Watchmen star Jeffrey Dean Morgan has joined The Boys.

According to Variety, the 56-year-old actor has joined Season 4 of Amazon’s superhero show in an undisclosed role as a recurring guest star.

Morgan has been a fan of The Boys for some time, expressing a firm interest in joining the show after interacting with showrunner Eric Kripke on Twitter.

In a heartbeat!

— Jeffrey Dean Morgan (@JDMorgan) January 16, 2020

This isn’t the first time he’s worked with Kripke on a TV project.

Morgan starred as John Winchester in The CW’s long-running drama, Supernatural, which Kripke created. Winchester was the demon-hunting father of Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki). Of course, Ackles has also appeared on The Boys as Soldier Boy.

Unfortunately, Soldier Boy is back in the freezer after The Boys Season 3 finale, meaning it’s unlikely that we’re going to get a Supernatural reunion in Season 4. But never say never.

The Boys Season 4 may be some time away, but it’s already announced a number of new cast members including Valorie Curry as Firecracker, and Susan Heyward as Sister Sage. They’ll be joined by Cameron Crovetti who plays Homelander’s son Ryan – returning in Season 4 as a series regular, rather than his earlier recurring role.

And that likely means even more tension between Homelander and Butcher.

“If [Homelander] is allowed to raise Ryan, he will raise Ryan to be a second Homelander, which will have apocalyptic stakes. If he stays in that environment, he's on his way to becoming another Homelander,” said Kripke. “And so I think it's a hint at what one of the major conflicts in season four will be, which is Butcher and Homelander having this battle over Ryan.”

Whatever happens, it’s unclear how Jeffrey Dean Morgan will fit into it.

But given his superhero pedigree with the likes of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, it might be neat to see Morgan as another washed-up superhero like The Comedian.

Want to read more about The Boys? Check out our explanation of The Boys Season 3 finale as well as what’s in store for Hughie in the future.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Watchmen star Jeffrey Dean Morgan has joined The Boys.

According to Variety, the 56-year-old actor has joined Season 4 of Amazon’s superhero show in an undisclosed role as a recurring guest star.

Morgan has been a fan of The Boys for some time, expressing a firm interest in joining the show after interacting with showrunner Eric Kripke on Twitter.

In a heartbeat!

— Jeffrey Dean Morgan (@JDMorgan) January 16, 2020

This isn’t the first time he’s worked with Kripke on a TV project.

Morgan starred as John Winchester in The CW’s long-running drama, Supernatural, which Kripke created. Winchester was the demon-hunting father of Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki). Of course, Ackles has also appeared on The Boys as Soldier Boy.

Unfortunately, Soldier Boy is back in the freezer after The Boys Season 3 finale, meaning it’s unlikely that we’re going to get a Supernatural reunion in Season 4. But never say never.

The Boys Season 4 may be some time away, but it’s already announced a number of new cast members including Valorie Curry as Firecracker, and Susan Heyward as Sister Sage. They’ll be joined by Cameron Crovetti who plays Homelander’s son Ryan – returning in Season 4 as a series regular, rather than his earlier recurring role.

And that likely means even more tension between Homelander and Butcher.

“If [Homelander] is allowed to raise Ryan, he will raise Ryan to be a second Homelander, which will have apocalyptic stakes. If he stays in that environment, he's on his way to becoming another Homelander,” said Kripke. “And so I think it's a hint at what one of the major conflicts in season four will be, which is Butcher and Homelander having this battle over Ryan.”

Whatever happens, it’s unclear how Jeffrey Dean Morgan will fit into it.

But given his superhero pedigree with the likes of Zack Snyder’s Watchmen, it might be neat to see Morgan as another washed-up superhero like The Comedian.

Want to read more about The Boys? Check out our explanation of The Boys Season 3 finale as well as what’s in store for Hughie in the future.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law's episodes feature QR codes that viewers can scan to access a free Marvel comic book related to the Disney+ series.

The second episode of She-Hulk is now streaming on Disney Plus, and a lot of people have taken to social media to share their insights, opinions, and critiques of the latest chapter — but some have been studying the frames a little more closely than others and have spotted interactive Easter eggs planted by Marvel Studios in certain scenes.

Warning: Spoilers for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law follow.

Episode 2, for example, features a QR code on Jennifer Walter's laptop. The scene in question sees Jen searching online for new jobs after being fired from her law firm for transforming into She-Hulk and derailing a trial. She brings up a webpage that lists "10 Offbeat Jobs For a Fresh Start." Alongside that headline, there's a QR code that redirects those who choose to scan it to She-Hulk (2004) #1.

