Thor: Love and Thunder almost gave Russell Crowe a very different role – Satan himself.

Concept artist Ken Barthelmey has revealed our first look at Russell Crowe as the biblical demon via Instagram in a new piece of concept art. He also offered up some info about how Crowe would have appeared in the Thor sequel.

“Russell Crowe was initially considered to appear as Satan in a cameo scene,” he revealed. “Eventually he played Zeus.”

Of course, Crowe looked very different in the final film, appearing as the bearded, gold-clad Roman god, Zeus. And when it came to the film's post-credit cameo appearance, it was instead another actor suiting up in a very different role.

But we can’t help wondering what could have been. After all, that concept art looks incredible.

“The task was to design a Satan close to Tim Curry's Devil from ‘Legend’ (1985); big horns, sleazy and evil. Because it was going to be a prosthetic make-up, I was asked to give him hairy human legs and feet. This is what I came up with.”

The end result is a very familiar-looking Satan with colossal horns and the unmistakable grin of the famed Aussie actor. And I can’t help thinking Russell Crowe would have absolutely smashed that. Still, what we got was an impressive turn as Zeus that suggests Crowe bagged the right role after all.

IGN’s own review called Thor: Love and Thunder “the MCU’s first romantic comedy, and it plays with those tropes in delightful ways. But while Thor and Jane’s relationship is handled well, Love and Thunder is less deft -- and a lot safer than you’d expect -- in pushing the greater MCU story forward. Christian Bale’s Gorr feels underutilized, and Tessa Thompson’s King Valkyrie takes a frustrating back seat, especially as the movie goes on. Taika Waititi’s signature humor and visual style persist from Ragnarok and are essential to buoying the movie through its cookie-cutter plot. With Hemsworth as enthusiastic an Asgardian as ever, Thor’s future with both love and thunder are bright.”

Thor: Love and Thunder stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, and Russel Crowe. Taika Waititi directed the film based on a script he co-wrote with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.

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

Diablo: Immortal players can now change their class once a week thanks to the latest update from Blizzard.

Announced in a blog post, an update arriving today, July 20, will add the Class Change mechanic, letting Wizards become Barbarians, Necromancers become Monks, and so on.

Players must be level 35 before they have the option to change class - which can be done at the Shifting Flames brazier in Westmarch - but can do so as many times as they like, with one change allowed every seven days.

Doing so will also be free indefinitely, as Blizzard said it has no plans to charge players for changing class once a week or any more frequently. Players can also choose to immediately revert to their previous class if they change their mind or activate the change by mistake, but this can only be done once.

Players can also change the appearance of their character and reset their Paragon skill trees when they change to each class for the first time, and placeholder gear with a level equivalent to what was previously equipped will also be given to the player.

Class-specific cosmetics and gear will be moved to the player's inventory when they change and can therefore be used again if and when they return to that previous class. Progression systems not related to class will not be affected, meaning all Clan, Warband, and other social group affiliations will carry over to the new class.

The update also adds the Hero's Journey end-game content, Gorgothra the Claimer as a new Helliquary boss, the Adventurer's Path and Hunger Moon limited-time events, the Amber Blades cosmetic set, and a number of smaller updates and fixes.

Diablo: Immortal has faced quite severe criticism from players and critics for its microtransactions that essentially lock the best upgrades behind very expensive lootboxes. Blizzard CEO Mike Ybarra defended the system though, and it certainly made financial sense as the free game made $24 million in its first two weeks.

The issue also appeared in our 6/10 review, as IGN said: "Diablo: Immortal's monster slaying action is visceral and satisfying, and the game offers up a huge amount of gameplay for free. That said, its monetisation model and numerous restrictions sour the end game experience, and leave plenty of room for improvement."

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

Upcoming horror spin-off A Quiet Place: Day One is heading to theaters on March 8, 2024.

Originally announced last year, the upcoming spinoff was expected to debut later this year. Although it’s technically the third in the Quiet Place franchise, it’s not a sequel to A Quiet Place Part II. Instead, it’s an original film based on an idea by John Krasinski. Pig director Michael Sarnoski will helm the project.

