Entertainment

It’s official — Prime Video is headed back to Middle-earth.

The streamer has renewed The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power for a third season, it confirmed Thursday. In fact, season 3 is currently in preproduction and will begin filming this spring at its new production home, Shepperton Studios in England.

Additionally, Prime Video announced three directors helming this new season, including returning directors Charlotte Brändström and Sanaa Hamri. Stefan Schwartz will mark his first involvement with the series.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power continues to captivate audiences worldwide, and we’re thrilled that a third season is underway. The creative team has an extraordinary vision of what’s to come with stories that have left us enchanted and enthralled,” the head of television at Amazon MGM Studios, Vernon Sanders, said. “We look forward to continuing this epic journey, for our global customers, delving even deeper into the legendary tales that shaped Middle-earth.”

According to the official logline, season 3 will feature a time jump. “Jumping forward several years from the events of season 2, season 3 takes place at the height of the War of the Elves and Sauron, as the Dark Lord seeks to craft the One Ring that will give him the edge he needs to win the war and conquer all Middle-earth at last,” the logline reads.

The second season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premiered on Aug. 29 and finished dropping episodes on Oct. 3. The show stars Morfydd Clark, Robert Aramayo, Charlie Vickers, Sophia Nomvete and Markella Kavenagh.

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If you don’t have plans for Valentine’s Day, perhaps you could spend the night at the movie theater. A24’s Babygirl is headed back to theaters on the weekend of Feb. 14. Directed by Halina Reijn, Babygirl stars Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde and Antonio Banderas. It follows a high-powered CEO who puts her career and family on the line when she starts an affair with one of her much-younger interns …

Speaking of A24, another one of its films will soon be available to stream at home. The horror film Heretic, starring Hugh Grant, makes its streaming debut on Max on March 7. Written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, Heretic also stars Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East. The story follows two missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are ensnared in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse when they knock on the door of Mr. Reed, played by Grant …

Team Jacob fans can rejoice. Taylor Lautner will star in and executive produce a series called Taylor Lautner: Werewolf Hunter, as Variety first reported. The scripted show will follow a self-aware premise, where Lautner will play himself in a world where he got drawn into a secret society of werewolf trackers after he wrapped on the final Twilight film. “As he navigates his double life—Hollywood actor by day, supernatural warrior by night— Taylor must wrestle with the ultimate irony: fighting the very creatures that made him famous,” the show’s official logline reads …

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Jeremy Strong has found his next project.

The actor is set to star in a TV series adaptation of the Ira Levin novel The Boys From Brazil for Netflix, Variety reports.

Peter Morgan, who created The Crown, will write the series and executive produce along with Suzanne Mackie from Orchid Pictures.

The Boys From Brazil follows Nazi hunter Yakov Liebermann as he receives a tip that Dr. Josef Mengele is alive and living under a different name in Brazil. He then travels to the country to track him down, only to discover a sinister conspiracy.

Strong will star as Liebermann in the show, marking his first series regular role after the end of HBO’s Succession, where he starred as Kendall Roy for four seasons.

Levin’s novel was originally published in 1976. It was adapted into a film in 1978 that starred Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier.

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Millie Bobby Brown is opening up about how she knew her marriage to husband Jake Bongiovi was the “right” decision.

The Stranger Things star, who is the Vanity Fair cover star for March, said that she and Bongiovi “were pretty united going into” marriage. Brown was 20 and Bongiovi was 22 when they tied the knot in May 2024 after three years together.

“We talked about our political views, what kind of family we want to build, the kind of home we want to live in, the kind of relationship we’re looking for, the kind of careers we want,” she said. “It’s such an important decision, and we wanted to make sure we were making the right one. I knew I was. It always felt right with him.”

She added that Bongiovi is “the first man I’ve ever loved and been in love with. If we’re not fully invested, then what’s the point? We have to be, and we always have been.”

The duo had two weddings: a small intimate ceremony in May 2024 and a second wedding in Tuscany in September 2024.

Looking ahead, Brown is gearing up for the final season of Stranger Things. The actress, who has starred in the hit Netflix series since 2016, wrapped filming in December.