She-Hulk's premiere also included a free comic giveaway. A QR code pops up around six minutes into the first episode as Jen stumbles into a bar after accidentally transforming into She-Hulk for the first time. The code appears on a poster hung on the wall in the background of the scene, and it leads viewers to a free digital copy of the character's first comic appearance in 1979's Savage She-Hulk #1.

This isn't the first time QR codes have been spotted in MCU shows. Several of these interactive Easter eggs were embedded into Moon Knight, including one that linked to Werewolf by Night, which is being developed as a Halloween special for Disney Plus, and a couple of codes were also unlocked in Ms. Marvel, connecting up to the first issue of the titular superhero's solo series.

Episode 2 of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is now streaming on Disney Plus. IGN called it "another strong episode" that "strikes a great balance between important issues and sitcom hilarity" while reintroducing old MCU players and showcasing "the important roles of supporting characters."

You can also check out our She-Hulk series premiere review if you're not caught up just yet!

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law's episodes feature QR codes that viewers can scan to access a free Marvel comic book related to the Disney+ series.

The second episode of She-Hulk is now streaming on Disney Plus, and a lot of people have taken to social media to share their insights, opinions, and critiques of the latest chapter — but some have been studying the frames a little more closely than others and have spotted interactive Easter eggs planted by Marvel Studios in certain scenes.

Warning: Spoilers for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law follow.

Episode 2, for example, features a QR code on Jennifer Walter's laptop. The scene in question sees Jen searching online for new jobs after being fired from her law firm for transforming into She-Hulk and derailing a trial. She brings up a webpage that lists "10 Offbeat Jobs For a Fresh Start." Alongside that headline, there's a QR code that redirects those who choose to scan it to She-Hulk (2004) #1.

She-Hulk's premiere also included a free comic giveaway. A QR code pops up around six minutes into the first episode as Jen stumbles into a bar after accidentally transforming into She-Hulk for the first time. The code appears on a poster hung on the wall in the background of the scene, and it leads viewers to a free digital copy of the character's first comic appearance in 1979's Savage She-Hulk #1.

This isn't the first time QR codes have been spotted in MCU shows. Several of these interactive Easter eggs were embedded into Moon Knight, including one that linked to Werewolf by Night, which is being developed as a Halloween special for Disney Plus, and a couple of codes were also unlocked in Ms. Marvel, connecting up to the first issue of the titular superhero's solo series.

Episode 2 of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is now streaming on Disney Plus. IGN called it "another strong episode" that "strikes a great balance between important issues and sitcom hilarity" while reintroducing old MCU players and showcasing "the important roles of supporting characters."

You can also check out our She-Hulk series premiere review if you're not caught up just yet!

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

We discovered that Harley Quinn would be a major Gotham Knights villain earlier this week, and now we have a section of a boss fight against her to reveal.

Harley is part of one of Gotham Knights' villain arcs, entire questlines centred around the activities of of a supervillain, which run in parallel to the main storyline. Warner Bros. Games Montreal's version of Harley has come through her Joker and Suicide Squad phases, and is now setting out to become a master criminal on her own terms.

In terms of the context of this boss fight itself, we had game director Geoff Ellenor explain it for us:

"Right before you start the Harley boss fight, which takes place in Gotham Hospital, up until this moment, you've been pursuing Harley - you've been trying to figure out what she's up to... But of course, this is Harley Quinn and she's up to no good in Gotham, and 'living your best life' in this case means doing murderous and violent things.

"Right before the boss fight starts, you've finally figured out which part of the hospital she's in and you're about to confront Harley about everything that she's been up to."

You can see 7 minutes of that ensuing fight in the video above, and for more we've revealed as part of IGN First, check out the first 16 minutes of gameplay, a reveal of 28 different superhero suits, a look at Mr. Freeze and his chosen gang, and a rundown of how this new version of Gotham City was built.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

We discovered that Harley Quinn would be a major Gotham Knights villain earlier this week, and now we have a section of a boss fight against her to reveal.

Harley is part of one of Gotham Knights' villain arcs, entire questlines centred around the activities of of a supervillain, which run in parallel to the main storyline. Warner Bros. Games Montreal's version of Harley has come through her Joker and Suicide Squad phases, and is now setting out to become a master criminal on her own terms.

In terms of the context of this boss fight itself, we had game director Geoff Ellenor explain it for us:

"Right before you start the Harley boss fight, which takes place in Gotham Hospital, up until this moment, you've been pursuing Harley - you've been trying to figure out what she's up to... But of course, this is Harley Quinn and she's up to no good in Gotham, and 'living your best life' in this case means doing murderous and violent things.

