Somebody once told me Zendaya is joining the cast of Shrek 5.
Universal Pictures made the cast announcement in a video shared to its YouTube channel and Instagram on Thursday.
“Far, Far Away’s finest are coming,” the Instagram caption read.
Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz will return to their beloved animated characters of Shrek, Donkey and Princess Fiona in the film, while Zendaya joins the cast as Shrek’s teenage daughter.
The official Shrek Instagram account also shared a screenshot of a post Zendaya made on the social platform X in August 2017. “I watch Shrek too often in my adulthood,” Zendaya wrote at the time.
“This aged well,” the official Shrek account captioned its post.
In the cast announcement video, Shrek and Donkey look into their magic mirror.
“Hey magic mirror, who’s the fairest of them all?” Donkey asks, to which the mirror replies, “Why, Shrek of course!”
The mirror then shows off a photo of Shrek wearing purple sunglasses, a video of the ogre dancing in a skin-tight black jumpsuit and a shirtless pic of Shrek showing off a toned physique.
Shrek’s daughter reacts with disgust. “Ew, Dad, bleh,” she says, while Shrek’s wife, Fiona, has the opposite reaction.
“Who’s making this stuff?” Shrek asks, as Pinocchio appears in the frame. “Not me!” Pinocchio says, before his nose grows double the size.
The fifth Shrek film arrives in movie theaters on Dec. 23, 2026.
Will Reeve: Finding My Fatheris now streaming on Hulu. It documents Christopher Reeve‘s son Will‘s journey as he recreates an expedition that his father undertook, shortly before he became paralyzed in a horse riding accident in 1995.
“My dad had been filming this documentary about gray whales in Alaska and Mexico just months before his accident, so the production team finished the film without him,” says Will, who’s now an ABC News correspondent. “We had it on VHS and I basically wore the tape out, watching it over and over again.”
“From that young age, I knew that I wanted to make a pilgrimage to see what my dad saw and do what he did,” he adds.
For the documentary, Will managed to track down the sons of the men who were Christopher Reeve’s guides 30 years ago and had them do the same for him — fitting for a project whose “major throughline,” Will says, is “fathers and sons, parents and children, connections between generations, connections between man and nature.”
“Finding the sons was key to making this project sing,” he notes. “Because without them, it would have felt almost self-indulgent for me to just go on this cool expedition.”
But while retracing his dad’s footsteps, the greatest discovery Will made was the memories of the locals in Mexico and Alaska who remembered meeting Christopher Reeve, aka “Superman,” 30 years ago.
“Every one of them had a specific memory of encountering him, but they also had a specific memory of how he treated them,” Will notes. “And that was the most gratifying experience of it all: getting real world confirmation that my father was the type of man that I aspire to be.”
House of David, Prime Video’s series about the life of the biblical King David, debuts Thursday with three episodes. It depicts how shepherd boy David is anointed king of Israel while another king, Saul, is on the throne. In that way, show creator Jon Erwin says it’s similar to another epic series about the struggle for power.
“I think it is a bit like Game of Thrones,” Erwin says. “The drama of a boy chosen to be king by this prophet, in a nation that had a king. … That is instant dramatic tension. And it is a battle over this throne, and who is man’s choice? Who is God’s choice? So it does have some of those same story drivers.”
Erwin also feels that House of David tells a story that’s a blueprint for all those that followed.
“Whether it’s Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter, Frodo … the classic hero’s journey, in many ways … has its roots, at least somewhat, in the life of David 3,000 years ago,” he notes.
Newcomer Michael Iskander, who plays David, says he went straight to the source to prepare to portray such a historical figure.
“I always found myself going to … the Bible, and just really delving into who David was as a person,” he says. “What is his character? What is he ultimately seeking in life? And what are the things that got him to where he was?”
Iskander’s background in Broadway musicals, and his family background, also helped prepare him to play David, who’s also a musician.
“I knew that whoever would play David would have to sing the Psalms in Hebrew because it has to be in the original language. It has to be on a lyre. It has to be with that Eastern ornamentation,” he says. “I had a bit of experience in that. I grew up in Egypt. I know what that music sounds like.”