“It wasn’t hitting me this entire time — until yesterday,” Brown said about filming the show’s penultimate scene. “I was on set, and I was like, ‘Well, I have one more day left.’ And I started crying. I don’t actually like to cry at work. I’m a really emotional person, but I try to stay super strong. It made me feel so uncomfortable. Jake was like, ‘It’s good, you have to get it out!’ and I just started welling up.”

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The final season of The Handmaid’s Tale officially has a premiere date and a new teaser.

Fans got a new look at Elisabeth Moss in a teaser for the show’s sixth season, released by Hulu on Wednesday. The new season will be out with its first three episodes on April 8, followed by weekly episodes until its finale on May 27.

In the teaser, Moss’ character June describes her fight against Gilead and says the red color of the cloaks donned by handmaids in the dystopian society has come to symbolize “the color of rage.”

“In the final season of The Handmaid’s Tale, June’s unyielding spirit and determination pull her back into the fight to take down Gilead,” a synopsis for the upcoming season reads.

“Luke and Moira join the resistance. Serena tries to reform Gilead while Commander Lawrence and Aunt Lydia reckon with what they have wrought, and Nick faces challenging tests of character. This final chapter of June’s journey highlights the importance of hope, courage, solidarity, and resilience in the pursuit of justice and freedom,” the synopsis continues.

The upcoming season will star Moss alongside Yvonne Strahovski, Bradley Whitford, Max Minghella, Ann Dowd and more.

The sixth and final season of The Handmaid’s Tale premieres April 8 on Hulu.

Hulu is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

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How To Train Your Dragon has a brand-new trailer showing the budding friendship between a Viking and dragon.

The new look at the live-action remake of the 2010 animated movie features Mason Thames as Hiccup, a young Viking, befriending Toothless, a dragon and enemy of the Viking group.

The trailer, released by Universal Pictures on Wednesday following a brief Super Bowl spot on Sunday, also features Gerard Butler reprising his voice role from 15 years ago as Stoick the Vast, Hiccup’s father.

Fire-breathing dragons are seen in all their fury in the new trailer, before Thames’ Hiccup develops sympathy for Toothless, one of the beasts.

“Maybe they’re not as bad as we think they are,” Hiccup says in a voice-over.

Stoick pleads the Viking case to Hiccup, exclaiming, “They’ve killed hundreds of us,” to which Hiccup responds, “And we’ve killed thousands of them.”

Along with Butler and Thames, the film, which hits theaters June 13, stars Julian Dennison, Gabriel Howell, Harry Trevaldwyn and more.

Dean DeBlois wrote, produced and directed the project.

How To Train Your Dragon, the original animated version, hit theaters in 2010, bringing in more than $495 million at the worldwide box office and inspiring two sequels.

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Mikey Madison is opening up about what her first Oscar nomination means to her.

Madison is nominated this year for best actress for her starring role in Anora, director Sean Baker‘s modern-day take on the Cinderella story. She plays the titular character, a sex worker who is thrown into a world of chaos after she marries the son of a Russian oligarch.

“It’s a Sean Baker film, and if you’re not familiar with his work, he is such a unique, singular filmmaker,” Madison told Good Morning America on Wednesday. “He has a wonderful kind of wicked, naughty sense of humor. He’s just really interested in telling stories about humanity and interesting characters and worlds. I would say just go in with an open mind.”

One person who went in with an open mind: Madison’s grandmother, whom she described as “very regal and polite.” Despite the risqué subject matter, her grandmother came out loving the film.

“But she’s my grandma. She saves all of my magazine clippings and covers. She loved the film. I think she’s seen it a few times,” Mikey said. “I was a little concerned, but she went and saw it herself and then called me and said she loved it and I was like, ‘Oh, thank God!'”

Madison said she was having a “very sweet and low-key” FaceTime with her family watching the Oscars nomination ceremony when she heard her name listed as a nominee alongside Cynthia Erivo for Wicked, Karla Sofía Gascón for Emilia Pérez, Demi Moore for The Substance and Fernanda Torres for I’m Still Here.