"Right before the boss fight starts, you've finally figured out which part of the hospital she's in and you're about to confront Harley about everything that she's been up to."

You can see 7 minutes of that ensuing fight in the video above, and for more we've revealed as part of IGN First, check out the first 16 minutes of gameplay, a reveal of 28 different superhero suits, a look at Mr. Freeze and his chosen gang, and a rundown of how this new version of Gotham City was built.

Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

Umbrella Academy director Steve Blackman is heading up the Netflix Horizon series based on PlayStation's Zero Dawn and Forbidden West.

During an interview with Tudum, he confirmed that he’s adapting the popular PlayStation series for Netflix and that Aloy will be the show’s main character.

“Horizon Zero Dawn is an exceptionally well-crafted game with wonderful characters not often seen in the rank-and-file of the gaming world,” he said. “Guerrilla Games has created an incredibly lush and vivid world of man and machine who find themselves on a collision course to oblivion.”

Aloy made her debut in Horizon Zero Dawn back in 2017, with a sequel, Horizon Forbidden West released earlier this year. Throughout it, Aloy grapples with her own past while exploring a post-apocalyptic world that’s overrun by machines, leaving humanity on the edge of extinction.

“Their salvation comes in the form of a young female warrior named Aloy, who has no idea she's the key to saving the world,” added Blackman. “Suffice it to say, yes, Aloy will be a main character in our story,” he revealed. “My writing partner on this, Michelle Lovretta, and I are thrilled to be able to expand this remarkable IP into a series for all types of viewers.”

Sure, Aloy may seem like the obvious choice, but with several rich and varied tribal cultures appearing throughout the series, it wasn’t exactly clear. And let’s face it – a Rost prequel show would have been epic.

IGN’s 9/10 review of Horizon: Zero Dawn said it's “a beautiful world full of unforgettable challenges," and its sequel received similar praise: “A triumphant combination of enthralling combat, top-tier creature, and character design, and a captivating open world, Horizon Forbidden West is an absolute blast and fantastic showcase for the power of the PS5.”

Want to read more about Horizon? Check out our top 15 PS5 games as well as our rundown of the 26 amazing details in Horizon Forbidden West.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

Umbrella Academy director Steve Blackman is heading up the Netflix Horizon series based on PlayStation's Zero Dawn and Forbidden West.

During an interview with Tudum, he confirmed that he’s adapting the popular PlayStation series for Netflix and that Aloy will be the show’s main character.

“Horizon Zero Dawn is an exceptionally well-crafted game with wonderful characters not often seen in the rank-and-file of the gaming world,” he said. “Guerrilla Games has created an incredibly lush and vivid world of man and machine who find themselves on a collision course to oblivion.”

Aloy made her debut in Horizon Zero Dawn back in 2017, with a sequel, Horizon Forbidden West released earlier this year. Throughout it, Aloy grapples with her own past while exploring a post-apocalyptic world that’s overrun by machines, leaving humanity on the edge of extinction.

“Their salvation comes in the form of a young female warrior named Aloy, who has no idea she's the key to saving the world,” added Blackman. “Suffice it to say, yes, Aloy will be a main character in our story,” he revealed. “My writing partner on this, Michelle Lovretta, and I are thrilled to be able to expand this remarkable IP into a series for all types of viewers.”

Sure, Aloy may seem like the obvious choice, but with several rich and varied tribal cultures appearing throughout the series, it wasn’t exactly clear. And let’s face it – a Rost prequel show would have been epic.

IGN’s 9/10 review of Horizon: Zero Dawn said it's “a beautiful world full of unforgettable challenges," and its sequel received similar praise: “A triumphant combination of enthralling combat, top-tier creature, and character design, and a captivating open world, Horizon Forbidden West is an absolute blast and fantastic showcase for the power of the PS5.”

Want to read more about Horizon? Check out our top 15 PS5 games as well as our rundown of the 26 amazing details in Horizon Forbidden West.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

FromSoftware has announced that Dark Souls 3's PC servers are back online after a serious exploit brought them down in January.

Dark Souls' official Twitter account posted the update (below), confirming that Dark Souls 3 can be played as intended again for the first time in over seven months, and that the development team is also working to restore these features to previous games Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2.

"Online features for the PC version of Dark Souls 3 have been reactivated," the tweet said. "We are working to restore these features for all other Dark Souls titles and will inform you when they are back in service. Thank you once more for your patience and support."

