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There’s a reason frontier labs have gotten gunshy about consumer AI — and it’s not because the tech isn’t good enough.

Quick Take

• Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane return as John and Ted in the first promo for Peacock’s cartoon spinoff TED: The Animated Series.
• TED: The Animated Series will debut at Peacock this December.
• Will TED: The Animated Series be as successful as the movies or live-action prequel series? Probably, kid.

Kid, you ah not gonna believe this news. It’s, like, wicked good. Everyone’s favorite sentient teddy bear is returning to TV in a very different form. He’s going to be a cartoon. And the first teaser for TED: The Animated Series promises the show is going to enjoy the the unlimited freedom of animation.

Earlier this year, Seth MacFarlane said that, despite being Peacock’s most-watched show ever, there were “no plans” for a third season of TED. But two months after that disappointing announcement fans got some good news. The franchise was not leaving the streaming site. It was going to get its own spinoff cartoon starring the cast of its big screen outings. Now we have both our first teaser trailer at the Ted animated series and a premiere date. A funny promo featuring Mark Wahlberg’s John and MacFarlane’s foul-mouthed bear revealed the series will debut on December 17.

While that’s reason for viewers to celebrate, this promo is painful for John. Literally. It turns out that being a cartoon does not automatically spare you from terrible pain. What it does do is help keep you looking young despite taking place many years after your last big screen outing. Here’s the official synopsis from Peacock:

Picking up twelve years after the conclusion of the last movie, John and his thunder-buddy Ted are neighbors, both with families of their own and dead-end jobs. Follow these two lovable stoners as they enable each other’s bad ideas about marriage, parenting and the challenges of adult life.

Peacock

TED: The Animated Series comes from MacFarlane, Paul Corrigan, and Brad Walsh. Corrigan and Walsh also serve as co-showrunners. Rough Draft Studios, Inc. handles the animation. The show also stars Amanda Seyfried as Sam, Jessica Barth as Tami-Lynn, Kyle Mooney as Apollo, and Liz Richman as Ruth.

Is it gonna be wicked successful? Everything Ted touches is always successful, kid. But we’ll find out for sure soon enough.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow Mikey on Bluesky at @‌burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post TED: THE ANIMATED SERIES First Teaser Is Full of Cheeky Fun appeared first on Nerdist.

Meta says its Muse AI agent cannot access a user’s Messages without explicit permission, disputing a journalist’s account that the agent read his private messages while the required Mac setting was turned off.

Quick Take

• At the recent Minecraft: Live, developer Mojang Studios revealed that not only would a new dimension be available in Minecraft Dungeons II, but it would also be introduced to the base game as well.
• This new Minecraft dimension is called The Sift, and its based primarily on souls. Its dreamy aesthetic is complemented by unique biome types, fresh mobs, and new blocks.
• Nerdist’s Take: The Sift’s vibes are off the charts, and it has us ready and willing to explore beautiful pink meadows and swim in HP-damaging soul juice.

The recent Minecraft: Live came with nearly a dozen reveals, many of them significant, but eclipsing all of the other announcements is The Sift, a new dimension in Minecraft Dungeons II, but more importantly, a new dimension in vanilla Minecraft. It’s been fourteen years since the Minecraft base game saw a new dimension, and the hype is real, as you might imagine. While we don’t know a great deal about The Sift yet, just what we’ve seen so far promises a world that feels totally unlike the three current Minecraft dimensions, while complementing them all the same.

Today at Minecraft LIVE: Dungeons II, our first new dimension in more than 14 years, new ways for creators to build, Minecraft on Nintendo Switch 2, and more.

