Anyone who’s been waiting for “The Rings of Power” to pick up the pace will have their wish granted by “Udûn,” an hour-long battle sequence with a few brief interludes thrown in for viewers to collect their thoughts. It’s the most focused episode to date, as two of the main narrative threads are conspicuous in
Television
Trevor Noah is nearing his last laugh on “The Daily Show.” The comedian, who came out of near anonymity to take over the program from Jon Stewart in 2015, plans to exit the flagship Comedy Central series after a seven-year tenure that saw him transform it for a new generation of viewers who are more
NBC has given a series order to an untitled comedy pilot written by Mike O’Malley. The multi-cam series follows Jim (Jon Cryer) and Julia (Abigail Spencer), who, after an amicable divorce, decide to continue to raise their kids at the family home while taking turns on who gets to stay with them. Navigating the waters
Marvel’s “Armor Wars,” originally planned as a TV series for Disney+, is being redeveloped as a feature film, Variety has learned. “Armor Wars” will star Don Cheadle, reprising his MCU role of James “Rhodey” Rhodes, a.k.a. War Machine. The project is based on Marvel Comics’ seven-issue arc of the same name within the story of
Charmaine Bingwa (“The Good Fight”) and Nkeki Obi-Melekwe (“Tina -The Tina Turner Musical”) have been added to Showtime’s “King Shaka” cast as series regulars, the network announced on Thursday. Tony Kgoroge (“Invictus”), Sindi Dlatu (“The River”) and Bahle Hadebe (“Bone of My Bones”) will guest star in recurring roles. According to their character descriptions, Bingwa
Paramount Network shared the official trailer for the fifth season of “Yellowstone,” which returns on Nov. 13 with two episodes. The new trailer opens with Kevin Costner’s John Dutton being sworn in as Governor of Montana, and previews the chaos that immediately follows. “Yellowstone” comes from “Wind River” director Taylor Sheridan, and the show’s cast
NBC is developing a drama series inspired by the Narratively article ““The First Family of Counterfeit Hunting” by Amy Ridout. Per the official logline, “Two brothers reunite after a long estrangement and are pulled into a special investigation surrounding closed FBI cases. Known as “Knockoffs,” these cases have been manipulated or outright fabricated to pin
“Yellowjackets” emerged as a sleeper hit for Showtime last year. On Thursday, the network’s chairman and CEO David Nevins, who also serves as Paramount+’s chief content officer of scripted originals, broke down the reasons for the genre show’s sizzle with multigenerational audiences during his keynote address at the NATPE Streaming conference in Hollywood. Nevins, who
Fatih Akin has teamed up with Berlin-based UFA Fiction on his miniseries about German star Marlene Dietrich, starring Diane Kruger. Based on the biography “My Mother Marlene,” by Dietrich’s daughter, Maria Riva, the five-part series, tentatively titled “Marlene,” is produced by UFA Fiction and Akin’s Bombero International in Hamburg. Currently in production, the miniseries chronicles
The two buzziest genre projects on TV right now are finally having their first viewership battle. HBO’s “Game of Thrones” prequel series “House of the Dragon” and Amazon Prime Video’s “The Lord of the Rings” expansion “The Rings of Power” both appeared on Nielsen’s streaming rankings for the week of Aug. 29-Sept. 4, with “The
Alice Braga and Jimmi Simpson are the latest additions to Apple’s series adaptation of the Blake Crouch novel “Dark Matter.” The pair join previously announced leads Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly. The nine-episode series was ordered at Apple back in March. Per the official description of the show, it follows “Jason Dessen, (Edgerton) a physicist,
“East New York” fits neatly into CBS’ battery of dramas about law enforcement, from “The Equalizer” to the “CSI” revival. But credit it with this much: In its roundabout way, it has more on its mind than one might expect at first blush. Set in a Brooklyn neighborhood where the beginnings of gentrification rub up
Chris Hemsworth, along with producing partner Ben Grayson, have announced the launch of Wild State, their new multiplatform production company. In addition, Wild State will enter into a first-look deal with National Geographic, which will include the development of all unscripted projects in the areas of adventure, exploration, travel and science for all of the
The FX comedy pilot “English Teacher” has found its main cast, Variety has learned exclusively. Stephanie Koenig (“Lessons in Chemistry,” “The Offer”), Enrico Colantoni (“Just Shoot Me,” “Station Eleven”), and Julian Sergi (“Ramy,” “War Dogs”) have all joined as series regulars. Carmen Christopher (“The Bear,” “Killing It”), Jordan Firstman (“Big Mouth,” “Ms. Marvel”), Yissendy Trinidad
Mila Kunis is reprising her “That ’70s Show” character Jackie Burkhart on Netflix’s upcoming sequel series “That ’90s Show,” but the actor doesn’t entirely agree with the direction of the new show. During an interview with Access Hollywood (via EW), Kunis confirmed that her character and Ashton Kutcher’s character, Kelso, are romantically together in “The
