Joel Edgerton stars in Apple TV+’s ‘Dark Matter’ (Photo Courtesy of Apple TV+)
Blake Crouch is adapting his bestselling novel Dark Matter into a series set up at Apple TV+. The streaming service confirmed the sci-fi series will star Joel Edgerton and has Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me) on board to direct four episodes.
Author Crouch will guide the series showrunner and executive producer. Edgerton and Matt Tolmach Productions’ Matt Tolmach (Venom) and David Manpearl are also executive producing.
The nine-episode season will be produced by Sony Pictures Television.
Crouch’s previous television work includes adapting his Wayward Pines trilogy into Fox’s Wayward Pines series executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan. Crouch also co-created TNT’s Good Behavior with Chad Hodge, based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. Joel Edgerton will soon be seen reprising his role as Owen Lars in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring Ewan McGregor in the title role.
The Dark Matter Plot, Courtesy of Apple TV+:
“Hailed as one of the best sci-fi novels of the decade, Dark Matter is a story about the road not taken. The series will follow Jason Dessen, (played by Edgerton) a physicist, professor, and family man who – one night while walking home on the streets of Chicago – is abducted into an alternate version of his life. Wonder quickly turns to nightmare when he tries to return to his reality amid the multiverse of lives he could have lived.
In this labyrinth of mind-bending realities, he embarks on a harrowing journey to get back to his true family and save them from the most terrifying, unbeatable foe imaginable: himself.”
Paramount Pictures just launched another trailer for the long-awaited Top Gun sequel, Tom Gun: Maverick, which is currently targeting a May 27, 2022 theatrical release. And I say “currently” because the much-anticipated sequel’s bounced around the release date calendar for a couple of years, thanks mostly to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The new official trailer finds Maverick (Tom Cruise) informed it’s due to Admiral “Iceman” Kazansky’s personal request that he’s been invited to train TOPGUN graduates. The new assignment finds Maverick butting heads with Goose’s son, Rooster (Miles Teller), who isn’t about to trust Maverick with his life.
The cast also includes Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Charles Parnell, Bashir Salahuddin, Monica Barbaro, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis, Ed Harris, and Val Kilmer.
Top Gun: Maverick was directed by Joseph Kosinski from a screenplay by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie (story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks). Cruise, McQuarrie, Jerry Bruckheimer, and David Ellison produced, with Tommy Harper, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, Chad Oman, and Mike Stenson executive producing.
The Plot, Courtesy of Paramount Pictures:
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.”
Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears, culminating in a mission that demands the ultimate sacrifice from those who will be chosen to fly it.
Anson Boon as John Lyndon, Louis Partridge as Sid Vicious, Toby Wallace as Steve Jones, and Jacob Slater as Paul Cook in ‘Pistol’ (Photo Credit: Rebecca Brenneman/FX)
FX’s Pistol delves into the lives of Sex Pistols founding member/guitarist Steve Jones and his bandmates over the course of six episodes. Today, FX announced the limited series will premiere on Hulu on May 31, 2022 in the U.S.*, with all six episodes available at once for binge-watching.
Toby Wallace stars as Steve Jones, Anson Boon plays John Lydon, Christian Lees is Glen Matlock, and Louis Partridge channels Sid Vicious. The cast also includes Jacob Slater as Paul Cook, Sydney Chandler as Chrissie Hynde, Talulah Riley as Vivienne Westwood, Maisie Williams as punk icon Jordan, Emma Appleton as Nancy Spungen, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Malcolm McLaren.
Series creator Craig Pearce wrote Pistol, based on Jones’ memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, and Oscar winner Danny Boyle directs all six episodes. Pearce, Boyle, Tracey Seaward, Steve Jones, Gail Lyon, Anita Camarata, Paul Lee, and Hope Hartman executive produce.
FX released the following description of the limited series:
Pistol is a six-episode limited series about a rock and roll revolution. The furious, raging storm at the center of this revolution are the Sex Pistols – and at the center of this series is Sex Pistols’ founding member and guitarist, Steve Jones. Jones’ hilarious, emotional, and at times heartbreaking journey guides us through a kaleidoscopic telling of three of the most epic, chaotic, and mucus-spattered years in the history of music.
