Entertainment

The new series Mrs. Davis stars Betty Gilpin as Sister Simone, a nun on a mission to destroy an AI, the aforementioned Mrs. Davis, who seems to have control over most people on Earth. The series mixes drama, comedy and even some absurdity, as it explores the role AI and technology play in our lives today, which Gilpin realizes is a very timely subject.

Gilpin tells ABC Audio, “I think the show and Simone are asking the same question we are right now which is, is this thing our savior or our downfall? Is this gonna fix everything or is it going to be the end of humanity?”

And Gilpin isn’t so sure AI is the savior some people make it out to be, noting, “I do think that there is a connection to the inexplicable that we are kind of gambling with if we’re so addicted to having all the answers in our pocket.” She adds, “and I think that our show is pretty honest about the benefits and the possible curse.”

Co-star Jake McDorman, who plays Wyatt, Sister Simone’s ex-boyfriend and leader of The Resistance, understands a lot of people worry about AI taking over and replacing people in jobs, but notes the show also looks at bigger implications of too much technology.

“What would it do to faith? How many other things would kind of vanish and evaporate if it was demystified?” he asks, adding, “[It’s] an interesting conversation to have and our show kind of has those conversations.”  

Mrs. Davis premieres Thursday, April 20 on Peacock.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in action in the full trailer to his upcoming Netflix action-comedy series FUBAR.

His character, a retired CIA agent, is dragged back into service to extract an important asset, only to find out it’s his daughter, played by Top Gun: Maverick‘s Monica Barbaro.

Safe to say, it’s a shock for the overprotective dad, who’d still like to think his little girl is still, well, a little girl. “Alcohol, cigarettes, and garish lipstick!” he frets, until he realizes the vibrating item he’s just picked up is only made to look like a tube of lipstick.

“Kill me now!” his daughter exclaims.

Comedienne and actress Fortune Feimster is also game as a wise-cracking sidekick, much like Tom Arnold was for Schwarzenegger in True Lies, and Ah-nuld’s Terminator: Dark Fate co-star Gabriel Luna also stars.

Netflix teases, “A CIA Operative on the verge of retirement discovers a family secret. Forced to go back into the field for one last job, the series tackles universal family dynamics set against a global backdrop of spies, action and humor.”

The show debuts May 25.

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On Wednesday, Lucasfilm dropped the season three finale of The Mandalorian.

The cliffhanger penultimate episode ended with Pedro Pascal‘s Din Djarin, Katee Sackhoff‘s Bo-Katan Kryze and their Mando mates ambushed on the home planet Mandalore, after finding a secret Imperial facility led by Giancarlo Esposito‘s Moff Gideon.

Bo-Katan and most of her allies manage to escape, but Din is captured and brought to face Gideon, who not only has a shiny superpowered Dark Trooper suit, but an army of commandos outfitted in Mandalorian-type gear. He orders an airstrike to wipe out the Mandalorian fleet and the warrior clan once and for all.

Without spoilers, the finale opens with the Mandalorians desperately trying to warn their allies in a last-ditch episode to save their people and regroup to retake their planet.

The final chapter of the season also finally reveals what Gideon has been up to with Grogu’s, aka Baby Yoda’s, DNA, in a callback to the first season, and also shows just what the little guy can do piloting his new modified IG-11 droid body.

The finale also sees Bo-Katan and Gideon finally facing off for the Darksaber, a weapon tied by legend to the Mandalorians’ fate, and a jetpack dogfight sequence reminiscent of some of Star Wars: The Clone Wars‘ most celebrated battle scenes.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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New co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn announced on social media Tuesday that Superman: Legacy, which he wrote and will be directing, is taking flight.

“I’m honored to be a part of the legacy. And what better day than #SupermanAnniversary Day to dive fully into early pre-production on #SupermanLegacy?” he captioned a photo of the screenplay’s title page.

Tuesday was the 85th anniversary of the hero’s first appearance, in Action Comics #1, on April 18, 1938.

Gunn continued, “Costumes, production design, and more now up and running.” Additionally, sources tell Deadline that physical production will start in early 2024. 

Superman: Legacy is scheduled to hit theaters on July 11, 2025.

In the meantime, Gunn’s last directorial effort for Marvel Studios, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, hits theaters on May 5.

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Rust, the Alec Baldwin film on which cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed in 2021, will resume production on Thursday, according to a press release obtained by ABC News.

“The production will continue to utilize union crew members and will bar any use of working weapons and any form of ammunition,” Melina Spadone, Attorney for Rust Movie Productions said in a statement on Tuesday. “Live ammunition is — and always was — prohibited on set.”

The 65-year-old actor and the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, were both charged last month with two counts of involuntary manslaughter over Hutchins’ death in October 2021.

Baldwin has already formally entered a not-guilty plea to one count of involuntary manslaughter for his role in the fatal shooting.

Baldwin and Hutchins’ estate settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the actor in October. As part of the settlement, Matthew Hutchins, the widower of the slain cinematographer, will now serve as an executive producer on the film. He joins Rust‘s original producers and a new addition, Academy Award-nominated The Thin Red Line veteran Grant Hill.

Baldwin and the rest of the movie’s original principal cast are due to return to set Thursday when production resumes.

