"Isn't it wonderful to be back in the theater and giving people what they truly want: moi?" So asks Miss Piggy in the trailer for The Muppet Show, which returns for a special episode on Disney+ and ABC this February.

The one-night event revives the beloved Muppets variety series, which originally ran for five seasons from 1976 to 1981. All your favorites are back, from Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear to Gonzo and Statler and Waldorf. Plus, they'll be greeting new guests like Maya Rudolph, Seth Rogen (who also executive produces), and Sabrina Carpenter.

Carpenter already has history with the Muppets — specifically, with Miss Piggy herself. On the final stop of her Short n' Sweet tour, Miss Piggy was the Grammy winner's "Juno" arrest, which means that Carpenter was arresting her for being "too hot." We're sure that was music to Miss Piggy's ears.

You know what's not music to Miss Piggy's ears? What Carpenter tells her in the trailer: that her grandparents used to watch The Muppet Show. Maybe just stick to telling her she's hot!

For more of Carpenter and Miss Piggy's glamorous get-together (as well as more general Muppet chaos), check out the full trailer above.

The Muppet Show will also see the return of veteran Muppet performers Bill Barretta, Dave Goelz, Eric Jacobson, Peter Linz, David Rudman, and Matt Vogel.

The Muppet Show premieres Feb. 4 on Disney+ and ABC.

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The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is coming once again for shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live! with new guidance for "equal time" rules for broadcast interviews with political candidates.

On Thursday night, Kimmel himself unpacked the rules and Donald Trump's FCC chair Brendan Carr's "latest attack on free speech" (Carr's threats toward ABC saw Kimmel's show temporarily pulled off the air in September). The late show host said the FCC is "now trying to use equal time rules to prevent shows like ours and The View from conducting interviews with candidates. They're reinterpreting long agreed upon rules to stifle us."

So, what exactly are these rules and how do they affect talk shows? In his monologue, Kimmel broke it down, running through the impact of the 1927 Radio Act, which required broadcasters "to give equal time for legally qualified camps, meaning, if you put one candidate on the air, you had to offer the same amount of airtime to all the other candidates."

As Kimmel explains, a 1959 amendment made exempt "what they call bonafide newscasts and bonafide news interviews from the rules governing equal time, and that allowed ABC, CBS, NBC, etc, to interview one candidate without having to interview all of them, which mostly applied to news programs, until years later, when talk shows started having candidates on."

Kimmel's examples include John F. Kennedy's 1960 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar and Bill Clinton's 1992 interview on The Arsenio Hall Show, both while campaigning for president. And Jay Leno's 2006 interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger when campaigning for governor of California, which saw Democratic rival Phil Angelides file a complaint to the FCC demanding equal time — the FCC denied his request and the exemption for talk shows has remained to this day.

"They ruled that Arnold appearing on Leno, this was a bona fide news interview, even though it was a talk show and therefore not subject to those equal time rules," said Kimmel. "And that's how every talk show's operated since then. Until this week, when Trump's little ferret in the FCC, Brendan Carr, who, as you know, is doing everything he can to shut us up the easy way or the hard way, is trying to say we no longer qualify for the bona fide news exemption when it comes to interviewing candidates, which is a sneaky little way of keeping viewpoints that aren't his off air."

"I have no idea what the outcome of this is going to be," Kimmel concluded. "I wanted to point it out, because it is another example of this administration trying to squash anyone who doesn't support them."

Donald Trump announced on Truth Social he'd secured the "framework of a future deal" on Greenland on Thursday, but as for the details? That's basically it.

Seth Meyers took "A Closer Look" at the president's deal (?) with NATO on Late Night, including the fact that Trump referred to the timeframe as "infinite" without supplying terms, a timeline, or any other details.

"How do you have, like, no more details about a deal you just made for a thing only you want. You sound like you're doing a book report on a book you didn't read, but it's worse, because it's a book you wrote," says Meyers. "It's like if JD Salinger got up in front of the class and said, 'Uh, Catcher in the Rye is about, like, a baseball game or something. It takes place in like, a bakery, maybe.'"

Meyers then finished his monologue examining reports on why Trump backed down on his Greenland demands, after threatening tariffs and refusing to rule out using military force.

"This dumb episode's yet another example of what happens when Trump encounters even minimal resistance, he backs down," Meyers said. "It's a lesson opposition leaders here and abroad should remember."

Teyana Taylor is hosting SNL this week alongside musical guest Geese, and the teaser is wonderfully weird.

The Oscar-nominated One Battle After Another star appeared with the Brooklyn band and SNL's Marcello Hernández to promote the upcoming show, and the sheer awkwardness is my kind of energy.

"Dream brunch rotation" indeed.

Donald Trump launched his "Board of Peace" at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, the president's committee that will function as "transitional administration" in the reconstruction of Gaza. 60 nations have been invited to join, with each member guaranteed a seat for the sky-high cost of $1 billion.

Stephen Colbert unpacked Trump's new billion-dollar board on The Late Show Thursday, including reports that Trump will be its chairman for life (even after he is no longer U.S. president) and hold the only veto over any matter. But he also landed a blow on his own network CBS (Colbert's show was controversially cancelled after the host accused CBS' parent company Paramount of paying a "big fat bribe" to Trump during a monologue.)

"Admittedly, the idea of paying a billion dollars to obey Donald Trump seems a little steep," Colbert said of the Board of Peace admission fee. "After all, CBS got to do it for just $16 million. Check my math on that one."

Someone call the fire department.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 just ended, but star Walker Scobell is already eager for the future of the show.

In a Say More interview with Mashable Entertainment Reporter Belen Edwards, Scobell revealed that Season 3, which is currently shooting and set to release this year, is "even better than I imagined."

As a massive fan of Rick Riordan's original book series, Scobell's appreciation for Season 3 stems from his deep fandom of the source material — especially The Titan's Curse, which Season 3 will adapt.

"Listen, I love Season 2, and I love Season 1. Perfect, I love them so much," Scobell told Mashable. "But there's something about The Titan's Curse to The Last Olympian that's just a completely new level, and it's just so different."

From The Titan's Curse onwards, Riordan's books get considerably darker, a challenge that Scobell relishes as he and his castmates grow up alongside Percy and his crew of heroes.

"They're getting older, and things are getting pretty serious with this Great Prophecy," Scobell explained. "It think it gets really difficult for them, because now things are real. They're not invincible — not like they weren't before, but they've seen how they're not invincible."

Thankfully, amid Season 3's emotional damage (and book fans know there's a lot of that to go around), audiences will also be getting some levity. That includes one iconic scene from The Titan's Curse: all those Hoover Dam puns.

"We're gonna be getting a lot of good dam jokes," Scobell revealed. "That's the only thing I'm gonna confirm. As a fan, before we got episode 5, Aryan [Simhadri] and I were like, 'There's no way they take that out.' Because it's my favorite part of that book. There's no reason for them to laugh at that point. But I love how they're just sitting there, laughing about these dam jokes."

Sounds like we're in for a dam good time, right?

"It's gonna be a dam great season," Scobell said.

For more of Mashable's interview with Scobell, including a deep dive into finale fight scenes, changes between Riordan's book and the show, and what's next for Percy and Thalia (Tamara Smart), check out the full video on YouTube.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 is now streaming on Disney+. Season 3 arrives later in 2026.

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Look, we love Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle), even with his flaws. But this latest episode of The Pitt has us urgently worried about our favorite ER doc, all because of a few little words that call back to some fan theories out of episode 1.

The hit show's complicated attending physician kicked the second season off with a controversial move that had tongues wagging. Now, with Season 2, episode 3, titled "9 A.M.," he's lying about it. What does this mean for Dr. Robby's Season 2 arc and beyond?

Let's dive into it.

What did Dr. Robby lie about in "The Pitt"?

Noah Wyle as Dr. Robby in "The Pitt." Credit: Warrick Page / HBO Max

He lied about his motorcycling habits. Here's how it went down:

In this episode, along with a grief-stricken burn victim, a kiddo with a "zebra" of a medical condition, and a mercurial patient with a mind-bending diagnosis, The Pitt also featured a squabbling married couple whose petty argument was interrupted by a motorcyclist colliding into their car.

While the episode followed the husband and wife through treatment and regrets over their fight, the motorcyclist was basically dead on arrival, with a shocking amount of his brain's gray matter on display. Usually stoic medical student Joy Kwon (Irene Choi) reacted in shock, asking, "No helmet?"

To this, the police officer in the room says, "Nope." While looking at the patient's ID, he notes, "He took the PennDOT motorcycle safety course." (PennDOT is short for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.)

Dr. Garcia (Alexandra Metz) quips, "Isn't that what you took, Robby?"

Dr. Robby responds sharply, saying, "Yes, but I still wear a helmet."

There's the lie.

The Season 2 opening sequence echoed the start of Season 1, following Dr. Robby into the emergency room of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. But where in the first season he was on foot, in the second, he's riding a motorcycle across one of Pittsburgh's signature yellow bridges. And he's — say it with me — NOT WEARING A HELMET.

What does this helmet lie mean?

Noah Wyle as Dr. Robby in "The Pitt" doesn't wear a helmet while motorcycling in "The Pitt" Season 2. Credit: Screenshot: HBO Max

When fans of The Pitt first saw Dr. Robby riding without a helmet in the Season 2 sneak peak, many called this behavior out on social media. Some declared it "unrealistic" for an ER doctor to behave this way, while others suggested such recklessness is a sign of Robby having a death wish.

Season 1, we saw him going to the edge of the hospital's rooftop, potentially considering jumping. Now he's riding without a motorcycle helmet on July 4, a holiday notorious for a spike in Emergency Room visits.

However, Robby will tell anyone who listens — even his loathed, returning colleague Langdon (Patrick Ball) — how he's going on a three-month sabbatical to motorcycle his way to an aboriginal UNESCO World Heritage Site in Alberta. So maybe he's taking the advice of night shift attending physician Dr. Abbot (Shawn Hatosy) and finding a hobby to help him relieve the stress of working at "The Pitt." But there are some worrying signs about his trip already.

Consider all this: He's riding without a helmet on busy city streets, an act some fans have called "passively suicidal." Of all the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world, he's headed to one with the name "Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump." Then there's a motorcyclist with his head smashed in right before Dr. Robby's very eyes. And instead of considering how he opened himself up to such an injury just two hours before, Robby lies to assuage the concerns of his co-workers.

Are all these clues suggesting that Robby going on this particular sabbatical could mean we won't see him in Season 3? Could that planned long ride be his last?

On the one hand, with a third season of The Pitt confirmed, it's unlikely that Wyle, who is also a writer, director, and producer on the series, will be written off. But remember, Wyle did come up on ER, which saw popular leads like George Clooney and Julianna Margulies leave long before the show wrapped. So we're not feeling totally confident about Dr. Robby's fate.

What has Noah Wyle said about Dr. Robby not wearing a helmet?

Asked about this on the Golden Globes red carpet, Wyle told the AP, "There's nothing arbitrary about the way we do the show. Everything is pretty specific. And that was a very specific decision that we made to have him riding with the helmet on his backpack but not on his head — telling everybody he wears one, but we all know he isn't."

On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Wyle spoke about the decision to have Robby ride without his helmet. Turns out it wasn't in the script, and it was his idea.

He told Kimmel, "The night before [we shot the scene], I had dinner with John Wells, who directed the [first] episode [of Season 2]...And I said, 'I don't know that Robby wears a helmet. I think he tells people he wears a helmet.'"

He then compared the motorcycle season opener to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's iconic introduction to Willy Wonka. The Pitt star explained how the film's leading man, Gene Wilder, agreed to play Wonka "if he could make his character introduction, where he comes out with a cane and a limp and then he walks up to the gate and then he falls forward and comes up into this very elegant sort of bow. And they asked him why he wanted to do that, and he said, 'Because from that point forward they won't know if I'm telling the truth or not.'"

For Wyle, Wonka and Dr. Robby have this uneasy allure in common. He continued to Kimmel, "We're talking about a guy who's on a mental health journey, who's resistant to getting the help he probably should get. What better clue can we give the audience that he's playing a little fast and loose with his life than to let them in on this detail that he's not telling the people that he works with, that love him."

So, yeah. We've been worried since that no helmet scene first hit, and our concern is only growing.

The Pitt Season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes being released every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.

If you want to talk to someone or are experiencing suicidal thoughts, text the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255. For international resources, this list is a good place to start.

Brace yourselves, Pitt Fiends! (Is that what we're calling ourselves?) Because episode 3 of Season 2 just dropped a major cliffhanger. As if Dr. Robby's lie doesn't have us stressed enough, now we've got a code black to deal with!?

Spoilers and speculation below for Season 2 of The Pitt.

For those unfamiliar with hospital terminology, a "code black" in this case means the nearby hospital will be diverting all its emergency room patients to Dr. Robby's trauma center until further notice. In Season 1, the day shift had to deal with the PittFest massacre. So, what calamity are they going to be grappling with now?

Well, while episode 3, titled "9 A.M.," drew to a close with only possibilities of what could cause the code black, The Pitt's Season 2 trailers gave us hints of what's ahead.

What does the code black mean for The Pitt Season 2?

Poor Dr. Robby. It's his last day at work before a hard-earned sabbatical. And just as he looks at the computer board to see that there's relative calm in his ER, charge nurse Dana (Katherine LaNasa) gets a call that changes her gruffly cheery demeanor (it's a yinzer thing) to all business as she asks of the caller, "Is this a drill? Is this a joke? It's the fourth of fucking July!"

With Dr. Robby and his eager replacement Dr. Al (Sepideh Moafi) alert for news, Dana explains that "Westbridge has a code black and is closing to internal disaster. Central's diverting all their ambulance traffic to us."

This means a problem has hit a neighboring hospital. But how serious is it? Robby and Al quickly offer several possibilities:

• Flooded toilet

• Power outage

• "A couple of doctors probably got the holiday flu, and they're understaffed."

Immediately, security guard Ahmad Zidan (Johnath Davis) starts a new betting grid on a white board, asking would-be gamblers to guess why the code black was called, how long the code will last, and how many patients will be diverted their way.

So, are you ready to place your bet? Before you do, let's look back at the trailers HBO Max has already released for Season 2.

What do The Pitt's trailers tell us about the code black?

On Dec. 16, 2025, the above trailer set up the returns of Langdon and Dana, as well as Dr. Robby's impending time off. Then, we see Dana on that red phone, asking, "Is this a drill?"

From there, an unknown voice says, "Westbridge has shut down all their computer systems." Dr. Mel King (Taylor Dearden) asks, "Are we next?" And then Dr. Robby warns, "We're about to go analog," as the computer screens switch to offline.

Now, at a glance, it might seem Robby was right with his power outage guess. But notably, the unidentified voice said Westbridge "shut down all their computer systems," not lost power to them. So, this could suggest a cyberattack.

What will going analog mean for The Pitt crew? Well, for one, they'll be doing things more like doctors and nurses did in the '90s, aka Noah Wyle's ER era.

In the trailer released earlier this month, we got a better sense of Dr. Robby and company in disaster mode.

In the start of this trailer, you can see the doctors and nurses gathering around a large white board, which seems to be used to track patients without computers. But nothing about the source of the code black is revealed.

So, what's your bet for Ahmad's grid?

The Pitt Season 2 is now streaming on HBO Max, with new episodes being released every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.

Donald Trump gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday and Seth Meyers used his "A Closer Look" segment on Late Night to reluctantly recap what happened.

"Donald Trump addressed world leaders in Davos and gave a very normal speech," Meyers said, "to which he repeatedly confused Greenland with Iceland, called windmills 'losers,' said the U.S. gives Canada freebies, mocked the president of France for wearing sunglasses, made up a new country called Aberbajan, and told the crowd in Switzerland, where the majority people speak German, that without the United States, they would be speaking German, which is what they already speak.

"For more on this, it's time for 'Seth Stares at the Ceiling and Hopes the Bad News Goes Away.'"

Like fellow late night host Stephen Colbert, Meyers noted that the U.S. president has repeatedly mixed up Iceland and Greenland in Davos, despite threatening to take ownership of Greenland (autonomous Danish territory) not Iceland (Nordic country).

"He can't even remember the name of the territory he wants to conquer," said Meyers. "Hold on, I'm going to try staring at the ceiling again."

Donald Trump really wants Iceland. Sorry, Greenland. We think?

The president repeatedly confused the two at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday, despite spending the majority of his time of late threatening to take ownership of Greenland (autonomous Danish territory) not Iceland (Nordic country).

"Dear Lord, he's on an imperial conquest, and he can't even remember what he wants to conquer," responded Stephen Colbert on Wednesday night's Late Show.

During his monologue, the host noted that Trump's repeated Greenland-Iceland mix-up was pointed out by NewsNation White House correspondent Libbey Dean on X, to which White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded, "His written remarks referred to Greenland as a 'piece of ice' because that's what it is. You're the only one mixing anything up here."

"That is some Grade-A Big Brother propaganda," said Colbert. "As George Orwell wrote in 1984, 'War is peace, freedom is slavery, Karoline Leavitt is a dumbass.'"

Like fellow late night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, The Daily Show's Josh Johnson marked one year of Donald Trump's second term as president with a look at his recent appearances — both at the World Economic Forum in Davos and a White House paper-tossing press conference.

Johnson especially looked at Trump's second year aim: U.S. ownership of Iceland Greenland. The president told Davos on Wednesday, "It's the United States alone that can protect this giant mass of land, this giant piece of ice, develop it, and improve it, and make it so that it's good for Europe, and safe for Europe, and good for us."

"That's right, it's huge, undeveloped, in a strategic location," said Johnson. "It's like if your grandma had a Manhattan apartment she bought in 1950 — once she dies in it, you're going to push her down the trash chute and live like a king."

But Johnson finished up with a strong statement on saying "no" to the president, after reports emerged that Trump had both backed down on imposing tariffs and using military force to take control of Greenland at Davos and "formed the framework of a future deal" around the autonomous Danish territory.

"Maybe what Europe did here is a lesson for the rest of us, because Trump barged into Davos, like 'I want to own Greenland,' and Europe just said 'no,'" said Johnson. "And in just six hours, they worked him down from owning Greenland to concepts of a deal. So maybe saying no is something more of us in America might want to try instead of complying in advance. College presidents, law firms, media outlets, whoever keeps giving Trump that tacky gold shit to put on his walls, just tell that man 'no!'

The Beauty is Ryan Murphy at his Ryan Murphy-est, which is to say that it's maximalist, deranged chaos.

For proof, look no further than the show's opening. Over five minutes, The Beauty puts Bella Hadid through body horror hell. As fictional model Ruby, Hadid struts a muddy Paris catwalk. She's gleaming — not with supermodel shine, mind you, but with a concerning layer of sweat. It's a symptom of a mysterious affliction that's burning her up from within, one so unbearable she begins snapping onlookers' necks in order to steal their water bottles.

That's just the start of Ruby's quest for hydration, which soon spirals into a motorcycle chase involving shredded skin, broken bones, and Hadid splashing herself with toilet water. It all culminates in Ruby self-destructing in an impressive shower of blood, guts, and gore that left me cackling and wondering, as I do after watching most Murphy shows, "What the hell did I just witness?"

What's The Beauty about?

Rebecca Hall and Evan Peters in "The Beauty." Credit: Philippe Antonello/FX

FBI agents Cooper Madsen (Evan Peters) and Jordan Bennett (Rebecca Hall) are trying to answer that very same question, albeit with far less cackling. Turns out, Ruby isn't the first supermodel to spontaneously combust. She's the latest in a string of grisly deaths, the culprit of which is a nightmarish new virus described as "the fucked-up love child of HIV and rabies, but neither."

Meet the Beauty, a sexually transmitted disease that turns its hosts into absolute bombshells — after a hideously painful transformation, that is. The virus was initially engineered as a product for the wealthiest man alive, known simply as the Corporation (Ashton Kutcher). While it's currently running rampant in the wild, he hopes to one day market it as the shot that makes you hot.

No, The Beauty is not (entirely) a Substance rip-off.

Jeremy Pope and Anthony Ramos in "The Beauty." Credit: Eric Liebowitz/FX

If the concept of an injectable beauty serum reminds you of Coralie Fargeat's 2024 film The Substance, I don't blame you. But The Beauty is actually based on Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley's graphic novel series of the same name, which began its run in 2015.

However, the show does take major liberties with its source material. (Hurley still serves as a consultant.) That includes the intense focus on the Corporation and the injectable aspect of the Beauty, which screams The Substance. It's tough not to see the latter's influence in The Beauty's many transformation sequences either.

These scenes are showstoppers: body convulsions straight out of The Exorcist, swaths of melting skin, and bone cracks so loud you'll think twice about watching any ASMR chiropractor videos. When a victim's "beautiful" self is ready to emerge, it does so by hatching from the goopiest cocoons you've ever seen.

After watching The Substance's Sue crawl out out Elisabeth's split back, these skin sac rebirths may feel tame by comparison. Plus, as The Beauty sees more and more of its characters transforming, the pattern of body horror risks becoming stale. Thankfully, the show's astounding prosthetics work, and the Beauty's increasing mutations keep things feeling fresh instead of punishingly rote. New transformations focus on new body parts, from teeth to fingernails to rib cages, ushering in a new wave of WTF-ery every episode.

The Beauty is at its best when it's unhinged.

Ashton Kutcher in "The Beauty." Credit: FX

Granted, "WTF" is the reaction so much of The Beauty wants you to have. The show oozes with twists, transformations, and out-of-pocket one-liners that feel, like the virus at the show's heart, as if they've been lab-engineered for maximum shock value. But Murphy and Hodgson also aim for introspection, trying to prompt greater conversations around beauty standards and the extreme lengths people go to in order to look "beautiful."

The latter elements are unfortunately skin-deep. As part of their thoroughly unconvincing love story, Detectives Madsen and Bennett discuss why people would want to take the Beauty in the first place, debating breast augmentation and monologuing about people's desire for sexual validation. Elsewhere, a plastic surgeon (Jon Jon Briones) tells a prospective patient (Jaquel Spivey) that he's an "incel" when he should be a "chad." Of course, the patient is extremely online and found the doctor thanks to a dark web chat room, meaning he'd definitely know what an incel is. This explanation is just one example of The Beauty's clumsy, on-the-nose attempts to be a part of current discourse around beauty standards. Of course, when the show itself caves to said beauty standards, with its cast of Instagram-perfect faces and bodies and a lens that ogles them incessantly, it's tough to believe that The Beauty buys what it's selling.

It's when The Beauty gets less earnest and more straight-up unhinged in its messaging that it works best. Forget metaphors about the Japanese art of kintsugi and embracing our physical flaws. I want the Corporation's Assassin (Anthony Ramos) ranting about the career of Christopher Cross on the way to a kill. I want Isabella Rossellini (whose casting is a delightful Death Becomes Her nod) reading Kutcher to filth for his superficial behavior. If you're going to somehow be less subtle than The Substance when it comes to commentary on beauty standards, I want you to make it flat-out fun!

The Beauty manages to do so as it begins to focus less on the detectives and their fight for justice, and more on the Corporation and just how darn evil he is. (It helps that both Kutcher and Ramos know exactly the kind of over-the-top villainy their roles demand.) There are some exceptions to the rule, though. At several points, The Beauty peers beyond both its detectives' investigations and the Corporation's wrongdoings, examining the many use cases for the Beauty beyond just looking stunning. Gender-affirming care and life-saving medicine are at the center of two of these moving storylines. The show also examines how the Beauty and social media make for a potent mix, especially for high school girls whose self-esteem already takes enough of a beating without the world telling them they need a hotness superdrug.

The ground-level storytelling in these vignettes is the closest the series has to holding up a mirror to our own world, no on-the-nose monologue necessary. Of course, it's not long before The Beauty reverts back to its main, extremely heightened plotline, full of jet-setting, corporate conspiracy, and yes, explosions. It's some of the most ridiculous TV I've watched in ages, and this being a Murphy show, you can bet I mean "ridiculous" in both the best and worst sense.

The first three episodes of The Beauty premiere on FX and Hulu at 9 p.m. ET on Jan. 21, with a new episode every Wednesday.

Donald Trump's anger at not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize appears to be leading to all sorts of global issues, and the Daily Show's Josh Johnson is here to point out how ridiculous the whole situation is.

"For the last year Donald Trump has been fiending for a Nobel Peace Prize. Like a humanitarian award addict he's tried everything from whining to pretending that he ended eight wars," says Johnson in the clip above. "But the Nobel committee gave the prize to Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado, and Trump was so butthurt he said that she should give her prize to him. And because that's the stupidest possible thing that could happen, guess what happened?"

Cue a news reel showing Corina Machado presenting her prize to Trump, accompanied with a photo of the U.S. president smiling while holding the plaque.

"Wow. This is one of the saddest images I've seen in months, and I follow one of those hairless cats on Instagram," says Johnson. "You know the medal is only a symbol, right? Like just because I steal A$AP Rocky's wedding ring, doesn't make it so that I'm married to Rihanna."

Donald Trump is one year into his second presidential term, and like Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert is feeling reflective.

In the Late Show clip above the host rattles through a recap of some of the president's lowlights from the past 365 days, painting quite the bleak picture.

"A lot has happened in a short time," says Colbert. "This year alone: Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, held a giant military parade on his birthday, said he wants Canada to be our 51st state, signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship, tore down the East wing of the White House to build a ballroom, covered the remaining parts of the White House in golden geegaws, forced Paramount to make Rush Hour 4, made himself the chair of the Kennedy Center board and then renamed it the Trump Kennedy Center, and personally pocketed over $1.4 billion.

"And guess what? You didn't remember most of that stuff."

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 is setting course for the Sea of Monsters, and just like in Season 1, there are bound to be a few adaptation changes ahead.

Whether it's adding new characters or tweaking major book events entirely, some of these changes from Rick Riordan's original books fall flat, while others enrich the world of the show. Here are all the biggest changes between Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 and The Sea of Monsters.

Episode 1: Grover meets new characters, like Alison Simms.

Aryan Simhadri in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney / David Bukach

Season 2 kicks off with Percy having a nightmare about Grover in danger, just like The Sea of Monsters does. However, there are some key differences: Grover isn't in Florida, meaning we don't get him running into St. Augustine Bridal Boutique. (Don't worry, though, the show doesn't abandon the wedding dress storyline.) Instead, he's in the jungle, where he meets a crew of demigods like Alison Simms (Beatrice Kitsos). They're new characters who have allied themselves with Luke (Charlie Bushnell) and Kronos, meaning Percy and his crew will have even more rogue demigods to contend with.

Episode 1: Basically everything about Tyson is different.

Daniel Diemer in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 introduces Tyson (Daniel Diemer), Percy's Cyclops half-brother. In the books, he is unhoused, and while he attends Meriwether College Prep with Percy, no one gives him any extra support outside of school. That changes in the series, as Sally Jackson (Virginia Kull) meets him while volunteering at a shelter, takes him in, and gets him into Meriwether. That means she and Percy already know he's a Cyclops, as opposed to in the book, where the Mist disguises his true nature to Percy.

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I'm always happy to see Sally get to showcase her kindness and empathy, and I'm intrigued by whether she's aware of Tyson also being Poseidon's (Toby Stephens) son. Based on her telling Percy that they might have more in common than they think — hence the "two sides of the same coin" talk — it seems like she's got a pretty good idea, giving her more investment in Percy and Tyson's relationship.

Another big change with Tyson is how he speaks. In The Sea of Monsters, he has a more childlike speech pattern, as Cyclops age more slowly than humans. Here, though, he sounds like any of the other characters. Perhaps this was a case of the book dialogue simply not translating well to screen, for fear of infantilizing or stereotyping Tyson. Still, it seems like book Tyson's loyalty and enthusiasm carry over into show Tyson.

Episode 1: The Laistrygonian giant dodgeball scene gets a big change.

The Sea of Monsters opens with a monster attack in the form of a deadly gym class. Laistrygonian giants posing as visitors from Detroit sneak into Meriwether and wreak havoc during a dodgeball game, hurling fireballs at Percy, Tyson, and their classmates. Percy Jackson and the Olympians moves this fight scene from Meriwether to Camp Half-Blood, with the Laistrygonians ambushing Percy, Tyson, and Annabeth on their way to camp. In moving the scene, the attack winds up replacing the book's Colchis Bull fight.

While there's still a fiery dodgeball element to the Laistrygonian sequence, it misses a lot of the charm from the book's version. Gone are the Laistrygonians' weak disguises, along with the name tags reading Joe Bob, Skull Eater, and Marrow Sucker. These disguises, along with the high school setting of the scene, are a huge part of the appeal of Riordan's series in the first place: seeing Greek mythology transposed into our day-to-day world. I understand wanting to fold two monster attacks into one due to time and budget constraints, but there's still a lot lost when you rip away one of the defining elements of the book series.

Episode 1: Chiron is fired for different reasons.

Rounding out the biggest changes from episode 1 is Chiron's (Glynn Turman) firing from Camp Half-Blood. In the show, he's fired because he's the son of Kronos, which makes the Greek gods wary about his allegiances. The book takes it a step farther: In The Sea of Monsters, Chiron's connection to Kronos makes him a prime suspect in the poisoning of Thalia's (Tamara Smart) tree. He's already fired by the time Luke poisons the tree in the show, though. Percy sees Luke attack the tree in person, furthering the animosity between the two.

Episode 2: Whoa, there's a lot of drama between Percy and Annabeth.

Walker Scobell and Leah Sava Jeffries in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney / David Bukach

Percabeth shippers, buckle up, because this episode delivers so much angst. Chiron reveals the Great Prophecy to Annabeth before telling her that she can't let Percy go on any quests. Cue Annabeth planning to sabotage Percy in the chariot race should it come down to the two of them. Later, she suggests she go on Clarisse's (Dior Goodjohn) quest for the Golden Fleece without Percy. All of this is new, and it's stressful, adding more distrust between the pair.

Despite all the new twists in how the quest comes together, the end result is the same: Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson set out for the Sea of Monsters. However, Percy and Annabeth are more at odds than ever before, setting a more adversarial tone for the quest ahead.

Episode 3: Percy Jackson and the Olympians shows off a different side of Clarisse.

Dior Goodjohn in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney / David Bukach

Episode 3 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 makes a few tweaks to Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson's encounter with Luke aboard the Princess Andromeda, getting new characters like Alison involved, and even having Tyson set off a bomb in totally badass fashion.

The biggest change in the episode, though, is that we get more of Clarisse's perspective as she sets out on her quest. We witness firsthand her trip to the Oracle, along with her father, Ares (Adam Copeland), gifting her a ship and a zombie crew. Unlike in the book, these are losing soldiers from a vast variety of wars, as opposed to simply Confederate soldiers. For a number of reasons... Good call, Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

But Ares' gift is a double-edged sword. He immediately undermines her field experience to the soldiers and threatens Clarisse should she fail. Dad of the Year, he is not. That scene fuels Clarisse's insecurities heading into her mission, which only get worse as the soldiers repeatedly ignore her.

By the episode's end, though, she's won them over by promising them a place in Elysium once they die. Is this a check she can actually cash? I'm not sure yet. However, her rousing speech is proof of her burgeoning leadership skills. Plus, seeing Clarisse actually struggle with the beginning of her quest is something we don't get much of in The Sea of Monsters, beyond a tense conversation Percy overhears between her and Ares. That's one of the benefits of a TV adaptation that isn't a book narrated in first person: We get to take in other perspectives. As a result, Clarisse gets more layers this episode, and Goodjohn gets to truly shine as a more prominent member of Percy Jackson and the Olympians' ensemble.

Episode 4: Percy Jackson and the Olympians gives us flashbacks to Annabeth, Luke, and Thalia's journey to Camp Half-Blood.

Tamara Smart in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney / David Bukach

Following in the footsteps of episode 3's focus on Clarisse, episode 4 continues Percy Jackson and the Olympians' trend of showcasing new, non-Percy perspectives. This time, we get that in the form of flashbacks to Annabeth's time traveling with Luke and Thalia (Tamara Smart), daughter of Zeus (Courtney B. Vance), to Camp Half-Blood. A dangerous encounter between young Annabeth and a band of Cyclopes prompts Thalia's decision to find sanctuary at Camp Half-Blood, as opposed to continuing to live life on the road. In Annabeth's mind, this was the fatal decision that led to Thalia's death on the edges of camp. If she hadn't been captured by the Cyclopes in the first place, then Thalia would still be alive.

The actual Cyclopes encounter plays out differently in the show than in the books, which saw 7-year-old Annabeth saving a trapped Luke, Thalia, and Grover from a Brooklyn-based Cyclops' house of horrors. That fateful meeting led to Annabeth's deep hatred of all Cyclopes. However, in the show, Annabeth's ire is directed less at the Cyclopes, and more at herself for getting captured in the first place and slowing Thalia and Luke down. It's a poignant shift, one that emphasizes her survivor's guilt. It also gives us our first look at Smart in action as Thalia, getting us ready for Percy Jackson and the Olympians' Season 3 adaptation of The Titan's Curse.

Episode 4: The Scylla and Charybdis fight gives Clarisse a moral crisis.

Just like in the books, Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, and Clarisse face off with Scylla and Charybdis in order to enter the Sea of Monsters. But the show adds in a trolley problem-esque twist, courtesy of Annabeth's battle strategy. To get past Scylla, all Clarisse needs to do is sacrifice six of her men, one for each tentacle. Should she knowingly send these soldiers to their doom in order for guaranteed success? Or should she try her original plan of getting past Charybdis?

In the end, Clarisse follows Annabeth's plan. Yet the guilt of sacrificing her crew members overwhelms her, and she joins them on deck. Once again, the added depth to Clarisse works wonders here. It's great to see that as she's stepped up in terms of importance, the show has stepped up just as much in terms of letting audience members into her inner world.

Episode 5: Percy Jackson and the Olympians mashes up Circe and the Sirens.

Walker Scobell and Leah Sava Jeffries in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney / David Bukach

Episode 5 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians mashes up two key encounters from The Sea of Monsters, those with sorceress Circe (Rosemarie DeWitt) and the Sirens. Here, instead of immediately turning Percy into a guinea pig the way she does in the books, Circe tries to keep Percy and Annabeth at her island resort with the promise that she can train them — and the other many demigods staying on her island — to get past the Sirens. Of course, she's lying and merely trying to keep people around to avoid the loneliness she's experienced for centuries.

The end result of the Circe encounter is the same: She turns Percy into a guinea pig, Annabeth saves him, and the two leave the island. But along the way, we get a new perspective on a legendary antagonist of Greek mythology, as well as some fascinating discussion of Percy and Annabeth's fatal flaws. As far as adaptation changes go, I'm not mad at it — especially since we still get to see Percy in guinea pig form.

Episode 5: That encounter with the Sirens looks way different.

Percy and Annabeth's meeting with the Sirens looks nowhere near how it looks in The Sea of Monsters. In the book, Percy plugs his ears with wax and ties Annabeth to the mast, as she wants to hear what the Sirens have to sing. In the show, after some drama about ear wax, Percy winds up on the mast, but Annabeth still falls under the Sirens' spell. 

Annabeth's vision differs between page and screen. In the book, she sees herself having a picnic with her father and Luke in a New York that she's designed. The show features a vision of Grover needing her to solve conflict between Luke and Percy, which then gives way to another vision of Annabeth slaying the Sirens and impressing her mother, Athena (Andra Day). 

As for Percy's vision? All he says he saw was Annabeth, which grounded him and led him to save her. But if his ears weren't blocked, and the Sirens' songs show you your greatest desire, and all he saw was Annabeth… Then that means for Percabeth fans, this sequence was a treat.

Episode 5: Clarisse and Grover team up against Polyphemus.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians introduces the unlikely team-up of Clarisse and Grover, who try to work together to escape Polyphemus' (Aleks Paunovic) cave. While their partnership isn't something we get to see in the books due to Percy's first-person narration, it's fun to witness in the show. The real switch-up here, though, is the reveal that thanks to his sense of smell, Polyphemus has known who Grover is the whole time. Plus, he's been using him as bait to lure Percy Jackson to his island. That's new territory for the show to tread, so what's Polyphemus' endgame?

Episode 6: Luke crashes the Golden Fleece party.

Several elements of Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2, episode 6 differ from The Sea of Monsters, from Polyphemus planting a decoy Golden Fleece to Hippocampus Rainbow's late introduction. But the biggest difference is undoubtedly Luke's arrival on Polyphemus' island. While he never shows up there in the book, his appearance there in episode 6 creates one of the show's most fascinating moral dilemmas.

In their skirmish with Polyphemus, Annabeth and Percy get separated. He winds up trapped in Polyphemus' cave with Clarisse and Grover, while Annabeth gets injured just outside it. Luke discovers her there and realizes she's dying. The only thing that can save her is the Golden Fleece inside the cave. Percy realizes that if he gives it to Luke, he'll save Annabeth but doom the quest to save Camp Half-Blood. Even knowing that, he does it anyway.

The whole sequence is a show-only creation, but it's a strong payoff to the discussion of Percy's fatal flaw from episode 5: He cares so deeply for his friends that he will always put them first, no matter the cost. What consequences will Percy's choice have as the show heads into episode 7?

Episode 7: The entire Annabeth rescue mission is new.

Leah Sava Jeffries in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney / David Bukach

Episode 7 follows a similar shape to the climax of The Sea of Monsters: Percy fights Luke onboard the Princess Andromeda, and Clarisse, true to the prophecy, flies back to Camp Half-Blood alone with the Golden Fleece. However, the actual events leading up to these broader arcs are wildly different. For one, there's the added element of Percy needing to rescue Annabeth. Plus, Clarisse is actually around for the fight, whereas in the book, Percy sends her to the airport with the Fleece before crossing paths with Luke again.

All these shifts allow for a greater emphasis on ties that bind our group of demigods together, especially the newfound respect and friendship between Percy and Clarisse. As sweet as these changes wind up being, part of me does miss the chaos of Chiron and his Party Pony relatives crashing the boat and saving the day, even if creating a centaur stampede would have been in no way practical from a VFX and budget standpoint. You know what makes up for that, though? Seeing Sally Jackson come back to give Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Tyson a ride back to Camp Half-Blood. Any time she brings out her exasperated demigod mom energy is a good time.

Episode 7: Annabeth realizes the Golden Fleece can save Thalia.

The Sea of Monsters ends with the twist that the Golden Fleece didn't just restore the protective barrier around Camp Half-Blood — it also brought Thalia back to life. However, in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Annabeth gets a vision that the Fleece could accomplish this, adding even greater personal stakes to getting the Fleece back to Thalia's tree as soon as possible.

Fascinatingly, it turns out that Kronos has kept the possibility of Thalia's revival from Luke. But The Sea of Monsters implies that Luke knew the Fleece could bring Thalia back. After all, Kronos wanted her alive again so he could have another child of the Big Three gods with a chance of fulfilling the Great Prophecy. The show's version of Kronos not telling Luke this crucial fact suggests that he doesn't fully trust him, sowing some seeds of discord between Luke and the Titan he's pledged himself to.

Episode 7: Kronos orders a battle at Camp Half-Blood.

Speaking of Kronos, he plays a bigger role in episode 7 because the Golden Fleece speeds up his return from Tartarus (at least, before a very sassy Percy snatches it off his casket). That role includes pushing Luke to fully attack Camp Half-Blood as a new test of loyalty, hinting at a finale battle that isn't in The Sea of Monsters at all. How will this new climax play out in episode 8?

