We made it everybody! 2021 was a difficult one, but we made it all the way to its last month. And it’s the holiday season, so it’s time to get excited about all the geeky stuff coming our way in December.
TV shows, movies, video games, books, and more. We’re going through all of the fun stuff that you have to get excited about!
Welcome to December!
December 1st: Lost in Space
Welcome to season 3! Now with more lost, more space, and what looks like a lot more robots.
And excuse me, but who said that Will Robinson was allowed to grow up so much?
The reboot of the original show from 1965 continues into its third and final season, this time with the Robinson family split up in different parts of the galaxy. Dr. Smith is presumed dead, and even more robots are gunning for either the luckiest or unluckiest space colonizers in TV history.
Starring Molly Parker, Toby Stephens, Maxwell Jenkins, Taylor Russell, and Mina Sundwall as the Robinson family, Ignacio Serricchio as Don “the Badass Princess” West, and Parker Posey as the one and only Dr. Smith.
The show’s previous seasons have sported some great visual effects, compelling storytelling, and top-notch acting. I especially want to give a shout-out to Parker Posey for her amazing portrayal of Dr. Smith (in a much more nuanced way than in previous renditions), and to Toby Stephens for making us all cry along with Don about how great of a dad he is.
Also for having intense fuck-me eyes. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Watch Toby Stephens in literally anything and anytime he is alone with another actor who is not portraying one of his children, the man looks like he is literally seconds away from making out with them. Every. Single. Time.
You can catch this final season on December 1st on Netflix.
December 3rd: Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous
Ok, before you leave, let me just say one thing: this show may be geared toward children, but it is not just for children.
In fact, the only thing that has been changed for kids is that all of the gore happens off-screen. Everything else, all of the fun stuff that we love about Jurassic Park including great storytelling, and boat-loads of dinosaurs, is the same.
Camp Cretaceous follows six campers who attended a summer camp in Jurassic World just before all of the hell that broke loose in the movie. Stranded—and even abandoned—these six teenagers are forced to work together to survive in the park’s remains.
This season, we find the heroes on a boat headed off the island—finally—only to be taken to Dr. Hammond’s secondary island. If the promotional posters are anything to go by, we can expect them to run across the monstrous Spinosaurus, the dinosaur that makes T-Rex look like a kitten!
You can catch the show’s fourth season on December 3rd on Netflix.
December 5th: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba—Entertainment District Arc
You saw the first season, you saw Mungen Train, now it’s time to jump back into Taisho Era Japan with everyone’s favorite Demon Slayer: Inosuke.
I’m just kidding, we all love Tanjiro. And Netsuke, and Zenitsu, and all of the Kasugai crows.
The story takes place during the reign of Emperor Taisho, a period of calm in Japanese history following the violent revolutions that modernized Japan and before the period of violent expansion in World War II. But don’t worry, this isn’t a historical movie.
But it does explain why the show has both steam engines and samurai swords.
Anyway, after his entire family was killed by demons—except for his sister, who was turned into one—Tanjiro trains to become an elite warrior called a Demon Slayer to not only seek revenge on the demon who killed his family but also protect his demonic sister who is now a really cool sidekick.
Seriously, this show is based off of one of the most successful manga series ever and it is just super cool. I can’t wait to see the shenanigans they get up to!
Near as I can tell, you’ll be able to watch Demon Slayer on Crunchyroll. While season 1 may be found on Netflix, it doesn’t look like season 2 will get there anytime soon.
December 9th: Anne Boleyn
This is going to be a bit of a different one. Anne Boleyn was actually originally released on Channel 5, a British tv channel back in June of this year, and is only now going to be released to streaming on AMC+ on December 9th.
I know this will come as a bit of a shock to you all, but the British mini-series will tell the story of Anne Boleyn. You may remember her as the unlucky sister in The Other Boleyn Girl, or as the first “beheaded” in Henry VIII’s “divorced, beheaded, died” series of wives.
