It has been over three years since Marvel Studios branched out into the world of television, telling the stories of characters from across the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a new medium. The grand experiment has evolved in some fascinating ways in the time since, resulting in Internet-breaking projects like WandaVision and Loki, as well as the forming of the Marvel Spotlight banner for more standalone projects like Echo. This week, during Disney's Upfronts presentation, Marvel Studios unveiled new release dates or windows for its next three live-action shows -- Agatha All Along, Daredevil: Born Again, and Ironheart. In the process, these announcements revealed the return of the Marvel Television label, which was previously used as the standalone production company behind projects like Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the "Defendersverse" of shows.

While speaking with ComicBook about the recent Season 1 finale of X-Men '97, Marvel Studios Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation Brad Winderbaum explained the decision to resurrect the Marvel Television label, and how it could help future projects be more accessible to audiences.

"We want to make sure that Marvel stays an open door for people to come in and explore," Winderbaum revealed. "On the heels of Endgame, I think there was, maybe, a little bit of an obligation to watch absolutely everything in order to watch anything. As you know, as a comics fan, they're designed to just pop in, find something that you like, and use that to enter you into the universe, and then you can explore and weave around based on your own preferences. So part of the rebranding of Marvel Studios, Marvel Television, Marvel Animation, even Marvel Spotlight is to, I think, try to tell the audience, 'You can jump in anywhere. They're interconnected but they're not. You don't have to watch A to enjoy B. You can follow your bliss. You can follow your own preferences and find the thing you want within the tapestry of Marvel.'"

What Is the Next Marvel Television Show?

The next live-action Marvel Television project is expected to be Agatha All Along, which will debut on Disney+ with a two-episode premiere on Wednesday, September 18th. In addition to Kathryn Hahn reprising her WandaVision role of Agatha Harkness, the cast of Agatha All Along will include fellow WandaVision alums Deborah Jo Rupp as Sharon Davis and Emma Caulfield Ford as Sarah Proctor. New cast members will include Joe Locke, Aubrey Plaza, Ali Ahn, Maria Dizzia, Sasheer Zamata, and Patti LuPone. Agatha All Along will be directed by head writer Jac Schaeffer, as well as Gandja Monteiro. Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, and Brad Winderbaum serve as executive producers on the series.

"I know a little bit, but I can't say anything," Caulfield told ComicBook in a previous interview. "I can't tell you what to expect, because that would reveal something. I know little, just enough to keep me in the right zone. I think it's all going to be really fun. I haven't seen [Kathryn Hahn] yet. I really love her. She's just the best, effortlessly cool."

The first season of X-Men '97 is now in the books, culminating an epic animated journey for fans of the Marvel Universe. The series is just one of several titles under the Marvel Animation banner at Marvel Studios, with projects like returning series What If...? and new series Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and Eyes of Wakanda on the horizon. Earlier this week, Marvel Television announced release windows or dates for some of its upcoming live-action offerings, including Agatha All Along, Daredevil: Born Again, and Ironheart. Those announcements did not include the aforementioned projects from Marvel Animation -- but we might have a better idea of what's next on the docket.

While speaking with ComicBook about the recent season finale of X-Men '97, Executive Producer and Marvel Studios Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation Brad Winderbaum revealed that the upcoming third season of What If...? could be the next Marvel Animation show released, without confirming an exact release date or window.

"What If...? Season Three is -- that might be the one that comes out next, in terms of animation," Winderbaum revealed. "That is the culmination of a trilogy. We're actually close to completing that one, and it really feels like you've gone through this amazing emotional experience with Uatu, in a way that's... What's great about The Watcher is that he presents himself as uncaring, and cold, and just an observer, but he cares more than everybody [and] anybody. That is on full display in that third season."

What Will What If...? Season 3 Be About?

Early looks at What If...? Season 3 were released shortly after the show's sophomore season wrapped in late 2023, confirming that Sam Wilson / Captain America (Anthony Mackie) Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), Bill Foster / Goliath (Laurence Fishburne), Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and Alexi Shostakov / Red Guardian (David Harbour) will all factor into the episodes in some way. Additionally, ComicBook previously exclusively confirmed that America Ferrera will join the cast as Agent Morales.

"She's great," writer and executive producer AC Bradley said of Ferrera. "I'm so glad she is getting her flowers when it comes to Barbie, because -- I shouldn't say this, but hey, I no longer work at Marvel -- Barbie was my favorite movie of the year, my favorite superhero movie, because Barbie's a hero. And, so is America. That was the best. So, we're so happy that she was willing to come in, and do this part in this random episode of What If...?. She was so lovely about it."

The first season of X-Men '97 is now available to stream exclusively on Disney+. If you haven't signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

We're only three episodes into Doctor Who's new season, but it looks like the show has already dropped a pretty unexpected twist. This week's episode, titled "Boom", saw the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) land on a war-torn planet, with things quickly growing complicated when The Doctor steps on a volatile land mine. During this ordeal, the duo meet a soldier named Mundy Flynn, played by Varada Sethu, who just so happens to be confirmed to joining the show as Fifteen's second companion. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, "Boom" writer Steven Moffat addressed Sethu making her Doctor Who debut as Mundy, and what it could mean for her future tenure as a companion.

"Yeah. Well, no, we're just doing it again,' Moffat answered with a laugh. "I mean, I was talking to Russell [T Davies, showrunner] about what we're going to do, but she's there! We're just going to do Clara [Oswald] again. So it's fun, isn't it? It wakes you up. You think, "Ah, there she is!"

"And I think I'm going to say nothing about that," Moffatt said, when asked who came up with Mundy's name. "I'm going to say nothing about what's going on there. You're not going to get nothing. It's Russell's plan and he will release the details of how that works in his own time, I'm certain."

When asked if he can say that Sethu was cast knowing that she would come back, Moffat replied, "No, you're just going to have to wait and see. That would be a waste of time. There is a plan. That's all I'm telling."

When Will Varada Sethu Join Doctor Who?

Sethu is confirmed to be joining Doctor Who in (according to its Disney+ numbering) the show's second season, and will be adventuring with both Fifteen and Ruby Sunday. It is unclear at this point if Sethu will be reprising her role as Mundy, or will be playing a different character entirely.

"I feel like the luckiest person in the world. It is such an honor to be a part of the Whoniverse, and I'm so grateful to the whole Doctor Who family - because that is what they are - for welcoming me with open arms and making me feel so at home," Sethu says in a statement when her casting was announced. "I couldn't ask for a better team than Ncuti and Millie to be on this adventure with, this is SO much fun!"

New episodes of Doctor Who air Fridays at 7pm ET on Disney+, followed by a debut on BBC iPlayer at 12am GMT on Saturdays, and a broadcast premiere on BBC One later that day. If you haven't signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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The sixth and final season of The Handmaid's Tale isn't likely to arrive until 2025, but when it does, series star Elisabeth Moss will be behind the camera to bring it all to a close. According to TVLine, Moss is set to direct four episodes in Season 6 of the Hulu series, including the season premiere and the series finale. The four Season 6 episodes Moss is directing will bring her behind-the-camera episode count on the series to 10 as she directed three episodes in Season 4 and three in Season 5, including the latter's season finale. Production on The Handmaid's Tale's final season is set to begin this summer.

Moss also teased that Season 6 of The Handmaid's Tale is set to be "wild" and "surprising".

"It's pretty wild, the final season, honestly," Moss said. "It definitely has final-season energy."

She added, "It's big and wild, and goes to many different places, and it is very, very surprising all the way through."

Moss Previously Updated Fans on When Season 6 of The Handmaid's Tale Might Arrive

Back in January, Moss said that the final season of The Handmaid's Tale wasn't likely to be released until 2025 -- and joked that fans were probably getting a little upset about the long wait between Season 5 and the final episodes.

"We are going back to shoot this summer. Our final season," Moss said at the time. "People are really starting to get upset. Especially when I tell them that we haven't even started shooting yet. Like, 'When is it coming back?' 'Well...' They get a little upset. It probably won't be [released] until maybe 2025."

A The Handmaid's Tale Spinoff Is In the Works

While The Handmaid's Tale is coming to an end, the story isn't exactly over. A spinoff, The Testaments, which is based on Margaret Atwood's 2019 novel, is actively in development with Bruce Miller, who was showrunner for The Handmaid's Tale for its first five seasons, in charge.

"The Testaments was an independent curveball created by Margaret Atwood for the series I was working on. I think she had had it in her head for a while. I tried as much as possible, and I'm still trying, to not really make The Handmaid's Tale about The Testaments," Miller shared about the new series. "The Handmaid's Tale should be good on its own and when it's done, it should be a nice little TV set that you put on the shelf next to the novel, and it hopefully adds to your enjoyment of it, and then you can move onto The Testaments."

He added, "The way Margaret did it, which is wonderful, is that you close one and you say, 'I don't have to open that. But let's open the next one and see what's in there. It could be anything.' It is a continuation, but it's more like a separate chapter. The horizons are more limitless."

Stay tuned for updates on the future of The Handmaid's Tale.

ABC's Grey's Anatomy spinoff Station 19 will end its run with a 2-part series finale concluding on May 30th and ahead of the finale, stars of the fan favorite series are saying thanking fans and saying farewell in a new video. ABC has released an emotional video featuring the series' cast as they reflect on the fan support for the show over its seven-season run as well as how close the cast has become. You can check it out for yourself below.

"I don't think anyone is ready to say goodbye," Jaina Lee Ortiz, who plays Captain Andy Herrera says in the video.

"We have such an amazing and strong fan base," Boris Kodjoe (Lieutenant Robert Sullivan) says with Danielle Savre (Lieutenant Maya Bishop) adding, "The support we've had on this show is something that I could never have imagined."

Why Was Station 19 Cancelled?

Back in December, ABC announced that Station 19 would end with its seventh season and earlier this year, Disney Television Group President Craig Erwich explained that the series' cancellation was simply a case of the story coming to its natural conclusion.

"Every show has its own journey so to speak. In the case of Station 19, it was time to bring that story to an end," Erwich said. "I love Station 19, and I think what's amazing about Station 19 is that it was yes, a spinoff of Grey's. But it really became its own show that stood on its own creatively and was fully realized and unique unto itself, and we've been very proud to have it on the air. I'm proud to be in business with Shonda [Rhimes] on that show."

Station 19 Showrunners Found Out The Show's Face Just Two Days Into Season 7 Production

In March, Station 19's new showrunners Zoanne Clack and Peter Paige revealed that they found out about the series' cancellation a mere two days into production on the new season -- and Clack was on a panel at the time.

"We were what, two days into shooting the new episodes? And we got the call," Clack said.

"I was on a panel, in front of like, 100 people," Clack continued. "I kept getting calls, and I finally texted and said, 'Is this important? I'm in front of people!' And they were like, 'OK, you can wait.' And you know how sometimes after a panel people want to talk to you? [I didn't do that.] I just got on the phone and then I was told. I called Peter as soon as I heard and was like, 'Why did this happen?' as I'm driving to Disney."

"Basically, we got the news and were like 'Get the cast in, get the writers, get the crew assembled... Make sure they're all going to meet us at lunch!'" Paige said. "Then we raced, raced, raced to tell them before there were any leaks. We wanted to make sure they heard it from us."

What Is Station 19 About?

Debuting in 2018, Station 19 follows the men and women at Seattle Fire Station 19. The series, a second spinoff of Grey's Anatomy (the first being Private Practice), stars Jaina Lee Ortiz, Jason George, Grey Damon, Barrett Doss, Jay Hayden, Danielle Savre, Boris Kodjoe, Stefania Spampinato, and Carlos Miranda. It had been renewed for Season 7 back in April, at which time Zoanne Clack and Peter Paige took over as co-showrunners from Krista Vernoff.

Law & Order: Organized Crime delivered a thrilling season finale this week, full of threads that will be big points of interest for season 5 and beyond. It also brought some elements full circle, and that is especially true for Elliot Stabler. Not only did we get multiple major revelations regarding his family, but we also saw Elliot at his most vulnerable, something that came into full view in the finale's closing minutes. It's not a side we get to see often, but when it happens, it's always impactful, and even after her passing, no one has the ability to bring that out of Elliot like his wife, Kathy Stabler.

The episode starts out with Elliot speaking to someone offscreen, telling them how difficult it's been for him to hang on as the world seems to swirl around him. He grasps at the things and people he loves most but laments that he is watching everything he loves fly away. We learn that he's speaking to Kathy's gravestone in the cemetery, and it makes his words hit all the harder (H/T NBC Insider).

Elliot Stabler looking back on all his been through recently.

"I sometimes feel I don't know where I am. It's as if the world and everything in it as become unrecognizable." pic.twitter.com/SX1PNvMgIv

-- the chris meloni project (@MeloniProject) May 17, 2024

"I sometimes feel I don't know where I am, as if the world and everything in it has become unrecognizable," Stabler says. "Kids. Grandkids. My brothers. Ma. Unrecognizable. It's like I'm in a world that's changed and I'm trying, but..." Later Stabler continues, saying, "I know how to do my job and all the things that come with that. It's all the other stuff, the stuff that makes up life, I'm just lost. Feels like the world is spinning so fast and I'm barely hanging on as I watch everything I once had and loved, still love, fly away."

Then Stabler takes a second and his expression shifts to a slight smile, telling Kathy, "You're not going to believe this. Guess who's having a baby?" Elliot is referring to his son Eli, who revealed to the family during a family dinner that Becky was pregnant. Elliot didn't get there until after the announcement had been made, and the other revelation of Eli entering the police force took over the rest of the dinner, so Eli never had the chance to tell his dad.

The next morning Elliot returned home and Eli was getting Becky some tea. Elliot then asked Eli how far along she was, and Eli was shocked that he had figured out. Eli asked how and Elliot said, "Ginger tea: a dead giveaway. That's what I used to pour mom when she was in that state."

So not only is Eli going to become a Police Officer, but he's about to have a baby. Those are good things, but it wasn't all great news, as Joe Jr. ended up boarding the plane with Emery after the shootout that left several injured or dead, and now Elliot and the Organized Crime team have no idea where he is. That is going to be a huge part of next season, which has been officially renewed and will be exclusively premiering on Peacock.

What did you think of the Organized Crime finale? You can talk all things Law & Order with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

SPOILERS follow for Doctor Who Season 1, Episode 2, "The Devil's Chord." Recap begins now:

Two soldiers slowly make their way through a battlefield. One wearing a blindfold, John Francis Vater (Joe Anderson), uses his comm to call his daughter, Splice (Caoilinn Springall). The other soldier, Carson (Majid Mehdizadeh-Valoujerdy), seems concerned that an ambulance is nearby. At a camp, another soldier named Monday Flynn (Varada Sethu, who is set to join Doctor Who as a new companion next season) convinces soldier Canterbury "Canto" Olliphant (Bhav Joshi), to switch watch with her.

Back on the battlefield, Carson sees an ambulance and backs away. He steps on a mine and is destroyed. The mine triggering attracts the ambulance, which attaches to and scans Vater. She determines his temporary blindness does not meet the threshold to be worth treating. Vater records a message for his daughter before the ambulance kills him.

The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) hears Vater's scream from within the TARDIS. He goes rushing off to investigate and ends up stepping on a landmine before he sees it. Ruby (Mille Gibson) searches for the Doctor and finds him standing on the mine and singing to keep his vitals steady, trying not to trigger the mine any further. The Doctor tells Ruby that they're in the middle of a war and explains that he can't move from the mine, which has glowing green lights, or he might trigger it. The lights still aren't fully triggered.

Ruby goes to investigate the scream the Doctor heard. After gazing at the unfamiliar sky of her first alien planet, she discovers an object shaped like a canister. The Doctor tells her it is a "casket," which is the remains of a person. The Doctor wants her to toss it to him so he can use its weight to shift his position without triggering the mine, but Ruby insists on getting close enough to hand it to him, despite the danger. The time the handoff with a song and the lights progress due to the Doctor's increased adrenaline but the mine does not go off.

