Entertainment

Squid Game, the phenomenon that ranks as Netflix’s biggest show ever, will be back with season 2 on Dec. 26, Netflix has announced in a new teaser.

In a video clearly timed for the Summer Olympics, a group of runners take their marks on a track and launch, but as their legs are shown pumping at pace, they’re joined on the track by increasing numbers of panicked people running chaotically, wearing the show’s familiar green sweatsuits.

One by one, the Squid Game players fall, as the camera tracks by a podium. Observing the chaos is the black-clad games master, known as The Front Man, flanked by red-suited guards familiar to fans of the show.

“It’s been three years,” the man in black says in Korean through a voice modulator. “Do you want to play again?”

A tag at the end of the season 2 teaser, complete with that creepy Red Light/Green Light statue, then advertises a third and final season will debut in 2025.

Squid Game debuted on Netflix on Sept. 17, 2021. According to the streaming service, viewers binged more than 2.2 billion hours of the series.

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Jonathan Majors says he’s “heartbroken” his Marvel Studios future was Thanos-snapped — a decision cemented last weekend after it was announced that Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr. was taking the role of baddie Dr. Doom.

Majors was to reprise his Loki and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania character Kang in Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars, but the studio severed ties with him following his 2023 convictions on third degree assault and second-degree harassment following an incident with his ex Grace Jabbari.

The movies were pulled from the schedule, and recently retitled, with Downey now the heavy, starting with Avengers: Doomsday.

Earlier this week, TMZ caught up with the actor, who said he’s “heartbroken, of course,” about the decision, and bristled that Downey — and The Flash‘s Ezra Miller — were allowed to portray their respective characters in spite of their past legal troubles, while he was let go.

“I think it’s fair that Mr. Downey is being and has been greeted with patience and curiosity and love, and that Mr. Miller has gotten the same treatment,” Majors said. “And that they’re being allowed to work their art and be creative at that level … I didn’t really get that.”

Majors added, “I love Kang,” but allowed, “Dr. Doom is wicked, though.”

When asked if he’d ever reprise as the character if Marvel allowed it, Majors said he’s all in. “Hell yeah! Hell yeah! Hell yeah!” he enthused. “I love him. I love Kang. If that’s what the fans want, if that’s what Marvel wants, then let’s roll. Hell yeah.”

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

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Carrie Underwood is your newest American Idol judge.

The eight-time Grammy Award-winning singer — who won season 4 of the singing competition show in 2005 — was announced Thursday as Katy Perry’s replacement on “Idol.”

Carrie will join returning judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie alongside host Ryan Seacrest when Idol returns to ABC and Hulu in spring 2025.

“I remember being at home in our little house in Checotah and seeing on TV that there were auditions in St. Louis,” the Oklahoma native says in a video revealing the big news. “My mom said, ‘If you wanna go, I’ll drive you.'”

“I went from nobody knowing my name to tens of millions of people watching the show,” she said of how she skyrocketed to fame. “I’m proud of everything that I was able to accomplish on the show and I’m so proud of everything that I’ve accomplished since.”

Some of Carrie’s accomplishments include selling 85 million records, amassing 28 No. 1 singles and snagging numerous awards.

“This season, Carrie Underwood comes home,” a message in the video reads.

Carrie replaces Katy, who served as a judge alongside Luke and Lionel for seven seasons after the Idol revival kicked off on ABC in 2018.

The “Firework” singer announced her departure on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in February and later told Good Morning America in April that her time on Idol had “healed my heart.”

Auditions for the upcoming season of Idol kick off Monday, Aug. 12.

For more information on auditions, visit the American Idol website.

