By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 37 seconds ago

The ‘90s were a pretty heady time for Star Wars fans. The franchise experienced a resurgence in the form of an Expanded Universe of books, comics, and video games. At the time, all of this was considered canon, which made everything that much more exciting. We had new, official Star Wars adventures for the first time since the credits rolled on Return of the Jedi back in 1983. Plus, we had new characters, some of whom instantly became fan-favorites. Two of those characters came from prolific author Timothy Zahn: Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade.

Both of those characters, along with the rest of the Star Wars EU, were de-canonized once Disney bought the franchise. Thanks to sheer fan demand, the House of Mouse eventually brought Thrawn back into canon via Rebels and, later, Ahsoka. After that, many Zahn fans figured it was just a matter of time before Mara Jade was brought back. However, Zahn and other writers recently confirmed that Disney keeps turning down their attempts to bring this popular character back into Star Wars canon.

The Coolest Star Wars Character You’ve Never Heard Of

Mara Jade was introduced in Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire as a character who was once the Emperor’s Hand. As a Force-sensitive Imperial agent, she could enact Palpatine’s will all across the galaxy while maintaining mental contact with him. However, the death of the Emperor effectively ruined her career: because almost nobody knew what her role was, she had no real place in the Empire after Palpatine’s death. She had to build a new life for herself as a smuggler, but she is forever haunted by the last command given to her by Palpatine when he died: “YOU WILL KILL LUKE SKYWALKER.”

She proved to be a very popular character and eventually married Luke Skywalker and gave birth to his son (who, very cutely, was named “Ben”). After Disney bought the rights to Star Wars, though, Mara Jade and all her misadventures were no longer part of official canon. Later, however, Thrawn was brought back into canon through appearances in Rebels and Ahsoka. Furthermore, Disney commissioned Timothy Zahn to write new, canonical novels about Thrawn, who is arguably the most popular Star Wars villain since Darth Vader.

If Grand Admiral Thrawn Can Come Back, Why Not Mara Jade?

Understandably, Zahn tried to pitch Disney on reintroducing Jade into the canon in any capacity. In 2024, he told a Dragon Con audience that she is the number one character he would like to bring back to Star Wars in just about any capacity. “I keep nudging Lucasfilm, asking them if I could write a book,” he said. “The answers come back basically some place between ‘no’ and ‘heck no.’”

The matter came up again at MegaCon this year. Prolific Star Wars author Claudia Grey told the audience that she had repeatedly pitched putting Mara Jade into her books. “A couple of times I was like, ‘Really? Really, no Mara Jade?’ And they were like, ‘Nope,’” she said, putting a stern emphasis on the final word. By happenstance, Zahn was at the same panel and chimed in: “I asked them, too,” he said, before revealing that his request was similarly rejected.

It’s Time For Live-Action Mara Jade

It’s possible that Disney is hesitant to introduce Mara Jade back into canon because so much of her story doesn’t really work in the wake of the Star Wars prequels and sequels. We never really saw anything like an Emperor’s Hand in any subsequent movies, and the Inquisitors seem to fill the role of “Force-connected Imperials outside the regular chain of command.” Plus, her post-Imperial life was spent building a career with Talon Karrde, a smuggler chief who is also no longer part of established canon. Finally, the whole idea of having her marry Luke Skywalker is completely off the table, both because of Mark Hamill’s age and the fact that Luke hardly had time for love after becoming a grumpy recluse.

However, modern Star Wars writers did a solid job bringing Grand Admiral Thrawn back and gently nestling him within existing canon. It seems like it would be easy enough to do that for Mara Jade, especially with her creator doing his best to help out. However, it seems like the powers that be have decided that this fan-favorite character will never grace the screen or even the page, ever again. Which is unfortunate, because bringing her back in her own show or even film would be the perfect way to appeal to Expanded Universe fans who have felt (ahem) “jaded” by the Disney era of Star Wars.

By Robert Scucci
| Published 5 seconds ago

I’ve got a nasty habit of not revisiting movies I first saw when I was seven, finally watching them as an adult, and realizing how much time I wasted not enjoying them over the years. The latest addition to that pile is 1995’s Johnny Mnemonic, a movie that has all the trappings of a straight-to-VHS sci-fi thriller but with a $26 million budget. I remembered loving it as a kid, but over time I kept telling myself, “I’ve already seen that, let’s try something new.”

If you take anything from me, it’s this: just watch the damn movie. Johnny Mnemonic rules. Not because it’s nostalgic. Not because it’s great cinematic art. It works because it’s Keanu Reeves delivering deadpan dialogue as the titular character, Dina Meyer throwing hands against corporate enforcers, Henry Rollins looking permanently angry and bewildered but always ready to help, and Ice-T reliably being Ice-T because that’s the most Ice-T thing he could possibly do.

Brain Implant Overload

Set in the year 2021, Johnny Mnemonic centers on Reeves’ Johnny, a mnemonic courier who uses his brain to transport encrypted files. The tradeoff is simple: you lose your memories, but you gain storage space, which means bigger and better jobs. When he’s tasked with carrying a payload that far exceeds his mental capacity, he takes the job anyway because the payout is too good to pass up.