The Doctor reads John Francis Vater's name off of the "casket," and it triggers a holographic AI reconstruction of the soldier who explains what happened to him. The Doctor explains that the ambulance and the weapons are sold by the Villengard Corporation, who have an algorithm designed to maximize profits by keeping just enough casualties to keep the war going.

Splice finds them after hearing her father's voice. She tells them about how her mother was "gathered up by God." Splice tells them her name, which triggers the hologram again, and Splice rushes toward them. Ruby has to tackle her to stop her from knocking the Doctor off the mine.

Monday finds them and puts the Doctor at gunpoint. She tells them they're fighting a war against an enemy they've never seen and demands he drop the casket in his hand. She's an Anglican marine, the church, and military having become one in humanity's future. The Doctor tries to explain that he's a Time Lord, but Monday begins firing at his hand to get him to drop the casket, telling him he can't escape the mine, and that it's on a timer. He warns her that the energy inside of him will cause a huge explosion if the mine kills him. She scans him and determines that he could destroy half the planet.

The shots attract the attention of an ambulance that attaches to the Doctor. Monday tells Ruby to shoot her arm to draw the ambulance away. As Ruby is aiming, Canto arrives and assumes that Ruby is attacking Monday. He shoots Ruby, and Ruby hits the ground. The ambulance asks for her next of kin, and it begins to snow and time slows. The ambulance withholds treatment because Ruby isn't part of the Anglican military.

The Doctor tells Monday she needs to surrender the war to stop the mine. He tells her there's no enemy on this planet. When the Anglicans declared war, they activated the Villengard algorithm. They've been fighting their hardware ever since. Monday demands proof, so the Doctor orders the Vater AI to infiltrate the ambulance's system and find the evidence. The AI takes some convincing, but the Doctor speaks to it "dad to dad" and it makes the attempt.

Monday and Canto discuss their feelings for each other while Canto tries to hack into the ambulance. He gets distracted and the ambulance shocks him, killing him and creating another AI where he was. The AI confesses Canto's feelings for Monday to her.

The Doctor realizes the algorithm is fighting back against their attempts to stop it. The mine seems poised to go off but as the countdown ends, Vater's AI takes over the ambulance's programming. It prevents the explosion and revives Ruby. The AI took down the whole Villengard mainframe.

Ruby, the Doctor, Monday, and Splice enjoy the alien landscape for two minutes before the Doctor is ready to move on. The Doctor says he's sorry about Splice's dad, but she's unphased, insisting he's dead but not gone. The Doctor tells Splice and Monday that he'll be popping in again. The Doctor and Ruby reflect on death briefly before returning to the TARDIS.

New episodes of Doctor Who debut on Fridays exclusively on Disney+.

Dabney Coleman, a prolific character actor known for a decades-spanning career in movies and television, has passed away at the age of 92. The news was confirmed on Friday afternoon by a statement from Coleman's daughter, Quincy Coleman. The actor died on Thursday, May 16th, at his home in Santa Monica, CA. Coleman's career, which began in 1964 and lasted up until his death, included such hits as 9 to 5, Tootsie, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, WarGames, Inspector Gadget, Recess, Boardwalk Empire, and The Guardian.

"My father crafted his time here on Earth with a curious mind, a generous heart and a soul on fire with passion, desire and humor that tickled the funny bone of humanity," Quincy's statement reads. "As he lived, he moved through this final act of his life with elegance, excellence and mastery. A teacher, a hero and a king, Dabney Coleman is a gift and blessing in life and in death as his spirit will shine through his work, his loved ones and his legacy ... eternally."

Born on January 3, 1932 in Austin, Texas, Coleman got his start in the New York theater scene, before making his onscreen debut in a 1961 episode of Naked City. After appearing across movies and television in projects like Bright Promise, Bonanza, The Flying Nun, and The Trouble With Girls, he became something of a household names thanks to his 148 appearances on the soap opera Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.

One of Coleman's most well-known roles arrived in 1980, when he portrayed the boss Franklin M. Hart, Jr. alongside Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin in 9 to 5. Two years later, he had another major appearance as Ron Carlisle in 1982's Tootsie.

"That opened up the movies for me," Coleman told Vulture about 9 to 5. "The girls [Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton] were so supportive of me, and included me in everything. They were on a whole different level than I was at the time, but they were very sensitive about that, and made sure that I was included in every publicity shot and tour. All three of them insisted, "Where's Dabney? Get him in here!" They're all three unique and wonderful ladies, all three of them."

Coleman reached a whole new generation through voicing Principal Peter Prickly in the Disney Channel series Recess, as well as its subsequent television movies. In the 2000s, his roles also included playing the President in My Date with the President's Daughter, and starring as Burton Fallin in CBS' The Guardian. More recently, Coleman appeared in episodes of Ray Donovan and NCIS, as well as movies like Domino and Rules Don't Apply. He also had a recurring role as Commodore Louis Kaestner in Boardwalk Empire. His final onscreen roles included playing John Dutton Jr. in a 2019 episode of Yellowstone, and appearing as himself in the Aly & AJ music video "Star Maps."

Outside of being an actor, Coleman worked alongside actor Bronson Pinchot to help promote forest preservation, and competed in celebrity and charity tennis tournaments. He was married twice, to Ann Courtney Harrell and then to actress Jean Hale, and has four children.

Our thoughts are with Coleman's family, friends, and fans at this time.

The season finale of X-Men '97 was released on Disney+ this week, and it's gotten major praise from Marvel fans. The show is currently up on Rotten Tomatoes with an impressive 98% critics score and 94% audience score. ComicBook gave the show a 5 out of 5, and called it "an ideal reboot." While many people deserve credit for making X-Men '97 a success, one important person behind the scenes was the show's creator and showrunner, Beau DeMayo. As fans were gearing up for the release of X-Men '97, the surprising news broke that DeMayo had been fired from the series. Details of his firing have remained under wraps, but DeMayo has still be openly talking about the show on social media. In fact, he recently took to Twitter to clarify his Season Two involvement.

"I did write a lot of Season 2," DeMayo shared. "However, unlike Season 1, I will not be heavily involved or leading production, cast records, design, editorial, post, music, etc., nor doing any production rewrites as it relates to the creative vision of the show."

"This is why I've said I can't really speak to Season 2," he added. "But, looking forward to seeing the final product with you all whenever it airs. I have high hopes."

Marvel's head of streaming, Brad Winderbaum, recently addressed DeMayo's firing in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

"I can't talk about the details," Winderbaum explained. "But I can say that Beau had real respect and passion for these characters and wrote what I think are excellent scripts that really the rest of the team were able to draw inspiration from [to] build this amazing show that's on screen." When asked if he would consider what happened with DeMayo as a "firing" as had been the wording used in the press, Winderbaum added, "I don't. 'We parted ways' is the best way I could say."

Which Voice Actors Return in X-Men '97?

Original X-Men: The Animated Series cast members Cal Dodd (Wolverine), Lenore Zann (Rogue), George Buza (Beast), Alison Sealy-Smith (Storm), Adrian Hough (Nightcrawler), and Christopher Britton (Mister Sinister) reprise their roles from the '90s series while returning cast members Catherine Disher (original Jean Grey), Chris Potter (original Gambit), Alyson Court (original Jubilee), and Lawrence Bayne (original Cable) voice new characters.

The new cast includes Ray Chase (Cyclops), Jennifer Hale (Jean Grey), JP Karliak (Morph), AJ LoCascio (Gambit), Holly Chou (Jubilee), Isaac Robinson-Smith (Bishop), and Matthew Waterson (Magneto).

X-Men '97 director/producer Jake Castorena recently spoke with RadioTimes and explained why some of the voice cast has changed.

"If we're doing this show, we got to do it with the legacy cast - that was the decision from day one," Castorena explained. "[But] time hits us all - it's been 30 years and so, unfortunately, some of the legacy voice cast is no longer with us, and some of the legacy voice cast, voices and things just change."

X-Men '97 is now streaming on Disney+.

The ComicBook Nation crew breaks down the X-Men '97 Season 1 Finale and discusses all the reveals about the Season 2 storyline. We also review the new movie IF (2024).

PLUS: Geek News includes some big renewal news for some of streaming's hottest shows; a breakdown of Amazon's The Rings of Power Season 2 Trailer, and the Spider-Verse expands with Nic Cage's Spider-Man Noir TV show - even as Amazon's Silk: Spider Society series dies in development.

IF (2024) Review

ComicBook critic Jamie Jirak's IF movie review gives the film 3.5 out of 5 stars:

The film does a good job of reminding its audience that there's a kid in all of us, and that time can never truly take away your imagination. It's been a while since I looked around in a theater and saw multiple grown men shedding a tear. Krasinski knows how to appeal to parents, especially dads. While IF may not be a perfectly pieced-together movie, there's enough heart embedded in its core to make it a worthy trip to the cinema for families. The cast is delightful, the IFs are magical, and the warmth is undeniable.

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Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire returned last week, with Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Claudia (Delainey Hayles) making their way across Europe in search of Old World Vampires and, after a devastating experience in Romania, made their way to Paris. Paris will prove to be a major turning point for Louis and Claudia, one with devastating consequences but it also marks the duo finally finding the vampires they've been looking for -- and the Theatre Des Vampires. Now, ahead of Sunday's episode, "Do You Know What It Means To Be Loved by Death", AMC has provided ComicBook with an exclusive clip introducing not only Louis and Claudia but the audience to the Theatre. Prepare to delve into the underbelly of the human soul and check out the scene for yourself in the video above.

In "Do You Know What It Means To Be Loved by Death", Daniel Molloy's (Eric Bogosian) interview of Louis will continue in present-day Dubai, but this time, the vampire Armand (Assad Zaman) joins in and Louis and Armand tell Daniel how they met all those years ago in Paris.

Can Louis' Memories Be Trusted in Season 2?

As we've seen in teasers for Season 2 of Interview of the Vampire, memory is the real monster -- and Louis' memory has already not exactly been fully reliable. Episode 1 saw him realizing that there were things he was misremembering about his and Claudia's time in Romania. However, while the lack of accuracy in Louis' recollection may call into question details, Anderson tells ComicBook that he doesn't necessarily agree with Louis' being unreliable, as the story is as much about feeling as it is fact.

"I think something that I'm always slightly resistant about with the unreliable narrator tag that Louis gets is that we're all unreliable," Anderson said. "I think it's a strange idea that television or storytelling is objective. I think it's a comfortable way to engage with something or to watch something."

"In terms of Louis, I think he's as unreliable as any. The story that we are being told is just as much based on how something felt to Louis as the biographical details or the specifics, which is something that I love about him," Anderson continued. "He's very complicated. He's a very complicated person, but he's a very complicated character and I love him for that."

"There's a lot that hopefully comes through in that there's a difference quite often for Louis between what he says and what he feels," Anderson said. "I think that's fun. I don't know why we need to know exactly how everything happened exactly all the time unless it is to contextualize the story. I think that's something I get a lot of joy out of with Anne Rice's books and with the show is that with each new perspective, the story only gets bigger and more exciting and more complicated. So, he is unreliable, but aren't we all? He's also learning. He's learning a lot."

What Is Interview with the Vampire Season 2 About?

You can read AMC's official description of the second season of Interview With the Vampire here: "The interview continues in season two. In the year 2022, the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Anderson) recounts his life story to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Picking up from the bloody events in New Orleans in 1940 when Louis and teen fledgling Claudia (Hayles) conspired to kill the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (Reid), Louis tells of his adventures in Europe, a quest to discover Old World Vampires and the Theatre Des Vampires in Paris, with Claudia. It is in Paris that Louis first meets the Vampire Armand (Assad Zaman). Their courtship and love affair will prove to have devastating consequences both in the past and in the future, and Molloy will probe to get to the truths buried within the memories.

Interview with the Vampire airs Sundays on AMC and AMC+.

X-Men '97 packed quite a lot into its Season Finale - including an epilogue section that was nearly half an episode in length. There was lot of setup for X-Men '97 Season 2 that got done in that time - including one surprising character return that most fans probably didn't catch!

(SPOILERS FOLLOW)

The climax of "Tolerance is Extinction - Part 3" saw the X-Men fighting impossible odds to stop Operation Zero Tolerance and its leader, Bastion, from dropping Magneto's Asteroid M on Earth. The X-Men succeed (with help from Magneto), but the team is yanked from the timestream and deposited in separate places across the past, present, and future.

While the majority of the X-Men landed in either ancient Egypt or a dystopian distant future, Forge and a few others were left in the present, facing the monumental task of building a new team of X-Men. Forge is seen in his workshop, looking over a photo gallery board of mutants who could potentially become New X-Men; Bishop finally comes back from the future to tell Forge that the X-Men aren't dead, they've been pulled into the timestream - and the future depends on rescuing them.

However, before Bishop appears, Forge is listening to a radio broadcast that establishes the new status quo six months after the X-Men's disappearance. On the political side of things, it's established that President Robert Kelly is having his political position challenged by a fringe anti-mutant candidate: Graydon Creed.

X-Men '97 Season 2 Villains - Who Is Graydon Creed?

Graydon Creed Jr. is the leader of the anti-mutant hate group "Friends of Humanity" (FoH). Although he's a human, Graydon is the son of Sabertooth (Victor Creed) and Mystique, after a chance encounter between the two. Graydon Creed buried his past, but couldn't bury his resentment, raging against his parents and all mutants.

In X-Men: The Animated Series, Graydon Creed's arc started as a supporter of Senator Robert Kelly, whose anti-mutant views he supported. After the X-Men defeated Bolivar Trask and Master Mold, Kelly reversed his stance on mutants, causing a schism between him and Graydon Creed.

Creed continued to threaten the X-Men and mutants throughout the seasons of X-Men: TAS. He was tricked by Apocalypse (in disguise) into framing mutants for the release of a virus that nearly wipes out Bishop's future before Bishop sets things right. The X-Men infiltrated the Friends of Humanity and eventually exposed Creed's mutant parentage to the group, causing him to suffer a mental breakdown. When he got out of the institution, Creed came at his own family, kidnapping Mystique and battling his "siblings" Rogue and Nightcrawler. At the end of the series, The FoH banished Creed and left him on Sabertooth's doorstep, where the feral mutant was seemingly going to punish his son in some horrible way.

If Graydon Creed Jr. is back, then it suggests a lot about what happened with Sabertooth, and what raises new questions about what Graydon plans to do with the new anti-mutant sentiment in the world. Although, we're pretty sure that real-life politics has laid out the roadmap.

X-Men '97 is streaming on Disney+.

The fifth and final season of Stranger Things is currently in production and is expected to premiere sometime next year. While the wait to see how the series ends feels agonizing given season four premiered in the summer of 2022, Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers have shared many behind-the-scenes looks at several of our favorite Hawkins residents.

In the latest look, Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) are shown in the backseat looking out of the rear window, and the moment seems very intense. There's also a van for a local radio station WSQK 94.5 FM "The Squawk." Joe Keery's Steve Harrington and Maya Hawke's Robin Buckley are pictured in various backstage shots as well.

Obviously plot details are being kept under wraps for season 5 thus far but with how season 4 ended as Vecna (aka One) bridging a gate between The Upside Down and their realm, it's surely going to be the largest fight that the gang has been up against yet. Eleven has also regained her powers after previously expending all of it. She was forced to relive some pretty traumatic scenarios in order to do so but in the process she gained an entirely new power -- resurrection. It'll be interesting to see how her new ability plays into the season as she seemingly brought Max -- who Lucas claimed was dead for a whole minute -- back to life.