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Jason Reitman‘s movie based on the true story of the chaotic 90 minutes leading up to the first episode of Saturday Night Live finally has an official title and release date, according to Variety. The film, simply called Saturday Night, will hit theaters on Oct. 11 — the same date as the NBC sketch comedy show’s actual first broadcast. The Saturday Night cast includes Gabriel LaBelle, Dylan O’Brien, Willem Dafoe, J.K. Simmons and Finn Wolfhard …

Christopher Lloyd is set to reprise his role as a retired FBI agent and the father of Bob Odenkirk‘s Hutch Mansell in the sequel to the 2021 box office hit Nobody, according to Deadline. Nobody followed Mansell, a mild-mannered family man with a mysterious past who, after his house gets burgled, finds himself in a bloody war with the Russian mob. Connie Nielsen and Sharon Stone also star. Plot details on the sequel are being kept under wraps …

Hailey Merkt, who vied for Nick Viall‘s heart during season 21 of The Bachelor, died of leukemia July 26. A statement on her Instagram read in part, “It is with broken hearts we share that our beloved Hailey has passed away after a courageous fight for her life. Hailey faced this journey with unimaginable strength, grace, and selflessness. Her determination, courage, and will to live surpassed every timeline the doctors gave her, and she chose to spend her final moments surrounded by loved ones and doing what she cherished most with no regrets.” In lieu of flowers, fans wishing to offer support are asked to make a donation to her GoFundMe page, which will be open through Aug. 10 …

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Saturday Night Live Weekend Update co-anchor Colin Jost has been tapped to host Amazon Prime’s Pop Culture Jeopardy!, set to begin production in August.

Similar to traditional Jeopardy!, the spin-off, billed as “the first Jeopardy! series created exclusively for a major streaming service,” will employ an answer-question format, but with a focus on categories such as music, film, TV, stage and sports, according to Variety. Additionally, contestants will play in teams of three in a tournament-style event.

“What is: I’m excited,” Jost quipped in response to the announcement in a statement obtained by the outlet.

Jost joined SNL back in 2005 and has co-anchored the sketch show’s Weekend Update segment since 2014. He’s also appeared in the films How to Be Single, Coming 2 America and Tom and Jerry.

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Former Saturday Night Live star and stand-up comedian Pete Davidson has checked into a wellness facility for mental health treatment, a source tells People.

The magazine reports the 30-year-old King of Staten Island star is taking some time off following a grueling stand-up and acting schedule to focus on his well-being.

Davidson did so last July, as well, to deal with his PTSD and borderline personality disorder, which he’s been public about both in interviews and in his creative work. His battle with addiction — and many stints in rehab — has also taken center stage in his comedy.

For now, a source tells People the superstar is focused on his sobriety, and is being supported by his family and friends for proactively looking after his mental health.

A rep for Davidson has yet to return ABC Audio’s request for comment on the story.

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Three billion human lives ended on Aug. 29, 1997, according to Linda Hamilton‘s Sarah Connor in 1991’s Terminator 2. But Aug. 29, 2024, the date known as Judgment Day, will bring the debut of Netflix’s anime series Terminator: Zero. 

Set to a remix of The Smashing Pumpkins‘ “Disarm,” an action-packed new trailer shows what could happen on the horrible date — human extermination by the artificial intelligence known as Skynet — and those willing to do anything to stop it. 

According to Netflix, the new series follows two related timelines: 1997 and 2022. A female soldier from 2022 is sent back through time to save Malcolm Lee, a scientist with the key to stopping Judgement Day — an alternative AI known as Kokoro.

Netflix teases, “As Malcolm navigates the moral complexities of his creation, he’s hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future, which forever alters the fate of his three children.”

André Holland voices Lee, Rosario Dawson voices Kokoro and Sonoya Mizuno plays Eiko, the soldier charged with stopping the Terminator. 

Timothy Olyphant plays the relentless killing machine.

“Encompassing flesh-and-blood resistance fighters and time-traveling cyborgs, this battle spans across the last decades of the 20th century and the first decades of the 21st,” the streaming service says.

The trailer bears this out: There are not only eye-popping battles with skeletonized Terminators fighting humans in the future, as glimpsed in the 1984 original and James Cameron‘s follow-up T2, but some of the 1997-set action apparently takes place right up to mankind’s ultimate deadline, the eve of Judgement Day.