More than 300,000 people play Minecraft for the first time on an average day. After 17+ years and 425M+ copies sold, I… pic.twitter.com/fdhkwuh258

— ASHA (@asha_shar) September 26, 2026

The Sift debuts in Minecraft Dungeons II on September 29th, but releases in 2027 on Java and Bedrock (the two main versions of the game, named after their programming language) for vanilla players to enjoy as well. The Sift teaser for vanilla Minecraft gave little away about this new dimension, but thanks to Minecraft Dungeons II, we have some idea of what awaits us in the soul cairn of the Minecraft dimensions. The Sift has a day-and-night cycle (of sorts), its own unique biomes, a slew of new mobs, and, of course, a heck of a lot of new blocks. Whether players will have to jump through a hoop or ten to get into The Sift, like The End, or be able to open portals wherever, like the Nether, is still unknown. In Minecraft Dungeons II, note blocks have to be placed in the correct order in front of a portal in an ancient city to gain access to The Sift.

Iridescent fluid runs through The Sift, called ichor. The ichor will light you on fire and cause damage, but all of the mobs endemic to The Sift are unharmed by it. There’s plenty of plants in The Meadows, one of the three confirmed biomes in The Sift, adding to the atmosphere and aesthetic of the lush new Minecraft dimension. There’s also a desert-like biome called the Carapace, filled with fossils. The Carapace feels very distinct from The Meadows, and from the last known biome: The Hills. The Hills, while having a color palette reminiscent of The Meadows, holds a more sinister air. Suspended above deep gashes of ravines, The Hills feels barren and wide open in comparison to the other biomes.

All told, we’re obsessed with the look and feel of The Sift. This new dimension is easily one of the most beautiful in Minecraft. And we’ll gladly take on all of its dangers and menace for the chance to explore more thoroughly. We couldn’t have wished for a better new place to explore and build.

Minecraft Mojang Studios

All this and more awaits us in 2027 when The Sift update hits vanilla Minecraft and brings players their first new dimensions in ages. There will be so much to explore! No matter how long Minecraft has been around, it always manages to make us yearn for the mines time and time again.

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Minecraft World Theme Park Opening in Greater London Next Year Jess Harshbarger writes about movies, TV, games, comics, and all things nerdy for Nerdist.

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By launching an AI agent for food ordering, DoorDash is looking to gain an edge over rivals Uber Eats and Grubhub.

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Quick Take

• Not to be outdone by its East Coast counterpart, Universal Studios Hollywood serves up true terrors at this year’s Halloween Horror Nights, including Sinners and Hellraiser.
• We ranked Sinners as our ultimate favorite at this year’s annual Halloween event.
• Nerdist’s take: If you love faithful recreations of iconic horror films, with just a jump scare or two thrown in, Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights is your spooky season destination,

Although Universal Studios’ annual Halloween Horror Nights at the Orlando theme park may get all the attention and have more haunted house attractions, the original Hollywood park is no slouch in the scare department. This year, horror fans at Universal Hollywood will have eight haunted houses and one Terror Tram to experience at Halloween Horror Nights. If you’re in Los Angeles during the month of October and want a real spooky season treat, you simply must get yourself to the park. To help you make the most of your visit, we also have some advice on what’s worth your time. Below, we rank all eight haunted houses at Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights 2026, as well as this year’s Terror Tram, from best to worst:

Our Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights House Rankings

• 1. Sinners Is the Best House at Universal Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights
• 2. Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness
• 3. Hellraiser
• 4. Killceañera: Music by Slash
• 5. Killer Klowns from Outer Space
• 6. Evil Dead Burn
• 7. Terror Tram Starring Art the Clown
• 8. Stranger Things 5
• 9. Dead, Deader, Deadest Is the Worst House at Universal Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights

1. Sinners Is the Best House at Universal Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights

Last year’s horror sensation from Ryan Coogler was the Depression-era vampire thriller Sinners, which left quite a pop culture impact (and an Oscar win for Michael B. Jordan). So we’re glad we didn’t wait years to see Sinners come to Universal Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights. This haunted house takes you through the events of the movie, starting with Sammie singing the Blues in Club Juke. There’s even a scare actor playing Smoke who looks so much like Michael B. Jordan, folks going through the house had to do a double take. Me included.