Episode 8: The entire battle at the border of Camp Half-Blood is new.

The brunt of Season 2's finale involves a battle at the border of Camp Half-Blood, one that's completely new to the show. (However, in terms of Kronos taking the fight to Camp, it does bear shades of the climax of Battle of the Labyrinth.) It's the biggest set piece the show has done so far, and it's full of great character beats: Percy giving a motivational speech about the true meaning of being a hero, Tyson saving Percy from Luke, and Clarisse completing her quest with the help of her friends. It also offers up some exciting new show-only moments, including portraying campers like Chris Rodriguez (Kevin Chacon) defecting to Luke, whereas in the book, he's already on Luke's side.

Episode 8: Zeus turned Thalia into a tree as punishment instead of protection.

Marissa Lior Winans in "Percy Jackson and the Olympians." Credit: Disney / David Bukach

The battle is undeniably exhilarating, especially since, being a show-only invention, almost anything could happen. However, the most jaw-dropping change between page and screen comes in the finale's last moments, when Chiron reveals that Zeus didn't really turn Thalia into a tree to protect her from the Furies. Instead, he did so as punishment for her hesitation to join him in the coming battle against Kronos.

Zeus sees Thalia's refusal to be his weapon as proof that she'll side with Kronos, making her the demigod to tear down Olympus in the Great Prophecy. For him, turning her into a tree takes her off the playing field.

Now, though, Thalia is back, and she has more of a reason than ever to despise her father and the rest of the gods. How will this more intense anger impact her and Percy's alliance going forward, especially as the show heads into their quest in The Titan's Curse? While we don't know many of the specifics of Season 3 yet, it's clear the changes to Thalia's backstory may be setting in motion some intriguing future deviations from the source material.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 is now streaming on Disney+, with a new episode every week.

Donald Trump's desires on Greenland are not going away, and the rest of the world is quickly being dragged into the mix.

In the Late Night video above Seth Meyers attempts to make sense of it all, from the U.S. president's continuing anger about not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize to the "eight wars" he supposedly stopped ("I stopped eight wars including Infinity War, World War Z, War of the Roses and of course the Star Wars," drawls Meyers. "Think about it, you used to look at the sky, there was so much lasers.")

"So because a country that does not govern Greenland did not give him a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping wars that were not wars, Trump is now threatening to start a new war with Denmark," summarises Meyers. "Which is not Norway, which does not control the Nobel Peace Prize."

In a behind-the-scenes clip from The Daily Show, Jon Stewart is asked by an audience member whether or not he'd consider running for office — and he kind of evades the question. But his answer is interesting nonetheless.

"This is a question that comes up a lot, and I think it speaks to — if I may, and I don't know the motivation — it speaks to this desperation and dissatisfaction that we have with the status quo," Stewart says. "You see somebody on television who's saying some of the things that resonate with you, and you think, 'Well f*** it'. 'I think you should be president' is the line that comes right after 'F*** it.'"

Well, that's not technically a "no" though, is it?

Things have started off fairly gently for Dunk (Peter Claffey), but it looks like the stakes are going to get higher pretty soon.

HBO's "weeks ahead" trailer above for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms teases Dunk getting in the bad books of Prince Aerion Targaryen (Finn Bennett), ending with a trial by combat that sees him on a misty battlefield.

Hopefully we'll still get plenty more phlegm-based humour too, though.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is streaming on HBO, with new episodes dropping Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.

HBO's new Game of Thrones spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, features more knights than you can shake a lance at.

The House of the Dragon sequel takes place at a tournament (or "tourney") in The Reach's Ashford Meadow, where only knights are allowed to enter "the lists" — spaces for publicly demonstrating their combat and jousting skills. But what of Ser Duncan "Dunk" the Tall (Peter Claffey), who is constantly scorned as a "hedge knight" rather than a "true knight."

What exactly is a hedge knight, and why does it matter?

Firstly, knights. Westerosi knights are like real knights from medieval history, a well-armed warrior class who serve a lord or monarch and are bound by a chivalric code to protect the realm and defend the innocent. Kings, princes, and lords can also be knights. They're skilled at horseback combat and the brutal art of jousting, and they bear a coat of arms on their banners and shields to show off their lineage — all the great houses of Westeros have knights. And they usually have a squire to attend them, because that armor's not going to polish itself.

As Master of Games Plummer (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) explains in episode 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, "Any knight can make a knight." Jaime Lannister also famously says this line in the Game of Thrones series when knighting Brienne of Tarth. This means anyone can undergo "the accolade" — bending the knee, having a sword touched on either shoulder, and being dubbed a "Ser" — as long as it's done by another knight or a monarch. But you absolutely need witnesses. This is tricky for Dunk, as he explains in episode 1. His master, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), knighted him with his longsword before he died, but unfortunately, the only witnesses were a thorn tree and a robin, so he needs a knight or lord to vouch for him to enter the tourney.

Knights also need money. As Plummer explains to Dunk, you need ample cash for armor, horses, training, and men to help you with all of that. Like a modern equestrian, it's not a cheap life. Plus, in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (and also in history), if you lose in the tourney to another knight, they get all your gear, which you must pay a ransom to get back.

But what's a hedge knight?

Dunk is a full-time camper. Credit: Steffan Hill / HBO

Essentially, hedge knights are the same as true knights, except they don't serve a lord, master, or great house — very much like the masterless samurai known as ronin. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on George R.R. Martin's Dunk and Egg novellas including The Hedge Knight, in which Martin describes Dunk like this:

"The only life he knew was the life of a hedge knight, riding from keep to keep, taking service with this lord and that lord, fighting in their battles and eating in their halls until the war was done, then moving on. There were tourneys from time to time as well, though less often, and he knew that some hedge knights turned robber during lean winters, though the old man never had."

Both Ser Dunk and his master, Ser Arlan of Pennytree, are hedge knights — and Dunk gives us tiny scraps of his master's history serving various lords in battle, but not permanently. "Ser Arlan always said a hedge knight was the truest kind of knight," Dunk remarks to his horse in episode 1, constantly keeping sight of the sacred oath of all knights: serving the realm and protecting the weak and innocent.

However, hedge knights have a bad rep, seen by most people of Westeros as less important, less formidable knights, first described by Red (Rowan Robinson) in episode 1 as "like a knight but sadder."

"Got to sleep in the hedges 'cause no lord'll have it," she continues, referring to the fact that "true knights" who serve the great houses and palaces of Westeros live among the aristocracy or on their own awarded lands. Dunk sleeps under the stars camping each night, while the likes of Ser Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings) has a whole luxe pavilion set-up and lands to return to.

If Dunk manages to be victorious at the tourney, could he land himself a sweet position in the house of Baratheon or the like? Or once a hedge knight, always a hedge knight?

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is now streaming on HBO, with new episodes dropping Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.

The Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is only one episode in, but there have already been some nods to the wider Game of Thrones universe.

Aside from the many moments of comedy, though, there was also a scene early on in the episode that may have contained an intriguing clue — even if we're not quite sure why it's significant yet.

So what happened, and why might it be relevant? Let's unpack.

What happens in the inn with the drunk man and the coin?

Early on in the episode, Dunc (Peter Claffey) stops at an inn for dinner while en route to the Ashford tourney. The only other guest is a long-haired man (Henry Ashton) who appears to be passed out at a nearby table.

Dunc gets on with ordering his food, but partway through his conversation with the innkeeper, the man interrupts.

"I dreamed of you," he says, pulling out a knife. "Stay the f*** away from me. You hear?"

He puts a single coin on the table, staggers to his feet, then stumbles up the stairs.

"Never you mind that one, ser," says the innkeeper, pocketing the coin. "I'll see about your food."

But we can tell from the way both she and Dunc stare at the coin that it must be significant.

What's the significance of the coin?

The coin the man drops on the table contains a sigil that will be familiar to anyone who's seen Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon: a three-headed dragon.

This is the sigil of House Targaryen, meant to represent the three dragons ridden by Aegon the Conqueror, Rhaenys, and Visenya when they took control of Westeros. We don't yet know the identity of the man in the inn, but the fact he has this coin suggests he's either a) a Targaryen himself, or b) he's recently been in close contact with a Targaryen.

The Targaryens are, of course, still the ruling family in Westeros at the time of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Perhaps this won't be the last we see of the man in the inn.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has so far been a refreshingly amusing return to Westeros, but there was one scene that particularly tickled us in episode 1.

We're talking, of course, about the phlegm scene — a moment in the meeting between Dunk (Peter Claffey) and Master of Games Plummer (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) that's so prolonged it's instantly hilarious.

The scene takes place as Dunk is attempting to sign himself up for the Ashford tourney. He enters a room where the Master of Games, Plummer, sits eating at a desk while he works. Dunk attempts to explain who he is and how he came to be a knight, describing the moment when the man he squired for, Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), knighted him shortly before his death.

"When he was dying, he called for his longsword and bade me kneel," says Dunk. "Charged me to be a good knight, to defend the weak and the innocent, serve the realm with all my might — and I swore that I would."

In any other context, this would be a passionate, even poignant, speech, but what happens next undercuts it in the best possible way: Plummer clears his sinuses of a truly horrendous-sounding wad of phlegm, revs up, and spits it into a nearby cup, much to Dunk's stunned disgust.

"I thought it would be good if the spit had three clear beats: the hawking back through the nose, so he really got a nice bit of intense leverage into catching the phlegm, then a bit of a fermenting of it in the back of the throat, and then finally a nice, sharp, clean finish and expulsion," Vaughan-Lawlor told Mashable. "It gets a few more outings later in the series."

Vaughan-Lawlor went on to explain that Plummer hawking up phlegm is indeed in the episode's script. "Ira Parker, our showrunner and writer of the episode, gave the character this wonderful little character detail as a kind of manifestation of his stress or a habit that is trying to control stress, a tic he is not even really aware of," he said. "What I love about the scene is that for all his stress, he has enough [empathy] to see that Dunk has something that reminds him a little bit of his younger self: a man of lowly birth, fighting in a very tough world to make something of himself, and that’s why he tries to help him…"

Like all the shows in George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones universe, the attention to detail in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is already shining through — in both the main characters and the smaller ones.

"What is so stunning about even the peripheral characters in the Game of Thrones world is that the writers give them so much detail for an actor to work with," said Vaughan-Lawlor. "It’s all the small little character detail all built up together that give the characters their vividness."

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is streaming on HBO, with new episodes dropping Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.

To be known as "The Tall" you'd have to be pretty tall, but how tall, exactly, are we talking?

This may not be your biggest question after watching A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but we're willing to bet it's crossed your mind.

The show includes multiple mentions of everyone's favourite hedge knight, Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey), being of large stature. But how tall is the character in George R.R. Martin's Dunk and Egg books, and how does the actor playing him measure up?

How tall is Ser Duncan the Tall?

Despite there already being numerous jokes and references to Dunk's impressive height — "The Seven above gave you tallness!" says Ser Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings) at one point, after commenting on Dunk slouching, "So be tall!" — we don't know exactly what that impressive height is. Ser Duncan towers over pretty much all the other characters he meets, but how tall is he? Are we talking the Hound's height? The Mountain's? Taller?

Fortunately, we have George R.R. Martin's books as a reference point. In the Dunk and Egg series, Ser Duncan is measured as being an inch shy of seven feet. So, canonically at least, the character is 6'11'' tall.

How tall is Peter Claffey, the actor who plays him?

There aren't many actors out there — or people in general — who are 6'11'', so it's perhaps unsurprising that the onscreen Dunk isn't quite as lofty.

Former rugby union player-turned-actor Peter Claffey is a large man, though, with his height listed as 1.95 meters, or around 6'5''.

In other words, he's about six inches shorter than the Dunk Martin envisioned in his books. But when you're still towering over almost every other person around you, maybe it doesn't matter all that much.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is streaming on HBO, with new episodes dropping Sundays at 10 p.m. ET.

Part of Industry's brilliance is its capacity for reinvention. In Seasons 3 and 4, HBO's finance thriller shook up its own formula: Widening its scope, experimenting with form, and even getting rid of Pierpoint and Co. entirely. But even with these shakeups in mind, nothing could have prepared me for the haunting ghost story at the center of Season 4, episode 2, "The Commander and the Grey Lady."

The episode centers on Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harington), who was mostly absent from Season 4's jam-packed premiere. Following a losing bid to become a member of parliament, Henry has fallen into a stew of depression, apathy, and misuse of drugs. His pain comes to a head during his 40th birthday party, a lavish costumed affair thrown by his wife, Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela).

This birthday comes with a heap of emotional baggage for Henry. As the episode unfolds, we learn that Henry's father died by suicide on his 40th birthday, and that Henry watched it happen. Haunted by that memory and feeling himself creeping toward a similar end, Henry breaks down at his birthday dinner.

Only the arrival of a mysterious stranger (Jack Farthing) seems to bring Henry any peace. He swans in and whisks Henry away to a local pub. Soon, though, the pieces fall into place. The stranger is actually Henry's father, appearing both as a ghostly vision and a reminder of Henry's most formative trauma.

The episode marks Industry's foray into the supernatural, a surprise that Harington found affecting.

"There's something really, deeply, emotionally moving about the idea of meeting your parent at the same age that you are," Harington told Mashable in a Zoom interview.

He likened it to Andrew Haigh's 2023 film, All of Us Strangers, in which Andrew Scott's Adam encounters the spirits of his parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell), who passed away when he was a child. Now around their age, he's able to share parts of his life he never got the chance to reveal to them, including coming out.

"I was in floods," Harington said of watching the film. "I don't easily cry, and I was in floods all the way through that movie."

"The Commander and the Grey Lady" occupies a similar space, where a child reconnects with their long-dead parent. Here, though, the effect is less melancholic in the vein of All of Us Strangers, and more foreboding. Henry's father shows him the self-inflicted gunshot wound that killed him, then hints that Henry will be joining him "very soon." It's the purest version of the dread that has fueled Henry all episode: that he may end up just like his father.

He almost does. Following his encounter with his father, Henry prepares to die by carbon monoxide poisoning in his estate's garage. However, at the last moment, he leaves the garage and returns to Yasmin, newly invigorated at having outlived his father and overcome this burden that's been weighing on him.

"He's had all this suicidal ideation, and then he makes it past it," Harington said. "It's this real moment in his life."

In any other show, you could imagine an episode of this scale, with as a big a swing as a full-on ghost story, being a late-season installment. Maybe even a finale! But for Industry Season 4, it's just part of the beginning.

"That episode, functionally, within Industry, is very important," Harington said. "Because for us to make it through the season and to get on board with Henry, we need to understand him right from the get-go. We need to empathize with him. We need to feel for him, and that has a very important purpose for the season's start, that we delve right into him in a very intense way so we can understand him."

Ultimately, the entire episode closes one chapter of Henry's life — one where he's burdened by the memory of his father — and opens a new one. However, given that this chapter will involve working with company Tender, which is coming under scrutiny from Harper Stern (Myha'la) and journalist Jim Dycker (Charlie Heaton), it's highly likely that Henry's about to hit a new rough patch very, very soon.

New episodes of Industry Season 4 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

If you're feeling suicidal or experiencing a mental health crisis, please talk to somebody. You can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. You can reach the Trans Lifeline by calling 877-565-8860 or the Trevor Project at 866-488-7386. Text "START" to Crisis Text Line at 741-741. Contact the NAMI HelpLine at 1-800-950-NAMI, Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. ET, or email info@nami.org. If you don't like the phone, consider using the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline Chat. Here is a list of international resources.

Another Game of Thrones show means another Targaryen family tree to memorize, and HBO's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is no exception.

The prequel series primarily centers on lowborn knight Ser Duncan "Dunk" the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his young squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), following their time at a tournament at Ashford Meadow. However, despite A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' focus on Westeros' smallfolk, it's not long before the Targaryens show up to bring drama (and tons of "ae" names) to the tourney.

If you're wondering how all these new members of the House of the Dragon are related to one another, you've come to the right place. Below, we've laid out the Targaryen family tree as it stands heading into A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1. For simplicity's sake, we've pruned some of the branches to show how these family members tie back to House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones, and we've focused on the major Targaryen players you'll meet early on. Read on to meet your newest crop of Targaryens — and see how they all connect.

Behold, the Targaryen family tree. Credit: Ian Moore / Mashable

King Daeron II Targaryen

The current head honcho of Westeros is King Daeron II Targaryen, the great-grandson of House of the Dragon's Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen. You won't actually meet him in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but his reign has molded the Westeros you'll see in the series.

By this point, almost 80 years after the events of House of the Dragon, Westeros is experiencing a period of peace, and it's all thanks to King Daeron II. He put an end to the Blackfyre Rebellion, a bloody coup attempt by legitimized Targaryen bastards, and he also managed to bring Dorne peacefully into the Seven Kingdoms. They don't call him "Daeron the Good" for nothing!

Daeron II's sons: Baelor and Maekar Targaryen

Bertie Carvel and Sam Spruell in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." Credit: Composite: Mashable / Images: Steffon Hill / HBO

King Daeron II has four sons with his wife, Dornish Princess Myriah Martell: Baelor, Aerys, Rhaegal, and Maekar. For the purposes of this show, you really only need to care about the first and fourth sons, Baelor and Maekar.

Prince Baelor "Breakspear" Targaryen (Bertie Carvel) is the eldest of Daeron II's sons. Not only is he heir to the Iron Throne, he's also Hand of the King. Like his father, he's deeply respected and viewed as wise and just. He has two sons with his wife Jena Dondarrion: Prince Valarr (Oscar Morgan) and Prince Matarys, but only Valarr appears in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Notably, Baelor doesn't have the Targaryens' silver hair, but instead favors his Dornish side with darker hair.

Harsher than his brother (but with much more silver hair), Maekar (Sam Spruell) is the Prince of Summerhall. He also has six children compared to Baelor's two, and several of them will play a larger role in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Maekar's children: Daeron, Aerion, Aemon, Daella, Aegon, and Rhae

Finn Bennett in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." Credit: Steffon Hill / HBO

Maekar and his wife Dyanna Dayne have six children together: Daeron, Aerion, Aemon, Daella, Aegon, and Rhae. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms primarily focuses on his sons, leaving Daella and Rhae out of the story.

His first son, Daeron (Henry Ashton), is also known as Daeron the Drunken, and he has the prophetic dragon dreaming gift of select Targaryens. House of the Dragon's Helaena Targaryen is similarly gifted.

Maekar's second son, Aerion (Finn Bennett), fits the bill of the classic "mad" Targaryen. Thinking he's a dragon in human form, he dubs himself "Aerion Brightflame" and wears a fiery helmet that is, admittedly, pretty sick. Still, his fashion choices can't make up for his cruelty and sadism.

Game of Thrones fans have already met Maekar's son Aemon: He's none other than Maester Aemon from Castle Black. Don't expect to see him in Season 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, though, as he's currently studying to be get his maester chain in Oldtown. However, his existence in the world of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms serves as a reminder of how the show connects to Game of Thrones, whose events are a little under a century away.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms delivers a first for HBO. It's a Game of Thrones spin-off without the Iron Throne.

In both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, characters want nothing more than to park their butts in that spiky chair so they can rule the Seven Kingdoms — and they're willing to start brutal wars to get there. But in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, there is no war for succession. There isn't even a shot of the Iron Throne!

Instead, the series focuses on a time of relative peace for Westeros, when hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his new squire, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), venture to a tournament at Ashford Meadow. At first, most of the people they'll cross path with are smallfolk, none of whom have the kingly or queenly aspirations of Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon's leads. Instead, they're most concerned with making coin and enjoying the tournament.

However, it's not long before the Targaryens enter the fray. Now dragon-less, Westeros' favorite incestuous family still rules the Seven Kingdoms. But which member of the family sits atop the Iron Throne?

Who is the king in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms?

The current Lord of the Seven Kingdoms in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is Daeron II Targaryen, who doesn't actually appear in the show. He's presumably off in King's Landing while his sons Maekar (Sam Spruell) and Baelor (Bertie Carvel) head to Ashford Meadow.

To put King Daeron in the context of other Targaryens you may be familiar with, he's the great-grandson of House of the Dragon's Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) and Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith). He's also the great-great-great-grandfather of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke).

But just because King Daeron doesn't make an appearance in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms doesn't mean he's not interesting in his own right. George R.R. Martin's The World of Ice & Fire lays out key elements of his rise to power and his rule.

King Daeron had a contentious relationship with his father, King Aegon IV. While the latter wanted to go to war with Dorne, which was not yet a part of the Seven Kingdoms, the former encouraged peace.

Aegon began to sow rumors that Daeron was not his legitimate son, and was instead the product of an affair between his wife (and his sister) Naerys and their brother Aemon. While he never formally disowned Daeron as his heir, Aegon did legitimize all his bastards on his deathbed in the ultimate "screw you" to his son. His bastard sons with noble mothers came to be known as the Great Bastards, and they went on to cause major drama. But then again, would we expect less from the Targaryens?

One of the Great Bastards, Daemon Waters, dubbed himself Daemon I Blackfyre and made a claim for the Iron Throne. So began the First Blackfyre Rebellion, which tore across Westeros and lasted from 195 AC (After Aegon's Conquest) to 196 AC. Daemon and his sons perished by the end of the rebellion, and Daeron retained the Iron Throne. That would be the last major point of conflict during his reign, although it wouldn't be the last Westeros saw of the Blackfyre Pretenders. (After all, it's the "First" Blackfyre Rebellion for a reason.)

Outside the Blackfyre Rebellion, Daeron's reign was a peaceful and important one. He managed to do what Aegon the Conqueror and several of his descendant could not: incorporate Dorne into the Seven Kingdoms, all without bloodshed.

Before Daeron even became a prince, he married Princess Myriah Martell as part of a peaceful pact with Dorne. Once he became king, he negotiated with Prince Maron Martell of Dorne to bring Dorne into the Seven Kingdoms.

For his kindness and wisdom, King Daeron became known as Daeron the Good, making him a massive step up from most of the other Targaryens we've met across Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. And while we won't meet him in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, you can thank him for the peaceful version of Westeros we witness in the series.

Seven knows we won't be getting that level of peace in House of the Dragon Season 3, that's for sure.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

It's that most magical time of the year: The White Lotus casting season.

Season 4 of Mike White's hotel-set anthology series begins production in April of 2026, so casting announcements for the show's next set of ultra-rich guests and exasperated staffers have begun to roll in. Not only that, but the season's sure-to-be gorgeous setting has already been revealed.

There's still quite a bit of time before the season's release, so we'll have to wait a while for the next batch of White Lotus memes and discourse to obsess over. But until then, here's everything we know about the upcoming season.

Who is in The White Lotus Season 4?

So far, four cast members have been announced for The White Lotus Season 4. In December 2024, AJ Michalka and Alexander Ludwig became the first actors to join the season.

Michalka is one half of the musical duo Aly & AJ, and she has also starred in movies such as Super 8 and The Lovely Bones, as well as TV shows including ABC's The Goldbergs and its spin-off, Schooled. Ludwig rose to fame as Cato in The Hunger Games and has since starred in series like the History Channel's Vikings and MGM+'s Earth Abides.

On Jan. 16, Variety reported that Steve Coogan and Caleb Jonte Edwards had also checked into Season 4. Comedian Coogan is known for his work as Alan Partridge, as well as projects like The Trip films and Philomena, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture (as a producer). A newcomer, Edwards has previously starred in one episode of the Australian crime drama Black Snow.

Prior seasons have featured returning characters such as Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge), Belinda (Natasha Rothwell), and Greg (Jon Gries). Will White bring back another character this season?

Where does The White Lotus Season 4 take place?

Get ready to brush up on your French, because The White Lotus is heading to the French Riviera. On Jan. 9, Variety reported that the season would shoot at the Château de La Messardière, a 19th-century palace-turned-hotel in Saint-Tropez. According to Variety, some scenes were also filmed at a Paris hotel.

Sources also told Variety that the Cannes Film Festival might figure into the storyline, setting up a more film-focused season. The plot of Season 4 is otherwise under wraps.

When is The White Lotus Season 4 coming out?

Variety reported that The White Lotus Season 4 will shoot from the end of April to the end of October, meaning a 2027 release date is likely.

For comparison, principal photography for Season 3 wrapped in Aug. 2024. The season premiered in Feb. 2025, making for a six-month turnaround. If Season 4 follows a similar pattern, we could be looking at a spring 2027 premiere.

The White Lotus is now streaming on HBO.

From the frigid forests of the North to the bustling streets of King's Landing, the world of Westeros is home to countless fantasy locations — so much so that Game of Thrones' opening credits provided a map to lay it all out for us!

So where on that map does Game of Thrones' latest spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, land?

Unlike Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, there is no Westerosi globe-trotting in Season 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Instead, it spends most of its time in one place: Ashford Meadow, the site of a tournament where new hedge knight Ser Duncan "Dunk" the Tall (Peter Claffey) hopes to prove his mettle.

Where is Ashford Meadow in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms?

Ashford Meadow is a large field near the town of Ashford, in the Westerosi region known as the Reach. At the time of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, it's ruled by House Tyrell from their seat in Highgarden.

Ashford is east of Highgarden along the river Cockleswent. It's also just north of the Dornish Marches. Despite their name, the Dornish Marches are in the Stormlands instead of Dorne, placing them under the rule of House Baratheon. However, they also serve as the northern border to Dorne which, by the time A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms begins, has only been a part of the Seven Kingdoms for a little over a decade.

Given its position near Dorne and the Stormlands, Ashford Meadow serves as a perfect crossroads for Dunk to meet a variety of people from across the Seven Kingdoms. He'll meet nobles from the Reach, like Steffon and Raymun Fossoway (Edward Ashley and Shaun Thomas); puppeteers from Dorne, like Tanselle (Tanzyn Crawford); and even the Lord of Storm's End, Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings).

The Reach also has a special significance to knighthood as it stands in Westeros. In a 1999 letter to a fan, as collected in A Song of Ice and Fire archive The Citadel, George R.R. Martin wrote, "The Reach is the heart of the chivalric tradition in the Seven Kingdoms, the place where knighthood is most universally esteemed."

That means Dunk will be proving himself and learning what it truly means to be a knight in the most chivalrous place in Westeros. What better testing ground could there be?

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

If you're a Game of Thrones fan, you're going to hear a ton of familiar names in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

HBO's latest Game of Thrones spin-off takes place roughly a century before the original series, when knight Ser Duncan "Dunk" the Tall (Peter Claffey) first takes his squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) under his wing. The pair make their way to a tournament at Ashford Meadow. And you know what a tournament means? Lots of Westerosi lords will be there — including members of the Great Houses whose descendants viewers have come to know and love in Game of Thrones. So who should you be keeping an eye out for in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and how are they related to your Game of Thrones faves?

So, so, so many Targaryens

Finn Bennett, Bertie Carvel, and Sam Spruell in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." Credit: Composite: Mashable / Images: Steffon Hill / HBO

It wouldn't be a Game of Thrones show without Targaryens, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has Targs to spare. Major names to remember include Prince Baelor "Breakspear" Targaryen (Bertie Carvel), heir to the Iron Throne; his brother, Prince Maekar (Sam Spruell); and Maekar's son, Aerion (Finn Bennett). While Baelor is among the kindest, most just Targaryens you'll meet onscreen, Aerion is a total wild card with a bit of a sadistic streak.

You won't see him in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but the current ruler of the Seven Kingdoms is Baelor and Maekar's father, Daeron II Targaryen. Known as "Daeron the Good," he's a respected ruler who managed to incorporate Dorne into the Seven Kingdoms without spilling a drop of blood — something even Aegon the Conqueror couldn't accomplish. He's also Daenerys Targaryen's great-great-great-grandfather.

That's not the only connection this crop of Targaryens has to Game of Thrones. Maekar has sons besides Aerion, including Aemon, who's currently training to become a Maester at the Citadel. Down the line, he becomes becomes Maester at Castle Black in Game of Thrones. Like Daeron II, Aemon doesn't appear in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but just know that he's around (and probably scrubbing chambers pots like Samwell Tarly did in Game of Thrones Season 7).

Lyonel Baratheon

Daniel Ings in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." Credit: Steffon Hill / HBO

House Baratheon's words are "Ours is the fury," but you'd never know it from looking at Ser Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings), current heir to Storm's End. Nicknamed "the Laughing Storm," he's a jovial partier who loves a good time — and a good fight, should the need arise. His heir, Ormund, goes on to be the grandfather of Game of Thrones characters like King Robert, Stannis, and Renly. George R.R. Martin doesn't specify whether Ormund is Lyonel's son, meaning he could be some other family relation. However, Lyonel remains an integral part of the Baratheon family tree.

Leo Tyrell

The current Lord of Highgarden is Leo "Longthorn" Tyrell (Steve Wall), whose descendants include Mace Tyrell and his children, Margaery and Loras. According to The World of Ice and Fire and A Storm of Swords, he's a formidable jouster and one of House Tyrell's most lauded knights.

Manfred Dondarrion

Daniel Monks in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." Credit: Steffon Hill / HBO

House Dondarrion isn't one of the Great Houses, but it still deserves a shout-out. Ser Manfred Dondarrion (Daniel Monks) is the heir to House Dondarrion in the Stormlands. He's also one of the ancestors of Game of Thrones' much-resurrected Ser Beric Dondarrion, the Lightning Lord and leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Forget Team Black versus Team Green. When it comes to House of the Dragon, the bigger conflict appears to be Team George R.R. Martin versus Team Ryan Condal.

In a Hollywood Reporter interview, the Song of Ice and Fire author revealed that his relationship with the House of the Dragon showrunner is "worse than rocky. It's abysmal."

The pair co-created the Game of Thrones prequel together, but during Season 2, cracks in their relationship began to surface. In an Aug. 30, 2024 post on his Not A Blog blog, Martin wrote, "I do not look forward to other posts I need to write, about everything that’s gone wrong with HOUSE OF THE DRAGON."

That post came just days later, on Sept. 4. In a now-deleted post titled, "Beware the Butterflies," Martin argued that, by removing Helaena (Phia Saban) and Aegon II Targaryen's (Tom Glynn-Carney) baby Maelor from the show's infamous Blood and Cheese sequence, House of the Dragon had unleashed a butterfly effect that would negatively impact its adaptation of plot points from the rest of Martin's Targaryen history Fire and Blood.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Beware the Butterflies" was meant to be the first of six posts Martin would write about House of the Dragon. However, the other five never saw the light of day.

The post was a culmination of what appears to be a strained creative partnership.

"I thought Ryan and I were partners," Martin told The Hollywood Reporter. "And we were all through the first season. I would read early drafts of the scripts. I would give notes. He would change some things. It was working really well — I thought."

Then came Season 2.

"He basically stopped listening to me," Martin said. "I would give notes, and nothing would happen. Sometimes he would explain why he wasn't doing it. Other times, he would tell me, 'Oh, OK, yeah, I'll think about that.' It got worse and worse, and I began to get more and more annoyed. Finally, it got to a point where I was told by HBO that I should submit all my notes to them and they would give Ryan our combined notes."

Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Martin and Condal's falling-out escalated in a Zoom meeting with producers and HBO executives where Condal outlined his season plan. Following that, Martin allegedly told him, "This is not my story any longer."

Following the call, Martin reportedly stepped back from House of the Dragon at HBO's request. However, a few months later, he returned to the show for reasons he told The Hollywood Reporter he "can't talk about."

In a March 31, 2025 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Condal gave his side on Martin's critiques of Season 2, citing practical needs for the adaptation changes.

"I will simply say, I made every effort to include George in the adaptation process. I really did. Over years and years. And we really enjoyed a mutually fruitful, I thought, really strong collaboration for a long time," Condal told EW. "But at some point, as we got deeper down the road, he just became unwilling to acknowledge the practical issues at hand in a reasonable way. And I think as a showrunner, I have to keep my practical producer hat on and my creative writer, lover-of-the-material hat on at the same time.

"At the end of the day, I just have to keep marching not only the writing process forward, but also the practical parts of the process forward for the sake of the crew, the cast, and for HBO, because that's my job. So I can only hope that George and I can rediscover that harmony someday."

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres this summer on HBO and HBO Max.

Finn Wolfhard is hosting SNL this week, and the Stranger Things jokes have already begun.

In one of several rapidfire promos above, alongside musical guest A$AP Rocky and SNL staff member Sarah Sherman, Wolfhard asks the others to rate how excited they are from a scale of one to ten — but both keep answering "eleven".

"Are you guys doing a bit?" says an exasperated Wolfhard. "Like, from Stranger Things?"

"Er, I only know about normaler things," is Sherman's response.

As Americans continue to struggle with rising grocery prices in Donald Trump's economy, the White House is offering up some groundbreaking "tips" for saving money at meal times. In a widely derided interview, agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins suggested families could both adhere to the Trump administration's new dietary guidelines and only spend $3 on a meal consisting of "a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, you know, a corn tortilla, and one other thing."

"I love to sit down for dinner with my family and dig into a healthy plate that consists of one piece of chicken, one piece of broccoli, one corn tortilla, and because we're f***ing rolling in it, one other thing," responded Seth Meyers on Late Night on Thursday. "That list is so bad I'm guessing the 'one other thing' is a single French fry you have to wrestle away from a pigeon in a McDonald's parking lot.

"Seriously, 'one piece of chicken, one piece of broccoli, and one corn tortilla' is your recommendation to Americans for what they should eat. That sounds like a meal aliens would bring to your cell after they abduct you. 'Please enjoy some of your Earth foods. You will need your strength for the probing.'"

Meyers also pointed out that Rollins said her team ran "over 1,000 simulations" to come up with this novel $3 meal idea.

"I'm sorry, you had to run over 1,000 simulations to add up the cost of three grocery items? Don't use the computer for that! That's not what the computer is for!" he said. "Also, what do you mean 'it can cost $3' — in how many of the simulations did it cost more? 'In one simulation, there was a corn virus, and the chickens ate the corn, and all the chickens died, and it was like a million dollars.'"

Donald Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to send U.S. military forces into Minnesota. The president did so in a Truth Social post on Thursday, following protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the state and across the country demanding justice after the killing of 37-year-old mother Renee Good in Minneapolis by an ICE agent.

Stephen Colbert reacted to Trump's threat during his Late Show monologue on Thursday night.

"With Minnesota under siege by masked, armed goons victimising American citizens, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act. Well, that will calm everybody down," he said. "I'm sure Minnesotans will just love that. That's why all the protesters' signs say, 'ICE go home, then come back in a tank.'"

Colbert then explained the Insurrection Act to his audience:

"Fun fact, the Insurrection Act allows the president to deploy members of the military or federalise the state National Guard to contain an insurrection in the U.S. state and hold on...hold on...I'm being given a correction: That fact was not fun. My mistake."

Jimmy Kimmel has a theory about what Donald Trump's "master plan" is, assuming there's one at all — and in the clip above the late night host paints a pretty bleak picture.

"I never believe there's some big master plan, but maybe there is," he says in the Jimmy Kimmel Live! monologue above.

"Maybe it goes something like this: Step one, you call your opponents 'vermin,' and 'violent,' and 'the enemy within.' You say they're part of a group of paid protesters called Antifa. Step two, you send a bunch of poorly trained, heavily armed goons into cities that don't need or want them there. Step three, when the people inevitably protest being occupied by their own government, you accuse them of starting an insurrection and then step four, you invoke the Insurrection Act, you call out the military, you cancel the elections, and you take charge for good."

Given the deaths and injuries that have been happening recently at the hands of ICE agents, and Trump recently "joking" about canceling the midterms, his theory doesn't feel entirely speculative.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is the first Game of Thrones show to feature absolutely no dragons. In fact, the only dragons you'll see onscreen this season are in puppet form.

This isn't for any VFX budget reasons, in the vein of why we rarely saw Jon Snow's dire wolf Ghost in Game of Thrones. Instead, it's for a historical reason: By this point in the Westeros timeline, all the dragons in the world are dead. The next time we'll see any of these mythical beasts is the Game of Thrones Season 1 finale, when Daenerys Targaryen hatches them.

What's happened to all the dragons in the Seven Kingdoms? It all comes back to House of the Dragon. Get ready for a Westerosi history crash course, but don't worry: We're only including minor spoilers for what's to come in House of the Dragon, without any specifics on who wins the Dance of the Dragons, or which dragons die when.

Most of the world's dragons die during the Dance of the Dragons.

Emma D'Arcy in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Theo Whiteman / HBO

House of the Dragon tells the story of the Targaryen civil war that came to be known as the Dance of the Dragons. But as Archmaester Gyldayn writes in George R.R. Martin's Targaryen history Fire and Blood, calling the war the Dying of the Dragons would be more accurate.

That's because in Fire and Blood, while there were 20 dragons alive by the time King Viserys passed away in 129 AC (After Aegon's Conquest), there were only four alive at the end of the Dance of the Dragons in 131 AC. While their deaths are unrecorded, their disappearance from Westerosi history implies their loss.

House of the Dragon has already shown some of the dragons' deaths: Lucerys Velaryon and his dragon Arrax perished in the Season 1 finale, while Rhaenys Targaryen and her dragon Meleys went out swinging in Season 2's Battle of Rook's Rest. However, there are many, many dragon deaths to go before the Dance is over.

No more dragons means no more eggs, and even the eggs left over after the Dance didn't hatch. According to The Hedge Night, the novella upon which A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms was based, the last Targaryen dragon was "small and stunted, her wings withered." Ser Duncan "Dunk" the Tall's (Peter Claffey) late master Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb) saw her in King's Landing when he was a young boy, one year before the last dragon's death in 153 AC.

By the time A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms kicks off in 209 AC, it's been over 50 years since the last dragon perished. Since then, the Targaryens have continued to rule, but they've lost the near-mythic status that comes with being dragonriders. Because of this, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms offers up a new perspective on House Targaryen and how they manage to rule the realm without any dragons.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

George R.R. Martin's plans for the end of his A Song of Ice and Fire series are much bloodier than the end of Game of Thrones.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter about HBO's upcoming A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, Martin discusses the conclusion of A Song of Ice and Fire. While he hasn't finalized the ending of his epic saga — fans have been waiting since 2011 for The Winds of Winter, book six of seven — he does have thoughts on how it will differ from Game of Thrones. The series, created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, surpassed the source material in Season 5.

"I was going to kill more people," Martin told The Hollywood Reporter. "Not the ones they killed [in the show]. They made it more of a happy ending."

Fans of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) may say differently, but several fan-favorite characters received kinder sendoffs. Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), for example, became Hand of the King to Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright). For Martin, though, that ending is not in the cards for book Tyrion.

"I don’t see a happy ending for Tyrion," Martin revealed. "His whole arc has been tragic from the first."

That statement doesn't necessarily confirm Tyrion's death in A Song of Ice and Fire. He could be imprisoned, or tortured, or all manner of horrifying things. Still, the future doesn't look bright for him, should Martin ever finish his series.

However, Game of Thrones may have saved one book character from a similarly tragic fate.

"I was going to have Sansa [(Sophie Turner)] die, but she’s been so appealing in the show, maybe I’ll let her live," Martin said.

