Nerdy News Round-Up: 5 Huge Stories You Might Have Missed Recently
By Dan Bibby
November 6th, 2025
As 2025 draws to a close, the TV and movie industry is providing plenty for nerds to get excited about in the near future. The last couple of weeks have been especially dense with this sort of news, so I've taken the time to whittle them down to the most interesting. From scrapped additions to the Star Wars timeline all the way to making an unexpected addition to a beloved supernatural adventure series, there is plenty to discuss.
Now, this list is going to be an emotional rollercoaster, so gear up. Not everything I'm about to talk about is good news. In fact, some of it is decidedly frustrating. That said, it makes the positive revelations seem even more exciting by comparison. You can't win them all, no matter how hard we might want to. Still, three of the five biggest stories in recent weeks are cause for celebration.
Now, this list is going to be an emotional rollercoaster, so gear up. Not everything I'm about to talk about is good news. In fact, some of it is decidedly frustrating. That said, it makes the positive revelations seem even more exciting by comparison. You can't win them all, no matter how hard we might want to. Still, three of the five biggest stories in recent weeks are cause for celebration.
5. Adam Driver Has Revealed Disney Rejected His Pitch For A Ben Solo Movie
Daisy Ridley's upcoming Star Wars movie is the only real sequel-era project currently in the works. However, Adam Driver could have doubled the count to two if Disney had liked his idea for another sequel to 2019's Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker. In a recent interview with AP, Driver spoke about the movie he wanted to make that would have allowed him to return as his Star Wars character. The discussion of Driver's return to play Ben Solo again began in 2021.
The AP interview confirms he has pretty much always been ready to come back "in a second." Scott Z. Burns wrote a script for The Search For Ben Solo, and Driver has described it as "one of the coolest" scripts he'd ever been involved with. Lucasfilm was on board with the idea, but it was Disney CEO Bob Iger who was part of the decision to nix the movie. I guess this doesn't make it impossible for Ben Solo's return down the line, but the fact that Driver is talking about the idea in the past tense doesn't make it sound promising. Besides...didn't he die in The Rise of Skywalker?
The AP interview confirms he has pretty much always been ready to come back "in a second." Scott Z. Burns wrote a script for The Search For Ben Solo, and Driver has described it as "one of the coolest" scripts he'd ever been involved with. Lucasfilm was on board with the idea, but it was Disney CEO Bob Iger who was part of the decision to nix the movie. I guess this doesn't make it impossible for Ben Solo's return down the line, but the fact that Driver is talking about the idea in the past tense doesn't make it sound promising. Besides...didn't he die in The Rise of Skywalker?
4. Netflix Has Announced It's Making An Animated Crash Bandicoot TV Show
This is something I'm particularly excited about. Although I largely fell away from the Crash Bandicoot games when Activision started making them instead of Naughty Dog, the series was a huge cornerstone of my childhood. Plus, I was one of the first in line to play 2020's Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, the only true sequel to the original trilogy.
Despite the odd foray into TV, Crash has mostly remained a character who exists solely in the video game industry, while some of his biggest rivals like Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario continue to find new audiences in fresh forms. There is almost no news yet about Netflix's Crash Bandicoot show, but it has been officially announced as in production. Personally, I don't think it can come soon enough.
Despite the odd foray into TV, Crash has mostly remained a character who exists solely in the video game industry, while some of his biggest rivals like Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario continue to find new audiences in fresh forms. There is almost no news yet about Netflix's Crash Bandicoot show, but it has been officially announced as in production. Personally, I don't think it can come soon enough.
3. Doctor Who Is Coming Back In 2026 (But The Disney Deal Is Dead)
Ncuti Gatwa's final appearance as the Fifteenth Doctor split audiences down the middle. The episode was reportedly heavily reshot to account for Gatwa's unexpected exit, and if so, that would explain why the ending felt so rushed and improvised. No one seems to really know why Billie Piper showed up during Gatwa's regeneration scene, including those directly involved with the show.
