Hudson Williams and Jennifer Grey join Netflix’s Sam Bankman-Fried limited series / Paradise renewed for 3rd and likely final season / Lanterns co-creator Damon Lindelof apologizes
PLUS: The White Lotus Season 4 adds Max Greenfield, Kumail Nanjiani, Chloe Bennet and more.
Hudson Williams and Jennifer Grey join Netflix’s Sam Bankman-Fried limited series The Altruists
Williams has landed his first major American TV role after his breakout success in Heated Rivalry. He’ll play Duncan Rheingans‑Yoo, co-founder of an unknown fledgling hedge fund that received $400 million from FTX founder Bankman-Fried. (Williams recently completed filming Canadian Crave drama Yaga.) Dirty Dancing’s Grey has been cast as Sarah Fisher Ellison, the mother of Bankman-Fried’s FTX collaborator and ex Caroline Ellison. Also joining the cast are Terry Chen, Elizabeth Adams, Hannah Galway and William Mapother. As Deadline notes, “The Altruists tells the story of Sam Bankman-Fried (Anthony Boyle) and Caroline Ellison (Julia Garner), two hyper-smart, ambitious young idealists who tried to remake the global financial system in the blink of an eye – before they were accused of stealing $8 billion and became Gen Z’s own Bonnie & Clyde.”
The White Lotus Season 4 adds Max Greenfield, Kumail Nanjiani, Chloe Bennet and more
The France-set fourth season of Mike White’s hit HBO series will also feature a sprawling cast. “With the series regulars mostly in place, Mike White’s murder mystery has been focusing on building a roster of recurring players,” says Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva. “The latest high-profile recurring additions include Max Greenfield (The Neighborhood), Kumail Nanjiani (Only Murders in the Building), Chloe Bennet (Interior Chinatown), Charlie Hall (The Sex Lives of College Girls) and Jarrad Paul (Free Bert).” Andreeva adds: “Greenfield and Nanjiani had been rumored for a while to take over two of the meatiest recurring parts next season. They join previously announced cast members Sandra Bernhard, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Coogan, Caleb Jonte Edwards, Ari Graynor, Marissa Long, Alexander Ludwig, Chris Messina, AJ Michalka, Dylan Ennis, Vincent Cassel, Corentin Fila and Nadia Tereszkiewicz.
Paradise renewed for its third and likely final season
“Paradise has been renewed for a third season at Hulu, which is all a part of creator Dan Fogelman‘s plan,” says The Hollywood Reporter’s Jackie Strause. “Paradise has been renewed for a third season at Hulu, which is all a part of creator Dan Fogelman‘s plan.” As executive producer John Hoberg recently told The Hollywood Reporter: “We know what the end is, and it’s an end that would make it very difficult to make a season four come afterward.” ALSO: Watch Sterling K. Brown’s Paradise renewal announcement video.
The Bachelorette producers were reportedly blindsided by Taylor Frankie Paul domestic violence investigation
ABC is still scheduled to premiere the Paul-led season of The Bachelorette this Sunday as she and her ex and baby’s daddy Dakota Mortensen are being investigated for allegations of domestic violence. The investigation has resulted in The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives shutting down production. TMZ reports The Bachelorette producers are “guilty of willful blindness. A source connected to the show with direct knowledge tells TMZ ... the latest crop of producers on the ABC show wanted Taylor Frankie Paul from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives in a bad, bad way. They felt she could bring in a wider audience because her reality show was such a hit, and that’s why our source says they ‘cut corners’ in the vetting process.” ALSO: Bachelor Alum Sydney Warner slams Taylor Frankie Paul’s casting as The Bachelorette lead.
Lanterns co-creator Damon Lindelof apologizes for his “green is stupid” comment: “I was sloppy and careless with my words”
Lindelof has taken heat from Green Lantern fans for joking on the Lovett or Leave It podcast a year ago: “It’s called Lanterns, because we all agreed that the ‘Green’ was stupid, so now it’s just Lanterns.” On Sunday, acclaimed Green Lantern comic book writer Grant Morrison lashed out at Lindelof’s comment, saying: “Why does a writer attach himself to this kind of narrative if he thinks it’s fundamentally ‘stupid’? … What is this jockish dismissal of superhero conventions intended to prove anyway?” In an Instagram post Monday night, Lindelof (with a photo of him wearing a Green Lantern shirt at his first Comic-Con) acknowledged the controversy. “I made a dumb joke on a comedy podcast,” he wrote. “I’m not going to bob and weave about context, the joke was dumb, the fandom is not. I owe them an explanation and a genuine reflection of my actual feelings. The very first time I appeared on a ComicCon panel was for the Lost Pilot, back in the summer of 2004. I wore my favorite T-shirt as I had long grown out of my favorite underoos, those being the uniform of Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Sector 2814. For a quiet, uncoordinated kid, there was nothing cooler than a hero whose superpower was his imagination. And green is not stupid, it is my lifelong favorite color and I have a questionnaire that I filled out in third grade to prove it. Green is f*cking awesome. More importantly, it would be a betrayal to everyone I worked for and alongside to say anything other than I was absolutely honored to be a part of the team that manifested the incredible construct that is Lanterns… because it was. I was sloppy and careless with my words, ironic considering I care so much about Hal, John and the entire Corps. I can and will do better to be worthy of the oath… until then, I’ll let the show speak for itself and I can’t wait for you all to hear what it has to say.” ALSO: Lanterns star Nathan Fillion and James Gunn express their support for Damon Lindelof.