In Game of Thrones, Sansa winds up as the Queen of the North — a far cry from whatever death Martin may have originally been planning. Given the long wait for The Winds of Winter, it may take years before we find out whether Martin actually changed his mind about Sansa's fate, or what tragedy he has in store for Tyrion. But there's also a very good chance that we'll never find out at all.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Comedy, thriller, mystery and a spot of the supernatural combine in the trailer for How to Get to Heaven From Belfast, the new Netflix series from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee.

The show follows three childhood friends, Saoirse (Roísín Gallagher), Robyn (Sinéad Keenan), and Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne), after the death of a fourth friend sends them on a mysterious adventure that begins at her wake and journeys into the past.

Tom Basden, Art Campion, Michelle Fairley, Josh Finan, Bronagh Gallagher, Booker Darragh Hand, Ardal O’Hanlon, Natasha O’Keeffe and Emmett J. Scanlan also star.

How to Get to Heaven From Belfast is streaming on Netflix from February 2026.

The U.S. is still setting its sights on Greenland, but talks don't seem to be going anywhere — with the country's prime minister making it clear that Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.

"Of course they don't want to be part of the United States right now," Jimmy Kimmel said on his show Wednesday night. "People from the United States don't want to be part of the United States. It's like being cast in a movie that already has Bill Cosby in the lead. People don't want it."

Kimmel goes on to speculate about why President Donald Trump might be so obsessed with Greenland at the moment.

"Maybe he's just focussed on Greenland to take our attention off a different island," says Kimmel. "We are still waiting on those Epstein files."

Dearest gentle reader, it's nearing time for another season of courting and conviviality in Netflix and Shondaland's Bridgerton.

We've spent the last three seasons relishing in the lustful long games of the Bridgerton family: the Duke of Hastings and Daphne, then Kate Sharma and Anthony, then Penelope Featherington and Colin — as well as a spinoff season on Queen Charlotte and her beloved King George. This time, based on the third novel in Julia Quinn's series, An Offer from a Gentleman, showrunner Jess Brownell shifts focus to another Bridgerton: the rakish Benedict (Luke Thompson).

But what happened again last season? Here's everything you need to remember from Season 3 of Bridgerton before you watch Season 4. Who married whom? What went down at that final ball? And what became of Lady Whistledown?

Penelope was unmasked as Lady Whistledown.

Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

Members of the Ton, this was the big one in Season 3: Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) was revealed as the formidable writer behind Lady Whistledown's influential Society Papers.

Pen was first found out by her best friend Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie) in the Season 2 finale, which meant the pair spent most of Season 3 in a stand-off. Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) confronted his new wife Penelope (more on that below) at the printers, and that went as well as you'd expect, considering how much she's written about him and the Bridgertons. Plus, Cressida Cowper (Jessica Madsen) figured out who Lady Whistledown was by checking every printer in the Ton (smart!), then falsely claiming to be the writer and blackmailing Penelope (she failed and was sadly taken away by her mean Aunt Joanna).

Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

Finally, it all came out at the Dankworth-Finch ball during the season finale. Bored in their marriages, Prudence (Bessie Carter) and Philippa (Harriet Cains) hosted a maximalist ball, paid for by their lucrative sister Penelope and attended by none other than Queen Charlotte (Golda Rosheuvel). Having spent the last three seasons j'accusing everyone of being Lady Whistledown, the Queen came face to face with her social rival.

In front of the ball, Penelope gave one hell of a speech about why she became Lady Whistledown as a means of finally being listened to and the result of being "captivated" by the members of the Ton. She asked the Queen permission to continue writing "responsibly" — it was a solid yes. Penelope finally introduced herself to her readers as Penelope Bridgerton in a new Whistledown column.

Plus, Pen got her mother, Lady Portia Featherington (Polly Walker), off the financial hook the whole thing with Jack Featherington and his fraudulent activities in Season 2, by convincing a prying crown solicitor the money they extorted was in fact her Lady Whistledown earnings.

Penelope and Colin got married.

Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton were married after three seasons of lusting from afar, but not before their best friendship moved into a carriage of pre-marital steam (Pitbull will never be the same).

The whole Whistledown discovery put a spanner into their very new marriage, as a betrayed Colin shut Pen out emotionally and physically — and served up a huge dollop of writer's envy over her being a published author. However, Colin eventually accepted Penelope and Lady Whistledown as "one voice," admitted his jealousy, and declared his love once more. In the final moments of Season 3, we see Pen and Colin have had a baby boy, and Philippa and Prudence have had daughters (meaning Pen and Colin's son is the new Lord Featherington).

Alice and Will Mondrich levelled up.

Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

In Season 3, married couple Alice Mondrich (Emma Naomi) and Will Mondrich (Martins Imhangbe) found themselves in a prominent social position — and strangely sleeping in different bedrooms thanks to a dramatically prudish housekeeper. Alice's great-aunt died and left Will and Alice's eldest (but still very young) son Nicky an estate and a title: Baron of Kent. This all meant the Mondrichs' standing in society was wildly changed from Will's former life as a boxer and gentlemen's club owner — they're now seriously influential in the Ton.

Benedict had a steamy poly relationship.

Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

A member of the Ton's outsider artist circles, Benedict has long dabbled with polyamory since Season 1, from his dalliance with artist Lord Granville's wife Lucy and Genevieve Delacroix, but he's spent much of Bridgerton suppressing his bisexuality. In Season 3, Benedict delved into a secret polyamorous relationship with widow Lady Tilley Arnold (Hannah New) and Paul Suarez (Lucas Aurelio). However, their bond became strained as Tilley fell hard for Benedict, who finds consensual non-monogamy preferable, so they parted ways.

Unfortunately for Benedict, our Season 2 lovers Viscount Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) and Viscountess Kate (Simone Ashley) left for India in Season 3, meaning he's the main administrator for the Bridgerton family now — and the next on the marriage mart, if his mother has anything to say about it.

Mega-chillers Francesca and John got married, but then...

Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

After a very quiet courtship, Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) was married to John Stirling (Victor Alli) in the Bridgerton drawing room and prepared to leave for John's primary estate in the Scottish Highlands.

After reluctantly attempting to join the Ton's marriage mart, Eloise decided instead to see the world, asking to accompany Francesca and John to Scotland. Also suddenly joining them was John's cousin Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza), whose introduction right at the end of the Season 3 finale caused Francesca to get seriously tongue-tied and flustered. Giiiiirl.

Lady Bridgerton and Lord Anderson crushed hard on each other.

Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix

Lady Agatha Danbury's (Adjoa Andoh) brother Lord Marcus Anderson (Daniel Francis) and her best friend Lady Violet Bridgerton (Ruth Gemmell) were eyeing each other up all season, but before anything untoward happened, Violet asked her friend's permission. Here, there was a throwback to a reveal from Queen Charlotte, that Lady Danbury had once had an affair with Violet's father, Lord Ledger, after his wife's death. (That's best friend + dad, so best friend + brother seems chill.)

In the Season 3 finale, Marcus asked Violet for a dance at the ball. Cute.

Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1 debuts on Netflix Jan. 29 and Part 2 on Feb. 26.

Leonardo DiCaprio's viral commercial break conversation at the Golden Globes became one of the main talking points after Sunday's event. Many speculated that the One Battle After Another actor was talking to his Globe-winning co-star Teyana Taylor about her confusion over K-pop.

Alas, the speculation was incorrect. On Wednesday, Taylor appeared on The Tonight Show and confirmed to Jimmy Fallon that it wasn't her DiCaprio was speaking to. "My kid's favorite song is 'Golden'," Taylor explains, saying she already knows all about K-pop — Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters won two Golden Globes on Sunday. And as for who DiCaprio was mouthing at?

"He don't even remember who he was talking to," Taylor says. "He was like, 'I don't even know.'"

The mystery continues.

With multiple tiers and price hikes, it can sometimes be tough to remember just how much you're paying for Paramount+, and what exactly you're getting for your money.

Luckily, you've come to the right place. Below, we've laid out how much Paramount+ costs per month, as well as what each tier will get you, and how these prices stack up against other streaming services.

How much does Paramount+'s ad-supported tier cost?

Currently, Paramount+ has two tiers: one that comes with ads, and one that doesn't. The ad tier is called Paramount+ Essential, and it costs $8.99 per month, or $89.99 per year. That means that if you choose to go with the annual plan, you're paying closer to $7.50 per month, saving you $17.89 per year.

With Paramount+ Essential, you get access to over 40,000 episodes and movies, along with select Showtime series. You can also stream on three devices at once, watch NFL games on CBS, and catch the UEFA Champions League.

How much does Paramount+'s ad-free tier cost?

Paramount+ Premium costs $13.99 per month, or $139.99 per year. That means that if you go with the annual plan, you'll be paying closer to $11.70 per month, saving $27.89 per year.

Paramount+ Premium gives you everything in the Paramount+ Essential tier, without ads (apart from during live TV). You gain access to all of Showtime, as well as the ability to stream CBS live. You're also able to watch titles in 4K, UHD, Dolby Vision, or HDR10, depending on your internet capabilities, as well as download movies and TV shows.

How do Paramount+'s prices stack up against other streaming services?

With all these costs in mind, how do Paramount+'s prices compare to those of other major streaming services? Let's break it down.

At $8.99 per month, Paramount+'s ad-supported tier is among the cheaper of the streaming services. It's more expensive than the ad-supported plans of Peacock and Netflix, which come out to $7.99 per month. However, it costs the same as a Prime Video subscription by itself, without an Amazon Prime membership. Meanwhile, HBO Max's ad-supported tier costs $10.99 per month, while both Hulu and Disney+'s ad-supported tiers' prices cost $11.99 per month, making them the most expensive of the major streamers.

Paramount+ Premium is also one of the cheaper options for ad-free streaming services. Peacock's comes in at $10.99 per month, while Prime Video's is $11.98. Netflix's ad-free tier costs $17.99, while HBO Max's costs $18.49. Once again, Disney+ and Hulu are the most expensive, each coming in at $18.99 per month.

UPDATE: Jan. 15, 2026, 5:00 a.m. EST This article has been updated to reflect Paramount+'s new prices.

Euphoria is getting on the time jump train.

Season 3 of Sam Levinson's smash hit picks up five years after the events of Season 2. For everyone keeping track at home, that's just one year more than the real-life wait time between seasons, to which I must quote the immortal words of Maddy Perez (Alexa Demie) and say, "Bitch, you better be joking."

Now, though, we finally have a full trailer and an Apr. 12 release date. And based on the trailer, a lot has gone down for Euphoria's protagonists since Lexi Howard's (Maude Apatow) play sent shockwaves through East Highland High School.

Five years after Season 2, Rue Bennett's (Emmy-winner Zendaya) debt to drug trafficker Laurie (Martha Kelly) has finally caught up with her, sending her on an odyssey to Mexico to pay what she owes. Nate Jacobs (Jacob Elordi) and Cassie Howard (Sydney Sweeney) are engaged and living in the suburbs. There, Cassie is "making content," implied to be for adult sites like OnlyFans. Jules (Hunter Schafer) is attending art school and exploring life as a sugar baby, while Maddy and Lexi are working in Hollywood.

If that sounds like a lot, you'd be right. If that also sounds like more of the same sensitive subject matter Levinson has struggled to portray with nuance in prior seasons of Euphoria and the first (and only) season of The Idol, you'd be right again. With that in mind, will Season 3 be able to stick the landing?

Euphoria Season 3 premieres Apr. 12 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have spread across America, demanding justice after the killing of 37-year-old mother Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis last week.

But as Jimmy Kimmel noted in his monologue on Tuesday night, Donald Trump gave a speech in at the Detroit Economic Club this week in which he "attempted to convince those in attendance that the protests in Minneapolis are not real," calling these very real demonstrations "fake riots."

"First, they want us to believe that we did not see what we all saw happen overnight," said Kimmel in the clip above. "Now he wants us to believe the protests aren't real. It's like The Emperor's New Clothes in reverse; he's telling us we're the ones who are naked while they do their best to cover everything up."

Meanwhile, fellow late night host Stephen Colbert also spent time during his monologue unpacking the Trump administration's deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents in Minnesota, despite Minneapolis officials urging them to leave.

The Trump administration has over 2,000 federal immigration agents in Minnesota, with 1,000 more to be deployed by the Department of Homeland Security, despite local officials in the city of Minneapolis urging them to leave.

On The Late Show Tuesday night, host Stephen Colbert called it out: "So he's clearly invading Minnesota. Has anyone told him that they don't have oil? Because the best he’s going to get is 50 million barrels of cream of mushroom soup."

Protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have spread across America after the killing of 37-year-old mother Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis last week, which Colbert called "just the latest and most horrifying abuse of that great city by Homeland Security."

"If you've been on social media, you've seen all the terrible activities these officers have been up to, pulling people from vehicles, raiding homes and schools, both threatening and then delivering violence," said Colbert during his monologue, then turning to a viral clip doing the rounds on social media. "You may also have seen this, an ICE officer running on the sidewalk and then absolutely eatin' duke."

With A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, HBO continues to build out its roster of Game of Thrones spin-offs. But as its slate of Westeros-set series grows more crowded, so, too, does the Westerosi timeline.

So, how does A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms fit into the history of Westeros? Let's break it down, from the basic timeline to the exact dates for all you history hounds out there.

When does A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms take place?

In the simplest terms, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms takes place in between the events of House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones. As a bridge between the two series, it offers up a new onscreen perspective of Westeros. The other shows see the Seven Kingdoms at war for the Iron Throne. Here, though, the Targaryens rule during a time of relative peace.

It's during this peace that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, based on the Dunk and Egg novellas by George R.R. Martin, unfolds. Season 1 adapts the novella The Hedge Knight, which tells the tale of Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his new squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) as they venture to the tourney at Ashford Meadow to earn coin and glory.

Good to know, but what are the exact dates for each Westeros show?

To get more granular with it, HBO's current selection of Game of Thrones spin-offs span a little under two centuries.

House of the Dragon is first up in chronological order. It details the war for succession between Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and her half-brother Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney), which became known as the Dance of the Dragons. That civil war lasted from 129 to 131 AC (after Aegon I Targaryen's conquest of Westeros).

Next up in the timeline is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. The novella The Hedge Knight takes place in 209 AC, so 78 years after the end of the Dance of the Dragons. A lot has happened in Westeros since then, but the most crucial thing to know is that there are officially no more dragons. The last Targaryen dragon died in 153 AC, and with its loss, the ruling family's revered, almost god-like status as dragon riders has faded.

Last but not least is the show that started it all: Game of Thrones, which begins in 298 AC. That means A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms takes place a little under a century before Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) begins her quest to take back the Iron Throne.

Despite the many decades between A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Game of Thrones, their stories may share some overlapping characters. Prince Aemon Targaryen (Peter Vaughan), the Wall's Maester in Game of Thrones, is serving at the Citadel in Oldtown during the events of the Dunk and Egg novellas. And Brynden Rivers, also known the Three-Eyed Raven, makes an appearance in the third Dunk and Egg novella, The Mystery Knight.

These overlaps likely won't come up in Season 1 of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, but they are helpful when putting together the puzzle pieces of the wide world of Westeros.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Stranger Things fans are accusing the Duffer Brothers of using generative AI to write the show's fifth and final season. The speculation arose after viewers believed they spotted AI chatbot ChatGPT open on the creators' laptops in behind-the-scenes documentary One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5.

The Stranger Things finale brought the series to an end late last month, wrapping up the popular retro sci-fi show after almost a decade. Unfortunately, the show's conclusion left many viewers dissatisfied, taking to social media to complain that the grand finale felt anticlimactic and unrewarding.

Some fans thought they'd found an explanation for their disappointment when One Last Adventure premiered Monday on Netflix. Covering the production and filming of Stranger Things' final season, the documentary featured footage of the Duffer Brothers working on its scripts. This included shots of their laptop screens as they worked on scripts, which displayed multiple tabs open in their internet browsers (apparently Stranger Things was written in Google Docs).

While most websites displayed seemed relatively innocuous, one particular shot showed several blurry tabs potentially featuring round monochrome icons. Said tabs are too out of focus to be positively identified, and could easily belong to any number of different websites. Even so, Stranger Things fans quickly began speculating that they may have been ChatGPT icons. 

The theory was further fuelled by the documentary's revelation that Stranger Things' fifth season hadn't been completely written when production began. While far from a smoking gun, fans considered this a potential indication that generative AI was used to hasten scriptwriting along.

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Responding to fans' speculation, One Last Adventure's director Martina Radwan cast doubt on whether the blurry tabs were actually ChatGPT, and stated that she hadn't seen Stranger Things' writers use generative AI in ways she'd consider unethical. However, she also expressed the belief that it shouldn't matter if the Duffer Brothers did use ChatGPT, as it's fine for creatives to utilise generative AI as a tool.

"Well, there’s a lot of chatter where [social media users] are like, 'We don’t really know, but we’re assuming.' But to me it’s like, doesn’t everybody have [ChatGPT] open, to just do quick research?" Radwan said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. 

"[N]obody has actually proved that it was open. That's like having your iPhone next to your computer while you’re writing a story. We just use these tools… while multitasking. So there's a lot going on all the time, every time."

Despite Radwan's assertions, not everyone agrees. Fans have acknowledged that there is no clear evidence that ChatGPT was used to write Stranger Things' scripts, and that the Duffer Brothers could easily have been using the AI chatbot for other matters (if they were even using it at all). Even so, many also object to the use of generative AI to research, outline, brainstorm, or plan scripts. As such, potentially having ChatGPT open in the same browser being used to write Stranger Things has left viewers suspicious.

"Wasn't Season 5 filming delayed because of the WGA strike? That would be pretty ironic, considering that regulating AI is just one of the things the WGA is fighting for," wrote reddit user u/Swordman86.

"I cannot for the life of me understand this sudden and enthusiastic desire by people to insert AI into nearly every part of their work and life," u/ Kreol1q1q posted. "Jesus if you are a writer, don’t you take pride in the work you do? Why would you let a moronic glorified chatbot into the thing you are skilled at, and valued for."

"Even if there were no AI tabs open, the writing for S5 was so bad that in my head-canon they almost exclusively used AI off-screen anyways," said u/pat_the_catdad.

Mashable has reached out to Netflix for comment.

The last thing you'd ever expect a Game of Thrones show to be is comforting.

After all, comforts are few and far between in Game of Thrones and its prequel, House of the Dragon. In those series, you'd be lucky to get through an episode without witnessing some combination of graphic violence, rape, or torture.

Yet "comforting" is exactly the word that comes to mind when I think of HBO's latest Game of Thrones spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. A lighter, smaller-scale series based on George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas, it's the best antidote for any fatigue you may feel at the thought of spending more time in the grimdark reaches of Westeros.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms isn't like any other Game of Thrones show.

Peter Claffey in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." Credit: Steffan Hill / HBO

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms sets itself apart from its predecessors right away, literally taking a dump on the swelling notes of Ramin Djawadi's beloved Game of Thrones theme.

Don't view the poop gag as a slight on Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon, though. It's more a way of recalibrating expectations. Few of the hallmarks you associate with other Westeros-set shows are on display in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. There's no backstabbing politicking in the Red Keep's side rooms, no vast roster of fantasy locations to rotate between, and certainly no dragons.

But you know what A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has that Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon don't? A very tall, very sweet man. And that turns out to be exactly what Westeros as a franchise needs.

Ser Duncan the Tall is Westeros' next great hero.

Peter Claffey in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." Credit: Steffan Hill / HBO

That tall, sweet man is none other than Ser Duncan "Dunk" the Tall (Peter Claffey). He used to squire for the wandering hedge knight Ser Arlan of Pennytree (Danny Webb), but upon his master's death in the show's opening moments, Dunk takes up the mantle of knight and heads to a tournament at Ashford Meadow. There, he hopes to forge his own path as a knight and gain a little coin in the process.

Dunk isn't the kind of hero we've come to expect from the Game of Thrones universe. He doesn't come from a noble house, he's not the most formidable fighter, and he's not even particularly bright. ("Dunk the Lunk, thick as a castle wall" is a common refrain in Martin's novellas.) Yet what Dunk lacks in those departments, he more than makes up for in a key way: He's damn kind.

See, for Dunk, knighthood isn't about glory or battles. It's about protecting the defenseless and doing what's right — and after two seasons spent with House of the Dragon's Criston Cole, that integrity feels like a gale force blast of fresh air straight up the nostrils. Yet Dunk's sense of honor doesn't manifest in a stuffy do-gooder attitude. Rather, it radiates from his (very) tall frame in waves of warmth that Dunk doesn't quite know what to do with. Raised in the eat-or-be-eaten slums of Flea Bottom, and often belittled or even beaten by Ser Arlan, he can't fathom that he's actually good. Claffey plays this self-doubt with endearing bashfulness, often shrinking his considerable height as if he's ashamed to take up space in the world. Yet many of the people Dunk meets as Ashford Meadow recognize he's special, from the carousing Lyonel Baratheon (Daniel Ings) to a mysterious bald boy simply known as Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell).

Egg takes it upon himself to become Dunk's squire, much to Dunk's initial chagrin. He's just become a knight himself, and now he has to babysit an insolent child? Soon, though, the pair develops a lovely odd-couple partnership: Dunk, tall as can be, with barely a wise bone in his body, and Egg, scrawny and small, yet surprisingly worldly (and with a sharp tongue, to boot). Claffey and Ansell are a gift together, whether they're trading barbs in the middle of a rowdy tournament or enjoying a quiet moment under the stars. Not since Sandor Clegane and Arya Stark has Westeros seen such a memorable lone wolf and cub duo — although here, the pairing is immediately off to a sweeter start, as the cub doesn't want to murder the lone wolf. (He might sass him, though.)

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms finds greatness in the small things.

Dexter Sol Ansell in "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." Credit: Steffan Hill / HBO

The sweetness of Dunk and Egg's burgeoning friendship really shines thanks to A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' smaller scale. We rarely leave the tourney grounds at Ashford Meadow, which A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms' production team renders in lived-in glory, all muddy tents and worn armor. These well-used elements create a grounded atmosphere where hard-working smallfolk find joy, either from watching the jousts on the sidelines or enjoying beautifully crafted puppet shows. Given that prior onscreen portrayals of Westeros have mostly focused on times of war, it's soothing to witness these smaller moments of everyday life and leisure.

This isn't to say A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is free of conflict and action. The show boasts some captivating jousting sequences, as well as some hand-to-hand combat that's among the most visceral in all of the franchise. Elsewhere, the Targaryens show up and cause drama, as they are wont to do.

But even then, the focus is primarily on Dunk and Egg's relationship, and the solidarity they find with the people they've crossed paths with. That's A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms in a nutshell: good people trying to help each other out the best they can. It's a welcome switch-up in HBO's Game of Thrones lineup, and proof that the world of Westeros can be more than just a brutal cage match between warring families. More than that, though, it's a balm for the soul.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

If you haven't already been charmed by Heated Rivalry's Connor Storrie, chances are you're living under a rock.

Storrie and his co-star Hudson Williams have been on a massive press run following the show's runaway success, doing everything from presenting at the Golden Globes to making their respective debuts on late night TV. Williams stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Jan. 7, and on Jan. 13, Storrie appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers.

During the interview, Storrie and Meyers chat about his overnight stardom and the skills he learned for the show. As Russian hockey star Ilya Rozanov, Storrie had to learn several scenes in Russian, as well as perfect a Russian accent, a process that involved taking four hour-long lessons every day for a month and a half.

"I fully just assumed they had found a Russian-speaking actor for this part," Meyers told Storrie.

Apparently, so did some of Heated Rivalry's Russian actors. Storrie recalled shooting a scene with several Russian background actors, one of whom approached him as he reset for a take and began to talk to him in Russian.

"She thought my parents were Russian, and I speak Russian at home with a pseudo-American accent," he said.

Now, Storrie has a prepared response for people who believe he's actually fluent in Russian: "My go-to, I always say in Russian, 'I speak Russian really poorly.'"

However, according to Storrie, learning Russian was nowhere near as tricky as learning how to skate. To hear more about his skating experiences and his breakout fame post-Heated Rivalry, check out the full interview above.

Heated Rivalry is now streaming on HBO Max.

Can Stephen Colbert get to the heart of who Jimmy Kimmel really is?

In the video above he certainly makes a good go of it, running through his usual quickfire "Questionert" questions on everything from "Favorite Sandwich?" to "Earliest Memory?"

Kimmel's answers are a mixture of amusing and surprisingly deep, and overall far less chaotic than Will Ferrell's.

With everything going on in the world right now – from Trump's recent attack on Venezuela to his threats over Greenland – Jimmy Kimmel has a feeling America isn't too popular.

"You know, I hate to break it to you guys, but we, the shining beacon of democracy, America — we are the bad guys now. Remember the good old days where people from other countries, eh they thought we were annoying because we talk too loud and we wore cut off shorts into museums, and did chest bumps and wore fanny packs into the Vatican? Sometimes we'd go to Paris and say 'You're welcome for the war'? Well now they hate us for real stuff. Our neighbors hate us, Mexico's mad at us, Canada's mad at us...we're that house at the end of the block where the nice old lady used to live, and then her son-in-law moved in and started letting his dogs run wild and biting children. If this was a movie, this country was once the Karate Kid. Now we're Billy Zabka."

Elsewhere, Jon Stewart also painted a fairly grim world picture on the Daily Show.

The world, as Jon Stewart describes it in his latest Daily Show monologue, is currently "a confusing, dark place."

In the 20-minute video above, the host unpacks recent events, from ICE's fatal shooting of 37-year-old woman Renee Good in Minneapolis to Trump's attack on Venezuela and threats to Greenland.

"In America today, Donald Trump is the sun — and if you revolve around him and worship him his warmth shines upon you," Stewart concludes. "You could shoot someone on 5th avenue and not lose his support, as long as it's done on his behalf. But if you do not support him – if you live in the darkness of what I guess we will refer to from now on as blue states, fearing the day he turns his wrath towards you – whether you're a single human woman on a side street somewhere in Minneapolis, or a sovereign nation that happens to have land an resources we, a larger sovereign nation, think we also might want.

"And so his people are making a bet: that adhering to a principle of forced compliance and coercion will give us a more stable and prosperous America than a principle of shared alliance and common interest. It's kind of a tough bet, because I read somewhere – I don't know where – that people have inalienable rights granted by a creator, not a king. So holding that coerced world together is going to be kind of a tall task."

Cheers to Netflix. Hot on the heels of HBO Max's Heated Rivalry making streaming steamy, the service gives us His & Hers, a miniseries with sex, smoking hot stars, and a climax that has audiences screaming. Totally different vibes, though, as this is less a romantic drama with occasional hockey scenes and more a crime thriller where violence is guaranteed along with vengeance. 

Adapted from Alice Feeney's mystery novel into a 6-episode series, His & Hers stars Tessa Thompson and John Bernthal as an estranged married couple who are weirdly brought back together by a homicide in their hometown of Dahlonega, Georgia. Anna Andrews is a news reporter based in Atlanta who's determined to make this murder big news, while he's police detective Jack Harper, tasked with solving the case. As each investigates, they not only get in each other's way, but also unearth each other's dark secrets. Could it mean one of them is the murderer? 

Below, we'll dig into the case's suspects and red herring, and the ending, where the killer was revealed and viewing audiences went wild. Spoilers ahead! 

Do Anna or Jack have a hand in the killings in His & Hers? 

Credit: Netflix

Filmmaker William Oldroyd has previously made such critically heralded movies as Lady Macbeth and Eileen, both of which involve deadly women and dangerous partnerships. So, as the secrets begin to spill in this Dahlonega murder case, you may well have had meta reasons to suspect Jack and Anna. After all, that's the kind of story Oldroyd seems to favor. And from the start, the show itself gives you plenty of reasons to suspect either character. But things get tricky as the bodies pile up. 

The first victim in the His & Her murder spree is rich white local Rachel Hopkins (Jamie Tisdale), who has a bad reputation and ties to both Jack and Anna. The brooding cop was the secret lover Rachel met out in the woods, where her corpse was found. So, had her cuckolded husband guessed right, and she said something so nasty during sex that it got her killed? Or, did Anna axe the woman who was not only sleeping with her husband, but also tormented her to a hellish (and frankly criminal) degree when they were friends back in high school?

What might have initially seemed a crime of passion or jealousy soon looks like one of vengeance as Rachel's bff Helen Wang (Poppy Liu) turns up murdered in the school where they were once a part of the same friend group — along with Jack's screw-up sister Zoe (Marin Ireland). But when Zoe also turns up dead, Jack's policing partner, Priya Patel (Sunita Mani), begins to suspect the long-lost girl from this toxic circle, Catherine Kelly, could be the sneaking killer. 

Catherine Kelly was a red herring. 

Rebecca Rittenhouse as Lexy Jones. Credit: Netflix

In flashbacks over the course of the series, His & Hers reveals that Rachel, Helen, and Zoe weren't just any mean girls. They were downright vicious, luring their friends Anna and Catherine to the woods for a horrible 16th birthday party. Essentially, Helen nonconsensually pimped out Anna and Catherine to three men, who crashed the party to commit sexual assaults on the teen girls. That would definitely give Catherine motive to kill Rachel, Helen, and Zoe, who watched while it happened. But where's Catherine been all these years?

The B-plot for Anna was all about her rivalry with bubbly blonde anchorwoman Lexy Jones, who took Anna's spot at the news desk while she was on bereavement leave. In their professional battle, Anna used some pretty unprofessional mean girl tactics, like asking that Lexy's husband, Richard Jones (Pablo Schreiber), be her cameraman, and then promptly seducing him. But it turns out Richard was more loyal to Lexy than we thought. 

However, Lexy didn't just come to Dahlonega to steal the murder story from Anna. She seemingly did it to wreak some revenge of her own, because Lexy is Catherine Kelly, slimmed down, dyed blonde, renamed, and seething with rage. It seems she and Richard plotted together to get Anna to the Kelly home, remote and private, for a deadly end. Anna calls Jack for help, and ends up facing off with the incensed couple. But before Catherine can kill Anna, Catherine is shot dead by Detective Patel. That happens with nearly a half an hour to go on the show. So what else can there be to reveal? 

Well, for starters Anna finally is able to tell Jack what happened to her when she was 16. From there, Jack and Anna reunite and adopt Zoe's orphaned daughter. A flash-forward shows them back at home in Dahlonega. They are a family again, ready and willing to care for each other, their upcoming baby, and Anna's mother, Alice (Crystal Fox), who's been suffering from dementia. Little do they know, Alice is more than capable of caring for herself. And she's capable of much, much more. 

Who is the serial killer of His & Hers? 

Crystal Fox plays Anna's mother Alice in "His & Hers." Credit: Netflix

It's Alice, Anna's seemingly dementia-addled mother, who killed Rachel, Helen, and Zoe. 

In episodes 1 through 5, much of Alice's screentime was her making confused mistakes, like preparing eggs with shells in them or forgetting that Jack and Anna had separated. Anna got reports that her mother would wander at night. Her cognitive issues seemed another element of loss that Anna was eager to avoid, in part because of the guilt she may hold for leaving her family after the pain of her own child's unexpected death. 

However, Anna finds out how intense Alice's love for her is when she comes across a curious letter midway through episode 6. 

Through voiceover, Anna muses on whether anger is a destructive force or a sustaining one as she finds an envelope sitting on her vanity that has her name written on it. "It all comes down to how you use your anger, and who you aim it at," she muses as she unfolds delicately handwritten pages. 

"There are at least two sides to every story," the letter begins, "Yours and mine, ours and theirs. His and hers. Which means someone is always lying."  

Notably, this quote is how Anna's voiceover begins in episode one, after she's gotten home late at night, soaked, and scrambled to clean herself and her apartment. Early on, that made Anna seem suspicious. But later, it's clear she was distraught not because she'd just killed Rachel, but because she'd accidentally caught her husband cheating with her ex-bestie, while she was grieving the loss of their daughter. Who could possibly understand the pain Alice was in at that moment? Her mom. 

Crystal Fox plays Anna's mother Alice in "His & Hers." Credit: Netflix

Like mother like daughter, her mom was in the cemetery too, quietly watching her love. She witnessed Anna witnessing Jack banging Rachel. And while this might have been reason enough to ambush Rachel, Alice had more reasons. 

In a thorough series of flashbacks, episode 6 reveals how Alice got away with murders. Phrases previously played out in the voiceover take on new meaning as her daughter comes to understand what really happened. 

For years, Alice was happy to see her daughter thrive as a news anchor. She was proud of her marriage and motherhood. Then the baby Charlotte died while Alice was watching her. 

Heartbroken, Anna fled her husband, house, hometown, and mother for parts unknown. In her absence, Alice made regular visits to Charlotte's grave, both in mourning and in hopes of seeing Anna there. And as Anna took time off from her news broadcast, Alice turned to a box of Anna's old self-tapes for some way to see her. In seeking Anna, she ended up discovering things about Rachel. 

While in the cemetery at night, she spotted Rachel meeting up with her fling of the week on the dirt road nearby. Then, after six months of rationing out watching Anna's old tapes, Alice found the video shot on Anna's 16th birthday, where Rachel lured her and Catherine to the woods. 

All these years later, Alice watched her daughter rescue Catherine, only to be abandoned and raped while Rachel, Helen, and Zoe watched and sang "Happy Birthday." (Taking a beat because all that happened and Anna still married Zoe's brother! I'm not sure if that's a testament to true love or deep denial, because how are you going to family events with that woman stumbling in like nothing happened?!)

Anyhow, it was on the anniversary of Charlotte's death that Anna came to the cemetery, and like her mother before her, saw not only the baby's grave but also Rachel having car sex. But this time, it was with Jack.

How Alice got away with murder in His & Hers. 

Crystal Fox plays Anna's mother Alice in "His & Hers." Credit: Netflix

"I wanted to shout at you, 'Leave this place. Come home to me now,'" Alice's letter continues, as the flashback shows Anna in the graveyard, drop-jawed in agony. "Your Momma's here now. [Rachel] can't hurt you anymore." The flashback then reveals how Alice came out of the woods after Jack had driven off. "Whoever said two wrongs can't make a right lacked imagination, and a sharp knife," Alice writes as the murder of Rachel plays out onscreen. 

A professional cleaning woman, Alice knew how to clean up after herself. She clipped the fingernails to get rid of her DNA. She stripped off her own clothes, bloodied from Rachel's wounds, and walked naked home, in the rain, in the dark, in the street. No one stopped her. 

She notes all the elements of her identity that urged others to look away from her. "No one expects a woman to be a serial killer," her letter goes on, "Add the sin of age, mistake determination for dementia, there I am, the picture of frailty." While her naked wandering at night drew attention from the authorities, no one expected this habit to be dangerous to anyone but Alice, who faked dementia as a smokescreen. 

Beyond this, flashbacks show how Alice worked as a cleaning woman at the Kelly home. So, she recognized the glowed-up "Lexy" on the news, and Alice still had a key to the family house, just as she did the school, where she killed Helen. "Like back doors and the workers who use them, we're usually forgotten, ignored, invisible," she muses as the Black woman who's long been ignored by folks younger, wealthier, and whiter (or closer in proximity to whiteness) than herself.  

Alice goes on to note not everything went to plan at first. She'd plotted to kill Rachel, Helen, and Zoe for the rape they brought upon Anna. Catherine she planned to frame by leaving evidence in the Kelly home. "I thought prison for abandoning you that night was fair." 

Masterful multitasker she is, Alice also notes that Catherine being the killer would give Anna "a juicy story" and assure Lexy would no longer be a professional rival. And to make sure Anna would find her way to Catherine, it was Alice who canceled Richard and Anna's hotel reservation — not Lexy/Catherine! 

Why does Alice go on a killing spree?

Tessa Thompson plays Anna in "His & Hers." Credit: Netflix

It wasn't just revenge. It was Alice's path to restorative justice, vigilante style thought it may be. 

Alice rightly deduced Jack would save Anna — though she admits Patel fatally shooting Catherine was not part of the plan. "But I'd be lying if I said I lost any sleep over it," she writes. 

"Killing Rachel brought you home. Killing Helen kept you here," Alice continues, before delivering maybe the wildest revelation, "And killing Zoe gave you the family you lost." 

Yep. Alice murdered Zoe — who knew her and smiled as she approached her in the tub — not only for revenge, but so Anna could adopt Zoe's neglected daughter as her own. 

Why does Alice confess to Anna? 

Crystal Fox plays Anna's mother Alice in"His and Hers." Credit: Netflix

Alice sees this all as a life lesson that Anna can apply to raising her own children. 

"I'm writing this now, baby, because soon you'll be a mother again," she concludes in the letter, "Love my grandbabies as I've loved you. Teach them the value of hard work and planning. Prepare them for a life both ugly and beautiful, unpredictable, always changing — except for one thing. Show them that a mother's love never dims, never weakens." 

All this sounds lovely. It's the kind of speech that could play over a montage of a mom's long commute, scrubbing floors, and hugging her children. However, Alice's montage also includes scenes from the murders she committed for her daughter. Here is Alice puncturing Rachel's tire, so she'd be stranded and defenseless. There Alice is holding Zoe down in the bathtub, as she thrashes helplessly below the bloody water. 

And as Alice signs off with "All my love, my precious girl," she and Anna make eye contact. A tear runs down Anna's cheek, but she smiles at her mom, seemingly in appreciation. And His & Hers ends. 

Will there be a His & Hers Season 2? 

Jon Bernthal plays a police detective in "His & Hers." Credit: Netflix.

Well, narratively Oldroyd leaves us on a curious cliffhanger. Anna nows knows the truth. But will she ever tell it? Having finally broken down the lies between her and Jack, will she hide another? Or will she tell him and risk him trying to collar his mother-in-law? Or perhaps the couple could figure out their path forward with this troubling truth while exploring a new case together? 

Well, that currently seems unlikely. Feeney's His & Hers was a standalone novel. So unlike the recent mystery thriller The Housemaid, which is based on a novel that has a follow-up in The Housemaid's secret, Feeney hasn't penned a clear path forward for Anna and John. 

Plus, Netflix released this as a limited series, suggesting one season is all that was intended. So, it is unlikely His & Hers will see a Season 2. 

His & Hers is now streaming on Netflix.

One Piece's valiant Straw Hat Pirates are about to face their greatest foes yet: Baroque Works.

A new trailer for Netflix's live-action adaptation of One Piece centers on the fearsome criminal syndicate Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) and his crew fill face in Season 2. And just from the teaser, it's clear that this secret society of assassins is not to be messed with.

Bridgerton's Charithra Chandran stars as Miss Wednesday, seen facing off against Nami (Emily Rudd). Also introduced in the trailer are Lera Abova as Miss All-Sunday, David Dastmalchian as Mr. 3, Camrus Johnson as Mr. 5, Jazzara Jaslyn as Miss Valentine, Daniel Lasker as Mr. 9, and Sophia Anne Caruso as Miss Goldenweek.

Joe Manganiello has been cast as Mr. 0, also known as Baroque Works leader Sir Crocodile, but the trailer keeps him in the dark.

What the trailer doesn't keep in the dark, though, are Baroque Works' formidable abilities — not to mention their impeccable attire. From taking out legions of guards with just a few words to hypnotizing people with paint, Baroque Works look like they're ready to put the fun in the Straw Hats' funeral. Oh, and did I mention there are wig guns? The trailer's worth watching in full for the wig guns alone.

One Piece Season 2 premieres March 10 on Netflix.

Pluribus star Rhea Seehorn took home Best Female Actor (TV Series - Drama) at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, giving a delightfully candid speech.

