Entertainment

May the odds be ever in their favor: The Hunger Games prequel film Sunrise on the Reaping has found its two leads.

Joseph Zada has been cast as a young Haymitch Abernathy, a role played by Woody Harrelson in the original films. Whitney Peak will be playing Haymitch’s love interest, Lenore Dove.

Zada, a relative newcomer, has roles in the upcoming Prime Video series We Were Liars and the upcoming Netflix limited series East of Eden. Peak is known for her roles in Hocus Pocus 2, the Gossip Girl reboot and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

“After auditioning hundreds of gifted performers from around the world, these two stood out — not just for their talent, but for the emotional truth they brought to these iconic roles,” says Erin Westerman, co-president of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, in a statement.

“Haymitch has always been a fan favorite, and his origin story is one of the most anticipated in the franchise,” Westerman continues. “His relationship with Lenore Dove is deeply woven into the emotional history of Panem. We can’t wait for fans to experience the story that shaped one of the most compelling characters in the series.”

The film is based on the recently released novel of the same name by Suzanne Collins, which takes place 24 years before Katniss Everdeen volunteered as tribute. It follows a 16-year-old Haymitch as he competes in the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.

Sunrise on the Reaping, directed by Francis Lawrence, is set to hit theaters Nov. 20, 2026.

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Sweet Magnolias has been renewed for season 5 at Netflix. The show about three lifelong best friends from Serenity, South Carolina, will return for a fifth season, the streaming platform confirmed Wednesday. This time around, the girls are going farther than their hometown, as one of them lands a high-profile publishing job in New York City …

House of the Dragon is getting three new cast members. The Game of Thrones prequel series has added Tom Cullen, Joplin Sibtain and Barry Sloane to the season 3 cast. House of the Dragon confirmed the news by reposting a casting announcement shared by Variety to the social platform X. Cullen will take on the role of Ser Luthor Largent, while Sibtain will play Ser “Bold” Jon Roxton and Sloan will take on the role of Ser Adrian Redfort …

Charles Melton and Sophie Thatcher are set to star in the upcoming film Her Private Hell. Neon confirmed the news in a post shared to the social platform X. Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn will helm the film, which is being described as “something groovy.” Kristine Froseth and Havana Rose Liu will also star …

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Gilmore Girls husband-and-wife team Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino are back with a new series, Étoile (ay-TWAHL). Set in the world of ballet, it’s a subject that is a personal one for Amy.

“I was trained as a dancer and … I find the world fascinating,” she tells ABC Audio. “It’s an art form where you train your whole life for something, and you’re guaranteed to make no money.”

As for why it makes for great TV, Amy notes, “It’s not as perfect and beautiful and light and ethereal as it is onstage, backstage.”

Like their previous shows, Étoile features the pair’s signature quick and witty dialogue, although quite a bit of it is in French, which posed a challenge for the couple.

“It was really finding that person that we could trust to translate our stuff in an accurate way that the rhythm and the music is still there,” Daniel says. “But I think we pulled it off.”

The series focuses on ballet companies in New York and Paris that decide to swap talent. Luke Kirby, who played Lenny Bruce in the Palladinos’ The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, plays Jack, the head of the New York company, and says he’s now “gained way more respect” for ballet dancers.

“It’s quite a journey they have to go through to do something that’s so beautiful,” he says. “Their dedication is inspiring.”

Gilmore Girls vet Yanic Truesdale is also in Étoile, playing the right-hand man to Jack’s French counterpart, Geneviève, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg. He notes they’ve got “a different dynamic” than that of Lorelai and Michel.

“I worked on that to make sure that he was incredibly supportive of her and 100% committed to her and not have any kind of resentment at his job,” he says, hoping “it would give a different energy and color to the duo.” 

Étoile premieres Thursday on Prime Video.

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The Age of Innocence is being adapted into a limited series for Netflix.

The streaming platform announced the news Wednesday, which fittingly happened to be World Book Day.

Edith Wharton first published the classic novel in 1920. It made her the first woman to earn the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Now, Emma Frost will direct the new limited series adaptation to be streamed on Netflix. Frost previously helmed The White Queen, The White Princess, Jamaica Inn and Shameless.

The Age of Innocence is set in 19th century New York City and follows a passionate will-they, won’t-they love triangle. It explores themes of freedom, duty, identity and love in all of its different forms.

This limited series “promises to be true to Wharton’s novel but will speak to a new generation,” according to Netflix. The novel was previously adapted by Martin Scorsese in his 1993 film, which earned five Oscar nominations and scored one win.

Alongside Frost, Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and Tracey Cook will executive produce the series.

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Dominic Sessa will star as Anthony Bourdain in a new biopic about the late chef’s life.

A24 confirmed the casting news for the upcoming film, which will be called Tony, by reposting a post from Variety about the casting news on the social platform X.

Antonio Banderas will also appear in the movie, though his role is being kept under wraps. The film will take place in 1976 and cover the life-changing experiences Bourdain had working and living in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Bourdain enrolled in culinary school in 1978, two years after the film is set. He was the executive chef of Brasserie Les Halles in New York City and penned the 2000 memoir Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. Bourdain also received a posthumous Emmy for his work on the unscripted series’ No Reservations and Parts Unknown. He died in Strasbourg, France, in 2018 at age 61.

Matt Johnson is set to direct the biopic from a script written by Todd Barrels and Lou Howe. The project begins shooting in May.

Bourdain’s estate rep Kimberly Witherspoon serves as an executive producer on the film.

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This is 100% your release date, Connie baby.