This mini-series, however, isn’t going to let you in on her entire story, instead focusing on the final days of her life as Jane Seyemore (wife number 3) and Henry’s courtiers start gunning for her.
The show has received some criticism across the Pond on account of the lead, Jodie Turner-Smith, being a black woman. As someone who enjoyed the hell out of Hamilton, I have zero problems with this choice, and I would like to remind anyone objecting to the casting choice on the basis of historical accuracy that it is impossible to be totally historically accurate in this medium.
If I can love Alec Guinness (a very pale Englishman) playing Prince Feisal (an Arab) in Lawrence of Arabia, then I can definitely get behind Jodie Turner-Smith.
If she’s a good actress, which she is, and brings subtlety and nuance to a role that demands subtlety and nuance, which she will, then I have absolutely no problem with it.
You go, girl!
December 10th: The Expanse
It’s been a wild ride for a show that is almost impossible to describe to your friends, and now we’re back for a sixth and final season.
In the wake of the asteroid attacks on Earth, the crew of the Rocinante are forced to lead the charge against the Free Navy, led by the charismatic Marco Inaros and his son Filip—the former lover and son of the Rocinante’s first mate, Naomi Nagata.
Joining the Roci is the disgraced Martian marine Bobbie Draper, the newly appointed dictator of Earth, Chrisjen Avasarala, and the “Pirate Queen” of the Asteroid Belt, Camina Drummer.
Described as “Game of Thrones in space,” The Expanse is based on the book series of the same name by James S. A. Corey (aka Ty Frank and Daniel Abraham). Amazon has stated that this will be the show’s final season, and while I am very sad to see it go, I can understand. Getting a seventh season is incredibly rare in television, and this show has had a long run. Plus, it was never quite the same without Thomas Jane’s Detective Miller.
The show has some amazing actors, top-notch special effects, and has some really great real-world science attached to the storytelling. For example, “artificial gravity” in the show is achieved either by the use of magnetic boots, spin gravity, or by acceleration.
Weeks before Amazon releases this final season, you can pick up the final book in The Expanse series, Leviathan Falls.
December 17th: The Witcher
It’s been a while since we all collectively started humming “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher,” but it’s now time to jump back into the saddle with Geralt of Rivia, Ciri, and Yennifer of Vengerberg and Kill. Some. Monsters.
(And ponder endlessly about how humans are the real monsters, but I digress.)
The hit Netflix show is set to continue right after the first season ended: with Geralt united with Ciri who now gets to train to be the Polish version of Demon Slayer, and with Yennifer missing after having won a massive victory against the religious zealots of Nilfgaard.
Who knows where Jaskier is, but if the trailer is anything to go by, he’s probably been in prison. As much as we all love him, I think that we can all agree that no one is surprised by that.
Like the first season, we can probably expect the show to adapt even more of Sapowski’s short stories as well as the beginning of his first novel, Blood of Elves.
The whole cast seems to be returning, and this time we will hopefully get to see more of the mysterious Nilfgaard. As well as some more monsters. And songs.
And all of this on Netflix.
Also on December 17th: Spider-Man: No Way Home
But before we wade neck-deep through the blood of strigas, vampires, and Nilfgaardians, consider stopping over at your local movie theater to check out Spider-Man: No Way Home.
This latest edition of the MCU begins where the previous Spider-Man movie ended, with Peter Parker now fully unmasked, putting all of the people that he loves most in harm’s way.
To make things go back to the way they were (because that’s never backfired in all of the history of literature), he’ll team up with Dr. Strange to change history so that no one will know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Unfortunately, now that we know that the multiverse exists to give Disney endless possibilities for reprising dead or boring characters, Peter now has to deal with the baddies that he’s already defeated.
Or at least ones that another Peter Parker has defeated.
So, get ready for tons of references to the old movies (Dear God, that was actually twenty years ago), including Alfred Molina as Doc Oc, Willem Defoe as Norman Osborn, Jamie Foxx as Electro, and J.K. Simmons as himself.
This movie, the third Spider-Man movie from Disney, marks the end of Tom Holland’s contract with Disney to play everyone’s favorite neighborhood hero. That said, who knows if this will be the end of his run?
