The post Julian McMahon, ‘Fantastic Four,’ ‘Nip/Tuck’ and ‘FBI: Most Wanted’ Star, Dies at 56 appeared first on Entertainment News Boom.

Following the tragic accident on the set of the film “Rust” that led to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the documentary “Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna” aims to tell the true story of what transpired.

The Hulu documentary takes viewers inside the fateful day of Oct. 21, 2021 and the spectacle that followed Alec Baldwin, who fired the prop gun, and the case. In the documentary, Hutchins’ friend, director Rachel Mason, goes on the record to talk about the tragedy and the experience of losing a beloved friend and colleague.

The documentary features public court records, behind-the-scenes material from “Rust” and access to Hutchins’ personal archives and materials, with the goal of honoring her story.

“Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna” will release March 11 on Hulu and is produced by Julee Metz, Kate Barry, Jon Bardi and Will Cohen for Story Syndicate and Jessica Grimshaw, Nick Shumaker and Jennifer Sears for Anonymous Content.

Watch the trailer below.

PROGRAMMING

Julianne Hough and Jesse Palmer are set to host “The Oscars Red Carpet Show” before the 97th Academy Awards, highlighting Oscar nominees, performers and presenters as the stars hit the red carpet.

ABC News’ live coverage kicks off with Lara Spencer on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday, Feb. 26, with James Longman joining her on Friday, Feb. 28. Coverage will continue into Friday afternoon with “GMA3: What You Need to Know” and the evening primetime special “Countdown to the Oscars with Robin Roberts: A Special Edition of ’20/20′” with Robin Roberts, featuring an interview with first-time host Conan O’Brien ahead of Hollywood’s biggest night.

On Sunday, March 2, pre-show coverage will feature “World News Tonight” anchor Linsey Davis, “Good Morning America” co-anchor Whit Johnson, ABC News correspondent Chris Connelly, KABC-TV entertainment reporter George Pennacchio and Variety‘s chief awards editor Clayton Davis.

After the Oscars ceremony, “Live with Kelly and Mark” will broadcast live from the Dolby Theatre and “After the Oscars Show” will air Monday, March 3.

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Warner Bros. Discovery is launching Max in Australia on March 31, bringing hit shows like “The Last of Us,” “House of the Dragon” and “Euphoria” to the service.

“WBD has a long history in Australia, and we know our world-class content from HBO, Warner Bros. Discovery and more is incredibly popular with audiences here,” general manager of WBD Australia and New Zealand Michael Brooks said in a statement. “We have a clear strategy to maximize reach through our direct-to-consumer app and distribution partnerships, and our collaboration with Foxtel at launch is a testament to that. We can’t wait for fans across the country to experience Max.” 

In addition to HBO and Max originals, films like “Barbie,” “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice” and “Twisters” will also be available to stream. The Australian launch comes with range of subscription tiers, including premium, standard and ad-supported options.

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Chiquis’ “Foodie on the Go” series is premiering March 13 at 8:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. PT, bringing the three-time Latin Grammy Winner back on television screens in the brand new food and travel series.

“Foodie on the Go” follows Chiquis as she travels across the U.S. to meet with chefs and owners, uncovering local spots and small businesses in the process. The first episode will take place in Chicago at the Volare Restaurant while the second episode will take place in Solvang, Calif., highlighting Peasants Feast.

The show will premiere on LATV linear channels, LatiNation Fast channels and will be available to stream on the LatiNation+ app. The series is produced by Busy Bee Productions and LatiNation Media.

New episodes drop every Thursday through April 17.

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Production has wrapped on “Star Trek: Khan,” a new scripted audio series set in the Star Trek Universe. Naveen Andrews will voice the iconic augment Khan, while Wrenn Schmidt will play Marla McGivers, a former Starfleet historian who followed Khan into exile. The series takes place in the aftermath of “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan,” picking up with Khan and his followers after they’re left stranded on the desolate planet Ceti Alpha V by Captain Kirk.