Universal Studios Hollywood/Nerdist

So what makes this one stand out from the rest? The Sinners haunted house has all the film’s singing vampires stalking the woods outside, with a very creepy red-eye effect. Then we go through the harrowing events inside Club Juke, beat for beat, ending with the vampires burning up in the morning sun. Is it the scariest haunted house in terms of jump scares? No, but for sheer stagecraft and fidelity to the film it’s based on, the Sinners House earns the number one spot in our Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights 2026 rankings. If any haunted house deserves to come back in 2027, we think it’s Sinners. In the meantime, you can always rewatch the movie, wherever you are.

2. Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness Universal Studios Hollywood/Nerdist

Usually, I roll my eyes a bit at the HHN haunted houses based on a particular celebrity. Especially if they’re musicians. We may love the Weeknd, but he’s not a nightmare figure. However, we make a big exception for the late Ozzy Osbourne. After all, he was the Prince of Darkness. This Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights House takes us through Ozzy’s catalog of songs, recreated as tangible frights. You enter through Osbourne Station and board the “crazy train” to hell, before entering Osbourne Asylum. Ozzy’s terrifying werewolf from the music video for “Bark at the Moon” even pops out to attack unsuspecting guests. But the true star is an amazing bat creature animatronic, paying homage to Ozzy’s most infamous on-stage incident. That animatronic alone puts this haunted house near the top of our Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights 2026 rankings.

3. Hellraiser

I’ll admit, I love Clive Barker’s original two Hellraiser films to death. And this haunted house truly does them justice. So I may be a bit biased putting this one at third place. But biased or not, the Hellraiser House really does rule. We enter the Halloween Horror Nights house through a giant Lament Configuration puzzle box, making our way through to the attack on Larry Cotton’s house from the 1987 film. We see the twisted torture racks, and Pinhead appears, voiced once more by Doug Bradley.

Universal Studios Hollywood/Nerdist

All the demonic Cenobites we’d expect to see pop out from the walls and crevices to terrify us, and they are perfectly realized. And maybe the creepiest scare actor is the one playing a skinless Frank Cotton, all covered in bloody musculature. But my favorite part is the climax, where we see Uncle Frank, with chains attached to each part of his body, with Pinhead ready to “tear his soul apart,” as he is fond of saying. If you love this franchise, especially the original classic, you’ll adore this Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights 2026 haunted house experience.

4. Killceañera: Music by Slash

Every year, Halloween Horror Nights runs a haunted house that honors creepy Mexican folklore. If your theme park is located in Southern California, you have to, right? Well, this year’s version of that idea might be our favorite yet. For Killceañera: Music by Slash, HHN has created one creepy Quinceañera party, or “sweet 15” for you non-Latinos out there.

Universal Studios Hollywood/Nerdist

Our undead birthday girl is disturbing, but even more so are the demons who have arrived at her party. And La Llorona even makes an appearance, right before one delightfully ghoulish dinner party. This one recycles some elements from past Latino-themed houses, but my favorite jump scare of the Halloween Horror Nights event comes from this house, with an undead mariachi band. Those guys alone have this Halloween Horror Nights haunted house solidly at my number four house in our Universal Hollywood 2026 rankings.

5. Killer Klowns from Outer Space Universal Studios Hollywood/Nerdist

Killer Klowns from Outer Space is one of the best haunted houses at Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights 2026, and the only reason I’m giving it a mid-ranking is that this probably the third time Universal Hollywood HHN has brought it out. This one brings you into the cotton candy-scented world of the Chiodo Brothers’ ‘80s cult film, and the Klowns themselves are some of the best monsters in any maze, ever. These guys are pretty damn disturbing, even without needing to jump out and scare you. Although after this year, we think it’s ok to retire the Killer Klowns for a bit and let some new blood in. But I still love this haunted house to pieces.

