Nerd Alert! Batman V Superman in Empire; Jon Snow lives! (maybe); casting news

Welcome to Nerd Alert!, your weekly round-up of news from the world of science fiction, fantasy, comic books, animation, and all things nerdy. Mostly movies this week!

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE of Empire includes a feature on Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, with some really cool stills from the film, which the mag also released online, lucky us. That's one of 'em above! And, without further ado, here are a couple more...

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, directed by Zack Snyder (Watchmen, Man of Steel), hits cinemas next March. That seems like a long time away for a flick that's already getting major magazine covers, but what do I know? 

RUMOUR HAS IT that as many as three new live-action Star Wars series could be coming to Netflix. And that's all I know so far. Sorry!

"SNOW HAS TO PAY for what he's done." So says Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in this clever fan-made trailer that takes elements of The Hunger Games and Game of Thrones and makes what the kids call a "mashup" out of them. Of course, the "Snow" she's referring to is not actually Jon Snow (Kit Harrington), but President Snow (played by Donald Sutherland, who is totally a Canadian, even if the Harper government won't let him vote). But for the sake of enjoying The Hunger Game of Thrones: Jon Snow Must Die, we'll suspend our disbelief.

SPOILER ALERT! Jon Snow is already dead. Or is he? In A Song of Ice and Fire, the series of books upon which the Game of Thrones TV series is based, it's ambiguous, and author George R.R. Martin hasn't revealed whether or not Snow will prove to be alive in the forthcoming The Winds of Winter. Snow was apparently killed in the fifth-season finale of Game of Thrones, which HBO aired in June. BUT—and you knewspan there was a but—Kit Harrington has been spotted in Belfast, where the sixth season of GoT is being shot. And he has been seen out and about with other cast members. And... you need more? There's more, but suffice to say: Jon Snow isn't dead!

CASTING NEWS AND RUMOURS:

• Indonesian actor and martial artist Joe Taslim (perhaps best known for his role in director Gareth Evans's The Raid: Redemption) has joined the cast of Star Trek Beyond, which is currently in production in Vancouver.
• Speaking of Star Trek Beyond, the film's star, Chris Pine, has officially signed on to play Steve Trevor opposite Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman in, uh, Wonder Woman.
• Channing Tatum, slated to star in 20th Century Fox's Gambit, has reportedly dropped out of the Marvel Universe–set film.
• The cast list for the upcoming Spider-Man reboot allegedly includes Billy Zane as the Vulture, Jason Biggs as Scorpion, and Hugh Laurie as J. Jonah Jameson. I did not make this up. (Someone else probably did, though.)
• In a recent interview, actor Ahmed Best told Vice that George Lucas had revealed to him that Michael Jackson had expressed a desire to be in The Phantom Menace. Jackson was hoping to play Jar Jar Binks, with the aid of makeup and prosthetics. That role ended up going to Best, with Jar Jar appearing on-screen via motion-capture CGI. The dopey Gungan is one of the most despised characters in movie history, so you've got to wonder if Best wishes Jackson had ended up playing him after all.