The official synopsis reads: “History remembers Khan Noonien Singh as a villain, the product of a failed attempt to perfect humanity through genetic engineering whose quest to avenge himself on Admiral James T. Kirk led to unimaginable tragedy and loss. But the truth has been buried for too long beneath the sands of Ceti Alpha V. How did Khan go from a beneficent tyrant and superhuman visionary with a new world at his fingertips to the monster we think we know so well? Recently unearthed, the rest of Khan’s story will finally be told.”

“Star Trek: Khan” is written by Kirsten Beyer and David Mack, basted on a story by “Wrath of Khan” writer-director Nicholas Meyer. The series is produced by CBS’ Eye Podcast Productions Inc., Secret Hideout, and Rodenberry Entertainment. Executive producers include Beyer, Alex Kurtzman, and Rod Roddenberry. The audio series was directed by Fred Greenhalgh.

DEALS

DirecTV is breaking the traditional cable bundle with three new Genre Packs and two Mini-Pack add-ons, complementing the recent launches of MySports in January and MyFree DirecTV in November.

“At DirecTV, we’re breaking up with the one-size-fits-all bloated cable bundles of the past by delivering new ways for consumers to enjoy the content they love at the best value,” DirecTV chief marketing officer Vince Torres said in a statement. “Our new Genre Packs and Mini-Packs provide lower-priced options, allowing customers to pick and choose what they want to watch and when they want to watch it.”

Consumers can subscribe to MyEntertainment, MyNews and MiEspañol separately or together, available to enjoy satellite-free on streaming platforms starting at $34.99 a month.

The post ‘Rust’ Shooting Story Revealed in New Trailer for Hulu Documentary (TV News Roundup) appeared first on Entertainment News Boom.

Kate Hudson has always been a sports fan, and growing up between California and Colorado meant cheering for the Denver Broncos, the Los Angeles Kings and, of course, the L.A. Lakers. As a teenager, Hudson would go to Kings games with her parents, who introduced her to Jeanie Buss, the then 30-something executive who managed the Forum, where the hockey team played.

“Kate would just, like, shadow me,” Buss recalls. “I’d take her around the building give her a tour, explain what the Forum Club was, and how we operated the tickets and the box office.”

Hudson, sitting next to her, jumps in eagerly: “I was also a little naughty, so I would like to sneak into places. Jeanie kept me… she was like ‘You stay here.’”

As they start to crack up at the conjured memory of a 14-year-old Hudson trying to pull a fast one on her sisterly minder, a third voice pipes up. “What were these naughty places?” Mindy Kaling asks, wanting in on the fun too. Kaling wasn’t there for that part of the story, which has come full circle in the form of the new Netflix series “Running Point,” where Hudson portrays a fictionalized version of Buss, who is now the president and controlling owner of the Lakers.

Hudson never outright answers the question, but whether it was the locker room or getting behind the bar, Buss wasn’t about to have Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell thinking she was a bad influence. “I felt responsible!” Buss exclaims, making Hudson and Kaling laugh harder. “But I knew she would understand the craziness that goes on with running a team [for the show].”

Indeed, something Buss is willing to take responsibility for is “Running Point,” which developed from an idea she and Linda Rambis, her longtime friend and Lakers Executive Director of Special Projects, pitched to Kaling five years ago: a comedy about running a family business that’s also a storied professional sports team.

“Jeanie and Linda are fans of ‘The Office,’” Kaling explains. “That really surprised me, because I didn’t know Jeanie, but I soon came to realize that even though she’s the president of the Lakers and has an incredibly important and stressful job, she loves comedy, and she doesn’t take herself seriously. I love that about her.”

And the love goes both ways. “I’ve been surrounded by great talent like Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, and the idea of working with Mindy, is just like … I’m just so blessed,” Buss says, putting her palms together in praise, with her diamond-encrusted NBA championship ring catching the light. (In 2020, Buss became the first female controlling owner to lead a team to the league title.)

Kaling gasps, thrilled by Buss’ appraisal. “In the same sentence as Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant? Where am I in comparison to Luka [Dončić]? Like are we around the same level?” she jokes before letting the exec off the hook because it’s only been a couple games. “We’ll have to see. TBD.”

