John de Lancie’s Q Returns in New Star Trek: Voyager Game Adventure

Evening News · Wednesday 28 October 2026

John de Lancie is back as Q, the all-powerful trickster who loved to torment Starfleet captains, in a new adventure for the Star Trek: Voyager strategy game Across the Unknown. Also tonight: HBO’s Harry Potter finds Harry’s parents, A24 takes Alex Garland’s Elden Ring to market with a record-breaking budget, a Halloween star directs a deadly board-game horror, British talent lines up for the Gotham Awards, and Melanie Lynskey plays Erin Patterson in a drama about Australia’s mushroom murders.

The News That Matters

John de Lancie’s Q returns in Star Trek: Voyager – Across the Unknown

• What happened: Daedalic Entertainment and gameXcite released Delta Chronicles 2 today (28 October), the third of four add-ons for their Star Trek: Voyager survival strategy game Across the Unknown
• Q is back: John de Lancie reprises his role as Q in the new Q Logs, voiced audio logs across sectors 2 to 12 in which Q gives his own take on Voyager, the Continuum, family problems and “the occasional downside of omnipotence”
• What’s in it: Five classic Voyager storylines become new missions: Q’s family drama in “The Q and the Grey” and its unlockable follow-up “Q2”, the territory of the Swarm, the Doctor’s runaway daydreams in “Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy”, and the Kraylor and Annari conflict aboard the Nightingale. There are also two recruitable heroes, including Q himself, two new technologies and three new ships
• UK availability: Out now as a separate download and as part of the game’s Expansion Pass; the base game is needed. The base game is 30% off on Steam for the launch

Watch the trailer

De Lancie’s Q has always brought out the best in Star Trek, and his episodes with Kate Mulgrew’s Janeway were some of Voyager’s most playful. Having him narrate the journey home in his own mischievous voice is a lovely touch for fans in Star Trek’s 60th year. It joins a busy month for Trek merchandise, from the Magic: The Gathering cards in this morning’s edition to the new books in our Star Trek News.

HBO’s Harry Potter casts James and Lily Potter, and adds Charlie Weasley

• What happened: HBO has cast Jasper Talbot as James Potter and Hannah Chinn as Lily Potter, Harry’s parents, in its Harry Potter series, Deadline, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter reported on Tuesday
• Also joining: Harry Gilby (Tolkien, The Last Kingdom) plays Charlie Weasley, the second-eldest son of Arthur (Rafe Spall) and Molly Weasley (Katherine Parkinson). Charlie never appeared on screen in the films
• The series: Season one, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, stars Dominic McLaughlin as Harry, Arabella Stanton as Hermione, Alastair Stout as Ron, John Lithgow as Dumbledore, Paapa Essiedu as Snape and Nick Frost as Hagrid. Francesca Gardiner writes, and Mark Mylod directs several episodes
• UK availability: Premieres on Christmas Day, 25 December, on HBO Max in the UK, which is also available through Sky and NOW

James and Lily are only glimpsed in the first book, in the Mirror of Erised and in Harry’s memories, but their sacrifice drives the whole story, so this is casting that will matter more as the seasons go on. Charlie, the dragon-loving Weasley, is a nice sign that the series has room for the book characters the films left out. Catch up with the first teaser before Christmas.

A24 takes Alex Garland’s Elden Ring to market with a record budget

• What happened: A24 is taking its film of the hit video game Elden Ring to the American Film Market in Los Angeles next month. Deadline reports a budget of $175 million to $200 million, the biggest ever for a stand-alone film on sale at a market, and A24’s biggest yet
• The deal so far: Amazon MGM Studios has taken the first streaming rights in a large number of international markets, Deadline reported. A24, which is fully financing the film, declined to comment
• Who’s in it: Alex Garland writes and directs. Kit Connor leads a cast including Ben Whishaw, Cailee Spaeny, Tom Burke, Havana Rose Liu, Sonoya Mizuno, Jonathan Pryce, Ruby Cruz and Nick Offerman
• Where it stands: Filming wrapped in the summer and the film is in post-production with Industrial Light & Magic. The script is said to run to at least 180 pages
• UK availability: Due in cinemas and IMAX in March 2028 (US). UK date and distributor not yet confirmed

Garland is best known for lean, thoughtful sci-fi like Ex Machina and Annihilation, so a near-three-hour dark fantasy of knights, demigods and dragons is a huge leap. The game’s story, written with George R.R. Martin, is famously cryptic, which gives him room to make it his own. The project came up earlier this month when we reported that 28 Years Later Part III is on hold, with Garland’s work on Elden Ring one of the demands on his time.

