In 2023, steampunk fans were treated to an Oscar-contending film—Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things—along with the visually delightful Wonka plus the quirky 1950s retrofuturism of Hello Tomorrow and Asteroid City.
By comparison, 2024 wasn’t exactly a banner year, but it did offer a few highlights. Arcane returned to Netflix for its concluding season, and viewers in many countries finally got a chance to see Nautilus, the Disney-produced series about a young Captain Nemo.
Two notable arrivals on the big screen were George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu. One surprise came from pop culture icon Jennifer Lopez.
Arcane Bids Farewell
Image courtesy of Netflix
In November, Netflix streamed the second and final season of Arcane, the acclaimed animated series from Fortiche and Riot Games.
Inspired by Riot’s League of Legends video game franchise, the series is set in two rival cities: Wealthy, technologically advanced Piltover, and the seedy underground Zaun. The story focuses on two orphaned sisters whose lives diverge after one is imprisoned and the other falls under the influence of a crime boss.
Season 1 was lauded as one of the best adaptations of a video game ever brought to screen. Season 2 also received critical praise, receiving a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. However, some opined that it wasn’t quite as good as the first season.
One critic, Rafael Motamayor of IGN, wrote that the last three episodes seemed rushed, as if Season 2 wasn’t originally intended to be the conclusion. “Taken as a whole, Arcane is still a marvelous animated epic,” he wrote. “But the feeling that it was meant to be more is inescapable.”
As with Season 1, it scored big in the Annie Awards, winning top honors in seven TV categories, including directing, editing, music, character animation, and production design.
Though Arcane is a wrap, showrunner Christian Linke said that new series based on League of Legends are in the planning stages.
Jennifer Lopez Goes Steampunk in Musical
Photo courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios
Pop culture icon Jennifer Lopez sprang a surprise on the entertainment world with This Is Me … Now: A Love Story, a movie timed to coincide with the release of her ninth studio album, the similarly titled This Is Me... Now.
The movie, combining surreal autobiographical elements with musical interludes, premiered Feb. 16 on Prime Video. The streamer later released a “Making of” documentary.
The first music segment, set to her song “Hearts and Flowers,” depicts a dream sequence with an elaborate dance routine in an industrial steampunk setting. At the center is a gigantic beating mechanical heart. Later, the movie returned to the same setting for the title song.
In between are scenes with her therapist (portrayed by rapper Fat Joe) along with a meeting of Love Addicts Anonymous and a fantasy scene where the celestial “Zodiacal Council” discusses her relationship problems.
Lopez reportedly spent $20 million of her own money to make the film.
Nautilus Arrives, In Some Places
Nautilus, the long-awaited TV series from Disney Entertainment, finally found its way to the screen. . . in some countries. The 10-episode series, starring Shazad Latif, tells the origin story of Captain Nemo, an Indian Prince imprisoned by the East India Mercantile Company. He uses the iconic submarine to escape his captors, with the company in hot pursuit.
Disney announced in 2021 that it would produce the series for its streaming service Disney+, and it later went into production in Australia. But Disney axed the series in August 2023 in a cost-cutting move, even though shooting had been completed. The company said that it would seek other distributors to air the episodes.
A few months later, Disney and AMC Networks announced that the latter would air the series in the U.S. and Canada beginning in 2024.
But it turned out that viewers in Sweden got first dibs—the series began streaming there on SVT Play in June—followed by the France 2 channel in August. In October, it began streaming in Australia, the U.K., and other European countries. It streams on Prime Video in the U.K. and Ireland. Meanwhile, North American audiences are still waiting.
A New Doctor
The BBC and Disney+ premiered a new season of Doctor Who, officially labeled Season 1, though it was the 40th season overall and the 14th since the series was rebooted in 2005. It was the first full season to feature Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th Doctor and Millie Gibson as his new companion, Ruby Sunday. It was also the first in which the series streamed on Disney+, except in the U.K. and Ireland, where it continued to air on the BBC.
The season consisted of eight episodes. One, entitled “Rogue,” took The Doctor and Ruby to Regency-era England and included references to the hit period drama Bridgerton.
Apple TV+ Revives a Terry Gilliam Classic
On June 24, Apple TV+ began streaming Time Bandits, a new comedy adventure series based on the 1981 Terry Gilliam film.
The 10-episode series tells the story of Kevin, an 11-year-old history buff who joins a band of time-traveling thieves. It features an ensemble cast with Kal-El Tuck as Kevin and Lisa Kudrow as the crew leader. Taika Waititi, who has a recurring role as Supreme Being, was also a co-creator of the series.
The series received generally positive reviews, but Deadline reported in September that Apple had declined to renew it for a second season.
Back to the Wasteland
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the latest entry in George Miller’s postapocalyptic franchise, arrived in theaters in May after scoring rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival. The film tells the origin story of Imperator Furiosa, who was memorably portrayed by Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road.
In the new film, Alyla Browne portrays Furiosa as a child and then Anya Taylor-Joy steps in as the adult character. Chris Hemsworth has a notable role as the villainous warlord Dementus. Critics praised the movie for its story, action scenes, and the performances by Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth.
Director Baz Lurhmann, who attended the Cannes screening, described the movie as “a steampunk, Wagnerian opera,” Deadline reported. But despite the positive reviews, the film bombed at the box office.
A Vampire for Christmas
Photo: Aidan Monaghan
One of the year’s most-anticipated films came to theaters on Dec. 25. Written and directed by Robert Eggers, Nosferatu is a remake of the classic 1922 vampire film of the same name. The older movie, directed by F.W. Murnau, was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
In the new film, Bill Skarsgård stars as the vampire Count Orlok along with Lily-Rose Depp as his intended victim Ellen. The cast also features Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin, and Willem Dafoe.
The film received mostly positive reviews, along with Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
“It’s not the best Dracula movie of all time, though it aspires to that,” wrote Soren Andersen in a review for The Seattle Times. “Murnau’s original still leads the pack. But it certainly is the most stylish. Eggers is a filmmaker with astonishing visual flair.”
Looking Ahead
The past year also saw a few enticing announcements of titles slated to arrive in 2025. Netflix subscribers can look forward to Leviathan, an anime series based on Scott Westerfeld’s award-winning steampunk YA novels. The stories are set in an alt-history World War I where the British use engineered animals, including a whale airship, as weapons against the Central Powers.
In November, Netflix is slated to premiere Frankenstein, a new adaptation written and directed by Guillermo del Toro. Oscar Isaac has the lead role as Victor Frankenstein while Jacob Elordi will portray Frankenstein’s monster. The cast also features Christoph Waltz and Charles Dance.
Prime Video announced that it had ordered Young Sherlock, an eight-episode series adapted from Andrew Lane’s YA novels about Sherlock Holmes as a teenager. Guy Ritchie, director of Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), will serve as a director and executive producer. However, it’s not yet clear when the series will premiere.
More Year in Review coverage:
Steampunk Year in Review | The Year in Pictures
The Year in Books | The Year in Comics | The Year in Music