If you’re looking for insight into Buss’ methodology when it comes to blockbuster trades like last month’s Dončić deal, this series is not inaccurate. But it’s also not directly about the Lakers. As the project developed, Kaling and co-creators Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen, who first collaborated on “The Mindy Project,” pivoted away from a Lakers-focused vision and made up a team instead (the L.A. Waves).

Then Hudson got on board, signing on after she read the pilot — which sees Isla Gordon, the only daughter of the team’s owner, who is overlooked by her father and underestimated by her three brothers, unexpectedly become the president of the organization. There, she’s tasked with getting a flailing team back on track toward the playoffs, while navigating the big egos and petulant personalities of players and the larger sports community’s questions about whether she’s the right woman for the job, plus learning that she’s got another sibling whose identity was a secret — until now.

“That was the trajectory of this: it started with a really strong, amazing blonde woman, and then it ended with another strong, amazing blonde woman,” Kaling says, gesturing to Hudson beside her.

It wasn’t totally a given that Hudson would say yes. After all, she’s a movie star — Oscar nominated for her breakout role in “Almost Famous” and the lead of rom-com classics like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” — who has rarely done TV.

“I’ve always wanted to do a comedic series, but I’ve been very trepidatious. It’s really hard to get comedy right,” Hudson says, comparing a well-timed script to great choreography. The key to nailing it, she explains, is by zeroing in on the character’s purpose and grounding the funny in that reality. With Isla, it was about her family legacy, which Hudson could relate to.

“Your parents have worked so hard to create a legacy. How do you protect that? How do you carry it? How do you nurture it?” she says. “Jeanie’s story is very different than mine — because the arts is very different than an actual franchise — but I understand what it’s like to always want to show up, to make sure that you’re protecting what that is.”

Read on as Buss, Hudson and Kaling on discuss crafting a comedy that blends family dynamics with sports, Hudson’s Keanu Reeves impression and why this show could be their “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

The initial premise was focused on the Lakers. What did turning the focus onto a fictional team – the Waves – allow you to do?

MINDY KALING: Creatively, that was everything. My co-creator, David Stassen, was adamant about that and it made so much sense. This is a fictionalized version of Jeanie’s life. She has real-life relationships with people, and we want to protect that by not basing anything on anyone. Of course, there’s flourishes that are [real]. She, famously, was in relationships with people that we’re like, “Oh, that’s really interesting,” and we cherry pick those things. But we want to protect her relationships.

We also don’t want people to think if this is the Lakers, then every time there’s some big news — like this big trade — they’re like, “Well, what is the show gonna say about it?” That became a logistical issue that we thought would drain from our creativity. This way, we can do things like Justin Theroux bashed his car into a place on the PCH because he has a drug problem, and no one is upset with us. We can make the show so much more outrageous by fictionalizing it.

Jeanie, what was this collaboration like? You have the real-world experience — what do people tend to get wrong, or right, about the way that the front office operates?

JEANIE BUSS: You have to have a sense of humor and the humility to laugh at yourself, because sometimes you’re put in impossible, awkward situations. And comedy is such a tool that you can use to diffuse tense situations so that you can move the ball forward, so I just think it really fits. It is an important message that people in a workplace need: to chill out and take a look at how ridiculous some things are, like fighting over a parking space, and who gets what title, and who sits in what chair on the bench.

[This show] is really about a family. The majority of businesses in this country are family-owned businesses, so it’s a relatable story. Even though it’s so glamorous and it’s sports and it’s this successful team, it’s really comes down to the family and how we all operate with each other.

Kate, what sensibilities did you want to bring to Isla as you developed the character? There’s so much physical comedy woven in as well.

KATE HUDSON: Everybody has their comedic purpose, and when you hit that stride, then it’s like great choreography. There’s a straight man and there’s the broad character, and when everybody understands the assignment, we’re rolling.

KALING: And Kate can do both. She can walk into a room and tell the team off, and then she can fall backwards in a chair because Chet Hanks tries to kiss her. You can give the riveting speech, and then you know how to walk into a glass door.