"My speech says, 'Get a prescription for beta blockers,' but I did not. Sorry! I'm going to do my best. I'm sorry, I'm just a little shocked, I think my stomach is still over there," said Seehorn.

Seehorn also thanked Pluribus/Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan, and paid tribute to her fellow nominees Britt Lower (Severance), Bella Ramsey (The Last of Us), Helen Mirren (MobLand), Keri Russell (The Diplomat), and Kathy Bates (Matlock).

"Getting your name read with Bella Ramsey, Britt Lower, Helen Mirren, Kathy Bates, and Keri Russell, I'm astonished by all your performances. I appreciate being listed with you,” she said. "I've been to a lot of these parties that get pretty scary for someone like me sometimes, and the women in this room have been incredible in the last couple of weeks. Thank you for that."

It's a long-awaited moment for Seehorn, who had been nominated twice for Emmys for her role in Better Call Saul without a win. She recently took out a Critics Choice Award win for Pluribus, with the Emmys looking pretty good.

Check out the whole list of Golden Globes award winners and nominees.

The Golden Globes has wrapped for another year, and as always the awards show brought its mixture of amusing moments, emotional moments, and upsets.

From Timothée Chalamet beating out Leonardo DiCaprio and George Clooney to win his first Globe to Teyana Taylor's emotional acceptance speech, we've rounded up some of the must-see moments below...

Celebrities wearing pins to protest ICE

Credit: Michael Tran / AFP via Getty Images

A number of Golden Globes attendees, including Mark Ruffalo, Wanda Skyes and Natasha Lyonne, wore pins to the ceremony with the words "BE GOOD" in black caps against a white background — a protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after 37-year-old mother Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last week.

"We need every part of civil society, society to speak up," anti-ICE pin organiser, Nelini Stamp of Working Families Power, was quoted as saying by NPR. "We need our artists. We need our entertainers. We need the folks who reflect society."

Nikki Glaser roasting celebrities and the government

Nikki Glaser also brought some politics to the awards show, roasting the U.S. Justice Department along with many of the celebrities in attendance.

"Yes, the Golden Globes: without a doubt, the most important thing that's happening in the world right now," she said. "I cannot believe the amount of star power we have in this room tonight. It's insane. There are so many A-listers. And by A-listers, I do mean people who are on A-list that has been heavily redacted."

Rose Byrne's joke about her husband

Rose Byrne's husband Bobby Cannavale wasn't in attendance, but when she picked up her award for Best Female Actor (Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy) for her performance in If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, she made sure to shout him out.

"He couldn't be here because he's getting a bearded dragon, and he went to a reptile expo in New Jersey," she said. "So thank you, baby."

Ryan Coogler thanking audiences for "showing up"

Sinners picked up awards for best original score and cinematic and box office achievement on Sunday. In his acceptance speech, writer/director Ryan Coogler thanked the audience.

"It was an honour on this movie to know it was getting a theatrical release," said Coogler. "We would remind people every day, in the dog days of summer, in New Orleans, like, 'Hey, big movie, people gonna see this, big theatre.' We didn't know that they would show up, so we just want to say thank you that they did. It meant the world to us."

Timothée Chalamet beating out a "stacked" category to win his first globe.

Timothée Chalamet thanked everyone involved in the making of Marty Supreme, and even managed to squeeze a pretty great joke in.

Teyana Taylor's emotional speech

After winning the award for Best Supporting Female Actor for her role in One Battle After Enough, Teyana Taylor gave a powerful speech.

"To all my brown sisters and little brown girls watching tonight: Our softness is not a liability, our depth is not too much, our light does not need permission to shine, we belong in every room we walk into, our voices matter, and our dreams deserve space," said Taylor.

Check out the complete list of Golden Globes 2026 winners.

The Pitt thrived at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards, with star Noah Wyle taking home Best Male Actor (TV – Drama) on Sunday.

During his speech, Wyle thanked healthcare workers, who are the heart of the HBO medical drama — the Emmy-winning star plays Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch in the Emergency Department of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center.

"To all the healthcare workers in the world, thank you," he said onstage.

The Pitt also took home Best Television Series (Drama) at the Globes, with creator R. Scott Gemmill also taking a moment to thank healthcare workers during his acceptance speech.

"I also want to thank the first responders and healthcare workers who are the real heroes who inspire us," said Gemmill. "Deborah Khan, from The Diplomat, reminded me I have to thank all the civil servants as well.

"We live in a very divided country in a world right now, but I think cinema — and I call TV "cinema" — brings us all together, not only as an audience, but as a community. And we show people what we can do when a bunch of individuals, hundreds of us, who have a common goal, and we work together with decency, humanity, acceptance, and respect for each other, we can do amazing things."

Check out the whole list of Golden Globes award winners and nominees.

Timothée Chalamet picked up the award for Best Male Actor (Motion Picture – Musical/Comedy) at the Golden Globes on Sunday, where he paid tribute to the other actors in a "stacked" category before thanking the various people involved in making Marty Supreme.

"To Josh Safdie, thank you from the bottom of my heart, thank you for this role, thank you for believing in me. Thank you for this portrait, for your mind, for your world view. To A24, Ronnie Bronstein who co-wrote the script with Josh. The amazing cast of this film, Odessa A'zion, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tyler the Creator, Fran Drescher, Kevin O'Leary...If you would have told me when I was 19 years old I'd be thanking Mr Wonderful from Shark Tank," says Chalamet, referring to his co-star and the movie's multi-millionaire executive producer.

"Alright you're laughing so I got away with that one, thank you Kevin."

Check out the complete list of winners at the 2026 Golden Globes.

Teyana Taylor picked up a Golden Globe for best supporting female actor on Sunday for her role in Paul Thomas Anderson's One Battle After Another, and her two minute speech was packed full of emotion.

"My babies are upstairs watching, y'all better be off them damn phones and watching me right now!" says a tearful Taylor in the clip above, before going on to end her speech with a powerful message.

"Last, but most importantly, to all my brown sisters and little brown girls watching tonight: Our softness is not a liability, our depth is not too much, our light does not need permission to shine, we belong in every room we walk into, our voices matter, and our dreams deserve space."

Check out the full list of Golden Globes 2026 winners.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is undoubtedly the lightest Game of Thrones show yet.

Admittedly, that's not a high bar to clear, given that both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon are brimming with heavy subject matter. With their graphic depictions of violence and sexual assault, they're not at all suitable for young audiences.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms shrugs off its predecessors' grimdark tones, opting instead for the more light-hearted tale of hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) and his new squire, the sassy young Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell). But while the show offers up an all-around funnier, even occasionally wholesome view of Westeros, is that enough to make it kid-friendly, should any young viewers want a gateway into George R.R. Martin's fantasy world?

Is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms appropriate for young audiences?

The short answer is no. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is certainly light by Game of Thrones standards, but it's still full of scenes and subject matter that parents may not want their kids to watch.

Ultimately, though, whether a child watches the show comes down to parental discretion. Read on for a spoiler-free guide to some of the adult topics audiences may encounter in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

For starters, violence is still very much on the table. The series takes place at a tournament, meaning there will be jousting and sword fighting. You can bet some of the competing knights won't play fair, resulting in a solid amount of graphic injuries.

As an HBO show — airing at 10 p.m., no less! — A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms features its fair share of nudity, although it's light on sex scenes. Instead, the nudity is mostly relegated to the background, apart from the occasional sequence involving key characters. The show also discusses sex work and alludes to sexual violence, and the dialogue is peppered with profanity.

For better or worse, these elements are all staples of the non-kid-friendly Game of Thrones universe, and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms remains squarely part of that world.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Industry's Season 4 premiere dives headfirst into the debate around online age verification, with the London-set series introducing an Online Safety Bill that mirrors the UK's own age-verification law.

The law instates age checks on sites with explicit content so that minors can't use the sites. Ways of confirming a user's age include facial recognition and banking information. Similar laws are going into effect in the United States and around the world, but experts have sounded the alarm on potential security and privacy concerns.

Age verification takes center stage in Industry's Season 4 premiere.

Despite art mimicking reality on Industry, age verification was less of the hot-button issue it is now when the show's co-creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay began working on the season. While earlier, failed iterations of age verification had been floated in the UK in 2019, then in 2022, age verification only officially went into effect in July of 2025.

"We actually ended up writing about it and filming it before it became a thing in the UK, without any sort of consultant inside scoop on it," Kay told Mashable in a video interview alongside Down.

That prescience winds up working in Industry's favor. Season 4's emphasis on age verification proves the show's ability to keep its finger on the pulse, even in the fast-moving digital age.

In Industry's Season 4 premiere, titled "PayPal of Bukkake," the Online Safety Bill is the catalyst for a major shift at fintech company Tender. Once a payment processor for porn websites, including Industry's OnlyFans analog Siren, Tender plans to shift away from adult content in order to gain respectability.

Industry Season 4 dives deeper into online adult content.

Miriam Petche in "Industry." Credit: Simon Ridgway / HBO

This isn't the first time Industry has explored the world of porn. Introduced in Season 3, Pierpoint grad Sweetpea Golightly (Miriam Petche) has a side hustle on OnlyFans. With Season 4, Down and Kay didn't want to leave that thread dangling. In fact, they wanted to complicate their portrayal of her sex work.

"In Season 3, the picture is quite empowering for Sweetpea, and in Season 4, it's depicted a little bit more like exploitation," Down told Mashable. "I think that ambiguity is interesting, and I'm interested to see how audiences take to it. It was a 50-50 split in the writers' room, but we were like, 'Are we telling a story where it's about a character who felt empowered to do something at a young age, who's now feeling exploited by her own decision? What does that mean about her relationship with her own femininity and for female empowerment?'"

Kay added: "The intersection of pornography, of cell phones, the commoditization of selfhood... All of that stuff feels very 2025 capitalism to us, so we ended up leaning into it all."

Industry Season 4 peers deeper into government.

Amy James-Kelly in "Industry." Credit: Simon Ridgway / HBO

On top of building more character moments for Sweetpea, Industry Season 4's focus on porn and age verification also allowed Down and Kay to further integrate the UK government into the season, especially as age verification has been a "political football" for quite some time, as Down put it.

"It was difficult to understand on what side of the political aisle people were on about it, because you had some right-wing commentary about why it was a great thing, and you had some right-wing commentary about how it was a terrible thing, because it was really about free speech and freedom of expression," Down told Mashable.

In Industry, though, the Labour government is the one pushing the bill, which soon gets them embroiled with Tender.

"It felt like a great opening gambit for the Labour Party in Season 4," Down said. "The Labour Party now feels like an ideologically complex and compromised institution to me, because they've come into the government with really good, highfalutin ideas, but they are backed with the same kind of hedge fund money and the same sort of media superstructure behind them that the Conservative government was, and that's kind of what the season's about."

While it plays a big role in the premiere, much of Industry's discussion of porn and age verification takes a backseat to the meat of the season: What, exactly, is going on with Tender?

The bait and switch is something Industry has pulled before, introducing one big subject in a premiere before segueing into something new and unexpected.

"With Season 3, you come into it thinking it's going to be about Lumi's IPO, and it becomes about Pierpoint and its attitude towards its own destruction," Down said. "Then [in Season 4], you think it's going to be about the Online Safety Bill and pornography, and all that stuff continued in a thematic way, but it really was a jumping-off point to a story about the payment processor."

There, Down and Kay weave a tale of yes, porn and digital privacy, but also of money's role in government, of shady business dealings, and the rise of authoritarianism. It's a dizzying ride, but Industry never loses control.

"It all feels like part of a capitalist puzzle," Kay said. "Because these things, if you drill into them enough, there is overlap between all of them."

New episodes of Industry Season 4 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

HBO's Industry has never shied away from current events, from Season 2's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic to Season 4's centering of online age verification in the UK. However, in its Season 4 premiere, Industry goes one step further by bringing in a real-life political figure: President Donald Trump.

The show's version of Trump, played by a Trump look-alike, makes a brief appearance during a scene in which a now-retired Eric Tao (Ken Leung) hits the golf course. He and his fellow millionaire retirees spot Trump from afar, sporting his usual red MAGA hat, and exchange a wave with him.

"Has 47 ever allowed anyone to play through?" one of Eric's friends wonders.

"Not in this lifetime," another responds.

It's a surprising allusion, the ultimate move in Industry's portrayal of a world of wealth, access, and power that the vast majority of its viewers will never see. But more than that, it's a crucial character moment for Eric, indicating just where life has taken him post-Pierpoint.

For starters, the routine of the golf course is a far cry from the high-stakes, high-pressure, high-speed trading floor Eric used to lord over. It's stagnant, whereas Eric would rather monitor the market's every change — the last thing on his golfing companions' mind.

"He's surrounded by these older white guys who have made loads of money. They have this passive wealth that is constantly compounding, so they just play golf and go to the same restaurant over and over again," Industry co-creator Mickey Down told Mashable over Zoom. "Eric is trying to convince himself that this is the good life and that he isn't feeling the pull of the old life that he experienced in the first three seasons."

Trump's presence on the golf course does actually call back to Eric's "old life." Not his time as a leader in Industry's first three seasons, but his earliest days on the trading floor.

In Industry's second season, the series explores Eric's relationship with his own mentor, a man named Newman. The audience never meets him before his death, but in one key scene in Season 2, episode 4, Eric spends time in his New York office, which has been left untouched since his passing. On the desk is a MAGA hat, a symbol that speaks volumes not just about Newman's ideologies, but also about what his relationship as a white man in a person of power may have been like with his Asian subordinate.

"You go under [Eric's] hood a little bit more in Season 2, you realize that he has this background where he [experienced] some sort of racial abuse from the trading floor in the '90s," Down explained.

Eric's Season 4 interaction with Trump, even if it's from afar, feels like "the apogee" of Eric's complicated relationship with his mentor, according to Down. He recalled adding a reminder of Newman's racism into the premiere script to truly drive the moment home.

"In the script [Industry co-creator Konrad Kay and I] wrote, [Eric's] mentor was this person. Now he's here, waving at number 47," Down said. "It felt like a real moment of, 'Where the fuck am I? How did I get here? How did a kid like me, from where I am from, end up waving at the president, who represents all these things?'"

New episodes of Industry Season 4 premiere Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Sir Idris Elba may have been on Late Night to promote Season 2 of Apple TV show Hijack, but that didn't mean he was going to miss a key Premier League game.

The actor came out holding an iPad as he sat down opposite Seth Meyers, explaining that even though he was excited to be there, Arsenal were also 70 minutes into their crucial clash against Liverpool.

Meyers positioned the iPad on the desk so they could both watch, but soon the host was back to asking his pesky questions.

Elba's response? "Are you going to, um, talk the whole time?"

The late night hosts have all responded to the Trump administration's reaction to ICE fatally shooting Renee Good on Wednesday, with Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert and The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng condemning them for painting the 37-year-old mother as a "domestic terrorist" despite the video evidence.

In the Late Night video above, Seth Meyers weighs in too, finishing his "A Closer Look" segment with a sober address to camera.

"A 37-year-old mother in a Honda Pilot was shot dead on a residential street and they're calling her a terrorist," says Meyers. "The same people who called those who stormed the federal building 'heroes', the same people who supported pardoning those who beat Capitol police officers while ignoring their orders to stop, are telling us that a woman shot dead in her own car in her own community is a domestic terrorist. And when they do that, they're also telling us who they are. And it is our job to never forget what they've told us."

Stephen Colbert opened his monologue with a far more somber tone than usual, addressing ICE's fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good that took place in Minneapolis on Wednesday — and the Trump administration's reaction to it.

"By now we've all seen the video," says Colbert. "In it, as reported by the New York Times, Good 'appears to be turning away from a federal officer', and, as reported by the Washington Post, 'the agent was able to move out of the way and fire at least two of the three shots from the side of the vehicle as it veered past him.' It sure looks like a federal agent gunned down an American citizen without cause in front of witnesses on a city street. But the administration is telling you that you didn't see that. They're saying you saw him respond to an act of domestic terrorism. They're telling you to believe them and not your eyes."

Colbert goes on to say that this should be an alarm bell for the entire country, regardless of whether you live in a red or blue state.

"If we let this go on, regardless of who your state voted for, one day you'll have unaccountable, armed government agents acting with impunity in your town," says the host. "So peacefully, and non-violently, let your leaders know you don't want that."

Elsewhere, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng have also reacted to the shooting.

Late night shows from Jimmy Kimmel Live! to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Late Night with Seth Meyers have responded to the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis, and the Trump administration's attempts to justify (read: spin) it in defence of the ICE agent.

The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng addressed repeated claims by Donald Trump and secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem about the shooting, ICE's recruitment campaign tactics, and ICE's brutal raids over the last year.

"If you're thinking they don't need to enforce the law this violently, you're correct," says Chieng in the clip above. "They don't need to be this violent. The violence and showing the violence is the point. This is why just breaking down these videos frame by frame doesn't tell the whole story of what happened here.

"People keep saying this ICE agent feared for his safety? Maybe so. But we also have to acknowledge that this woman probably feared for her safety too, and for good reason," Chieng continued. "And telling someone to just comply with law enforcement isn't helpful when ICE has spent the past year acting less like law enforcement and more like a lawless militia.

"So unfortunately we can keep expecting this to happen, not because ICE is going into dangerous situations, but because they keep going into safe situations and then making them more dangerous than they need to be."

What a year it's been for The Pitt! The new HBO Max series, starring and produced by ER alum Noah Wyle, not only became a hit with critics and audiences, but also scored five Emmy wins, two Golden Globe nominations, and three Critics Choice Awards. And now this top-notch hospital drama series is back with Season 2.

Judging by HBO Max's "Top 10 Series Today" ranking on their app, lots of fans have been rewatching Season 1 in anticipation for the second season. The Pitt's been near number two all week, topped only by the internet's newest obsession Heated Rivalry.

Credit: HBO Max

But in case you don't have the time (or emotional bandwidth) to revisit all 15 Season 1 episodes of The Pitt, we're recapping everything you need to know.

How long has passed between Season 1 and Season 2 of The Pitt?

About 10 months has passed between seasons, with Season 2 taking place on July 4. Like last season, each episode of The Pitt Season 2 will be one hour in a day shift at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. This Independence Day setting means that on top of the everyday emergencies coming into the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, you can also expect fireworks-related mishaps and other summer heat shenanigans.

But fret not! Attending physician Dr. Robby (Wyle) is working the day shift. He's re-teaming with a bunch of familiar faces from Season 1, including doctors Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh), Cassie McKay (Fiona Dourif), Mel King (Taylor Dearden), Trinity Santos (Isa Briones), and Dennis "Huckleberry" Whitaker (Gerran Howell), and student doctor Victoria "Crash" Javadi (Shabana Azeez). And their ability to pull together in the face of a crisis has been so satisfying in a world gone mad that The Pitt fans have described the show "competency porn."

Where's Dr. Collins?

Noah Wyle and Tracy Ifeachor lean on each other in "The Pitt," Season 1. Credit: John Johnson / HBO

In Season 1, Tracy Ifeachor played Dr. Heather Collins, a former flame of Dr. Robby's who suffered a miscarriage during her shift. From there, she understandably clocked out early, missing the flood of patients coming for the PittFest massacre. And she won't be seen in Season 2, as Deadline reported last July that Ifeachor would not be returning.

Does Dana come back?

Katherine LaNasa as Dana in "The Pitt," Season 2. Credit: Warrick Page / HBO Max

Yes! Last season the charge nurse (Katherine LaNasa) with a heart of a gold and Yinzer accent threatened to quit her job after being attacked by a furious patient. Thankfully, Dana is back.

LeNasa won an Emmy and a Critics' Choice Award for her riveting performance in Season 1, so showrunner R. Scott Gemmill would be mad to write her off. And her return is good news for The Pitt, its fans, and Dr. Robby, who is the heart of the show, but also ever on the verge of bursting. Strong yet sensitive, sometimes raging but always resilient, it's impossible to imagine this place, or this show, without Dana.

Where has Dr. Langdon been?

Brandon Mendez Homer and Patrick Ball in "The Pitt," Season 2. Credit: Warrick Page / HBO Max

In Season 2's premiere, The Pitt fans will see Dr. Langdon (Patrick Ball) return after some time away, as demanded by his behavior in Season 1.

At the start of that shift, Langdon was a respected (albeit arrogant) senior resident, entrusted to introduce second-year resident Mel King to the ways of The Pitt. However, as the shift goes on, he blows up at wannabe maverick Santos, sparking a lecture from Dr. Robby. Then, Santos shares her suspicions that Langdon is stealing benzodiazepines. When Robby confirms this, he is furious and sends Langdon home. However, when Langdon hears about the shooting at PittFest, he returns to help however he can. Robby reluctantly allowed it.

Now in Season 2, he's back and not the cocky bastard we remember. With a sheepish demeanor, in episode 1, Langdon returns from 10 months of "rehab and counseling." Some of the nurses welcome him warmly, while Mel is so elated she almost hugs him in front of everyone. But Robby is less enthused, relegating the returning resident to triage and otherwise trying to avoid him.

Santos is still calling Javadi "Crash"?

Shabana Azeez, Isa Briones, Gerran Howell, and Noah Wyle in "The Pitt," Season 2. Credit: Warrick Page / HBO Max

Yep. Within hours of meeting each other in Season 1, Santos had saddled her fellow student doctors with unwanted nicknames. Whitaker was mocked for being a farm boy with "Huckleberry," and Javadi was dubbed "Crash" for passing out during a particularly grisly medical moment. But by the end of Season 1, Javadi proved herself by making it through one hell of a first day, considering the PittFest carnage. She went out for drinks with coworkers in the park (don't tell her mom!) while Santos showed her softer side to Whitaker.

After being a jagoff to her peers all day, she discovered that Whitaker was unhoused and squatting in a closed section of the hospital. She offered him a room at her apartment for free. This was the most kind thing we'd seen her do yet, so there was the possibility Santos would be less of a bully in Season 2. But while Langdon is showing a newfound humility in this season, Santos is as cocky and cavalierly insulting as ever. She's still hyping herself up in front of superiors and undercutting her colleagues with snarky humor and antagonistic monikers. But even in this first episode, we're getting a better idea of why she's so determined to let no one get close.

Wait, where is Dr. Robby going?

Noah Wyle as Dr. Robby in "The Pitt." Credit: Warrick Page / HBO Max

Instead of walking to work, as we saw at the start of last season, Dr. Robby rides a motorcycle to the ER. Last season, Dr. Jack Abbott (Shawn Hatosy) did recommend to his stressed friend that a hobby might help him cope with hard days at the hospital. So, the three-month sabbatical Robby promises he's starting at the end of this shift will be a long-distance motorcyle ride far beyond Pittsburgh's iconic yellow bridges to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.

"It's an aboriginal UNESCO World Heritage Site in Alberta," Robby tells Langdon. "I've never seen the Badlands."

According to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump's website, it's a place "that preserves and interprets over 6,000 years of Plains Buffalo culture. Through vast landscapes, exhibits, and diverse programming, learn about the cultural significance of this cliff to the Plains People."

So was Langdon right when he called this trip a "spirit quest?" We'll see.

Who is Louie?

Gerran Howell, Lucas Iverson, and Ernest Harden Jr. in "The Pitt." Credit: Warrick Page / HBO Max

While most of the returning cast from The Pitt's first season plays doctors, nurses, or other hospital staff, Ernest Harden Jr. played the lovable alcoholic Louie Cloverfield. Like Earl (Hansford Prince), who liked sandwiches but not egg salad, and Myrna (Jeanette Tondino O'Connor), who liked calling Dr. Robby "fruitcake," Louie is a bit of a regular around this ER. Like Norm from Cheers, except everyone keeps telling him to drink less.

In Season 1, Louie came to the ER twice in 24 hours with issues related to his heavy drinking. Langdon had prescribed him "benzos" to ease alcohol withdrawal, but pocketed several of the pills for his own use. In this new episode for Season 2, the pair are reunited, as Louie comes in with a swollen belly and an infected tooth. Langdon takes the opportunity to come clean, offering a sincere and unvarnished apology. While Louis is shocked, he offers forgiveness. And as was true last time, he may be suffering from his symptoms, but he's a ray of sunshine to all who cross his path.

The Pitt Season 2 premieres Jan. 8 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max, with new episodes each Thursday.

With Greenland seemingly high on Donald Trump's shopping list, Daily Show host Ronnie Chieng spent some time on Wednesday reacting to the administration's stance on Denmark's territory.

"The point is, we need Greenland," says Chieng. "Why? For their freedom, or their oil, or for national defe— look, I don't remember what excuse we're using."

After saying "this congressman, he'll explain it," Chieng brings up a clip of Rep. Andy Ogles describing the U.S. as the "dominant predator in the Western hemisphere" in justification for why it's important America has a stake.

"Yes, Trump is the dominant predator in the Western hemisphere," says Chieng. "At least now that Jeffrey Epstein is dead."

Sophie Turner has been training to play Lara Croft since last February, and there was only one way she wanted to showcase her strength on The Tonight Show: by dominating an unsuspecting Jimmy Fallon in a classic thumb war.

"My thumb strength is really, really...it's good," says Turner in the clip above. "I thought we could have a thumb wrestle."

The Game of Thrones star proceeds to ask Fallon if he wants "this smoke" to which he foolishly agrees — before he gets swiftly put in his place by a far stronger thumb.

Jimmy Kimmel has previously covered the phenomenon of Donald Trump appearing to fall asleep in meetings, but there was apparently a key explanation he's been missing.

"Teddy Dose-velt told the Wall Street Journal that, you know the many videos of him nodding off during meetings? He says he's not sleeping, he's blinking," explains Kimmel. "That's right, he has the rare ability to hold a blink for minutes at a time. And to showcase that ability, we've put together this video montage of some of the many times he most definitely wasn't falling asleep on live TV."

The evidence appears to speak for itself.

The Pitt fans, rejoice! HBO Max's Emmy–winning medical drama returns Thursday, Jan. 8, meaning your favorite doctors and nurses are almost back and ready to tackle every gruesome injury this new shift throws at them.

Since The Pitt is such a buzzy show, and since social media is bound to be crawling with spoilers as soon as it airs, we recommend watching live in order to experience The Pitt's twists and turns to their fullest extent. So what time does Season 2 premiere?

The Pitt's Season 2 premiere kicks off at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max, after which it will be available for streaming. The rest of the season will follow the same schedule: Each new episode premieres at 9 p.m. ET on Thursdays, with the finale airing April 16.

Season 2 of The Pitt picks up months after the end of Season 1, taking viewers into a very eventful July 4th shift. Not only does the Emergency Department have to contend with some gnarly holiday-related injuries — think of all the ways grilling or fireworks can backfire! — but they're also on the brink of massive change. Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch (Emmy winner Noah Wyle) is about to head out on a three-month sabbatical, and his replacement attending, Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi), already has new ideas about how to improve the department.

So what does the future have in store for the ED? Tune into The Pitt Season 2 to find out.

The Pitt Season 2 premieres Jan. 8 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.

If you want to get a flavor of Donald Trump's latest speech made to Republicans on Tuesday, just watch the 57-second montage in the Jimmy Kimmel Live! video above — which is so all-over-the-place it's difficult to summarise in words.

"I feel like even he knows what he's saying's nuts, because just about every time he goes off on these tangents, he then makes it clear that he isn't actually scatterbrained, it's just a 'weave,'" says host Jimmy Kimmel. He then cuts back to the U.S. president explaining the importance of returning to an original point after going off on tangents so that you're "in good shape."

"That's right," says Kimmel. "No one is in better shape than he is."

Now that the dust has settled on the Stranger Things finale — which had more than a few fans up in arms — we're beginning to see a fair few Easter eggs and theories emerge.

A lot of these concern the fate of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) — did you spot that book shelf clue in the final scene, for instance? — but there's also a poignant throwback in the final epilogue that you may have missed.

We're talking about the Hawkins High School graduation speech made by Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), who took over the ceremony with a rousing tirade against the system that had his fellow students cheering and Principal Higgins (Bill Winkler) scrambling for the mic.

The thing is, Dustin's speech wasn't quite as out-of-the-blue as it may have seemed. It was actually a poignant throwback to Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), the leader of the Hellfire Club, who died to save Dustin and his friends in the Upside Down in Season 4.

How does Dustin's graduation speech pay tribute to Eddie?

Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Eddie (Joseph Quinn) fought side-by-side in Season 4. Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

"Screw the school, screw the system, screw conformity, screw everyone and everything trying to hold you back and tear us apart because this, this is our year!" screams Dustin at the end of his grad speech, before dropping the microphone, grabbing his diploma from Higgins, and flipping off the exasperated principal.

Dustin's actions are pretty much a play-by-play re-enactment of what Eddie says he's going to do when he graduates from Hawkins High, back in the Season 4 scene where we first meet his character.

"I'm gonna walk that stage next month, I'm gonna look Principal Higgins dead in the eye, I'm gonna flip him the bird, I'm gonna snatch that diploma and I'm gonna run like hell outta here," yells Eddie, striding around the school cafeteria as his D&D crew, including Dustin and Mike (Finn Wolfhard), laugh in admiration.

Clearly, his words stuck with Dustin. And given that Dustin is still grieving Eddie throughout Season 5, the graduation speech is really a tribute to his friend's memory.

Eddie may be gone, but Hellfire lives.

Stranger Things' final season is available to stream now on Netflix.

Fallout's second season is full of Easter eggs and references to the post-apocalyptic Bethesda games it's based on, including the enemies you try valiantly to avoid. Cooper (Walton Goggins) and Lucy (Ella Purnell) faced down radscorpions early this season, but in Season 2, episode 4, there's no getting around one of Fallout's mightiest foes.

The Deathclaw is HERE.

At the start of the fourth episode of Prime Video's series, we find ourselves back before the global nuclear holocaust, on the Alaskan Front during the war against the People's Liberation Army of China — the Chinese invasion of America is a major event in the Fallout games. Here, Cooper (Walton Goggins) is on the front line testing out that familiar T-45 power armor for the U.S. Marines. He orders his friend Dallas Goldtooth (Charles Whiteknife) back to base before hearing something in the chaos, an animal sound, as a horned beast emerges from the flames. As enemy troops pin Cooper down, the creature takes them all out, then shows its reptilian face, sharp claws, and long tail while giving Coop a major whiff of that maw.

Fans will probably recognise that face instantly as that of a Deathclaw, one of the apex predators that appear in basically every Fallout game. Not a boss you'd want to stumble across in the Wasteland, they're tough as nails — and extremely hard to beat without the games' signature aim-support V.A.T.S. system (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System).

Unluckily for our protagonists in the Fallout TV series, they don't have V.A.T.S., and it's not the last we see of the Deathclaws, with Cooper and Lucy unfortunately encountering one of the towering creatures on arrival in New Vegas in the same episode. Outside the Gomorrah Hotel and Casino, a key location from Fallout: New Vegas, the pair find the place strangely devoid of people — and full of irradiated, long-hatched eggs. Oh dear.

Out of the casino's illustrated flames emerges a mighty Deathclaw. This Reddit thread might help our heroes?

Fallout Season 2 is now streaming on Prime Video with a new episode every week.

In its Season 3 finale, Industry blew itself up entirely.

The episode saw the shutdown of Pierpoint & Co.'s trading floor, eliminating the offices that had been the show's home since Season 1. It was the boldest move yet from a series that's never met a stake it couldn't raise.

So how do Industry co-creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay follow up that explosive Season 3 move? With a jaw-dropping Season 4 that's just as ambitious as the young traders at Industry's core.

What does Industry look like without Pierpoint?

Myha'la and Marisa Abela in "Industry." Credit: Simon Ridgway / HBO

Letting go of Pierpoint gives Industry the freedom to truly scatter its characters to the winds. Harper Stern (Myha'la) remains firmly rooted in the world of finance, running her own fund with backing from billionaire Otto Mostyn (Roger Barclay). Most of her Industry compatriots, however, have left the financial world behind. Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela), now married to Henry Muck (Kit Harington), has embraced aristocratic life. Eric Tao (Ken Leung) spends his time on the golf links in cushy quasi-retirement following his firing from Pierpoint. Robert Spearing (Harry Lawtey) is gone from the show entirely after his Season 3 departure to California.

Yet despite their seeming successes, Harper, Yasmin, and Eric are all itching for something new. Harper chafes against Otto and her clients' demands, Yasmin feels stifled in her marriage to an increasingly aimless Henry, and Eric is rudderless without work to attack.

Enter Tender, a buzzy payment processor with plans to become a "bank killer." This promising fintech company catches Harper and Yasmin's eyes in very different ways. For Yasmin, it's a path back into power, for both her and Henry. For Harper, it's her next target.

As Harper and Yasmin play different sides of Tender's rise, they ally themselves with new members of Industry's sprawling ensemble: Yasmin with Tender CFO Whitney Halberstram (Max Minghella), his personal assistant Haley Clay (Kiernan Shipka), and Labour Minister Jennifer Bevan (Amy James-Kelly); Harper with FinDigest journalist Jim Dycker (Charlie Heaton) and her network of traders, including Sweetpea Golightly (Miriam Petche), Rishi Ramdani (Sagar Radia), and newcomer Kwabena Bannerman (Toheeb Jimoh). With these battle lines drawn, Harper and Yasmin hurtle towards a showdown that takes Industry to new heights.

Industry Season 4 is the show at its most ambitious.

Marisa Abela in "Industry." Credit: Simon Ridgway / HBO

As Industry's young cast of characters has grown and made larger career leaps, the show has grown with them. Initially a close look at the competitive inner workings of Pierpoint, Industry has since spiraled into a wider examination of global politics and economics. That's especially true of Season 4, which features more trips abroad and more involvement from the UK government. A particularly prescient storyline revolves around the UK's age-verification laws, continuing Industry's trend of grounding itself in current events.

Industry's evolution is not just one of scale, but of form, too. Season 3 incorporated new stylistic elements, breaking up its trading floor chaos with extended flashbacks, drug trips, and lavish riffs on Uncut Gems. Season 4 keeps the momentum going, from a spectacular costume ball crash out at Henry and Yasmin's manor to a globe-trotting conspiracy that allows Sweetpea to unleash her inner Erin Brockovich. It's exhilarating to see these big swings in action, as Industry taps into Harper's "high risk, high reward" mindset with great success. Not every risk pays off, with some late-season developments verging on the ridiculous, but it's still fun to watch a show decide to go big or go home.

Spectacle alone doesn't make a great show, though, and thankfully, Industry doesn't fall into that trap. The series remains a deep dive into the wants and ambitions that fuel us, even to our detriment. Often, these characters will destroy everything, even themselves, if it means they can get what they want. Their desires warp their sense of self, until all that's left are stomach-churning downfalls and choices that will leave your head spinning. These nightmarish cycles turn the (few) moments when Industry's characters come to their senses into stark miracles.

But whether Industry's ensemble is hurtling towards destruction or realization, one thing remains the same across the board: Even without Pierpoint, Industry is undeniably intoxicating.

Industry Season 4 premieres Jan. 11 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Stephen Colbert is back with his first monologue of 2026, and like most of the other late night hosts, his focus is on Donald Trump's U.S. attack on Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro.

"Do you know what this means? Those Epstein files must be crazy," the host says, pretending to flick through some papers before slipping into a Trump impression. "Bomb something! Bomb anything!"

Colbert goes on to break down exactly what happened and the aftermath, including footage of Trump speaking about U.S. plans to "run" Venezuela.

"Evidently when he says America first, he means alphabetically," says Colbert. "That's crazy, he can't run two countries at once! He can't even run."

To finish, Colbert takes a more serious tack.

"Invading a country with a moustachioed dictator and saying, 'Don't worry, their oil will pay for this war,' is kind of where I got on this train 20+ years ago," he says. "It didn't work then, and I doubt it's gonna work now. And I hope that the American people don't fall for this a second time."

If you're just getting back into the swing of things in 2026 and need a news recap, Jimmy Kimmel has got you covered.

In the 13-minute monologue above the host recaps everything Donald Trump has done over the holiday period, from the U.S. president's hundreds of posts on Truth Social and awkward phone calls with children about Santa to the U.S.' surprise attack on Venezuela.

"If you were wondering how bad these Epstein files are for Trump, turns out they're invade Venezuela bad," says Kimmel, talking about the abduction of President Nicolás Maduro. "Yes, he's a criminal and a dictator who's driven his country into financial ruin while he and his family have lined their own pockets, but Maduro is no saint either."

Elsewhere, Seth Meyers and Jon Stewart also had a lot to say about the news.

The late night shows are all returning after the holidays, and there's a lot of stuff to catch up on — with the U.S. attack on Venezuela and abduction of President Nicolás Maduro top of the list.

"Look, no-one knows how this operation is going to work out, but based on the United States' track record, my guess is we're going to be really happy about this for a couple of weeks, and then 30 years from now there will be a Venezuelan leftist revolution, and the new government will point to this moment as the reason our embassy there is on fire — and it will absolutely ruin a Democrat's presidency," reacts Jon Stewart in the Daily Show clip above. "Generally that's how this shit works. And remember the reason MAGA was so high on Donald Trump was that he was the guy who wasn't going to get involved in this kind of shit any more."

Cue a montage of Trump saying "we do not seek regime change" and "we don't wanna be the world's policeman," before more footage of Trump talking about rebuilding Venezuela's infrastructure and running the country.

And as for the motive behind the attack? Stewart has yet more clips of Trump repeatedly talking about the country's oil.

"We can't even be conspiracy theorists now!" says Stewart. "I think they did it for the oil! 'Yeah, no, I did it for the oil.'"

Stranger Things may be over, but the theories and speculation live on. And while the show itself leaves the question of whether Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is alive or dead at the end open to interpretation, Sadie Sink is pretty clear which side she lands on.

"I think she's dead, I don't know," Sink, who plays Max in the Netflix series, says in The Tonight Show clip above. And the audience groans. "Is that like a hot take or something? I think Mike's story is just one last story, and then they say goodbye to childhood. But that's just one final tale. And that's it. I think it's just like a coping thing."

Maybe the upcoming Netflix documentary, One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, will give us some clearer answers.

In The Pitt, change is constant.

The Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center's nonstop stream of patients leaves its staff in eternal flux. Anything can roll through the doors and alter the course of an shift. Conditions can jump from stable to life-threatening faster than you can say "yinz." Because of this, Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch (Noah Wyle, fresh off an Emmy win) and his team have to be ready to switch up their care plans at a moment's notice. 

That sense of oscillation is a huge reason why The Pitt’s ER-meets-24 formula is so intoxicating. Thankfully, the HBO series only doubles down on it in Season 2, forcing its characters to confront change not just where their patients are concerned, but also in the Emergency Department itself. New faces, new rules...all these additions risk destabilizing the Pitt’s already shaky equilibrium, creating another captivating high-wire act of TV.

There’s a new sheriff in town in The Pitt Season 2

Sepideh Moafi in "The Pitt." Credit: Warrick Page / HBO Max

A new season of The Pitt means a new shift. This time around, it’s the Fourth of July, meaning several months have passed since Season 1’s PittFest tragedy.

Since then, the unthinkable has happened: Dr. Robby has decided to take a vacation. A three-month sabbatical, no less! His plan to take a motorcycle trip has his coworkers worried — especially since he’s not wearing a helmet while riding a motorcycle in the season’s opening scene — but Robby is just focused on getting through one last shift before he departs.