Based on Jones’ memoir Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol, this is the story of a band of spotty, noisy, working-class kids with “no future,” who shook the boring, corrupt Establishment to its core, threatened to bring down the government and changed music and culture forever.
* – Viewers in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore can watch the series on Disney+.
Jon Krakauer’s bestselling true-crime novel provides the inspiration for FXs Under the Banner of Heaven, an upcoming limited series starring two-time Oscar nominee Andrew Garfield. The new two-minute official trailer finds Garfield’s character, Detective Jeb Pyre, rocked by the murders of a mother and her 15 month old child.
The limited series also stars Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) as Brenda, Sam Worthington (Avatar) as Ron Lafferty, Denise Gough (the upcoming Rogue One prequel series) as Dianna Lafferty, and Billy Howle (The Serpent) as Allen Lafferty. Wyatt Russell (Lodge 49) is Dan Lafferty, Gil Birmingham (Yellowstone) is Bill Taba, Adelaide Clemens (Rectify) plays Rebecca Pyre, Rory Culkin (Halston) is Samuel Lafferty, and Seth Numrich (Turn) is Robin Lafferty.
Chloe Pirrie (Kindred) plays Matilda Lafferty, Sandra Seacat (Enlightened) is Josie Pyre, and Christopher Heyerdahl (Van Helsing) is Ammon Lafferty.
The seven-episode limited series will premiere on Hulu on April 28, 2022.
Oscar nominee Dustin Lance Black (Milk) created the series and serves as showrunner and executive producer. Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Anna Culp for Imagine Television; Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan of Aggregate Films; and David Mackenzie and Gillian Berrie also executive produce.
Andrew Garfield as Jeb Pyre in ‘Under the Banner of Heaven’ (Photo Credit: Michelle Faye/FX)
The Plot, Courtesy of FX:
FX’s Under the Banner of Heaven, the original limited series inspired by the true-crime bestseller by Jon Krakauer, follows the events that led to the 1984 murder of Brenda Wright Lafferty (Edgar-Jones) and her baby daughter in a suburb in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah.
As Detective Jeb Pyre (Garfield) investigates events that transpired within the Lafferty family, he uncovers buried truths about the origins of the LDS religion and the violent consequences of unyielding faith. What Pyre, a devout Mormon, unearths leads him to question his own faith.
The minute and a half teaser trailer for HBO Max’s The Staircase introduces the key players in this limited series based on a true story and starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette. Firth plays novelist Michael Peterson and Collette stars as his wife, Kathleen, who died after falling (or being pushed) down a staircase.
HBO Max will launch The Staircase on May 5, 2022 with the release of the first three episodes. New episodes of the eight-episode limited series arrive on subsequent Thursdays, with the finale airing on June 9th.
The cast also includes Michael Stuhlbarg, Juliette Binoche, Dane DeHaan, Olivia DeJonge, Rosemarie DeWitt, Tim Guinee, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sophie Turner, Vincent Vermignon, Odessa Young and Parker Posey.
Antonio Campos (The Devil All the Time) created the series and is a co-showrunner along with Maggie Cohn. Campos and Cohn wrote and executive produced, and Campos also directing six episodes. Leigh Janiak directed the other two episodes of the limited series.
Colin Firth leads a toast in ‘The Staircase (Photograph Courtesy of HBO Max)
Michael Peterson’s story was the focus of Netflix’s critically acclaimed documentary series The Staircase which premiered in 2004. As Peterson’s criminal case continued, two additional episodes were added in 2013 followed by three more episodes in 2018.
On December 9, 2001, Michael Peterson’s second wife, Kathleen, fell down a flight of stairs in their North Carolina home. The amount of blood around her body was suspicious, as were the seven big lacerations on her scalp that didn’t seem to match with a short fall. Michael was almost immediately the prime suspect.
The HBO Max series charts the events surrounding Kathleen’s death and the criminal investigation that focused on Michael.