Sid Gentle, the producers behind “Killing Eve, has expanded with a new development and production arm titled Sid Wild. It will be based at the Bottle Yard Studios in Bristol. Sid Wild has launched its production slate with “Rain Dogs,” a BBC/HBO co-production based on an outlandish memoir by Cash Carraway detailing what she claims
The BBC has revealed wide-ranging savings proposals across its World Service that will result in the closure of 382 positions and the relocation of journalists from London to Asia and Africa. The move is part of a push towards digital and a wider savings plan. Under the proposals, some half of the BBC’s 41 language
Samantha Bee and Kristen Everman’s Swimsuit Competition production company is partnering with Sinking Ship Entertainment to produce a sketch comedy series for kids, Variety has learned exclusively. Titled “Best Day Ever,” the single-camera show is described as having a style similar to more adult-themed sketch shows like “I Think You Should Leave” and “Key and
The TV networks haven’t been particularly fond of Nielsen in recent months, but their digital rivals seem pretty impressed. The media-measurement giant has entered into a pact with streaming portal Roku that calls for Nielsen to track viewership across traditional and connected TV watching, desktop usage and mobile screens. Advertisers who use Roku can get
Entering the world of Marvel can be a daunting task even for the most experienced of actors — unless, of course, you have Elizabeth Olsen in a dirty Prius leading you every step of the way. While introducing Olsen as an honoree at Variety‘s Power of Women in event in Los Angeles, presented by Lifetime,
Following its launch earlier this month in Malaysia, streamer Aha is set to bow in Singapore and the Middle East. The service, currently available in the Telugu and Tamil languages, will also begin offering Malayalam-language content with an eye on the Middle East expansion, where a migrant population that speaks the language abounds. Operated by
As Amazon Prime Video closes in on six years of operations in India, it is one of the market leaders in the streaming segment. A major part of the success is due to it getting a handle on the multiple local languages in the vast market. “One of the things we look at when we
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched the Season 8, episode 2, of “The Masked Singer,” which aired Sept. 28 on Fox. Comedian Jeff Dunham, singer Montell Jordan and *NSYNC star Chris Kirkpatrick were revealed on Wednesday night’s episode of “The Masked Singer,” as the show’s second episode shared a rare
CBS is screening the Season 2 premiere of “Ghosts” in theaters across the country — and you’re not invited. Well, unless you’re dead. In a marketing stunt tied to this Thursday’s return of the hit Eye comedy, the season opener of “Ghosts” is being showcased in the middle of the night at venues in Los
The third season of Tom Clancy’s political action thriller series “Jack Ryan” is set to premiere on Prime Video Dec. 21. Starring John Krasinski as Jack Ryan, the eight-episode season follows Ryan on the run after being implicated in a larger conspiracy. While trying to stay alive as the CIA and an international rogue faction
BBC have unveiled their fall/winter arts and factual slate including documentaries on Elon Musk and fashion designer Virgil Abloh, who tragically died last year at the age of 41, as well as a new Louis Theroux series in which he interviews stars including Judi Dench, Rita Ora and Stormzy. “I’ve been in my new role
Anonymous Content is currently an exploring an acquisition of Grandview/Automatik, Variety has learned from sources. Should the deal go forward, it would merge the two management and production companies into a single entity. Sources say that the two companies had previously had limited discussions about a potential merger, but nothing was serious until recently. Reps
The core message of the immensely popular “Barney and Friends” kids show was to spread love and kindness to one another, but the trailer for a new Peacock docuseries highlights the idea that America was not so eager to accept that message. In the trailer for the upcoming two-part docuseries “I Love You, You Hate
Chloe Bennet has signed on for a recurring role in Season 3 of “Dave” at FXX, Variety has learned exclusively. Bennet will appear in a multi-episode arc as Robyn, a photographer from Wisconsin whom Dave meets while on tour. Bennet is known for her role in the ABC-Marvel series “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D,” on which she
NBCUniversal’s Mac Budill has stepped down from his role as president of content distribution after 10 years, an NBC spokesperson tells Variety. Matt Schnaars, the current content distribution SVP, has been promoted to Budill’s position and will assume his duties beginning in November. The news of Schnaars’ appointment was delivered to NBC employees via memo