Empire Spoiler Specials

The Acolyte is the latest Star Wars TV show to hit Disney+, and is the first all-original proposition since The Mandalorian, with showrunner/creator Leslye Headland setting up an intriguing tale of twin sisters on a collision course, 100 years before the events of The Phantom Menace. In the delayed first episode of our weekly deep dives into the show, Chris Hewitt is joined in the remote podbooth by Ben Travis, James Dyer, and Sophie Butcher to talk about their reactions to the first two episodes, their theories on what might happen next, and plenty of good old-fashioned space nerdery. Enjoy.

The First Omen is the best Omen film since, well, the first Omen, with director Arkasha Stevenson overseeing a prequel that builds upon, paves the way for, and sometimes deliberately contradicts Richard Donner's 1976 horror classic. More than that, though, Stevenson has made one of the best horror films of the year, a creeping, insidious, portentous piece of horror, with an astonishing central performance from Nell Tiger Free, that gets under your skin and refuses to leave. And in this spoiler special, recorded a few weeks ago but held for the film's debut on Disney+, Chris Hewitt sits down on Zoom with Stevenson and her screenwriting partner, Tim Smith, for a no-holds-barred deep dive into the movie which throws up its fair share of revelations. Then, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and Becky Darke for a conversation about the movie that spins off into wider areas and then, because it's us, narrows its focus a little by talking about Mannequin II: On The Move perhaps more than a spoiler special about a horror film should. It's a fun one, this, and we hope you enjoy. After all, it's all for you.

Oh, what a wonderful day! Wes Ball's Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes is the thrilling and thought-provoking fourth movie in the current iteration of the Planet Of The Apes franchise that began with Rise... in 2011, but which really all began with Chuck Heston, Dr. Zaius, and the Statue of Liberty back in 1968. And in this spoiler special, Empire's resident Apes expert, Dan Jolin, and Chris Hewitt sit down with Ball for a fun and fascinating deep dive into the film, its themes and key events. Then, in the podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and Ben Travis to get their teeth and damn dirty hands on the movie, including some wild speculation, theorising, thematic chat, spectacularly petty pedantry, and our usual brand of buffoonery. What, exactly, is Planet Of The Hotties? To find out, give it a listen. Enjoy.

Because you demanded it, True Believers, here is a spoiler special podcast dedicated to X-Men '97, the animated series that picks up where, erm, X-Men: The Animated Series left off, and packs a whole lot of punch into its ten highly acclaimed episodes. Join Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara and Amon Warmann for an hour and a bit of chat about the show, its ambition, its shocks and surprises, its possible connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and much more. To me, my X-Men fans! Enjoy.

David Leitch's The Fall Guy is a big-screen version of the 1980s TV show which starred Lee Majors as a Hollywood stuntman who tangles with crime on the side. Here, Ryan Gosling brings all his charm to bear on a film that combines being a love letter to stunt performers (Leitch got his start as one of the best stunt doubles in the business, before becoming a director) with being a love letter to, well, love, as Gosling and Emily Blunt pursue a relationship in amidst all the mayhem. In this spoiler special, Chris Hewitt has a spoilerific chat with Leitch and his producer/wife, Kelly McCormick, and is then joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and Kelechi Ehenulo for a deep dive into the film that contains much chat about the plot, legal culpability, and more. Oh, and Chris manages to offend the whole of Australia once again. Just keep repeating: this is not a serious conversation. Enjoy.

Abigail is a deliriously fun and gore-filled flick that takes two words — 'vampire ballerina' — and spins them into the latest cracker from directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, aka Radio Silence. In this spoiler special, Chris Hewitt sits down with the duo on Zoom and talks to them about many spoilerific things, including the influence of The Usual Suspects on the movie, and its various twists, turns and exploding bodies. And then Chris is joined in the podbooth by Ben Travis, Mike Muncer and, for a limited time only (before he explodes), James Dyer to sink their pointy teeth into a film so bloody that it made someone throw up at a recent press screening. Enjoy (the pod, not someone throwing up).

Dev Patel's astonishing debut, the action thriller Monkey Man, sees the actor assume the dual roles of writer and director, and somehow juggles them while punching and kicking the living heck out of all kinds of miscreants and scoundrels. And in this exclusive live Q&A, recorded after an Empire VIP Club screening of the film at London's Odeon West End, Ben Travis asks Patel all about how he pulled off some of the most incredible fight scenes of the year. But that's not all, as the great Jordan Peele, the film's producer who came on board late in the process to shepherd it to the big screen, is also along to talk about the film. Enjoy.