"This season - it's like season one on steroids," Ross Duffer previously said to The Guardian. "It's the biggest it's ever been in terms of scale, but it has been really fun, because everyone's back together in Hawkins: the boys and Eleven interacting more in line with how it was in season one. And, yes, there may be spin-offs, but the story of Eleven and Dustin and Lucas and Hopper, their stories are done here."

Though the Stranger Things cast has admitted they have no idea how the series ends, topping last season might serve as a giant task. Not only did it introduce Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna and the lovable Eddie Munson (played by , the season was able to re-chart one of the 80s most iconic songs, Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" as well as catapulting Metallica's "Master of Puppets" to the top of the charts proves how much of an impact Stranger Things has had on pop culture over the last eight years.

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Stay tuned to Comicbook for updates on Stranger Things season 5.

The Safe Man has been realized into a fully fleshed out story. Nearly two decades after it was published anonymously in The Secret Society of Demolition Writers, Michael Connelly expanded his short story into a feature-length audiobook on Audible. The Lincoln Lawyer author reunited with longtime collaborator Titus Welliver (Bosch) and Jack Quaid (The Boys, Oppenheimer) to bring The Safe Man to listenable life. While the story, one which interweaves Connelly's familiar mystery and suspense flavors while dabbling into some supernatural elements, is currently exclusive to the audio format, there are aspirations to bring it to live-action.

"That's the hope," Connelly told ComicBook when asked if there are plans to turn The Safe Man into a film or television series. "The pyramid gets skinnier and skinnier at the top, so it's a tough thing to go the distance. But yes, we're definitely in discussions about that. Now that this is out, we'll definitely move forward with that."

Connelly is no stranger to turning his works into motion-pictures, as The Lincoln Lawyer has been made into both a feature film and Netflix series while his recurring leading character detective Harry Bosch is the centerpiece of the Bosch television program.

With The Safe Man existing under the umbrella of Audible, an Amazon company, there is a direct pipeline to Prime Video.

"Audible has a branch that is kind of like a way of delivering this to Prime, and hopefully they'll be interested in it," Connelly continued. "We'll see how it does on Audible first, and then we'll go from there."

The Safe Man also has the luxury of already existing with a stacked cast. Should a live-action adaptation move forward, Connelly noted it would be "amazing" to bring the likes of Welliver and Quaid back to portray their characters on camera.

"If we could get all these people, it would be pretty amazing," Connelly said. "They're all extremely talented and they're all in-demand people. I kind of scratched my head a little bit at how we got them. I think that was the power of Titus, to tell you the truth, to get some of the people that we got. It was kind of a case of, 'Well, if Titus is doing it, then yeah, I want to be part of that.' That worked for us on this level, and hopefully it would work again on live-action."

The Safe Man is available now on Audible.

The Lonely Island, the fan-favorite musical comedy trio made up of Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer, is set to get back into the recording studio soon. Speaking with ComicBook in support of Knuckles, Taccone (who directed episode four of the series) promised that the dream of new music from The Lonely Island is set to come true soon. He added that their recent tour was such a thrill, that there's always plans for more music...even if it takes years between studio releases.

Founded in 2001, The Lonely Island is best known for their viral music videos "We're On a Boat" and "I Threw it on the Ground." In 2016, the band made the film Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping. Friends since middle school, the trio have worked with Saturday Night Live and also made the film Hot Rod together (although that one doesn't have a musical focus).

"No, that's not a dream. I don't know what I'm allowed to talk about, but...that's always the thing for us," Taccone told ComicBook. "We will continue to make music in the future. And honestly, I don't know if you got to see our tour, but that was one of the most fun experiences that I've had."

The band's discography includes the Popstar soundtrack as well as four full studio albums: Incredibad (2009), Turtleneck & Chain (2011), The Wack Album (2013), and The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience (2019). They have also collaborated on TV shows and specials including Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special, Party Over Here, PEN15, and Alone Together.

In Knuckles, which takes place between the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Knuckles the Echidna teaches deputy Wade Whipple the techniques of the Echidna warrior.

While Knuckles is a Paramount+ exclusive, there are other ways that viewers can check out the series. The official Paramount+ YouTube channel has made the first episode of the series available to watch for free online, without a paid subscription. That video has already gotten more than 400,000 views since it was put up a few days ago, so it seems like a lot of people are taking advantage. All six episodes of the series will also be released on Blu-Ray at some point. A release date has not been announced, but pre-orders have already started through Amazon and other retailers.

Bridgerton's creative team already knows who the feaured leads of Season 4 are going to be. Season 3 Part 1 is finally streaming on Netflix and centering Penelope and Colin's story. But, Bridgerton series author Julia Quinn knows fans are hungry to know what's coming next. She talked to People Magazine about the next couple in line. She can't let that secret go at the moment. "I can't say a word, I'll get in so much trouble," Quinn teased. "I do know, but I can't say yes." Still, the fact that some of the people surrounding the show already have a clear plan for what's coming next has to excite all the ravenous Bridgerton fans. Will it be Benedict? Eloise perhaps? Those have been popular fan picks. But, the audience is being left in suspense.

Last week, someone asked showrunner Jess Brownell the exact same question. She wasn't going to let TV Insider know anything either. When asked about the next feature hero and heroine, the Bridgerton showrunner was mostly amused. She admired the attempt to get her to spill the beans. But, Brownell would tease that the end of the season would provide viewers immediate clarity when it came to the road ahead after Season 3.

"That's a good question. You have asked this question in a very crafty way because you just asked me what Season 4 is going to be. I won't give you anything, but I do think that there are some clues at the end of Season 3 of where we're headed," Brownell smiled during their interview. "So yeah, I leave that to fans to pick apart, but I think we're tipping our hand just a little bit."

Who Will Be The Romantic Leads For Bridgerton Season 4?

As Season 3 pauses for about a month, to let us all collect ourselves, the theorizing has already ramped up online. Claudia Jessie already spoke to Digital Spy about Eloise's place in Bridgerton Season 3. She knows fans want the answers about Season 4 right now, but the younger Bridgerton isn't going to let anything slip at the moment either. Jessie gave credit to all the previous protagonists before assuring the viewers that whatever comes next will be buoyed by how well each character was portrayed.

"If ever that happens, I've had a good old run up," Jessie said before taking us on a trip down memory lane. "So I feel like it's the people that have come before that have shown us all how to do it. Phoebe [Dynevor] took it on really beautifully. She did such an incredible job kicking off this show. And Johnny [Jonathan Bailey] and Simone [Ashley] and obviously Reg? [Reg?-Jean Page] from season one as well and then Nicola [Coughlan] and Luke [Newton]."

"More than anything as well, this show is an ensemble piece filled with so many people," the actress observed. "So I really feel like each season everyone gets an opportunity to shine anyway. But yeah, I feel grateful for the run-up really, but I won't tell you anything. Because I don't know. I don't actually know the answer."

Who would be your pick for the romantic lead of Bridgerton Season 4? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

On the heels of last night's two-episode series finale on CBS, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment today annoucned that they will release Young Sheldon: The Complete Series this fall. The comprehensive box set will include all seven seasons of the top-rated comedy series, along with a new bonus feature included only on the complete series box set. For those who have been buying all along, WBTV also announced tha Young Sheldon: The Complete Seventh Season will also be coming to DVD in a stand-alone box. Both titles will be available for purchase online and in-store at major retailers beginning September 24.

There is no word yet on a Blu-ray collection. Many of Warner Bros.' TV offerings are only released on DVD to a wide audience, but get Blu-ray releases from the Warner Archive, a print-on-demand service. Warner Archive offers most of its releases through Amazon. A quick look at Amazon and the Warner Archive site suggests the first five seasons of Young Sheldon got Blu-ray releases, but season six did not.

In spite of its lower resolution, DVD remains the uncontested king of disc sales for most titles in the U.S. Most users either can't see much difference with the naked eye, or figure there will always be digital HD versions of their favorite titles. While cinephiles and superfans prefer HD versions on Blu-ray and 4K, a huge number of titles are still only available on DVD.

Here's how Warner Bros. Home Entertainment describes the box set:

Young Sheldon: The Complete Series and Young Sheldon: The Complete Seventh Season are also available now to purchase Digitally from Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV, YouTube, Fandango at Home, and other online digital retailers.

From creators and executive producers Chuck Lorre and Steven Molaro, Young Sheldon centers on Sheldon Cooper, a once-in-a-generation mind capable of advanced mathematics and science, which isn't always helpful in a land where church and football are king. And while the vulnerable, gifted, and somewhat na?ve Sheldon deals with the world, his very normal family must find a way to deal with him. For 12 years on The Big Bang Theory, audiences came to know the iconic, eccentric, and extraordinary Sheldon Cooper. This single-camera, half-hour comedy takes viewers through his childhood, as he embarks on his innocent, awkward, and hopeful journey toward the man he will become.

The series stars Iain Armitage, Zoe Perry, Lance Barber, Annie Potts, Montana Jordan, Raegan Revord, Emily Osment, and Jim Parsons (as the voice of Sheldon). Chuck Lorre, Steven Molaro, Steve Holland, Jim Parsons, Todd Spiewak and Nick Bakay serve as executive producers. Young Sheldon is produced by Chuck Lorre Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Young Sheldon has been a consistent ratings winner. It premiered as the #1 new comedy of the 2017-2018 television season and became the #1 comedy in the 2019-2020 season after The Big Bang Theory completed its run. Young Sheldon returned for its seventh and final season on Feb. 15 and remains television's #1 comedy.

PRICING AND INFORMATION

Young Sheldon: The Complete Series

Includes 141 episodes from all seven seasons, plus special feature

PRODUCT SRP

DVD $99.99 SRP US ($112.99 in Canada)

Audio: English

Subtitles: English

Running Time: Approx. 2,763 minutes

Rating: PG

Young Sheldon: The Complete Seventh Season

Includes 14 episodes from the seventh and final season, plus special feature

DVD $24.98 SRP US ($29.98 in Canada)

Running Time: Approx. 279 minutes

SPECIAL FEATURE INCLUDES:

SHELDON'S SECRET ORIGINS AND EASTER EGGS

The cast and producers of Young Sheldon look back on the series' journey. They share some favorite Easter eggs and Cooper family origins hidden along the way.

John Krasinski is a thief, and he's finally coming clean about it.

Krasinski is doing press about his new family film IF; however, the recent news that The Office franchise is going to continue with a reboot series naturally raises some new questions on that subject. John Krasinski starred in the original US version of The Office as Jim Halpern, the slacker paper salesman who falls in love with his co-worker, receptionist Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) during the show.

Fischer and Anglea Kinsey (who played fickle accountant Angela) recently had Krasinski on their Office re-watch podcast, Office Ladies. When reminiscing about his last day on the set of the show, Krasinski took a detour into a darker tale of theft:

"I'm choking up just talking about it, but then when you come back in and see your TV dad and all of your family waiting there and clapping, and [Greg Daniels] said, 'That's the end of The Office,' I think the color black came out of my mouth. It was just the scariest, most beautiful, horrific moment of my life," Krasinski said. He then admitted that after that heartfelt final moment with the cast and crew, he went to steal one of the most coveted props on set: the Dunder Mifflin company sign.

The act of theft wasn't as smooth as, say, an Ocean's Eleven heist; Krasinksi was quickly caught in the act by his Office co-star Angela Kinsey as he was trying to figure how to get the sign into his car: "I was like, don't look over here!" Krasinski said. "It wasn't quite dark enough, so it just looked like I was putting a body in a car."

Kinsey was a true ride-or-die accomplice, though: she never spilled the beans... until speaking about it on the podcast. Krasinski had jokes about her "betrayal," saying, "Well, now you did [confess]. You told everyone. And I was dressed like a cat burglar."

The theft was anything but a 'victimless crime'; The Office creator Greg Daniels wanted to be the one to take the sign home - and even approached Krasinski about the matter when the sign went missing:

"I've always lied to Greg that I didn't take it, but I did. I stole it," Krasinski confessed. "He goes, 'Aw, that was the one thing I wanted.'"

The Office is streaming on Peacock, The Office sequel series is in development.

The first season of X-Men '97 is now in the books, and its impact on the Marvel mythos is still continuing to be felt. As fans debate exactly what the series' future could look like, especially given the various plot twists and turns in the season finale, there's also the question of what things will look like for some of the show's other mutants.

The final moments of X-Men '97's finale showed much of the team thrown across time by the destruction of Asteroid M, either to Egypt in 3000 BC, and an unknown cosmic location in 3960 AD. A handful of X-Men, meanwhile, were left on Earth in the present day, with events jumping ahead six months after their disappearance, which is culturally known as "E Day." The present-day scene shows Forge and Bishop determining how to rescue the team, with a wall of mutants who have and have not been accounted for behind them. Two of the mutants who have been accounted for are Emma Frost and Jubilee, begging the question -- could we see a version of Generation X on X-Men '97?

Who Are Marvel's Generation X?

Created by Scott Lobdell and Chris Bachalo in 1994's Uncanny X-Men #318, Generation X are a team of teen superheroes led by Banshee and Emma Frost. Operating out of a separate academy in Massaachusetts outside of the influence of Charles Xavier, the original roster of the team consists of Jubilee, as well as Chamber, Gaia, Husk, Monet St. Croix, Mondo, Penance, Skin, and Synch. The team operated in some form or fashion for years, and famously loosely inspired a Generation X television movie in 1996.

With Charles among the mutants who are now scattered across time and space, it certainly would be interesting for X-Men '97 to explore the concept of an X-Team forming in his absence. Jubilee being one of the few X-Men who remained in the present day certainly opens the door for her to appear on or help found the team, especially after her Season 1 arc has concerned her feelings of arrested development and growing up. The first season of X-Men '97 has also gone out of its way to acknowledge Emma Frost, who was one of the few mutants to survive the Genosha massacre. Although former showrunner Beau DeMayo confirmed that Emma would not be returning to the first season after she was found alive, the opening credits of X-Men '97's latter episodes have featured her multiple times, potentially hinting at her return in a future storyline. Plus, those involved with X-Men '97 have hinted that the series will draw inspiration from the comics up until Grant Morrison's New X-Men, which sees Emma joining the flagship X-Men team after the dissolving of Generation X.

Is X-Men '97 Renewed for Season 2?

Work has already begun on a sophomore season of X-Men '97, which was already renewed by Marvel Animation prior to the show's premiere.

"We're working on season two. But we haven't started yet. I know a little bit of the storylines and characters," co-composer Taylor Newton Stewart explained in a recent interview. "It's always upping the ante. I mean, it's pretty intense what happens. Yeah, immediately when I was told, I was just like, 'Oh my gosh, what's happening? This is incredible.' So, just as a fan alone, I am very excited."

The first season of X-Men '97 is now available to stream exclusively on Disney+. If you haven't signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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Tonight was the season finale of Law & Order: SVU, and it didn't disappoint, delivering several shocking moments throughout the episode. It saved two major moments for the episode's final minutes, however, especially for those who are invested in the relationship between Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler (i.e. mostly everyone). Not only did fans get a touching moment between Olivia and Eileen Flynn that involved the compass necklace from Elliot, but then Elliot and Olivia had a chance to reunite and reconnect on the phone, which included an exchange that is the latest reminder of what fans love about Benson and Stabler.

After the firefight and rescue operation is concluded, we see Olivia attending the birthday party of Maddie Flynn. Olivia has become like family to the Flynn's and has been supporting Maddie in therapy since she was rescued. The family expresses their gratitude for what she did and then we see Maddie react a bit to her mother taking a photo of her, as she avoids pictures in the aftermath of what happened to her.

Olivia Benson calls Elliot Stabler to tell him that the compass worked and that she lent it to Maddie Flynn's mom. #SVU #SVU25 pic.twitter.com/TrrZ1YPvnU

-- the chris meloni project (@MeloniProject) May 17, 2024

Eileen heads outside and Olivia joins her, and the discussion turns to Maddie. Eileen thanks Olivia for helping her in therapy and is scared that she won't ever be the same. Olivia then takes the compass necklace she received as a gift from Elliot and tells Eileen, "How about you borrow this? I want you to have it." Eileen hesitates but Olivia then says, "This has gotten me through some tough times, and you can return it whenever you want, it's not like we're going to lose touch. We won't. We're family now."

