Television

“Born Fighter,” the memoir of British-Bangladeshi Muay Thai World Champion Ruqsana Begum, is getting a limited series adaptation. The series will be co-produced by BlackBox Multimedia, which has several Ellery Queen adaptations in the works, and Seven Seas Films (“The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story”). Begum’s story is a coming-of-age

The question of whether Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul would appear in “Better Call Saul” has loomed over the prequel series ever since its inception. And while co-creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould have remained coy about the possibility of that crossover, the masterminds behind “Better Call Saul” told Variety at the final season premiere that

Leaders of the WGA East have reached a compromise after months of friction over the membership base of the union that represents film and TV writers on the East Coast. The WGA East council voted unanimously to pursue major changes to the union’s constitution to allow for different classifications of membership. The council is recommending

The American Film Institute announced the recipients of its Writers’ Room Ready Awards on Thursday. The annual awards program honors the best pilot scripts written by the AFI Conservatory’s screenwriting fellows. This year’s awards honor the 2021 and 2022 classes, after the prizes were delayed last year due to COVID-19. “Congratulations to the 2021 and

Nickelodeon will feature TikTok stars, recent Oscar winners and Grammy nominated artists at the 35th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards, the channel announced on Thursday. Peyton List, Xavier Woods, Ralph Macchio, Unspeakable, Charli D’Amelio, Dixie D’Amelio, Jordan Fisher, Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Heidi Klum, Terry Crews, Sofia Vergara, Jace Norman, Charlie Puth, Simon Cowell, Howie

In the next new episode of Season 6 of “Outlander,” Claire (Caitriona Balfe) faints from a mysterious illness, and Variety has obtained an exclusive sneak peek. The episode, titled “The World Turned Upside Down,” airs April 10 on Starz. It was written by Toni Graphia and directed by Justin Molotnikov. In the episode, a dysentery

Writer, director, and actor Gabriela Ortega has signed with M88, Variety has learned exclusively. Ortega will continue to be represented by Dean Panaro Talent, KMR Talent, and Meyer & Downs. Ortega was selected to be a 2021-2022 Sundance Institute “Art of Practice” fellow, debuting her short film “Huella” as part of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. The

ABC has ordered up new seasons of “Bachelor in Paradise” and “Judge Steve Harvey,” as it also announced two new specials — including one hosted by Martha Stewart and the other centered on rescue dogs — on Thursday. The news came as ABC also shared a slew of new and returning unscripted series premiere dates

Though the reign of “Encanto” has begun to subside, Disney Plus remains on top with Pixar’s latest feature “Turning Red” debuting in the No. 1 position in Nielsen’s newly released Top 10 streaming rankings. The title accrued more than 1.7 billion minutes watched from March 7 to 13, beating out “The Last Kingdom” and “Pieces

“Power never dies.” That was the tagline (and obligatory hashtag) used back in early 2020 to tease an ambitious brand expansion of Starz’s popular drug-trade drama, “Power.” As the flagship series wound down, the sizzle trailer insisted that while the show’s antihero protagonist — played by Omari Hardwick — might have drawn his last breath,

Spencer Boldman has been cast in the recurring role of Lance McCrae in “Immigrant,” Hulu’s upcoming limited series based on the story of Chippendales founder Somen “Steve” Banerjee (Kumail Nanjiani). The series, which is written, executive produced and co-showrun by Robert Siegel, follows Banerjee’s darkly comedic, crime-ridden journey as an Indian-American immigrant creating what became

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 14 will crown America’s next drag superstar on April 22 when the finale airs on VH1. With that, the winning queen will also receive a cash prize of $150,000, the highest amount awarded to date. Additionally, for the first time in the history of drag race, the runner-up will also receive

“You can’t do a story about the Lakers without the Lakers,” Magic Johnson says. “The real Lakers. You gotta have the guys.” In a new interview for this week’s cover story of Variety, the NBA legend shared his unfiltered thoughts about “Winning Time,” HBO’s scripted drama about the Showtime era of the Lakers, which has

Peacock has ordered the Amy Poehler-produced unscripted series “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning” Variety has learned. Adapted from the 2018 nonfiction book of the same name from Swedish artist Margareta Magnusson, the show is an hourlong home-makeover show where the makeovers are based on the Swedish practice of döstädning, or death cleaning, where

Federal judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed Thursday as the next U.S. Supreme Court justice following contentious Senate hearings that revolved around political flashpoints. Jackson, 51, becomes the first Black woman to earn a seat on the nation’s highest court after the 53-47 confirmation vote in the Senate that mostly fell along partisan lines. Three