His last day overlaps with the first of his replacement attending, Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi (Sepideh Moafi). Right off the bat, their dynamic crackles with barely-disguised annoyance. Robby bristles at Al-Hashimi's arrival, and instantly decides she's stepping on his toes. Al-Hashimi, meanwhile, takes offense at Robby’s prickly attitude — towards her, towards her relationship with the student doctors, and especially towards the changes she wants to implement in the ED.

The Pitt’s new characters may aggravate you at first — but that’s the point

Gerran Howell, Amielynn Abellera, Noah Wyle, Sepideh Moafi, and Supriya Ganesh in "The Pitt." Credit: Warrick Page / HBO Max

And what changes Al-Hashimi has in store! On top of wanting to do away with the ED's nickname of "the Pitt" — the horror! — she's also hellbent on bolstering departmental efficiency. Tactics include the implementation of "patient passports" and the use of AI apps in patient charting. Everything she says sets a vein popping on Robby's forehead. How dare she try to shake up the system the ED's staff has used for years?

Given that audiences are more familiar with Robby, chances are they'll side with him at first. His own disgruntled reaction feels like a meta parallel to TV audiences' irritations at new characters shaking up the casts of their comfort shows. Like Robby, these audiences wonder, why disrupt a well-oiled machine with a new part?

Of course, it's these disruptions that make things interesting from season to season, and Al-Hashimi is an immediately interesting addition to The Pitt. Moafi's calm, pointed delivery makes Al-Hashimi a clear counterpoint to the controlled chaos of the ED, positioning her as an outside authority figure. Seeing which staff members embrace her versus which stand by Robby weaves an engrossing, yet subtle, web of tension throughout the season. 

But Al-Hashimi is more than just a thorn in Robby's side on his last day. Over the course of the first nine episodes sent to critics, The Pitt also shines a spotlight on her point of view, especially when it comes to her well-intentioned, if flawed, proposals. That much-needed depth turns Al-Hashimi from antagonistic force to a new cog in The Pitt’s medical machine.

The same is almost true of The Pitt's new student doctors, Joy Kwon (Irene Choi) and James Ogilvie (Lucas Iverson). At first, the former seems almost apathetic towards her work, while the latter is a textbook jerk genius with little social awareness. As the shift's hours tick by, The Pitt does its best to bring Kwon out of her shell and humble Ogilvie, but for the most part, they feel more like mentee accessories to Dr. Dennis Whitaker (Gerran Howell). That could change in the season's final episodes, though. After all, The Pitt's first season proved adept at altering our perceptions of its cast over the course of a day. Dr. Trinity Santos (Isa Briones) first struck me as a one-dimensional portrait of overconfident condescension, but I soon came to admire her quick wits and conviction in calling out Dr. Frank Langdon's (Patrick Ball) medication theft. Perhaps Kwon and Ogilvie are on a similar, Santos-esque path.

The Pitt remains timelier than ever

Sepideh Moafi, Taylor Dearden, Katherine LaNasa, Gerran Howell, and Supriya Ganesh in "The Pitt." Credit: Warrick Page / HBO Max

In addition to all of its new characters — plus developments like Robby’s sabbatical or Langdon’s return — The Pitt continues its track record of providing unflinching looks at the modern medical landscape. You can still expect hyperrealistic medical procedures, with the Fourth of July setting adding extra specificity to the season's injuries. Grills? Firecrackers? Festive pub crawls? All end with new patients getting wheeled into the ED.

Plus, just as Season 1 tackled tough issues like abortion and gun violence, Season 2 treads new ground with its discussions of current hot-button issues. At the forefront, the incorporation of artificial intelligence into the ED, which turns The Pitt into a microcosm of the wider debate behind AI technology. Is it a useful tool? Or do its frequent errors outweighs the benefits? Will it streamline humans' work days, or reduce healthcare jobs for humans? These are the questions The Pitt ponders — and loudly — throughout the season.

Elsewhere, in a more quiet fashion, The Pitt examines the impacts of the Trump administration on healthcare. Donald Trump's name is never stated outright, but mentions of the White House cutting funding to research — such as a study about racial disparities in healthcare that Dr. Samira Mohan (Supriya Ganesh) was involved in — make it crystal clear who The Pitt is calling out.

The standout, though, when it comes to Season 2’s look into key social issues, is its portrayal of the procedure of gathering evidence for a sexual assault forensic exam, including a rape kit. Over the course of several episodes, charge nurse Dana Evans (Katherine LaNasa) walks sexual assault victim Ilana (Tina Ivlev) through the process, giving her support, resources, and space when the situation becomes too much. The examination room becomes a quiet bubble in the midst of the ED's pandemonium, one where The Pitt is able to offer the deliberate care such a storyline (and a survivor) deserves. LaNasa, fresh off an Emmy win, remains extraordinary here. Dana sheds the tough demeanor she exhibits around the ED and its more unruly patients, instead becoming the quiet, supportive figure Ilana needs.

This storyline, among the many other highlights from Season 2, remains proof of The Pitt’s staying power. As Dr. Robby and his staff weather change after change, the show itself remains empathetic, educational, and totally unforgettable.

The Pitt Season 2 premieres Jan. 8 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.

If you have experienced sexual abuse, call the free, confidential National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), or access the 24-7 help online by visiting online.rainn.org.

Stranger Things may be finished, but we're still not quite done with the residents of Hawkins.

Netflix just dropped a trailer for One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, a documentary focussing on the making of the final season featuring interviews and behind-the-scenes footage with the cast and crew.

Brace yourself for some serious emotion.

One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 is streaming on Netflix from Jan. 12.

After almost a decade, Stranger Things has come to an end — and even though some fans aren't happy with how things left off, the finale still has plenty of people talking.

One topic that's dominated social media is the ultimate fate of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). Towards the end of the finale the series protagonist appears to sacrifice herself by staying in the Upside-Down while the dimensional bridge to the Abyss is blown to smithereens, eliminating any possibility of the military breeding more children with her telepathic powers and continuing their cruel experiments.

But then, during a final D&D campaign in the very last scene, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) puts forward an alternative theory. What if the image they all saw of El standing in the doorway to the Upside-Down was really just a projection made by Eight/Kali (Linnea Berthelsen)? Could it be that the real El actually made a pact with her fellow Hawkins Lab survivor, managed to slip back into the real world while everyone was distracted, and is now living out her days in another part of the world under a new identity as Mike's story suggests?

The Duffer Brothers' show refuses to confirm what really happens — but some fans are speculating that the clues point to El being alive.

What's the clue on the bookshelf?

One of these clues is on the bookshelf in the Wheeler's basement at the very end of the episode, where the main gang go and return their D&D campaign binders once and for all. In the episode itself it's hard to read the titles of the books surrounding the binders — but in one of the behind-the-scenes images posted on Instagram by Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp, we can get a clearer look (swipe through to the final image).

View this post on Instagram

As fans have already pointed out on Reddit, one of the books is The Empty Copper Sea by John D. MacDonald — a 1978 novel about a detective investigating a possible faked death.

It seems highly unlikely this choice by the Stranger Things production team is a coincidence, so could it be another hint that Mike's theory about El is correct? Maybe. Although if you were being cynical, you could also argue that a grieving Mike may just have spent the past 18 months reading stories about fake deaths while he was working on his own theory about El.

Ultimately, the fate of Eleven is hidden in the minds of the Duffer Brothers, and they're not giving anything away. Still, we're choosing to believe.

Stranger Things' final season is available to stream now on Netflix.

Jimmy Kimmel picked up the prize for best talk show at the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, and he made sure to pay tribute to one of the many people that's made it all possible: Donald Trump.

"FIFA Peace Prize would have been better, but this is nice too," said Kimmel as he took to the stage, making reference to the controversial award given to the U.S. president by football's governing body.

"Thanks to all the writers and actors and producers and union members, many of who are in this room, who supported us, who really stepped forward for us, and reminded us that we do not take free speech for granted in this city or in this country. Your actions were important, and we appreciate them. And most of all I want to thank our president, Donald Jennifer Trump — without whom we would be going home empty-handed tonight," Kimmel continued.

"So thank you, Mr President, for all the many ridiculous things you do each and every day. It's been a banner couple of weeks and we can't wait to get back on the air tomorrow night to talk about them."

Kimmel's speech makes reference to the many people in the entertainment industry, including fellow late show hosts like Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver, who came to his defence after ABC's parent company Disney suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! in Sept. 2025. The decision was made following a threat from Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chair Brendan Carr's to punish ABC over comments made by Kimmel during a monologue following the killing of far-right commentator Charlie Kirk.

Kimmel's show was reinstated less than a week later, with the host's return monologue becoming the most-watched on his YouTube channel.

We've rounded up the full list of winners at the Critics Choice Awards on Mashable.

Stranger Things has finally come to an end, with the series finale streaming New Year's Eve on Netflix. However, reactions to Stranger Things' grand finale have been mixed, with many left unsatisfied with how the popular series ultimately concluded.

The Duffer Brothers' retro sci-fi series has significantly evolved since its 2016 premiere, starting with a small town teen's disappearance and ending with a potentially world-ending supernatural fight. Stranger Things fans were eager to find out how it all ended, and learn the fate of beloved characters such as Steve (Joe Keery), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Max (Sadie Sink).

Unfortunately, not everyone received a completely happy ending. 

Beware, massive spoilers ahead.

Did Eleven die in Stranger Things?

Credit: Netflix

Season 5 revealed Vecna's (Jamie Campbell Bower) grand plan to merge Hawkins' dimension with an alternate one labelled the Abyss, uncovering the Upside Down's true nature as a wormhole connecting the two. In 'Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up,' the group ventured into the Abyss to confront both him and the Mind Flayer in a dramatic final fight, eventually emerging victorious thanks to their combined efforts (and projectile weaponry).

Yet while most of the party made it back to Hawkins relatively unscathed, not all did. Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) failed to return to Hawkins with her friends, choosing to deliberately stay behind and sacrifice herself to ensure her blood couldn't be used to restart Hawkins Lab's human experimentation program. Though Mike (Finn Wolfhard) comes up with a theory as to how she may have secretly survived, Stranger Things ultimately leaves Eleven's fate ambiguous.

"There are two roads that Eleven could take," Matt Duffer said in an interview with Netflix. "There’s this darker, more pessimistic one or the optimistic, hopeful one. Mike is the optimist of the group and has chosen to believe in that story."

"There was never a version of the story where Eleven was hanging out with the gang at the end," Ross Duffer agreed. "For us and our writers, we didn’t want to take her powers away. She represents magic in a lot of ways and the magic of childhood. For our characters to move on and for the story of Hawkins and the Upside Down to come to a close, Eleven had to go away. We thought it would be beautiful if our characters continued to believe in that happier ending even if we didn’t give them a clear answer to whether that’s true or not."

Stranger Things' finale leaves fans dissatisfied

Credit: Netflix

Despite the Duffer Brothers' reasoning, Eleven's fate upset many viewers who had hoped for an unequivocally happy ending. Online reactions to Stranger Things' finale have been largely negative, as fans expressed their frustration with the ending they were given.

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Eleven's fate wasn't the only issue fans had with Stranger Things' finale either. Many viewers also felt that the final battle was anticlimactic, and that the series' conclusion failed to reward the characters for their efforts throughout past seasons — or the viewers for their loyalty. 

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Some fans further speculated that Stranger Things' cast may be just as dissatisfied by the ending as its viewers. In a popular X post, Stranger Things X fan account @stonetflix likened Brown's seemingly apprehensive reaction to being asked about the ending before it aired to that of actor Emilia Clarke answering a similar question about the Game of Thrones finale. Game of Thrones' conclusion was notoriously poorly received, with many viewers upset by the ending given to Clarke's character Daenerys Targaryen.

Though widespread sentiment is that Stranger Things' ending was nowhere near as bad as Game of Thrones', the fact that the parallel is being drawn at all isn't a great sign.

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Fortunately, while many reactions to Stranger Things' finale were negative, not everyone was disappointed. While in the minority, a few fans expressed satisfaction with the series' end and appreciation for what it was.

"A lot of the finale is about growing up," said Matt, touching on Eleven's ultimate choice. "It’s the end of a long coming-of-age story and part of coming of age is leaving your parents and making your own decisions. That’s the moment where Eleven reaches that point and Hopper realizes he does have to let go."

"[There were] discussions with ourselves and also with the other actors, and everyone had very specific ideas of where their characters would end up," said Ross. "We wanted them to continue the journeys that they had all started."

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Stranger Things' final season is available to stream now on Netflix.

The MCU is about to take a good hard look at itself from within itself in the upcoming Disney+ miniseries Wonder Man, from Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton and Community writer Andrew Guest. And looking at the trailer, we're in for some actual fun. Remember fun?

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as Simon Williams, an actor trying for that big break when a superhero role emerges on the horizon. Who better to teach him the art of faking it till you make it? None other than Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), the performer we last saw playing the role of terrorist leader The Mandarin in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. The thing is, Simon seems to be developing actual powers himself.

It's one of the shows we're most looking forward to this January, and you can check out our 2026 TV preview on Mashable.

Wonder Man premieres Jan. 27 on Disney+.

Can't get enough Critical Role after finishing Season 1 of The Mighty Nein or getting all caught up on Campaign 4? Don't worry, we've got you covered.

In the latest episode of Mashable's Say More interview series, Mashable Entertainment Reporter Belen Edwards tasks Critical Role cast members Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Matthew Mercer, Liam O'Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham with a daunting mission. They must draft teams of player characters from their first three Dungeons & Dragons campaigns to square off in the ultimate Critical Role battle royale. That means usual allies and even romantic pairings like Keyleth (Ray) and Vax (O'Brien) could be going up against each other in a no-holds-barred fight to the finish.

For this edition of Choose Your Squad, the rules are simple: Once you choose a character, they're off the board for good. Try not to choose your own characters unless you absolutely have to, and most importantly, try to have a good time. Just kidding — crush your opponents in any way you see fit!

Which PC will be the first pick in the Critical Role draft, and are they the same PC O'Brien believes to be the obvious choice? Most importantly, is there any world in which Bertrand Bell (Willingham) doesn't get picked last? (Sorry, Bertrand.)

Watch the video above to find out, and let us know which Critical Role squad you think would take the win.

The Mighty Nein Season 1 is now streaming on Prime Video.

Don’t miss out on our latest stories: Add Mashable as a trusted news source in Google.

Well, Hellfire Club, it's finally here.

The very, very end of Stranger Things, after almost 10 years and five seasons of the Duffer Brothers' smash Netflix series. We've ridden our bikes through Scoops Ahoy sundaes and Spider Monster battles in the Starcourt Mall, through Billy's Mind Flayer recruitment drive, all the way to shredding Metallica in the Upside Down and staring into the Abyss.

The final battle against Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) looms for our Hawkins heroes, with the penultimate episode bringing everyone together in the Squawk radio station, ready to face the mind-bending villain once and for all. But when, exactly, can you settle in with your Demogorgon plushie for the last stand?

What exact time does the Stranger Things finale air?

The series finale of Stranger Things premieres Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Netflix.

Of course, you can also watch it in the cinema (but by this time, you'll be lucky to get a seat).

2025 offered up some truly fantastic TV, but enough about that year! That's in the past, and the future is calling with some tempting streaming options. What shows are barreling down the pipeline in 2026?

The short answer: a lot. 2026 will see the return of several major series, like Bridgerton, Euphoria, The Pitt, and The Boys. This coming year will also usher in not one but two shows set in Westeros, with new series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and Season 3 of House of the Dragon. That's already a spoil of riches, but there's so much more where that came from, including new Marvel and Star Trek shows, and even an animated Stranger Things spin-off.

To help you prepare for the coming storm of TV, Mashable has assembled a guide to some of the hottest titles of 2026. We've also sorted everything by streaming service so you'll know which shows you'll have access to, or which streamer you'll need in order to catch the series that excites you the most. Here are the shows you should check out in 2026.

What's coming to AMC+ in 2026?

Two critical darlings return to AMC this year, and one of them even has a new title. Here, in alphabetical order, are the AMC series to keep an eye out for in 2026.

Dark Winds, Season 4

The critically acclaimed crime thriller Dark Winds returns for its fourth season this February, with the Navajo detective duo of Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) and Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon) back for another round of mystery solving. Season 4 is based on Tony Hillerman's novel The Ghostway, the sixth in the Leaphorn & Chee series, and it will spend some time outside the Navajo nation in Los Angeles. What will bring Leaphorn and Chee out there, and what new mysteries lie in store for them?

Starring: Zahn McClarnon, Kiowa Gordon, Jessica Matten, Deanna Allison, A Martinez, Franka Potente, Isabel DeRoy-Olson, Chaske Spencer, Luke Barnett, and Titus Welliver

How to watch: Dark Winds Season 4 premieres Feb. 15 at 9 p.m. ET on AMC and AMC+.

The Vampire Lestat (Interview with the Vampire, Season 3)

AMC's exceptional Interview with the Vampire gets a rocking rebrand in Season 3. Now titled The Vampire Lestat, this season focuses on everyone's favorite French vampire train wreck (affectionate). Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid) has stepped into the spotlight as a rock star, and he's using his music to tell his side of his relationship with Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson). Expect more heart-wrenching angst, vampire spats, and several bangers performed by Lestat himself. Trust me, you're going to want a front row seat to this concert.

Starring: Sam Reid, Jacob Anderson, Eric Bogosian, Delainey Hayles, Assad Zaman, Jennifer Ehle, Ella Ballentine, Jeanine Serralles, Christopher Heyerdahl, Damien Atkins, Sheila Atim, Noah Reid, Ryan Kattner, Seamus Patterson, and Sarah Swire

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat premieres on AMC and AMC+ in 2026. The exact date has yet to be announced.

What's coming to Apple TV in 2026?

Apple TV may have dropped the + from its name in 2025, but it hasn't stopped its commitment to turning out high-quality streaming shows. While recent favorites like Severance and Pluribus likely won't return this year, several other Apple series are coming back in full force. Here, in alphabetical order, are the Apple TV series to keep an eye out for in 2026.

Hijack, Season 2

Remember when Idris Elba singlehandedly saved a flight from disaster in Apple TV's thrilling Hijack? Well, he's back at it again, except this time, he's swapped planes for trains. (What's next, automobiles?) Hijack Season 2 sees Elba return as corporate negotiator Sam Nelson, who's embroiled in a hostage crisis on a Berlin underground train. How will he wrangle his way out of this one? And more importantly, will Sam ever have a normal commute?

Starring: Idris Elba, Christine Adams, Max Beesley, Archie Panjabi, Christian Näthe, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Lisa Vicari, Toby Jones, Karima McAdams, and Christiane Paul

How to watch: Hijack Season 2 premieres Jan. 14 on Apple TV.

Margo's Got Money Troubles

Michelle Pfeiffer and Elle Fanning in "Margo's Got Money Troubles." Credit: Apple TV

Rufi Thorpe's novel Margo's Got Money Troubles comes to the small screen next year with a star-studded adaptation from A24 and David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies, Presumed Innocent). Elle Fanning stars as the titular Margo, a single mother and college dropout looking to make ends meet. In the book, she starts an OnlyFans account to pay her bills and achieves internet fame thanks to some pro-wrestling advice from her father, Jinx (Nick Offerman). Rounding out Margo's family in the series is Michelle Pfeiffer as her mother Shyanne. With a cast this good, it's no wonder Margo's Got Money Troubles is on our radar.

Starring: Elle Fanning, Nick Offerman, Michelle Pfeiffer, Marcia Gay Harden, Greg Kinnear, Michael Angarano, Rico Nasty, and Lindsey Normington

How to watch: Margo's Got Money Troubles premieres April 15 on Apple TV.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2

Do you want to see some big monsters duke it out on TV? Why am I even asking? Of course you do! Then get ready for more Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, a decades-spanning thriller set in the world of the MonsterVerse. Season 2 focuses on King Kong and Skull Island, so prepare yourself for some giant gorilla action, along with Skull Island staples like Skullcrawlers. And no, we haven't forgotten about the King of Monsters himself: Godzilla is still very much around, and we can't wait to see him and his monstrous brethren back in action.

Starring: Kurt Russell, Wyatt Russell, Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Mari Yamamoto, Joe Tippett, and Anders Holm

How to watch: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters premieres Feb. 27 on Apple TV.

Shrinking, Season 3

Jason Segel and Harrison Ford in "Shrinking." Credit: Apple TV

Apple TV's beloved comedy Shrinking returns for its third season in 2026, and I wouldn't blame you for already tearing up at the thought of the laughs and life lessons the show has coming down the line. The gang's all back in Season 3, with therapists Jimmy (Jason Segel), Gaby (Jessica Williams), and Paul (Harrison Ford) continuing to navigate their own changing lives alongside those of their patients. Season 3 is also introducing some big-name guest stars, including Candice Bergen and Jeff Daniels. Most notable is Michael J. Fox, who will be playing someone in Paul's orbit as he deals with his Parkinson's disease. Fox himself has Parkinson's, even retiring from acting in 2020 due to the condition. However, Shrinking marks an exciting return for the actor.

Starring: Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, Christa Miller, Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Michael Urie, Lukita Maxwell, Ted McGinley, Brett Goldstein, Damon Wayans Jr., Wendie Malick, Cobie Smulders, Jeff Daniels, Candice Bergen, and Michael J. Fox

How to watch: Shrinking Season 3 premieres Jan. 28 on Apple TV.

What's coming to Disney+ in 2026?

Disney+'s biggest TV offerings this year are all about the MCU. The delayed entertainment satire Wonder Man, originally slated for a 2025 release, will finally see the light of day, while Charlie Cox will ride again as Matt Murdock/Daredevil. Here, in alphabetical order, are the Disney+ series to keep an eye out for in 2026.

Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2

Charlie Cox in "Daredevil: Born Again." Credit: Marvel Television

Daredevil: Born Again proved a welcome return for Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), but it certainly did not leave things in great shape for the vigilante hero. Season 1 ended with Mayor Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) ruling New York City with an iron fist, after all. However, there's still light in the darkness: Matt and Karen Page (Deborah Ann Woll) are working to put things right, even recruiting allies like Frank Castle/the Punisher (Jon Bernthal) and Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) to join in their fight. Can this small force bring Fisk and his army of violent, corrupt cops to justice?

Starring: Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, Margarita Levieva, Nikki M. James, Genneya Walton, Michael Gandolfini, Clark Johnson, Ayelet Zurer, Camila Rodriguez, Deborah Ann Woll, Krysten Ritter, Matthew Lillard, and Lili Taylor

How to watch: Daredevil: Born Again Season 2 premieres in March on Disney+.

Wonder Man

The MCU gets meta with Wonder Man, a miniseries about struggling actor Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) auditioning for the role of a superhero, only to become a superhero himself. Created by Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton and 30 Rock and Community writer Andrew Guest, Wonder Man is a show under the "Marvel Spotlight" banner, meaning you won't need to watch other MCU shows to understand what's going on. Still, that doesn't mean you won't be seeing any familiar faces from the MCU. Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), of Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi fame, will be popping up, presumably as another actor in Simon's circle.*

Starring: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Ben Kingsley, Demetrius Grosse, Ed Harris, Lauren Glazier, Josh Gad, Byron Bowers, and Manny McCord

How to watch: Wonder Man premieres Jan. 27 on Disney+.

What's coming to Dropout in 2026?

A new season of TTRPG madness, shiny and chrome, kicks off Dropout's 2026 slate.

Dimension 20: Gladlands

Game master Brennan Lee Mulligan is back in the dome for another Dungeons & Dragons-styled adventure. This time, the setting for his campaign is a sun-scorched wasteland, reminiscent of Mad Max: Fury Road. And joining him around the table are an enticing collection of Dropout stars, including previous players Ally Beardsley, Oscar Montoya, Zac Oyama, and Jacob Wysocki. Making their debut in the dome are Kimia Behpoornia and Very Important People host Vic Michaelis. Based on the line-up alone, we anticipate some outrageous comedy and campaign chaos. Let's roll for initiative!  — Kristy Puchko, Entertainment Editor

Starring: Brennan Lee Mulligan, Ally Beardsley, Oscar Montoya, Zac Oyama, Jacob Wysocki, Kimia Behpoornia, and Vic Michaelis

How to watch: Dimension 20: Gladlands premieres Jan. 7 on Dropout.

What's coming to HBO/HBO Max in 2026?

Let's put aside any concerns about the Netflix/Warner Bros. acquisition for a moment and just appreciate the TV feast that awaits us on HBO and HBO Max in the new year. Two Game of Thrones spin-offs, a new DC universe series, more Euphoria, and a second round of The Pitt. Here, in alphabetical order, are the HBO/HBO Max series to keep an eye out for in 2026.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

The first of two Westeros-set shows to air this year, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms sets a different course from its predecessors Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. There are no bloody battles for the Iron Throne here. Instead, this is the tale of humble hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey), his sassy young squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell), and their journey to earn some coin at the Ashford Meadow tourney. George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas are much lighter in tone than his other Westeros-based work, so expect more of a buddy adventure with some jousting thrown in for good measure. I'm not complaining: It'll be nice to have some fun before diving back into the brutal affairs of House of the Dragon.

Starring: Peter Claffey, Dexter Sol Ansell, Daniel Ings, Bertie Carvel, Danny Webb, Sam Spruell, Shaun Thomas, Finn Bennett, Edward Ashley, Tanzyn Crawford, Henry Ashton, Youssef Kerkour, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, and Daniel Monks

How to watch: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms premieres Jan. 18 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Euphoria, Season 3

Zendaya in "Euphoria." Credit: Patrick Wymore / HBO

It's been well over three years since we last saw Rue (Zendaya) and her high school classmates in Euphoria Season 2. If that wait time has you saying, "Bitch, you better be joking," I'm right there with you! However, HBO's buzzy drama is poised to make a comeback in a big way in 2026, with its third season kicking off five years after the Season 2 finale. Since then, a lot has changed for our leads: Rue is in Mexico, paying off her debts from Season 2; Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Nate (Jacob Elordi) are engaged; Jules (Hunter Schafer) is in art school; and Maddy (Alexa Demie) and Lexi (Maude Apatow) are climbing the ranks in Hollywood. How will all these puzzle pieces fit together? I'm not sure yet, but I'm ready for more killer memes, makeup looks, and mess.

Starring: Zendaya, Hunter Schafer, Eric Dane, Jacob Elordi, Sydney Sweeney, Alexa Demie, Maude Apatow, Martha Kelly, Chloe Cherry, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Toby Wallace, Colman Domingo, Sharon Stone, Rosalía, Danielle Deadwyler, Marshawn Lynch, Sam Trammell, Dominic Fike, Natasha Lyonne, Eli Roth, and Trisha Paytas

How to watch: Euphoria Season 3 premieres in April on HBO and HBO Max.

House of the Dragon, Season 3

Emma D'Arcy in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO

The dragons are still dancing in House of the Dragon Season 3, which continues the war of succession between Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) and her nephew, King Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney). Between the massacres by dragonfire and full-on child murder, the war has already been catastrophic enough. But it's about to get even more fraught, as the Battle of the Gullet is on its way. In George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, the Battle of the Gullet is a naval bloodbath that will launch a calamitous new chapter in the Westerosi history books. Brace yourself for epic action, family betrayals, and of course, tons of dragons.

Starring: Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Steve Toussaint, Rhys Ifans, Fabien Frankel, Ewan Mitchell, Tom Glynn-Carney, Sonoya Mizuno, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, Matthew Needham, James Norton, Tom Bennett, Kieran Bew, Kurt Egyiawan, Freddie Fox, Clinton Liberty, Gayle Rankin, and Abubakar Salim

How to watch: House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres in the summer of 2026 on HBO and HBO Max.

Industry, Season 4

If you're not on the Industry train, consider this your sign to get on immediately. Over its first three seasons, the series went from being Euphoria with stocks to one of the TV's most ambitious and compelling dramas. (Don't get me wrong, Euphoria with stocks was great on its own as well.) Industry shows no signs of slowing in its fourth outing, which sees Harper (Myha'la) and Yasmin (Marisa Abela) getting involved in a promising new fintech company from very different angles. Conspiracies and backstabbing are sure to follow, along with a costume party that, dare I say, will rival Bridgerton's most lavish period gatherings.

Starring: Myha’la, Marisa Abela, Kit Harington, Ken Leung, Max Minghella, Miriam Petche, Sagar Radia, Toheeb Jimoh, Charlie Heaton, Amy James-Kelly, Roger Barclay, Andrew Havill, Kiernan Shipka, Kal Penn, Jack Farthing, Stephen Campbell Moore, Claire Forlani, and Edward Holcroft

How to watch: Industry Season 4 premieres Jan. 11 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max.

Lanterns

Aaron Pierre and Kyle Chandler in "Lanterns." Credit: John P. Johnson / HBO

The televised DC Universe expands in a big way this year with Lanterns, based on the Green Lantern comics. Don't expect many space shenanigans, though. The series is primarily set on Earth, pairing new Lantern Corps recruit John Stewart (Aaron Pierre) with longtime Lantern Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler) to investigate a murder right in the heart of America. Our very first look at the show features Hal jumping out of a moving car in order to encourage John to use the ring, so expect a lot of banter in this mentor-mentee relationship. (And maybe a few car crashes.)

Starring: Kyle Chandler, Aaron Pierre, Kelly Macdonald, Nathan Fillion, Garret Dillahunt, Poorna Jagannathan, Ulrich Thomsen, Nicole Ari Parker, Jason Ritter, Sherman Augustus, Chris Coy, Paul Ben-Victor, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Cary Christopher, and Jasmine Cephas Jones

How to watch: Lanterns premieres on HBO and HBO Max in 2026. The exact release date has yet to be announced.

The Pitt, Season 2

Medical drama The Pitt took the world by storm in 2025, becoming a weekly TV obsession and picking up the 2025 Emmy for Best Drama series. Now, Dr. Robby (Noah Wyle) and co. are clocking back in for another shift that's bound to have us both stressed and engrossed. Season 2 jumps ahead in time to July 4, which means I'm already bracing myself for gnarly grill burns and fireworks mishaps. But that's not all I'm worried about: The season's opening scene features Dr. Robby riding a motorcycle to work. That's already out of character for a doctor who oversees an emergency department, but what's even more concerning is that Dr. Robby isn't wearing a helmet. What kind of self-destructive streak does Dr. Robby have going on, and how is it going to impact his team? I'm waiting on the edge of my seat to find out, and you can bet the edge of my seat is where I'll be staying for all of The Pitt Season 2's pulse-pounding run.

Starring: Noah Wyle, Patrick Ball, Katherine LaNasa, Supriya Ganesh, Fiona Dourif, Taylor Dearden, Isa Briones, Gerran Howell, Shabana Azeez, and Sepideh Moafi

How to watch: The Pitt Season 2 premieres Jan. 8 at 9 p.m. ET on HBO Max.

What's coming to Hulu/FX in 2026?

There's a lot to get excited about on Hulu and FX in 2026. Old favorites like Paradise and The Bear are back, while a new Ryan Murphy project and a Handmaid's Tale sequel wait in the wings. Here, in alphabetical order, are the Hulu and FX series to keep an eye out for in 2026.

The Bear, Season 5

Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri in "The Bear." Credit: FX Networks

Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) may have quit the restaurant life at the end of The Bear Season 4, but don't think for a second that the series is done. FX announced that The Bear will return for Season 5 in 2026, meaning we'll see what the Bear restaurant looks like under the supervision of Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), and Sugar (Abby Elliott). I'm especially intrigued to see what Carmy gets up to when he's not in chef mode. Maybe he gets really into watercolors, or hiking. Maybe he'll finally learn to relax! But something tells me he'll be back in the kitchen before too long — hopefully after he's done some serious healing, though.

Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Abby Elliott, Matty Matheson, Edwin Lee Gibson, Corey Hendrix, Oliver Platt, Molly Gordon, Ricky Staffieri, and Jamie Lee Curtis

How to watch: The Bear Season 5 premieres on Hulu in 2026. The exact release date has yet to be announced.

The Beauty

Bella Hadid in "The Beauty." Credit: Philippe Antonello / FX

Love him or hate him, you know a Ryan Murphy series will always cause conversation. His upcoming project The Beauty, co-created with Matthew Hodgson, looks to be no exception. Based on the comic book series by Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley, the show sees two FBI agents (Evan Peters and Rebecca Hall) investigating a spate of grisly supermodel deaths. What they discover is unsettling: a sexually transmitted virus that can make you physically perfect, but at a devastating cost. As the epidemic spreads, they cross paths with a shadowy tech billionaire (Ashton Kutcher), his personal assassin (Anthony Ramos), and the miracle drug he'll do anything to protect. Boasting sci-fi and body horror elements aplenty, The Beauty could be your next gory good time.

Starring: Evan Peters, Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope, Ashton Kutcher, Rebecca Hall, Amelia Gray Hamlin, Ari Graynor, Bella Hadid, Ben Platt, Billy Eichner, Isabella Rossellini, Jessica Alexander, Julie Halston, Lux Pascal, Meghan Trainor, Nicola Peltz Beckham, Peter Gallagher, and Vincent D’Onofrio

How to watch: The first three episodes of The Beauty premiere on FX and Hulu at 9 p.m. ET on Jan. 21.

Paradise, Season 2

Paradise Season 1 wowed me with its sci-fi twist and layered conspiracies. Now, Dan Fogelman's Emmy–nominated series leaves the Paradise bunker and heads into the unknown. As Xavier Collins (Sterling K. Brown) searches for his wife Teri (Enuka Okuma) on the surface, he'll learn all about how the world survived the tsunami-volcano-nuclear-war apocalypse that struck three years ago. Meanwhile, a new power structure emerges back in Paradise, and Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) makes the bombshell revelation that "it was never just about the bunker." Does that mean more crazy twists? Consider me seated.

Starring: Sterling K. Brown, Julianne Nicholson, Sarah Shahi, Nicole Brydon Bloom, Krys Marshall, Enuka Okuma, Aliyah Mastin, Percy Daggs IV, Charlie Evans, James Marsden, Shailene Woodley, Thomas Doherty, and Jon Beavers

How to watch: Paradise Season 2 premieres Feb. 23 on Hulu.

The Testaments

Chase Infiniti in "The Testaments." Credit: Disney

The Handmaid's Tale may have ended in 2025, but viewers can return to the hellscape of Gilead in 2026 with The Testaments. The series adapts Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale sequel of the same name, set 15 years after the original novel. It weaves together the lives of three women living in Gilead's shadow. Agnes (One Battle After Another breakout Chase Infiniti) grows up as the daughter of a Gilead commander, not knowing that she's really June's (Elisabeth Moss) daughter Hannah. Daisy (Lucy Halliday) lives freely in Canada, but like Agnes, there's a secret about her birth: She's June and Nick's (Max Minghella) daughter Nicole. Rounding out the trio is Handmaid's Tale staple Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd), who continues to fight Gilead from the inside.

Starring: Ann Dowd, Chase Infiniti, Lucy Halliday, Rowan Blanchard, Mattea Conforti, Mabel Li, Amy Seimetz, Brad Alexander, Zarrin Darnell-Martin, Eva Foote, Isolde Ardies, Shechinah Mpumlwana, Birva Pandya, and Kira Guloien

How to watch: The Testaments premieres in April on Hulu.

What's coming to Netflix in 2026?

Netflix may have said goodbye to mega-hits Squid Game and Stranger Things in 2025, but its other franchises are still alive and well in 2026. Bridgerton will be making its long-awaited return, as will the live-action adaptations of Avatar: The Last Airbender and One Piece. Oh, and we might not be as done with Hawkins, Indiana, as we might think. Here, in alphabetical order, are the Netflix series to keep an eye out for in 2026.

Avatar: The Last Airbender, Season 2

It's Toph time! Netflix's live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender returns for Season 2 in 2026, where it will introduce everyone's favorite earthbender (Miya Cech) as Aang's (Gordon Cormier) newest teacher. On top of that, we'll hopefully be revisiting some of the original show's best moments: the increased involvement of Princess Azula (Elizabeth Yu), the political intrigue of Ba Sing Se, and the true beginnings of Prince Zuko's (Dallas Liu) redemption arc. That's an embarrassment of riches, but Toph is still at the top of my list of things I'm most excited to see this season. You know that first "twinkletoes" is going to hit just right.

Starring: Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Miya Cech, Elizabeth Yu, Ty Lee, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Maria Zhang, and Daniel Dae Kim

How to watch: Avatar: The Last Airbender Season 2 premieres on Netflix in 2026. The exact release date has yet to be announced.

Bridgerton, Season 4

Yearning for more swoonworthy romance and string quartet covers of pop hits? Good, because Bridgerton Season 4 is just around the corner. This time around, the focus is on Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), commitment's number-one enemy. Could a chance masked encounter with the enchanting Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha) change his playboy ways and make him more interesting to Bridgerton fans at large? Jury's still out, but one thing we can guarantee is this season's masquerade ball — one that will hopefully top every lavish Bridgerton party that's come before.

Starring: Luke Thompson, Yerin Ha, Jonathan Bailey, Simone Ashley, Victor Alli, Adjoa Andoh, Julie Andrews, Lorraine Ashbourne, Masali Baduza, Nicola Coughlan, Hannah Dodd, Daniel Francis, Ruth Gemmell, Florence Hunt, Martins Imhangbe, Claudia Jessie, Katie Leung, Luke Newton, Michelle Mao, Emma Naomi, Golda Rosheuvel, Hugh Sachs, Will Tilston, Polly Walker, and Isabella Wei

How to watch: Bridgerton Season 4, Part 1 premieres Jan. 29 on Netflix. Part 2 premieres Feb. 26.

His & Hers

You may know and love Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal for their roles in the MCU, or their critically acclaimed turns in projects like Hedda or The Bear. Now, they join forces for the limited series His & Hers, based on the novel of the same name by Alice Feeney. The pair play estranged spouses: Thompson is Anna, a reclusive reporter, and Bernthal is Jack, a small-town detective. When a violent murder shakes up their sleepy hometown, the two go toe-to-toe as they investigate the case — and each other. 

Starring: Tessa Thompson, Jon Bernthal, Pablo Schreiber, Crystal Fox, Sunita Mani, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Marin Ireland, and Poppy Liu

How to watch: His & Hers premieres Jan. 8 on Netflix.

One Piece, Season 2

Netflix broke its streak of unsuccessful manga and anime adaptations with 2023's One Piece, a delightful live-action take on Eiichiro Oda's beloved adventure story. In Season 2, Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) and his Straw Hat crew are still on the hunt for the mythical One Piece treasure. Their quest will take them into the Grand Line, a perilous stretch of ocean crawling with new foes and new islands to explore. This season, get ready to see the Baroque Works criminal syndicate in action, as well as the arrival of fan favorite Tony Tony Chopper (voiced by Mikaela Hoover).

Starring: Iñaki Godoy, Mackenyu, Emily Rudd, Jacob Romero, and Taz Skylar

How to watch: One Piece Season 2 premieres March 10 on Netflix.

Stranger Things: Tales from '85

Stranger Things may be coming to an end this New Year's Eve, but your time in Hawkins doesn't have to end. Netflix still has big plans for its smash hit, including the upcoming Stranger Things: Tales from '85, an animated spinoff set between Seasons 2 and 3. The series picks up with our usual crew of Hawkins heroes as they investigate another paranormal mystery. None of the original cast is reprising their roles in Tales from '85, but based on the first look images, we're in for some awesome animation, as well as a new monster that looks like an unholy cross between a Demogorgon and a spider. Now I'd say that's bitchin'.