Olivia then leaves Eileen with one last note, saying, "You know my job has a lot of responsibilities, but the one thing I've learned to value the most is the duty to hope. Now let's get some cake." That leads to a phone call later in Olivia's apartment, and it's Elliot on the phone. After opening exchanges, Olivia says, "I wanted to talk to you about something. The necklace, the compass that you gave me last year."

Elliot says, "Did you lose it? You're the only person I know who can lose a compass." Olivia replies, "I haven't taken it off since you gave it to me. I wanted to let you know it's been incredibly important to me, and it's helped me through my healing. And I just wanted to let you know that I lent it to someone that, a victim's mother, that poor woman has been through hell."

Elliot says, "Sounds like she needed it a lot more than you do." Olivia replies, "I knew you'd understand." As the camera moves out, we see Olivia laughing and smiling as she catches up with Elliot, and the episode comes to an end. After the rather rough go of it when Elliot first returns to Olivia's world, things really seem to be back on track, and it's great to see these two favorites enjoying each other's company once again.

What did you think of the SVU finale? You can talk all things Law & Order: SVU with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

A new era of Doctor Who has officially begun, and the return of the beloved sci-fi series definitely isn't pulling any punches. The latest season, which revolves around the adventures of the Fifteenth Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa), has already played off of the character's connection to Gallifrey and the Time Lords, which were shaken up massively by the controversial "Timeless Child" reveal. While speaking to ComicBook about the new season of Doctor Who, returning showrunner Russell T. Davies revealed that he has always been intrigued by the idea of The Doctor being the last of his kind, and was more than happy to work with the canon laid out before his return.

"For those who might not know the history while I was not working on the show: Gallifrey was brought back to life and then destroyed again," Davies explained in our interview, which you can check out above. "I think that kind of says it's inevitable, and I like that fact. I like the phrase 'The last of the Time Lords.' It makes him legendary, makes him unique. It makes him scary in some ways, and makes him precious. So it's a phrase I'm very fond of. If I hadn't been able to use it, I simply wouldn't have used it and he would have said 'I'm an adventurer and a philosopher and a traveler.' There are many more adjectives to apply to The Doctor, so that wouldn't have worried me. But I don't think he would have gone home often."

What Is Doctor Who's New Season About?

From Disney+ and the BBC, this season of Doctor Who follows the Doctor and Ruby Sunday through infinite adventures across time and space in the TARDIS. From the Regency era in England to war-torn futures, the duo champion the forces of good while encountering incredible friends and dangerous foes.

Guest stars on the new season of Doctor Who will include Aneurin Barnard, Anita Dobson, Yasmin Finney, Michelle Greenidge, Jonathan Groff, Bonnie Langford, Genesis Lynea, Jemma Redgrave, Lenny Rush, Indira Varma and Angela Wynter. Doctor Who is produced by Bad Wolf, with BBC Studios for Disney Branded Television and BBC. Under the creative vision of Davies, the additional executive producers include Phil Collinson, Joel Collins, Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter. The new season features episodes directed by Ben Chessell, Jamie Donoughue, Julie Anne Robinson and Dylan Holmes Williams.

Doctor Who airs new episodes on Fridays at 7pm ET on Disney+, followed by a debut on BBC iPlayer at 12am GMT on Saturdays, and a broadcast premiere on BBC One later that day. If you haven't signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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Tonight's Law & Order: SVU season finale was action-packed, putting several show favorites in the line of fire. One particular sequence though was rather unexpected, as it involved beloved SVU favorite Fin Tutuola being shot. That would be shocking enough, but the person who shot Fin was also surprising, as it was a young boy named Toby who had never shot a gun before. After taking the hit, Fin would cover for him and try and fix the wound himself, only to end up on the floor and taken to the hospital. So the question is, why did he cover for him in the first place?

When Fin is ambushed by Toby, Toby has a right to be angry, as his father is in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Fin tells Toby he knows about his father and that they are trying to help him, but Toby keeps holding the gun in front of him and aiming it at Fin. Fin finally gets him to stop for a second and then rushes in to try and take the gun, but Toby gets a shot off, hitting Fin in the shoulder.

Toby switches from angry to scared after the gun goes off, telling Fin he didn't mean to. Fin tells him to drop the gun and go, telling Toby he was never there and no one will know. Toby runs away and Fin goes to work on his wound, and despite his effort, he's still in bad shape.

That doesn't keep him from heading to the evidence lock-up to turn in the gun, saying that he was approached by someone on the street who wanted him to turn it in for them. Fin then starts to lose balance and the other officer sees blood coming through his shirt. Fin hits the floor and then we see him in the hospital when Olivia Benson comes in to greet him.

Fin comes clean with Olivia (for the most part), and then later the SVU team is able to finally get Toby's father out of prison and cleared. Fin goes to greet him with Toby, and it's a welcome and heartfelt reunion. Before they leave Fin talks to Toby and leaves him with a message. "I don't want to see you in a place like this. if I ever find you touching a gun, you're going to wish you hadn't. Now get out of here." Toby gets the message and then leaves with his father.

Fin looks to have gotten his point across, and hopefully, things for Toby and his father get better from here. There was more good news in the episode too, as Olivia got to visit Maddie for her birthday celebration, leading to a heartwarming exchange between Olivia and Maddie's mother.

What did you think of the SVU season finale? You can talk all things Law & Order with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

After a lengthy hiatus, Superman & Lois is about to turn to our screens. The CW's DC series has been renewed for a fourth and final season, which was recently revealed to be debuting Thursdays this fall. While plot details around the final season of Superman & Lois remain largely under wraps, it sounds like it will be more than worth the wait. In a recent interview with TVLine, The CW's President of Entertainment Brad Schwartz offered high praise for the final season of Superman & Lois, teasing that the show's remaining episodes are "f-cking awesome."

"I have watched nine of the 10 episodes and [they are] f-king awesome," Schwartz revealed. "It is weekly event television. Greg Berlanti and the producers have constructed 10 bangers. They really go for it. I've cried twice watching [the first nine episodes], and I haven't even gotten to the finale yet. It's Emmy-worthy. And, by the way, you can watch this final season without having watched the previous [seasons] and still be emotionally invested in what is happening. It's a wonderful, 10-episode, contained arc."

When Will Superman & Lois' Final Season Air?

It has been confirmed that Superman & Lois' final season will air at some point in 2024, after the final batch of episodes were already delayed due to last year's Hollywood strikes. Superman & Lois will be, for the foreseeable future, the final DC TV show to air on The CW, a trend that began with Smallville all the way back in 2001.

"Over the last three seasons, SUPERMAN & LOIS redefined both the superhero genre and family drama as Tyler, Elizabeth and the entire cast effortlessly portrayed these classic characters with new layers of depth and complexity that had never before been explored in the Superman universe," said Brad Schwartz, President of Entertainment, The CW Network. "We are grateful for the years of hard work and graceful storytelling from the show's writers, producers, actors and crew, as well as our terrific partners at Warner Bros. Television and Berlanti Productions. As Superman embarks on his final flight, the team is leaving us with an absolutely epic 10-episode must-watch-every-minute farewell to one of the most legendary CW families ever."

"While we're sad to say goodbye to SUPERMAN & LOIS at the end of Season Four, we're grateful for the time we've had with our amazing cast, crew, vfx teams, editors, musical geniuses, and writers. Since the day this show was first discussed, it was about family. And that's what was created-on and off screen," said executive producers and co-showrunners Todd Helbing and Brent Fletcher. "We'd like to thank our partners at Berlanti Productions, DC, WB and The CW for their endless support and enthusiasm during this journey...and give a very special thank you to all the fans for tuning in. We're thrilled about what we have in store in our final season, and can't wait for everyone to watch as Superman, Lois and all our heroes face off against the biggest threat in the show's history-Lex Luthor."

Who Will Return for Superman & Lois Season 4?

Superman & Lois was just one of four original shows that The CW renewed for the 2023-2024 season, in addition to Walker, All-American, and All-American: Homecoming, amid a slew of programming changes made by its new parent company, Nexstar. Shortly after the Season 4 renewal, it was confirmed that the show would be trimming down its cast of series regulars, with Dylan Walsh (Sam Lane), Emmanuelle Chiriqui (Lana Lang), Erik Valdez (Kyle Cushing), Inde Navarette (Sarah Cushin), Wole Parks (John Henry Irons), Tayler Buck (Natalie Irons), and Sofia Hasmik (Chrissy Beppo) all demoted to recurring or guest star roles.

As a result, Tyler Hoechlin (Clark Kent / Superman), Elizabeth Tulloch (Lois Lane), Michael Bishop (Jonathan Kent), and Alex Garfin (Jordan Kent) in their series regular roles for Season 4. Additionally, Michael Cudlitz has been promoted to a series regular role for his portrayal of Lex Luthor, and Douglas Smith as Jimmy Olsen.

Saturday Night Live is all new this week and it is also the season finale. To close out Season 49, the long-running NBC sketch comedy show has lined up Road House star Jake Gyllenhaal to host in what will be his third time hosting SNL. Gyllenhaal previously hosted in 2007 and in 2022. To get fans ready for Gyllenhaal's appearance this week, NBC has also released a new promo for the episode, featuring the actor signing cast member Marcello Hernandez's yearbook -- though let's just say that doesn't go quite the way Hernandez thought it would. You can check the promo out for yourself below.

Joining Gyllenhaal is musical guest Sabrina Carpenter. Saturday night's episode will the "Espresso" singer's first ever appearance on Saturday Night Live. SNL also released a promo featuring Carpenter along with Gyllenhaal and Bowen Yang in which the latter two acknowledge the singer has having the song of the summer before proceeding to come up with a song that isn't actually hers. You can check that one out here.

Saturday Night Live Celebrates 50 Years Next Year

In 2025, Saturday Night Live will celebrate its 50th anniversary. To mark the milestone, it was recently announced that the iconic sketch show is getting a live primetime special on Sunday, February 16, 2025, that will celebrate the Lorne Michaels-created show. The special will be the close of what the network is calling a "celebratory weekend" for SNL. Michaels has previously said that Saturday Night Live would celebrate its milestone 50th anniversary next February, explaining last January that plans were already being made.

"We're doing the 50th anniversary show in February of '25, so I will definitely be there for that, and definitely be there until that, and sometime before that we'll figure out what we're gonna do," Michaels said last year.

Who is in the Saturday Night Live cast?

Cast members for Saturday Night Live season 49 include almost the entire cast from season 48 of SNL. Returning stars include Michael Che, Mikey Day, Andrew Dismukes, Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner, James Austin Johnson, Punkie Johnson, Colin Jost, Ego Nwodim, Sarah Sherman, Kenan Thompson, and Bowen Yang. Featured players that are part of the cast include returning stars Marcello Hernandez, Molly Kearney, Michael Longfellow, and Devon Walker, plus the show's only fully new cast member for the year, newcomer Chloe Troast. The comedy troupe Please Don't Destroy, made up of Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy, are also a recurring part of the series.

Saturday Night Live Season 49 is ongoing now with new episodes airing on both NBC and Peacock, starting Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET. All 48 seasons of Saturday Night Live are also now streaming on Peacock.

News came today that the Silk: Spider Society TV series that has long been in the works at Amazon's Prime Video from Sony Pictures Television is no longer moving forward. After more than one rework attempt, the show was scrapped, but buried in Deadline's report that the series isn't happening anymore came news that Amazon's intention to make TV Shows based around other Spider-Man adjacent characters, of which Sony owns the rights to around 900 Marvel characters, remains in the cards. The trade goes on to note that the rights to the Silk TV show are being shopped to other potential homes.

One of the Spider-Man adjacent shows that we know is happening at Prime Video is the Nicolas Cage-starring Noir, a live-action take on Spider-Man Noir. Prime Video confirmed that this series was officially ordered earlier this week, with Cage taking on the role that he previously voiced in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. In their announcement Prime Video offered this description for the Noir series, which reads: "The story of an aging and down on his luck private investigator in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life as the city's one and only superhero." It's unclear if the series will be related to Cage's character from the Spider-Verse animated movies; however, Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are attached as Executive Producers. Oren Uziel, Steve Lightfoot, and Amy Pascal will also EP.

It remains to be seen what other characters from the Spider-Man portfolio will make it to the screen for Prime Video. Silk is already seemingly off the table, and with Noir in the planning stages it's not unreasonable to think that other Spider-Man variants could be the subject of their own shows, the likes of Spider-Punk, Spider-Man India, or even Spider-Man 2099 seem like viable candidates. This is just speculation however.

The biggest question mark of course is what is and is not available for these shows. It's noteworthy that the new Noir TV show does not feature the word "Spider-Man" in it at all, so it remains to be seen if they're even allowed to actually reference the hero. Plus, given how Sony Pictures has utilized the Spider-Man adjacent character rights for the big screen, characters like Venom, Kraven, Morbius, and Madame Web have all had their own feature films, it seems unlikely that Spider-Man's antagonists will be the leads of their own TV shows.

The Marvel Animated Universe is in full swing.

More than 30 years after X-Men: The Animated Series jump-started the MAU, Marvel Studios' X-Men '97 revived the interconnected universe of '90s animated shows Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and The Incredible Hulk. Picking up where the original series ended after five seasons in 1997, Marvel Animation's sequel show X-Men '97 -- featuring the original voices of Wolverine (Cal Dodd), Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith), Beast (George Buza), Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough), and Rogue (Lenore Zann) -- also assembled Earth's mightiest heroes for surprise cameos in the season finale and throughout the 10-episode first season.

Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man -- and Peter Parker's long-lost girlfriend, Mary Jane, missing since 1998 -- all appeared exactly as they did in the '90s, though only Captain America (voiced by Josh Keaton) had any lines. Even before the web-slinger swung by for a brief but silent cameo in episode 8, fans weighed whether the return of X-Men might mean another revival was possible: Spider-Man '98.

"I'd obviously love to participate in such an awesome venture," Christopher Daniel Barnes, who voiced the radioactive spider-bitten superhero across five seasons of 1994's Spider-Man: The Animated Series, wrote on social media after Spider-Man's X-Men cameo. "Unfortunately, I haven't been contacted by anyone regarding this possibility and I also currently have no connection to the X-Men 97 show."

Invoking the words of Spider-Man's co-creator, Barnes added: "Let's remember Stan Lee and remain 'True Believers!' Maybe I'll get that magical phone call, have to sign an NDA, and then go weirdly silent on the issue! Here's hoping!!!" (In 2021, Barnes said there was "no truth" to a rumor he was to reprise the fan-favorite role on the big screen in the animated Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, but added: "I wish it was true. That would just be super cool.")

The Spider-Man rights are a tangled web. The simple version is that Sony owns the film rights to Spider-Man and related characters in live-action and animation, but Disney -- which owns the Marvel Comics character -- has been able to produce Spider-Man animated shows since 2012's Ultimate Spider-Man. Disney doesn't own the Sony-made The Spectacular Spider-Man, but the company does own 1994's Spider-Man, 2017's Spider-Man, and the preschool series Spidey and His Amazing Friends.

Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios, which produced X-Men '97 via Marvel Animation, are the producers on Marvel's upcoming Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (the retitled Spider-Man: Freshman Year), with Hudson Thames (Marvel's What If...?) voicing freshly-bitten high school freshman Peter Parker in the new MCU-inspired animated series.

When Brad Winderbaum, an executive producer on X-Men '97 and head of streaming, television and animation for Marvel Studios, was asked about potentially reviving other Marvel shows like the '90s Spider-Man series for Disney+, Winderbaum answered: "You never know, is the answer. I will say that just like the original series had some really fun cameos that you didn't expect to happen, you can expect the same thing in X-Men '97." 'Nuff said.