HUDSON: It’s finding the balance and making sure that that feels real enough to be funny. All those little nuances are important. But you can’t do it without all the supporting, amazing talent on the show and the writing.

Since you mentioned the riveting speech – what was the inspiration behind Isla hyping up the team by comparing them to “John Wick”?

KALING: Kate’s Keanu Reeves impression is one of my favorite moments, and so unexpected! As writer, it’s so great, because — as someone who used to act — being able to be like, “Hey, let’s just see if she can do a John Wick impression,” and we’re like, “Kate, here’s the pages.”

HUDSON: Doing that was very intimidating. I tried my best.

KALING: It was so funny. She’s such a nimble performer. She went from a scene that I find to be very moving, and then to a Keanu Reeves impression less than five minutes later.

Those are my favorite kinds of shows. Obviously, there are some comedies where you are just there to laugh, but what I love and I wanted to create, was something that really had a heart, but then had really hard jokes — which you can only do when you have a performer like Kate.

Kate, what made you trepidatious about previous series? And what makes you, now, so excited about the prospect of more? How far down the road are you talking?

HUDSON: I understand how long these series take. I have three kids [Ryder, 21, Bingham, 12, and Rani, 6] — well, one’s cooked — but it’s a lot of work, and it’s really, really long hours. It’s much longer, even, than a film, so you have to love it. [With this series], there’s so much love. The dream is that you just love the people you’re working with, you love the character you’re playing, you love the world that you’re in.

And we get to shoot in Los Angeles, so I get to be home in our beautiful town, that’s been through so much, that we get to celebrate right now.

KALING: I hope that she’ll treat this like “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” where she’ll want to do this over and over again. Some years she wants to take a couple years off, then “I want to do that again.”

I’ve made a lot of shows. This one was just so filled with joy. I mean, it helped that Kate was the one doing the 16-hour days, not me. I wasn’t there for the 5 a.m. call time for 27 weeks straight.

HUDSON: I get better at hour 14. That’s when I start to get weird.

KALING: That first season one is always sort of like this. And what’s great, thinking about other seasons, is the cast is stacked. We have really great characters we invested in this season, so we’re hoping they can pick up some slack next season and do some more stories.

HUDSON: It’s also really fun to threaten people with this show with trades. We never know when next season brings, trades are always there, so if you misbehave …

It is a performance-based sport. Jeanie, what was it like to see your memories inform this story?

BUSS: I’m just humbled by the ability that you [to Mindy] have to pick up what’s really happening. In the moment, I’m just trying to survive and think of my next move. You tell such great stories and know how to articulate it.

KALING: The material is just so good, so juicy. We could do the show until Kate is … like I said, Larry David did his for 25 years. [Jeanie’s] book is incredible; there’s just so much rich material.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

The post A Teenage Kate Hudson Shadowed Lakers Owner Jeanie Buss. Now She’s Playing a Comedic Version of Her in Netflix’s NBA Sitcom ‘Running Point’ appeared first on Entertainment News Boom.

She’s alive!

At least some version of her is, held captive on Lumon’s Testing Floor and shuttled from room to room, activating her severance chip and splitting her into several different identities.

I’m talking about Gemma, of course, whose wellbeing and whereabouts have been central to the mystery of “Severance.” In this week’s episode, we finally check in with Mark’s (not dead after all) wife, played by Dichen Lachman with a sexy coolness — and then an emptiness — in a series of heartbreaking flashbacks and harrowing glimpses of the Testing Floor.

Gemma is not to be confused with Ms. Casey, who, it turns out, is just one of many of her “innies.” In vignettes of Mark and Gemma’s marriage, gorgeously captured by cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné in her directorial debut, Gemma is charming, playful — far from the robotic wellness counselor she inhabits on the Severed Floor.

The episode starts with Mark and Gemma’s meet cute, at a blood drive at the college campus they both worked at. They have instant chemistry, but their fate may have been sealed from the beginning — there’s a Lumon logo emblazoned on the medical equipment. Soon enough, Mark and Gemma start their life together, with dancing and Christmas and putting flowers behind each other’s ears. In one flashback, it’s revealed that Gemma was pregnant. She miscarries, so they try IVF. A visit to the fertility clinic reveals another Lumon logo, and a glimpse of Lumon’s Dr. Mauer, played by a chilly Robby Benson. As Mark and Gemma’s attempts to conceive fail, their relationship suffers. We witness their last moment together, exchanging “I love yous” before Gemma leaves the house on the night of her “death.” In the final flashback, Mark is greeted at the door by policemen.