December 22nd: The King’s Man and The Matrix Resurrections
It looks like Wednesday the 22nd is going to be one action-packed day!
Just in time for schools and businesses to be let out, the movie theaters will release both a sequel and a prequel in the form of The King’s Man and The Matrix Resurrections.
The King’s Man is going to tell us the story of how the Kingsmen got started, with their origin in the first World War. I think it’s safe to assume that we can expect the same level of action and adventure and apparel from the prequel that we saw in the first two movies.
That’s right! It’s time to bust out that umbrella to bust some heads!
And this time the trailer hints that the movie’s “big bad” is going to be none other than history’s favorite punching bag (a moniker he earned with good reason), Rasputin. You’ll also be able to see Ralph Fiennes as the titular character (also known as the Duke of Oxford). Funnily enough, you may remember him as Voldemort.
And what about the new Matrix movie?
We don’t know much. The movie’s trailer revealed that Neo is somehow still alive and taking “blue pills” from his therapist. He and Trinity don’t know each other, but everything will (we assume) change when Morpheus returns and offers him the red pill.
Beyond that, we don’t know anything. The last film left Neo dead, so his return is likely what the Resurrections in the title refers to, but is there anything else? We don’t know. We don’t know if the peace between the machines and the people even lasted.
We don’t even know if Neo is still Cyber-Jesus or not.
Either way, it’s time to bust out the red-colored drugs and jump down the rabbit hole.
December 23rd: Dragons: The Nine Realms
You might not realize this, but I have some unironic love for the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. They’ve got dragons, they’ve got historically inaccurate Vikings, what’s not to love?
This new show, Dragons: The Nine Realms, looks like it’s going to be different, though. All that we really know is that the show is going to be set in modern times, over a thousand years after How to Train Your Dragon when dragons have become a legend.
It has been confirmed that Jeremy Shada from Adventure Time will be one of the voice actors, but who he’s playing has not been released. There are also hints that the show will delve into the culture and experiences of indigenous peoples.
The show’s title may also hold a clue. If they keep with their Viking theme, then the Nine Realms—as any Marvel fan (or, in my case, nerd who reads Icelandic sagas for fun) can tell you—refers to the nine worlds in Norse mythology that are connected to the world tree, Yggdrasil. These realms go from the realm of the gods in Asgard to the land of the boring dead in Niflheim, with our world—Midgard—in the middle of it all.
Now, what might that mean? Who knows. But maybe we might get to see more than just dragons in this new show.
Dragons: The Nine Realms is being produced by both Hulu and Peacock, so we’ll be able to see for ourselves on either streaming service on December 23rd.
December 29th: The Book of Boba Fett
Okay, raise your hand if you didn’t have a Boba Fett action figure growing up. If you raised your hand, then you’re probably in the minority.
For a character who had one of the lamest roles in the original trilogy, the character of Boba Fett took on a life of its own long before he came back from the dead in The Mandalorian. The original Mandalorian (and clone trooper), Boba Fett has come to represent everything “cool” in Star Wars.
The fact that he has his own show now isn’t surprising. What’s surprising is that it took so long.
So far as we know, the story seems to follow Boba as he takes over Jabba the Hutt’s old criminal empire on Tattooine. But unlike Jabba, Boba Fett seems more interested in making money than being feared, so he’s painting himself as a much more sympathetic Godfather-type of boss.
That said, there’s bound to be more to it than just this. When The Mandalorian started, all we knew was that it was about a bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe. Absolutely no mention was made of Baby Yoda. So who’s the Baby Yoda, or the Child Surprise, in The Book of Boba Fett?
Speculation Time
Absolutely no idea.
Sorry to disappoint you. However, I’d like to take a moment to step back and look at the big picture. Disney has made no secret that they want to make a big over-arching storyline with Star Wars the same way that they did with Marvel.
This is really cool, but what does that mean?