Halloween’s Scout Taylor-Compton directs board-game horror Survive: The Game

• What happened: Olivia Holt (Heart Eyes), Jaimie Alexander (Thor, Blindspot) and Rohan Campbell (Halloween Ends) lead Survive: The Game, which is filming now in Gipuzkoa, Spain, Deadline reported
• The story: A group of friends unearth an ancient board game inside a secluded cabin with a violent past. Each roll of the dice brings a deadly fate to life, and the only way to survive is to finish the game
• Who’s making it: Scout Taylor-Compton, who played Annie in Rob Zombie’s Halloween films, directs from a script she wrote with Michael Kennedy, co-writer of Heart Eyes. The producers see it as having franchise potential
• UK availability: No release date or UK distributor yet

It is a neat bit of horror history: two generations of Halloween alumni, one behind the camera and one in front. The idea sounds like Jumanji with the brakes off, and with Holt fresh from the gleefully nasty Heart Eyes, it could be a fun midnight movie.

Mike Leigh, Gillian Anderson and Ian McKellen lead British hopes at the Gotham Awards

• What happened: The Gotham Film & Media Institute announced the nominations for the 36th Gotham Awards on Tuesday. All of a Sudden, Clarissa, La Gradiva, The Invite and Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care lead with four nominations each
• The British contenders: Tender Loving Care is up for Best International Feature, Director and Original Screenplay for Leigh, and Supporting Performance for Kate O’Flynn. Gillian Anderson (Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma), Ian McKellen (The Christophers), Andrew Scott (Elsinore) and Sophie Okonedo (Clarissa) are up for Lead Performance, and Tom Courtenay (Queen at Sea) for Supporting Performance
• Horror in the mix: A24’s Backrooms is among the nominees for the returning Gotham Audience Award
• UK availability: The winners are named on 30 November in New York, and the ceremony is broadcast on YouTube. Tender Loving Care opens in UK and Ireland cinemas on 12 February 2027. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is streaming on MUBI

The Gothams are the first big stop of awards season, and this is a strong showing for British talent. Leigh has said Tender Loving Care is most likely his last film, and it arrives with the Golden Shell from San Sebastián already in hand. It is lovely, too, to see Gillian Anderson in the running, on the same night that our X-Files pick is one of her earliest outings as Scully. And if you have not caught it yet, here is our Backrooms Super Review.

Melanie Lynskey will play Erin Patterson in Paramount+ drama Mushroom Murders

• What happened: Paramount+ has ordered Mushroom Murders: There’s More to Unearth, a six-part Australian limited series starring Melanie Lynskey as Erin Patterson. Lynskey announced it herself at the Paramount+ and Ten upfronts in Melbourne, The Guardian reported
• The story: It follows the 97 days between the 2023 lunch at Patterson’s home in Leongatha, Victoria, which killed three of her estranged husband’s relatives, and her arrest. Patterson was convicted of three murders and one attempted murder and sentenced to life in prison in 2025. She is appealing against her convictions
• Who’s making it: Written by Anya Beyersdorf, with all six episodes directed by Daina Reid for Soapbox Pictures. Lynskey also executive produces
• UK availability: Premieres on Paramount+ in 2027. UK release not yet confirmed

Lynskey is one of the best actors working in television, as Yellowjackets and The Last of Us proved, and she is very good at people who are hard to read. This is a real case with grieving families, though, and the challenge will be telling it with care. It is also not the only version on the way: the ABC has announced its own drama about the case, Toxic.

Which Q episode would you most like to play through, and will you be watching the new Harry Potter on Christmas Day? Tell us below.

Back tomorrow with What to Watch Tonight at 7:30am and the Morning News at 8am.