Television

“Dodger,” the high-octane family drama based on Charles Dickens’ “Oliver Twist,” is set to return to the BBC for three specials. Production has just wrapped in Bristol on the three one-off episodes, which include a Christmas-themed offering, with Christopher Eccleston (“Doctor Who”) returning as Fagin and Billy Jenkins (“Peaky Blinders”) returning as the eponymous child

SAG-AFTRA members have voted overwhelmingly to approve a new contract with Netflix that allows actors more freedom to work on shows on other platforms. The union announced that 89.03% voted in favor of the agreement, which is expected to cover the next four years. The union had been focused on addressing “exclusivity,” under which TV

A new docuseries about Armie Hammer arrives on Discovery+ Friday, promising to delve deep into the headline-making accusations leveled against the actor over the past year, in addition to his wealthy family’s dark past. The trailer for “House of Hammer,” which dropped earlier this month, includes clips of conversations with the actor’s ex-girlfriends Courtney Vucekovich

For any adult still avoiding animation out of some stubborn refusal to understand its advantages as a both visual and storytelling medium, “Pantheon” makes its ambitions known from the get-go. After the eerie opening theme, scoring a fluorescent string of code smashing through a Greek statue, the show cuts to a high-school classroom, where a

“House of the Dragon” co-showrunner, executive producer, and director Miguel Sapochnik is exiting the HBO series ahead of its second season, Variety has confirmed. The show, a prequel to HBO’s megahit “Game of Thrones,” was renewed for Season 2 shortly after it premiered. Sapochnik will continue to be credited as an executive producer on the

Tig Notaro is joining “The Morning Show” for Season 3 in a recurring role, Variety has confirmed. The “One Mississippi” creator and star will portray Amanda Robinson, the chief of staff to corporate chief Paul Marks (played by Jon Hamm). Other previously announced cast members include Hamm and Nicole Beharie, as well as returning star

Travis Fimmel (“Vikings,” “Warcraft”), Simon Baker (“The Mentalist,” “Breath”) and Phoebe Tonkin head the adult cast of “Boy Swallows Universe,” an Australia-set fantasy-drama series. Production has now begun in Brisbane, Queensland. The eight-part limited series is an adaptation of Trent Dalton’s international best-selling novel “Boy Swallows Universe” and is being produced by Brouhaha Entertainment, together with

“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is only days away, and the Amazon Prime Video series has earned mostly rave reviews with a few mixed reactions (and one flat-out pan) as critics returned to Middle-earth. As Variety chief TV critic Caroline Framke wrote in her review: “It’s safe to say that Amazon

As a journalist, I’m always uncomfortable becoming part of the story. But I was met with an abnormally high amount of online dissent several days ago, after contributing to a Variety list detailing “The Worst Series Finales of All Time.” My sole contribution was the 1991-1994 sitcom “Dinosaurs,” a show I watched religiously as a

It took a village — and several hours a day — to transform “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” actor Owain Arthur into Prince Durin IV for the Amazon Prime Video series launching Sept. 2. The Peter Jackson films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” brought Middle Earth to

“The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 2 at Amazon has cast Kyra Sedgwick and Elsie Fisher in recurring roles. Variety exclusively reported that the show based on Jenny Han’s book series of the same name was renewed for a second season before Season 1 had premiered. Season 2 is currently in production but no premiere

Richard Roat, a character actor whose career spanned five decades and included roles in “Seinfeld,” “Friends” and “Dallas,” has died. He was 89. Roat died on Aug. 5 in Orange County, Calif., The Los Angeles Times reported. Roat’s career took off with the early ’60s soap opera “The Doctors,” on which he appeared in 172

Georgia Brown, head of Amazon Studios in Europe, is stepping down after five years in the role, Variety can reveal. The executive’s last day at the business is Wednesday (Aug. 31), though her departure is understood to have been in the works for some time. Brown is believed to be moving on to another opportunity,

Several years (and several hundreds of millions of dollars) after Amazon bought the TV rights to “The Lord of the Rings” from the J.R.R. Tolkien estate, the mammoth effort to boost Prime Video’s profile with the same kind of phenomenon HBO found in “Game of Thrones” is upon us — and it’s just as grand,

Rob Schneider said during a recent interview (via Mediaite) that “Saturday Night Live” was killed for good when Kate McKinnon sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as Hillary Clinton during the cold open of the show’s first episode back after the 2016 presidential election. McKinnon parodied Clinton throughout the 2016 election cycle, but the show took a