“It’s not a competition. We’ve all already won. I think it’s just a celebration from here on out. It’s a celebration of film,” she said.

The 2025 Oscars will take place Sunday, March 2, at 7 p.m. ET and will air live on ABC and stream live on Hulu.

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Kristen Wiig and Bill Murray are joining forces in the upcoming odd-couple comedy film Epiphany. Deadline reports that the pair will star in the new film from director Max Barbakow, who will direct from a script by Scrooged screenwriter Mitch Glazer. The film will follow an heiress, played by Wiig, who embarks on a two-week search for a rich husband after her fortune evaporates overnight. She then meets an eccentric billionaire, played by Murray, who needs her spontaneity like she needs his money …

Focus Features will handle the release of Wes Anderson‘s latest film, The Phoenician Scheme, the studio has announced. The movie, which is described to follow the story of a family and a family business, will get a limited theatrical release on May 30 and a wider expansion on June 6. Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton and Michael Cera star in the film, which also features Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis and Benedict Cumberbatch …

Amy Adams will lead the Cape Fear series in the works at Apple TV+, Variety reports. She joins Javier Bardem in the show, which will have 10 episodes. According to the series’ logline, it follows a storm that “is coming for happily married attorneys Anna (Adams) and Tom Bowden when Max Cady (Bardem), a notorious killer from their past, gets out of prison.” The show will be based on the John D. MacDonald novel The Executioners, as well as the 1962 film Cape Fear and its remake, which was directed by Martin Scorsese in 1991 …
 

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Daisy Ridley is opening up about the upcoming Star Wars film centered on her character, Rey.

In a recent interview with ABC Audio, Ridley said she was thrilled to be returning to the character she played in all three Star Wars sequels — The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.

“She’s someone I have been so thrilled to play over the last three films,” Ridley said. “It really had to mean something and feel important to continue to tell her story. And I feel like we are in the process of doing that. So it’s very exciting.”

The upcoming film, which currently has the working title Star Wars: New Jedi Order, was announced by Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy at Star Wars Celebration in April 2023. The current premise finds Ridley’s Rey overseeing a new class of Jedi knights.

Star Wars: New Jedi Order will also mark a milestone for the franchise. Oscar-winning documentarian Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy is set to direct the film, making her the first woman to helm a Star Wars movie.

Ridley expressed her excitement over Obaid-Chinoy getting to tell the next chapter of Rey’s story.

“I think Sharmeen is going to take an amazing amount of care with her,” Ridley said. “I’m looking forward to it.”

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Bachelor contestant Beverly Ortega is opening up about her sudden exit from the show.

Fans were left wondering what happened when Ortega, a 30-year-old insurance salesperson from Howard Beach, New York, left the show without explanation during the Feb. 10 episode before getting to go on a romantic one-on-one date with Bachelor Grant Ellis.

In the Feb. 11 episode of the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast, Ortega revealed she was diagnosed with appendicitis and had to undergo emergency surgery to get her appendix removed.

According to the National Institute of Health, appendicitis is a condition where one’s appendix gets inflamed. The typical treatment is surgery to remove the inflamed organ.

Ortega said on the podcast that she woke up from a nap with her stomach hurting, revealing that she experienced “excruciating pain” and continued to throw up for 12 hours.

“I was like, ‘I know my body. I’m listening to my body. Something is not OK,'” she recalled.

Ortega said she didn’t think it was “anything serious” beyond just “really bad stomach pain” or potentially food poisoning but that she was eventually taken to the hospital.

It wasn’t safe for Ortega to fly home to have the surgery so she had it in California, where The Bachelor is filmed, and her mother flew out to take her home after she was cleared to travel.

Despite being physically OK after the surgery, Ortega said it took her “a month and a half to recover emotionally” from what could have been between her and Ellis.

“I left with, like, the ‘what-if,'” she said. “Obviously we were building a connection. He saw and felt exactly what I was seeing and feeling. And I know they didn’t show a lot of our moments, but we did have a lot of cute little moments.”

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