Starring: Brooklyn Davey Norstedt, Jolie Hoang-Rappaport, Luca Diaz, EJ Williams, Braxton Quinney, Benjamin Plessala, Brett Gipson, Odessa A’zion, Janeane Garofalo, and Lou Diamond Phillips

How to watch: Stranger Things: Tales From '85 premieres on Netflix in 2026. The exact release date has yet to be announced.

What's coming to Paramount+ in 2026?

Paramount+ keeps exploring the final frontier in 2026 with the latest in its series of Star Trek shows.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

Paramount+ continues to build out its library of Star Trek spinoff shows with Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. The series follows a new class of cadets at the academy, all eager and ready to become Starfleet officers. Think of it as a boarding school show, with phasers and aliens, that is. Plus, there's some serious star power behind Starfleet Academy: Holly Hunter gets a turn in the captain's chair as Nahla Ake, who pulls double duty as Starfleet Academy chancellor and captain of the USS Athena. That's not all, though. Paul Giamatti also stars as villain Nus Braka. Giamatti as a Star Trek villain? Say less.

Starring: Holly Hunter, Paul Giamatti, Sandro Rosta, Karim Diané, Kerrice Brooks, George Hawkins, Bella Shepard, Zoë Steiner, Robert Picardo, Tig Notaro, Oded Fehr, and Gina Yashere

How to watch: The first two episodes of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy premiere Jan. 15 on Paramount+.

What's coming to Peacock in 2026?

Espionage and betrayal lurk around the corner in Peacock's 2026 lineup, which kicks off with the return of Emmy–winning competition series The Traitors. Here, in alphabetical order, are the Peacock series to keep an eye out for in 2026.

The 'Burbs

If you could use a little Keke Palmer charisma in your life (and let's be real, couldn't we all?), you're in luck. Palmer returns to the small screen in The 'Burbs, inspired by the 1989 Tom Hanks film of the same name. She and Jack Whitehall star as a young couple who've recently moved to the suburbs. However, a long-abandoned house and the arrival of new neighbors threaten to upend their entire world and expose long-buried secrets. Can Palmer's sleuthing get to the bottom of whatever strangeness is lurking in the cul-de-sac?

Starring: Keke Palmer, Jack Whitehall, Julia Duffy, Paula Pell, Mark Proksch, and Kapil Talwalkar

How to watch: The 'Burbs premieres Feb. 8 on Peacock.

Ponies

Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson team up for some '70s-style espionage in the upcoming thriller Ponies. The pair play secretaries who work at the American embassy in Moscow during the Cold War. But when their husbands die under mysterious circumstances, they become CIA operatives, using their anonymity as a weapon. While the pair are PONIs in intelligence speak — "persons of no interest" — the show's trailer and combination of Clarke and Richardson has certainly piqued my interest.

Starring: Emilia Clarke, Haley Lu Richardson, Adrian Lester, Artjom Gilz, Nicholas Podany, Petro Ninovskyi, and Vic Michaelis

How to watch: Ponies premieres Jan. 15 on Peacock.

The Traitors, Season 4

The campiest competition show is almost back, bringing with it more backstabbing, more reality stars playing detective, and more killer Alan Cumming outfits. This time around, contestants include Real Housewives stars Lisa Rinna and Dorinda Medley, who's returning after being first out on Season 3; Olympic figure skaters Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski; and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars winner Monét X Change, who I'm hoping can avenge her sister Bob the Drag Queen. The real question, though: Who can top the ridiculousness of Tom Sandoval earnestly singing backwards nursery rhymes through a phone?

Starring: Alan Cumming, Candiace Dillard Bassett, Caroline Stanbury, Colton Underwood, Donna Kelce, Dorinda Medley, Eric Nam, Ian Terry, Johnny Weir, Kristen Kish, Rob Cesternino, Lisa Rinna, Mark Ballas, Maura Higgins, Michael Rapaport, Monét X Change, Natalie Anderson, Porsha Williams, Rob Rausch, Ron Funches, Stephen Colletti, Tara Lipinski, Tiffany Mitchell, and Yamil “Yam Yam” Arocho

How to watch: The Traitors Season 4 premieres Jan. 8.

What's coming to Prime Video in 2026?

Superheroes are all the rage on Prime Video this coming year, whether it's the fifth and final season of The Boys or Nicolas Cage as Spider-Noir. Here, in alphabetical order, are the Prime Video titles to keep an eye out for in 2026.

The Boys, Season 5

The Boys comes to a close in 2026, so expect it to go out with a bloody bang. In Season 5, Homelander (Antony Starr) is firmly in control, and the world is all the worse for it. Hughie (Jack Quaid), Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), and the rest of the Boys are mounting a small resistance, but how much will it matter in the face of Homelander and his fellow Supes' might? Could recruiting the cast of Gen V, as seen in that show's Season 2 finale, be enough to change the tide? I'm not sure. What I am sure of is that The Boys Season 5 also doubles as a Supernatural reunion, with Jensen Ackles, who plays Soldier Boy, sharing the screen with Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins again. While Padalecki and Collins' roles are secret, the hype for this team-up is not.

Starring: Antony Starr, Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Erin Moriarty, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Colby Minifie, Cameron Crovetti, Susan Heyward, Valorie Curry, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins

How to watch: The Boys Season 5 premieres April 8 on Prime Video.

The Night Manager, Season 2

2026 will mark 10 — 10! — years since The Night Manager first aired. Now, it's back for round two, with Tom Hiddleston returning as Jonathan Pine. He's been living under the radar for the past few years, but when he crosses paths with a mercenary of old enemy Richard Roper's, he finds himself back in the fray. Soon, he's embroiled in a Colombian arms operation, where conspiracy lurks at every turn. Diego Calva and Camila Morrone join in on the fun this season, and based on the trailer, Tom Hiddleston remains in fine form as a smooth thriller star. 

Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Diego Calva, Camila Morrone, Indira Varma, Paul Chahidi, Hayley Squires, Olivia Colman, Noah Jupe, Alistair Petrie, Douglas Hodge, and Michael Nardone

How to watch: The Night Manager Season 2 premieres Jan. 11 on Prime Video.

Scarpetta

Nicole Kidman in "Scarpetta." Credit: Amazon MGM Studios

From Big Little Lies to Expats, Nicole Kidman has become a TV staple. That remains true in 2026, when she hunts a serial killer in thriller series Scarpetta. Based on the books by Patricia Cornwell, the show introduces brilliant medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta (Kidman), who's returned to her hometown to solve a gruesome murder. But it's not just death that awaits her there: Her fraught relationship with her sister Dorothy (Jamie Lee Curtis) and some long-held secrets all threaten to come to a head as well. That all sounds beyond stressful, but the thought of watching Nicole Kidman solve a murder does soothe me.

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bobby Cannavale, Simon Baker, Ariana DeBose, Rosy McEwen, Jake Cannavale, and Hunter Parrish

How to watch: Scarpetta premieres March 11 on Prime Video.

Spider-Noir 

Nicolas Cage in "Spider-Noir." Credit: Aaron Epstein / Prime Video

It's impossible to single out just one highlight in the Academy Award–winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but hearing Nicolas Cage voice the ultra-broody Spider-Man Noir is certainly up there. This year, Cage takes that portrayal into live action with Spider-Noir, which audiences can watch in black and white or color. The series takes place in 1930s New York, where Cage's Ben Reilly is a grizzled private investigator who also happens to be the city's only superhero. Here's hoping he gets to drink all the egg creams and punch all the Nazis he wants. If it's even half as fun as Spider-Man Noir's appearance in Into the Spider-Verse, I'm all for it.

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Lamorne Morris, Brendan Gleeson, Abraham Popoola, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, and Jack Huston

How to watch: Spider-Noir premieres on Prime Video in 2026. The exact release date has yet to be announced.

Young Sherlock 

We all know Sherlock Holmes, but do you know young Sherlock Holmes? Well, you're about to, thanks to Prime Video's Young Sherlock. The series dives into the early adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic detective, played by Hero Fiennes Tiffin. Here, he's a disgraced young man, but when a murder mystery comes his way, he'll adventure through 1870s Oxford and abroad in order to get to the bottom of it. Guy Ritchie is attached as a director and executive producer, so expect the series to be in keeping with his Robert Downey Jr.-led Sherlock Holmes films.

Starring: Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Dónal Finn, Zine Tseng, Joseph Fiennes, Natascha McElhone, Max Irons, and Colin Firth

How to watch: Young Sherlock premieres March 4 on Prime Video.

(*) denotes the blurb has come from a prior list.

Netflix has released the trailer for the last episode in Stranger Things' fifth and final season, teasing the end of the Duffer Brothers' hit series after a decade-long run. We've come a long way since the vanishing of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) in November 1983. 

It's been four years since Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) first encountered Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and the Upside Down, and now their battle against Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) is finally coming to a head. 

Having learned more about the Upside Down's true nature and Venca's ultimate plan, the Hawkins teens are on a mission to stop him once and for all, fighting alongside allies Joyce (Winona Ryder), Hopper (David Harbour), Max (Sadie Sink), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Steve (Joe Keery), and Robin (Maya Hawke). It won't be an easy task though, and victory may require painful sacrifices.

The series finale of Stranger Things premieres Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on Netflix.

The Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) viewers meet in Stranger Things Season 5 doesn't feel like the same Dustin we've known since Season 1.

Gone is Hawkins' resident ball of sunshine, replaced with a sulking, angry young man who would sooner graffiti a bully's locker than belt "Never Ending Story" over walkie-talkie. Yet this transformation didn't come out of nowhere. Instead, it stems from a clear point of trauma for Dustin: witnessing the tragic death of Eddie (Joseph Quinn) at the end of Season 4.

Since then, Dustin has channeled his inner Eddie, growing out his hair, donning handfuls of rings, and rocking his Hellfire Club shirt no matter how much abuse it gets him from bullies. But while Dustin pays tribute to Eddie, he's been pushing away his other close friends, especially Steve (Joe Keery).

"He's actively trying to cut himself off from the person he's scared of losing the most," Matarazzo told Mashable during a Say More interview.

Dustin's grief causes serious tension in Stranger Things Season 5.

Gaten Matarazzo in "Stranger Things." Credit: Netflix

Matarazzo knew the strained dynamic between Dustin and Steve would be polarizing, as the two had been basically inseparable since Season 2. He also knew the same would be true of Dustin's emotional arc as a whole.

"I was kind of hoping there would be a bit of a conflicted feeling around it," Matarazzo said. "I didn't want it to come across as like, 'Oh, poor him.' Because as much as that's true, and I think a lot of people can clearly see he's going through a lot, he's also being a dick. And I think, no matter how much one is grieving, it doesn't excuse your behavior towards other people, especially those who are in your corner, people who are there supporting you."

That tug-of-war between sympathy for and frustration at Dustin runs through much of Season 5, starting with Dustin missing episode's 1 crawl to the Upside Down after picking a fight with his tormentors. His absence jeopardizes the mission and further strains his relationship with his friends, many of whom have experienced their own losses since Season 1.

"Dustin's in a position where there's — it seems horrible to say — but there's almost bigger fish to fry than you losing your friend," Matarazzo said. "Everyone's lost people. Maybe it's the first time it felt so present to Dustin, because it's somebody so close to him, and it happens right in front of him."

Matarazzo contrasts Dustin's own grieving over Eddie with Lucas' (Caleb McLaughlin) grieving over Max (Sadie Sink) being in a coma for over a year.

"Lucas is clearly dealing with something very similar to Dustin, but also seems to be taking it in a route that's less selfish," he said, pointing to Lucas' continued involvement in the Season 5 crawl and the friend group overall.

The differences in the two characters' grieving processes on screen highlights that there's no one way to deal with loss. Grief is not linear, and Dustin's own journey comes with no shortage of mess and tension. That's especially true of his relationship with Steve, which hits its lowest point in Season 5.

Dustin and Steve's more contentious relationship this season altered the way Matarazzo and Keery approached key scenes together, as the pair's friendlier, more fun dynamic as scene partners clashed with Dustin and Steve's conflict.

"Sometimes we'd be goofing off before takes and especially early on, they would yell, 'action,' and I'm like, 'Oh, I'm not centered in the slightest,' because I'm still just joking around with him," Matarazzo said. "That was a different approach. And so we would look at things and look at each other and be like, 'Man, this is really sad,' because we just want to have fun sometimes. That's the natural drive there."

That's not to say there are no fun Dustin and Steve moments in Season 5. Matarazzo points to the scene in episode 4 when Steve drives his car through a rift into the Upside Down, with a terrified Dustin, Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) hanging on for dear life.

"[In that scene] there's the normal excitement of us screaming and yelling and insulting each other, but with playful banter, and I think it's one of those moments where in [Dustin's] weird, little pent-up rage, when all is said and done and when everything else goes crazy around him, he doesn't really have time to actively try to be mean to [Steve]," Matarazzo said.

Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2 centers Dustin and Steve's relationship.

Gaten Matarazzo and Joe Keery in "Stranger Things." Credit: Netflix

The Dustin and Steve drama comes to a head in Season 5, Volume 2, when the pair investigate Hawkins Lab in the Upside Down. There, the two fully have it out about Eddie's death, with their cutting words culminating in a physical altercation. In prior seasons, Matarazzo would have put a lot of pressure on himself the entire day leading up to shooting that scene.

"But that day, I remember I felt very normal until about 20 minutes before we started shooting," he recalled. "Sometimes I just wander around in a corner with headphones on, not really to build up any emotions or anything like that, but to just weirdly get the head fog out of it and just be at a neutral place, because then you can be open to discovering what happens. There are a lot of different takes. There are takes where we're crying before the fight, there are takes where we're even angrier, and there's takes where's it just at a neutral tone, where we're just saying these things to each other and then seeing how naturally it digs in, and they took a lot from each of them."

However, one scene that Matarazzo did put pressure on himself for was Dustin and Steve's eventual reconciliation, which led to a hug so deep I felt it in my bones.

"I was so scared of it the whole time," Matarazzo said. "I remember the whole season, I read it at the table read, and I was like, 'Oh great, it's one of those.'"

Much of Season 5 was shot chronologically, too, so Matarazzo and Keery came into the scene having already gone through much of the emotional build-up. That just makes the conversation all the more cathartic, as Stranger Things' fan-favorite duo finally lay all their emotions bare.

"I think one of the healthiest things to do in grief is unpacking it when you feel the need to do so and diving in and feeling everything that you possible can feel and that you're naturally inclined to feeling," Matarazzo said.

The reconciliation scene is that to a T, with Steve and especially Dustin dropping any facades and just allowing themselves to be open about how much they mean to one another. It's a stand-out Stranger Things moment in a season full of them, made all the sweeter by the complex twists and turns Steve and Dustin took to get there.

For more from Mashable's interview with Gaten Matarazzo, watch the full Say More episode on YouTube.

Volumes 1 and 2 of Stranger Things Season 5 are now streaming on Netflix. The series finale premieres Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix and in theaters.

Gaten Matarazzo doesn't quite believe Saturday Night Live star Jane Wickline's claims that the Stranger Things kids are "the greatest threat to humanity right now."

During a Dec. 13 Weekend Update appearance, Wickline sang a song warning viewers that the Stranger Things child actors, now grown-up, would be using their influence to take over the world. But Matarazzo is happy to assure humanity that that is not the case.

"Even if we did have the capabilities of being the greatest threat to humanity, I don't think any of us really have the gumption to go with it," Matarazzo told Mashable Entertainment Reporter Belen Edwards during a Say More interview. "I don't know if I really have that in me."

However, Wickline's song was never really about the Stranger Things actors. Instead, it's a tongue-in-cheek critique of artificial intelligence, with the comedian citing everything everything from AI's impacts on job markets to its heavy water usage. And while Matarazzo may not agree with Wickline that the Stranger Things actors are willing to commit to world domination, the AI criticism is something he can fully get behind.

"It's lame," Matarazzo said of AI. "Making a show like Stranger Things, or making anything in general, especially when you look at film and TV, the whole point is that it's subjective so people can have whatever opinion they have. But I don't think that anything is art unless people make it, and I don't really think there's much to comment there unless people are pulling from their own experience or shared experience."

AI has undeniably been one of the most polarizing hot-button topics in the entertainment industry over the past few years. During the 2023 SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, which impacted production on Stranger Things Season 5, AI was a major topic of concern for both unions. In 2025, it continued to be a talking point, from the creation of AI "actress" Tilly Norwood to Disney's $1 billion deal with OpenAI.

For Matarazzo, the acceleration of AI is a worrying one. "The scariest thing, I think, is that people are like, 'OK, great, we draw a line here,' but then two years from now... there's a fear that it gets to a point where it is unrecognizable," he said. "I think that's kind of the goal there, that people who are enthusiasts of AI art are like, 'isn't it going to be great when you can't tell the difference?' I'm like, 'That scares the shit out of me.'"

The full interview also dives into standout moments from Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2, including Dustin's emotional fight with Steve (Joe Keery) in the Upside Down. The pair have been at odds for the entire season, as Dustin's grief over Eddie's (Joseph Quinn) death causes him to push his friends, especially Steve, away. That tension comes to a head in the Upside Down's replica of Hawkins lab, when the pair's argument about Eddie's death ends in a fistfight that's full of telling character moments about Steven and Dustin.

"What I really do love about that fight is that, if I remember properly, he never swings at me once. He never hits me once," Matarazzo said. "Everything he does is to get me away from him. He does push me against a wall and push me away from him, because I'm actively trying to hurt him."

Dustin finally punches Steve in the face, at which point the gloves come off. Steve wrestles Dustin into a headlock, and after the two wind up, spent, on the floor, he walks away.

"That's where he draws the line and ends it right there. It's very clear, like, there's no fight there. If he wanted to, absolutely, he could knock me into the next room, and that's just never his intention there," Matarazzo said. "That's why, even as much as I've hurt him throughout the year, he just always keeps his composure. And that's really cool. He says some hurtful things, for sure, but everybody tends to, and I really like that that's how it goes down."

Watch the full Say More episode on Mashable's YouTube page to hear more from Matarazzo about Dustin and Steve's eventual reconciliation, as well as his reaction to fans' worries that Dustin will die.

Volumes 1 and 2 of Stranger Things Season 5 are now streaming on Netflix. The series finale premieres Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix and in theaters.

The following contains spoilers for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2.

"Everything we have ever assumed about the Upside Down has been dead wrong," Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) says in Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2. And how right he is.

The latest batch of Stranger Things episodes blows the show's world-building wide open, revealing what, exactly the Upside Down is. But that's not all. It also gives us more detail into the mysterious dimension where Henry Creel/Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) has been hanging out, which Dustin coins "the Abyss."

So what's the deal with the Abyss, and how is it connected to our world and the Upside Down? Let's break it down.

What is the Abyss?

Jamie Campbell Bower in "Stranger Things." Credit: Netflix

In the world of Dungeons & Dragons, the Abyss is "a realm of pure chaos and evil," as science teacher Mr. Clarke (Randy Havens) describes it. That makes it the perfect namesake for the alternate dimension that Henry has made his home. Before the release of Season 5, Stranger Things fans referred to this world as "Dimension X," a name that comes not from any dialogue in the show, but from the released script for the Season 4 finale.

Separate from the Upside Down, the Abyss is a yellow-tinged world full of bleak mountains and floating rock formations. It's also the original home to creatures like the Mind Flayer and the Demogorgons. As Holly (Nell Fisher) discovers in Season 5, Volume 2, if you go through one of the rifts in the ground in the Abyss, you'll find yourself falling through the Upside Down.

The Upside Down is a wormhole, not an alternate dimension.

Randy Havens in "Stranger Things." Credit: Netflix

For Stranger Things' whole run, our heroes have assumed the Upside Down is an alternate dimension, like the Abyss turns out to be. However, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Instead, using Dr. Brenner's (Matthew Modine) notes from Hawkins Lab in the Upside Down, Dustin realizes that the Upside Down is actually a wormhole connecting our dimension and the Abyss.

Stranger Things has been hinting at this reveal throughout Season 5. Look no further than its references to A Wrinkle in Time, which features wormhole-like tesseracts. Or how about Mr. Clarke fully teaching a class on Einstein-Rosen Bridges, aka wormholes?

Henry, the Mind Flayer, and the Demogorgons have been using the Upside Down as a path to get to our world. And if they're ever gravely wounded in our world or the Upside Down, as Henry was at the end of Season 4, they can always retreat back up into the Abyss. That explains why none of the crawls ever located Henry: He was biding his time up in the sky.

How was the Upside Down wormhole created in the first place?

Credit: Netflix

Presumably, the Abyss has always existed in parallel with our world, but how did they end up connected? The answer: Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown).

In 1979, following the massacre at Hawkins Lab, Eleven banishes Henry to the Abyss. It's not the first time he's been there. As the play Stranger Things: The First Shadow confirms (and Volume 2 hints at), young Henry found himself teleported there while exploring a Nevada cave system.

After Eleven banishes Henry, Dr. Brenner focuses on trying to get her to find him psychically. Those experiments led her to make contact with a Demogorgon back in the void, all the way back in Season 1. When she did, that created not just the gate to the Upside Down, but the Upside Down itself, bridging the two worlds.

Great, so what does exotic matter have to do with all of this?

Credit: Netflix

Dustin doesn't just discover that the Upside Down is a wormhole. He also learns that the entire bridge is being held together by exotic matter, which is the roiling ball of energy he, Steve (Joe Keery), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) discover hovering over Hawkins Lab in Indiana.

Exotic matter is a real scientific term. According to BBC Science Focus, "It's the generic name physicists give to matter with weird properties. Exactly how weird depends on the area of physics."

For the purposes of Stranger Things, though, exotic matter is the source of energy that keeps the walls around the Upside Down wormhole together. If it's destroyed, the whole bridge goes down — along with anyone in it. The destruction of the bridge will prove crucial to our heroes' plan to stop Vecna from joining the Abyss to our world.

So now that we've gotten that impromptu physics lesson out of the way, the stage is set for what's shaping up to be a massive finale. Here's hoping everyone makes it out alive.

Volumes 1 and 2 of Stranger Things Season 5 are now streaming on Netflix. The series finale premieres Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix and in theaters.

The following contains spoilers for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2.

Watching Stranger Things: The First Shadow on Broadway after watching Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 1 was a surreal experience.

Not only were audience members treated to the play's spectacular special effects — seriously, you'll feel like you're in an episode of Stranger Things — but we also got to see how the play linked to Season 5.

Mentions of Henry Creel's (Jamie Campbell Bower) childhood in Nevada made audience members gasp as they recalled the mysterious Nevada cave system in Henry's mindscape. Elsewhere, young Joyce's production of Oklahoma! in The First Shadow tied to Henry's memories of his time at Hawkins High, through which Max navigates in Volume 1. You even catch a glimpse of the flyer in the series, which reveals that Henry himself is starring in it.

But after watching Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2, it turns out there are even more connections between the play and the show, each helping the other create a clearer portrait of Henry/Vecna's origin story. From Henry's fateful time in Nevada to some enlightening information about Eleven's (Millie Bobby Brown) own powers, here's how Stranger Things: The First Shadow illuminates the mysteries of Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow reveals why Henry is so afraid of the caves in his mindscape.

Jamie Campbell Bower in "Stranger Things." Credit: Netflix

One of the biggest questions I had about Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 1 was why Henry was too scared to follow Max into the cave system in his memories. Lo and behold, Stranger Things: The First Shadow had the answer the whole time.

The play reveals that the cave system was where Henry first ventured to Dimension X — now dubbed "The Abyss" in Stranger Things. That's the alternate dimension where the Mind Flayer and Demogorgons are from, as opposed to the Upside Down, which Volume 2 reveals is a bridge connecting the Abyss to our world.

According to Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the Nevada caves in Henry's memory were home to experiments Dr. Brenner (Michael Modine) was running in order to learn more about Dimension X. His own father briefly vanished there during a World War II-era experiment on the USS Eldridge battleship. However, one of the scientists on his team defected to the Soviets. He stole some equipment from the labs and fled. During his escape, he crossed paths with Henry, at which point the stolen equipment transported them both to the Abyss.

Naturally, that dimension-hopping experience was traumatizing for Henry, explaining why he won't revisit those caves or memories in his mindscape. But while all of this is relayed through a speech from Dr. Brenner in Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2 actually gives us a sneak peek at what happened to young Henry out in Nevada.

In episode 6, "Escape from Camazotz," Max and Holly (Nell Fisher) watch Henry's encounter with the defecting scientist. Initially, Henry wants to help the wounded defector, who's carrying a mysterious briefcase. But when the scientist shoots him in the hand — leaving a wound that Dr. Brenner mentions in Stranger Things: The First Shadow, but does not explain — Henry goes into fight-or-flight mode. He brains the scientist with a rock, the action starting as a survival instinct but quickly growing more bloodthirsty. Then, he goes to open the briefcase.

All we see of the case's contents is a rolling fog before Max and Holly continue on their way. But thanks to Stranger Things: The First Shadow, we know that whatever's inside the briefcase will bring Henry to Dimension X, where he'll come face to face with the Mind Flayer.

Don't expect that reveal to remain play-only knowledge, though. There's no way the Duffer Brothers would tease the importance of the Nevada memory without following through.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow explains why Henry and Eleven's blood is different.

Jamie Campbell Bower in "Stranger Things." Credit: Netflix

Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2 drops a pretty big bombshell about Eleven's powers. Throughout the show, she's believed she has her abilities because of her pregnant mother's involvement in the MKUltra program, which exposed Eleven to mind-altering drugs in the womb. However, it turns out her powers really stemmed from transfusions of Henry's blood.

In Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Dr. Brenner tells Henry that when his father reappeared from the Abyss, he had a completely unique blood type. The same exact thing happened to Henry following his exposure to the Abyss and the Mind Flayer.

The play features scenes of Dr. Brenner drawing Henry's blood, and we later learn why: It's to give to all of the kids being used in the Hawkins lab experiments. The transfusions impart Henry's powers to the children, all without exposing them to the Abyss themselves.

In Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2, the U.S. government is attempting to recreate the success of those initial transfusions, this time forcing transfusions of Kali's (Linnea Berthelsen) blood into unconscious pregnant women. If they capture Eleven, they'd drain her blood as well. As Kali reasons, the government's insistence on seeing this program through means that neither she nor Eleven will ever be safe.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow's revelation that exposure to the Mind Flayer and the Abyss changes your blood type — and therefore likely gives you powers — adds a new wrinkle to Holly's plight. She, Derek (Jake Connelly), and the other kidnapped children have all been trapped within the Abyss, with Henry hoping to use them as vessels for his powers in order to join our world with his. However, if they do manage to escape this whole situation alive, will their powers remain? And will the government hunt them down in the way they did Kali and Eleven?

Unfortunately, that's not a question Stranger Things: The First Shadow can answer. Only the finale can do that.

Volumes 1 and 2 of Stranger Things Season 5 are now streaming on Netflix. The series finale premieres Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix and in theaters.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow is now playing on Broadway and in the West End.

We're officially overloaded with streaming services by 2025, with each costing a pretty penny of your pay packet to keep. Whether you decide to shell out for a service typically comes down to the shows and movies on offer, whether you're looking for buzzy Netflix series or Sunday night HBO heavyweights. But there's an underrated competitor in the mix, especially for TV shows.

Apple TV+, Apple's own streaming service, has become better and better over the years, hitting it out of the park with sci-fi smashes like Severance, Silo, and Pluribus, along with comedy wins like Shrinking, Bad Sisters, and Ted Lasso — plus a few curveballs mixed in here and there.

One important thing to know? Apple TV is not the same thing as an Apple TV. As Mashable's Stan Schroeder explains it, "Apple TV is both the name for the set-top-box hardware device that you buy and connect to your TV, as well as the app that's available on Apple TV (the set-top-box), as well as Macs, iPhones, and other TV operating systems. And then there's Apple TV, which is Apple's streaming service and a competitor to Netflix, HBO Max, and others."

Got it? So, what are the best TV shows on Apple TV? Here are our picks of the streaming service's original series, ranked.

41. The Shrink Next Door

Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell in “The Shrink Next Door." Credit: Apple TV

Inspired by true events, The Shrink Next Door sends Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell into a complicated web of manipulation, power plays, and mic-drop moments. The series hinges on unethical psychiatrist Dr. Ike Herschkopf (Paul Rudd) and his patient, Marty Markowitz (Will Ferrell), who have a dysfunctional relationship that becomes more and more imbalanced and twisted as Ike weasels his way into Marty's life. Kathryn Hahn stars as Marty’s younger sister Phyllis, and Casey Wilson plays Bonnie, Ike's wife. — Shannon Connellan, UK Editor

Starring: Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Kathryn Hahn, Casey Wilson, Cornell Womack, Sarayu Blue, Robin Bartlett, and Gable Swanlund

How to watch: The Shrink Next Door is now streaming on Apple TV.

40. Time Bandits

Tadhg Murphy, Roger Jean Nsengiyumva, Lisa Kudrow, Kal-El Tuck, Kiera Thompson and Rune Temte in "Time Bandits." Credit: Apple TV

Time Bandits, Terry Gilliam's classic '80s fantasy adventure, got the TV adaptation treatment by Taika Waititi, Jemaine Clement, and Iain Morris. And despite the show being sadly cancelled after one season, it's still worth your while to watch.

Over 10 episodes, Time Bandits sees a group of thieves in a fantasy world who are suddenly joined by Kevin (Kal-El Tuck), an 11-year-old history aficionado. Kevin's parents find themselves in peril across time and space, so his knowledge of historical events — and his new group of friends — might be their only hope. Across the Stone Age, Ice Age, many other Ages, across major moments in the history books, Kevin and the gang time-travel every episode, meeting a few famous historic faces. — S.C.

Starring: Kal-El Tuck, Lisa Kudrow, Tadhg Murphy, Roger Jean Nsengiyumva, Rune Temte, Charlyne Yi, Rachel House, Kiera Thompson, James Dryden, Felicity Ward, Francesca Mills, and Imaan Hadchiti.

How to watch: Time Bandits is now streaming on Apple TV.

39. Defending Jacob

Chris Evans, Jaeden Martell, and Michelle Dockery in “Defending Jacob." Credit: Apple TV

Given its grim subject matter, Mark Bomback's crime drama won't be for everyone. Defending Jacob follows Assistant DA Andy Barber (Chris Evans), whose life is thrown into turmoil after his son Jacob (a haunted Jaeden Martell) is charged with the murder of a classmate. The show immediately chucks us in at the deep end, with the question of Jacob's innocence hanging over the Barber family like a storm cloud that threatens to badly damage or even break them altogether. It's tense, well-written, and the acting — including a disturbingly memorable turn from Michelle Dockery as Jacob's struggling mother, Laurie — is excellent across the board.

Some have argued that the show doesn't do enough to justify its dark storyline, but I found it to be a horribly suspenseful exploration of how far familial bonds will stretch before they snap altogether. Can you ever fully know anyone? Can you trust your closest family members no matter what? Love them no matter what? These are the questions Defending Jacob asks, and, as the Barber family wrestle with each new piece of evidence that comes to light, the answers don't come easy. — Sam Haysom, Deputy UK Editor

How to watch: Defending Jacob is now streaming now on Apple TV.

38. Palm Royale

Carol Burnett and Kristen Wiig in "Palm Royale" Credit: Apple TV

Kristen Wiig infiltrates the world's most exclusive country club in Emmy–nominated comedy Palm Royale. The year is 1969, and underdog Maxine Dellacorte-Simmons (Wiig) wants nothing more to be a part of high society in Palm Beach, Florida. That means crashing the lavish Palm Royale club, where she'll be met with snobbery and disdain at every turn. While Palm Royale is far from Apple TV+'s best comedy offering, it does boast an all-star cast of comedy greats over two seasons, including a fabulous Carol Burnett. And you just can't beat those costumes. — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter

Starring: Kristen Wiig, Ricky Martin, Laura Dern, Carol Burnett, Allison Janney, Leslie Bibb, Amber Chardae, and Josh Lucas

How to watch: Palm Royale is now streaming on Apple TV.

37. Government Cheese

Evan Ellison, Jahi Di’Allo Winston, David Oyelowo, and Simone Missick in "Government Cheese." Credit: Apple TV

Set in 1969, Aeysha Carr and Paul Hunter's series Government Cheese didn't get the buzz it deserved, with sharp writing and excellent performances. David Oyelowo (Selma, Silo) stars as Hampton Chambers, an engineer newly out of prison and adjusting to life back home with his family in Chatsworth, in the San Fernando Valley. It's not an easy landing by any means, with his wife Astoria (Simone Missick), pole vaulting brainiac son Einstein (Evan Ellison), and vexed teen son Harrison (Di’Allo Winston), having very differing reactions to Hampton's return. But despite his awkward reception, Hampton has spent his time planning a potentially (and literally) groundbreaking invention: the Bit Magician. But leaving his past behind is harder than it seems, with the series itself flashing back and forth between Hampton's present and previous experiences. — S.C.

Starring: David Oyelowo, Simone Missick, Jahi Di’Allo Winston, Evan Ellison, Bokeem Woodbine, Jeremy Bobb, Louis Cancelmi, Julien Heron, Thomas Beaudoin, Kyle Mac, and Adam Beach

How to watch: Government Cheese is now streaming on Apple TV.

36. Sunny

Rashida Jones in "Sunny." Credit: Apple TV

A robot and a grieving woman make for an unlikely crime-solving duo in soft sci-fi mystery Sunny. Rashida Jones stars as Suzie, an American expat living in Kyoto, whose husband Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and son Zen (Fares Belkheir) go missing in a plane crash. Following their disappearance, she receives Sunny, a companion robot Masa developed for her at work. Despite hating robots, Suzie decides to work with the ever-cheerful Sunny to uncover the truth about Masa's work and his and Zen's accident. The ensuing journey takes this odd couple pairing deep into a criminal underworld of gang showdowns and robot fighting rings. While occasionally bloated, Sunny's central duo and sci-fi world-building make it well worth the watch. — B.E.

Starring: Rashida Jones, Joanna Sotomura, annie the clumsy, Hidetoshi Nishijima, Jun Kunimura, Judy Ongg, and You

How to watch: Sunny is now streaming on Apple TV.

35. Shining Girls

Elisabeth Moss in “Shining Girls." Credit: Apple TV

Imagine the ghoulish love child of Sliding Doors and Zodiac, and you'll get the gist of this mini-series adaptation of Lauren Beukes' 2013 crime novel. Created by Silka Luisa, Shining Girls centers on Kirby Mazrachi (Elisabeth Moss), an archivist whose reality has been shifting without warning ever since she was viciously attacked and left for dead in 1980s Chicago. One moment she's living with her mom, and the next she's married to a co-worker she barely knows. She doesn't understand why this is happening but is certain it connects to a stalking serial killer (Jamie Bell), who's been targeting fantastic women across decades.

Featuring graphic violence, time-travel twists, and harrowing revelations, Shining Girls can be a tough watch. But its finale episode makes it all worthwhile. Luisa smartly buttons up the mysteries of these murders, their un-aging perpetrator, and what it means to become disentangled on a molecular level. More than answers, however, this finale gives poetic justice to its villain and a hard-won empowerment to its harried heroine. Which, considering how Kirby's quest to be believed plays like the most extreme version of a domestic violence survivor's experiences coming forward, is darkly and deeply satisfying. — Kristy Puchko, Entertainment Editor

Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Phillipa Soo, Wagner Moura, Jamie Bell, Erika Alexander, Amy Brenneman, Chris Chalk, and Madeline Brewer

How to watch: Shining Girls is now streaming on Apple TV.

34. Masters of the Air

Austin Butler in "Masters of the Air." Credit: Apple TV

If you loved Band of Brothers and The Pacific, you need to watch Masters of the Air. Based on Donald L. Miller's book, John Shiban and John Orloff's Emmy–winning World War II series follows the 100th Bomb Group (known as "The Bloody Hundredth" due to heavy losses), the U.S. Army Air Force bomber and fighter battalion deployed to England in 1943 as part of the Allied war effort against Germany. Austin Butler and Callum Turner lead the charge as the real Major Gale "Buck" Cleven and Major John "Bucky" Egan, and the series moves through the missions, downtime, tragedies, and sense of camaraderie within the unit. Yes, the series takes some creative liberties, but producers Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg, and Gary Goetzman threw 10 years and $250 million at the show — so when you're experiencing a live-or-die tactical manoeuvre, you're in the pilot's seat. — S.C.

Starring: Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan, and Anthony Boyle

How to watch: Masters of the Air is now streaming on Apple TV.

33. Hijack

Idris Elba in "Hijack." Credit: Apple TV

Set over seven real-time hours, Hijack is something you could finish on a flight but should absolutely not watch on one. With Jim Field Smith and Mo Ali directing, and Idris Elba in the lead, this Apple TV+ series is about a plane hijacked on its way to London. Elba plays Sam Nelson, a corporate negotiator who tries to bargain with flight KA29's villains all the way to the final humdinger of an episode. As Mashable's Belen Edwards writes in her review, "Hijack is the perfect show to watch if you want to get sucked into a mildly ridiculous, yet totally engrossing scenario. You'll squeal as our heroes brave danger, swoon at Elba's charisma, and even chuckle at some choice one-liners."* — S.C.

Starring: Idris Elba, Neil Maskell, Archie Panjabi, Max Beesley, Christine Adams, Jude Cudjoe, and Eve Myles

How to watch: Hijack is now streaming on Apple TV.

32. Central Park

Meet the Tillermans. Credit: Apple TV

It's a show central in our hearts. Loren Bouchard, Josh Gad, and Nora Smith's sharply scripted animated musical comedy Central Park hinges on New York family the Tillermans: park manager Owen (Leslie Odom Jr.) and journalist Paige (Kathryn Hahn), their son Cole (Tituss Burgess), and daughter Molly (Kristen Bell in Season 1, Emmy Raver-Lampman in Season 2). They're the custodians of Manhattan's beloved green space, which comes under threat by bespectacled wealthy villain Bitsy Brandenham (Stanley Tucci), accompanied by her assistant Helen (Daveed Diggs). It's a plight all hilariously narrated by Gad as park busker Birdie — the show's absolutely brimming with songs.

"Whether it's throwaway jokes or spotlight solos, the cast both elevate and benefit from Central Park's tight, confident writing," writes Proma Khosla in her review for Mashable. "Central Park is a show that easily wears all hats. The storylines are simple, but it's [their] style and sensibility that make them so enjoyable. It's a show that can soothe you by being on in the background but offers nonstop punchlines and Easter eggs if you give it your full (deserved) attention." — S.C.

Starring: Leslie Odom Jr., Kathryn Hahn, Tituss Burgess, Kristen Bell, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Stanley Tucci, Daveed Diggs, and Josh Gad

How to watch: Central Park is now streaming on Apple TV.

31. The Buccaneers

Alisha Boe, Josie Totah, Kristine Frøseth, Aubri Ibrag, and Imogen Waterhouse in "The Buccaneers." Credit: Apple TV

If you're yearning for the next season of Bridgerton, The Buccaneers will satiate your Regency thirst. Based on Edith Wharton’s final novel and created by Katherine Jakeways, The Buccaneers is a 19th-century romantic drama with diabolical narrative twists and long-simmering romantic leads, as well as that requisite anachronistic modern soundtrack and the lavish design of our society ball dreams.