Since he first took to the director's chair with Ex Machina, Alex Garland has been no stranger to compelling, challenging movies, and his latest, Civil War (not that one), is no exception, depicting the aftermath of a hostile takeover of the White House by a fascist President (Nick Offerman), and the attempts of a small band of journalists to reach Washington and document the unfolding events, putting themselves in the firing line whilst doing so. In this spoiler special, Garland sits down with our very own Alex G, Alex Godfrey, for an in-depth chat about the film and the inspirations behind it. And then, Helen O'Hara welcomes Mike Muncer and Beth Webb for a deep dive into the film. Enjoy.

Back To Black, Sam Taylor-Johnson's biopic of the late, great Amy Winehouse, has been the biggest film in the UK since it opened a couple of weeks ago, and in this interview-only spoiler special, Chris Hewitt sits down with Taylor-Johnson to talk about how she began to tackle capturing the life of the iconic singer on the big screen. Enjoy.

Don't be fooled by the 'x' and the 'ft.' — this is not a podcast dedicated to the hottest collab to hit the charts since Glenn Hoddle and Chris Waddle sang Diamond Lights. It is, instead, our latest spoiler special, dedicated to the latest film in the burgeoning Monsterverse franchise, Adam Wingard's Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. And a lovely in-depth spoiler chat with Adam Wingard kicks off the episode, as he talks to Chris Hewitt about his approach to the film's title characters, the influence of John Carpenter's They Live on the movie, Dan Stevens' all-timer of a character intro, and much, much more. After that, Chris is joined in the studio by his very own group of Titans, Helen O'Hara, Ben Travis, and Becky Darke, to dig deep into the movie, answer some listener questions, and hatch a plan to break into a zoo and shave a gorilla. Monster, monster! Enjoy.

If there's something strange in your podcast feed, who ya gonna call? Spoilerspecialers! That's right, folks. The Ghostbusters are back and facing another unworldly threat in Gil Kenan's Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and in this spoiler special Chris Hewitt sits down on Zoom and just about navigates the wifi in his Dublin hotel room in order to speak with Kenan about the movie, its twists and turns and key(master) revelations. Then, in our brand spanking new podbooth, Chris is joined by Helen O'Hara and Nick de Semlyen for a deep dive into the movie, including the tackling of some listener questions, and their thoughts about the future of the Ghostbusters franchise. "DIE, PODCAST SCUM!" Sorry, got carried away there. Enjoy!

Here it is (again), folks: the Bob Marley: One Love spoiler special that was uploaded early in March, only to be eaten by the system. Hopefully this time it will stick, because this is a good ep, in which Chris Hewitt welcomes Amon Warmann and Neel Bhatt into the podbooth to talk about Reinaldo Marcus Green's movie about the legendary Jamaican singer and folk hero (played here by Kingsley Ben-Adir), which focuses on two pivotal years in Marley's life, but still manages to cram in a lot of the great man's music. And as well as Team Empire's deep dive, you also get Amon talking to Reinaldo Marcus Green about the creative challenges he faced and the choices he made in bringing Marley's story to the big screen. Oh, and our team also pick the musical biopics they'd like to see next. Get on it, Hollywood. Enjoy! (We hope!)

Regular listeners will know that our Chris Hewitt has a particular affection for the Equalizer trilogy, the films that reteamed Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington years after Training Day, gave them a rough framework (a loose remake of the classic 1980s TV show about an avenging angel), and let them make three very satisfying action movies in which Denzel punishes miscreants and rotters. All three of those movies have been written by the same man, action veteran Richard Wenk, and in this long-delayed special dedicated to The Equalizer 3, which is now available on home entertainment formats, Chris sits down on Zoom with Wenk to talk about the movie's twists, turns, deleted scenes and more. Then, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara and Amon Warmann to discuss this movie specifically, the Equalizer movies in general, their favourite Italian characters in cinema, and much, much more. Oh, and Chris makes the Mafia an offer they can't refuse. Enjoy.