6. Evil Dead Burn Universal Studios Hollywood/Nerdist

I have to admit, I haven’t seen the latest Evil Dead movie. But I’ll say this haunted house based on it is pretty cool overall. We enter through a spooky forest, guarded by a Deadite; we are led through various bloody domestic scenes with demons popping out from left and right. It’s all pretty much the same thing as Universal Hollywood HHN’s recent Evil Dead Rise haunted house, but the bathroom and kitchen scenes, where they lay on the gore pretty thick, make this one more memorable than last year’s. But still, it could have been better overall. I did love the decapitated head screaming “Dead by dawn!” at the entrance quite a bit. But overall, we’d term the Evil Dead House “just ok” in our overall Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights 2026 House rankings.

P.S. If you’ve got the urge to watch the movie yourself, you can do so here.

7. Terror Tram Starring Art the Clown Universal Studios Hollywood/Nerdist

I’m going to admit right now that I’ve never seen a single entry in The Terrifier franchise. So my familiarity with Art the Clown and his sadistic kills comes from online images and last year’s excellent haunted house. This year, the Terror Tram was the journey through Art’s Christmas kills, and it’s a pretty gruesome affair. We have to give props to the Art scare actors, who were especially enthusiastic. Although we didn’t love Art shooting a giant Gatling gun, to be honest. We like our slashers traditional – knives, machetes, chainsaws. No firearms. Good scares, just not as great as last year’s Art-themed haunted house. But since this one was all outside, we were spared the gross smells from last year’s house, so we did truly appreciate that.

8. Stranger Things 5 Universal Studios Hollywood/Nerdist

For being such a signature piece of modern horror iconography, the presumably last Stranger Things haunted house left much to be desired. It’s supposedly based on the final season of the hit Netflix series, but aside from a few different versions of Vecna popping out at you and some Purple Rain playing over the speakers to tie into the show, there’s not much that evokes the final season of Stranger Things. Apparently, the Orlando version of this haunted house is far superior. For such a big IP beloved by so many, there was no reason this was so meh.

9. Dead, Deader, Deadest Is the Worst House at Universal Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights Universal Studios Hollywood/Nerdist

Why is this last? Well, we just couldn’t quite figure out what the vibe for this Halloween Horror Nights House even really was. We suppose it’s about a haunted funeral home, run by a creepy old man. The glowing green toxic goo that’s around the undead corpses in this haunted house suggests cursed embalming fluid that brought them back to life. Cool premise, just confusingly executed. That wouldn’t matter if we were frequently startled, but this one seemed to have half the scare actors of other Houses. If you’re at Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights 2026 and on a time crunch, it’s between Dead Deader Deadest and another house, we say go for the other one. But like all the haunted houses at HHN, it’s still a good time.

To purchase tickets for Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights 2026, you can head on over to the official Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights site here.

This post has affiliate links, which means we may earn advertising money if you buy something. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, we just have to give you the heads up for legal reasons. Click away!

Eric Diaz is a staff writer at Nerdist and a Swiss Army knife of fandoms. Eric loves DC, Marvel, horror movies, and even Star Wars and Star Trek equally.

The post Halloween Horror Nights 2026 Houses, Ranked (Universal Hollywood) appeared first on Nerdist.

The order -- Harbinger's biggest ever -- comes as the startup is reportedly considering an IPO.

Quick Take

• Jenna Ortega will continue to rule the small screen in Wednesday season three, which wrapped filming in September 2026.
• The next season will address some pretty big questions about Enid’s status and why Ophelia Frump is locked up.
• There’s no release date for Wednesday season three at this time, but we can safely assume its coming in the first half of 2027.

Wednesday season two left us with quite the cliffhanger. Enid is fully wolfed out and ran off to parts unknown, with Wednesday going to look for her. Miss Capri takes Tyler to join a secret group of Hydes and we discover that Aunt Ophelia is alive and being held captive in Grandmama’s basement. It is a lot, indeed. Thankfully, we won’t be left out to dry because Wednesday season three is happening. Production wrapped in September 2026, which means we will probably get the new season sometime next year. 

Here’s what we know about Wednesday season three so far. 

Wednesday Season 3’s Plot 

Right now, we don’t have plot specifics. But, as we mentioned earlier, there are those plot threads that we will address, and it will take us out of Nevermore Academy’s scope a lot more. For some reason, Aunt Ophelia did write on the wall that Wednesday must die, but we aren’t totally sure why. Something as trivial as death wouldn’t scare Wednesday anyway. 

