Entertainment

Having three Emmys on his mantel wasn’t the end of the good news for Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd. 

The creator, writer and star of the Netflix series — which took home six Emmys Sunday night, including Outstanding Limited Series — has snagged a first-look deal with the streamer, according to Deadline. 

A “first-look” arrangement with a company means he will have an open door to create new shows for Netflix.

According to the trade, the show’s 11 nominations alone were enough to land him the deal: He signed with the streamer in August, Deadline says.

During his acceptance speech for writing the series, which tracked his real-life struggles with trying to break into the entertainment industry, substance abuse and sexual trauma, Gadd said in part, “10 years ago I was down and out, right, I never, ever, thought I’d get my life together … and then here I am, just over a decade later picking up one of the biggest writing awards in television.”

He added, “Now I don’t mean that to sound arrogant, I mean that as encouragement for anyone who’s going through a difficult time right now to persevere. I don’t know much about this life … but I do know that nothing lasts forever. And no matter how bad it gets, it always gets better. So if you’re struggling, keep going, keep going, and I promise you, things will be OK.”

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While most of the world knew Christopher Reeve as Superman, to his three children — Matthew, Alexandra and Will Reeve — he was simply their beloved dad.

The three siblings watched firsthand as their father went from movie star to pioneering activist for spinal cord injury research after a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 left him paralyzed from the neck down at the age of 42.

Then, in 2004, Christopher Reeve died unexpectedly due to heart failure.

In addition to his children, by the actor’s side from his accident to his death was his beloved wife Dana Reeve, mom to Will Reeve and stepmom to Matthew Reeve and Alexandra Reeve.

Less than one year after delivering a eulogy at her husband’s funeral, Dana Reeve, a non-smoker her entire life, was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.

She died seven months later on March 6, 2006, at the age of 44.

“Despite the love and security that my siblings provided me, and my family provided me, and my adoptive family provides me, that was the moment, March 6, 2006 … I’ve been alone since then,” Will Reeve, who was 13 when he lost his mother, said in a new documentary, Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, that explores the actor’s life.

Prior to her death, Dana Reeve made sure Will was taken care of, arranging for him to live with the family of his best friend.

His older siblings also dropped everything to help him. Alexandra was a law student at the time and Matthew a producer.

In their conversation with ABC News’ Diane Sawyer, Will Reeve, now an ABC News correspondent, posed a question to his siblings that he had never before asked them — did people worry enough about them after their father and Dana Reeve died.

“I don’t think I’ve ever thought about that,” Alexandra replied. “The job at hand was keeping things going, keeping us OK, keeping everyone OK, honoring them in the right way, setting you up for success.”

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James Cameron is planning to adapt Charles Pellegrino‘s novel Last Train From Hiroshima and the author’s forthcoming book, Ghosts of Hiroshima, into one “uncompromising theatrical film,” he tells Deadline. The film, to be titled Last Train From Hiroshima, will focus partly on the true story of a Japanese man who survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima, got on a train to Nagasaki, then survived the nuclear explosion in that city, per the outlet. The project will be his first non-Avatar movie since 1997’s Titanic …

Summer isn’t quite over, but Great American Family has already revealed its 2024 holiday lineup, featuring 18 new films beginning Oct. 19. That includes the Candace Cameron Bure-led films A Christmas Less Traveled, Home Sweet Christmas and Let It Snow. Mario Lopez and his wife star in Once Upon a Christmas Wish, and R&B legend Gladys Knight leads the cast of a holiday adaptation of Louisa May Alcott‘s classic novel Little Women, titled Little Women Christmas. The entire list can be found at GreatAmericanFamily.com …

There’s no need to fear, a new CGI-animated version of the classic 1959 cartoon Underdog is here! Variety reports that, similar to its predecessor, the new Underdog series will mix humor with lessons about teamwork, courage and perseverance, among others. The reboot, being produced by Italy’s Red Monk Studios, will debut in Italy and France in 2025, followed by a global rollout shortly thereafter …

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While Lando, a Star Wars series bound for Disney+ starring Donald Glover, is no more, the project is being adapted into a feature film, with Glover reprising his lovable scoundrel Lando Calrissian from 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Donald and his brother Stephen are developing the project, which the actor hopes will bring the “fun” back to that galaxy far, far away.

He tells WSJ. Magazine, “I just want it to be fun, like, as a Star Wars fan myself, I think it’s important that there just needs to be more fun being had.”

He adds, “It’s tough because there are very serious things happening [in real life]. … But part of the human experience, I believe, is we have a responsibility to have enjoyment and I just feel like we’re lacking in that department.”

He added, “Star Wars, I love it, but sometimes it be super serious. Sometimes it be, like, way too serious. It’s like everything that has to do with the Skywalkers, is like so serious.”

That said, Glover believes the card shark and frenemy to Han Solo who Billy Dee Williams first played in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back is the opposite.

He adds, “Lando, I think the best part about him is he’s a scoundrel, you know, and I feel like people can relate to that. And he’s probably like, ‘Man, this war is whack. I need money,’ which I feel everyone can relate to. So, I want to just bring fun to Star Wars. I just want it to be fun.”

It will be at least two years until a Lando movie hits theaters.

Star Wars is produced by Lucasfilm, which is owned by ABC News’ parent company, Disney.

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It’s nearly inevitable that after any awards show, people will notice some celebrity names were omitted from the in memoriam segment, and Sunday night’s Emmys were no exception. 

The names of Shelley Duvall, Chita Rivera, Tyler Christopher and Johnny Wactor didn’t appear during Jelly Roll‘s heartfelt song tribute to the stars who had recently passed.