The story sees a group of young American ladies — Nan St. George (Kristine Frøseth), Jinny St. George (Imogen Waterhouse), Lizzy Elmsworth (Aubri Ibrag), Mabel Elmsworth (Josie Totah) — who are drawn to England after their friend Conchita Closson's (Alisha Boe) high-society wedding to an English lord. Arriving in London, the newcomers face deep social scorn while channelling their own. But there's also a rugged array of suitors taking a turn about the landscape, including a forlorn duke who enjoys standing on clifftops — and who must be in want of a wife. — S.C.

Starring: Alisha Boe, Josie Totah, Kristine Frøseth, Aubri Ibrag, and Imogen Waterhouse

How to watch: The Buccaneers is now streaming on Apple TV.

30. Mythic Quest

Charlotte Nicdao, Rob McElhenney. and Danny Pudi in “Mythic Quest." Credit: Apple TV

Whether you're into gaming or not, you should check out Mythic Quest. From the crew behind It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia comes four seasons (and a spinoff show Side Quest) of ups and downs inside the video game industry, specifically within the offices of a game studio responsible for the show's titular MMORPG. The cast — including Rob McElhenney, Charlotte Nicdao, Jessie Ennis, Ashly Burch, Danny Pudi, and more — are superb, the commentary on gaming is bang on, and the show's standalone episode, "Dark Quiet Death," has to be one of the best of all time. — S.C.

Starring: Rob McElhenney, Charlotte Nicdao, Jessie Ennis, Ashly Burch, and Danny Pudi

How to watch: Mythic Quest is now streaming on Apple TV.

29. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin

Hugh Bonneville and Noel Fielding in "The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin." Credit: Apple TV

If you don't mind your history a little revisionist and plenty ridiculous, The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is for you.

Based on the exploits of Essex brigand Dick Turpin (Noel Fielding in full Vince Noir mode), the series seizes on the fact that Turpin's life was wildly romanticised after his death at 33 (by hanging, for horse theft) — then amps it up to 11. Rolling about the woods with his Essex Gang of misfits, Turpin takes on a peril of the week in Monty Python meets Our Flag Means Death meets The Mighty Boosh–fashion. Throw in some cameos from Britain's biggest comedians, with standout appearances by Tamsin Greig, Greg Davies, and Sex Education's Connor Swindells, and you've got a surreal, satisfying, history-adjacent adventure on your hands.* — S.C.

Starring: Noel Fielding, Tamsin Greig, Greg Davies, Connor Swindells, Michael Fielding, Mark Heap, Ellie White, Duayne Boachie, Marc Wootton, Dolly Wells, Asim Chaudhry, Sindhu Vee, and Simon Farnaby

How to watch: The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is now streaming on Apple TV.

28. The Morning Show

Nicole Beharie, Jennifer Aniston, and Reese Witherspoon in "The Morning Show." Credit: Apple TV

With Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, and Steve Carell leading the first season, The Morning Show starts the day right — in the most unsettling way. Created by Jay Carson and inspired by Brian Stelter's 2013 book, the series is set in the world of morning news broadcasting, examining the power dynamics within it — especially amid the #MeToo movement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Over increasingly high-drama seasons, The Morning Show examines the ethics of news and the people who report it, all dealing with personal and professional hurdles under an extremely bright, incessant daily spotlight. — S.C.

Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell, Billy Crudup, Mark Duplass, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Néstor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Bel Powley, Desean Terry, Greta Lee, Julianna Margulies, and Jon Hamm

How to watch: The Morning Show is now streaming on Apple TV.

27. Dark Matter

Joel Edgerton in "Dark Matter." Credit: Apple TV

Sometimes the idea behind a story is so good it's practically begging to be watched. Taking his own novel of the same name and adapting it for the screen, Blake Crouch's Dark Matter follows physicist Jason (Joel Edgerton) as he's kidnapped by an alternative version of himself and trapped in a parallel universe. The way these worlds are linked? A box that gives you access to all the infinite lives you could have led. Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, Jimmi Simpson, Dayo Okeniyi, and Oakes Fegley also star in this sci-fi thriller that's popular with viewers and critics. — S.H.

Starring: Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Connelly, Alice Braga, Amanda Brugel, Dayo Okeniyi, Jimmi Simpson, and Oakes Fegley

How to watch: Dark Matter is now streaming on Apple TV.

26. Platonic

Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen in "Platonic." Credit: Apple TV

Answering the age-old When Harry Met Sally question of whether heterosexual men and women can be just friends, Francesca Delbanco and Nicholas Stoller's Platonic is a brilliantly written, authentically performed, and genuinely compelling examination of modern friendship. "This isn't a prolonged remake retreading a tale of opposites-attract romance," writes Mashable's Kristy Puchko in her review. "Instead, this show takes that kinetic dynamic and the odd-couple concept and spins it into a series of misadventures that are thrillingly outrageous and freshly entertaining. This isn't just a story about friendship; it's the hang-out series you may well be aching for."

Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen are hilariously relatable as full-time mum Sylvia and brewery owner Will, former best mates out of touch until their mid-40s when Will goes through a divorce. Awkwardly reconnecting means facing a few things about their relationship and getting older, but it also means dynamite banter between Byrne and Rogen. — S.C.

Starring: Rose Byrne, Seth Rogen, Tre Hale, Luke Macfarlane, Andrew Lopez, and Carla Gallo

How to watch: Platonic is now streaming on Apple TV.

25. Presumed Innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal and Bill Camp in "Presumed Innocent." Credit: Apple TV

If you're in the market for a tense and well-made legal thriller with strong performances, you could do a lot worse than Presumed Innocent. Based on Scott Turow's 1987 novel, Big Little Lies creator David E. Kelley's adaptation follows a prosecutor (Jake Gyllenhaal) under suspicion for the murder of his colleague.

"This new mini-series is a fairly stock legal drama that's not necessarily all that new in terms of what it offers," I wrote in my Mashable review. "But the story itself feels contemporary, with its themes of sexual power dynamics and legal corruption. What it does, it does very well, with a fast-paced story, well-written script, and excellent performances across the board." — S.H.

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Ruth Negga, Peter Sarsgaard, O-T Fagbenle, Bill Camp, Lily Rabe, Nana Mensah, Chase Infiniti, Kingston Rumi Southwick, and Rosanna Arquette

How to watch: Presumed Innocent is now streaming on Apple TV.

24. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters

Anna Sawai in "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters." Credit: Apple TV

Legendary's MonsterVerse movies (Godzilla, Kong: Skull Island, Godzilla vs. Kong) make their first stomp into live-action TV with Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, a series with its reptilian eye fixed on the establishment of Monarch, the secret monster-studying organisation. The show bounces around time periods, between the 1950s and 2010s, and has more than its fair share of monstrous creatures to behold. As Mashable's Belen Edwards writes, "The richness of Monarch's world — and its glorious, glorious monsters — keeps the show intriguing even when it gets bogged down in the MonsterVerse's oft-maligned human affairs." — S.C.

Starring: Anna Sawai, Kurt Russell, Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, Wyatt Russell, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe, Elisa Lasowski, and Joe Tippett

How to watch: Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is now streaming on Apple TV.

23. Loot

Maya Rudolph and Joel Kim Booster in "Loot." Credit: Apple TV

Apple TV comedies are strong stuff, and Maya Rudolph's Loot is one of the best. The comedy star leads as billionaire Molly Novak, who's recently received a hefty settlement in her divorce but is at loose ends as to what's next. Picked up off the glossy floor of her sprawling home by her assistant Nicholas (Joel Kim Booster), she realises she has a charity foundation run by Sofia Salinas (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez) and so she starts on a fresh new journey, with accountant Arthur (Nat Faxon) and cousin Howard (Ron Funches) in tow. But there'll be more than a few life lessons and perspective shifts in store.

Season 2 meets up with Molly in a new chapter, and adds an ample dash of Benjamin Bratt, and Season 3 dropping in guest stars including D'Arcy Carden, Zane Phillips, and Henry Winkler. — S.C.

Starring: Maya Rudolph, Joel Kim Booster, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Adam Scott, Nat Faxon, Ron Funches, Meagen Fay, Stephanie Styles, Benjamin Bratt, D'Arcy Carden, Zane Phillips, and Henry Winkler.

How to watch: Loot is now streaming on Apple TV.

22. Your Friends and Neighbors

Jon Hamm, Amanda Peet, and Mark Tallman in "Your Friends & Neighbours." Credit: Apple TV

Jon Hamm enters his robber era in Your Friends and Neighbors. The Emmy-winning Mad Men star plays Andrew "Coop" Cooper, a disgraced hedge fund manager who finds himself totally broke after a surprise firing. How will he keep up his affluent lifestyle? By stealing from his neighbors in his wealthy community of Westmont Village, of course!

Coop's descent into burglary leads him to discover his neighbors' deepest, darkest secrets, a premise that's juicy enough to get you hooked immediately. However, your mileage on Your Friends and Neighbors may vary depending on how much more TV you want to watch about the woes of the uber-rich — a market that's already saturated thanks to shows like The White Lotus and Nine Perfect Strangers. — B.E.

Starring: Jon Hamm, Amanda Peet, Olivia Munn, Hoon Lee, Mark Tallman, Lena Hall, Aimee Carrero, Eunice Bae, Isabel Marie Gravitt, and Donovan Colan

How to watch: Your Friends and Neighbors is now streaming on Apple TV.

21. Stick

Owen Wilson and Marc Maron in "Stick." Credit: Apple TV

Want to scratch your Ted Lasso itch while still watching something new? Then check out Stick, which is basically Ted Lasso: Golf Edition. Owen Wilson stars as Pryce Cahill, a washed-up pro golfer who decides to mentor prodigy Santi Wheeler (Peter Dager). The pair hit the tournament circuit, along with Santi's mother Elena (Mariana Treviño), Pryce's former caddy Mitts (Marc Maron), and Santi's new caddy Zero (Lilli Kay).

Created by Jason Keller, Stick occasionally takes one too many pages from the book of Ted Lasso, from its focus on mental health and grief to coining its own "be the goldfish"-type slogan. Still, there's no denying its many charms, including its ability to make even a golf skeptic like me get invested in every round. Like I wrote in my review, "As familiar as these [Ted Lasso] beats are, there's no denying they make a solid base for any feel-good comedy. And with Wilson capably leading such a likable ensemble, Stick feels pretty darn good." — B.E.

Starring: Owen Wilson, Peter Dager, Marc Maron, Mariana Treviño, Lilli Kay, and Judy Greer

How to watch: Stick is now streaming on Apple TV.

20. The Afterparty

Zoë Chao in "The Afterparty." Credit: Apple TV

If you're a fiend for a whodunnit, consider yourself a bit of a Miss Marple, and regularly declare "J'accuse!" at your unsuspecting pals, follow the clues to The Afterparty. A star-studded comedy that twists and turns through various genres in one perplexing mystery, the series hinges around the untimely death of a rich pop star after a high school reunion. After Season 1's deeply rewarding finale, jump right into the second season, where another murder lurks the morning after a big wedding — and no genre is safe. — S.C.

Starring: Sam Richardson, Zoë Chao, Ben Schwartz, Ilana Glazer, Tiffany Haddish, John Early, Ike Barinholtz, Jamie Demetriou, Dave Franco, John Cho, Ken Jeong, Anna Konkle, Zach Woods, Poppy Liu, Jack Whitehall, Vivian Wu, Elizabeth Perkins, and Paul Walter Hauser

How to watch: The Afterparty is now streaming on Apple TV.

19. Down Cemetery Road

Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson in "Down Cemetery Road." Credit: Apple TV

Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson are the dynamic duo of my dreams in Apple TV's Oxford-set mystery crime thriller from Slow Horses' screenwriter Morwenna Banks. But it's not the buddy cop set-up you're thinking.

Based on Mick Herron's novel, Down Cemetery Road sees Thompson as hard-edged private investigator Zoë Boehm, whose marriage to her business partner Joe (Adam Godley) is as threadbare as their bank balance. Across town, Wilson plays Sarah Trafford, an art conservationist who is dragged into hosting a dinner party for her husband Mark's (Tom Riley) schmuck of a client. Before dessert, there's an explosion next door, leading to the disappearance of a young girl named Dinah (Ivy Quoi). The event sends Sarah into an obsessive hunt for the truth — and it leads her to Zoë and Joe's door.* — S.C.

Starring: Emma Thompson, Ruth Wilson, Adeel Akhtar, Tom Goodman-Hill, Fehinti Balogun, Darren Boyd, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Tom Riley, Adam Godley, Sinead Matthews, Ken Nwosu, and Aiysha Hart

How to watch: Down Cemetery Road is now streaming on Apple TV.

18. Disclaimer

Cate Blanchett in "Disclaimer." Credit: Apple TV

Five-time Academy Award–winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón teams with two-time Academy Award–winning actress Cate Blanchett for a seven-part thriller sure to get your blood pumping. Written and directed by Cuarón, Disclaimer stars Blanchett as Catherine Ravenscroft, a revered journalist who has built her career on unearthing the sordid secrets of others. However, her life is thrown into turmoil when an unsolicited novel shows up on her doorstep, its pages spilling out the skeletons within her own closet. 

In her review for Mashable, Entertainment Reporter Belen Edwards writes, "The overall effect of Disclaimer is one of intrigue and of questioning the layers of narrative you see before you. With its commitment to formal changeups and a brutal knockout of a finale, Disclaimer is a puzzle that gets under your skin and refuses to leave."* — K.P.

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Lesley Manville, Louis Partridge, Leila George, and Hoyeon 

How to watch: Disclaimer is now streaming on Apple TV.

17. Schmigadoon!

Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong in "Schmigadoon!" Credit: Apple TV

A show for musical lovers, by musical lovers, Season 1 of Schmigadoon! is a loving tribute to Golden Age musicals. Think Oklahoma!, The Music Man, and The Sound of Music. In a Brigadoon-esque plot, a couple (played by Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key) whose relationship is going through a rough patch stumbles upon a magical village where life is a musical. From there, it's a nonstop parade of joyful musical numbers, delivered by a cast of Broadway mainstays like Kristin Chenoweth, Aaron Tveit, Alan Cumming, and Ariana DeBose. Theaters kids, eat your heart out. Schmigadoon! is a treat. And Season 2 brings more fun, but with a darker edge.* — B.E.

Starring: Cecily Strong, Keegan-Michael Key, Dove Cameron, Fred Armisen, Kristin Chenoweth, Aaron Tveit, Alan Cumming, and Ariana DeBose

How to watch: Schmigadoon! is now streaming on Apple TV.

16. For All Mankind

Joel Kinnaman and Sonya Walger in "For All Mankind." Credit: Apple TV

It's Apple's big "what-if" series, which hypothesizes an alternate timeline of the global space race. Created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi, For All Mankind kicks off Season 1 with the Soviet Union landing the first human on the moon in June 1969, leaving NASA scrambling to catch up. Season 2 picks up in the Cold War, Season 3 jumps into the '90s with the race to land on Mars, and Season 4 is all about the establishment of a self-sustaining colony on the red planet.

"If you're here because you're a fan of For All Mankind creator Ronald D. Moore's earlier work, check your expectations," writes Adam Rosenberg in his review for Mashable. "This isn't science fiction. There's science in the NASA stuff and a layer of grounded fantasy in the alternate timeline premise, but there's no secret alien invasion twist here or anything. For All Mankind plays it straight instead." And for what it's worth, Stephen King bloody loves it. — S.C.

Starring: Joel Kinnaman, Michael Dorman, Sarah Jones, Toby Kebbell, Shantel VanSanten, Jodi Balfour, and Krys Marshall

How to watch: For All Mankind is now streaming on Apple TV.

15. Trying

Esther Smith and Rafe Spall in "Trying." Credit: Apple TV

In Andy Wolton's charming, heartfelt series, London couple Nikki (Esther Smith) and Jason (Rafe Spall) want to start a family of their own. As the series' title suggests, they go up and down a few roads, and ultimately pursue adoption — with all the complications and trials that come with it. Over three seasons, Nikki and Jason's friends and family help them through it all, and you'll chuckle as much as tear up through each moment. Smith and Spall are superb rom-com leads, navigating the highs and lows that come with becoming parents with delightful insights and poignant realism. — S.C.

Starring: Esther Smith, Rafe Spall, Siân Brooke, Darren Boyd, Imelda Staunton, Paula Wilcox, Phil Davis, Jim Broadbent, Oliver Chris, Robyn Cara, Scarlett Rayner, Navin Chowdhry, Roderick Smith, and Marian McLoughlin

How to watch: Trying is now streaming on Apple TV.

14. Chief of War

Jason Momoa in "Chief of War." Credit: Apple TV

Created by Jason Momoa and Thomas Pa'a Sibbett, Chief of War is a vast history epic detailing the unification of Hawaii by Kamehameha (Kaina Makua), amid constant war between the islands and the impending encroachment of colonial powers. Momoa plays Maui warrior Ka'iana, who is summoned home to make the choice of whether to join his King Kahekili (Temuera Morrison) in war.

With events told from an Indigenous perspective, the show marks a landmark moment for Polynesian representation on screen. As Mashable's Belen Edwards explains in her review, "The show's primarily Polynesian cast, led by Momoa, spends the vast majority of the series speaking in Hawaiian, while an army of cultural consultants worked behind the scenes to ensure cultural and historical authenticity. Their efforts, along with those of Chief of War's entire production team, create an immersive, stunning look back through time, as the series transports viewers to the Hawaiian Islands at the end of the 18th century."

Starring: Jason Momoa, Luciane Buchanan, Te Ao o Hinepehinga, Kaina Makua, Temuera Morrison, Te Kohe Tuhaka, Brandon Finn, Siua Ikaleʻo, Mainei Kinimaka, Keala Kahuanui-Paleka, Roimata Fox, Moses Goods, James Udom

How to watch: Chief of War is now streaming on Apple TV.

13. Dope Thief

Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura in "Dope Thief." Credit: Apple TV

Ready for a crime drama full of twists, heralded actors, and character-driven humor? Based on the Dennis Tafoya novel, Dope Thief has all that and more.

Created by Peter Craig (The Town), the series stars Brian Tyree Henry as Ray Driscoll, a Philly entrepreneur with a unique business plan. Alongside his simple-minded bestie Manny (Wagner Moura), Ray impersonates a DEA agent to ambush low-level drug dealers, stealing their ill-gotten gains and illegal substances for profit. The money, they'll split. The drugs will go to a bigger dealer, who's a sort of father-figure to Ray. But when one of these raids goes sideways, there's fire, death, and a wounded survivor hellbent on revenge. Can Ray and Manny survive once they've got a vicious kingpin and the actual DEA on his trail? You'll have to tune in to find out!* — K.P.

Starring: Brian Tyree Henry, Wagner Moura, Marin Ireland, and Kate Mulgrew

How to watch: Dope Thief is now streaming on Apple TV.

12. Murderbot

Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones, Sabrina Wu, David Dastmalchian, Noma Dumezweni, and Tamara Podemski in "Murderbot." Credit: Apple TV

Martha Wells' beloved Murderbot Diaries series comes to the small screen, and boy, is it fun. The series stars Alexander Skarsgård as Murderbot, a security android who's gone rogue and hacked its governor module. With its newfound freedom, it could murder all the "asshole" humans around it. Instead, it chooses to binge hours and hours of TV. (Relatable icon.)

Boasting a withering internal monologue and boatloads of social awkwardness, Murderbot is a cyborg unlike any you've ever seen, and that buoys Murderbot to be a fresh addition to Apple TV+'s extensive slate of sci-fi shows. Right up until its finale, the series also isn't afraid to get weird, incorporating scenes from Murderbot's favorite space-set soap opera and introducing a crew of goofy, lovable scientists for it to watch over. As I wrote in my review, "At the end of the day, Murderbot isn't just a sci-fi adventure — it's a fun hang." — B.E.

Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tattiawna Jones, and Tamara Podemski

How to watch: Murderbot is now streaming on Apple TV.

11. Foundation

Alfred Enoch and Lou Llobell in "Foundation." Credit: Apple TV

It's one of Apple's most lavish productions and worth every penny. Based on Isaac Asimov's iconic sci-fi novels and now sitting at three seasons, Foundation follows a group exiled from the doomed Galactic Empire and on a mission to save it. Jared Harris is superb as mathematician and psychohistorian Hari Seldon, whose predictions of future probability lead to his exile by Brother Day (played to perfection by Lee Pace), one of a series of clones who rule the Galactic Empire as Emperor. Seldon is joined by his protégée, Gaal Dornick (Lou Llobell) from the planet Synnax. And folks, it's a truly opulent series, with stunning visuals, world-building, and action sequences over two seasons. "If you've ever wondered where all that iPhone money went, just watch Foundation," writes Adam Rosenberg for Mashable in his Season 1 review. — S.C.

Starring: Jared Harris, Lee Pace, Lou Llobell, Leah Harvey, Laura Birn, Terrence Mann, Alfred Enoch, Alexander Siddig, Troy Kotsur, and Daniel MacPherson

How to watch: Foundation is now streaming on Apple TV.

10. Bad Sisters

Anne-Marie Duff, Saise Quinn, Sharon Horgan, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, and Eve Hewson in "Bad Sisters." Credit: Apple TV

Sharon Horgan's dark dramedy about a group of sisters teaming up to kill their abusive brother-in-law is as much a howdunnit as it is a whodunnit. We start off Bad Sisters knowing that John Paul (Claes Bang), truly one of the most unpleasant TV characters of the year, is dead. But it's only through a series of flashbacks that we find out what happened to him, learning the ways he wronged each of the Garvey sisters and their various misjudged attempts to take him out of the picture. The characters are well drawn and amusing, the show is incredibly tense, and Horgan seamlessly weaves together comedy and tragedy. And if you're worried about the ending of a show that's already revealed some of its cards, don't be. Bad Sisters holds back some of its biggest shocks and secrets to the very end — and into a second season.* — S.H.

Starring: Anne-Marie Duff, Saise Quinn, Sharon Horgan, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene, Eve Hewson, and Claes Bang

How to watch: Bad Sisters is streaming now on Apple TV.

9. Ted Lasso

Jason Sudeikis and Brett Goldstein in "Ted Lasso." Credit: Apple TV

You'd better believe Ted Lasso is one of the best shows on this list. Created by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly, the comedy follows the titular American football coach (Sudeikis) who is recruited with his 2IC Coach Beard (Hunt) to coach English Premier League team AFC Richmond by the club's owner, Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham). But that's just the set-up, forming the foundation for three seasons of wholesome, hilarious, and moving fish-out-of-water comedy. The show brims with optimism, Easter eggs, and Roy Kent's perfect swearing. Ted Lasso, like football, is life. — S.C.

Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Brett Goldstein, Nick Mohammed, Juno Temple, Brendan Hunt, Jeremy Swift, Phil Dunster, Toheeb Jimoh, Cristo Fernández, Kola Bokinni, Anthony Head, Billy Harris, and James Lance

How to watch: Ted Lasso is now streaming on Apple TV.

8. Little America

Jearnest Corchado and Melinna Bobadilla in "Little America." Credit: Apple TV

Kumail Nanjiani, Alan Yang, and Emily V. Gordon's anthology series Little America is essential viewing. A masterclass in storytelling, each episode of the series is a self-contained tale in which we get to know immigrants in America on a personal level — a far cry from the dehumanised picture politicians like to paint. Each story is compelling, unique, and deeply moving, from Nigerian college student Iwegbuna (Conphidance) exploring identity through cowboy culture in Oklahoma to baker Beatrice (Kemiyondo Coutinho) embracing her Ugandan heritage in Kentucky. There's undocumented high schooler Marisol (Jearnest Corchado) reclaiming a sense of power through squash, and Kabir (played by Suraj Sharma, Eshan Inamdar, and Ishan Gandhi at different ages), a 12-year old boy whose hotel-owner parents are deported to India. Each story examines the complexity of identity and scrutinises the American Dream, while reminding us to actually make the effort to get to know someone. — S.C.

Starring: Suraj Sharma, Jearnest Corchado, Conphidance, Kemiyondo Coutinho, Mélanie Laurent, Angela Lin, Shaun Toub, Haaz Sleiman, and Isuri Wijesundara

How to watch: Little America is now streaming on Apple TV.

7. Shrinking

Jason Segel and Harrison Ford in "Shrinking." Credit: Apple TV

Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence teams up with Ted Lasso's Brett Goldstein and How I Met Your Mother's Jason Segel for a show about breaking down and breaking through. As Mashable's Shannon Connellan writes in her review, "Shrinking, one of TV's best-written comedies, cuts to the deep shit among the regular shit, without judgment and with a lot of laughs. Consider us prescribed."

Segel stars as a cognitive behavioral therapist struggling in the wake of his wife's death. Despite this grief-stricken setup, Shrinking is a defiantly joyful comedy that finds humor in coping as this harried hero breaks rules to push him and his clients out of their comfort zones to new emotional terrain. With 30-minute episodes over two seasons, it's an easy binge — and the cast is absolutely outstanding.* — K.P.

Starring: Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams, Luke Tennie, Michael Urie, Christa Miller, and Lukita Maxwell

How to watch: Shrinking is now streaming on Apple TV.

6. Slow Horses

Kristin Scott Thomas in "Slow Horses." Credit: Apple TV

If you haven't had every last one of your mates telling you to watch Slow Horses, consider yourself in the minority. Based on Mick Herron's Slough House novels, the series has long provoked hands-in-the-air "you've got to watch Slow Horses" rants at many a London pub in my life, and they're not wrong. Throw yourself without delay into the realm of MI5 outcasts, spies who've fucked up but somehow have remained employed by the UK's domestic counter-intelligence agency. However, that doesn't mean there's not plenty to investigate, all under the surly, greasy, and notably farty watch of Slough House head Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman). Over five seasons, showrunner Will Smith makes the most out of his terrific cast, which includes Kristin Scott Thomas, Jack Lowden, Rosalind Eleazar, Saskia Reeves, Olivia Cooke, and more, sending the MI5 misfits into many a danger across London trying valiantly to defend Britain. — S.C.

Starring: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jack Lowden, Olivia Cooke, Rosalind Eleazar, Saskia Reeves, Jonathan Pryce, Christopher Chung, Kadiff Kirwan, and Dustin Demri-Burns

How to watch: Slow Horses is now streaming on Apple TV.

5. Pluribus

Rhea Seehorn in "Pluribus." Credit: Apple TV

How do you explain Pluribus without giving away everything? It's tricky, so we'll just say if you're into global apocalypse hypotheticals, this is your show. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul creator Vince Gilligan returns with a colossal sci-fi conundrum, one that particularly affects fantasy author Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn). Why? She appears to be the only human on Earth not affected by a virus that makes everyone extremely happy and connected. But it's not just Gilligan's thrilling narrative set-up that makes Pluribus exceptional — it's Seehorn. "The Gilligan-Seehorn partnership that kicked off in Better Call Saul continues to pay off big time with Pluribus," writes Mashable's Belen Edwards in her review. "Gilligan wrote the role of Carol specifically for Seehorn, and it's not hard to see why. She is a force."

Starring: Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos Manuel Vesga, Miriam Shor, Sharon Gee, Darinka Arones, Amarburen Sanjid, and Menik Gooneratne, Samba Schutte

How to watch: Pluribus is now streaming on Apple TV.

4. Silo

Rashida Jones and David Oyelowo in "Silo." Credit: Apple TV

If you're not watching Silo, we suggest you bunker down and watch both seasons. Created by Graham Yost and directed by Morten Tyldum, this a dystopian sci-fi thriller series is on based on Hugh Howey's trilogy of novels (Wool, Shift, and Dust). Silo delivers impeccable performances, intricate set design, and satisfying narrative twists. Mashable's Belen Edwards describes Silo in her review as "an engrossing and rewarding watch, one that devoted fans of dystopia and sci-fi will relish."

You're sent deep into the subterranean society where the last 10,000 people on Earth live, sheltered from the toxic world outside. The inhabitants, ranked in class by floor, put immense trust in their overlords: Mayor Ruth Jahns (Geraldine James), head of the IT Department (Tim Robbins), and the silo's sheriffs, including Sheriff Holston (David Oyelowo) and Deputy Sam Marnes (Will Patton). But when suspicious events occur, an engineer from the silo's lower levels (Rebecca Ferguson) races to figure out the truth. — S.C.

Starring: Rebecca Ferguson, David Oyelowo, Rashida Jones, Tim Robbins, Common, Harriet Walter, Iain Glen, Tanya Moodie, Geraldine James, Avi Nash, Chinaza Uche, Steve Zahn, Shane McRae, Remmie Milner, Alexandria Riley, Clare Perkins, Billy Postlethwaite, Ashley Zukerman, Olatunji Ayofe, and Ferdinand Kingsley

How to watch: Silo is now streaming on Apple TV.

3. Pachinko

Kim Min-ha and Jung Eun-chae in "Pachinko." Credit: Apple TV

Based on Min Jin Lee's best-selling novel, Pachinko spans not only decades but also generations, following a family line from an impoverished community in 1915 Korea to a prosperous Japan in 1989. The center of this moving saga is matriarch Kim Sunja, who grows from an intrepid child (Yu-na Jeon) to a pregnant, unwed teen (Kim Min-ha), to a grandmother (Academy Award–winning star of Minari, Youn Yuh-jung) too often patronized by her doting son (Soji Arai) and hotshot banker grandson Solomon (Jin Ha).

Created by Soo Hugh, this sensational two-season drama series slides back and forth across its timeline, paralleling Sunja's journey with Solomon's. Though she was raised in poverty and he in prosperity, both face challenges of racism, weighty family expectations, and impossible loves. Incredibly, though Pachinko hits on many dark elements, it's resiliently hopeful, delivering on the promise of its exhilarating opening title sequence. If you're looking for a series to grab you heart and soul, Pachinko is a safe bet for satisfaction, a series Mashable's Belen Edwards dubbed "one of the most stunningly crafted shows on TV."* — K.P.

Starring: Jeon Yu-na, Kim Min-ha, Youn Yuh-jung, Soji Arai, Jin Ha, Lee Min-ho, Kwon Eun-seong, Jung Eun-chae, and Yoshio Maki

How to watch: Pachinko is now streaming on Apple TV.

2. The Studio

Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, Chase Sui Wonders, and Seth Rogen in "The Studio." Credit: Apple TV+

Seth Rogen and a jaw-dropping cast of big stars give Hollywood the takedown it so richly deserves with The Studio.

The battle of art versus commerce takes center stage as Rogen plays a newly minted studio exec, who has to make an endless series of wild decisions. If you ever wonder how the blockbuster sausage gets made, the first episode of this stellar comedy series gives you a juicy and revolting taste.

The writing on this satirical series is so sharp that Rogen practically bleeds as he plays the fool across an array of comical conflicts. And he's bolstered by a supporting cast that is blisteringly funny, spitting barbs, allusions, and one-liners with a dizzying intensity.* — K.P.

Starring: Seth Rogen, Catherine O’Hara, Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz, Chase Sui Wonders, and Bryan Cranston

How to watch: The Studio is now streaming on Apple TV.

1. Severance

Welcome to the team. Credit: Apple TV

It's not only the best show on Apple TV+, it's one of our favourite shows of all time. Dan Erickson's "anti-capitalist fable" Severance centres around the enigmatic Lumon Industries, a company that offers employees the option of "severing" their work self from their regular lives. Primarily directed by Ben Stiller, Severance sees impeccable performances from Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Zach Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Christopher Walken, and more, with the cast tasked with playing both their "Innies" and "Outies" — and all the loaded nuance that comes with it.

Exactly what Lumon does and how the severance program began are just two of the mysteries within Severance, a show that explores fascinating questions of consent, exploitation, alienation, and humanity within a highly stylistic production. What's not in question? Over two sublime seasons, Severance doesn't miss. — S.C.

Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Zach Cherry, Tramell Tillman, Christopher Walken, Jen Tullock, Dichen Lachman, Michael Chernus, and Sarah Bock

How to watch: Severance is now streaming on Apple TV.

UPDATE: Dec. 3, 2025, 10:50 a.m. UTC This article was first published on March 21, 2025. It has been updated to reflect current streaming titles.

Pluribus dropped some big bombshells in its Season 1 finale — some figurative, but one that's very literal.

The episode, fittingly titled "La Chica o El Mundo," gives Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) a choice. Does she ally herself with the staunchly anti-Others Manousos Oviedo (Carlos-Manuel Vesga) and save the world? Or does she embrace romance with Zosia (Karolina Wydra), and therefore, all other 7 billion Others whom Zosia shares a hive mind with?

By the end of the episode, Carol chooses Manousos — but not before she's gone on a globe-trotting adventure with Zosia. So what changes her mind? Let's break it down.

The Others have found a way to Join with Carol.

In episode 6, Carol learned from Mr. Diabaté (Samba Schutte) that the Others had figured out how to bring immune humans into the hive mind. To turn someone like Carol or Diabaté, the Others would have to tailor the virus to their specific stem cells. To get the stem cells, they'd have to jam a very large needle into the immune humans' hip bones. Since that's a painful procedure, it goes against the Others' inability to harm any living thing. They'd need their target's consent, and guess what? Carol is all too happy not to give it. Easy fix, right? She can keep jet-setting with Zosia and enjoy the happiness that brings her, all without being part of a forced hive mind.

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However, Carol underestimated the Others' tenacity. One of their key drivers is the biological need to propagate, so it's natural they wouldn't stop trying to find a way to bring Carol into the fold. By the Season 1 finale, they've found it. They don't need to gather Carol's stem cells from her hip bone. They've already got access to them in the eggs she froze years ago. Now, Carol's got one month left before the Others will be able to add her to the hive mind.

"If you loved me, you wouldn't do this," Carol says.

"We have to do this because we love you," Zosia counters. "Because I love you."

The switch to the singular pronoun — something Carol asked for back in episode 8 — is particularly telling. Could this be Zosia's individuality shining through? Or is it just another manipulation tactic on the part of the hive mind? My money's on the latter, but then again, Pluribus thrives on the ambiguity of the self versus the collective.

Carol asks for — and receives — an atomic bomb.

Remember when Carol learned the Others would give her anything she asked for, even an atomic bomb? Well, in the finale, she decides to put their gift-giving skills to the test.

Following Zosia's revelation about the stem cells, Carol returns home to Albuquerque with the once-promised atomic bomb in tow. The request is Carol's biggest power play in a situation where's she otherwise powerless. But now that she's got a nuke chilling in her driveway, what comes next? She tells Manousos that's she's ready to "save the world" with him, but how does the bomb fit into that equation? Is Carol going to go on the offensive? Or is the bomb more of an insurance policy, one that she'll trigger once the Others come calling with their modified virus?

According to Rhea Seehorn, even Carol's unsure of her next move. "I actually think it's more important for me, the way I wanted to play it, that Carol is impulsive in asking for the biggest, most violent, threatening thing she can think of before she even knows what she would do with it," Seehorn told Mashable.

Has Manousos found a way to reverse the Joining using radio frequency?

While Carol is dealing with her conflicted feelings towards Zosia and the Others, Manousos is locking in on how to disrupt the Joining. The key seems to be a radio frequency: 8.613.0.

While hunting for other survivors of the Joining, Manousos scrolled through endless frequencies of static. At 8.613.0 kHz, he heard a new sound: a strange, pulsing chattering.

It's likely that this is the frequency the Others communicate at. After all, in episode 8, Zosia explains to Carol that the hive mind is able to communicate because of "something to do with the body's electromagnetic field. Our natural electric charge, so to speak."

"So, like radio?" Carol asks.

"Sort of. But radio transmission is like talking. It's conscious," Zosia says. "Our communication is unconscious. Homeostatic. Like breathing."

Manousos decides to test the Others' connection to the 8.613.0 frequency by screaming at them. His negative emotions send the hive mind into convulsions worldwide. When that happens, the output on the frequency changes. It's no longer broadcasting a series of chatters, but more of a high-pitched whine — exactly the kind of sound you'd expect a panicking hive mind to emit.

As the whine plays on, Manousos tries to cut through the noise and call a member of the hive mind named Rick back to his own body. The attempt is unsuccessful thanks to Carol and her gun, but Manousos shows no signs of giving up.

Pluribus shows that while Carol was away with Zosia, Manousos went into full research mode. He's covered her table in books about electricity, electromagnetic fields, crystallography, and circuits. The book he's currently parsing through includes passages about radio transmitters, antennae, and current nodes and antinodes. These are the points at which wavelengths have no displacement or are at their greatest displacement, respectively.

Basically, Manousos is going all in on electromagnetism being connected to the Others' weakness. Will he be able to crack the code in Season 2? Or will Carol's bomb get there first?

Pluribus Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV.

Every science fiction lover jumped up and pointed at the screen, Leonardo DiCaprio style, when a certain book popped up in the Pluribus Season 1 finale.

That book is none other than Ursula K. Le Guin's classic novel The Left Hand of Darkness, which is Carol Sturka's (Rhea Seehorn) poolside read during her globe-trotting adventures with Zosia (Karolina Wydra).

Published in 1969, The Left Hand of Darkness introduces the frigid alien planet of Gethen, whose inhabitants are ambisexual. Every month, they undergo a period known as kemmer, during which they develop sexual characteristics. The Gethenians' unique gender and sexuality has created a world vastly different from our own, impacting everything from war (there is none) to child-rearing (everyone chips in). The novel won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novel, the second to do so after Frank Herbert's Dune.

Given The Left Hand of Darkness' pedigree in genre fiction, it makes sense that Carol, a fantasy writer herself, would be reading it. (Although I'm sure Carol would be the first to say her Winds of Wycaro books don't even come close to Le Guin.) According to Seehorn, choosing The Left Hand of Darkness for the finale came about through joint discussions with finale writers Alison Tatlock and Gordon Smith.

"We talked about who Carol might read in general, especially for leisure. Not that Le Guin's books are easy, passive reading, but they definitely seem like books and a voice and a literary level that Carol would admire," Seehorn told Mashable in a video interview.

Other options for Carol's pool reading included Aldous Huxley's Brave New World for a more dystopian bent. "In the end, we really liked her reading a female author," Seehorn said.

The resonance of The Left Hand of Darkness goes beyond Carol just liking Le Guin, though.

"[The Left Hand of Darkness] holds a mirror to and has some parallels with what the audience is watching happening in this world," Seehorn explained.

In the novel, there is only one human on Gethen: Genly Ai. He's an envoy from the intergalactic coalition of planets known as the Ekumen, and he's hoping to get Gethen to join up. As his time on Gethen progresses, he gains a deeper understanding of the planet's culture, which Le Guin renders in anthropological detail.

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An isolated human in a sea of aliens? Who in Pluribus could relate with that? Sure, Carol isn't the only human left on Earth who is immune to the alien hive mind, but given the show's intense focus on her and her loneliness, she occupies a similar space to the lone Genly. The two act as audience surrogates as they struggle to understand such an alien culture, even if they have help from one dedicated member of said culture (Zosia in Carol's case; Gethenian prime minister Estraven in Genly's). The difference is, while Genly is an interloper on a world that isn't his own, Carol must reckon with an alien force that has overtaken her own world and is actively rewriting Earth's social structures.