All episodes of X-Men '97 are now available to stream on Disney+, along with X-Men: The Animated Series and Spider-Man: The Animated Series.

Survivor has made quite a few changes in what has been dubbed the "New Era" of the game, but not quite as talked-about as the shortened seasons for the players. After Season 40's Winners at War, and a serious pandemic disruption, Survivor changed things up to film entire seasons in 26 days, rather than the traditional 39 days the game had been to that point. This has put a faster pace on the players each season, but a lot of fans and former players think it has made the game itself easier.

Whether you like the shorter seasons or not, it appears they're here to stay. Speaking on the latest episode of the On Fire with Jeff Probst podcast, the host and showrunner of Survivor talked at length about the 26-day shoots -- and why they're not going anywhere.

"Let's address the 39-day thing, because there's usually two points of contention when it comes to 39 days, and I'll address both of them," Probst said on the show. "Fans simply don't want the game to change. They want Survivor to stay the same. I totally understand their point of view. In their mind, Survivor is 39 days... So they thing that, with the exception of COVID, which I'm sure we get a pass for, that we should have and still could do back to 39 days... The second part is difficult, 26 days simply can't be punishing enough because it's 13 fewer days. 'Do the math, Probst! The new era version of Survivor is clearly easier!"

Probst went on to talk about the origins of the new 26-day seasons and why he believes the format is actually better for the game.

"How we landed at 26 days to begin with was COVID," he explained. "The requirements of starting with a 14-day quarantine and then doing two 39-day seasons back-to-back and not being able to ever leave the island for anything once we started -- we just couldn't do it. So we had to get creative. We landed at 26 days."

"There were people in my inner circle saying, 'You are going to destroy the franchise because you won't have enough good story content if you reduce your shoot by a third,'" he added. "We considered everyone's opinion; we felt it would still work.

"As for the difficulty, I think it's pretty clear even from just this season, if anything, the new era -- brace yourself, old time players -- is more difficult. Because the physical demands of surviving with very, very little -- or for some players, no food -- is extremely punishing and it begins to break you down mentally. You can't think, you can't sleep, you can't trust. That leads to the emotional breakdown, which can be brutal."

The host ultimately concluded that there is no plan to go back to the 39-day format any time in the near future. He doesn't rule it out if it makes more sense for the show, but that doesn't appear to be on the table.

"The looming question is, 'Would you ever go back to 29 days?' We'll never say never," Probst admitted. "And I mean that we're always open to where the game takes us as much as where we take the game, but for the time being, 26 days is the game. And I get it: If somebody else were sitting in this seat, they might have a very different decision. Even people on our own team, I think there's some of them that kind of wish we were at 39 days. So it's not a right or wrong, it's just, this is what we're doing."

Disney Channel has revealed that Raven's Home will not be renewed for a seventh season, but there's plenty of good news to share as well. While season six of Raven's Home is the final season, it isn't the final show in that universe. Deadline has reported that Raven-Symone and Disney Branded Television have extended their relationship with a multi-year deal, which will have Raven-Symone producing, directing, and developing projects in both linear and streaming formats. That includes a new Raven's Home spinoff titled Alice in the Palace.

She will executive produce and direct Alice in the Palace, and the series has already received a pilot order. Like Raven's Home, the spinoff will be a multi-camera comedy, which is a focus of Symone's new deal. Raven's Home developers Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas will write and executive produce the pilot as well.

Alice in the Palace follows Raven's cousin Alice (played by Mykal-Michelle Harris) as she returns to England and reunites with Duchess Clementine (who is also played by Harris), and the two look just alike. Because of that likeness, Alice gets to experience the finer side of "regal" life, while Clementine gets to experience the fun side of "normal" life.

"Raven is a true trailblazer who constantly pushes creative boundaries in acting, producing, and directing," said Ayo Davis, president, Disney Branded Television. "For six incredible seasons, Raven's Home has been a cornerstone series for Disney Channel, bringing joy, laughter, and tackling real-life issues in a relatable and meaningful way for kids and families. We are delighted to continue our close relationship with Raven for many years to come, starting with new spin-off Alice in the Palace."

"Disney Channel has been the canvas for my creative expressions since I was 15 years old," added Raven-Symon?. "After years of telling stories filled with heart, laughter, and togetherness, I'm excited to embark on the next chapter of this creative journey alongside my Disney family."

Raven-Symone and Disney have a long history of projects together, including That's So Raven, The Cheetah Girls, The Cheetah Girls 2, Raven's Home, Sydney to the Max, and Pretty Freekin Scary, and now that will include Alice in the Palace.

What do you think of the news Raven's Home fans? You can talk all things Disney with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

In 2023 the long-awaited Daisy Jones & The Six adaption from the novel by Taylor Jenkins-Reid was released on Prime Video. The beloved fictional band was finally taken from script to screen and it led fans to hoping for a tour or live performances. The cast and crew -- including showrunners Scott Neustadter and Will Graham -- were also on board to get the band back together. The limited series wrapped last spring and not long after cast member Josh Whitehouse (who played bassist Eddie Roundtree) posted a since deleted video to his social media teasing a band rehearsal. "Just arrived at a rehearsal studio to have a band practice with Daisy Jones & The Six," he said in the video. "But we already finished the TV show. So why would we be doing that?"

Both Sam Claflin and Riley Keough, who played Daisy Jones and Billy Dunne, have been candid about the fact that they were supposed to do live performances of the Aurora album. Unfortunately, due to the strikes that began last fall, that never came to fruition. The rules and regulations of the Actors' Strike stated that SAG-AFTRA members weren't permitted to promote any of their past, current, or upcoming material, or do any principal on camera work. Though they've never stated when and where those would have taken place, Suki Waterhouse (who played Karen Sirko) revealed in her Lollapalooza vlog from last August but uploaded this afternoon, that they were originally supposed to perform at the event together.

"That whole thing was planned, we got people visas, like, it was an operation. And then the SAG strike happened, so we all decided that we should not perform at Lollapalooza," Waterhouse reflected in the video. "But I am looking out my window today, just sad that they're not here."

The Aurora album was released in March of 2023 alongside the series. With hits like "Look at Us Now (Honeycomb)," "Let Me Down Easy," "The River," and "Regret Me" the album was an instant hit, receiving tremendous acclaim from critics and fans alike. Aurora debuted at #1 on Billboard's Soundtracks chart, #4 on the Billboard Vinyl Albums & Americana/Folk Albums charts, #9 on Top Current Albums, #10 on Top Albums, and more. Daisy Jones & The Six themselves debuted at #1 on Billboard's Emerging Artistschart - becoming the first act from a scripted series or film to do so. (They also became the first such act to hit #1 on the iTunes Top Albums chart.)

The Mole is returning to Netflix this summer! After a successful reboot of the popular reality series back in 2022, Netflix is aiming for another popular outing in Round 2. On Thursday, the streaming service announced that The Mole is returning for its second season next month and that it will again be following a weekly release format. There's also a new host set to lead the way this time around.

Netflix revealed that The Mole Season 2 will debut on June 28th. That day will see five entire episodes released at once, allowing fans to watch through half of the 10-episode season over the course of just one week. Seven days later, on July 5th, three more episodes will be release. The final two episodes will drop on July 12th, bringing the season to a close.

In addition to the release date, Netfilx announced a new host for The Mole Season 2. Alex Wagner won't be returning as the face of the reality series and Ari Shapiro will be taking over. Shapiro is the award-winning anchor of NPR's All Things Considered radio show. He also hosts NPR's afternoon podcast Consider This.

You can check out Netflix's official synopsis for The Mole below!

"THE MOLE is an unpredictable, high-stakes competition series hosted by journalist Ari Shapiro. In this version, twelve players work together in challenges to add money to a pot that only one of them will win at the end. Among the players is one person who has secretly been designated "the Mole" and tasked with sabotaging the group's money-making efforts. In the end, one player will outlast their competition and expose the Mole to win the prize pot.

"The series is based on the Belgian format The Mole (original title De Mol), created by Bart De Pauw, Michel Vanhove, Michiel Devlieger, and Tom Lenaerts and distributed by Primitives."

The Mole is executive produced by Chris Culvenor, Paul Franklin, David Tibballs, Judy Smart, Peter Faherty, and Michiel Devlieger. The trailer for Season 2 of The Mole hasn't been released yet, but it will likely arrive in the next few weeks, given how close the premiere of the new season is. That trailer release will probably also include a rundown of the contestants taking part in the latest game of deception.

This week's Law & Order Thursday will feature the season finales of all three franchise shows, and while you'll have to wait a while longer for the season finale of Organized Crime, we've got an exclusive preview of tonight's finale right here! Titled Stabler's Lament, it's a true family reunion, with Eli, Randall, Joe Jr., Maureen, and Bernadette all making an appearance. Speaking of the Stabler family, Joe Jr. is right in the thick of OC's case, and in the clip we see him speaking to Julian Emery about a last hurrah before the "you know what" arrives. You can watch the full clip in the video below.

Emery tells Joe Jr. his son is in town and wants him to come over for dinner, calling it a last hurrah before the "you know what" arrives. With the warehouse all set to receive the shipment, Emery also wants the security extremely tightened up thanks to a beekeeper being in ATF custody and possibly talking.

Joe Jr. asks Emery if he trusts him, and Emery assures him he does. That said, he also leaves some security of his own behind. When Joe asks if it's a test, Emery calls it "insurance". You can find the full clip in the video above, and you can find the official description of tonight's season 4 finale below.

Stabler's Lament: SEASON 4 FINALE - When the ATF Bureau plans a raid of Redcoat's warehouse, Trisha promises to help Stabler keep Joe Jr. safe. Bell comes face to face with the man who killed Sam. Another Stabler family dinner causes tensions to run high.

This will be the final episode of Organized Crime to air on NBC, as it was recently revealed that the series will be moving exclusively to Peacock for season 5. The series has always done well on the streaming service, and now Peacock will be the only place you can tune in and see what Stabler, Bell, and the rest of the Organized Crime crew are up to. Law & Order's flagship show and SVU will also be returning next year, and both will be staying on NBC in their usual time slots.

Organized Crime will be the second series in the franchise to switch networks midway through its run. Criminal Intent did the same thing, originally running on NBC for six seasons before airing four more seasons on USA Network. Hopefully, Organized Crime is on track for a similar run after season 5.

Are you excited for the Organized Crime season finale? You can talk all things Law & Order with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!

Earlier this month, NBC ordered Reba McEntire's new comedy Happy's Place to series and now, we're getting our best look yet at what to expect about the country legend's return to television. NBC has released a first trailer for Happy's Place, which is set to air on Friday nights at 8/7c this fall during the 2024-2025 television season. In the trailer, Bobbie (McEntire) gets quite the surprise when she finds out that she has a half-sister that she did not previously know about (played by Belissa Escobedo) who is now going to have a part in her father's business. You can check out the trailer for yourself below.

Here's the official description of Happy's Place: "Bobbie inherits her father's restaurant and is less than thrilled to discover that she has a new business partner she never knew she had." In addition to McEntire and Escobedo, the series will also star Melissa Peterman, Pablo Castleblanco, Tokala Black Elk, and Rex Linn. Happy's Place is written by Kevin Abbot who is executive producing alongside Michael Hanel, Mindy Schultheis, Julie Abbott, and McEntire. The series also reunites the production team for McEntire's previous series, Reba, which ran for six seasons between 2001 and 2007.

Happy's Place is Not a Reba Reboot

While there are some overlaps in terms of casting -- Happy's Place sees McEntire reteam with Peterman, for example -- the series is not a reboot of Reba. That series followed Reba Hart (McEntire), whose life was upended when her husband divorces her after getting his dental hygienist pregnant. Reba's teen daughter, Cheyenne, also ends up pregnant, prompting Reba to have to deal with a chaotic and dysfunctional new normal. It' a premise that, while family-centric, is very different from Happy's Place.

Peterman Is Excited to Reunite With McEntire

As for that "reunion" of sorts between Peterman and McEntire, Peterman recently took to Instagram to share that things feel "even sweeter" getting to work with McEntire for a second time.

"The first time I had no idea how life-changing and special the job was going to be," Peterman wrote. "Getting another chance to work with Reba feels ever sweeter because I know how much fun we're going to have and I am going to savor every moment!!! See you at Happy's Place!!! I can't wait to get to work with this amazing cast and crew!"

NBC Recently Gave an Update on the Status of Suits: LA

While Happy's Place is headed to NBC's fall schedule, the NBC, which recently gave a pilot order to Suits spinoff Suits: LA, offered an update on the series, which will star Arrow's Stephen Amell and The Walking Dead's Josh McDermitt in addition to Troy Winbush (The Wilds), Bryan Greenberg (One Tree Hill), Lex Scott Davis (Ricky Stanicky), and Alice Lee (My Adventures with Superman).

"We're excited about this. It's a pilot and we'll be screening it in June ... Assuming that it gets picked up, it would be for midseason next year," NBCUniversal programming president Jeff Bader said.

Sony's output of Marvel adaptations has gone into some interesting territory over the years, spanning a number of movie projects in both live action and animation. In recent years, the studio has announced plans to branch off the franchise into television -- but apparently, one of their very first projects has hit a major snag. On Thursday night, reports indicated that Silk: Spider Society is no longer moving forward at Amazon MGM Studios, after it was first announced to be in the works back in 2020. This comes as another project in the Sony and Amazon collaboration, the Nicolas Cage-led Spider-Man Noir series Noir, was greenlit to debut on both MGM+ and Prime Video earlier this week. Despite this update, reports indicate that Silk: Spider Society is not necessarily dead, as Sony Pictures Television is shopping the show to other buyers.

According to reports, the decision not to move forward with Silk: Spider Society was made just a few days ago, and may have stemmed from the show's development woes, with the project reportedly undergoing multiple overhauls. The show had multiple episodes written before last year's Writers Guild of America strike, which led to the union threatening to sue Amazon when they did not revive the show's writers room last fall. Earlier this year, it was reported that nearly all of Silk: Spider Society's writers room was let go, outside of showrunner Angela Kang and a co-executive producer. The reported plan at the time was to reconfigure the show -- which stars teenage superheroine Cindy Moon / Silk -- to appeal to a male-skewing audience. This new reporting seems to corroborate as much, indicating that at one point, the writers room was asked "to reconfigure the show so it is not hanging so heavily" on Silk as a central character.

What Will Silk: Spider Society Be About?

According to previous cast listings, the Silk: Spider Society series would follow fan-favorite Marvel Comics character Cindy Moon, who has previously been described in casting descriptions for the series as a Korean-American between 19 and 29 years old who is a kid from Queens who is on her own for the first time. Although she's a total beginner in law enforcement and fighting crime, she is said to love the feeling of beating up criminals to let her frustrations out, and has an affinity for '80s and '90s pop culture. She also struggles with her identity and heritage, but she tries to focus on her family, friends, and relationships.

"It's a huge focus certainly for all of us here, and for me in particular. I was already a fan of Angela Kang, so I'm really, really excited to be working with her on Silk. She's just brilliant and a total pro," Amazon's Katherine Pope said in a 2023 interview. "This is also an example of working really closely with Tom Rothman and Sanford Panitch, and the motion picture group, to make sure that we are in lockstep with them and also executing at the same level. They've done such an incredible job with that franchise, so we want to make sure we're executing at that level."

h/t: Deadline

Hasbro and Merlin Entertainments are bringing Peppa Pig to life in the form of a new theme park later this year. The park is readying its grand opening, located in Dallas, Texas, and has plenty of families excited about exploring the world of Peppa Pig. As it prepares for the opening, however, the theme park is already under fire from the folks at PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) because of the food menu it plans to serve its guests.