The trailer for Netflix’s Ozark season four part two opens with Marty Byrd declaring he’s sick of having blood on his hands. A cold-hearted Wendy replies, “You’re so desperate to be the good guy.”
Ozark season four part one ended with Ruth furious about the death of Wyatt and out for blood. Jonah, against his parents’ wishes, informed her Javi was responsible for Wyatt’s murder. Marty and Wendy didn’t want her to go after the cartel, but Ruth needs to kill her brother’s murderer. “If you want to stop me, you’re going to have to f**king kill me!” screams Ruth as Marty attempts to reason with her.
The action-packed trailer shows Ruth has stopped taking advice from Marty and is ready to burn everything down.
The first seven episodes of the award-winning drama’s final season premiered on January 21, 2022. The final seven new episodes will be released on April 29, 2022. Netflix will also debut a special 30-minute retrospective exploring all aspects of the series including the characters, performances, and the origin of Ozark after the finale arrives.
The cast is led by Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, and Julia Garner. Season four also stars Sofia Hublitz, Skylar Gaertner, Charlie Tahan, Jessica Frances Dukes, Lisa Emery, Felix Solis, Damian Young, Alfonso Herrera, Adam Rothenberg, John Bedford Lloyd, Joseph Sikora, Bruno Bichir, Katrina Lenk, CC Castillo, and Ali Stroker.
Chris Mundy guides the series as showrunner and serves as an executive producer along with Bateman, Mark Williams, John Shiban, Patrick Markey, and Bill Dubuque. Laura Linney is a co-executive producer.
Netflix released this description of season four part two:
“Marty and Wendy are rid of Helen and climb to the top of Navarro’s empire. They find another opportunity to get out of the Ozarks but some past sins won’t stay buried and the most dangerous threats come from blood.”
NBC’s The Blacklist season nine episode 14 finds Red working on putting together key clues regarding Liz’s death. Episode 14 – “Eva Mason” – will air on Friday, April 1, 2022.
James Spader leads the cast as Raymond “Red” Reddington. The season nine cast also includes Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler, Amir Arison as Aram Mojtabai, Hisham Tawfiq as Dembe Zuma, Laura Sohn as Alina Park, and Harry Lennix as Harold Cooper.
“Eva Mason” Plot: While searching for Sen. Panabaker’s missing daughter-in-law, the Task Force learns there may be a larger pattern of abductions. Red continues piecing together the mystery behind Liz’s death.
Season 9 Description, Courtesy of NBC:
“In the two years following the death of Elizabeth Keen, Raymond Reddington (Spader) and the members of the FBI Task Force have disbanded – their lives now changed in unexpected ways and with Reddington’s whereabouts unknown. Finding themselves each at a crossroads, a common purpose compels them to renew their original mission: to take down dangerous, vicious and eccentric Blacklisters. In the process, they begin to uncover lethal adversaries, unimaginable conspiracies and surprising betrayals that will threaten alliances and spur vengeance for the past, led by the most devious criminal of them all – Raymond Reddington.”
James Spader as Raymond “Red” Reddington in ‘The Blacklist’ season 9 episode 14 (Photo by: Zach Dilgard/NBC)Deidre Goodwin as Emily Wright, Amir Arison as Aram Mojtabai, and Laura Sohn as Alina Park in season 9 episode 14 (Photo by: Zach Dilgard/NBC)Deirdre Lovejoy as Cynthia Panabaker in the “Eva Mason” episode (Photo by: Zach Dilgard/NBC)Teddy Coluca as Teddy Brimley in season 9 episode 14 (Photo by: Zach Dilgard/NBC)Deidre Goodwin as Emily Wright in season 9 episode 14 (Photo by: Zach Dilgard/NBC)Diany Rodriguez as Weecha Xiu in season 9 episode 14 (Photo by: Zach Dilgard/NBC)
A young patient has medical issues after conducting experiments on himself on ABC’s The Good Doctor season five episode 13. Directed by Cayman Grant from a script by Jim Adler, episode 13 – “Growing Pains” – airs on Monday, April 4, 2022 at 10pm ET/PT.