Although it’s clearly tied to the rest of the Quiet Place franchise, neither Krasinski nor Emily Blunt will reprise their roles in the film. Unfortunately, the cast hasn’t yet been revealed, and neither have details about the film’s plot, although the “Day One” aspect of its title appears to suggest that this is a prequel in some way.

A Quiet Place: Day One, which was previously untitled, was originally intended to debut on September 22, 2023, with the film’s original release date revealed alongside the release date for the main series sequel, A Quiet Place Part 3. But Paramount's latest reshuffle reveals that it will be released in 2024, alongside a number of other schedule changes.

The studio’s upcoming film IF, directed by John Krasinski, has been pushed to May 24, 2024, after setting an initial release date of November 17, 2023. Additionally, The Tiger’s Apprentice has been nudged back to January 19, 2024, instead of its earlier release on December 20, 2023.

When it comes to A Quiet Place, there’s certainly a lot to look forward to, with both the spin-off and A Quiet Place Part III coming in the next couple of years.

IGN’s review of A Quiet Place Part II called it “a highly exciting and well-acted follow-up. Director John Krasinski and Co. broaden the world of A Quiet Place with a larger cast, bigger action set-pieces, and more monster scenes but thankfully, as big as the sequel goes, the film never loses sight of the emotional intimacy between the characters that made the first movie work so well.”

A Quiet Place Part III is being worked on by John Krasinski, with the script credited to Scott Beck and Jeff Nichols. Krasinski is thought to be directing the sequel, but this has not yet been confirmed.

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

Update 10/10/2022: The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has approved Blizzard Albany's 21 quality assurance workers' request to vote to unionise.

As reported by The Washington Post, The NLRB found that the QA workers can earn up to $41,995 a year if they work full time with no weeks off - while other Blizzard Albany employees earn between $56,250 and $175,050 - and therefore dismissed Activision Blizzard's claim that the QA workers fell into the same general category as the rest of its employees.

"While we respect the NLRB process, we strongly disagree that a decision that could significantly impact the future of the entire Albany-based Diablo team should be made by just a handful of employees," said Activision Blizzard spokesman Rich George.

"Given our tightly integrated operations in Albany, all of our eligible non-supervisory employees there should have a voice and be allowed to vote, not just the approximately 20 quality assurance testers picked by the union."

We are thrilled to announce that the NLRB ruled in our favor to have an election of Albany QA testers at Blizzard. With 94% committed to winning the union, we look forward to counting ballots a month from today!#1u #UnionYes

— GWA Albany (@WeAreGWAAlbany) October 19, 2022

Original Story 07/20/2022: A group of quality assurance workers at Blizzard Albany, the Activision Blizzard developer previously named Vicarious Visions (known for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 and Skylanders), are working to unionise.

As reported by The Washington Post, the group of around 20 employees has filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and asked Activision Blizzard management to voluntarily recognise the union.

Today, we announce a new union at Activision Blizzard.

QA is currently an undervalued discipline in the games and software industries. We strive to
foster work environments where we are respected and compensated for our essential role in the
development process. 1/5

— GWA Albany (@WeAreGWAAlbany) July 19, 2022

Activision Blizzard has not confirmed whether it will or not, however, but said a decision will be announced formally and publicly to the NLRB. A spokesperson told The Washington Post that "we deeply respect the rights of all employees under the law to make their own decisions about whether or not to join a union."

The efforts of quality assurance workers at Raven Software - who formed Activision Blizzard's first union in January - encouraged the employees of Blizzard Albany to unionise themselves, as associate test analyst Amanda Laven said "it's been very, very helpful and inspiring" to see other employees show it's possible.

"Seeing their process, it’s been demystifying to see them do it first and have an idea of how things go and how the company might respond," she added. "We’ve already gotten to see some someone do it in our own company, and they’ve been very forthcoming with us talking to us about what things are like and what problems they encountered."

The unionisation effort has been growing through the games industry, seemingly slowly but surely. Quality assurance testers working on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf for external support company Keywords Studio also officially voted to unionise in June.

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

The first trailer for Halloween Ends has arrived today, giving horror hounds a brief glimpse at what’s been billed as the final showdown between series stalwart Laurie Strode and masked menace Michael Myers.

The 13th film in the 44-year-old franchise, Halloween Ends will become the fourth in the new continuity established by 2018’s Halloween – which ignored every prior film other than the 1978 original.

