commentary on, among many other things, end-stage capitalism. It was painfully relevant in 2020 when the series first appeared. It’s even more so now. But we’re here for the cat, and she’s worth the trip. GC BWR NW Princess Donut the Queen Anne Chonk is the reason why Carl happens to survive the destruction of Earth and the vast majority of the humans on the planet. She leads him into the dungeon, and quickly graduates from Pet to Dungeon Crawler, with magical upgrade from sentience to sapience, including the ability to talk. She’s still a cat. A tortoiseshell Persian, to be precise. Various fans have tried to explain what that means (and managed to get into the Great Debate between tortoiseshell and calico, since Donut is described as being brown, black, and white—with white being the Mark of the Calico). One points to an Instagram star, Amber the Irish Persian, and that works for me. Just dab in some white if you prefer. Torties are, by tradition, extra. All cats have cattitude. Torties crank it up to 21, never mind 11. That’s called tortitude. Donut has it. She adapts seamlessly to sapience. There’s no shock, no learning curve. She has clear memory of her previous life. For her, it’s all one thing. Sure, it’s magic. But who’s to say she wasn’t already most of the way there? She’s a diva. She loves attention. She’s fiercely competitive. She worked at being a show champion. She works just as hard to be a fan favorite in the game, and she’s ruthless in pursuing her goal. A cat is a predator, after all. Ruthless is what she is. Vain and pampered Donut may be, and she thinks it’s icky to use her claws, but she does what she has to. If she has to get down and dirty, she’ll hiss and mutter and snarl and try to get out of it, but eventually she’ll do it. Especially if it gets her more views and favorites. By the end of book one, she and Carl are just about to really commit to the game by choosing a race and class. Donut has made it clear that she intends to remain a cat. There are indications that she has a range of choices within the species, but she’s also been warned that she’ll lose her fandom if she goes for something big and dramatic. They want her to stay what she is: some ten pounds of tortoiseshell floof and outsize attitude. That’s her appeal. The contrast between the small, pet-presenting being and the extraordinary intelligence and powers. Most of all, her greatest asset, which she brings with her and increases the more time she spends in the dungeon: her charisma. As any cat person (and any cat) can tell you, a cat is charisma. If anyone can make it all the way to the eighteenth floor of the dungeon, no matter what obstacles rear up along the way, or how impossible it is for any crawler to get that far, I’m betting it will be Donut.[end-mark] The post Don’t You Dare Call Princess Donut a Sidekick appeared first on Reactor.

News Starfleet Academy Why Starfleet Academy Used Our Town to Bring Back Mary Wiseman’s Tilly It turns out both Mary Wiseman and Tilly have connections to Our Town By Matthew Byrd | Published on February 27, 2026 Photo: Paramount+ Comment 0 Share New Share Photo: Paramount+ Quite a lot happens in Starfleet Academy’s excellent 8th episode “The Life of the Stars,” but the adventure is arguably highlighted by two occurrences: unexpected rehearsals for a performance of the 1938 Thornton Wilder play Our Town and the return of Mary Wiseman’s Lt. Sylvia Tilly. As it turns out, the two things are closely related for reasons beyond what we see in the episode. “Looking at the episode and at the trauma through the eyes of these two young women felt very important… how we can use stories to heal also meant something to us as a writers’ room,” says Starfleet Academy creator Gaia Violo in an interview with TV Insider. “Our Town just sort of felt like this perfect, simple, rich story about the human experience and about time.” Interestingly, Wiseman herself has a pretty notable a connection to the classic play. “We realized as we began to talk to Mary Wiseman about coming back to play Tilly, that when she was at Juilliard, she played Emily in Our Town,” says executive producer Noga Landau. “So as a person, as an actor, it meant a lot to her to come back and now play this role teaching these cadets about Our Town.” Yet, Wiseman says that the script for this episode existed before the crew knew just how connected to Our Town the actress was. “It’s crazy! Noga and Alex came to me with it,” Wiseman told Fangirlish regarding the episode. “They had already written it. I was just floored. You have no idea how hard you’ve hit the nail on the head. I can’t believe this. I was so psyched to get into it. It was just kismet; it was like they knew, but I don’t know that they did. It was a really happy coincidence, I think.” Beyond the benefits of her own experience with the text, Wiseman believes there are reasons why Tilly is uniquely capable of guiding the students through such a seemingly unusual exercise. “She’s been through big loss and kept going, which I’m sure all the teachers who work in Starfleet Academy have had some version of that,” Wiseman says. “I also think that Tilly is a person who’s pretty tuned into what’s going on with other people. I think she’s pretty good at reading other people and is very empathic, but also has learned through her own journey how to be tough… So I think that she’s the person for this job because she can dynamically read what’s going on with these students and respond in a way that she thinks will push them to the place they need to go in order to actually face what’s happened to them and move through it and learn from it. As some of you may recall, though, Tilly was originally expected to be a bigger part of Starfleet Academy. After all, we learn at the end of Star Trek: Discovery that she went on to become a professor at the Academy, which seems to have been the perfect set-up for her to become a recurring character on this new show. While it’s still not clear what happened behind the scenes that may have prevented Tilly from becoming a series regular (if that was indeed ever really the plan), Wiseman says she was told what Tilly is up to in this universe that keeps her away from the main cast this season. “My understanding is that Tilly works with the third years,” Wiseman says in an interview with Screen Rant. “So that’s why she’s not present in the school on a regular basis.” If you really want to read into that further than is probably advisable, Tilly teaching the third year cadets means that she could theoretically end up teaching the Starfleet Academy cast once they reach their third year in school. However, that’s far from a guarantee, especially since Starfleet Academy hasn’t been approved for a third season as of the time of this writing. As for the recently wrapped second season of the show, everyone is playing it coy at the moment regarding the possibility that Tilly will return. “Well, I can’t say any spoilers for Season 2,” Landau tells TV Insider. “But I will say that Mary Wiseman, who was with us at our premiere, is always close to our hearts and we want her as much as possible.” [end-mark] The post Why <i>Starfleet Academy</i> Used <i>Our Town</i> to Bring Back Mary Wiseman’s Tilly appeared first on Reactor.