Online features for the PC version of Dark Souls III have been reactivated.

We are working to restore these features for all other #DarkSouls titles and will inform you when they are back in service.

Thank you once more for your patience and support. pic.twitter.com/XHiCZDEANC

— Dark Souls (@DarkSoulsGame) August 25, 2022

The servers were first taken down after an exploit was discovered that allowed other players to take over the user's PC, and FromSoftware has been releasing incremental updates ever since as it worked to bring back its games' online features.

As this issue arose just a month before the developer released Elden Ring, fans looking forward to the game were worried it would affect its multiplayer components. Thankfully, however, Elden Ring was able to launch without major issues and became an incredible success.

It did have to deal with a few hacking issues though, after an infamous Dark Souls hacker appeared in Elden Ring and forced illegal items into players' inventories, causing them to be banned. Even weirder, the game's secret underwear was also being used by trolls to get other players banned.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

With the waves beneath you and the wind in your sails, the Indian Ocean is yours to fully explore in Skull and Bones. But, as we recently learned, most of Ubisoft’s upcoming pirate simulator takes place at sea. So, how much is there to discover out there, aside from water, water, and, well, more water? We spoke to developers from Ubisoft Singapore to find out.

On Land

Despite the majority of Skull and Bones’ map being made up of ocean, you can step off your ship and walk on dry land. Not every island you see is explorable, but you can weigh anchor at dens and outposts; two special location types that have everything a pirate needs to prepare for further adventures.

“The gameplay on land is about socializing, crafting, building up your fleet and taking contracts in the game in either a den or the outpost,” explains Ryan Barnard, game director on Skull and Bones.

“The particular idea of the land is that it offers you a safe zone where nobody can attack you,” says Elisabeth Pellen, Skull and Bones’ creative director. “The role of the pirate is to do some back and forth between the safe land, where you can build and customize your ship, also trade some resources, before [going] on the ocean to steal precious cargo that you can then bring back.”

“So from land, aside from building and training, you can also take some contracts to make some money from other pirate kingpins,” she adds. “As your infamy begins to spread across the Indian ocean, you'll gain access to your own pirate lair from where you can kick start your ascent to pirate kingpin by manufacturing and smuggling illegal and high value goods.”

Skull and Bones’ world has been designed as a living space that changes as frequently as the tides. Some characters won’t stay in one place forever, and so you’ll need to explore the map to find the right people with the right opportunities.

“Spread all over the world, you will find some outposts where you can meet with smugglers or some local rebels fighting against the mega corporations,” Pellen reveals. “We call them ephemeral zones, because the NPCs you will meet in those outposts won't always be the same. They are also traveling. They are moving from one place to another.”

“When you connect to Skull and Bones, the first thing to do is to look at your map and see where the trade routes are, where the merchants are, before selecting the right ship and provision it and equip it and set sail in the direction that is most interesting to you,” she advises.

Sailing, trading, and smuggling are all important aspects of a buccaneer career. But what about treasure hunting, perhaps the most famous of all the pirate pastimes?

“There are a lot of treasures hidden in all the outposts,” promises Pellen. “You need to board some ships and steal some pieces of treasure, or you can also scavenge some wrecks to find some other pieces of map. Then [by following clues in] some drawings and some landmarks, once you find the right island, you can also use a land compass that will help you to find the location of the treasure.”

At Sea

While there are plenty of important things to find and do on land, the core gameplay of Skull and Bones takes place at sea. With that in mind, Ubisoft Singapore has put a huge amount of work into making the ocean an interesting and challenging place to explore.

“Our water is essentially a deforming mesh, and that deforming mesh informs the physics,” explains Kris Kirkpatrick, Skull and Bones’ lead technical director. “So the boat is actually interacting with the waves.”

“We have other physics properties that each ship will read from,” he continues. “So there's buoyancy and there's drag. This affects how far into the water the boat will go, how slow they will go through it. Each ship should feel different based on the size and how heavy it is.”

Since sailing is such a focus, the naval mechanics have had to evolve beyond what we saw in Assassin’s Creed. Things like the weight of the items in your hold and the direction of the wind all need to be taken into account.

“Of course, wind should be important to sailing and navigation. The wind direction actually affects the speed of your ship,” says Kirkpatrick. “So the player needs to follow the wind, and a good player will navigate better with the wind at their back, and tack better, and therefore be a better navigator.”