Down on the Testing Floor, in the present day, Gemma plays dress up, as a nurse brings her into different rooms that activate different identities. In one room, Dr. Mauer assumes the role of her husband, supervising her on Christmas morning as her hand cramps from writing too many thank you cards. Another room is dedicated to dental work, with that particular innie’s entire existence strapped to a patient chair. Gemma’s hand and teeth still hurt once she crosses the severance threshold, even though she doesn’t remember what happened to make them hurt. And even more important than her physical symptoms are her mental state, as Lumon gauges the degree to which her “tempers” carry over as well. How strong are the walls of severance, and what, if anything, bleeds through from innie to outie?

The rooms are named after the files Mark has completed in the macrodata refinement unit, though, to him, the work remains “mysterious.” There’s only one room left: Cold Harbor. We don’t know exactly what will happen to Gemma once Mark finishes that file, which has been touted as a major landmark for Lumon, but it doesn’t sound good for our estranged lovebirds. It’s hard to imagine the corporation that kidnapped Gemma and held her captive for years will simply let her free once testing is completed. 

At the end of the episode, which takes place as Mark is unconscious, “journeying” in his reintegration process, Gemma takes action, whacking Mauer over the head with a chair and plotting her escape from Lumon. But when Gemma makes it up the elevator, she’s trapped by her own mind. She’s on the Severed Floor — she’s Ms. Casey now — and she’s told by Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) to head back down to the Testing Floor voluntarily. It’s a battle of innies and outies, and it’s going to require both working together to make it out of Lumon.

Below, Lachman discusses this week’s episode of “Severance” with Variety, unpacking Gemma’s captivity and “heartbreaking” escape attempt, and theorizing about how Lumon faked her death in the first place.

Until now, we hadn’t really seen Gemma in her element. We’ve seen Ms. Casey and really brief glimpses of Gemma. How did you go about shaping that character and how she would behave?

It was very important to everyone to make the relationship with Mark really grounded. We discussed them having difficulties in their relationship, and that was the most important thing we kept coming back to: How do we make this relationship feel lived-in? People will have noticed that up until now, I didn’t spend a lot of time on set. So, the time to build that rapport with someone was essentially nonexistent. But Adam Scott is such a generous actor, and everyone made me feel so comfortable. Basically, Episode 7 was like my first day at school for Season 2 because I hadn’t really been there. I felt a tremendous amount of pressure to do my absolute best. We played with Gemma a lot, taking a lot of time with those scenes and dialing in more intensity, less intensity. 

What did your schedule look like for Season 2? There’s even a meme about how Gemma pops in for a few seconds in each episode to “serve face” and then vanish. Would you come in for like one day to shoot those little flashes of Gemma?

Yeah, I’d come in from time to time to shoot those little beats. Some of them were extremely technical. The one in the tent [in Episode 4, as Mark sleeps with Helena], they had a monitor that I was looking at, and I had to line my face up exactly to the position of Britt Lower’s face. They had a special piece of machinery to be able to do the take. I just remember lying there and not moving for hours to get that one moment. This show is full of things like that, which the audience members may not notice. The amount of work that goes into some of the technical shots is extraordinary. We were trying to get that two-second shot for a good half of the day. 

Were there any scenes from Episode 7 that were similarly challenging, technically speaking?

For the airplane set piece, they built this part of an airplane on hydraulics, and I had to take anti-nausea medication because I was in there all day. The whole thing was moving around like a plane that had severe turbulence, or that was going to crash.

This episode feels like the answer to the Season 1 cliffhanger of “SHE’S ALIVE!” But how alive is Gemma, really? She’s been held captive for years and seems pretty depleted. How much of Gemma’s true self is left?