The trailer for the upcoming documentary Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna arrived on Wednesday. The film, which arrives on Hulu on March 11, tells the story of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was killed when a prop gun held by Alec Baldwin fired a live bullet. Hutchins’ friend Rachel Mason directs the documentary, which a press release described “goes beyond the public narrative to reveal the untold human story of that terrible day and all that followed” …
It’s official. Jared Padalecki and Misha Collins are appearing on The Boys. The Prime Video series made the announcement that the former Supernatural co-stars will appear on the fifth and final season of the show in a post shared to Instagram on Wednesday. While details on their guest appearance have not yet been released, the duo will reunite with their other Supernatural co-star, Jensen Ackles …
The first Saturday Night Live episode after their 50th anniversary special will air this weekend, and its promo released Wednesday. In the promo, host Shane Gillis finds that the cast is still recovering from the anniversary special, even as cast member Ashley Padilla tries to reassure him that they are ready to move on. Tate McRae will be the musical guest on Gillis’ second hosting gig, which airs on March 1 …
The 97th annual Academy Awards ceremony is Sunday. This year’s crop of nominees have cemented their place in Oscar’s history. Here’s a look at some of the historical things and records that could be broken at this year’s ceremony.
Cynthia Erivo has the chance to become the youngest person to ever earn an EGOT. Already a Tony, Grammy and Emmy winner, if Erivo wins the best actress Oscar for her performance as Elphaba in Wicked, she’ll have won all four of the most prestigious awards in entertainment at age 38. That would make her the youngest person to achieve such a feat. She would also become the second Black woman to win in the category.
Timothée Chalamet is the youngest two-time best actor nominee since James Dean. If he wins this year for his performance as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, Chalamet would become the youngest best actor winner, having turned 29 in December. He would surpass Adrien Brody, who is also nominated for best actor this year for his performance in The Brutalist. Brody became the youngest actor to win in the category for his performance in the 2002 film The Pianist a few weeks before his 30th birthday.
If The Substance wins best original screenplay, it will become the second horror film to win in the category, after Jordan Peele‘s Get Out. Additionally, if the film’s star Demi Moore wins best actress, she will become the sixth-oldest winner in the category.
Anora filmmaker Sean Baker is nominated for four awards at the ceremony — best picture, director, original screenplay and editing. If he wins all of his nominations, he will become the first person to win four Oscars on the same night for the same film. WaltDisney previously won four Oscars on the same evening in 1952, but the trophies were won for separate projects.
The 2025 Oscars will air live at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The show will also stream live on Hulu for the first time ever. A special edition of 20/20, Countdown to the Oscars with Robin Roberts, premieres Friday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Gene Hackman and Betsy Arakawa in 2003; SGranitz/WireImage
ABC News has confirmed that Gene Hackman, 95, the prolific and versatile two-time Oscar-winning actor whose career spanned more than five decades, was found dead Wednesday in his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, along with his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, 63, who he married in 1991.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Denise Avila told ABC news that the couple was found during a welfare check after their neighbor called in, concerned about their well-being. Officials will be putting out a statement later this morning with more details.
According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, the couple was found along with their dog, and there was no indication of foul play.
Before retiring from acting in 2004, Hackman starred in 79 films and played a variety of roles, including arch-villain Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie, a basketball coach with a spotty past in Hoosiers, the commanding officer of a nuclear warship in Crimson Tide and a take-no-prisoners FBI agent in Mississippi Burning.
In 1971, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of tough cop Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle in The French Connection, and two decades later, in 1992, he won a second Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a sadistic sheriff in Unforgiven. Hackman also won three Golden Globes awards and two BAFTAs.
Hackman was born Jan. 30, 1930, in San Bernardino, California, but grew up in up in Danville, Illinois. When Hackman was 13, his father abandoned the family, leaving his son, who was playing in the street, with a simple wave of his hand.
“I hadn’t realized how much one small gesture can mean,” the actor once said. “Maybe that’s why I became an actor.”
Before pursuing acting, Hackman lied about his age at 16 to enlist in the Marine Corps. He left the military at 19 and ended up in California, where he took classes at the Pasadena Playhouse with fellow student Dustin Hoffman. Together they moved to New York and got an apartment with another struggling actor, Robert Duvall.
Hackman’s big break came in 1967 with Bonnie and Clyde, for which he earned his first Oscar nomination. That was followed by I Never Sang for My Father, which earned him his second nomination, The French Connection, The Poseidon Adventure and The Conversation.
In the 1980s, he alternated between leading and supporting roles in films such as Reds, Hoosiers, No Way Out and Mississippi Burning. In the ’90s, after undergoing an angioplasty, he returned to the screen in Unforgiven, The Firm, Get Shorty and Crimson Tide.
After starring in The Royal Tenenbaums, Runaway Jury and his final film, 2004’s Welcome to Mooseport, Hackman turned full-time to writing novels, including a western, a police thriller and three historical fiction books.
Asked by GQ in 2011 how he’d like to be remembered, Hackman said, “As a decent actor. As someone who tried to portray what was given to them in an honest fashion.”
Another group of presenters for the 97th annual Academy Awards ceremony has been announced.
