Gene Wilder’s voice re-created in Netflix Willy Wonky reality competition / Neve Campbell reteaming with Party of Five co-creator / Netflix renews Nemesis
PLUS: Mark Harmon reprising his Gibbs role throughout NCIS: Origins Season 3.
Gene Wilder’s voice re-created in Netflix Willy Wonky reality competition Wonka’s The Golden Ticket
The streamer has released the show’s first teaser, featuring the A.I.-generated voice of Wilder, who starred as Willy Wonka in the iconic 1971 musical fantasy movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Netflix and Eureka Productions, which is behind The Golden Ticket, got permission from Wilder’s estate and worked with A.I. company ElevenLabs to re-create the late actor’s voice. Wilder died in 2016 at age 83. In Wonka’s The Golden Ticket, 12 golden ticket winners and a partner of their choice face a series of challenges inspired by the film and Roald Dahl‘s source novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. “More than five decades after Gene brought Willy Wonka to life, people of all ages and backgrounds around the world continue to find joy, laughter and inspiration in his performance,” Karen B. Wilder, Gene Wilder’s wife, said in a statement on behalf of the Gene Wilder estate. “Gene had a remarkable ability to bring humor, wonder and heart into people’s lives, and that connection has endured for generations. We are delighted that Wonka’s The Golden Ticket celebrates the warmth and imagination that he brought to the role, introducing that magic to a new generation while honoring the fans who have cherished it for decades.” Wonka’s The Golden Ticket will also feature Rusty Goffe, who played an Oompa Loompa in the 1971 movie.
Mark Harmon reprising his Gibbs role throughout NCIS: Origins Season 3
The former NCIS star, who serves as executive producer and narrator of NCIS: Origins, will appear in every episode of Season 3 as Leroy Jethro Gibbs as part of a “present-day mystery tied to his ‘90s Camp Pendleton days in an action-packed story that unfolds all season long,” CBS announced today. Harmon previously appeared as Gibbs in a special NCIS/NCIS: Origins crossover episode that aired in late 2025 and in the prequel’s 2024 pilot. ALSO: NCIS: Los Angeles alum Eric Christian Olsen boards NCIS: Origins as an executive producer.
Neve Campbell reteaming with Party of Five co-creator Chris Keyser on HBO Max’s The Shore
Campbell has signed on for another family drama from Keyser, 32 years after her breakout role on the Fox drama Party of Five, which Keyser created with Amy Lippman. The Shore, based on author Katie Runde’s 2022 coming-of-age novel of the same name, is a multigenerational family drama set over the course of a summer on the Jersey Shore. No word on Campbell’s role. The Shore marks Keyser’s return to HBO Max, where he served as executive producer and showrunner on Julia.
Netflix renews Nemesis for Season 2
The crime drama starring Matthew Law and Y’lan Noel from Power universe creator Courtney A. Kemp and Tani Marole has been picked up for a second season 1-1/2 months after its Season 1 premiere on May 13. Nemesis was No. 1 on Nielsen’s overall streaming chart for the week of May 11-17, with 1.3 billion viewing minutes. “Season two, we’re very grateful to have it… We’re going to make sure those questions get answered — and even more questions are available for you to answer,” Marole said in a statement. “Make no mistakes, season two is going to be bigger and better.”
Dylan O’Brien to play a disgraced reality star in Hulu comedy pilot Lex
O’Brien has landed the title role in the previously announced comedy pilot about “a disgraced former reality star who accidentally films a murder in the background of a $20 Cameo video, and finds himself at the center of a global conspiracy — and on the run from powerful forces who want him dead. Using the skills he acquired navigating reality TV’s toxic social dynamics, Lex must fight to not get killed, to expose the truth, and most importantly… to get back on TV.” Lex is from Severance vet Sean Clements and Atlanta and NewsRadio’s Paul Simms.
Amazon sets premiere dates for Reacher Season 4 and spinoff Neagley
Amazon Prime Video announced the Alan Ritchson-led action drama will return for its fourth season on Aug. 12 with three episodes, followed by a weekly release through Sept. 16. Also on Sept. 16, Amazon will drop all eight episodes of Reacher spinoff Neagley, which focuses on Reacher star Maria Stan’s Frances Neagley with a cameo from Ritchson’s Jack Reacher.
