Anthony Boyle to play Sam Bankman-Fried in Netflix's FTX series / Peacock cancels Laid / The Chi renewed for Season 8
PLUS: Max disables comments for the Harry, Ron and Hermione Harry Potter series cast announcement.
Anthony Boyle to play Sam Bankman-Fried opposite Julia Garner in Netflix's FTX limited series The Altruists
Garner, who was in talks to play FTX founder Bankman-Fried's girlfriend Caroline Ellison, has closed her deal to star in Netflix's limited series on the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Boyle, who last year starred on two acclaimed Apple TV+ series (as John Wilkes Booth on Manhunt and as B-17 Flying Fortress navigator Lt. Harry Crosby on Masters of the Air), will take on the role of the now-imprisoned Bankman-Fried. According to Deadline, "the series follows Sam Bankman-Fried and his girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, two hyper-smart, ambitious young idealists who tried to remake the global financial system in the blink of an eye – and then seduced, coaxed, and teased each other into stealing $8 billion. The series is described as the wild romance of Gen Z’s own Bonnie and Clyde."
Peacock cancels Stephanie Hsu's Laid after one season
In the romantic comedy series Laid, an adaptation of an Australian format that dropped all eight Season 1 episodes on Dec. 19, Hsu plays a woman who finds out her former lovers are dying in unusual ways and must go back through her sex timeline to confront her past in order to move forward. "While Laid boasted a talented ensemble cast, a catchy title, and a must-stream playlist, the rom-com failed to make the Nielsen streaming rankings, nor did it generate as much buzz as other projects from co-showrunners, executive producers, and writers Nahnatchka Khan and Sally Bradford McKenna," reports Deadline's Rosy Cordero. "It is as yet unknown if the show will be shopped around."
The Chi renewed for Season 8
The renewal comes days after the Season 7 premiere drew 2 million cross-platform viewers in the first seven days to become the series’ most-streamed opener, up 2% from last season. The pickup means The Chi has tied Dexter, Homeland and Weeds for the second-longest run in Showtime’s history, only behind Shameless‘ 11 seasons.
Ben Stiller: "There are two specific ideas" for Severance spinoffs
“There are two specific ideas — that I won’t tell you — that we’ve talked about internally as possible spinoff ideas," said in an interview alongside Adam Scott with Variety. Asked what stage of development the spinoff ideas are in, or whether they have been discussed with Apple, all Stiller will say, with a coy smile, is: “They are nascent.” As for other extensions of the show, Stiller says it’d “be great to have a Severance video game.” Scott agrees: “I think it lends itself to one.” Stiller was also asked about behind-the-scenes problems, including “scrapped scripts” and “showrunners who don’t speak to each other.” Stiller responded: “Stuff that happens behind the scenes should happen behind the scenes. I don’t want to tell people the inner workings of what goes on because, frankly, it’s private.”
Max disables comments for the Harry, Ron and Hermione Harry Potter series cast announcement
"Earlier this week, HBO announced the names of the three young actors who will play Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the series: Dominic McLaughlin, Alastair Stout, and Arabella Stanton, respectively," says Vanity Fair's Mario Manca. "But its streamer, Max, closed the comments under its announcement on Instagram, likely to prevent it from being flooded with insults and criticisms. It followed the same procedure when the actors playing Dumbledore, Quirrell, and others were announced—much to the indignation of some fans who were incensed over the series choosing a Black actor, Paapa Essiedu, to play Professor Snape. Leaving aside the fact that this preemptive hatred seems based more in ignorance than anything else, we ask: Shouldn’t audiences consider seeing how the actors do first, then criticize them if necessary? If you think that (Daniel) Radcliffe, (Rupert) Grint, and (Emily) Watson are the only actors who can ever conceivably play the main characters in Harry Potter, fine, don’t watch the series—go rewatch the films instead. But to insult three young actors simply for winning an audition seems to us a punishment worthy of an Imperius curse."
Nathan Fielder slams the FAA on CNN: "That’s dumb. They’re dumb"
The Rehearsal comedian-turned-pilot appeared on CNN this morning to discuss his recently concluded second season, which put a spotlight on commercial airline safety and in-cockpit communication between pilots. The FAA responded to Fielder’s concerns over in-cockpit pilot communication, writing that, “the Federal Aviation Administration requires all airline crewmembers (pilots and flight attendants) and dispatchers to complete Crew Resource Management training." Fielder responded: “That’s dumb. They’re dumb. Here’s the issue: I trained to be a pilot. I’m a 737 pilot. I went through the training. The training is someone shows you a PowerPoint slide saying, ‘If you are a co-pilot and the captain does something wrong, you need to speak up about it.’ That’s all. That’s the training, and they talk about some crashes that happen, but they don’t do anything that makes it stick emotionally.”