I definitely think a part of her — that joy and ease and frivolity — is gone, to some degree. She just wants to get home to Mark. Ms. Casey is quite rudimentary. When I got the script for Episode 7, I thought, to justify that quite literal person, who is simplistic in many ways, maybe it’s because her mind has been bifurcated so many times. Unlike the severed floor, where it’s just their work person and their person in the real world, perhaps because Gemma has so many different versions of her mind, that has affected her. That’s my fan theory — that there might be a part of her that’s gone. But I do think she is essentially there, and her love for Mark and her strength and determination is still there.

In the flashback to when Mark and Gemma first meet, they’re giving blood at the school they both work at, and there’s a Lumon logo on the machine. At the fertility clinic, there’s a Lumon logo on the intake form. It seems to indicate that Lumon has been a part of their relationship and their lives for a long time. What should we take away from that?

They’ve definitely been watching them for a long time. My theory is that it has something to do with Lumon deciding to pick this couple and monitor them. You also see Dr. Mauer [Robby Benson] at the fertility clinic — he just walks by. The whole world is Lumon. Even [the restaurant] Pip’s is owned by Lumon. My theory is that they picked something up with Gemma’s blood work when she went to the fertility clinic, and that’s got something to do with why they picked Mark and Gemma. I noticed that the Christmas tree tinsel in the Christmas room [on Lumon’s Testing Floor] is the same as Mark and Gemma’s Christmas tree in their living room. I mentioned that to the writers, and they didn’t confirm or deny anything.

So you have your own theories, but the writers don’t tell you if you’re on the right track?

Never. And one of my favorite things is looking at other people’s fan theories online. They go into such depth, and it’s really rewarding. Some of these guys should be writers! They’re so talented.

Earlier in the season, Mark tells Devon that he identified Gemma’s body after the supposed car accident. Clearly, she wasn’t dead. Do you know the logistics behind how Lumon faked her death?

My theory is that they gave her some Shakespearean potion, that Lumon has made salves and balms and stuff. Maybe it’s something that stops your heartbeat and breathing for enough time to fake her death. I’m getting into the weeds here, but…

I love the weeds!

If Mark saw Gemma completely charred up, he might actually think Devon’s right, because the body wouldn’t have looked like Gemma. He would have seen a charred body. So that’s my theory.

In Episode 7, Dr. Mauer tells Gemma, “Kier will take away all of [Mark’s] pain just as he has taken away yours.” What pain is he referring to?

As a woman, it’s very difficult to feel like your body is not doing what it’s meant to be doing. I didn’t have anything clarified [by the writers], but I think everyone agreed that [Gemma’s inability to give birth] had been very painful for her, and she felt guilty. She felt inadequate.

Can you talk about the dynamic between Gemma and Dr. Mauer? He blatantly lies to her about Mark remarrying and having a child, and he clearly has some sort of fixation on her.

He definitely does. She loathes him, obviously. His relationship with her is totally different because he gets to experience being in all these different rooms with her. He’s infantilizing her in a way. I think maybe she understands that they have time together that she’s not aware of, which is super creepy. That could go into some really dark places. Gemma has been on the Testing Floor for so long that she is numb. Finally she breaks, especially when he revs her up with that horrible lie about Mark. I don’t think it’s the first time she’s tried to make it out, because Drummond asks Mauer, “Didn’t she break your fingers?” So, she’s had these moments where she’s lost all tolerance and makes a break for it. It’s heartbreaking, she’s trapped by her own mind.

One of the most heartbreaking moments is when she makes it to the elevator but then turns into Ms. Casey on the Severed Floor. She doesn’t know how she got there, and that allows Milchick to lie to her and send her back down. 

We shot that scene four times, all in one take. She runs to the elevator, transitions from Gemma to Ms. Casey, then from Ms. Casey to Gemma and has that moment with Sandra Bernhard’s character. That was probably the most challenging thing I had to do as an actor.

Mark is reintegrating, merging the memories of his innie and his outie. His innie is in love with Helly. How might his reintegration complicate his search for Gemma?