So, with Gatwa's run already being pretty uneven before "The Reality War", Disney started to reconsider its partnership with the BBC. This made it seem like Doctor Who was set for an unplanned, multi-year break as it found its footing. Thankfully, that hasn't happened. Disney has decided to pull out of the franchise, and by doing so, it has allowed the BBC to announce Doctor Who's comeback with a 2026 Christmas special.
At present, it's a mystery who will be leading the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special. Billie Piper is one possibility, but let's hope showrunner Russell T Davies finds a way to undo that bizarre twist. Of course, before Disney and the BBC can fully part ways, the spinoff The War Between the Land and Sea needs to air, which was also a collaborative effort between the two studios. The UNIT-heavy miniseries is scheduled to premiere in December 2025.
So, with Gatwa's run already being pretty uneven before "The Reality War", Disney started to reconsider its partnership with the BBC. This made it seem like Doctor Who was set for an unplanned, multi-year break as it found its footing. Thankfully, that hasn't happened. Disney has decided to pull out of the franchise, and by doing so, it has allowed the BBC to announce Doctor Who's comeback with a 2026 Christmas special.
At present, it's a mystery who will be leading the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special. Billie Piper is one possibility, but let's hope showrunner Russell T Davies finds a way to undo that bizarre twist. Of course, before Disney and the BBC can fully part ways, the spinoff The War Between the Land and Sea needs to air, which was also a collaborative effort between the two studios. The UNIT-heavy miniseries is scheduled to premiere in December 2025.
2. Star Trek 4 Is Officially No Longer Happening
J.J. Abrams kick-started a new corner of the Star Trek franchise in 2009, with the first of three movies set within the Kelvin Timeline. The most recent effort was 2016's Star Trek Beyond, and despite various attempts to add another movie to the series, Star Trek 4 is officially dead in the water.
I would have loved to see Chris Pine and company return again as their versions of the USS Enterprise crew, but I understand why Abrams' universe is being shelved. Star Trek has enough TV shows and other projects in the works to sustain itself, so it doesn't need the Kelvin Timeline anymore to keep the franchise relevant. Still, it would have been nice to have seen a proper farewell after so long in production hell.
I would have loved to see Chris Pine and company return again as their versions of the USS Enterprise crew, but I understand why Abrams' universe is being shelved. Star Trek has enough TV shows and other projects in the works to sustain itself, so it doesn't need the Kelvin Timeline anymore to keep the franchise relevant. Still, it would have been nice to have seen a proper farewell after so long in production hell.
1. Brendan Fraser & Rachel Weisz Are Coming Back To The Mummy Franchise For Another Movie
1999's The Mummy and its two sequels took the box office by storm. Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz were a big part of the trilogy's success, although Weisz didn't return for the third and final installment. So, it's really cool that they're both coming back to make a fourth movie together as a legacy sequel to 2008's Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.
What makes this project a little unusual — but no less exciting — is that the upcoming movie will presumably ignore 2017's The Mummy, which saw Tom Cruise lead the cast in an attempted reboot. There was a plan for Universal to use Cruise's movie as a jumping-off point for a cinematic saga called the Dark Universe, which would have been an MCU-esque series filled with similarly horror-based villains for which Universal also held the rights.
The reboot flopped, and the Dark Universe was abandoned. Since then, The Mummy has been little more than a nostalgic series of films and one failed movie. As it turns out, Universal and the Mummy franchise's two biggest stars aren't done with the saga just yet. I never expected to see more from The Mummy, but I hope the next movie lives up to everyone's expectations.
What makes this project a little unusual — but no less exciting — is that the upcoming movie will presumably ignore 2017's The Mummy, which saw Tom Cruise lead the cast in an attempted reboot. There was a plan for Universal to use Cruise's movie as a jumping-off point for a cinematic saga called the Dark Universe, which would have been an MCU-esque series filled with similarly horror-based villains for which Universal also held the rights.
The reboot flopped, and the Dark Universe was abandoned. Since then, The Mummy has been little more than a nostalgic series of films and one failed movie. As it turns out, Universal and the Mummy franchise's two biggest stars aren't done with the saga just yet. I never expected to see more from The Mummy, but I hope the next movie lives up to everyone's expectations.