EPISODES
Nerds’ year in review: our favorites of 2024
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.
more interviews WITH THE CAST OF OUTLANDER SEASON 7 PART 2
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), Lotte Verbeek (Geillis Duncan), and Charles Vandervaart (William Ransom) about what we can expect from the characters.
CHATTING WITH THE CAST OF OUTLANDER SEASON 7 PART 2
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.
the rings of power: SEASON 2 finale
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!
the rings of power season 2: episodes 6 & 7
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.
in conversation with ashley hawthorne
We welcomed back author Ashley Hawthorne to the Nerds Awaken studio to talk all about her latest release Death Sentence, available now from Creative James Media!
We chatted sophomore novel struggles, her first foray into murder mysteries, and the idea for a lighthouse horror romance she just can’t get out of her head.
the rings of power season 2: episodes 4 & 5
We are back with more deeply insightful, highly educated and meta commentary on the Amazon Prime fantasy series The Rings of Power episodes 4 and 5. Just kidding…you know we would never. As per usual there is language, lots of commentary on how hot people are, and hoping characters get kicked in the balls (looking at you, Kemen, and maybe Elrond).
review: the rings of power season 2 premiere
After two long years The Rings of Power series is back on Amazon Prime with a three episode premiere. Joined by friend of the pod Andee, we broke down our reactions to the premiere (with lots of spoilers), from Hot Sauron’s origins as black goo to Elrond being a dramatic biatch over some little ol’ rings. We also play “Would You Rather: Sauron variant addition” and the results may surprise you.
review: netflix korean drama the frog
In this episode, Janna sat down with Nagier from Big Gold Belt Media to discuss the new Netflix Korean thriller The Frog, which premieres August 23rd.
Listen to our discussion of all eight episodes of the sinister and bloody thriller, with spoilers being discussed in the later half of the episode. We had high praise for just about everything in this drama, from the cast performances and music to the twists and turns that kept us on our toes.
sdcc ’24 real quick recap: saturday & sunday
It’s our final real quick recap for San Diego Comic Con! We give a rundown of everything we each did on Saturday and Sunday-from Julie spending the entire day in Hall H and seeing the big celebrities, to Janna hitting some smaller panels with authors and fulfilling a dream of seeing another member of The Lord of the Rings Fellowship. We also got to attend our only panel together, which featured some of our favorite authors!
sdcc ’24 real quick recap: friday
We’re back with another real quick recap of our time at San Diego Comic Con! In this episode we’re covering everything we did on Friday, from seeing Hot Sauron (aka Charlie Vickers) at the Rings of Power panel in Hall H to the cool swag we got from the FX activation.
sdcc ’24 real quick recap: preview night + thursday
San Diego Comic Con is officially underway and we’re bringing you a real quick recap of preview night and Thursday’s schedule. We visited activations from Paramount and Peacock, attended TV panels, and got to see Deadpool 3 in person with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman (and a lot of other surprise guests!)
the acolyte: season finale
We gathered with friend of the pod Andee to breakdown season one of The Acolyte and that stunning season finale. We had high hopes for The Acolyte after breaking down the series premiere, and even with a few hiccups in the middle, we were not disappointed and have fingers and toes crossed for a season two announcement.
the nerds awaken invade sdcc ’24: before the con
It’s the most wonderful time of the year (or of July)-San Diego Comic Con time!
The Nerds Awaken will be back at SDCC 2024, but first we chatted about the schedule, surprises, and everything we’re looking forward to see from panels and activations to favorite authors and friends.
isabel and the rogue with liana de la rosa
We were delighted to welcome author Liana de La Rosa back to the podcast, whose latest novel Isabel and the Rogue, book 2 in the Luna Sisters series, is available now from Berkley Romance!
breaking down bridgerton: season 3 part 2
We are back breaking down Part 2 of Bridgerton Season 3 (Eps 305-308) with Big Gold Belt Media!
There was so much going on in Part 2 (too much, even), but we think we managed to cover all the different arcs and characters in the last four episodes. We had fun talking about the things that worked for us, but were also honest about the areas that we were disappointed in.
the acolyte: series premiere
We had so much fun breaking down the first two episodes of the new Star Wars series The Acolyte, which premiered June 4th on Disney+.
breaking down bridgerton: season 3 part 1
Polin Season is upon us, and it is glorious.