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Prime Video celebrated the wrap of its forthcoming drama series Malice with a series of photos of its cast.

One of them features stars David Duchovny, Jack Whitehall, Carice van Houten and more seated at an outdoor dining table with a postcard-perfect Greek seascape behind them. 

The series, directed by Fargo and Handmaid’s Tale veteran Mike Barker and The Pale Horse alumna Leonora Lonsdale, has Whitehall playing Adam Healey, “a charming ‘manny’ who infiltrates the brash, wealthy Tanner family, in order to destroy them.”

The streamer teases, “Set in London and Greece, this psychological thriller is full of dark family secrets, manipulation and betrayal and it asks the question, why does Adam despise Jamie Tanner (Duchovny) so much?”

In a statement, Whitehall called the 18-week shoot incredible. He says in part, “[F]rom shooting in London in February to ending in 37-degree heat [nearly 99 degrees Fahrenheit] in Paros, the whole shoot has been an amazing experience and I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve achieved.”

He called the cast, which also includes Christine Adams and Raza Jaffrey, “insanely talented” and enthused, “I can’t wait for you to see the end result when it launches worldwide next year.”

Malice debuts in 2025 on Prime Video.

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Military.com reports the U.S. Army is having serious “buyer’s regret” over an $11 million deal to have Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson boost sagging recruitment numbers. 

In fact, not only did Johnson’s involvement not cause a single would-be GI to sign on the dotted line for Uncle Sam, the campaign “may possibly have had a negative impact on finding new enlistments,” according to internal emails reviewed by the news source.

For these reasons, the Army is reportedly trying to get $6 million back, the article says.

According to Army sources, the deal would have leveraged Johnson’s football minor league, the United Football League, to promote the military branch. However, poor viewer numbers for the league deflated that strategy — as did Johnson’s reported lack of participation using his Instagram fanbase of 396 million followers. 

According to the article, Johnson promised the Army five promotional posts to his legion of followers — worth, according to the military, a million bucks each considering the size of his audience. But Johnson allegedly delivered on just two of them. 

Evidently, the Army pushed back against the sports tie-in after an $88 million deal with NASCAR to promote the National Guard flopped, but the deal was reportedly “pushed through” by Gen. Randy George.

Col. Dave Butler, a rep for George, tells the website, “In terms of The Rock, it’s unfortunate he was pulled away at a time when we expected him to … create content for his social media channel.”

While they try to “rebalance the contract,” Butler said, “The Rock remains a good partner to the Army.”

A rep for the superstar didn’t return ABC Audio’s request for comment.

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In a bit of a hat trick, Ryan Reynolds managed to plug his blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine, tweak his friend and co-star Hugh Jackman and promote an upcoming nature series he’s narrating for Nat Geo in one fell swoop. 

Reynolds captioned a social media video post, “Many of you haven’t been asking about the wolverine documentary we didn’t spend much time making.” He presented a nature video of an actual wolverine, “one of the largest and laziest members of the weasel family,” which “is actually pretty boring.” 

“We shot 15 hours,” Ryan narrates of footage of the animal sleeping and scratching itself. “And these are the HIGHLIGHTS!” 

He also deadpans that the animals are known for “their pungent aroma,” adding, “I can vouch for the ‘pungent aroma’ part, especially after a dance number.”

The nature video then cuts to a view of Jackman in his Wolverine — capital W — costume, to which Ryan says, “Here we can see an older male wolverine, sadly sulking out of its den one last time, probably for a paycheck.”

It cuts back to the footage of the actual animal, which Ryan insists “just f****** sucks.” 

The snippet ends with a plug for Underdogs, which is a real nature documentary coming out in 2025 from National Geographic. It’s a project that Reynolds promised in 2023 to be “entertaining, surprising and will do justice to animals usually stuck as supporting cast.”

Disney is the parent company of National Geographic and ABC News.

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