Right! How much influence is Innie Mark going to have on Mark’s outie? And what is that life going to be like? It’s actually really bad. I don’t know where it’s going to go, but that’s what’s brilliant about it. The philosophical questions are endless.

There’s one popular fan theory that links Miss Huang [Sarah Bock] with Gemma, that she’s some sort of lab-grown child between Mark and Gemma, or that they’ve somehow shrunken Gemma? It doesn’t really make sense to me, but have you seen that?

I have seen that. I don’t blame people for having that theory, because when Mark looks at her in the first episode [of Season 2], there is some sort of flash, isn’t there? Initially, I even wondered if she had something to do with Gemma. I wasn’t 100% sure. I didn’t ever get to ask, but I don’t know whether I like or dislike that theory. I can see why people might think there is a link.

So it’s not completely out the door?

I don’t know! The time frame would be off, because of her age. But it is interesting: why would a young teenager be in this place? Why isn’t she in school? It does raise a lot of questions. Sarah is an extraordinary actress. She did such a wonderful job, and the ambiguity there is really intense.

At this point in the show, what do you view as the biggest looming question?

What I want to know as a fan is who is behind it all, and why are they doing it? Why did they pick the people they picked? Obviously, Lumon has some volunteers, and they’re global — we had that wonderful Italian guy in Episode 1. What is their mission, and how much do they control? But I do feel like we get a lot of answers this season. It’s not all left as a mystery for the sake of a mystery. They are answering questions and asking even more.

The post ‘Severance’ Star Dichen Lachman Breaks Down That ‘Heartbreaking’ Gemma Episode: ‘Part of Her Is Gone’ appeared first on Entertainment News Boom.

“Bad Sisters” creator Sharon Horgan has inked a two-year first-look deal with HBO, which has also given Horgan and her production company Merman a straight-to-series order for a new comedy series in which she’ll write, exec produce and star.

Per HBO, the series — the first to come from the new deal — will follow a “50-year-old divorcee’s search for sex and love whilst juggling caring for her ailing parents and parenting her should-be grown up son.”

The deal with Horgan, who’s behind series including “Pulling,” “Catastrophe,” “Motherland” and “Amandaland” (in addition to “Bad Sisters”) began earlier this month. She was previously set up at Apple TV+, where “Bad Sisters” recently returned for Season 2. That show earned her Emmy noms for lead actress in a drama series and outstanding writing for a drama series — in addition to BAFTA and Peabody wins.

This brings Horgan back into the HBO fold; she previously created the pay cabler’s series “Divorce,” starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church.

“We’re thrilled to be reunited with Sharon,” Amy Gravitt, executive VP, HBO & Max comedy programming, said in a statement. “Her willingness to offer up her own experiences through the characters she creates makes us all feel a little less lonely, that is what sets her comedy apart so brilliantly. She also has such a sharp eye for material and a strong desire to shepherd other people’s stories, we’re looking forward to the new talent she will bring into the fold.”

The new series starring, exec produced by and written by Horgan will come from her Merman shingle. That label, launched in 2014, is behind “Bad Sisters,” “Motherland” and its spin-off “Amandaland,” which just launched in early 2025.

“I’m so happy to once again be working with Casey, Amy, Francesca and the team at HBO, and really excited that Merman get to continue to tell stories for a company that’s been home to some of the most iconic television shows ever created.,” Horgan said in a statement.

The post Sharon Horgan to Star In and Exec Produce New HBO Comedy About a Divorcee; Seals New First-Look Deal appeared first on Entertainment News Boom.

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On today’s “Just for Variety” podcast, he says he’s the “Wicked” movie but that was actually his introduction to the beloved “Wizard of Oz” origin story. “Full disclosure, I hadn’t seen the musical and I wasn’t really sure what it was about before,” Porowski says. “I check some gay boxes, but not all of them.”

“Wicked” or not, Porowski has spent the last seven years as one of Hollywood’s most visible out celebrities as a member of the fab five of the award-winning “Queer Eye?”

Now in its ninth season, Porowski is hoping for an even 10. However, he says things may have gotten a little stale along the way. “I’m not going to say that I became jaded over time, but it’s like when you do anything…I think I just wasn’t as grateful,” he says.