But while the systems are more detailed now, Skull and Bones is definitely not a hardcore sailing simulator. “You don't need to be a sailor to play Skull & Bones and be able to understand what to do,” promises Barnard, “but as you learn how to use the wind better, and [learn about what your] weight means and your cargo and the type of ship that you have, you'll see that there are advantages to being a better captain and a better navigator.”

The waves of the Indian Ocean can frequently be calm and beautiful, but Skull and Bones has a full weather system that can totally transform its waters. “We want to make sure that there are different types of weather,” says Kirkpatrick. “So you can have some light rain, you can have incredibly crazy supercell storms, and they will feel dynamic. We want the player to be surprised by that and feel the threat.”

A storm can be as dangerous as a 100-gunner galleon, so one of Skull and Bones’ biggest challenges will be learning how to sail when the water is determined to break your hull. “When you enter the storm obviously the waves get a lot bigger,” Kirkpatrick explains. “That means that the certain size of ship you have could affect you. You could flood, you could take damage. Visibility will change. It'll be a lot darker, so maybe you won't be able to see threats. Other ships could get the jump on you. It forces the player to make sure [they are] equipped properly for the journey with the right ship. Maybe they have enough food and weapons in case they engage someone.”

Most open worlds create variety through different biomes and environments, but the ocean setting means Skull and Bones can’t really do that. Instead, the developers have paid close attention to different water states and the iconography of the Golden Age of Piracy to ensure each area of the map feels new and interesting.

“Wind affects the water, the terrain affects the water,” Kirkpatrick says. “So if I'm in a coastal sea near the shoreline, the waters will be appropriately different. I can go inland, and then we're using the river technology [...] So more than ever, the world needs to feed the water and then feed the player to help him decide how to act. Not only that, we have the biodiversity of the Indian Ocean. So when I go to Africa, the water will look and feel different than when I go to the East Indies. We wanted to really show the diversity and the realism of water.”

“As you travel through different territories for the factions, you'll see the colors changing,” says Barnard. “The flags, the iconography change around you, so you'll be aware of ‘Oh, I'm in Farah territory’ or ‘I'm in the French territory.’ The color schemes and all of that will change. Breaking that up [are] dynamic events. Things that get the player to investigate are really important because you don't want to just sail for forever as you're moving, because it's a big game and a big world. So that's basically what we try to do, break up the passage with different things you can engage with: helping a merchant out, repairing a ship.”

“You can be distracted by broken pieces of map you will find in a bottle, and that will lead you toward some treasure,” Pellen teases. “On a remote island you can find a ship that is looking for some help. You can decide to escort that ship first, before going back to the prey you had started to shadow.”

“Something we implemented in the game is that sometimes, depending on the value or the properties of the cargo you are transporting, you can attract specific enemies, such as pirate rogues,” she warns. “The rivals will try to eat a piece of your pie.”

Surviving the Waves

Skull and Bones’ massive open world is beautiful, and you’ll want to explore just for the sake of seeing its many sights. But exploration is also vital to staying alive, thanks to the survival mechanics that fit into the core gameplay loop. You need to constantly be searching for new resources and gathering the raw materials to build better ships, feed your crew, and advance your infamy.

“In the world of Skull and Bones, you will evolve from the status of a castaway stranded on a desert island, to the role of middleman working for other pirates, and then to the status of kingpin,” Pellen says of the game’s core arc. “To rise from zero to hero, you will first have to collect the resources that will allow you to build your ship and craft your weapons.

“In the game, you can use a small ship and a harpoon to fish some sharks and even some crocodiles,” Pellen explains. “You can use also a large set of tools to chop some trees or to collect some iron from some cliff. You can also scavenge some rags and steal some pieces of ship. And, of course, you can plunder the rich merchant company and all their forts to collect a [large] amount of resources. The value of the resources is based on high risk, high reward. With all those resources, you can cook some rations to feed your crew during your long voyage. You can use wood to craft a big ship.”

If the term ‘survival mechanics’ fills you with dread and memories of depleting thirst meters, don’t worry; Skull and Bones isn’t that kind of survival game.

“As a captain, you don't have a status,” promises Pellen. “You don't need to drink or consume some food yourself. [But] if you don't feed or don't provide your crew with water after a while, they might turn against you and kick you out of your own ship and maroon you on some island. If you feed them properly, and if you cook some food providing additional temporary buffs, you can increase the speed of your ship and the damage you will deal, because they have more energy.”

Its massive map may be mostly water, but it looks like there’s still plenty to explore in the world of Skull and Bones. For more on Ubisoft’s pirate sim, check out the seven things you need to know about Skull and Bones.

Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Features Editor.