The Peppa Pig Theme Park has a food menu that includes both meat and dairy, as just about every theme park menu does. What caused this specific criticism from PETA is that pigs -- like Peppa -- are farm animals like cows and chickens, and those are the kinds of foods that will be served at the park.

PETA senior director Danielle Katz wrote a letter to the CEOs of Hasbro and Merlin (per the Dallas Observer) to condemn the choices on the food menu at the upcoming park. The letter began with kind words about the Peppa Pig program, however, saying that the cartoon has been "showing the world that pigs aren't sources of bacon but individuals with emotions and unique personalities."

That, of course, led into the meat of the letter, no pun intended. Katz continued on to talk about the irony of the decision, especially since the already exciting Peppa Pig Theme Park in Florida doesn't include any pork products.

"You clearly recognize the irony of selling pig meat," Katz wrote in the letter. "So why sell products made from other exploited animals like Carol Cow or Mrs. Cow?

"Surely Miss Rabbit would never butcher her chicken friends to serve nuggets or take a mama cow's milk -- meant for her babies -- to make cheese pizza."

Set to open later this year, the Peppa Pig Theme Park in Dallas will be the second of its kind, similar to the one already open in Central Florida. The park will consist of live shows, interactive elements, restaurants, and several rides. Those attractions include Daddy Pig's Roller Coaster, Peppa Pig's Balloon Ride, Grandad Dog's Pirate Boat Ride, Grampy Rabbit's Dinosaur Adventure, and Mr. Bill's High Striker. A specific opening date for the new park hasn't yet been announced.

Last week, it was revealed that Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce had joined the cast of Ryan Murphy's upcoming horror series Grotesquerie and now the NFL star is opening up about his television role, admitting that he was shocked that Murphy gave him the role, and while he didn't reveal much about it, dis say that he's playing a "big role" in the series.

"I was kind of blown away and kinda, like shocked that he was willing to give me a role like this because it is a big role on the show," Kelce said in a recent episode of his New Heights podcast. "He seemed very confident that I'd be able to do this and he kinda injected that in me the first conversation that we had. So, hopefully I don't bomb this for him."

Kelce also said that he's been enjoying working on the series and praised not only Murphy, but everyone he's worked with on set thus far.

"It's been so much fun," Kelce said. "Ryan Murphy is an unbelievable writer, director, producer all of the above, man. He's just, there's nothing he can't do and everybody's just been so helpful in making me feel comfortable. Even on top of that, just giving me kind of the direction I need and the coaching I need to portray this part I'm in."

Kelce's casting for Grotesquerie was confirmed by co-star Niecy Nash-Betts in an Instagram post earlier this month when Nash-Betts shared a video from set revealing Kelce. IN the video, Nash-Betts teased, "Guys, guess who I am working with on Grotesquerie?" before panning to Kelce who chimed in with "Jumping into new territory with Niecy!"

"This is what happens when WINNERS link up!! @killatrav Welcome to Grotesquerie," she captioned the video. Kelce himself also shared the video as an Instagram Story.

For Kelce, Grotesquerie is his first major foray into acting. The NFL star has previously hosted Saturday Night Live as well as appeared in a cameo during SNL's NFL-Taylor Swift sketch last fall -- Kelce is dating Swift and their relationship was the focus of a lot of conversations during the previous NFL season. Kelce has also had some experience with unscripted television, including the 2016 reality dating series Catching Kelce. He also recently signed on to host Amazon's Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity.

What is Grotesquerie About?

Details about Grotesquerie are few, though Murphy shared a video announcing the cast of the upcoming series earlier this year. The video featured a voiceover from Nash-Betts' character, teasing that "something's happening around us, and nobody sees it but me."

"I don't know when it started, I can't put my finger on it, but it's different now," Nash-Betts' character says in the video. "There's been a shift, like something's opening up in the world - a kind of hole that descends into a nothingness. You say, 'Well, hon, evil has always existed,' that 'things are getting better, there's never been a better time to be alive!' ... it's not getting better! Something's happening around us, and nobody sees it but me."

The season finale of X-Men '97 was released on Disney+ yesterday, and it was a big one for Magneto. Much of the episode takes place in the Master of Magnetism's mind as Charles tries to reason with the on-again-off-again villain. The episode touched on some important moments from Magento's past, and even had a special nod to the live-action Magneto actors: Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender.

A moment in "Tolerance Is Extinction - Part 3" shows a dossier on Magneto, and it includes various aliases. Underneath the name Erik Lehnsherr is David Hemblem, who voiced the character in X-Men: The Animated Series. Underneath Hemblem's name, you can see the names Ian and Michael with the last names blacked out. You can check it out in the image below:

X-Men '97's Matthew Waterson Talks Stepping Into Iconic Magneto Role:

In X-Men: The Animated Series, Magneto was voiced by David Hemblen, who passed away in 2020. In the reboot, the iconic villain is voiced by Matthew Waterson. ComicBook's Phase Zero podcast recently did a spotlight episode featuring Waterson, and the actor talked about some of Magneto's biggest moments of the season in addition to stepping into the role.

"There is definitely pressure, and there's definitely some stress," Waterson admitted. "One of the things that was really nice, in talking with Meredith [Layne] and Bo [DeMayo] and Jake [Castorena] and everybody, as we were working through it, they said, 'The end of the original series has this big shift, with where Charles goes, and the decision that Eric makes at the end of it, in order to try and help his friend.'"

"They said, 'There's this big shift, and we're continuing through that with how we go into this new season, with the decisions and the choices, and the things that Eric is trying to do. So that makes for a shift in his overall outlook,'" Waterson recalled.

"'So what we're really looking at is trying to make sure that if somebody sits down and watches the show from '92 to '97, and they just bowl straight into this one, that it doesn't sound like a totally different person, but there should be some little difference in him, because his whole outlook is kind of shifting, or at least, he's trying to shift it. So we want the voice to sound like the same person, but maybe that they're coming at things from a slightly different aspect.'"

"And that helps take a little bit of the pressure off me," Waterson explained. "Because following somebody like David, who did such a phenomenal job, and is so beloved, there is a stress to that. And there's always, you have to reconcile yourself to, 'In an ideal world, a third of the people love what I do.' A third of the people are like, 'Eh, it's fine.' And only a third of the people are saying, 'You've destroyed my childhood, and I will forever hate you.'"

"So the hope is, if you can get those first two-thirds to be bigger than two-thirds, and that last one to be smaller than a third, then that's kind of successful. And fortunately, it seems like people on the whole have responded really positively, which has been lovely, and has been a huge weight off. Because following David was always going to be a pretty daunting task."

X-Men '97 is now streaming on Disney+.

Star Wars fans are set to head into The High Republic for the first live-action adventure set in that time period with Star Wars: The Acolyte, and while it's unclear how audiences will react to this ambitious experience, producer Rayne Roberts is hinting that a Season 2 could be in the works. Unlike some other stories set in a galaxy far, far away, the minds behind this debut season wanted to make sure to offer a fulfilling ending as opposed to leaving things open-ended, but if the characters prove to be a hit with audiences, it sounds as though fans could spend more time with them. Star Wars: The Acolyte premieres on Disney+ on June 10th.

"We've got to get back into the writers' room for Season 2 to see where we're at," Roberts shared with SFX Magazine, per Screen Rant. "We have some initial thoughts about what we want to do, but in terms of where the story will ultimately wrap up, that hasn't been quite nailed down yet."

The timing of this first season meant that the series had to compensate for some challenges, as last year's writers' and actors' strikes saw the project suffer through extensive delays. These remarks about bringing a writers' room back together would imply there has been little, if any, development of what a sophomore season would explore.

"We want to make sure this season has an ending -- some catharsis -- but you always want to leave the door open. We've talked about where the story could go, and [showrunner] Leslye [Headland] has so many ideas -- and like anything, if something's successful, you can bet you'll find other stories within it."

The current timeline of the live-action franchise spans from the time of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and through Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which spans roughly 60 years. The High Republic is roughly 150 years before Phantom Menace, and while The Acolyte will be the first live-action exploration of the era, there are a number of novels and comic books that take place in this time containing many compelling characters and events to explore.

Set during The High Republic, Star Wars: The Acolyte delivers an investigation into a mysterious string of crimes, which pits a Jedi master against his former apprentice in a race to uncover the events. The more that the pair learn about the situation, the darker their journey becomes, as they confront things that darker than either of them could have imagined.

The series stars Amandla Stenberg, Lee Jung-jae, Manny Jacinto, Dafne Keen, Charlie Barnett, Jodie Turner-Smith, Rebecca Henderson, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, and Carrie-Anne Moss. Star Wars: The Acolyte premieres on Disney+ on June 4th.

Are you looking forward to the new series? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

Sh?gun is officially getting Season 2 - and Season 3 - according to the latest reports. This news comes right on the heels of Sh?gun star Hiroyuki Sanada signing a deal to return as Lord Yoshii Toranaga in Season 2, which was an early indicator that Hulu and FX were indeed going to continue the series beyond the end of author James Clavell's source novel.

Before Sh?gun book fans get to concerned; Seasons 2 and 3 of the TV series are reportedly being developed with the estate of James Clavell fully involved. A writers' room for Sh?gun Season 2 is set to begin this summer. Showrunners Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo are still onboard, as is Season 1 executive producer Michaela Clavell for the Clavell estate, with Hiroyuki Sanada still serving as producer alongside his starring role as Toranaga.

There is one small asterisk still hanging over this Sh?gun renewal news: Variety's report notes that "this is not a formal renewal" for the series, and that "no production has been scheduled for more episodes."

The conspiracy theory that's being whispered is that FX-Hulu could be indicating that Sh?gun is getting additional seasons in order to get the series in the dramatic series categories at this year's Emmys. As a "limited series," Sh?gun's potential for awards wins was strictly limited, compared to all the categories it could compete in win in as a dramatic ongoing series. So far, all of the moves being made are ones that the studio can make to secure Emmy Awards victory without any significant investment in actual production or salaries. If Sh?gun wins big (as expected), additional seasons can quickly go into production; if Emmys visibility and wins don't increase Sh?gun's profile sufficiently, these new seasons could be abandoned, which would still leave the achievement of one of the best limited series of recent years.

What Would Sh?gun Season 2 Be About?

Sh?gun wasn't a fictional work by James Clavell: it was a dramatization of actual historical events. Clavell spent years researching 17th-century Japanese history to create his novel's story and characters - many of whom (Blackthorne, Toranaga, Mariko, Ishido) are fictionalized versions of real historical figures. Clavell's novel was focused on its collection of principal characters (Blackthorne, Toranaga, Mariko) and how their fates converged to change the fate of Japan - it did not cover what happened after that character connection was severed.

History and its subsequent events are all on the table for Sh?gun Season 2 to explore. It would be different in terms of characters and tone from the original novel, but the next season could continue focusing on Toranaga and his quest to gain (or hold onto) power over Japan.

For Disney (owner of FX and Hulu) it's an opportunity to keep its biggest prestige content win going, and possibly expand it into a whole franchise of spinoff series. The same has worked for Game of Thrones (which led to the prequel series House of the Dragon becoming a major hit). In Sh?gun's case, history has already written the source material needed to mine more to fill Seasons 2 and 3

Sh?gun is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+ (with the Hulu bundle).

Michael Connelly is expanding into a new medium. The critically-acclaimed author of classic novels like The Lincoln Lawyer and Blood Work has penned dozens of stories throughout his multi-decade career and is now venturing into the audio space, partnering with Audible for The Safe Man.

"I'm trying to hit all the bases, I guess you'd say," Connelly told ComicBook. "As a storyteller, I'm kind of fascinated of trying many different things. I did a couple of True Crime podcasts, and I have to say it is a streamlined way of getting a story out there. You get an idea and within weeks, if not days, you can get it going. I have a daughter who graduated from film school and a partner in my television production business, and they came to me and said, 'We were wanting to look at doing one of these audio dramas and what do you got?'

"I did a couple of kind of do-it-yourself podcasts. I actually recorded them in my garage. I felt like that wasn't the best delivery system. It was broken up by ads and things like that," Connelly added. "Eventually, I went to Audible and it was kind of a change of life to see how easy it was to tell an uninterrupted story through their platform. When we came up with this idea of let's do this fictional major production of an Audible audio drama, it was really a no-brainer."

What Connelly had was a standalone short story called The Safe Man, a tale that existed outside his fleshed out Harry Bosch world that teetered into some other-worldly elements that had been absent from much of Connelly's prior works. Taking place in the Florida tropics, The Safe Man chronicles a horror author hiring a man to open an antique safe in his home which results in something sinister being unleashed in the process.

"I've always been kind of partial to the one time I stepped out of the lanes that I'm known for of detective stories. I wrote a semi-detective story that had a supernatural angle to it," Connelly recalled. "I thought that would lend itself pretty well to a cool sound design and telling the story in an audible format. They gave me some time to expand the story, which has quite more stuff in there than was in the short story, that's for sure. I did that pretty quickly, and then they took it and ran with it."

The Safe Man reunites Connelly with his longtime collaborator Titus Welliver, the star of Bosch, a television series that adapts various Harry Bosch novels from Connelly's archive.

"It takes about seven months to make the Bosch show, and then the actors have five months off. No one wants five months off. I think when they have a lot of momentum going in their professional career, they're all looking for other things to do," Connelly noted. "So I was the guy kind of whispering at the corner, 'Hey, now that you're done Bosch, are you interested in telling this story?' It started with Titus and then Titus could reach out to a lot of actors that he knows. Through him, we got some other really great talent to be involved in this."

While The Safe Man dips into both a new genre and storytelling medium for Connelly, the audiobook will have plenty of traces of what Connelly is best known for.

"If you like Harry Bosch or Lincoln Lawyer, you're going to get into a mystery that someone cannot let go and is going to start looking into," Connelly teased. "There's some cop stuff, there's detective stuff, there's a putting together of a puzzle, but it does have this other dimension to it, a dimension of what happens to us, where we come from and where we go when we pass. These are eternal questions that never get into my books, but I've carried for a long time. This story is somewhat inspired by something that happened to me a long time ago. It's still an extension of what I'm known for, but his is a whole new front for me and I'm quite excited about it. I think people who have been riding with me through my stories for a long time will not be disappointed."

The Safe Man is available now on Audible.

Last week a brief teaser trailer for the new season of Criminal Minds: Evolution was released that gave just a taste into what looks to be a high-octane season. After Criminal Minds wrapped its 15th season on CBS, there was talk about bringing the fan-favorite BAU team back at the same time the show was gaining popularity during the pandemic. It was officially greenlit back in early 2022 and released its first ten episode season in November of 2022. It didn't take long for it to be renewed, as a renewal came long before the season finale took place. Instead of focusing on a "big bad" every episode like its predecessor, Evolution focuses on one unsub for the whole season. Last season Elias Voit (played by Zach Gibson) was introduced, an unsub that the group has been tracking for years.

In the new season which debuts June 6 with two brand new episodes, the BAU will team up with Voit to help solve their latest mystery -- GOLD STAR. As revealed in the finale, the only two people that knew about it were Voit and Deputy Director Bailey but that has clearly changed. Paramount+ has now shared the full-length trailer which introduces Clark Gregg as the FBI Director Ray Madison who will be joined by a slew of new cast members this season, including Brian White as Elias Voit's attorney Vincent Orlov, Frank Church as a presumed advocate for kids, and Paul F. Tompkins reprising his role as conspiracy theorist Brian Garrity from season 15, episode 4.

Per the synopsis, "as the conspiracy unfolds, the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) is met with an unexpected complication when serial killer Elias Voit negotiates a deal that transfers him to federal custody in the BAU's own backyard. The team faces its biggest threat yet and cannot emerge unscathed from the mind-bending consequences." Some of that is clearly on display in the trailer as Rossi is in a few dangerous situations himself with a gun pointed at him and trapped in what looks like an elevator that is slowly caving in on him.