Porowski struggled at finding fresh ways to talk about food during the makeovers. “I’m literally looking up synonyms on words. How do I ask in a different way, ‘Tell me about your relationship with food?’ Or, ‘What did your grandma make for you?’” Porowski says.

But then Jeremiah Brent came along as Bobby Berk’s replacement in Season 9. “I can get emotional thinking about it, him coming in with just with a new set of eyes,” Porowski says.

He also says that telling and amplifying queer stories – especially those of trans people — has taken on even more meaning as the LGBTQ community is being attacked by right-wing lawmakers. “If we don’t continue to tell those stories, history will repeat itself,” Porowski says. “We are seeing signs and symbols of the past that are coming up on podiums by very powerful people, and it’s extremely problematic to say the least.

“If we continue to tell those stories, we’re going to remember them, and there’s less of a chance that we’re going to repeat the same patterns or that we’re going to stand for it if we see those patterns coming back to life,” he continues. “So I think whether it’s a Republican, a Democrat, or some other third party, whatever it is, we have to continue to just tell diverse stories. I think we have a responsibility to do that as entertainers, or at least with ‘Queer Eye’ specifically.”

Porowski’s latest culinary endeavor is his new Nat Geo food and travel series, “There’s No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski,” which premiered earlier this week. Each episode features Porowski traveling with a celebrity guests to locations around the world to explore their ancestry and how it may have informed their eating habits and family traditions. The first episode featured Florence Pugh traveling through England. The lineup for the season also includes Issa Rae (Senegal), Justin Theroux (Italy), James Marsden (Germany), Henry Golding (Borneo) and Akwafina (South Korea).

If “No Taste Like Home” is renewed, Porowksi would love to visit Poland with Martha Stewart to explore their Polish roots. He remembers watching Stewart cooking cabbage rolls on her show with her mother. “I used to watch those YouTube videos religiously as a kid. It was the only depiction of a Polish person in media and she made cabbage rolls and she was proud of them, which was like, wow, I didn’t know that people could be proud of Polish food growing up,” Porowski says. “I say that as a Pole, so I’m allowed.”

You can listen to the full conversation with Porowski at “Just for Variety” above or wherever you download your favorite podcasts.

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A series adaptation of “Crazy Rich Asians” is in development at Max. Adele Lim, who co-wrote the 2018 film, has been set as showrunner and executive producer, while director Jon M. Chu will also return to executive produce.

Like the film, the TV project is based on Kevin Kwan’s book series of the same name. “Crazy Rich Asians” was published in 2013, followed by “China Rich Girlfriend” in 2015 and “Rich People Problems” in 2017. Kwan executive produced Lim and Chu’s 2018 film and will also executive produce the Max series, for which Warner Bros TV is the studio.

It is not yet known whether the series will feature returning cast members from the film.

Besides “Crazy Rich Asians,” Lim is best known for 2023’s “Joy Ride,” her directorial debut feature via Lionsgate. She also wrote Disney’s 2021 film “Raya and the Last Dragon.” Currently, she is directing and producing “The Princess Diaries 3” with Anne Hathaway, and her previous credits include TV series such as “One Tree Hill” and “Private Practice.” She is repped by Paradigm and Ginsburg, Daniels, Kallis.

Chu is the director of the 2024 film adaptation of “Wicked” as well as its upcoming sequel “Wicked: For Good.” Previously, he directed “In the Heights,” two “Step Up” films and “G.I. Joe: Retaliation.” He is repped by Artists First, UTA, Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher and ID PR.

Kwan’s other novels include 2020’s “Sex and Vanity” and 2024’s “Lies and Weddings.” He is repped by CAA and attorney Peter Nichols at Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Feldman, Rogal, Shikora & Clark, Inc.

The “Crazy Rich Asians” series is executive produced by Lim via her production company 100 Tigers alongside Naia Cucukov; Chu via his production company Electric Somewhere; Kwan; and Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson via their Color Force banner, which developed and produced the movie. SK Global Entertainment will also produce, with Chloe Dan overseeing the project for the company.

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