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Seth Rogen and Keanu Reeves are set to star in the comedy Good Fortune, along with Aziz Ansari, who will make his feature directorial debut, according to Variety. Good Fortune marks the second directorial debut for Ansari, whose first attempt, the comedic drama Being Mortal, was suspended over complaints of actor Bill Murray’s inappropriate behavior on set…

Fox has ordered the game show Snake Oil, hosted by former Saturday Night Live star David Spade and executive produced by Will Arnett, host of the network’s LEGO Masters, according to Deadline. The show “sees contestants pitched unique products by convincing entrepreneurs – some of whom are showcasing real business ventures, while the others are ‘Snake Oil Salesmen’ whose products are fake. Contestants, with the help of guest celebrity advisors, must determine which products are real and which are a sham, for a chance to win life-changing money,” per the outlet. Snake Oil is set to launch during the 2023/24 season…

Peacock has ordered the first Love Island spinoff, Love Island Games, the streamer announced on Tuesday. The spinoff will bring together popular islanders from the U.S. and international versions of the show for a second shot at love, featuring both team and couples’ challenges, all while navigating dating, eliminations, recoupling and dramatic new arrivals. A premiere date has not yet been set. Details around cast, schedule and location will be announced at a later date…

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The season finale of the beloved sitcom Abbott Elementary airs Wednesday night and Sheryl Lee Ralph, who stars as Barbara Howard in the series, is dishing to ABC Audio what viewers can expect to see.

“It’s a bit unexpected,” she teases.

“And once again, you’re going to learn something new about Barbara,” the actress adds. “You’re going to see some things that you’ve been looking for and maybe, well, I don’t know how they’re going to turn out, but I know one thing. It’s going to keep you watching and looking forward to season 3.”

With two seasons under her belt as the old-school kindergarten teacher who has also taken on the role of a maternal figure to some, Ralph shares what she loves about the role.

“I love the fact that this is a wonderful character. She is fully living and invested in her life. She loves what she does. She loves her career as a teacher. She loves the students that she teaches year after year,” she explains.  “And you can see through the episodes that she will go to the limit to try to make sure that things are set up properly for her students because she wants them to succeed. And I love that about her.” 

Abbott Elementary, which also stars Quinta Brunson, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, and William Stanford Davis, has also had quite a few celebrity guest stars including Leslie Odom Jr. and Taraji P. Henson. So who’s on Ralph’s list of dream guest stars?

“Why not Robert De Niro? I mean, that would be great,” she says excitedly, before offering another suggestion. “Oh, we could have Whoopi [Goldberg] back.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)

Catch the season two finale of Abbott Elementary at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.

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Motormouthed leading men Ryan Reynolds and Vince Vaughn are joining Jason Momoa and Aubrey Plaza for Animal Friends, a film Deadline is describing as an “R-rated road trip adventure.”

The trade says the project will combine animated characters with live-action ones, which sounds similar to Reynolds’ hit Detective Pokémon — except this time, it’s not for the kiddie set.

The plot is otherwise still a secret, Deadline says.

Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider, who previously worked with Reynolds on the 2020 game show Don’t, are writing, with Peter Atencio, who called the shots on Bert Kreischer‘s upcoming semi-autobiographical The Machine, directing, and Reynolds co-producing through his Maximum Effort company, with Legendary Pictures and Prime Focus Studios.

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Will Trent will be back on the case for another season on ABC. 

The network has renewed the drama based on the bestselling book series from Karin Slaughter, which stars Ramón Rodríguez in the title role.

Trent, an unorthodox investigator with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, quickly became a fan favorite for the author, who Rodríguez called an “amazing” resource as they told her stories on screen. 

“Karen was amazing,” he enthused to ABC Audio. “You know, she came down the set, and we got to hang out, and she got to see sort of the stages. And you know, I can’t imagine that feeling: these are characters that have lived in her head and worlds that have lived in her head. And now here they are sort of in the physical realm.”

He added he’s “just grateful that she created some really complicated, compelling humans, and I’m just trying to do my best to, you know, fill those shoes.”  

The show, which launched in January, emerged as ABC’s #1 new drama this season in total viewers, with nearly 10 million, and goosed the total viewers for the Tuesday 10 p.m. hour compared to last season by 143%.

In the renewal announcement, Rodríguez expressed, “We’re so thankful to our ABC and Hulu fans for joining us on this wild ride and watching Will Trent. When we set out to bring the series to television screens, we wanted to do justice to the gritty, thrilling world that Karin Slaughter created with her bestselling book series.”

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Those little red DVD envelopes from Netflix are going the way of the Betamax and free AOL CDs.

In what will come as a surprise to millions of Netflix’s subscribers, the company has still been sending people DVDs through the mail as they did in the days before streaming.

However, that will come to an end in September, the company announced Tuesday. Cue Green Day‘s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life):

“After an incredible 25-year run, we’ve decided to wind down DVD.com [service] later this year,” Netflix announced. “Our goal has always been to provide the best service for our members, but as the business continues to shrink that’s going to become increasingly difficult. So we want to go out on a high, and will be shipping our final discs on September 29, 2023.”

The company continued, “Those iconic red envelopes changed the way people watched shows and movies at home — and they paved the way for the shift to streaming….DVDs also led to our first foray into original programming — with Red Envelope Entertainment titles including Sherrybaby and Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion.”

Netflix’s retrospective continued, noting its first DVD was shipped on March 10, 1998, and it was the 1988 Michael Keaton classic Beetlejuice.

Since then, it has shipped more than 5.2 billion discs to more than 40 million subscribers.

And for the record, its most popular DVD to be shipped out was Sandra Bullock‘s Oscar-winning 2009 football family drama The Blind Side.

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