iWorld
Impact Winter season two premiere date and cast announced
Mumbai: Audible Inc., the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, multiplatform content company Skybound Entertainment, and visionary media company Anonymous Content has announced the cast and premiere date for the second season of the epic post-apocalyptic drama, Impact Winter, debuting on 13 July. At its launch in February 2022, Impact Winter was Audible Plus’ #1 bestseller across all categories and the #1 Audible Original fiction bestseller in its debut week, in addition to taking the #3 fiction spot on Apple podcast charts. Following the incredible fan reception, Impact Winter’s third season has been officially greenlit.
From executive producers of The Walking Dead and the writer of Pacific Rim, Audible’s groundbreaking vampire-apocalypse series is back. Eight years after a cataclysmic comet impact blotted out the sun and triggered an endless winter in which vampires rule the Earth, two sisters — one training to fulfill her apparent destiny as humanity’s savior, and the other finding purpose and her true self while protecting a group of survivors in her elder sibling’s stead — are confronted with an inescapable truth: even if they succeed in fending off the biggest threat to humanity’s future, they still have to face their fate.
“The hit first season of Impact Winter combined extraordinary storytelling with the highest-quality production value and performances. We’re delighted to deliver two new seasons of this powerful series that has captivated audiences across the globe,” said Audible Studios head Zola Mashariki. “With the addition of new characters and a similarly immersive soundscape, we are confident that this epic tale will continue to provide listeners with a uniquely entertaining experience.”
Returning cast members include Holliday Grainger (CB Strike, My Cousin Rachel), Esmé Creed-Miles (Hanna), David Gyasi (The Diplomat, Interstellar), Caroline Ford (Carnival Row), Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us, Game of Thrones) and Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones) who will all be joined by newcomers Sacha Dhawan (Doctor Who, The Great), Ralph Ineson (Game of Thrones, The Witch), Ellie Bamber (Willow), Danielle Galligan (Shadow and Bone) and Andrew Gower (Being Human, Outlander), amongst others. Skybound and Anonymous Content serve as co-studios on the project which is co-produced in collaboration with Cliff Roberts (The Midnight Sky). From Travis Beacham, the mind behind Carnival Row and Pacific Rim, season two of this ambitious series brings listeners a combination of masterful storytelling, incredible binaural audio, superb performances, and extraordinary world-building, to continue the immersive story that originally enchanted audiences in 2022.
Revisit season one of Impact Winter, now on Audible: audible.com/ImpactWinter. In addition, Impact Winter S2 joins Audible’s growing catalog of Originals Audible members can listen to immersive spatial audio with Dolby Atmos from the Audible app at no additional cost.
This upcoming Audible Original joins a powerful slate of original audio dramas including Audible’s first foray with Skybound Entertainment, the best-selling series Death By Unknown Event, narrated by Pamela Adlon; James Patterson’s The Coldest Case: A Black Book Audio Drama, a prequel to his #1 New York Times Bestseller The Black Book and performed by Aaron Paul; the #1 New York Times best-selling audio fiction The Sandman from Neil Gaiman, performed by James McAvoy, Kat Dennings, Michael Sheen and a full cast; the highly anticipated sequels The Sandman: Act II; and The Sandman: Act III; The Dispatcher series from New York Times best-selling author John Scalzi; Carnival Row, set in the world of the Amazon Original series Carnival Row, created by Travis Beacham and René Echevarria; and many more.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