French media slam the Oscars’ In Memoriam snub of Brigitte Bardot after omitting Alain Delon last year, allegedly over their politics
“In France, the glaring absence of film icon Brigitte Bardot has caused much debate in mainstream media and on social media,” says The Hollywood Reporter’s Abid Rahman. “Bardot, who died in December at 91, was undoubtedly a global star due to her appearance in classic films like And God Created Woman, The Truth and Contempt. But after her film career abruptly ended in the mid 1970s, Bardot became notorious in her home country for her extreme right-wing politics. Bardot’s absence saw many in France recall the omission of Alain Delon at the 2025 Oscars. The Leopard and Le Samouraï actor, who was often dubbed “the male Brigitte Bardot,” was also a hugely influential film and pop culture figure in the 1960s and 1970s, and also like Bardot became better known in his later years for his extremist politics. To be clear, no reasons have been given for Bardot’s absence, and she did feature on The Academy’s website, which contained a much more comprehensive In Memoriam section. Still, the majority of the French entertainment media seemed shocked by Bardot’s exclusion, given her outsized film legacy, but also reluctant to touch on Bardot’s politics as a possible reason why she didn’t make the cut for the telecast.”
NFL’s 2026 season to kick off on a Wednesday to accommodate a Melbourne, Australia game the next day
The NFL usually kicks off on the Thursday after Labor Day Weekend. But because the NFL can’t play on Friday night this year due to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 and because the Rams and 49ers, who will be playing in Melbourne, need enough time to get back to the U.S. and recover after a long trip, the Melbourne game will take place on a Thursday. As a result, the usual kickoff game will be played on a Wednesday.
John Lithgow admits he considered quitting HBO’s Harry Potter series over J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans views
Lithgow says in a New York Times profile he was stung by the criticism of him joining the HBO Harry Potter series as Dumbledore. Lithgow considered quitting the series but decided not to, and accepts without rancor that in “every interview I will ever do for the rest of my life this will come up.” Lithgow adds that he has never met Rowling, nor does he agree with her views on transgender issues. Lithgow says he sees the Harry Potter story in opposition to Rowling’s views, as “clearly on the side of the angels, against intolerance and bigotry.”
The Lincoln Lawyer promotes Cobie Smulders, adds Diane Guerrero, Corbin Bernsen, Steve Howey, Chris Diamantopoulos and more to Season 5
Teresa Maria, Richard Cabral, Patty Guggenheim and Iker Garcia will also recur on Season 5 of the Netflix legal drama. Smulders, who joined Season 4 as the half-sister Mickey Haller never knew existed, will become a series regular in Season 5.
Nicola Coughlan to explore the manosphere from a female perspective in the latest season of Channel 4’s I Am
The Bridgerton vet will star in I Am Helen opposite Peaky Blinders’ Joe Cole. In it, “Helen’s love interest, played by Cole, will fall deeper into the manosphere and the show will explore how the toxicity can infect modern relationships,” per Deadline. Channel 4’s I Am series has run three seasons since launching in 2019.
Netflix announces The Crash, a true-crime documentary about killer teen driver
Premiering May 15, documentary will tackle the story of 17-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla, who in 2022 intentionally crashed her car into a brick wall in Ohio, killing her boyfriend and his friend. She was later convicted of 12 felony charges and sentenced to life in prison.
Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85 will appear in theaters for one day
The first two episodes of the animated spinoff of Stranger Things will be screened in select AMC cinemas on April 18, five days before its Netflix premiere.
RJ Decker books Tamera Mowry-Housley, Rich Sommer, Johanna Braddy, Tony Plana, Keith Powell and more guest-stars
Dawnn Lewis, Rizwan Manji, Olga Merediz, Andy Favreau and Joseph Lee Anderson will also appear in guest-starring roles on the ABC drama’s freshman season.
NBC News inks deal with former Wall Street Journal tech journalist Joanna Stern
Stern, the popular tech journalist who left The Wall Street Journal last month to start her own venture, will become chief tech analyst and contributing correspondent for NBC News. Rebecca Blumenstein, NBC News’ president of editorial operations, noted in a memo that her hire is likely the first of many to come, as independent journalists on platforms like Substack, Beehiiv, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and elsewhere carve out their own niches.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 revival Kickstarter raises nearly $2.7 million
“The campaign raised a total of $2,695,849 from 22,189 backers, both of which are Kickstarter records for RiffTrax,” says Variety’s Joe Otterson. “While not as much as raised by previous fundraising campaigns to revive the show in recent years, the initial goal was to raise just $20,000 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of RiffTrax. Both RiffTrax and Shout! had previously said the new episodes would be produced regardless of the fundraising total.”
Eric Dane’s family is planning a public memorial
TMZ reports the public event will celebrate the life of the Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria alum, who died Feb. 19 from complications from ALS.
Sweetpea shares the first look at Season 2
Ella Purnell is back as wallflower-turned-killer Rhiannon Lewis in the second season of the Starz-Sky British dark dramedy series.
Son of Survivor alums Brad and Monica Culpepper dies in a dirt bike accident
Rex Culpepper, a former Syracuse quarterback and son of Survivor stars Brad and Monica Culpepper, has died of injuries he sustained in a dirt bike accident in Florida. He was 28. Culpepper’s father Brad was a defensive tackle who played in the NFL who starred on Survivor: Blood vs Water and Survivor: Game Changers. Monica Culpepper competed on Survivor: Blood vs. Water and Survivor: One World.
John Krasinski is back in the trailer for Amazon’s Jack Ryan: Ghost War
The sequel movie to the Jack Ryan series drops on Amazon Prime Video on May 20.
Watch Disney+’s Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special trailer
Miley Cyrus is back for her Disney Channel alter ego’s 20th anniversary celebration on March 24.
Love on the Spectrum reveals the trailer and cast for Season 4
The Netflix reality show returns April 1.
Netflix unveils the trailer for Crooks Season 2
The German thriller series returns April 14.