Here it is, folks. You ready? Sing along at home, or on public transport: "DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNE! PART TWOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Yes, the time has come for Team Empire to drink the Water Of Life and record an epic spoiler special dedicated to Denis Villeneueve's Dune Part Two, the glorious continuation of, well, Dune Part One. And yes, there's a whole lotta Dunesplaining on this episode as Dune megafans James Dyer and Helen O'Hara patiently explain things to a faintly bewildered Chris Hewitt. Oh, and they tackle a ton of listener questions too. But that's not all: the jewel in our crown is a wonderful interview Helen did with Denis Villeneuve himself, in which they do a deep dive into the key moments and themes of his movie. And that's the real Kwisatz Haderach. Enjoy all three hours and change, folks!

Madame Web, the latest entry in what we're still calling the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters, or SPUMC for short, has attracted reviews that are, shall we say, unkind. But does the Dakota Johnson-starring film deserve its fate? In this spoiler special, Chris Hewitt, Helen O'Hara and Amon Warmann discuss that, and much more, including Amon's shocking lack of R.E.M. knowledge, whether the movie plugs into the MCU, and a proposed sequel to Wedding Crashers. And Chris has a fun, and frank, interview with Madame Web's director, S.J. Clarkson, who was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died (and yes, we know that line isn't in the movie).

Argylle sees director Matthew Vaughn stick with the spy genre, after three Kingsman movies on the trot. But this one twists the formula, and twists, and twists some more just for good measure, as it follows Elly Conway, a spy novelist whose creation, Argylle, has brought her to the attention of real-life spies, who think she's stumbled upon something of great significance. And in this spoiler special, Chris Hewitt sits down for an epic chat with Vaughn about how he and screenwriter Jason Fuchs plotted the cavalcade, and Henry Cavill-cade of twists, before Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Amon Warmann for a fun deep dive into the movie, its twists and turns, the chemistry between central duo Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell, and their reaction to the film's critical reception. Oh, and much, much more. Enjoy.

The second season of Reacher, the Prime Video show based on Lee Child's phenomenally successful series of Jack Reacher books, specifically book eleven, Bad Luck And Trouble, has now ended its run. So it's the perfect time for Reacher mega-fans James Dyer, Chris Hewitt and Helen O'Hara to cram themselves into the podbooth and discuss all the punching and kicking and sleuthing in this spoiler special. That's for damn sure. The eagle-eyed and eared amongst you will have noticed that this episode is actually an episode of Pilot TV+, and was made available to subscribers of that show last week. But, because we're lovely, we've decided to make this one available as an Empire spoiler special as well and, in the grand if somewhat irregular tradition of Empire/Pilot co-productions, bunged on the Empire theme tune at the beginning for good measure. Enjoy.

Brian Duffield's No One Will Save You is a dazzlingly original slice of alien invasion sci-fi with plenty more on its mind. Widely acclaimed on its Disney+ debut last year, not least for Kaitlyn Dever's stunning central performance, the near-wordless visuals, and Duffield's storytelling audacity. And, in this slightly belated spoiler special, Chris Hewitt sits down on Zoom with Duffield for an hour-long deep dive into the film, its themes, and major incidents, before Chris is then joined in the podbooth by Kelechi Ehenulo and Neel Bhatt to explore the movie all by themselves. Oh, and this pod will finally make one of the references in the Wonka spoiler special make sense. Well, a little more sense. As Bob Dylan once sang, 'there's a choice we're making', and if that choice is to listen to this podcast, we can only congratulate you on your good sense. Enjoy.

Andrew Haigh's gorgeous and heartbreaking All Of Us Strangers is sure to be one of the best films of the year, in the final analysis. And in this Empire Podcast spoiler special, Haigh sits down with Olly Richards for a deep dive into the film's key moments and themes, before Olly joins Alex Godfrey, James Dyer, and host Helen O'Hara for a frank and fascinating podcast that is part dissection of the film, part group therapy session. Enjoy.

Jeff Rowe's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was one of the best animated films of 2023 (in, quite frankly, one of the best years for animation in a long time), and while it may have been ultimately overlooked for Oscar consideration, it hasn't been overlooked by the Empire Podcast Spoiler Special team. In this episode, recorded towards the tail-end of last year, Ben Travis sits down with Rowe in a London hotel room to discuss the ins and outs of the movie, and Rowe's wild creative approach and journey. Then, Ben joins Amon Warmann and host Helen O'Hara in the virtual podbooth to wax lyrical about the film, and Helen teaches them a thing or two about art. Heroes in a pod shell — poddle power! Enjoy.