Dutton Ranch taps SEAL Team creator Benjamin Cavell as Season 2 showrunner
The veteran of SEAL Team, Justified, Homeland, Sneaky Pete and Godfather of Harlem will succeed Dutton Ranch creator Chad Feehan, who stepped down after overseeing Season 1, reportedly over having trouble “handling” the cast of the Paramount+ Yellowstone spinoff.
Jerry O’Connell to sit on the panel for Big Brother: Unlocked
The former The Talk star will join the Big Brother companion show’s panel alongside Big Brother champions Taylor Hale and Derric Levasseur. “Big Brother is my summer and rolls into my fall too. I’m already watching on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, so the fact that CBS is now paying me to do it is kind of amazing,” O’Connell said in a statement. “It’s an absolute honor to sit next to Derrick—‘Champ,’ as I call him—and Taylor, who is my all-time favorite Big Brother winner (sorry, Jag). This is what we call in showbiz a dream gig.”
California Attorney General Rob Bonta on report he wants Paramount to sell off CNN: “I don’t know where that comes from”
Bonta was asked on MS NOW about a recent Puck report that claims that he and fellow Democrats will allow the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal to go through if Paramount sells off CNN, saying: “I don’t know where that comes from, to be honest. There’s been a lot of opining about what I’m thinking or what I’m saying or what I’ll do, and I have no idea where it comes from. I know a lot of people are interested in this transaction and what my office will do. And what we will do is what I’ve always said. We are investigating. The transaction has not cleared regulatory scrutiny. There are red flags in the air everywhere.”
TV Academy Hall of Fame announces seven new members, including South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Ted Danson, Jean Smart and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos
HBO documentary legend Sheila Nevins and late 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley will also be honored in a ceremony taking place on Aug. 13 at the Television Academy’s inaugural Televerse festival.
Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show sign finds a new home atop a West Hollywood restaurant
Jeff Douek, the owner of WeHo Bistro, announced on Instagram that he won the auction for the 12′ x 8’6″ x 9” sign. “For more than a decade, millions of people welcomed Stephen Colbert into their evenings through The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Douek wrote on Instagram. “The iconic sign that welcomed viewers to so many unforgettable nights has now found a new home right here in the heart of West Hollywood.” The sign is accompanied by a banner reading: “Thank you Stephen Colbert for all the magic.”
Taylor Sheridan: Kevin Costner was supposed to leave Yellowstone after Season 3, but the show became too much of a “behemoth”
Sheridan said on The Bill Simmons Podcast that Costner stayed on two additional years after the first three seasons because Yellowstone had become an immense hit. “It was such a huge hit that the notion of giving up a hit before it had run out of juice to squeeze is very foreign to a network,” Sheridan said, per EW. “And there was even pressure from some of the cable companies wanting to put it in their deals that they were going to get an ‘X’ number of seasons of Yellowstone to re-up with whatever this cable company is.”
The Pitt adds six to Season 3
Pruitt Taylor Vince, Malachi Beasley, Cheyenne Perez, Jeremy Radin, Charlz Williams and Rosanny Zayas will appear in recurring roles.
Peacock to offer Starz as an add-on subscription
Peacock subscribers on the Select, Premium and Premium Plus tiers can get a subscription to Starz for the regular price of $11.99 a month.
Original Game of Thrones dragon eggs are up for auction
The authentic props that were presented to Emilia Clarke’s Daenerys Targaryen in Season 1 are being sold at auction on July 15, with bidding already very high.
Disney+ orders a live-action The Last Kids on Earth pilot
Max Brallier’s bestselling book series, which was adapted as a 2019-2021 Netflix animated series, is poised to become a live-action series from Gotham Knights co-creators Chad Fiveash and James Stoteraux. “Written by Fiveash and Stoteraux and directed by Tancharaoen, in Last Kids On Earth, when monsters overrun the sleepy town of Wakefield, a mismatched group of teens must band together, not only to survive, but to become the unlikely heroes charged with stopping the End of the World,” according to Deadline.