Dave Bautista, Harrison Ford, Gal Gadot, Andrew Garfield, Samuel L. Jackson, Margaret Qualley, Alba Rohrwacher, Zoe Saldaña and Rachel Zegler will present at the awards ceremony, executive producers Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan announced Wednesday.
They join previously announced presenters Joe Alwyn, Halle Berry, Sterling K. Brown, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Ana de Armas, Lily-Rose Depp, Robert Downey Jr., Elle Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Selena Gomez, Goldie Hawn, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Cillian Murphy, Connie Nielsen, Amy Poehler, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, June Squibb, Ben Stiller, Emma Stone, Oprah Winfrey and Bowen Yang.
Additionally, the producers said they will continue to announce talent that is joining the awards show in the coming days before the ceremony on Sunday.
Conan O’Brien hosts the awards ceremony, which will take place on March 2. The show will be televised live on ABC and stream live on Hulu for the first time ever. A special edition of 20/20, Countdown to the Oscars with Robin Roberts, premieres Friday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick reunite in a brand-new teaser trailer for the highly anticipated movie Another Simple Favor.
The sequel to 2018’s A Simple Favor received a teaser trailer on Wednesday, giving a new glimpse at Kendrick’s Stephanie and Lively’s Emily’s reunion at Emily’s Capri wedding.
In the new teaser trailer, Emily, who was incarcerated at the end of the first movie, asks Stephanie to be her maid of honor while seemingly surprising her at a presentation.
“Do you think I invited you to get revenge? For stealing my life and taking my kid away from me?” asks Emily later in the teaser.
“Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick) and Emily Nelson (Lively) reunite on the beautiful island of Capri, Italy, for Emily’s extravagant wedding to a rich Italian businessman,” reads the synopsis for the film. “Along with the glamorous guests, expect murder and betrayal to RSVP for a wedding with more twists and turns than the road from the Marina Grande to the Capri town square.”
The new lookahead gets increasingly tense with a shot of an explosion and several scenes of violence.
“If I do try to murder you, it will make an amazing sequel,” says Emily as the teaser peaks in intensity.
The 2018 film revolves around Emily and Stephanie’s friendship turned awry when Emily seemingly disappears and Stephanie discovers her dark past.
The upcoming Amazon MGM Studios movie is directed by Paul Feig. It also stars Henry Golding, Bashir Salahuddin, MicheleMorrone, Alex Newell, Andrew Rannells, Aparna Nancherla and Kelly McCormack.
The 2018 film was based on Darcey Bell‘s 2017 novel of the same name. The upcoming sequel comes out on May 1.
Gossip Girl actress Michelle Trachtenberg was found dead Wednesday in her New York City apartment, police sources told ABC News. She was 39.
Trachtenberg is believed to have died of natural causes, police sources told ABC News. The sources said she recently underwent a liver transplant and may have been experiencing complications.
The medical examiner’s office will conduct an autopsy to determine cause and manner of death. No foul play is suspected.
Trachtenberg, known for her roles in Harriet the Spy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gossip Girl, was found by her mother just after 8 a.m. in her residence near Columbus Circle.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
John Lithgow said he will play Dumbledore in the upcoming Harry Potter TV series.
Lithgow said he will play the beloved wizard in a Monday interview with ScreenRant, saying the decision is “going to define me for the last chapter of my life.”
The Conclave actor said the casting “came as a total surprise,” adding that the decision to take up the role in the new HBO series did not come easy.
“I just got the phone call up at the Sundance Film Festival for yet another film, and it was not an easy decision, because it’s going to define me for the last chapter of my life, I’m afraid,” said Lithgow. “But I’m very excited.”
“Some wonderful people are turning their attention back to Harry Potter,” he added.
Speaking to the potential length of the commitment, the six-time Emmy winner said, “That’s why it’s been such a hard decision. I’ll be about 87 years old at the wrap party, but I’ve said yes.”
HBO has not confirmed the casting.
The network said in a statement to Good Morning America Tuesday it “appreciate[s] that such a high-profile series will draw a lot of rumor and speculation. As we make our way through pre-production, we will only confirm details as we finalize deals.”
Dumbledore was played by Richard Harris in the first two movies of the Harry Potter film franchise, with Michael Gambon stepping in to play the Hogwarts headmaster in the remaining projects following Harris’ death in October 2002. Jude Law portrayed Dumbledore in the Fantastic Beasts films.
Max officially announced the new Harry Potter series in 2023, stating in a press release at the time that the show would “feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail, much loved characters and dramatic locations that HarryPotter fans have loved for over twenty-five years.”