As seen in the trailer, Criminal Minds vets Kirsten Vangsness, Joe Mantegna, Adam Rodriguez, A.J. Cook, Paget Brewster and Aisha Tyler will all be reprising their roles. There's still no word on Matthew Gray Gubler's Spencer Reid or Daniel Henney's Matt Simmons making a return, as last season they were written off as "on assignment." While Gubler has indicated that he would love to return, it's unclear if a decision was made to bring him back this time around. A long-time cast member that won't be returning, however, is Josh Stewart as Will LaMontaigne Jr., a police detective and the husband of JJ. Stewart broke the news to fans on his social media a few months back. "No sadly, my days of playing Will LaMontagne Jr. are over. You guys have been the absolute best," Stewart wrote.

Stay tuned to Comicbook for updates on Criminal Minds: Evolution.

X-Men '97's Season 1 Finale did a LOT. Episode 10, "Tolerance is Extinction - Part 3" had the X-Men finally trying to end the threat of Bastion and his Prime Sentinels - not to mention reversing Magneto's catastrophic EMP attack on Earth.

(SPOILERS FOLLOW!) Even though the X-Men managed to complete their mission objectives, there was a monkey wrench thrown into their victory when a majority of the team (plus Magneto) got transported away into the timestream, with some X-Men landing in the distant past - and some landing in a distant future.

X-Men '97's breakthrough success means that a considerable portion of the mainstream viewing audience doesn't know about the deeper lore (and chaos) of X-Men comics. That means a considerable portion of the audience watching the X-Men '97 Finale may not know that Cable wasn't the only child of Scott Summers (Cyclops) and Jean Grey (Marvel Girl) who appeared in the episode!

X-Men '97 Finale Reveals Cyclops & Jean Grey's Daughter

In one of the epilogue scenes for X-Men '97 Episode 10, Cyclops and Jean are transported to the distant dystopian future of 3900 AD. They find themselves surrounded by a clan of warriors, who are commanded by a robed figure, who identifies herself as "Mother Askani," and has a young boy named Nathan as a her ward. Scott and Jean realize that they are in the future Nathan Summers/Cable grew up in.

X-Men '97 is setting up an adaptation of the 1994 comic book miniseries The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix. In that comic, Cyclops and Jean had their minds transported into sent into the future so that they could raise Nathan Summers into the soldier that is Cable, and teach him to use his formidable psychic powers.

What X-Men '97's teaser scene for The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix arc doesn't tell you is that "Mother Askani" isn't just a random leader: She is Rachel Summer, the daughter of Cyclops and Jean, known as Phoenix II. Rachel was born in the reality of Earth-811, the future timeline known as "Days of the Future Past" where the Sentinels rule Earth and the reality where Nimrod was first born.

In the Earth-811 reality, Jean Grey's Phoenix/Dark Phoenix Saga story took a pivotal turn when Dark Phoenix visited Jean's parents and sister at their home. Instead of Jean's father disowning her and banishing her (leading to Dark Phoenix's Shi'ar duel and tragic death), in the 811 reality he welcomed her back into the family fold. Jean stayed alive and married Scott Summers, giving birth to Rachel Summers, who would inherit her mother's powerful psychic gifts.

Rachel's reality took a dark turn when Senator Kelly and Charles Xavier got assassinated in Washington D.C., sparking the Mutant Control Act to pass, and Sentinels to be deployed against mutants, leading to mass deaths, forced genetic breeding, and mutant concentration camps. She was captured by the notorious future timeline slaver Ahab, and became one of his mutant-hunting "Hounds." After escaping captivity, Rachel began trying to change the timeline to a better one for mutants, eventually attracting the Phoenix Force who saw her as a successor host for Jean Grey.

Eventually, Rachel ended up in the mainstream reality of the Marvel Universe where she became a member of the X-Men and the UK team Excalibur. Rachel's time-hopping continued when she ended up in an alternate future timeline that Apocalypse had conquered. Taking on the name Mother Askani, Rachel guided her brother's maturation into becoming the time-traveling messiah that ended Apocalypse's threat to the future. When that mission was completed, the dark alternate future was erased and a younger Rachel returned to the modern Marvel Universe, where she kept the name "Askani" and has served as an X-Man throughout the Krakoa Era.

So, in other words, X-Men '97 Season 2 is going to be a whole Summers Family affair.

X-Men '97 is streaming on Disney+.

Tonight, Young Sheldon will wrap its seventh and final season with back-to-back episodes that will see the Cooper family reeling from the death of patriarch George Sr., as well as Sheldon's final moments before heading out to California to begin college. Along the way, guest stars Jim Parsons and Mayim Bialik will appear, reprising their roles as "Old Sheldon" and his wife Amy, and giving a little bit of additional insight into what the couple is up go, about five years after the last time fans got to see them share the screen in the finale of The Big Bang Theory.

George's death, which was telegraphed in The Big Bang Theory, has been a source of speculation for fans all season long. The audience knew that his dad died when Sheldon was 14 -- and since he had skipped a number of grades, that was also when Sheldon was set to start his work at Cal Tech, where he was teaching when audiences first met him. Executive producer Steve Holland broke down the pacing a little bit when we spoke to him about the finale.

"We knew, going into this last season especially, that we knew there were certain big events that happened when Sheldon was 14," Holland explained. We knew his dad was going to pass away. We knew that he was going to go to Caltech. So it was then really about figuring out when and how. And I think in our early discussions, we'd sort of thought that the death and the funeral would be the finale, with maybe a little tag of Sheldon going off to Cal Tech. I think that was always our last image. As we were breaking the episodes and talking about it, I think Chuck Lorre said, 'The show has been such a sort of positive show and it's a family show. Maybe we don't want to leave the audience wallowing in grief. So maybe there's a way to sort of do the funeral, and also move past it, and have a little bit more hope going into the finale.' And I think that was a really smart call on his part."

So that's the plan for tonight: the show's thirteenth episode, titled "Funeral," will center on the family dealing with George's death. After that, the show will roll right on into the series finale, which will center on Sheldon's final days in Texas before his move to the west coast.

Holland said that he knew having the funeral episode so close to the end of the show would be a tightrope walk, but praised the cast for conveying their grief without completely losing the humor in what is, above all, a family sitcom.

"Every cut away to Raegan [Revord] breaks my heart, every one," Holland said, praising the actress who plays Sheldon's sister Missy. "I think that was the biggest balancing act, certainly of the funeral episode, was figuring out how to balance that tone. I think in the original script, and what we shot, there were more jokes and more attempts at humor, but when we got into the edit, they just started to feel a little tone-deaf. It felt like this family was really grieving, and we were trying to honor George Senior's death, and we sort of gave ourselves permission to not go for the joke all the time."

"There's still some moments in there of levity, there's still some jokes," Holland promised. "But we really wanted to treat it real, and honor this family's grief -- and I think hopefully an audience that's lived for seven years with this character, their grief as well -- and that it's okay to have that emotion, and it's okay to feel that grief. We didn't feel the need to give an off ramp of humor all the time. That really came out in the edit. That was about watching it back, and seeing the tone, and just feeling there were things that felt out of place in this moment, where it felt very real and heavy."

The final two episodes of Young Sheldon will air tonight starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Friday the 13th is becoming an entire franchise universe. The "Jason Universe" has been announced by Horror, Inc. There will reportedly be "new activations" for Friday the 13th content, which will span multiple platforms including entertainment (TV/movies), games, "immersive experiences," merchandise offerings, and more. Announcements about these various activations are teased to be happening "throughout 2024."

You can also throw a bookmark up on the official Jason Universe website. Right now, the site is just a landing page requesting sign-up info, with the promise of news updates and more reveals to come.

"For decades, Jason shocked and thrilled audiences who kept coming back for more. We're excited to work with Victor Miller and Marc Toberoff on new projects we'll announce in the coming months," said Robert Barsamian, President of Horror, Inc., in a statement provided exclusively to IGN.

Robbie Barsamian, VP of Horror, Inc. added that, "We're focused on honoring the legacy while elevating the fan experience and appealing to today's horror audiences as we develop new ways to watch, interact. and engage with the Jason Universe."

"With the unique ability to remain at the forefront of pop culture for 44 years, Jason continues to top charts as one of the scariest villains of all time with strong global awareness across multiple generations thanks to billions of TikTok views plus millions and millions of gamers and movie fans," Sheri Conn, Global GM of Horror, Inc. said in her own statement, "We can't wait to introduce new Jason Universe activations to these amazing fans."

What New Friday the 13th Movies & TV Shows Are Coming?

A Friday the 13th prequel TV series called Crystal Lake is getting a joint production from Peacock and A24. Hannibal TV series creator Bryan Fuller was attached as showrunner, writer, director, and executive producer at one point - but he's now no longer attached. As of right now, the project is still on the A24 production slate, although it doesn't seem to be making any forward progress.

Scream movies veteran Kevin Williamson was also attached to Crystal Lake, and shared a pretty awesome example of what we could be in for.

"So sorry I won't be a part of what would have been an epic Bryan Fuller show. Your pilot was so beautifully realized," Williamson shared on Twitter. "A gorgeous [portrait] of a mother unraveling in her grief. Not to mention bloody horrific! I was so looking forward to our hour-long chase episode!"

In 2022, Fuller had the following tease for fans about Crystal Lake:

"We're going to have roughly five times the per-episode budget that we had on Hannibal..." Fuller explained. "It will absolutely be recognizable for the hardcore Friday the 13th fans, but will also have an appeal to people who are simply interested in top-shelf TV storytelling."

Blumhouse studio head Jason Blum has made it clear that he's interested in getting more Jason movies into theaters. However, the rights to the character were tied up in litigation (between original director Sean S. Cunningham and original writer Victor Miller), making the pathway to get there very murky.

"Friday the 13th is what I would do," Blum shared with Collider when asked about the next horror property he wants to revive. "It's not a Blumhouse project, but I'm trying to will it into being one. It's just a piece of IP I've always loved."

Suddenly, all of the murkiness seems to be clearing away. The Jason Universe site touts the tagline being "a new era from the original owners of the Friday the 13th franchise," suggesting the legalities may finally be settled.

We'll keep you updated on official announcements from the Jason Universe.

The Thundermans are back again! After the success of The Thundermans Return, Nickelodeon Studios has announced that a new Thundermans spinoff show has been greenlit. Original cast members Kira Kosarin, Jack Griffo and Maya Le Clark are all back in the fold for the upcomign show. When it comes to Nickelodeon's franchises, The Thundermans is making a strong push to the top of the list. The Thundermans Return was the #1 cable entertainment telecast of the year among younger viewers. Phoebe and Max are going to have their hands full with a new threat in Seaside Shores. They'll bring Chloe along to help her learn the ropes of being a superhero.

Production of The Thundermans spinoff begins in August with Vancouver serving as the filing location. Nickelodeon will have more details about the premiere date later on. Here's what Nick has to say about the plot of the new show: "In the brand-new series, Chloe forms a bond with two classmates while they investigate suspicious activity coming from the local school, who don't realize their new friend has secret powers. As the danger increases, the Thunderman trio must stay in town indefinitely, leaving the squabbling twins in charge of raising their younger sister."

A new era of crime fighting begins when The Thundermans Return! ?

Get all the action now on Digital. https://t.co/mWFwMUr6I2 pic.twitter.com/BdyD2h5P7a

-- Paramount Movies (@ParamountMovies) May 9, 2024

The Thundermans Return Was Really Special For Kira Kosarin

A whole generation of kids jumped for joy when The Thundermans Return got announced. But, none of them was probably as happy as Kira Kosarin. She talked to TODAY about returning to the Nickelodeon series and how acting in the movie re-sparked her passion for life.

The actress admitted, "I'd been away from that kind of set for so long I think I convinced myself that I just didn't want to be on TV anymore. Being on The Thundermans Return set reminded me that I do. I just want to do this kind of TV. I love this kind of TV. This is so much fun. It was a really nice reminder. It brought that passion back to life and I am excited to keep moving back into that."

"Phoebe means a lot to me. I was proud to have been her for many years, but I also needed space from her in order to really learn who Kira was," Kosarin continued. "Now, to get to be Kira and bring Phoebe back into my life, is everything I could ever ask for. Phoebe makes a lot of kids laugh and smile. If I can do one thing in this world and have it be make kids a little happier, what a wonderful job to be able to have."

Want To Catch-Up With The Thundermans?

If you missed some of the previous action, no worries! Nick has a synopsis for the movie to get you up to speed before you check it out: "The Thundermans Return follows twins Phoebe and Max who are enjoying their superhero lifestyle in a new city, but when one 'save' goes awry, the Thundermans are sent back to Hiddenville. While Hank and Barb enjoy their return, Chloe develops a new friend group, and Billy and Nora begin a normal high school life, Max and Phoebe are determined to regain their superhero status. The movie features the return of show favorites, including familiar locations, and new menacing supervillains."

The Thundermans Return features returning cast members Kira Kosarin (Phoebe), Jack Griffo (Max), Addison Riecke (Nora), Diego Velazquez (Billy), Maya Le Clark (Chloe), Chris Tallman (Hank), Rosa Blasi (Barb), and Guillen (Cousin Blobbin).

Are you psyched to see The Thundermans back in action? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

The 2024 Summer Olympics are kicking off in Paris in July, and sports fans are eager to watch athletes from around the world battle it out in various sporting events. Back in 2021, Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg teamed up for an Olympics highlights show, and Hart will be back this year with a new partner: Saturday Night Live's Kenan Thompson. ComicBook recently had the chance to chat with the co-head of HartBeat Production's independent TV & film studio, Luke Kelly-Clyne. The producer spoke about Hulu's new coming-of-age comedy, Prom Dates, and also teased the upcoming Olympics highlight show with Hart and Thompson.

"So we are doing a return of our Olympic highlights show," Kelly-Clyne teased. "The first time we did it was in 2021 with Snoop Dogg and Kevin at the desk, sort of like real-time Winter Olympics commentary in highlights. This year, as I think it was announced a couple of weeks ago, will be Kevin and Keenan Thompson, and it'll be eight episodes on Peacock. Really, really fun show."

Earlier in the interview, we asked Kelly-Clyne if he was interested in producing superhero or comic book content and he said, "Absolutely." Although, he pointed out that it would have to be right for HartBeat. "I think the question for us is whether that upper hero space allows it to be a HartBeat project, whether with Kevin or without Kevin involved."

"I would love to find a way to fit into that increasingly crowded space in a new way," he added. When talking about the Olympics highlight show, Kelly-Clyne brought it back to the superhero conversation and joked, "And maybe Kevin can wear a cape."

What Is Prom Dates About?

You can read Hulu's official description for Prom Dates here: "Prom Dates follows best friends Jess and Hannah, who made a pact at 13 to have the perfect senior prom. Despite the impending changes that college will bring over the next four years, the two are committed to honoring their prom pact. But with only 24 hours left before the big event, everything falls apart when they break up with each of their dates. Jess and Hannah are left with one night to find new dates and live out their middle-school fantasies."

"Look, working with Hulu has been a dream," Kelly-Clyne shared with ComicBook. "They really led us with guidance for what would work for their audience. Of course, from the second the script came in, it was about, 'Okay, how do we shoot this with you guys and how do we produce this?' Not waffling ever. And then it was just about honing it for the demographic."

Prom Dates is now streaming on Hulu.

Daredevil: Born Again's Vincent D'Onofrio says that the Disney+ show wasn't originally planned to crossover with the Netflix series. Marvel Studios is bringing Daredevil back with a reboot next year and the series star spoke to TV Insider about the links to the previous incarnation of the show. He was joined by Charlie Cox up on the Disney Upfronts stage this week to talk Daredevil: Born Again. It seems like Marvel Studios decided to lean more into the Netflix series when the time came to evaluate the work they had already completed on the reboot.

