Young Obi-Wan Kenobi comes to ‘Fortnite’ to promote his Disney+ series

Yet another major Star Wars character is about to drop onto the Fortnite island. Obi-Wan Kenobi will hit the Fortnite Item Shop on May 26th, just hours before his eponymous series debuts on Disney+.

Along with being able to play as the iconic Jedi Master, you’ll be able to snap up some related cosmetics including back bling, a pickax, a Jedi Interceptor glider and an emote. Those will be available to buy separately or as part of a bundle that includes an Obi-Wan loading screen.

You’ll have the chance to win the outfit and back bling early if you take part in the Obi-Wan Kenobi Cup. That’s a duos event that will take place on Sunday with lightsabers and E-11 blaster rifles making a temporary return to the island.

The six-episode Obi-Wan Kenobi series will premiere on Disney+ on May 27th. Ewan McGregor reprises his role from the prequel movies. Hayden Christiansen also returns to play Darth Vader once again.

Epic Games and Lucasfilm have been working together for several years to bring Star Wars characters to Fortnite. Boba Fett and The Mandalorian, the main characters of other Disney+ Star Wars shows, have joined the fray, as have Rey, Finn, a Stormtrooper, Zorii Bliss and Kylo Ren.

Disney+ is working on a ‘Daredevil’ series

Daredevil fans who were disappointed when Netflix axed the popular show after three seasons now have something to look forward to. Disney+ is moving forward with its own series about the blind lawyer-turned-superhero Matt Murdock, reportedVariety. The streaming service has signed co-writers Matt Corman and Chris Ord to write and executive produce the series. Corman and Ord served as co-showrunners for the NBC military drama The Brave, and the duo also created the spy drama Covert Affairs.

Daredevil is only the latest of a large number of MCU titles that have been revived on Disney+ as shows, starting with last year’s WandaVision. The streamer has since released six other Marvel shows, including Hawkeye, Moonknight and Loki, with many more to follow this year. Meanwhile, the raft of Netflix shows based on Marvel characters all left the streaming platform’s library for good earlier this year.

The Daredevil Disney+ show is still in the very early stages — Variety notes that Marvel has yet to announce anything formally. Charlie Cox, who played the lead character in the Netflix series, returned to his old role in this year’s Spider-Man:No Way Home and Vincent D’Onofrio reprised his Daredevil role of Kingpin in Disney’s Hawkeye. Both actors seemed optimistic about a Disney+ revival of the series, but there’s no telling if they’ll return to the new series.

In an interview with Marvel News Desk, D’Onofrio shed some light on the Netflix show’s sudden cancellation, which shocked its many fans. The actor said the show’s departure in 2018 likely had to do with Marvel paving the way for Disney’s nascent streaming service. “You know, at the same time the group #SaveDaredevil started to rise, we started to learn the reasons why that happened and so we understood what Marvel was doing because Disney+ coming out.”

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‘Blade Runner’ composer and electronic music pioneer Vangelis dies at 79

The music world just lost one of its more influential figures. Deadlinereports Vangelis, the composer behind the scores for Blade Runner and Chariots of Fire, has died in France at the age of 79. He broke ground in music by blending synthesizers with jazz, orchestral work and other styles normally seen at odds with each other. He helped the movie business break away from its dependence on classical or pop soundtracks, and joined artists like Brian Eno and Jean-Michel Jarre in defining both electronic music as a whole as well as sub-genres such as ambient and new-age.

Vangelis is synonymous with sci-fi thanks to his iconic Blade Runner soundtrack, but he was also a proponent of space exploration who produced multiple albums in tribute to major missions. He helped score Carl Sagan’s 1980 Cosmos TV series, wrote Mythodea to celebrate NASA’s Mars Odyssey mission in 2001 and produced a tribute to the Rosetta comet probe in 2016. His last full album, 2021’s Juno to Jupiter, honored its namesake spacecraft right as it was shedding more light on the gas giant. He received NASA’s Public Service Medal in 2003.

The musician was born in Greece in 1943 as Evangelos Odessey Papathanassiou. He started his music career in pop and soundtracks in the mid-1960s, but it was his 1970s forays into electronic music that helped develop his signature style. Cosmos, Chariots of Fire and Blade Runner cemented his reputation, while high-profile projects like 1492: Conquest of Paradise and Alexander drew further attention.

Vangelis leaves a strong legacy. On top of his role in Hollywood, you can hear his influence in electronic artists like Robert Rich and Steve Roach. Even modern performers outside of his core genre, such as Armin van Buuren and Run the Jewels’ El-P, cite him as a hero. He’ll be missed, but you may hear echoes of his sound for decades to come.

Netflix rolls out a new discovery feature for kids

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Netflix to expand audio descriptions and subtitles in 10 additional languages

Netflix will expand its accessibility features in 10 additional languages, part of an effort to accommodate users who are hearing and vision-impaired. Starting this month and through early 2023, Netflix will roll out Audio Descriptions (AD), Subtitles …