FAMILY HISTORY Keira Knightley, Kit Harington, Emeli Sandé and Toby Jones are among the celebrities who’ve signed up to explore their family histories in Wonderhood Studios show “My Grandparents’ War.” The second season of the show, which airs in the U.K. on Channel 4, will explore how the stars’ grandparents navigated global conflicts from the

French production and distribution firm Oble is to handle international licensing of Canadian hit drama series “Aller Simple” or “No Return.” Produced by French-Canadian firm Sphere Media, the six-episode psychological thriller premiered on prime-time earlier this year in Canada and has been a hit with critics and audiences. It plays on Noovo, where it has

Mediawan Rights has boarded the highly anticipated “Zorro” series reboot, produced by leading Spanish company Secuoya Studios. Mediawan Rights is set to distribute the event series internationally. The show started shooting on July 25 in Spain and will be filming until the end of the year. Written by Carlos Portela (“Velvet Collection”), the modern reboot

Earlier this month, “iCarly” star Jennette McCurdy’s bombshell memoir, “I’m Glad My Mom Died,” detailed alleged abuse she experienced while working at Nickelodeon. Now, several former child actors and Nickelodeon staffers are speaking out against Dan Schneider, creator of “Zoey 101,” “Victorious,” “iCarly” and “Drake & Josh,” who reshaped the network and kids’ television at

The success of “Fleabag” loosed a glut of shows about young women tottering – heels broken, mascara smeared – in the vague direction of adult responsibility. Few have been as purely enjoyable as “Everything I Know About Love,” Dolly Alderton’s adaptation of her own memoir, which debuts on Peacock this week after winning plaudits on

The upcoming “Spiderwick Chronicles” TV series at Disney+ has cast Joy Bryant, Variety has learned exclusively. Bryant joins previously announced cast members Lyon Daniels and Noah Cottrell as well as Christian Slater. The show is based on the popular book series of the same name by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. In the show, upon

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Amazon Studios’ hotly anticipated “Lord of the Rings” series is one of the streamer’s most ambitious (and reportedly most expensive) projects to date. Although the new fantasy series, based off J.R.R Tolkein’s seminal book

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos (pictured above, left) thanked “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” showrunners Patrick McKay and John D. Payne at the U.K. premiere of the Amazon Prime Video series on Tuesday night – for ignoring his notes on the show. “Every showrunner’s dream – and I mean every showrunner – their

Tucker Wiard, who served as editor for TV series including “Murphy Brown,” “The Carol Burnett Show” and “The Scarlet Letter,” died on Aug 28 in Los Angeles after complications from heart failure. He was 80. Throughout Wiard’s decades-long career, he won five primetime Emmys for editing. Wiard won for his work in editing the final

Netflix, eager to spark better relationships with Madison Avenue after years of avoiding them, has lured two senior executives away from Snap to do so. The streaming giant has hired Jeremi Gorman, Snap’s chief business officer, and Peter Naylor, its vice president of sales, to start making outreach to top advertisers in a bid to

Daniel Stern has been cast in Season 4 of “For All Mankind” at Apple, Variety has learned. The news comes about a month after “For All Mankind” was renewed for Season 4. Production on the new season is underway. “For All Mankind” is an alternative history series that explores what would have happened if the

A&E filed a lawsuit seeking to block rival network Reelz from airing “On Patrol: Live,” which it claims is a blatant ripoff of its own show, “Live PD.” Both shows feature live footage from police ride-alongs, both are hosted by Dan Abrams, and both are produced by the same company. A&E canceled “Live PD” —

The Michelle Monaghan vehicle “Echoes” was the most-viewed title on Netflix during the Aug. 22-28 viewing window, its first full week of availability after premiering on Aug. 19. With 68.5 million hours watched, the limited series passed Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman,” which was watched for 53.8 million hours in the same period and had held

A producer behind the hit Netflix series “Narcos” has filed a lawsuit claiming he is owed more than $1 million in unpaid profits on the show. José Padilha sued fellow producer Eric Newman, claiming that Newman has breached an agreement to split all profits on the show 50-50. The complaint alleges that Newman and his

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. It’s almost time to travel back to Middle-Earth. Amazon Prime Video’s hotly anticipated new Lord of the Rings series, “The Rings of Power,” arrives on the streamer on Sept. 2. The fantasy series is