We collaborated with Big Gold Belt Media to review Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1, which premiered May 16th on Netflix.
read before you watch: romancing mister bridgerton by julia quinn
We’re excited to announce the launch of a new series, Read Before You Watch! With book-to-screen adaptations becoming increasingly common, we thought it would be fun to have a series devoted to reading and reviewing books before watching the adaptations.
With Season 3 of Bridgerton premiering on Netflix on May 16th, we thought we would get things started with the book behind the couple of the season, Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn.
a conversation with elise nelson
We had a very special guest back in The Nerds Awaken studio! Elise Nelson was the first author we ever interviewed way (all the way back in 2021!) and we are thrilled to be having her back to talk about her new novel The Light in Hades, book 1 in the Olympus Retold series.
all in knots over ali hazelwood’s bride
We are Ali Hazelwood stans until we die, but when we say that her newest novel Bride is far and away the best thing she’s ever written, it’s a BIG DEAL.
the state of adam driver
Would you believe that it’s been over two years since we devoted an entire episode to talking about Adam Driver? An egregiously long amount of time, we know. So we are back with all things Adam, covering his films from the last year, media appearances and press tours, tantalizing rumored projects, and the dream roles we would love to see Adam play.
writing reylo: a conversation with katrina kwan
We were so lucky to welcome Katrina Kwan, author of Knives, Seasoning, & a Dash of Love and an all around gem of a human being, as our very last Writing Reylo author.
author spotlight with kirsten s. blacketer
We were so thrilled to welcome Kirsten S. Blacketer as the first guest in our new Author Spotlight series. A self-published author with an impressive backlist, Kirsten was a wealth of information on self-publishing, genre tropes, and improving your writing craft.
The One Where they Just Gossip About Pop Culture
If there’s one thing our friendship is built on (that isn’t Adam Driver), it’s spending hours on the phone talking/gossiping/venting about pop culture and entertainment.
A Conversation with Katie Shepard
We were so happy to welcome Katie Shepard back to talk about her new book Sweeten the Deal, out October 17th from Berkley!
Writing Reylo: A Conversation with Thea Guanzon
Somebody pinch us, we must be dreaming…because our literary hero Thea Guanzon is in The Nerds Awaken studio!
WRITING REYLO: A CONVERSATION WITH JENNA LEVINE
We were DELIGHTED, overjoyed, ecstatic, and all other possible synonyms for “extremely excited” to welcome one of our all-time favorite fanfic writers, Jenna Levine (aka Jeeno) to The Nerds Awaken to talk about her greatly anticipated debut novel My Roommate is a Vampire!
Writing Reylo: A Conversation with Ashley Hawthorne
We were so excited to sit down with Ashley Hawthorne, whose debut novel Deliver Me arrives July 18th from Creative James Media!
Writing Reylo: A Conversation with Julie Soto
We were thrilled to welcome back Julie Soto, whose debut novel Forget Me Not arrives July 11th from Forever Publishing!
Revisiting Outlander
Have you ever had to break up with a TV show or book series? We have, and that show/book series was Outlander…
Books We Love: Love, Theoretically By Ali Hazelwood
Us? Not talk about an Ali Hazelwood book? NEVER GONNA HAPPEN…
Writing Reylo: A Conversation with Tristen Crone
It was our pleasure and delight to chat with author and fellow Reylo Tristen Crone, whose debut novel Playing for Keeps arrives from Lake Country Press June 27th…
Breaking Down Bridgerton: Queen Charlotte
Breaking down Bridgerton is back with a deep, very spoiler-y dive into the recent Netflix series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story…
Writing Reylo: A Conversation with Katie Shepard
The year of Reylos in Publishing continues! We had the honor of sitting down with Katie Shepard, whose debut novel Bear With Me Now is out April 25th…
Writing Reylo: A Conversation with Liana De La Rosa
It was our absolute pleasure to talk with historical romance and Reylo fanfic writer Liana De la Rosa, the author of the upcoming Latinx novel Ana Maria and the Fox, the first book of The Luna Sisters trilogy and a story that we absolutely fell in love with…
Sorry not sorry: We Loved Adam Driver’s 65
Ignore the Rotten Tomatoes score, because we both agreed that Adam Driver’s new film 65 was the most fun we’ve had in a movie theater in a long time…
Watch This: Love Between Fairy and Devil
We are obsessed with 2022 Chinese fantasy drama Love Between Fairy and Devil and we need you to be obsessed too! Because the more the merrier, right…
WRTING REYLO: A CONVERSATION WITH SARAH HAWLEY
Writing Reylo is back! Our first guest of 2023 is author (and fanfic legend) Sarah Hawley…
Books We Love: Loathe to Love you by Ali Hazelwood
It’s a new year and we’re back discussing one of our favorite authors Ali Hazelwood and her newly released anthology Loathe to Love You...