Netflix Behind-the-Scenes 

Alfred Gough and Miles Millar will continue as showrunners, with Tim Burton as executive producer and director. It is not clear if he will direct all of this season’s episodes or if someone else will get behind the camera. Netflix announced that Wednesday season three filming was a wrap with a photo of our favorite sarcastic girl sitting at her beloved typewriter. 

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Cersei Lannister Herself, Lena Headey, Joins WEDNESDAY Season 3 Wednesday Season 3’s Cast 

Of course, all of our usual suspects from the Addams family are returning as well as others like Billie Piper’s Capri. But this season has some interesting new names as well, like Eva Green as Ophelia Frump, Winona Ryder as a character named Tabitha, and Game of Thrones alum Lena Heady in an unknown role. 

Wednesday Season 3’s Release Date 

There is no release date at this time but we can assume this show will return sometime in 2027.

This post has affiliate links, which means we may earn advertising money if you buy something. This doesn’t cost you anything extra, we just have to give you the heads up for legal reasons. Click away!

Nerdist writes about movies, TV, games, comics, and all things nerdy for Nerdist.

The post Everything We Know About WEDNESDAY Season 3 appeared first on Nerdist.

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Quick Take

• Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Santa Claus needs Alan Ritchson’s help getting back his toy sack in Prime Video’s trailer for The Man With the Bag.
• Awkwafina also stars in this Christmas movie, playing a vengeful elf who threatens Christmas.
• The Man With the Bag feels like a silly movie that came right from Mad-libs, but we’re not against it.

When the Sun gets lower in the sky and the leaves start to turn colors it can only mean one thing: Christmas movie trailers. Sure, the spooky season might be on deck, but Hollywood has to start hyping its fare for the most wonderful time of the year. And this holiday season, a big name is going to play the big guy. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays Santa Claus in Prime Video‘s The Man With the Bag, and the film’s first trailer reveals he’s not even the biggest actor in the movie.

Sure, why not? Let’s get real silly. Why shouldn’t Arnold Schwarzenegger play Santa? It’s what we deserve, we guess. And why shouldn’t Mad Libs get a “story by” credit, you know? Here’s what it came up with for the latest Christmas movie from the star of Jingle All The Way:

When Santa’s iconic red bag is stolen by a rogue elf with a grudge, Christmas is suddenly at risk. With his biggest night of the year fast-approaching, Santa recruits a thief from his ‘Naughty List’ who quickly assembles a crew of criminally skilled misfits — with a little help from elves and reindeer — to pull off the most unexpected heist of their lives.

Prime Video also says The Man with the Bag is a “holiday heist adventure” about “second chances, unlikely friendships, and discovering that sometimes even Santa needs a little help delivering Christmas.”

Well, yeah. That’s why he has elves. He always needs help delivering Christm…no. No. We said we’re gonna get silly, and silly is what we’re going to do.

Prime Video

Joining Arnold Schwarzenegger as Santa in The Man with the Bag is Awkwafina, who plays the vengeful elf who threatens Christmas. Reacher star and large man Alan Ritchson plays the crook Santa turns to for help. The movie also stars Berkeley James, Michael Cyril Creighton, Liza Koshy, Kyle Mooney, Jane Krakowski, and Ken Jeong.

The Man With the Bag comes from director Adam Shankman (Hairspray, A Walk to Remember). Allan Rice (Stuck in the Middle) wrote the script.

Will Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Santa movie spread holiday cheer? We’ll find out after the spooky season ends and Christmas movie trailers become Christmas movie releases. And this one will arrive on Prime Video December 2, 2026.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow Mikey on Bluesky at @‌burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.

The post Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Santa Claus in THE MAN WITH THE BAG Trailer appeared first on Nerdist.

Parents can limit how teens use channels, whose Status they can see, who can see their Status updates, and control who can add teens to groups.

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