Former General Hospital star Christopher passed away at age 50 on Oct. 31, 2023; Chita Rivera died at 91 on Jan. 30. Wactor, another veteran of General Hospital, was fatally shot in Los Angeles during a robbery on May 25. He was 37. Duvall died at 75 years old on July 11.

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The first photos of the Bridgerton season 4 stars are officially out, featuring joint shots with season leads Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha.

Netflix dropped the new images on Monday and also announced that season 4 of the Regency era series “is officially in production.”

In the upcoming season, Ha is slated to play the love interest of Thompson’s character, Benedict Bridgerton.

The streamer called Ha’s character, Sophie Baek, “a victim of tragic circumstances.”

In one of the new photos, Thompson and Ha are seen sitting next to one another on what appears to be a production cart. Thompson is dressed in a gray tweed three-piece suit, a gray tweed overcoat and a white button down, while Ha sports an oxblood leather trench coat, a brown windowpane tweed suit and gold jewelry.

Speaking with Tudum, Netflix’s official site, about the highly anticipated upcoming season, Thompson said season 4 is “striking” because it features “the struggle between a proper old-school fairy tale — the romance of it — and the actual reality of the world.”

“You have to hold both of them — the romance and the reality — in your hand,” he said. “In its best version, ‘true love’ happens in the middle of that.”

He added, “The storyline is a bit of a twist on Cinderella. You remember being told those stories as a child — the magic and the romance of them. It’s really exciting to have that weaved into the world that we know of Bridgerton. … It’s such a great story, but it’s also, I hope, really relatable.”

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Well, it looks like Kathy Bates isn’t retiring after Matlock after all. 

Bates stopped by ABC’s On the Red Carpet show before Sunday night’s 76th Emmy Awards, where she threw cold water on a New York Times story that Madeline Matlock in the forthcoming CBS reboot would be her final role.

As much as she said she was “flattered” that the retirement report “went around the globe,” Bates told ABC’s George Pennacchio that she was “misunderstood.”

“I think it was misunderstood because I … had one foot out the door until I read Jennie [Snyder] Urman‘s script and I was like, ‘OK, now we’re talking. And I want the show [Matlock] to run for years and years,” she said.

The original series of Matlock ran from 1986 to 1995, starring Andy Griffith as a defense lawyer named Benjamin Matlock.

The reboot show will chronicle Bates’ character, who rejoins the law workforce as a senior, scoring legal victories in courtrooms. In the interview with the New York Times to discuss the show, she said she felt like she was called to do the role, especially after experiencing some injustices in the early days of her career.

“Everything I’ve prayed for, worked for, clawed my way up for, I am suddenly able to be asked to use all of it,” she said at the time. “And it’s exhausting.”

Despite her success, when reflecting on her acting career, she only recalled some of the blunders, telling the New York Times, “I never felt dressed right or well.”

“I felt like a misfit,” she said. “It’s that line in Misery when Annie says, ‘I’m not a movie star.’ I’m not.”

Her comments notwithstanding, a source told ABC News on Monday that “it is understood that Bates changed her mind [about retiring] after doing Matlock.”

Matlock will premiere on CBS Sept. 22 and will be available to stream on Paramount+.

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Good Morning America caught up with Emmy presenter Niecy Nash-Betts and her wife, Jessica Betts, at the event’s after-party Sunday, and they spoke about queer representation on TV.

“Everyone wants to be fully seen,” Niecy said, “and, you know, we are happy to be representations of that.” Niecy and Jessica tied the knot in 2020.

She continued, “We applaud when others are [a] representation of that, and I just think that TV has to look like the real world at some point.” 

During Sunday night’s ceremony, Niecy took the stage in the program’s salute to TV cops, joining NYPD Blue‘s Jimmy Smits and Miami Vice veteran Don Johnson. Niecy played Deputy Raineesha Williams on the beloved comedy series Reno: 911.

“Raineesha brought two important things to being a cop,” Nash-Betts said from the stage. “A marginal knowledge of the law and the belief that you can’t fight crime if you ain’t cute.”

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In an upset, Hacks beat The Bear for Outstanding Comedy Series at Sunday night’s Emmy Awards, but the FX series still walked away with an mantel full of awards for its second season. In fact, it beat its previous record, snagging 11.

Jeremy Allen White won for a second year in a row in the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy category; Ebon Moss- Bachrach also repeated in the Best Supporting Actor category. Liza Colón-Zayas became the first Latina to win in the Supporting Actress category.

At the Creative Arts Emmys prior to Sunday’s show, White’s onscreen brother and mom, Jon Bernthal and Jamie Lee Curtis, snagged respective Emmys in the Outstanding Guest Actor and Actress categories for the series.

Backstage, White was in the mood to celebrate. “The fact that … Jamie and Bernthal won last weekend and that was so beautiful getting to see Lisa — I was … backstage and I got to go in the wings and watch her accept. And that was just the greatest.”

Jeremy also called co-star Lionel Boyce‘s nomination “so massive,” saying, “Everybody does such beautiful work on the show. And yeah, to see them recognized, it just it makes me so happy.”

Meanwhile, also backstage, Colón-Zayas says her win was for all the Tinas out there: women of a certain age who are still working hard to realize their dreams. “I really want us to … remember our worth. And we, all our voices, our stories, are compelling, they are many and they are profitable. So let’s all start paying attention.”

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On the red carpet before Sunday night’s Emmy Awards, Reese Witherspoon, the producer of the Emmy-winning HBO hit The Morning Show, teased a new project with a Real Housewives star. 

Witherspoon wasn’t naming names, but she told Page Six that a fateful flight — and a seat next to the unnamed cast member — got the Hello Sunshine production company founder buzzing.

“We might have a Hello Sunshine project cooking now, but I can’t say anything,” Reese teased, adding of the project, “But it’s cool, it’s very cool.”

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