A Look Back at the Year in Marvel
It’s the most Marvel-ous time of the year! Joined by film critics and fellow nerds Zach Pope and Leo Rydel, we look back at the year in Marvel and all the series, movies and special features that aired in 2022…
Andor: a look at Season one
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…Cassian Andor lives! Before he was a Rebel hero helping steal the Death Star plans, he was just a lowly thief trying to avoid attention…but rather unsuccessfully, as Season 1 of Andor proves…
The rings of power: Final reactions
Season 1 of The Rings of Power has come to an end and we are back to share our final thoughts on episodes 7 & 8…
The rings of power: Episodes 5 & 6
This season is officially in full swing and we had so much to talk about for Episodes 5 & 6-the Numenorean drama, the appearance of the creepy and mysterious mystics, THE BIRTH OF MOUNT DOOM. And of course, we continued merrily shipping Halbrand and Galadriel…
The rings of power: Episodes 3 & 4
Four episodes in and despite a few flaws, the Rings of Power has successfully sunk its hooks into us. Joined by special guests Andee and Kirsten, we had an outrageously good time breaking down episodes 3 and 4 of the Amazon Prime mega-series…
Return to Westeros with House of the Dragon
We are back in Westeros, where the dragons are plentiful but the male heirs are not. We were so excited to be back amongst the scheming, smirking, and debauchery of King’s Landing again…
The Rings of Power: First Reactions
It’s been five years since Amazon first announced that they had purchased the television rights to The Lord of the Rings series, but on September 3rd we finally got to journey back to Middle Earth…
A Conversation with Ali Hazelwood & Julie Soto
This week we are THRILLED to be joined by Ali Hazelwood, NYT bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, and playwright, author, and fanfic legend Julie Soto, whose debut novel Forget Me Not arrives in July 2023…
The Nerds Awaken Invade Comic Con Part 2
We came, we saw, we conquered…San Diego Comic Con 2022!
The Nerds Awaken Invade Comic Con Part 1
San Diego Comic Con kicks off Thursday, July 21st, and The Nerds Awaken is going to be there!
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Final reactions
Obi-Wan Kenobi has come to a close, and what a ride it was!
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Parts III & IV
We’re back in a galaxy far, far away, breaking down Parts lll and lV of the new Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi!
Obi-Wan Kenobi: First reactions
After 18 years, Ewan Macgregor is back on our televisions as Obi-Wan Kenobi!
BreAKING DOWN BRIDGERTON S2: PART 2
Dearest Gentle Listeners,
We bring to you Part 2 of our Breaking Down Bridgerton series where we dive a little further into some of our concerns and story choices from Bridgerton Season 2 that didn’t really work for us.
BREAKING DOWN BRIDGERTON S2: PART 1
Dearest Listeners,
We didn’t intend to talk about Bridgerton, but as turned it out, we had a LOT to say about Season 2.
THE BATTISON RISES: OUR LOOK AT THE BATMAN
You better hold on tight, spider monkey. We’re breaking down all our thoughts and feelings about Robert Pattinson as The Batman…
WRITING REYLO PART 2: A CONVERSATION WITH KIRSTEN BOHLING
We’re continuing our celebration of Reylo authors taking their talents to the mainstream publishing world with part two of our new series, Writing Reylo. This time, we’re joined by author and Reylo fanfic writer, Kirsten Bohling, whose debut novel, We’d Know By Then hits bookstores on April 5th…
Writing Reylo Part 1: Interview With Elise Nelson
We’ve made no secret about our deep and abiding love for Reylo fanfiction. So it only makes sense that we’d devote a whole-ass series to all the amazing fanfic authors who are getting book deals and taking their talents to a wider audience…
The Autumn of Adam Driver: A Retrospective
If there’s one thing you need to know about The Nerds Awaken, it’s that we love Adam Driver…
We Finaly Watched TEd Lasso
We said it would take a few years, but apparently you’re never too old to change. That’s right, we finally watched Ted Lasso!
Falling In Love with The Love Hypothesis
In this episode we rave about our favorite book of 2021, The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood…
A Farewell to Brooklyn Nine-Nine
The lights are out in the 99th Precinct!
Meet The Nerds
Come on now, we all NERD hard over something pop culture.
The Nerds Awaken 