This week's episode of the Empire Podcast sees Chris Hewitt — freshly returned from Comic-Con and San Diego — sit down for a lovely chat with Spider-Man: Brand New Day director, Destin Daniel Cretton. Either side of that, Chris is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, Amon Warmann, and Ben Travis to discuss their favourite Spider-movies, look back at Comic-Con and a whole bunch of trailers, and review Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Ish. They also get into Emily Wilson's scathing criticism of Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and discuss authors and writers who dislike movies based on their works. We've yet to hear from Homer, but we do have an ask in with his publicist. Enjoy.

And so Empire has said goodbye to Comic-Con 2026, after an absolutely jam-packed few days that saw our Chris Hewitt race around the San Diego Convention Centre, taking in panels and press lines galore, speaking to some of the biggest and brightest around, and eating horrifically. Like, it's a wonder he's still alive horrifically. But he made it to the end and, in this reaction show recorded on a terrace at the Hilton Bayfront mere minutes after the Avengers: Doomsday/Marvel Studios presentation and press line, Chris sits down with Empire colleague Dan Jolin to talk about Dan's unusual reason for being at Comic-Con, Chris' reaction to the Marvel panel and other panels he saw this year, and much, much more, including an interview with Masters Of The Universe and Wildwood writer, Chris Butler. Are you ready to meet your pod-doom? Enjoy.

On this week's Empire Podcast, Helen O'Hara slides into the host's chair in the Comic-Con-related absence of Chris Hewitt, and together, she, James Dyer and Amon Warmann come up with some of the greatest dog movies, suggest classic myths that could be turned into movies, swap outlandish theories about Avengers: Doomsday, talk about the movie news that broke before Comic-Con, and review The Dink, 72 Hours, and Deep Water. Guest-wise, for the first time in a while we have two in one episode, with Chris talking (via AirPods, thanks to technical difficulties) to The Dink star and all-round legend, Mary Steenburgen [26:54 - 44:27 approx], and then to old podcast stalwart, Tom Hiddleston, who whisks Chris away to actual Pompeii to talk about Hiddleston's new Disney+ docu-drama, Pompeii: Out Of Time, and display dazzling proficiency in Latin. [1:02:35 - 1:20:01 approx] Enjoy.

Here's a fun treat for anyone interested in comedy, movies, improv and more: when Chris Hewitt was in LA the other week, not only did he talk to John Woo for a one-hour special that can be found in this very podcast feed, but he also sat down with Scott Aukerman, host of his favourite podcast, Comedy Bang! Bang! With Aukerman, Paul F. Tompkins and Andy Daly coming to the UK and Ireland this week for the latest leg of their Groundbeefing Tour, that was all the excuse Chris needed to talk to Scott for an hour-plus deep dive into the podcast's origins, Scott's favourite guests, life on the road and, because this is a film podcast last time we checked, Aukerman's experiences in front of and behind the camera on the likes of Austin Powers In Goldmember and Between Two Ferns: The Movie. Frank, funny and fascinating, this will be well worth your time even if you aren't into CBB. And if you are, you've just hit paydirt. Enjoy.

With Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey finally in cinemas, and the current issue of Empire (with The Odyssey on the cover!) still on sale for just over a week or so, now is the perfect time for Chris Hewitt and Nick de Semlyen, who wrote Empire's Odyssey coverage, to get together and do a deep dive into this epic of epic epicness. Whether you've read the issue cover-to-cover, or are planning to pick it up at some point, you'll find much to enjoy here.

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has finally landed in cinemas around the world, and to mark the occasion, we've turned the latest episode of The Interviews into an Odyssey special, as Chris Hewitt talks to two of the key pairings from Nolan's epic adaptation of the Homer poem. First up, you'll hear from Himesh Patel and John Leguizamo, who play Eurylochus and Eumaeus, two characters who are close to Odysseus, the warrior whose journey home after The Trojan War is beset by the kind of bad luck that would have you begging for a bus replacement service. And then you'll hear from Odysseus himself, aka Matt Damon, and Tom Holland, who plays Odysseus' son, Telemachus, as they talk about their toughest days on set, the worst smells, and forging a father-son bond between two characters who are apart for much of the film. These aren't spoiler interviews, but references are made to certain scenes, so perhaps wait until you've seen The Odyssey before listening, just in case. But both pairings were on cracking form, and we hope you'll enjoy.

This week's episode of The Empire Podcast sees one of the most revered Chrises in the movie business finally sit down with the director of The Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar, Oppenheimer and now The Odyssey. Yes, our Chris Hewitt has a lovely chat with Christopher Nolan, as the latter's Odyssey odyssey finally comes to an end. [47:24 - 1:09:28] Either side of that, Chris (Hewitt) is joined in the podbooth by Helen O'Hara, James Dyer, and Alex Godfrey to pay a heartfelt tribute to the great Sam Neill, who passed away this week at the age of 78; make their selections for the Mount Rushmore of Neill films (by popular public demand); discuss the week's movie news, including the trailer for Tom Cruise's Digger; and review Heartstopper Forever, Couples Weekend and, yes, The Odyssey. With the latter review, in particular, proving so epic it might take you ten years to recover. Enjoy.

Here's a hard boiled treat that will feel like a bullet in the head initially. It may even make you want to take your face off. But hold tight, for there will always be a better tomorrow. Yes, it's a very special interview with the legendary action director, John Woo, who invited our Chris Hewitt, a lifelong fan of Woo's movies, into his LA offices last week for an hour-long talk, principally about Woo's groundbreaking, exhilarating work in Hong Kong on the likes of Hard Boiled, The Killer, Bullet In The Head, and A Better Tomorrow and its sequel. The two of them talk about Woo's humble beginnings, his discovery of action as an outlet and Chow Yun-Fat as his alter ego/leading man, his approach to staging action, his travails on Hard Boiled's greatest action sequence, and much, much more. We hope you enjoy.

Another jam-packed episode of The Interviews this week sees Chris Hewitt sit down in person with Auli'i Cravalho, the actress who originated the role of Moana in the animated films, and is now handing over the live-action torch to Catherine Laga'aia; [2:00 - 15:46 approx] and on Zoom with Robert Mark Kamen, writer of the original The Karate Kid and now also the book for The Karate Kid: The Musical, which is currently on tour in the UK; [17:05 - 38:26 approx] and finally Matt Spicer, who makes his return to directing movies with the Netflix comedy Little Brother, some nine years after he burst onto the scene with Ingrid Goes West. [39:20 - 56:14 approx] Enjoy.

Praise be to Muad'Dib! Thank the heavens for Duuuuuuuuuuuuune Part Three! Because, frankly, without the launch this week of the trailer for Denis Villeneuve's latest, and last, venture into Frank Herbert's sandy world, Helen O'Hara and James Dyer (for they are in charge this week, in Chris Hewitt's absence) would have had very little to talk about in terms of movie news on this week's episode. Thankfully it came along in the nick of time, and they bang on about it accordingly. Elsewhere, they had lots to talk about as they discuss contentious Empire reviews and movie worlds they'd like to visit in the listener questions section, and review Evil Dead Burn (with the help of Harry Stainer), the live-action remake of Moana, and Rosebush Pruning. Speaking of Evil Dead Burn, our guest this week is that film's formidable heroine, Souheila Yacoub, who talks to Chris about the film's gruelling one-shot sequence, avoiding the Evil Dead movies, and more. [43:00 - 56:16 approx] Enjoy! .