Cox told the outlet that "a lot" of crossover was coming in Daredevil: Born Again. But, his co-star quickly clarified, "It originally wasn't going to be at all, but now it's a lot." That would prompt some questions about where this change of heart originated from. But, while palace intrigue and weird gossip rule the day, a more simple explanation does exist: the writers and actors strike. It's well-documented at this point, the executives at Marvel Studios took a look at the existing footage from the upcoming series and decided to tweak their course of action. Cox thinks both fan pressure and the studio had their roles to play. He said, "I think [it's] the fans. I think [it's] the studio as well."

Daredevil: Born Again & Marvel's Creative Retooling

If you don't want to take our word for it, D'Onofrio also thinks the creative retooling process for Marvel Studios is where a lot of these decisons came from. He talked to The Hollywood Reporter about Daredevil: Born Again and its links to the Netflix show. In essence, the new Disney+ series is directly connected to what's come before. (Marvel's head of streaming, Brad Winderbaum said the exact same thing to ScreenRant months ago at this point.) Still, because the fans like to work themselves into a lather over Internet takes and speculation, a lot of them won't believe a word of any of this before the actual series hits the streamer. For now, check out what the Kingpin actor had to say on the matter.

"During our restart of all the creative on Daredevil: Born Again, all the creatives got together and said, 'Look, this is how we've got to do it now.' So we are for sure only speaking about it in terms of being directly connected to the original Daredevil, and that's a great thing," D'Onofrio explained. "It brings in a lot of cool stories and all the collateral story that happened in those original three seasons. So we now get to start this Born Again situation with all of that history behind us and the outcome of all that history. So we're all talking about Daredevil: Born Again in those terms now."

Are you happy to see Daredevil's new show acknowledging the Netflix series? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

X-Men '97's showrunner addressed a tender moment between Wolverine and Morph in the Season 1 finale. Fans will immediately remember Logan's physical condition from the penultimate episode after getting the adamantium ripped from his skeleton by Magneto. Left to care for Wolverine, Morph tells Logan that he loves him and encourages him to keep fighting on that medical bed. It's very sweet and Beau DeMayo confirmed that it was a romantic confession on the part of the shapeshifting mutant. On Twitter, the writer said, "Yes, Morph was confessing romantic feelings for Logan #xmen97."

There have been plenty of fun moments between those two over the course of X-Men '97 Season 1. From the playful roll in the grass as Morph transformed into Sabretooth to that really spooky moment in the shower when Mister Sinister attacked the X Mansion, there have been some subtle hints that there might be more to their friendship than what we knew. There's also the fun ribbing of Wolverine when Morph previously transformed into Jean during that nightclub scene in the pilot. Now, with the X-Men largely out of the picture, it might be a while before we get some of that addressed.

Yes, Morph was confessing romantic feelings for Logan #xmen97
pic.twitter.com/FhgShK5CX9

-- Beau DeMayo (@BeauDemayo) May 16, 2024

X-Men '97 Dialed-Up The Romance In Season 1

While we've been talking about this Morph and Wolverine situation, there was more romantic entaglement than you could imagine in X-Men '97. One of the biggest points of romance drama was the Magneto, Rogue, and Gambit love triangle. ComicBook's Phase Zero talked to Matthew Waterson about playing the Master of Magnetism and how he approached all that spice for X-Men '97.

"That's one where, again, I have to admit, I didn't know that there was history in the canon for that," Waterson explained. "So we talked about it, and the explanation of that is a relation, that's not something that came about in this interaction. That was something that was there historically before Rogue and Gambit. And it's a revisiting of that."

"And then, when you see the bits of the justification for why, of they can be more open, and more, for want of a better phrase, human with each other than either of them can be with a lot of other people, it makes a huge amount of sense," he continued. "In terms of knowing that it would make some people very, very upset, or very sad? That's one where you go, 'Yeah, this is going to drive a bunch of people crazy, and that's just going to be fun.'"

Did you catch this tender little moment? Catch all of our pop culture discussion at @ComicBook on social media!

Superman & Lois' Final Season now has its official time slot for the upcoming Fall Season. DC fans will be able to catch Superman & Lois Season 4 on Thursday nights at 8 pm ET. The show will be paired with the sequel series The Librarians: The Next Chapter, which will follow at 9 pm ET.

Superman & Lois seems to be going out on its highest note yet: the series has steadily gained attention and hype after The CW started streaming seasons on Netflix. The show premiered in 2021, shortly after Arrow ended its run. Superman & Lois was born out of the multiverse-altering events of The CW's Supergirl series, and the Arrowverse crossover event, Crisis on Infinite Earths. Supergirl first introduced us to the version of Clark Kent played by Tyler Hoechlin, later introducing his Superman persona, while Bitsie Tulloch became the new Lois Lane. After Crisis, the Superman & Lois series established a rebooted timeline, in which Superman and Lois are married and parents to a pair of twin teenage sons.

Although that concept for a Superman story was seen as more radical in 2021, Superman & Lois has arguably helped push the entire Superman character and mythos (including comics) into a new era of Superman and Lois similarly being parents to a son (Jonathan Kent), and surrogate parents to an entire Superman Family (Supergirl, Connor Kent, Kong Kenan, Steel, etc...). Moreover, Superman & Lois has earned its acclaim for being the first Superman-based series since Smallville to successfully bring a vision of the Man of the Steel to live-action - and it actually delivered the full-fledged Superman costume and action experience Smallville wasn't able to.

Superman & Lois star Bitsie Tulloch recently made an impassioned post commemorating the final days of filming on the series:

How lucky am I, to have been able to inhabit this woman's bones, and brain, and heart, for the last 6 years, 4 of which were on #supermanandlois.

Lois Lane has been an icon for as long as Superman has because of her fierceness, her work ethic, her determination, her playfulness, her commitment to finding the truth no matter the cost.

Thank you to our creator Todd Helbing, co-showrunner Brent Fletcher, all of our writers and producers and post-production team, our incredible VFX department... And to our on-set crew: #SupermanAndLois was a big, beautiful, epic show and it wouldn't have happened without each and every one of you. Thank you thank you thank you. I already miss you all so much.

Thank you to our wonderfully amazing cast - but mostly to @tylerhoechlin. My Superman. I am so grateful for your talent, your work ethic, and your commitment to making me laugh. I wish the best of luck to @jamesgunn and the rest of his cast and crew, and especially to @rachelbrosnahan - I'm sure you will be a wonderful Lois and I can't wait to see what you do with the role. Have so much fun - I know I did.

I'll be grateful til the day I die that I had these few years to wake up every day and be

Lois. Lane.

Superman & Lois Season 4 will premiere this Fall on The CW.

The CW Network today revealed its 2024-2025 fall lineup, as well as some midseason shows. Among the shows named are the final season of Superman & Lois and the first season of The Librarians: The Next Chapter, which hails from The Librarians and Leverage producer Dean Devlin. This is the first time CW Network has had a 7-day schedule of original programming, although a lot of that content will be unscripted, with wrestling, CW Sports, and game shows based on Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble snagging spots on the schedule. The sports lineup will feature the network debuts of WWE NXT, Pac-12 college football and the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

"The Fall 2024 season is another leap forward in the bold transformation of The CW Network, as we continue building a media brand with broadcast at its core," said Brad Schwartz, President of Entertainment, The CW Network. "The CW is currently enjoying three consecutive quarters of growth and we are looking forward to a fall schedule that is stronger than ever, starting with a brand-new game night featuring Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble -- two games families have enjoyed for decades and hosted by fan-favorites LeVar Burton and Raven-Symone?. We have new seasons of returning hit scripted series Sullivan's Crossing and Superman & Lois, whose final season is weekly can't-miss event television. Our scripted lineup continues to grow with Joan, starring the brilliant Sophie Turner, and The Librarians: The Next Chapter.

"We'll also have more live sports than ever before with the addition of WWE NXT, the NASCAR XFinity Series, and Pac-12 football alongside second seasons of LIV Golf, INSIDE THE NFL, ACC football and ACC basketball. Anchored by 500 hours of sports in 2025, we continue to get bigger and broader while reaching and growing our audience across broadcast, streaming and local."

You can see a full breakdown of the schedule (as well as synopses for new series Joan, The Librarians: The Next Chapter, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, WWE Next, Good Cop/Bad Cop, and Sherlock & Daughter.

THE CW'S 2024 FALL PRIMETIME SCHEDULE

MONDAY

8:00-9:00PM TRIVIAL PURSUIT (New Series)
9:00-10:00PM SCRABBLE (New Series)

TUESDAY

8:00-10:00PM WWE NXT (Network Debut)

WEDNESDAY

8:00-9:00PM SULLIVAN'S CROSSING (Season 2)
9:00-10:00PM JOAN (New Series)

THURSDAY

8:00-9:00PM SUPERMAN & LOIS (Season 4)
9:00-10:00PM THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER (New Series)

FRIDAY

8:00-8:30PM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (Season 13)
8:30-9:00PM WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? (Original Episode)
9:00-10:00PM INSIDE THE NFL (Season 2)

SATURDAY

CW SPORTS SATURDAY

SUNDAY

7:00-10:00PM THE CW SUNDAY MOVIE NIGHT

THE NEW FALL 2024 SERIES:

JOAN

Sophie Turner ("Game of Thrones," "X-Men: Dark Phoenix," "The Staircase") stars as notorious jewel thief Joan Hannington in this exhilarating yet emotional story set against the vibrant backdrop of the 1980s - an era known for its bold fashion trends, iconic music and cultural shifts. The series opens with Joan, a fiery and uncompromising woman in her twenties who is deeply scarred and vulnerable. She is a devoted mother to her six-year-old daughter, Kelly, but is trapped in a disastrous marriage with a violent criminal named Gary. When Gary goes on the run, Joan seizes the opportunity to create a new life for herself and her daughter. Joan becomes a masterful jewel thief. She embarks on a thrilling, high-stakes journey that challenges her every limit, driven by her desire to care for her daughter and create a secure home for them both. Through her sharp intelligence, charm and talent for impersonation and performance, we follow the twists and turns in Joan's life, the ups and downs, the heartache and the joy that makes this story so compelling to follow. Turner stars alongside Frank Dillane ("Fear the Walking Dead") as Boisie, a London antiques dealer. Kirsty J. Curtis ("Match Not Found") plays Nancy, Joan's older sister and salon worker while Gershwyn Eustache Jr. ("I May Destroy You") portrays Albie, an old acquaintance of Boisie who's made a new life in Spain with his wife Val, played by Laura Aikman ("The Split").

JOAN is written by acclaimed screenwriter Anna Symon ("The Essex Serpent") and directed by BAFTA award-winner Richard Laxton ("Rain Dogs"). The series is from Snowed-In Productions and executive produced by Ruth Kenley-Letts ("Stonehouse"), Jenny Van Der Lande ("Too Close"), Neil Blair ("The Midwich Cuckoos") and Richard Laxton. JOAN has been commissioned for ITVX by Head of Drama Polly Hill. The series is produced in association with All3Media International and The CW Network.

THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER

THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER is a spinoff of the original TV series "The Librarians," which followed the adventures of the custodians of a magical repository of the world's most powerful and dangerous supernatural artifacts. The new series centers on Vikram (Callum McGowan), a "Librarian" from the past, who time traveled to the present and now finds himself stuck here. When he returns to his castle, which is now a museum, he inadvertently releases magic across the continent. He is given a new team to help him clean up the mess he made, forming a new team of Librarians. The series stars Callum McGowan as Vikram Chamberlain; Jessica Green as Charlie Cornwall, the Guardian; Olivia Morris as Lysa Pascal, The Scientist and Bluey Robinson as Connor Green, the Historian. Dean Devlin serves as Showrunner and executive producer alongside Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan-Wilson of Electric Entertainment. Noah Wyle also serves as executive producer. Mark Franco of Electric Entertainment and Jonathan English of Balkanic Media also produce.

SCRABBLE

SCRABBLE is a captivating, fast-paced take on the global board-game phenomenon. In each episode, wordsmiths battle it out over a series of addictive word games of skill and strategy to win points and master a giant Scrabble board in the center of the set. Hosted by fan-favorite actor, singer, producer and director Raven-Symone?, SCRABBLE is produced by Hasbro Entertainment, The CW, Mattel Television Studios and Lionsgate Alternative Television. David Garfinkle, Gabriel Marano and Michelle Mendelovitz serve as executive producers.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT

The beloved trivia game TRIVIAL PURSUIT is reimagined in a question-packed entertainment format. Gameplay takes place on a giant version of the iconic Trivial Pursuit game board, as contestants battle it out over a range of play-along question categories to win wedges and beat each other to the center. The victor then takes on a dramatic finale against the clock to claim the big money jackpot. Hosted by Emmy(R) Award-winning actor, director, producer and podcaster LeVar Burton, TRIVIAL PURSUIT is produced by Hasbro Entertainment, The CW, Lionsgate Alternative Television and Talpa Studios. David Garfinkle, Gabriel Marano, John De Mol, Matt Walton and Matt Pritchard serve as executive producers.

WWE NXT

Launched by WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque, WWE NXT has aired weekly since 2012 and features the brightest young talent in sports entertainment. Nearly 90% of the participants in last year's WrestleMania were developed under the NXT banner. Led by WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels, NXT is popular with younger audiences, ranking No. 1 in cable primetime on Tuesday nights among Adults 18-49 and 18-34. WWE Superstars such as Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch have come up through NXT.

THE NEW MIDSEASON 2025 SERIES:

GOOD COP/BAD COP

GOOD COP/BAD COP is a one-hour procedural dramedy centered around Lou (Leighton Meester, "Gossip Girl") and Henry (Luke Cook, "Katy Keene," "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina"), an odd couple sister and brother detective team in a small Pacific Northwest police force. They must contend with colorful residents, a serious lack of resources, and their very complicated dynamic with each other and with their police chief, Big Hank (Clancy Brown, "Dexter: New Blood," "Billions")-who happens to be their father. From Future Shack Entertainment and Jungle Entertainment for commissioning broadcasters The CW Network and The Roku Channel in the United States and Stan in Australia, GOOD COP/BAD COP is written and executive produced by John Quaintance with Jeff Wachtel, Trent O'Donnell ("Ghosts") and Chloe Rickard serving as executive producers. Trent O'Donnell also serves as director with Phil Lloyd set as co-executive producer. GOOD COP/BAD COP is produced in association with and distributed by ITV Studios. The production is supported by the Queensland Government through Screen Queensland's Production Attraction Strategy.

SHERLOCK & DAUGHTER

The mystery thriller series SHERLOCK & DAUGHTER puts Sherlock Holmes (David Thewlis, "Fargo," The Artful Dodger") out of his comfort zone, mysteriously unable to investigate a sinister case without risking the lives of his closest friends. Enter: young American Amelia (Blu Hunt, "The Originals," "The New Mutants"). After her mother's mysterious murder, she learns her missing father may be the legendary detective. Despite wildly different backgrounds and attitudes, the pair must work together to solve a global conspiracy, crack her mother's murder, and find out for sure if she really is Sherlock's daughter. International Emmy(R) Award-winning Dougray Scott ("Batwoman," "Crime") also stars as Holmes' nemesis, Moriarty. From Starlings Television Distribution, Albion Television and StoryFirst, SHERLOCK & DAUGHTER is led by showrunner and executive producer James Duff ("The Closer," "Major Crimes") and is created, written and executive produced by Brendan Foley ("Cold Courage," "The Man Who Died"). Micah War Dog Wright ("They're Watching," "First Nations Comedy Experience") and Shelly Goldstein ("Cold Courage," "Laverne & Shirley") join Duff and Foley as writers on the series. Karine Martin, Chris Philip, Peter Gerwe, Dominic Barlow and Ivan Dunleavy also serve as executive producers.