Hollywood news is closing Q1 strong. Time for a round-up!
Marvel Studios announced the release date for Punisher: One Last Kill, a Marvel Television Special Presentation. This special, greenlit in 2025 (see “’The Punisher’ Special“), stars Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle and will air on Disney+ on May 12, 2026. The Punisher is currently one of the hottest Marvel characters in the collectible comic book world (see “The Punisher is Quietly on the Move“), primarily due to his recent appearances in Daredevil: Born Again and his cameo role in the new Spider-Man movie (see “‘Spider-Man Brand New Day’“).
Stephen Colbert and his screenwriter son, Peter McGee, aided by longtime Peter Jackson collaborator Philippa Boyens, have been tapped to write a new Lord of the Rings feature, according to Variety. The working title is The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past, with a storyline drawn from the portions of The Fellowship of the Ring that weren’t used in the adaptation of the volume. The new film will follow Andy Serkis’ The Hunt for Gollum, due out in 2027 (see “‘Gollum’“).
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy will end after its second season (expected to air in early 2027), according to Variety. This show’s first season recently concluded on March 12 (see “Starfeet Academy“); it was cancelled because it failed to find a core audience on the Paramount+ streaming service.
Disney+ has renewed Wonder Man for a second season, according to Deadline. Season 1 launched on January 27, 2026 (see “‘Wonder Man’“); there is no word on the release date of Season 2.
Crunchyroll announced its Spring 2026 anime season. The spring lineup includes Dorohedoro Season 2 (April 1), That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 4 (April 3), One Piece – Elbaph Arc (April 5), and Witch Hat Atelier (April 6; see below for trailer and key art). The Witch Hat Atelier manga won a Harvey Award for Best Manga in 2025 (see “Harvey Awards“).
Amazon MGM Studios has optioned Monstress for development into an animated series, according to Variety. Monstress is a fantasy comics series created by Sana Takeda and Marjorie Liu that was first published by Image Comics in 2015. The series has been nominated for and won multiple Eisner Awards (see “The 2016 Eisner Award” and “‘Monstress’“).Source: ICv2
