Marvel dropped-albeit very, very slowly-a massive announcement about the cast of Avengers: Doomsday this week, and we had to immediately talk through our feelings about it!

Julie and friend-of-the-pod Andee talked all about the electrifying cast list and everyone it included (and everyone it mysteriously didn’t). They also talked theories, recent projects and the future of Marvel.

What did you think of the casting announcement? Are you excited for the re-vamped future of Marvel? Find us on social media and tell us!

Every once in a while at The Nerds Awaken we sit down with no plan, no outline, no agenda; we just hit record and let the pop culture gossip flow. And that's what this episode is, our stream-of-consciousness thoughts on all the recent pop culture and entertainment happenings, plus all the books/movies/tv shows we're loving lately and the ones we're looking forward to.

Hear our various hot takes on the Oscars, the upcoming 20th anniversaries of Revenge of the Sith* and Pride and Prejudice, Janna's C-Drama addiction, Julie's obsession with Paradise on Hulu, and why Mate by Ali Hazelwood is our most anticipated book of 2025.

*in the recording we mistakenly call it the 25th anniversary of Revenge of the Sith- we're old and it was past our bedtime, okay?!

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The Nerds are back for the first time in 2025 with an episode that is all things Star Wars!

We chat about our love for Skeleton Crew and our need for a second season, plus the upcoming seasons of Andor and Ahsoka. We also talked about the upheaval surrounding the Rey movie and why we think this movie is never, ever getting made.

Find us on social media and chat about Star Wars with us!

2024 is coming to a close, so we decided to sneak in one more episode to talk about all of our favorites of 2024, from books and movies to IRL moments that had us obsessed. Plus a look forward to what we’re excited for in 2025.

Find us on social media and let us know your favorite pop culture things from 2024!

We return with our final batch of interviews with some of the cast of Outlander Season 7B! With Big Gold Belt Media, Janna was thrilled to speak with Graham McTavish (Dougal MacKenzie) and Lotte Verbeek (Geillis Duncan) about their surprising return to Outlander after several years away (and after the pretty famous deaths of their both their characters).

We also got to ask the delightful Charles Vandervaart all about Lord Ellesmere (and Jamie's secret son) William Ransom, including how he's doing after that shocking reveal in Episode 11.

Find the video interviews on YouTube:

-Graham McTavish and Lotte Verbeek

-Charles Vandervaart

Follow Big Gold Belt Media:

https://www.youtube.com/@BigGoldBelt
biggoldbelt.com

We recently had the absolute pleasure of interviewing some of the cast of the Starz hit tv series Outlander through our friends Big Gold Belt Media. Janna sat down with cast members from Season 7 to talk about Part 2 of the season, which premiered Nov 22 on Starz.

We chatted with John Bell (Young Ian), Rik Rankin (Roger MacKenzie), Diarmaid Murtagh (Buck MacKenzie), Steven Cree (Ian Murray Sr), Kristin Atherton (Jenny Murray), as well as executive producers and showrunners Maril Davis and Matthew B Roberts.

Outlander Season 7 Part 2 is airing Fridays on Starz!

Find the video interviews from here:

Steven Cree and Kristin Atherton: https://youtu.be/kH-FvneJUYg?si=a7u6KEimu9dW-09B

John Bell: https://youtu.be/Kvd_vIcTQm4?si=irt8VF_r9L1KpYoa

Rik Ranking and Diarmaid Murtagh: https://youtu.be/Li27DGVIUbE?si=jPj7Ts-IPjRvwk-C

Maril Davis and Matthew B Roberts: https://youtu.be/ecvdJOdT8t4?si=O4XukrtrfDMfNr7n

Follow Big Gold Belt Media:

https://www.youtube.com/@BigGoldBelt
biggoldbelt.com

Season 2 of The Rings of Power on Amazon Prime came to a thrilling (ish?) conclusion in episode 8 and we talked through all of our many feelings.

We chatted Julie's love for the epic Balrog fight in Khazad-dum, Andee's excitement at Berek's cameo, and the death that absolutely destroyed Janna emotionally. Plus, we repeatedly expressed our frustration at the pitfalls of 8 episode seasons. Stop it, studios!

Find us on social media and let us know what you thought of The Rings of Power season finale!

It’s hard to believe that The Rings of Power is almost over!

Each week The Rings of Power is raising the stakes, and episodes 6 and 7 were no exception. From Celembrimbor’s slow descent into madness under Sauron’s abuse, to Galadriel and Adar’s continued but mysterious chemistry, and the incredible massive battle of Eregion, there was so much to talk about. We covered all the major storylines, compared what we loved with what might have been a miss, and made mostly sad predictions about the season finale. Don't worry, we all agreed Berek the horse was going to be fine!

Find us social media and let us know what you thought!