There's an even bigger rift between Genly and Carol, though. While Carol wants to put an end to the Joining, Genly is all about joining — getting Gethen to join the Ekumen, that is. That's not quite the same as forcibly inducting the world's population into a hive mind, but there is a similar sense of trying to bring someone into a greater collective who might not want to be a part of it. With that in mind, whose side does Carol gravitate more toward while reading The Left Hand of Darkness? Genly, the one human? Or the Gethenians who may have trepidations about joining a larger alien group?

More importantly, though, Carol Sturka book club when?

Pluribus Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV.

The crossover Pluribus viewers have been waiting for finally became a reality in the Season 1 finale, as the world's number one hive-mind haters, Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) and Manousos Oviedo (Carlos-Manuel Vesga), meet up for the first time.

However, the pair's first meeting is less an enthusiastic team-up than it is two of the most stubborn people on Earth duking it out. And Vesga wouldn't have it any other way.

"I did expect a kind of clash between them, and I was hoping for it, because actually it says a lot about being human," Vesga told Mashable in a video interview alongside Karolina Wydra, who plays Zosia. "The Joining is a group of people who never argue, who are always agreeing on everything. What makes [Carol and Manousos] real humans is that they actually don't see things eye to eye. They both agree that this has to be changed, and we need to change it back to what it was, but not necessarily the same way."

A big reason for the disconnect is that, in the time it's taken for Manousos to journey from Paraguay to Albuquerque, Carol's started a relationship with Zosia, who is herself an extension of the hive mind. Because of this relationship, Carol's views of the Others have softened, while Manousos is more determined than ever to destroy them.

"When he gets to Albuquerque, Carol is not the same Carol," Vesga explained. "I remember reading the script and thinking, 'Oh my God, he's going to hate her. He's going to resent her.' She's the worst traitor ever, she sent me this VHS cassette, and I see this recording, and I go through what I went through..."

"Well, you did take a long time," Wydra joked.

"I'm sorry I don't drive faster!" Vesga said.

Carlos-Manuel Vesga in "Pluribus." Credit: Apple TV

Seehorn, too, relished the conflict between Carol and Manousos.

"They're both these immovable objects and so intent that their opinion is right," Seehorn told Mashable in a video interview. "Hopefully the audience can see both points of view throughout the scene. Like, he showed up with a machete. That's not exactly a subtle move. And Carol, even pre-Zosia, has always felt bad about actually hurting any of these people and does not believe they should be obliterated."

The newly forged Zosia connection definitely adds an extra layer to Carol's motivations throughout the scene, though. The meeting was the scene Seehorn and Vesga read together for Vesga's audition, at which point Seehorn hadn't had access to the rest of the Season 1 scripts. Still, from just those few pages she could tell that Carol was hiding something, and that Manousos was sniffing it out.

"I loved the power dynamic shifting, where she sees that he can tell that she's lying," Seehorn said. "Even with the language barrier, she's so defensive in that moment because she's being called out for literally sleeping with the enemy."

Carol's blatant defensiveness adds a layer of humor to the meeting. So does the use of Carol's phone translator, which serves as an intermediary for her and Manousos' conversation. Between its constant interruptions and its translation of everything — even pleas for it to stop translating — it becomes a dryly funny third presence in the scene.

Seehorn and Vesga used an actual phone translator during Vesga's audition. "I noticed from there, 'huh, this is going to be cumbersome, and therefore it's going to be funny,'" Vesga said.

During the actual shoot, though, there was no phone. Instead, another actor, Sofia Embid, was on set performing as the translator.

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"The interaction was more complex because you had three people instead of two," Vesga recalled of shooting the scene. "At the beginning, we were just trying to adapt to this new rule of not just the two of us playing, since we had another person outside that we couldn't actually see, but we could hear her. I remember at some point feeling kind of frustrated at myself."

However, Pluribus creator Vince Gilligan encouraged Vesga to push through that frustration.

"I remember Vince coming up to us and saying, 'You keep talking. It you're interrupted, deal with it, but just keep talking. You have your conversation, just allow the interruptions to be there,'" Vesga recalled. "After that, I was like, 'OK, I get it now and can enjoy it. Now I can have fun.' And I remember walking to the next scene with a huge smile, just feeling the feeling of having had the best playdate ever as a 5-year-old. Because that's what happens with Rhea. When you're with her on set, it's like having a playdate with your best friend."

Pluribus Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV.

By the end of Pluribus Season 1, Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn) has conducted the world's wildest trade deal. She lost her romance with Zosia (Karolina Wydra), but gained an atom bomb.

That trade-off to end all trade-offs comes after Carol receives some devastating news. The Others have been secretly using stem cells from her frozen eggs to tailor the hive mind virus to her. She only has a month left, maybe two or three at most, before she's Joined up with everyone else.

That betrayal stood out to Seehorn while reading the finale script for the first time. "I had a whirlwind of emotions for the entire finale," she told Mashable in a video interview. "The fact that they've been stealing my eggs was the first atom bomb."

One figurative bomb begets a literal one, and it's not long before Carol has a weapon of mass destruction outside her Albuquerque house.

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Carol's request echoes her realization from earlier in Season 1 that the Others will give her whatever she desires — even an atom bomb. So what is it exactly about the stem cell revelation that causes Carol to literally go nuclear on the Others? For Seehorn, Carol's choice is an expression of pure anger.

"Carol is quite impulsive, as we've seen, and her rage is something that she's had to suppress," Seehorn explained. "But [in the finale] she's allowing herself to go ahead and be reactionary, like, 'Screw this. These people have crossed the final line that they could have crossed.'"

So what will Carol do with her new nuke? Does she plan to use it, or is it just a warning shot to the Others that she won't go quietly into their hive mind?

"I don't actually know what she's going to do with the atom bomb," Seehorn said. "I gave it a lot of thought. I did ask [creator] Vince [Gilligan]. He did not have a specific answer. They're in the writers' room right now; we should ask him."

Ultimately, though, it's Carol's uncertainty going forward that proves richest to Seehorn as a performer.

"In the end," she said, "I actually think it's more important for me, the way I wanted to play it, that Carol is impulsive in asking for the biggest, most violent, threatening thing she can think of before she even knows what she would do with it."

Pluribus Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV.

Reactivate those Pip-Boys and set your Spotify listening age to 87, as Prime Video's adaptation of post-apocalyptic game franchise Fallout is back with a second season. And of course, we're in for more Easter eggs, needle drops, and details from Bethesda's games that you might recognise from your travels through the Wasteland.

For Season 1, showrunners Geneva Robertson-Dworet and Graham Wagner recruited production designer Howard Cummings and set decorator Regina Graves to bring the retro-futurist and post-apocalyptic details of the Fallout games to the screen, from those instantly familiar "Please stand by" screens to the famous T-60 power armor. In Season 2, there's more Sugar Bombs, irradiated enemies, and Vault-Tec facilities where that came from.

Here's a handy guide to the game elements the Fallout show includes — one we'll be updating each week as the episodes drop.

Fallout Season 2 includes key locations from the games including Fallout: New Vegas

Let's gooooo. Credit: Courtesy of Prime

The Fallout TV series covers a lot of ground within the post-apocalyptic Wasteland featured in multiple Fallout games. In Season 1, the characters came across the games' Red Rocket gas stations, Super Duper Marts, and a thrown-together town akin to the game's cities of Megaton, Rivet City, New Reno, and Diamond City. But in Season 2, it's all about New Vegas, a crumbling, post-apocalyptic version of the City of Lights which forms the core setting for the third Fallout game.

While Episodes 1 and 2 don't reach New Vegas, it's always on the horizon, with Lucy (Ella Purnell) and Cooper Howard/The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) following her father's trail there. But in the very first scene of the season, the pair are in quite a predicament within the The Great Khan raider hideout, a location in Fallout: New Vegas located in the Mojave Wasteland. For the Fallout show, the gang's base is actually the Dino Dee-lite Motel, another location from Fallout: New Vegas, which features that giant T-rex.

Lucy's sniper spot is straight out of "Fallout: New Vegas." Credit: Bethesda

Vault-wise, this season's underground locations are Vaults 31, 32, and 33, all with their own predicaments and mysteries. But there are also plenty of empty vaults to explore like the game — and in episode 1, Lucy and Coop find Vault 24, a vault that was actually cut from Fallout: New Vegas (meaning the TV series has a blank backstory slate and fills it with brainwashed Americans and the game's dreaded radscorpions). Right near the entrance to this vault, the pair walk through the Starlight Drive-In, an iconic location from Fallout 4. You'll see on the cinema's marquee that the very last movie to be shown here was A Man and His Dog 3, starring none other than Coop.

Fallout brings the armor, weapons, and gadgets of the games to life.

Back into the vault with Woody Thomas (Zach Cherry). Credit: Lorenzo Sisti / Prime

One of the most impressive elements of the Fallout series is the impeccable production design, especially on details like armor, weapons, and gadgets — but not the games' signature aim-support V.A.T.S. system (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System). In Season 2, there's just as much to delight fans new and longtime.

For one, every Vault Dweller including Lucy still wears the franchise's signature Pip-Boy on their wrist, a wearable computer that's used in Season 1 for its inbuilt map and navigation, Geiger counter, torch, and more. This season, the devices take on additional uses; Lucy uses hers to open Vault 24 in episode 1. The Pip-Boys also feature the game's ubiquitous Vault Boy, Vault-Tec's thumbs-up mascot, who we learned last season is based on Cooper.

Frances Turner (Barb Howard) has her own Pip Boy. Credit: Lorenzo Sisti / Prime

Armor-wise, the Brotherhood of Steel's preferred T-60 power armor from Fallout 4 is back in all its lumbering glory and requisite armor bays, along with plenty of raider leathers and vault jumpsuits — as well as a few small sightings of armor resembling that of the New California Republic (NCR) in episode 2.

That iconic power armor in "Fallout 4." Credit: Bethesda

Weapon-wise, while Season 1 featured game selections from automatic turrets to miniguns and the Junk Jet from Fallout 4, Season 2 starts with a bang and Fallout: New Vegas' grenade launcher. One of the funniest weapons inclusions of episode 2 is the two members of the Brotherhood casually dicking around with a plasma grenade, which gamers will know will make short work of everyone in the vicinity.

Fallout relies on aid just like the game.

You're gonna need food, drugs, and friends. Credit: Courtesy of Prime.

You can't survive the Fallout games without aid items, and neither can the characters in the series. Season 1 featured the franchise's love for Atomic Age foods made for Vault-Dwellers like YumYum Deviled Eggs, Insta-Mash, Nuka-Cola, and Sugar Bombs, the latter of which is a cereal shaped like tiny nuclear bombs — and it plays an important role at the end of episode 1. Notably, the flea soup Lucy drinks in episode 1 is not from the game and is entirely the messed up creation of the showrunners.

Aid goes beyond food in Fallout, however, with stimulants and anti-radiation meds the tip of the drugberg. The first season included crucial-in game items like RadAway (to clear radiation poisoning), Jet (a chemical stimulant or "chem" used regularly by Cooper), and injections called "stimpaks" that instantly heal — in episode 2, Lucy assists a person in Vault 24 with one and leaves Coop to heal painfully and slowly on his own.

Plus, it's no fun traversing the Wasteland alone, and in the Fallout games, you can bring your friends along for company (and the perks and storylines you'll unlock). In Season 1, the series included companions like the Mister Handy robot butlers, one of whom was voiced by Matt Berry, and introduced a glorious dog named CX404, otherwise known by the terrible name of Dogmeat. The pooch is back for Season 2.

Fallout's enemies are right out of the game.

Watch your back. Credit: Lorenzo Sisti / Prime

Enemies abound in the Wasteland, and the Fallout series has already featured plenty of them, from Raiders (gangs of outlaws) to Fiends (cannibals). Creature-wise, Season 1 included Radroaches (irradiated cockroaches), Yao Guai (mutant bears), Feral Ghouls (zombie versions of the mutated humans), and a giant anglerfish.

In Season 2, we've only really seen one band of Raiders — the Great Khans of Fallout: New Vegas —  however the sinister forces within the vaults (and the past?) seem more of a threat at this point. And in episode 2, Lucy and Coop face the formidable radscorpions, irradiated beasts ready to wound and poison you.

One famous foe missing from the Fallout TV series? The game's fierce and omnipresent Super Mutants; you can spot one for a second on a "Wanted!" poster in Season 1, episode 6. Our fingers are crossed.

Perhaps all this detail makes you want to play the games for the first time — or all over again? 

Fallout Season 2 premieres Dec. 16 at 9 p.m. ET on Prime Video, with a new episode every week.

It's no exaggeration to say that 2025 changed the landscape of late night television.

Although there were the usual viral interview moments with celebrities, the year was dominated by the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the suspension and reinstatement of Jimmy Kimmel, and the controversy that surrounded both of those events.

We've recapped some of the biggest late night moments of 2025 below.

1. Stephen Colbert calling out his own parent company

In July, Paramount Global agreed a $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump after he filed a suit against the company over the alleged "deceitful" editing of a 60 Minutes interview with former Vice-President Kamala Harris. Stephen Colbert — who works for Paramount-owned CBS — didn't hold back on the news, referring to the payment as "big fat bribe," and noting that Paramount had been trying to secure the Trump administration's approval of its merger with Skydance Media.

"As someone who has alway been a proud employee of this network, I am offended," said Colbert in his Late Show monologue. "And I don't know if anything will ever repair my trust in this company. But just taking a stab at it, I'd say $16 million would help."

2. Stephen Colbert announcing the cancelation of The Late Show

Just days after his comments about Paramount, Stephen Colbert began The Late Show by announcing that it had been cancelled — it will run until May 2026 before ending for good.

"It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of The Late Show on CBS," Colbert told the shocked audience. "I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away."

3. Stephen Colbert ramping up his coverage of Trump and Epstein

Despite CBS claiming the cancellation of The Late Show was "purely a financial decision" and "not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount," some speculated that Paramount's Skydance Media merger — which at that point still required approval from the Trump administration — may have been a factor.

Regardless, Colbert, a longtime Trump critic, didn't hold back in the days after his announcement. He ramped up his coverage of the president's actions, telling him to "go **** yourself" before doubling down on his coverage of Trump's friendship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

4. Jimmy Kimmel being suspended

In September, ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! "indefinitely" from broadcast amidst Republican criticism toward Kimmel for his comments about right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk's killer and Republican reactions to Kirk's death. ABC's decision seemed to stem from pressure from the Trump administration; preceding the company's announcement, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr threatened the network to take action against the late night host (and like Colbert, a longtime Trump critic).

Major backlash ensued from celebrities and Kimmel's fellow late night hosts Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Jon Oliver, all of whom offered their support while condemning censorship. Meanwhile, Trump and his followers reacted with glee.

ABC-owned Disney+ and Hulu cancellations doubled during the suspension. Kimmel's show was reinstated a week later, smashing viewership records.

5. John Oliver calling out Disney's CEO in response

Following Kimmel's suspension, John Oliver joined the late night hosts showing their support with a deep dive into exactly what the hell happened. In a must-watch monologue, the Last Week Tonight host lambasted the threatening tactics used by Trump's FCC chair Carr, and appealed directly to Disney CEO Bob Iger, urging him to stand up to parent company ABC using "the only phrase that can genuinely make a weak bully go away...'F*** you. Make me.'"

6. Jon Stewart's 'administration compliant' Daily Show monologue

Another must-watch reaction to Kimmel's suspension was The Daily Show's 23-minute "administration-compliant" monologue from Jon Stewart poking fun at censorship. Facetiously walking on proverbial eggshells, the host referred to Donald Trump as "father" and told the audience to "shut the f*** up" if they reacted negatively to the president — even in regard to Trump's comments saying Kimmel was suspended for having "zero talent" instead of threats from FCC chair Carr to Jimmy Kimmel Live! broadcaster ABC.

7. Seth Meyers calls Kimmel suspension 'a big moment in our democracy'

Late Night host Seth Meyers has also been a target of the president this year, and also responded to Kimmel's suspension by ABC with support. In a strong monologue, Meyers took A Closer Look at censorship and free speech in Donald Trump's America.

"Trump promised to end government censorship and bring back free speech, and he's doing the opposite," said Meyers, calling out Kimmel's suspension. "This is a big moment in our democracy, and we must all stand up for the principles of free expression. There's a reason free speech is in the very First Amendment. It stands above all others."

8. Kimmel's record-breaking return monologue

A week after his "indefinite" suspension by ABC, widespread backlash, and an impactful Disney+ and Hulu boycott, Kimmel's show was reinstated on Sept. 24 — and his returning monologue smashed viewership records. Kimmel shouted out his fellow talk show hosts Jon Stewart, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, and Stephen Colbert.

The monologue become Kimmel's most viewed YouTube monologue of all time less than a day after it went live — right now, it's sitting at 23 million views.

"This show is not important," said Kimmel in his monologue. "What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this…. Our freedom to speak is what [talk show hosts in other countries] admire most about this country. And that's something I'm embarrassed to say I took for granted until they pulled my friend Stephen [Colbert] off the air, and tried to coerce the affiliates who run our show in the cities that you live in to take my show off the air.

"That's not legal. That's not American. That is un-American, and it is so dangerous."

Everyone has their go-to Christmas movies. You know yours: They're the films that carry memories of wintry nights and repeat family viewings, the ones you absolutely need to watch to get into the Christmas spirit.

For the longest time, my holiday movie staples included a rotation of Love Actually, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and the Rankin/Bass Christmas Specials. But recently, a new challenger has entered the festive arena, and while it's technically not a movie, it's still on its way to becoming part of my personal Christmas viewing rotation.

I'm talking about Smosh vs. Christmas, a two-part TTRPG actual play video from YouTube channel Smosh Games, itself part of the broader comedy collective Smosh.

In Smosh vs. Christmas, Smosh cast members Shayne Topp, Amanda Lehan-Canto, and Angela Giarratana play a Dread one-shot with game master George Primavera and guest player Nick Williams.

The mechanics of Dread are simple, making the videos accessible for viewers no matter their familiarity with TTRPGs. Every time a player wants to perform an action in-game, they have to pull a block from a Jenga tower. Pull the block and place it on top of the tower, and they succeed. Knock the tower over, and their character dies. Immediately.

You can always choose to fail voluntarily or heroically sacrifice yourself, but for the most part, there's no room for error. That means every second of every tower pull bristles with tension, making Dread an ideal TTRPG system for a horror one-shot.

And while there are certainly horror elements to Smosh vs. Christmas, make no mistake: This miniseries is a laugh riot. It's what you'd get if you crossed a Hallmark Christmas movie with Krampus.

The game picks up in the small Midwestern town of Kringleton, where every day is Christmas. As the townspeople prepare to celebrate Christmas proper with a hot cocoa drinking contest, four outsiders descend on the town, each a walking Hallmark movie archetype. There's Charlie Penn (Topp), a sensitive, struggling novelist with a tragic past; Guy Wood (Giarratana), a small-town carpenter with a big heart and even bigger muscles; and Scott Ornamente (Lehan-Canto), a Patrick Bateman-esque Manhattan big shot who hates his home town of Kringleton. Rounding out the pack is Pop (Williams), a jolly fellow who really seems like Santa Claus.

The fun of each character stems partly from the stereotypes they're sending up, and partly from the surprising depth each player brings to them. The bits these comedians concoct are uproarious, no doubt about it, but the true joy of Smosh vs. Christmas is getting invested in these characters — and watching each player get more and more invested in the story Primavera is building.

As Charlie, Guy, and Scott settle into Kringleton, they all cross paths with Kringleton's resident single woman, Carol (Primavera). So begins the Hallmark movie dating sim of my dreams, one where simply saying hi to your love interest could result in a Dread tower pull, and therefore, potential death. If you thought your love life was high-stakes, think again.

To say much more about what happens in Smosh vs. Christmas would ruin its best surprises. After all, Dread is a game fueled by suspense and spontaneity, and you deserve to experience the same levels of stress and amusement that I did while watching. But suffice it to say that Smosh vs. Christmas undergoes some of the wildest yet most satisfying twists I've seen in any Christmas media, a testament to the cast's improv and storytelling skills.

And Smosh vs. Christmas holds up even if you know what's coming. I first watched it when it came out in 2024, and I recently revisited it to kick off the holiday season in 2025. This time around, it brought with it not the shock and terror of watching a horror TTRPG play out, but rather the cozy nostalgia of recalling the first time I watched it, all swaddled up in blankets and nursing a cup of hot chocolate. (For further TTRPG scares, I'd recommend Smosh's 2025 Christmas Dread special, We're All Gonna Die on Christmas, another festive horror banger.)

On top of the nostalgia, though, I found myself already looking forward to next Christmas, when I could revisit both Smosh vs. Christmas and We're All Gonna Die on Christmas through new eyes. So if you're looking to switch up your own holiday programming and maybe start a new viewing tradition of your own, I highly recommend watching comedians pull blocks from a Jenga tower. Trust me, it's more Christmasy than it sounds.

Smosh vs. Christmas is on YouTube.

As always, the UK delivered a swathe of excellent TV shows in 2025, series that emotionally destroyed us, lifted us up, made us cackle, and instigated cultural conversation.

From the year's most ambitious, timely, and devastating Netflix show to the return of a beloved BBC teen comedy, we've handpicked our favourite British shows of 2025 — and we've included where you can stream them.

And while some are only streaming in the UK, you can always watch them with a VPN.

15. Big Boys, Season 3

Dylan Llewellyn and Jon Pointing in "Big Boys." Credit: Channel 4

Jack Rooke’s Big Boys returned for its third and final season this year, with the gang finishing up at Brent Uni and facing adult life. Over three glorious seasons, the show's core characters — Jack (Dylan Llewellyn, Derry Girls), Danny (Jon Pointing, Sweetpea), Corinne (Izuka Hoyle, Boiling Point), and Yemi (Olisa Odele, It's a Sin) — have become etched in viewers' hearts, effortlessly delivering Rooke’s poignant, personal, and hilarious script, with Pointing in particular giving a remarkable performance in Season 3. The series, based on Rooke's own life, approaches major conversations about grief, mental health, sex, and the future with warmth, lightness, and authenticity. And as for the series finale itself? It's one of the most heartfelt and devastating experiences you'll see on TV this year. — Shannon Connellan, UK Editor

Starring: Dylan Llewellyn, Jon Pointing, Izuka Hoyle, Olisa Odele, Camille Coduri, and Harriet Webb

How to watch: Big Boys is now streaming on All4 in the UK and on Hulu in the U.S.

14. Film Club

Aimee Lou Wood and Nabhaan Rizwan in "Film Club." Credit: BBC / Gaumont / Ben Blackall

The White Lotus and Sex Education's Aimee Lou Wood puts on her writer's hat for Film Club, a romantic dramedy in which she also stars alongside Station Eleven's Nabhaan Rizwan. The show follows Evie (Wood), a twentysomething who has withdrawn to her childhood home in the aftermath of a nervous breakdown, and who takes solace in the weekly film club she shares with a core group of friends. The problem? She has a boyfriend (Adam Long), but there's clearly some long-buried feelings shared with her movie co-conspirator, Noa (Rizwan). What follows is a sweet story that's both amusing and depressing, with an undercurrent of sadness emphasised by composer Nathan Klein's moving score. — Sam Haysom, Deputy UK Editor

Starring: Aimee Lou Wood, Nabhaan Rizwan, Suranne Jones, Owen Cooper, Liv Hill, Adam Long, Fola Evans-Akingbola, Lisa McGrillis, Arian Nik, and Ralph Davis

How to watch: Film Club is now streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK. The U.S. streaming date is TBC.

13. Black Mirror, Season 7

Ben Ashenden, Siena Kelly, and Amber Grappy in "Black Mirror." Credit: Nick Wall / Netflix

Charlie Brooker's sci-fi anthology series can be patchy, but when the show hits, it really hits. Opening with one of the all-time most devastating episodes (one that may be better not to watch first, in fact), Black Mirror Season 7 is a mixed bag with some very high highs (or lows, if you're talking from an existential dread perspective) and plenty of its trademark, technology-based terror. Fans of the U.S.S. Callister will be happy (there's a sequel), as will anyone who likes their futuristic fear with a side of moving nostalgia (hello, Eulogy).* — S.H.

Starring: Will Poulter, Awkwafina, Peter Capaldi, Paul Giamatti, Rashida Jones, Tracee Ellis Ross, Cristin Milioti, Chris O'Dowd, Emma Corrin, Jimmi Simpson, and Issa Rae

How to watch: Black Mirror Season 7 is now streaming on Netflix.

12. Miss Austen

Keeley Hawes in "Miss Austen." Credit: BBC / Bonnie Productions / MASTERPIECE / Robert Viglasky

Ever wonder how we know so much about Jane Austen's life? Well, you can thank her elder sister, Cassandra Austen, who safeguarded the letters she sent and received from the novelist and, in doing so, provided the foundation for academics to study her life.

Adapted from Gill Hornby’s book of the same name by Andrea Gibb, Miss Austen begins in the period following Jane's death, a time during which Cassandra (Keeley Hawes) is secretly gathering up the letters her sister Jane (Patsy Ferran) sent people in their lives. As Cassandra reads these letters, we see flashbacks of the period of Jane's life where she is only beginning to gain recognition. We see glimpses of the Austen sisters' early adulthood, courtships, friendships, and family dramas. Directed by Aisling Walsh, Miss Austen is tender, moving, and an absolute delight from start to finish. — Rachel Thompson, Features Editor

How to watch: Miss Austen is now streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK. The U.S. streaming date is TBC.

11. Boarders, Season 2

Aruna Jalloh, Sekou Diaby, Josh Tedeku, and Jodie Campbell in "Boarders." Credit: BBC / Studio Lambert / Jonathan Birch

After an exceptional first season, Daniel Lawrence Taylor's Boarders returned for another glorious term. Season 2 sees the lauded series' five protagonists — Jaheim (Supacell's Josh Tedeku), Leah (Jodie Campbell), Omar (Myles Kamwendo), Femi (Aruna Jalloh), and Toby (Sekou Diaby) — back in class at predominantly white boarding school St. Gilbert's, where systemic racism, white saviour complexes, and classist snobbery underpins the hormonal chaos of adolescence. But this term, with the appointment of horrendous acting head Carol (Niky Wardley), the crew's scholarships are under threat.

For yet another season, Boarders writers Taylor, Yemi Oyefuwa, Jeffrey Aidoo, and Racheal Ofori expertly weave sharp cultural commentary with teen comedy highs and moving moments of drama, bringing in some mighty cameos this season too. And in the hands of this magnetic core cast? A++. — S.C.

Starring: Josh Tedeku, Jodie Campbell, Myles Kamwendo, Aruna Jalloh, and Sekou Diaby

How to watch: Boarders Season 2 is now streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK and on Tubi in the U.S.

10. Down Cemetery Road

Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson in "Down Cemetery Road." Credit: Apple TV

Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson are the dynamic duo of my dreams in Apple TV's Oxford-set mystery crime thriller from Slow Horses' screenwriter Morwenna Banks. But it's not the buddy cop set-up you're thinking.

Based on Mick Herron's novel, Down Cemetery Road sees Thompson as hard-edged private investigator Zoë Boehm, whose marriage to her business partner Joe (Adam Godley) is as threadbare as their bank balance. Across town, Wilson plays Sarah Trafford, an art conservationist who is dragged into hosting a dinner party for her husband Mark's (Tom Riley) schmuck of a client. Before dessert, there's an explosion next door, leading to the disappearance of a young girl named Dinah (Ivy Quoi). The event sends Sarah into an obsessive hunt for the truth — and it leads her to Zoë and Joe's door.* — S.C.

Starring: Emma Thompson, Ruth Wilson, Adeel Akhtar, Tom Goodman-Hill, Fehinti Balogun, Darren Boyd, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Tom Riley, Adam Godley, Sinead Matthews, Ken Nwosu, and Aiysha Hart

How to watch: Down Cemetery Road is now streaming on Apple TV.

9. Amandaland

Lucy Punch and Dame Joanna Lumley in "Amandaland." Credit: BBC / Merman / Natalie Seery

A spinoff like no other, Amandaland is technically a sequel to British sitcom Motherland, which explored middle-class motherhood in London. Amanda (Lucy Punch) is the Motherland character everyone loves to hate. In the original series, Amanda looks like she has it all (on the surface at least) — handsome and rich husband, massive house in a desirable postcode, popularity, beauty, and an enviable wardrobe full of designer clothes, not to mention a posse of mum friends who are obsessed with her to an unhealthy degree. But, in Amandaland, things could not be more different. Oh, how the mighty are fallen!

Now Amanda is a recently divorced mum of two teens, who's been forced to downsize and move to a new (and less desirable) area and pull her two kids out of private school (heaven forbid!) due to the change in circumstances. Amanda is handling it like a champ, though! She's turning her hand to being an Instagram influencer, rebranding her (much-needed) part-time job as a "collab," and making new friends (less successfully) at her kids' new school — including famous chef Della Fry, played by Derry Girls' Siobhán McSweeney. The iconic Joanna Lumley of Absolutely Fabulous fame plays Amanda's mother, and if that's not enough of a reason for you to get watching, I'm not sure I can help you. — R.T.

How to watch: Amandaland is now streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK. The U.S. streaming date is TBC.

8. The Death of Bunny Munro

Rafael Mathé and Matt Smith in "The Death of Bunny Munro." Credit: Clerkenwell Films

Nick Cave's 2009 rambunctious novel The Death of Bunny Munro has been adapted for the screen, with Doctor Who and House of the Dragon star Matt Smith ricocheting through questionable life choices as the titular protagonist. Directed by Holiday's Isabella Eklöf and adapted by Somewhere Boy creator Pete Jackson, Sky's new six-part series brings Cave's book to life.

In one of the most problematic, confounding protagonists you'll meet, Bunny Munro (Smith) is a travelling salesman living in Brighton, England, who treats his young family as a side dish. Though sex addiction isn't recognised by science, it's clear Bunny struggles to stop thinking about or having sex and has a turbulent, adulterous life outside his marriage. And when Bunny isn't trying to seduce every woman he meets or sells moisturiser to, he's getting completely zonked with his friends including Poodle (The Wheel of Time's Johann Myers).

When Bunny's wife Libby (Sarah Greene) dies by suicide, he's suddenly grieving and solo parenting their nine-year-old son Bunny Junior (Rafael Mathé) — and Bunny will not allow social services to take his son away. So, they hit the road, with Bunny careening around Brighton from one tumultuous happening to another. It's not pretty. And it's here we get a raucous performance from Smith, offset by the sweetness of remarkable young talent in Mathé.* — S.C.

Starring: Matt Smith, Rafael Mathé, Sarah Greene, Lindsay Duncan, and Johann Myers

How to watch: The Death of Bunny Munro is now streaming on NOW in the UK. The U.S. streaming date is TBC.

7. Get Millie Black

Chyna McQueen and Tamara Lawrance in "Get Millie Black." Credit: Courtesy of HBO

An intense and compelling crime thriller from Booker Prize winner Marlon James, Get Millie Black takes the police procedural to Kingston, Jamaica, with celebrated authenticity. The Channel 4/HBO series sees an impeccable Tamara Lawrance as the titular investigator, a former Scotland Yard detective who returns to Kingston to investigate missing persons cases — including that of her own sibling. And that's when she's not dealing with current Scotland Yard blow-in Luke Holborn (Joe Dempsie). Tasked with a dark case of missing children and young people, Millie follows perilous threads through the city and finds herself and her partner Curtis (Gershwyn Eustache Jnr) in dangerous waters.

Aside from its gripping narrative, one of the most outstanding elements of Get Millie Black is James' exploration of harsh realities faced by the LGBTQ+ community in Jamaica. Among the Gully Queens, a community of trans and gay people forming chosen family on the margins of society, the show focuses on Hibiscus, a resilient, complex, and powerful character played with utter excellence by Chyna McQueen. — S.C.

Starring: Tamara Lawrance, Chyna McQueen, Gershwyn Eustache Jnr, and Joe Dempsie

How to watch: Get Millie Black is now streaming on All4 in the UK and HBO Max in the U.S.

6. Dept. Q

Matthew Goode in "Dept Q." Credit: Justin Downing / Netflix

The Queen's Gambit creator Scott Frank and Chandni Lakhani strike mystery gold in Dept. Q, adapted from Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen's series of the same name. The show centers on Detective Carl Morck (Matthew Goode), an English cop in Scotland who's disliked by practically everyone he comes into contact with. As Carl recovers from a traumatic gunshot wound, he's put in charge of a new department, one tasked with solving cold cases. It's a publicity stunt dressed up as a public service, but with the help of some unlikely assistants, Carl may just be able to turn this department into a powerhouse. Their first case? The disappearance of prosecutor Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie), whose current plight is nothing short of a claustrophobic nightmare.

Dept. Q toggles between taut mystery and intriguing character study, delving deep into Carl's growth toward someone who's maybe slightly pleasant, as well as the journeys of Carl's fellow detectives Akram (Alexej Manvelov), Rose (Leah Byrne), and Hardy (Jamie Sives). Together, they create a lovable squad with the potential for a long run of case-cracking on Netflix. The streaming gods demand it!* — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter

Starring: Matthew Goode, Kelly Macdonald, Chloe Pirrie, Kate Dickie, Alexej Manvelov, Jamie Sives, and Leah Byrne

How to watch: Dept. Q is now streaming on Netflix.

5. Toxic Town

Jodie Whittaker and Aimee Lou Wood play two real-life mothers in "Toxic Town." Credit: Ben Blackall / Netflix

The first of two limited series from writer Jack Thorne on this list, Toxic Town tells a fictionalised version of a real-life story. Following a group of mothers who've given birth to children with limb differences, Thorne's drama follows their legal battle against the local council as they attempt to get to the bottom of whether or not they were poisoned due to negligence and corruption at the nearby steelworks. It's an emotional and frustrating story that's brought to life by a strong script and incredible performances across the board, especially from Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who) and Aimee Lou Wood (The White Lotus), who star as two of the real-life mothers leading the fight.* — S.H.

Starring: Jodie Whittaker, Aimee Lou Wood, Rory Kinnear, Brendan Coyle, Robert Carlyle, Joe Dempsie, Claudia Jessie, Ben Batt, Stephen McMillan, Lauren Lyle, Michael Socha, Karla Crome, and Matthew Durkan

How to watch: Toxic Town is now streaming on Netflix.

4. A Thousand Blows

Malachi Kirby and Erin Doherty in "A Thousand Blows." Credit: Robert Viglasky

Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight returned this year with a knockout show inspired by real figures of 1880s London. Talented boxer Hezekiah (Black Mirror's Malachi Kirby) and his best friend Alec (Small Axe's Francis Lovehall) emigrate to England from Jamaica, the former drawing the attention of the best bare-knuckled fighter on the Thames, Sugar Goodson (Adolescence's Stephen Graham). Beyond their ring rivalry, however, an all-women gang of thieves run by the charismatic Mary Carr (Adolescence's Erin Doherty) pilfer the prized possessions of the upper classes. With impeccable performances and detailed production design, A Thousand Blows is compelling tale of survival, of class warfare, and above all, making a name for yourself against all social odds. And yes, we're looking at a second season next year. — S.C.

Starring: Malachi Kirby, Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty, Francis Lovehall, Ziggy Heath, and Jason Tobin

How to watch: A Thousand Blows is now streaming on Disney+ in the UK and Hulu in the U.S.

3. Reunion

Lara Peake and Matthew Gurney in "Reunion." Credit: BBC / Warp Films / Becky Bailey

A revenge thriller with a difference, Reunion follows Daniel Brennan (Matthew Gurney), a deaf man trying to reckon with his troubled past and the crime he's committed after being released from prison. William Mager's four-part BBC miniseries tells a revenge story that's not unfamiliar, but what makes it unique is the light it casts on the way deaf people are often left behind — or outright mistreated — by our various systems. A large number of the cast and crew in revenge use British Sign Language, and a big chunk of the show is in BSL with subtitles. — S.H.

Starring: Matthew Gurney, Anne-Marie Duff, Lara Peake, Rose Ayling-Ellis, Eddie Marsan, Olive Gray, and Joe Sims

How to watch: Reunion is now streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK. The U.S. streaming date is TBC.

2. What It Feels Like for a Girl

Ellis Howard, Laquarn Lewis, and Hannah Jones in "What It Feels Like for a Girl." Credit: BBC / Hera / Enda Bowe

One of the most fearless, raw, and impeccable shows of the year, What It Feels Like for a Girl premiered at SXSW London to well-earned hype. Journalist Paris Lees adapted her memoir of the same name into an eight-episode coming-of-age series that refuses to be anything but authentic, whether joyful, resentful, lost, or ecstatic. Set in the Y2K era of the early '00s (and all the Sugababes, Ultra Nate, Rui da Silva, and All Saints that came with it), the series follows trans 15-year-old Byron (Ellis Howard) who navigates sex, drugs, gender identity, first loves, friendship fallouts, dangerous relationships, and forms of abuse, through an extraordinary performance by Howard.

Byron is determined to get out of their small town of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, socially isolated and craving release from the strained relationship with their parents, while supported by their beloved Mommar Joe (Hannah Walters). They discover cottaging and sex work, and meet the Fallen Divas, Byron's wondrous found family of trans and queer friends including Lady Die (Laquarn Lewis), Sasha (Hannah Jones), Sticky Nikki (Alex Thomas-Smith), and Dirty Damian (Adam Ali). Despite their new support, Byron grows up fast, spirals into self-destruction, and tries to find their way. Channelling Lee's brazen, personal script, Howard's performance is at once vulnerable and fierce, assured and tentative, supported by the superb Lewis and Jones. By no means a light watch, but an authentic and powerful story of identity and loneliness, What It Feels Like for a Girl comes at a timely moment for the UK, where the rights of trans people are under unbridled attack. — S.C.

Starring: Ellis Howard, Laquarn Lewis, Hannah Jones, Jake Dunn, Adam Ali, Alex Thomas-Smith, Michael Socha, Hannah Walters, and Laura Haddock

How to watch: What It Feels Like for a Girl is now streaming on BBC iPlayer in the UK. The U.S. streaming date is TBC.

1. Adolescence

Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham in "Adolescence." Credit: Courtesy of Netflix

Likely to be the most harrowing viewing experience you'll have this year, Adolescence traps you in a nightmare over the course of its four episodes, each filmed in one take. Co-created by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, and directed by Boiling Point's Philip Barantini, Netflix's much buzzed-about miniseries examines the aftermath of a chilling murder committed by 13-year-old Jamie (newcomer Owen Cooper). Each episode focuses on a different perspective around the case, from a detective (Ashley Walters) investigating Jamie's school to Jamie's family reckoning with his actions.

These vignettes, coupled with Barantini's one-take technique, create an unflinching portrait of a crime that feels all too rooted in reality. As UK Deputy Editor Sam Haysom wrote in his review, "Adolescence's story isn't a crime mystery so much as a psychological study — it's an exploration of the manosphere culture that's having a real world affect on teenagers, and the societal and familial triggers that might lead to a seemingly ordinary 13-year-old doing something unthinkable. On this level, and on almost all others, the show is chillingly effective."* — B.E.

Starring: Stephen Graham, Ashley Walters, Erin Doherty, Owen Cooper, Faye Marsay, Christine Tremarco, and Amelie Pease

How to watch: Adolescence is now streaming on Netflix.

(*) denotes a blurb has come from a prior list.