Original Hamilton cast will have a 10-year anniversary reunion at the Tony Awards
Lin-Manuel Miranda's groundbreaking musical will be celebrated at the June 8 ceremony. He'll be joined by Carleigh Bettiol, Andrew Chappelle, Ariana DeBose, Alysha Deslorieux, Daveed Diggs, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jonathan Groff, Sydney James Harcourt, Neil Haskell, Sasha Hutchings, Christopher Jackson, Thayne Jasperson, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Stephanie Klemons, Morgan Marcell, Javier Muñoz, Leslie Odom, Jr., Okieriete Onaodowan, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Jon Rua, Austin Smith, Phillipa Soo, Seth Stewart, Betsy Struxness, Ephraim Sykes and Voltaire Wade-Greene.
Meryl Streep will be back for Only Murders in the Building Season 5
"Gird your loins, Meryl is returning for Season 5! That's all," the show's X account tweeted this morning, accompanied by a video of Streep and Selena Gomez.
President Trump's lawyers claim 60 Minutes' edited Kamala Harris interview caused him "mental anguish"
According to the lawyers' filling to deny Paramount's bid to dismiss the president's $20 billion lawsuit, the 60 Minutes editing of the Harris interview “led to widespread confusion and mental anguish of consumers, including Plaintiffs, regarding a household name of the legacy media apparently deceptively distorting its broadcasts, and then resisting attempts to clear the public record.”
Variety's Actors on Actors will feature a Felicity reunion, a Freaks and Geeks reunion and meetings of Penguins and Schwarzeneggers
Felicity's Keri Russell and Scott Speedman, Freaks and Geeks' Seth Rogen and Jason Segel, The Penguin's Colin Farrell and Danny DeVito, The Penguin from Batman Returns, and Patrick and Arnold Schwarzenegger are among the pairings for Actors on Actors Season 22.
Presenting the Top 100 shows of the 2024-2025 TV season across broadcast, cable and streaming
Netflix has 10 of the Top 20 slots, with Squid Game and Adolescence at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. At No. 3, Tracker is the top broadcast show.
Everybody's Live with John Mulaney ends its first season with a bang
"After a 12-episode season where the highs were dizzying and the lows seemed mostly intentional, Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney concluded with a jam-packed final outing that raised everything to equally heady altitude," says Dennis Perkins of the special teen edition of Everybody's Live, featuring Mulaney fighting three 14-year-olds. "The format, such as it is, remained the same, but nearly everything soared with the confidence of a host and writers room looking to go out with a bang." ALSO: Breaking down John Mulaney's teen fight night.
Survivor legend Jerri Manthey posts a lengthy reaction to being excluded from Season 50
Manthey, who first gained fame as the villain in Season 2's The Australian Outback, said in an Instagram video: “I’m devastated as well, as you can imagine. The outpouring of support and encouragement from everybody online has just been so helpful in helping me start the process of healing, but I’m not going to lie: I am pissed, I’m disappointed, I’m sad, and I sometimes am asking that very same question too: How am I going to get through this?”
Around the Horn's final episode was watched by 482,000 viewers
That's up from the average 362,000 viewers the Tony Reali-hosted ESPN show was getting in March and April.
Jennifer Hudson says she turned down SNL because "I was completely intimidated" by the thought of presiding over a live show
"I was like, no. I turned it down. But now that you mention it, now, I might feel more prepared. But the thought of it stresses me out," Hudson told SNL alum Eddie Murphy and one-time host Keke Palmer on The Jennifer Hudson Show.
The Terminal List: Dark Wolf gets a premiere date and first-look images
Taylor Kitsch and Chris Pratt star in The Terminal List prequel series, premiering on Amazon Prime Video on Aug. 27.
Adam Beach joins Avatar: The Last Airbender
The Law & Order: SVU alum will play Hakoda, the father of Sokka and Katara, on the Netflix live-action series' third season.
Watch Anna Torv and Richard E. Grant in AMC's Nautilus trailer
Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo is coming to AMC two years after Disney+'s axing. The fantasy-adventure series premieres June 29.
BET+ unveils the trailer for Tyler Perry's Divorced Sistas
Premiering June 10, Divorced Sistas “follows five close friends — Rasheda, Geneva, Naomi, Tiffany, and Bridgette — as they navigate life, love, and the challenges that come with divorce, marriage, and dating. As they lean on each other through heartbreak and healing, their biggest test comes from within their own circle, challenging their loyalty, character, and true bond of sisterhood.”
Love Island USA reveals the first 10 members of its Season 7 cast
The Peacock dating reality show returns Tuesday.