Lamorne Morris’ Keef Knight ended Season 1 of the Hulu comedy “Woke” with all eyes on him, as the Black cartoonist was thrust into the spotlight after standing up against the white police officer who had racially profiled and assaulted him in the series premiere. Now that the apolitical artist-turned-activist has a following, what is

To underscore the strange spin on work-life balance in the new Apple TV Plus series “Severance,” cinematographer Jessica Lee Gagné worked closely with production designer Jeremy Hindle on a variety of subtle lighting choices to deliver a world of contrast to audiences. In the sci-fi drama, which is currently streaming, workers at tech company Lumon

“Melrose Place” co-stars Daphne Zuniga and Grant Show will be reunited when Zuniga guest stars on an upcoming episode of the CW network’s “Dynasty,” Variety has learned exclusively. Zuniga is set to play Sonya Jackson, a woman from Blake’s (Show) past who comes in and stirs things up for the Carringtons. The episode of “Dynasty,”

“The Cleaning Lady” has been renewed for Season 2 at Fox. “This heart-pounding, emotionally driven story has captivated audiences across all platforms with its empowering, suspenseful narrative about an undocumented worker forced to navigate the criminal underworld to save her ailing son’s life,” said Michael Thorn, president of Fox Entertainment. “’The Cleaning Lady’ bravely and

Before the TV industry can claim to have a new yardstick in place for measuring audiences, it will need to test many different ones. WarnerMedia, slated to be acquired by Discovery within days, has struck an alliance with Interpublic Group’s Mediabrands that will allow advertisers to test how three different measurement services gauge the performance

David Zaslav will have a tight grip on the operations of Warner Bros. Discovery under the management structure unveiled for the new company that is set to emerge on Monday, Variety has learned. Zaslav, as longtime observers predicted, has opted to have a direct-report relationship with the leaders of the businesses he doesn’t know as

SPOILER ALERT: This piece contains spoilers for “Lizzy,” the finale of “The Dropout,” which premiered April 7 Hulu. When Elizabeth Meriwether was first planning “The Dropout” — her Hulu adaptation of the popular ABC News podcast of the same name, which chronicled the spectacular rise and precipitous fall of Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes — she an

ACQUISITION BBC Three has acquired 10 x 45′ hit HBO Max reality dating competition show “FBoy Island” from Warner Bros International Television production. Created by Elan Gale and hosted by comedian Nikki Glaser, “FBoy Island” follows the adventures of Sarah, Nakia and C.J. – three women all looking to get into a serious relationship with

KC Global Media has assembled a selection of Korean, Japanese and U.S. content for the second quarter across its portfolio of linear channels AXN Asia, Animax, GEM and ONE. Animax gets a second season of reality competition show, “American Ninja Warrior Junior,” season 4 of Dick Wolf’s “FBI,” season 3 of “FBI: Most Wanted” and

Japanese manga and anime fans will get a chance to deepen their obsessions with the Viz Media re-release later this year of volume 1 of “Bleach,” an iconic comic strip. One of the best-selling manga titles of all time, “Bleach” has sold over 120 million copies since its debut in Japan’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine,

Rae Allen, the Tony-winning stage and screen veteran known for her role as nosy reporter Gloria Thorpe in “Damn Yankees” and as Quintina Blundetto on “The Sopranos,” died Wednesday, her rep Kyle Fritz confirmed to Variety. She was 95. Born in Brooklyn as Rae Julia Theresa Abruzzo, Allen began her career on the stage after graduating

Vincent Ngo, top screenwriter and Hollywood script doctor, has set up comedy series “Early Risers” in his native Vietnam. Talent behemoth, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) represents the production company Early Risers Media Group and is handling licensing of the series’ distribution rights. The show, about the lives of American and European expats living and working in Saigon, is set

A judge on Wednesday ruled that several producers of “The Walking Dead” were not cheated out of profits by AMC Networks, bringing the long-running litigation over the hit show closer to a finale. Judge Daniel J. Buckley rejected the producers’ claim that AMC Networks had reverse-engineered the definition of “profits” in their contracts in order

Lauren Lapkus and Krysta Rodriguez are set for the lead roles in the CBS multi-cam comedy pilot “Sober Companion,” Variety has learned. Rodriguez will play Eliza, described as a fun-loving, quick-witted alcoholic who runs a bookstore/bar with her uncle in New Orleans. After one too many run-ins with the law, she is assigned a court-appointed Sober

A talent agency that was born out of the demise of another boutique agency and the disruption of the pandemic is making a name for itself with a commitment to champion a diverse range of creative talent and a tight focus on unscripted content. In late 2020, Rebel Entertainment Partners senior unscripted agents April Yuan,