Director David Gordon Green has called Halloween Ends “a love letter to franchise creator John Carpenter” and noted it will be very different to Halloween Kills.

Curtis bid a fond farewell to her role in a personal Instagram post back in February. "A bittersweet END for me on the Halloween movies," she wrote, before also thanking the actors and creative teams she had collaborated with over the years.

While you’re waiting for the next chapter, check out IGN's thoughts on the previous film, plus Green’s own explanation of the ending of Halloween Kills.

Luke is Games Editor at IGN's Sydney office. You can chat to him on Twitter @MrLukeReilly.

It's been a torturous process getting more Game of Thrones on to HBO Max, littered with discarded concepts and the bones of multi-million dollar projects. It turns out that Game of Thrones' various stakeholders had a ton of ideas for spin-offs, some of which were detailed in a new report by The Hollywood Reporter.

At least 15 possible prequel concepts were reportedly kicked around, with no idea being too weird. HBO apparently even considered a prequel featuring the Seven Gods of Westeros likened to something like a superhero team-up. That pitch didn't get too far, according to THR's source.

Other concepts included:

• The destruction of Valyria, with a script by Kong: Skull Island's Max Borenstein.
• A story featuring Dornish warrior queen Nymeria by L.A. Confidential's Brian Helgeland.
• The conquest of Westeros by Aegon Targaryen, with the famed warrior being depicted as a "drunken lout."
• A series based on the lighthearted Dunk and Egg novellas.

The idea that got the further before being killed was the one that would have featured The Long Night and the Age of Heroes. Ultimately, HBO went with the idea that became House of the Dragon, which is based on Martin's novel Fire & Blood and will feature the Targaryen civil war known as the "Dance of the Dragons."

With House of the Dragon set to release August 21, more and more info is coming out about the Game of Thrones prequel, including how the showrunners are trying to create a more diverse Westeros. We will no doubt learn lots more at San Diego Comic-Con when HBO hosts its House of the Dragon panel on Saturday at 11:30am PT.

Check out more Comic-Con coverage as well as the 10 biggest panels we can't wait to see right here.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

It's been a torturous process getting more Game of Thrones on to HBO Max, littered with discarded concepts and the bones of multi-million dollar projects. It turns out that Game of Thrones' various stakeholders had a ton of ideas for spin-offs, some of which were detailed in a new report by The Hollywood Reporter.

At least 15 possible prequel concepts were reportedly kicked around, with no idea being too weird. HBO apparently even considered a prequel featuring the Seven Gods of Westeros likened to something like a superhero team-up. That pitch didn't get too far, according to THR's source.

Other concepts included:

• The destruction of Valyria, with a script by Kong: Skull Island's Max Borenstein.
• A story featuring Dornish warrior queen Nymeria by L.A. Confidential's Brian Helgeland.
• The conquest of Westeros by Aegon Targaryen, with the famed warrior being depicted as a "drunken lout."
• A series based on the lighthearted Dunk and Egg novellas.

The idea that got the further before being killed was the one that would have featured The Long Night and the Age of Heroes. Ultimately, HBO went with the idea that became House of the Dragon, which is based on Martin's novel Fire & Blood and will feature the Targaryen civil war known as the "Dance of the Dragons."

With House of the Dragon set to release August 21, more and more info is coming out about the Game of Thrones prequel, including how the showrunners are trying to create a more diverse Westeros. We will no doubt learn lots more at San Diego Comic-Con when HBO hosts its House of the Dragon panel on Saturday at 11:30am PT.

Check out more Comic-Con coverage as well as the 10 biggest panels we can't wait to see right here.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Netflix is planning to introduce a cheaper subscription tier that includes advertisements, but now we're learning that the ad-supported version of Netflix may not include all of the streaming service's content.

As part of Netflix's Q2 2022 earnings interview, Netflix co-CEO and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos was asked about the licensing issues that arise when it comes to monetizing content through ads. Sarandos said as of now, not every show would be included in the new tier, but that Netflix is working to add more.

"Today, the vast majority of what people watch on Netflix, we could include in the ad supported tier today," Sarandos said. "There are some things that [wouldn't be included], that we are in conversation with the studios on, but if we launched the product today the members in the ad tier would have a great experience. And we will clear some additional content, but certainly not all of it."