From the fact that The Mandalorian established that Grand Admiral Thrawn (aka, my homeboy) is still alive and that the fact that the cloning facility in The Bad Batch was Mount Tantiss, I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of possibility that the end goal of the new Star Wars is to do a retelling of Timothy Zahn’s Heir to Empire trilogy.
Also called the Thrawn Trilogy (or the Original Thrawn Trilogy), the series of books was the first foray into the wider world of Star Wars and singlehandedly started the Star Wars Expanded Universe series of books and graphic novels.
I won’t go into the plot very much except to say that one of the main characters is a smuggler named Talon Karrde who plays both the Empire and the Rebel Alliance. It also just so happens that he replaced Jabba the Hutt as crime lord capo di capo and has an absolute badass former assassin named Mara Jade as his right-hand.
Sound like anyone?
Now, Boba Fett and Fennec Shand are certainly not cookie-cutter copies of Talon Karrde and Mara Jade but they might just serve the same literary role.
Who knows?
All that we do know for sure is that all of us are going to end the year making wild speculations about The Book of Boba Fett on Disney+.
And what about video games and books
All things geek doesn’t end with movies and shows. I’ve also compiled a list of video games and books being released this December.
It’s a lot harder to get information about upcoming video games and books, so these lists will be much less in-depth than our previous ones.
That said, keep your eyes and trigger fingers ready for Halo Infinite, you Xboxers. Step back into the shoes of Master Chief and blow up some baddies with the help of… Not Cortana. Yup, everything we’ve seen from the trailers shows the Spartan looking for his old crush—uh, I mean, partner, Cortana, as he figures out an impressive open world.
But that’s enough hype, here are some games!
Video Games
- Solar Ash—December 2nd—PS4/PS5, PC
- Big Brain Academy: Brain vs. Brain—December 3rd—Nintendo Switch
- Danganropa Decadence—December 3rd—Nintendo Switch
- Chorus—December 3rd—PS4/PS5, Xbox One
- Final Fantasy XIV Online: Endwalker—December 7th—PS4/PS5, PC
- Halo Infinite—December 8th—Xbox One, PC
- Aeterna Noctis—December 15th—PS4/PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PC
- Five Nights at Freddy’s Security—December 16th—PS4/PS5
- The Gunk—December 16th—Xbox One, PC
TBA games appearing sometime in December (probably):
- Anvil—PC
- Shredders—Xbox One
And finally, we have book releases.
- The Shattered Crown (The Beast Charmer book 3) by Maxym M. Martineau—December 1st
- Cowboy Bebop: A Syndicate Story: Red Planet Requiem by Sean Cummings—December 7th
- Absynthe by Brendan Bellecourt—December 7th
- The Liar’s Knot (Rook & Rose book 2) by M. A. Carrick—December 7th
- The Upper World by Femi Fadugba—December 7thRisen (An Alex Verus Novel book 12) by Benedict Jacka—December 7th
- Sword & Planet by Christopher Ruocchio—December 7th
- That Was Now, This is Then by Michael Z. Williamson—December 7th
- Star Wars Vol. 3: War Of The Bounty Hunters by Charles Soule—December 8th
- Firefly: Carnival by Una McCormack—December 14th
- Rivers of London Vol. 9: Monday, Monday by Ben Aaronovitch—December 21st
- The Midnight Girls by Alicia Jasinska—December 28th
- Evershore (Skyward Flight book 3.5) by Brandon Sanderson (hallowed be thy name) and Janci Patterson—December 28th only in eBook format
That’s all folks…
Well, not really.
This was a long article, but by no means exhaustive. I tried to include as many shows, movies, video games, and books as I thought you all might like. That said, there’s a lot of manga that I’ve never heard of coming out, and several anime shows that, not only have I never even heard of them, I don’t even know what to say about them.
And the books… I tried to find everything I could on books that are YA, sci-fi, fantasy, or have to do with superheroes. That said, I’m sure I’ve missed something.
A lot of somethings.
Please forgive me, and have one hell of a good December however you decide to celebrate it.
Keep it Geeky!
See what’s geeky every month!