Prime Video has announced the release date for The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3. The third season of the teen romance series will premiere on July 16. All 11 episodes of the final season will release on subsequent Wednesdays throughout the summer.

A new poster for the series has also been revealed. The love triangle of Belly, Conrad and Jeremiah is featured prominently on it. Lola Tung‘s Belly stands between brothers Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher, played by Christopher Briney and Gavin Casalegno, respectively. The poster features Jere kissing Belly on the cheek while Conrad looks on.

“We’ll always have summer,” the poster’s tagline reads.

The hit show is based on the bestselling books by Jenny Han, who also serves as the series’ showrunner alongside Sarah Kucserka. It tells the story of a love triangle between one girl and two brothers, and is “a coming-of-age story about first love, first heartbreak, and the magic of that one perfect summer,” according to its official synopsis.

Han, Tung, Briney and Casalengo collaborated on an Instagram post made by Prime Video announcing the season 3 release date. “Summer is for lovers,” the caption reads. “The final chapter begins July 16.”

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Wednesday’s child is filled with woe, but this news will fill you with glee.

Netflix has released the official teaser trailer for Wednesday season 2. The streaming service has also revealed that the new season will be split up into two different parts.

Part 1 of Wednesday season 2 will fittingly debut on Wednesday, Aug. 6, while part 2 will drop on Wednesday, Sept. 3.

Jenna Ortega returns as the young daughter of the Addams family in the new season, which promises even more supernatural adventures and spooky mysteries. This time around, she will be joined by her little brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) at Nevermore Academy, while her parents Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez Addams (Luis Guzmán) will also be present on the school’s campus.

“This is the first time you’ve ever willingly returned to a school. How does it feel?” Morticia asks Wednesday in the trailer.

“Like returning to the scene of the crime,” she responds. “I already know where the bodies are buried.”

The trailer gives us glimpses of other returning characters, including Wednesday’s enthusiastic roommate, Enid (Emma Myers), and her former beau Tyler (Hunter Doohan), who was revealed to be the Hyde last season.

Also returning in season 2 are Joy Sunday as Bianca, Victor Dorobantu as Wednesday’s trusty friend (and hand) Thing, Moosa Mostafa as Eugene and Fred Armisen as Uncle Fester. Joining the cast this time around are Joanna Lumley as Morticia’s mother Hester Frump and Steve Buscemi as Principal Dort.

Notably, Christopher Lloyd, who played Uncle Fester in the 1991 film The Addams Family and its sequel Addams Family Values, joins the cast as a series regular.

Tim Burton directs the series alongside Paco Cabezas and Angela Robinson. The show was created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.

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Carly Rae Jepsen is teaming up with Lena Dunham to bring 10 Things I Hate About You to the stage as a Broadway musical.

Carly will be composing the score along with Grammy winner Ethan Gruska, with Dunham and playwright Jessica Huang writing the book.

The musical is based on the 1999 teen classic starring Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger, which itself was a retelling of William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew. The film famously had its own iconic musical moment with a scene of Ledger performing the Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio tune “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” on the school bleachers.

This will be Dunham’s debut on a Broadway creative team. Carly previously made her Broadway debut as Cinderella in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella in 2014.

An opening date for the 10 Things I Hate About You musical has not yet been announced.

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Mel Owens, a retired NFL player and attorney, has been revealed as the new Golden Bachelor.

The hit show The Golden Bachelor has been renewed for a brand-new season on ABC and Hulu, with Owens taking on the role of leading man, Disney announced at Hulu’s inaugural Get Real House event on Tuesday.

According to a press release, Owens is a 66-year-old Detroit native from a “close-knit Midwestern family.” He attended the University of Michigan and was drafted by the Los Angeles Rams as the ninth pick in the 1981 NFL Draft.

After his playing career, Owens moved to Orange County, California, where he pursued a career in law, representing clients in sports-related injuries, according to the release.

Owens shares two sons with his first love. “While life took an unexpected turn with the passing of his father and the end of his marriage, Owens channeled his energy into being the best father he could be, focusing on raising his sons and coaching their extracurricular sports teams,” the release states.

Now, Owens is ready to look for love again, searching for the “simple joys of companionship – sharing life’s everyday moments, making plans for the future, and growing stronger together as a couple.”

A premiere date for the upcoming show will be announced at a later date.

Gerry Turner was announced as the first Golden Bachelor in July 2023. Turner proposed to contestant Theresa Nist on the season 1 finale of The Golden Bachelor, which aired Nov. 30, 2023. The couple later announced their divorce in April 2024.

In May 2024, Joan Vassos was revealed as the first Golden Bachelorette. Her inaugural season of The Golden Bachelorette ended with the 61-year-old choosing contestant Chock Chapple.

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Max has released the official teaser trailer for the upcoming HBO original film Mountainhead. The movie, which stars Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith and Ramy Youssef, is the follow-up project from Succession creator Jesse Armstrong. Written and directed by Armstrong in his feature debut, the film arrives May 31 on Max …

Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires is arriving “Someday” soon. Disney has released the teaser trailer for the sequel film, which airs July 10 on Disney Channel and streams the next day on Disney+. This time around, stars Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly reprise their roles as the zombie and cheerleader couple Zed and Addison as they leave their hometown of Seabrook to be counselors at summer camp …

The 2026 Screen Actors Guild Awards will take place on March 1, 2026, the guild has announced. The 32nd annual SAG Awards will stream live on Netflix that evening at 8 p.m. ET. Nominations for awards will be announced on Jan. 7, 2026 …

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