Naturally, the job goes off the rails almost immediately. The highly sensitive data he’s carrying has global implications, drawing the attention of the yakuza and exposing their partnership with a megacorporation called Pharmakom. Johnny can’t trust his handler, Ralfi (Udo Kier), whose ulterior motives become obvious fast, which leads him to Jane (Dina Meyer), a cybernetically enhanced bodyguard working with a resistance group known as the LoTeks, led by J-Bone (Ice-T).

With help from a computer genius named Spider (Henry Rollins), the true nature of Johnny’s brain data is revealed, setting up a final showdown between Johnny and his crew, the Pharmakom corporation, and their grip on society through a degenerative condition known as nerve attenuation syndrome (NAS), which has pushed the world into a constant class war.

All That, And AI Dolphins

Johnny Mnemonic is one of those cyberpunk thrillers that feels unrealistic now that we’ve passed the timeline it predicted. Still, there’s a kernel of truth in how greed, corruption, and corporate power can spiral out of control. Even Johnny, our supposed hero, pushes his own brain past its limits for a payday that’s clearly beyond his scope, never stopping to consider the consequences. It’s a small but effective way of showing how baked-in these problems are in this world.

As ridiculous as the premise is, everyone commits. That commitment fuels some explosive retro-futuristic action and just enough comic relief to keep things moving. My favorite stretches involve Henry Rollins rattling off conspiracy theories that turn out to be completely accurate, playing into his anti-establishment persona in a way that feels less like acting and more like perfect casting.

Like a lot of gritty cyberpunk from the early 90s with that straight-to-VHS look, Johnny Mnemonic is buried on Rotten Tomatoes with a 19 percent critical score and a slightly better 31 percent audience rating from over 50,000 users. This is the kind of movie you need to meet on its own terms. If you’re into titles like Split Second, Prototype X29A, Fortress, and Crime Zone, then Johnny Mnemonic fits right in the pocket with them.

If that’s the kind of territory you like to occupy, Johnny Mnemonic is about as good as it gets, and you can stream it on Netflix as of this writing.

Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.

Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.

Currently, if you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.

How to play Pips

If you’ve ever played dominoes, you’ll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we’ve shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.

The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.

Here are common examples you’ll run into across the difficulty levels:

• Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.

• Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.

• Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.

• Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.

• Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.

If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.

Easy difficulty hints, answers for April 19 Pips

Equal (0): Every domino half in this red space must have 0 pips. The answer is 6-0, placed horizontally; 0-2, placed vertically.

Equal (3): Every domino half in this purple space must have 3 pips. The answer is 3-3, placed vertically.

Number (1): The domino half in this light blue space must have 1 pip. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically.

Equal (4): Every domino half in this yellow space must have 4 pips. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically; 2-4, placed horizontally.

Equal (2): Every domino half in this dark blue space must have 2 pips. The answer is 0-2, placed vertically; 2-4, placed horizontally.

Medium difficulty hints, answers for April 19 Pips

Number (7): Everything in this purple space must add up to 7. The answer is 3-0, placed horizontally; 5-4, placed horizontally.

Equal (0): Every domino half in this red space must have 0 pips. The answer is 3-0, placed horizontally; 0-5, placed vertically.

Equal (5): Every domino half in this light blue space must have 5 pips. The answer is 5-4, placed horizontally; 5-1, placed horizontally.

Less Than (7): Everything in this yellow space must add up to be less than 7. The answer is 1-6, placed vertically; 0-5, placed vertically.

Number (7): Everything in this dark blue space must add up to 7. The answer is 5-1, placed horizontally; 1-6, placed vertically.

Equal (6): Every domino half in this green space must have 6 pips. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally; 6-5, placed vertically.

Greater Than (1): The domino half in this purple space must have more than 1 pip. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically.

Hard difficulty hints, answers for April 19 Pips

Number (2): Everything in this purple space must add up to 2. The answer is 1-0, placed horizontally; 1-2, placed vertically.

Less Than (2): Everything in this red space must add up to be less than 2. The answer is 1-0, placed horizontally; 0-2, placed horizontally; and 0-0, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this light blue space must add up to 5. The answer is 0-2, placed horizontally; 3-4, placed vertically.

Number (5): Everything in this yellow space must add up to 5. The answer is 3-4, placed vertically; 1-6, placed vertically.

Number (2): Everything in this dark blue space must add up to 2. The answer is 1-2, placed vertically; 0-6, placed vertically.

Equal (3): Every domino half in this green space must have 3 pips. The answer is 3-3, placed vertically.

Number (9): Everything in this purple space must add up to 9. The answer is 1-6, placed vertically; 3-6, placed vertically.

Number (8): Everything in this red space must add up to 8. The answer is 6-4, placed vertically; 4-2, placed horizontally.

Number (4): Everything in this light blue space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-2, placed horizontally; 2-6, placed horizontally.

If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.