Entertainment
Upcoming Firefly Reboot Will Feature Weird Animation And Activist Showrunners, Fans Divided
By Jennifer Asencio
| Published
The announcement of a new Firefly season at AwesomeCon on March 15, 2026, was eagerly anticipated by fans of the show. When Firefly was canceled in 2002, it was abrupt and even traumatic because we had all quickly grown attached to the quirky crew of the Serenity. The movie, named after the smuggling starship, delivered both excitement and heartbreak, giving fans what we all thought was one last look at Malcolm Reynolds and his associates. So when lead actor Nathan Fillion started teasing a cast reunion, Browncoats took notice.
On the surface, the cast announcement, made via Zoom, sounds awesome. There’s a new season in development and it’s going to be animated. It’s going to take place between the end of the single television season and the movie. This means Alan Tudyk’s wisecracking Wash is still alive, and also that Shepherd Book, previously played by deceased actor Ron Glass, can be taken “out to the black” and live on.
Same Cast, Different Style
Some fans are happy because the rest of the cast is reuniting for this project and finally answering their hopes. An animated version also avoids trying to explain why the characters look older than they did in the Serenity movie, while providing the fan service we’ve all been asking for.
The animation is being produced by award-winning studio ShadowMachine, which also inked BoJack Horseman, Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-winning Pinocchio, the vanished Final Space, and a fair portion of Adult Swim’s content, including Robot Chicken. The animation style isn’t to everyone’s taste, though. Some people, beyond just those who only wanted something live action, aren’t warming up to the artistic concepts shared so far.
Still Looking For A Proper Platform
Another source of dissatisfaction is that the show doesn’t actually have a home. It has almost everything else it needs: a studio, a returning cast, and creator Joss Whedon’s blessing, but no streamer or network. The cast announcement struck some viewers as begging for help, and others as a false promise, since a show without a network is no good to fans.
The biggest red flags about the show for some fans have surrounded the show runners, both past and present. Whedon may have given his blessing, but he is not involved. Many believe that he is the heart of the show’s tone and humor, and that it wouldn’t be the same without his involvement.
Fans Approach With Guarded Enthusiasm
This has been amplified for a lot of viewers by the involvement of Marc Guggenheim and wife Tracy Butters, both alums of superhero shows but also outspoken activists. Guggenheim, responsible for the CW Arrowverse, has never shied away from using Arrow or Legends of Tomorrow to make political statements favoring specific talking points, and has already been noted for attacking Firefly fans who voted for President Trump. Such fans are concerned that yet another beloved property they enjoy will be used to attack and scold them with political messaging rather than good storytelling.
Every fandom has its slop eaters who will eat up a show, no matter how bad, just because it exists and bears the name of their favorite franchise. The Firefly fandom has hope that the combination of the cast reuniting and the show being animated compensates for its physical limitations. But a lot of fans, who have spent the past decade being burned by bad reboots, sequels, and spinoffs from their favorite franchise, are wary that Firefly is about to do it again.
Entertainment
Hurdle hints and answers for March 25, 2026
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it’ll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
If you find yourself stuck at any step of today’s Hurdle, don’t worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
A woven hairstyle.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
BRAID
Hurdle Word 2 hint
An excursion.
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Hurdle Word 2 Answer
JAUNT
Hurdle Word 3 hint
Shine.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
GLEAM
Hurdle Word 4 hint
Not height.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
WIDTH
Final Hurdle hint
Moon-related.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
LUNAR
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Entertainment
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for March 25, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is for people who like sneakers.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise of anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes until the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #548 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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Games Played on a Table – AIR HOCKEY, FOOSBALL, POOL, SNOOKER
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Nike Shoes – AIR FORCE 1, BLAZER, PEGASUS, SHOX
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Giants Greats – BONDS, MAYS, OTT, POSEY
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NBA___ – ALL-STAR, CUP, DRAFT, FINALS
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.
Entertainment
NYT Pips hints, answers for March 25, 2026
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, the 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 onto 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 for 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:
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Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.
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Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.
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Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.
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Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.
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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 March 25 Pips
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 2-5, placed horizontally.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-3, placed vertically.
Number (14): Everything in this space must add up to 14. The answer is 5-5, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally.
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 0-4, placed vertically; 4-4, placed horizontally.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for March 25 Pips
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-6, placed horizontally.
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Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 2-6, placed horizontally; 5-6, placed horizontally; 6-1, placed horizontally.
Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically.
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically; 5-6, placed horizontally; 5-3, placed vertically.
Equal (1): Everything in this orange space must be equal to 1. The answer is 6-1, placed horizontally; 3-1, placed horizontally.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-3, placed vertically; 3-3, placed horizontally; 3-1, placed horizontally.
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-0, placed horizontally.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for March 25 Pips
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically; 1-2, placed horizontally.
Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. The answer is 1-2, placed horizontally; 6-6, placed horizontally.
Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically; 0-6, placed vertically; 0-2, placed horizontally.
Less than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 0-2, placed horizontally.
Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed vertically.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically; 6-5, placed vertically; 6-4, placed horizontally.
Greater than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 6-4, placed horizontally.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is -3, placed vertically; 3-0, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 6-5, placed vertically.
Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 0-5, placed horizontally.
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 0-5, placed horizontally; 5-5, placed horizontally.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 3-0, placed vertically; 4-2, placed vertically.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Hurdle hints and answers for March 25, 2026
Bucks waive Cam Thomas to convert Pete Nance's contract