Shows created in-house at Netflix like Stranger Things aren't the ones in question here. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal last week, Netflix is in talks with Warner Bros., Universal, and Sony Pictures Television to secure shows like You, Russian Doll, The Crown, and Cobra Kai for the ad-supported tier. This will also impact old shows that live on Netflix, like Sony's Breaking Bad and Paramount's NCIS. According to the report, studios are seeking a higher cut of the revenue to allow Netflix to add their content to the new ad-supported platform.

Earlier today, we learned Netflix plans to add a new price model to the service early next year. Netflix said the rollout will be gradual, beginning in markets where advertising spending is significant. The company has not yet revealed how much this new tier will cost.

The ad-supported subscription model was first revealed back in April during Netflix's Q1 2022 earnings interview. The plan will offer a lower entry price in exchange for viewing advertisements. Competing services like Peacock already have tiers that fit this category.

Elsewhere in its earnings, Netflix revealed it lost almost one million subscribers over the last quarter, amidst an increased crackdown on password sharing. The company also announced its acquisition of animation studio Animal Logic.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Netflix is planning to introduce a cheaper subscription tier that includes advertisements, but now we're learning that the ad-supported version of Netflix may not include all of the streaming service's content.

As part of Netflix's Q2 2022 earnings interview, Netflix co-CEO and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos was asked about the licensing issues that arise when it comes to monetizing content through ads. Sarandos said as of now, not every show would be included in the new tier, but that Netflix is working to add more.

"Today, the vast majority of what people watch on Netflix, we could include in the ad supported tier today," Sarandos said. "There are some things that [wouldn't be included], that we are in conversation with the studios on, but if we launched the product today the members in the ad tier would have a great experience. And we will clear some additional content, but certainly not all of it."

Shows created in-house at Netflix like Stranger Things aren't the ones in question here. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal last week, Netflix is in talks with Warner Bros., Universal, and Sony Pictures Television to secure shows like You, Russian Doll, The Crown, and Cobra Kai for the ad-supported tier. This will also impact old shows that live on Netflix, like Sony's Breaking Bad and Paramount's NCIS. According to the report, studios are seeking a higher cut of the revenue to allow Netflix to add their content to the new ad-supported platform.

Earlier today, we learned Netflix plans to add a new price model to the service early next year. Netflix said the rollout will be gradual, beginning in markets where advertising spending is significant. The company has not yet revealed how much this new tier will cost.

The ad-supported subscription model was first revealed back in April during Netflix's Q1 2022 earnings interview. The plan will offer a lower entry price in exchange for viewing advertisements. Competing services like Peacock already have tiers that fit this category.

Elsewhere in its earnings, Netflix revealed it lost almost one million subscribers over the last quarter, amidst an increased crackdown on password sharing. The company also announced its acquisition of animation studio Animal Logic.

Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.

Sony has released a raft of updated releases for its upcoming slate of movies, including new dates for Insidious 5 and its upcoming collaboration with Marvel, Madame Web.

Madame Web is the most notable of the release date shifts, as it will see the film starring the supporting character from Spider-Man shift from the summer to the fall. Sony also pushed back its unannounced Sony / Marvel Universe film fro mid-2024.

You can find the full release date list below.

New Release Date

The Pope’s Exorcist (Screen Gems) – April 7, 2023

Insidious 5 (Screen Gems) – July 7, 2023

Delayed

A Man Called Otto (Columbia Pictures) – December 14, 2022 (from December 25, 2022)

Untitled George Foreman Biopic (Affirm Films) – March 31, 2023 (from April 7, 2023)

65 (Columbia Pictures) – April 28, 2023 (from April 14, 2023)

Madame Web (Columbia Pictures) – October 6, 2023 (from July 7, 2023)

Untitled Sony/Marvel Universe (Columbia Pictures) – June 7, 2024 (from October 6, 2023)

Indidious 5 is the latest film in the horror series by James Wan and Leight Whannell. The series centers on ghosts from the astral plane who torment various families in our realm of existence. The most recent film was released in 2018.

As for Marvel, near year will be a busy one for Sony's various collaborations with the Disney-owned studio, with Kraven the Hunter, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Madame Web all planned to release at one point or another. You can find a full slate of upcoming movie release dates here.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.