The cast of season five features Freddie Highmore as Dr. Shaun Murphy, Antonia Thomas as Dr. Claire Browne, Hill Harper as Dr. Marcus Andrews, and Richard Schiff as Dr. Aaron Glassman. Christina Chang plays Dr. Audrey Lim, Fiona Gubelmann is Dr. Morgan Reznick, Will Yun Lee is Dr. Alex Park, and Paige Spara stars as Lea Dilallo.
“Growing Pains” Plot: While Drs. Lim, Murphy, and Wolke help a teenage “biohacker” whose self-experiments begin to compromise his health, Drs. Morgan, Park, Jordan and Glassman treat a young woman who wants a controversial surgery to treat her depression and chronic pain. Additionally, Dr. Reznick looks to take the next step in her relationship with Dr. Park.
The Good Doctor Description, Courtesy of ABC:
Dr. Shaun Murphy (Highmore), a young surgeon with autism and savant syndrome, continues to use his extraordinary medical gifts at St. Bonaventure Hospital’s surgical unit. As his friendships deepen, Shaun tackles the world of dating for the first time and continues to work harder than he ever has before, navigating his environment to prove to his colleagues that his talents as a surgeon will save lives.
Freddie Highmore, Noah Galvin, and Cherise Boothe in ‘The Good Doctor’ season 5 episode 13 (ABC/Jeff Weddell)Paige Spara in season 5 episode 13 (ABC/Jeff Weddell)Bria Henderson in season 5 episode 13 (ABC/Jeff Weddell)Paige Spara and Freddie Highmore in season 5 episode 13 (ABC/Jeff Weddell)Zavien Garrett and Freddie Highmore in season 5 episode 13 (ABC/Jeff Weddell)Noah Galvin in season 5 episode 13 (ABC/Jeff Weddell)
NBA Hall of Famer Earvin “Magic” Johnson describes his Apple TV+ documentary series They Call Me Magic as a life journey about his family and career, on and off the basketball court. The four-part docuseries premieres on April 22, 2022 and features Johnson, his friends, family members, and NBA players discussing all aspects of the NBA superstar’s life including how an HIV diagnosis spurred him to become a community activist.
During the recent Television Critics Association winter press panel, Johnson reflected on the process of revisiting defining moments in his career while working on this docuseries.
“Whether that was winning championships or crying when Dr. Jerry Buss – I was there when he was dying, his last day – whether it was announcing HIV, whether that’s when I opened the movie theaters in the Black community…I can keep going. It was so many things that it brought back some incredible memories for me to do this documentary and I’m so proud of it,” said Johnson.
“One thing I always love is the fact that I want to be proud of something. I want to be able to walk around and say, ‘Hey, this is so good. This is quality. It’s my story.’ And that’s why I’m so happy that partnering with Apple allowed me to do that. And so, this is an amazing journey that I’ve been on. I don’t want it to stop. It will not stop. And also, how I felt becoming a Dodger owner. You think about Jackie Robinson being the first one and then here I am, one of the only African American baseball owners in Major League Baseball. So, it’s just all those things that I’m able to share with people.”
Asked how it felt to relive magical moments at the Forum and his relationships with Pat Riley and Dr. Jerry Buss, Johnson replied, “Oh, man, you talk about the best moments of my life, when you think about teaming up with Dr. Jerry Buss – and he was a rookie owner (and) I was a rookie that first year – and for us to go all the way, especially after I had just won the 1979 National Championship playing against Larry Bird in Indiana State. And what was so amazing about that game, it’s still the number-one-watched college basketball game in history. I mean, that’s crazy. But teaming up with Dr. Jerry Buss and then eventually having Pat Riley as my coach only took me to a whole other level.
First of all, Pat Riley coached me. He was a tough coach. He made me a better basketball player but also he made me a better man and a better person. So, a lot of things that he was teaching on the court also translated to everyday life.
And then Dr. Buss, for him to take a 19, 20-year-old rookie up under his wing and treat me like his son…that just didn’t happen back in those days. And so, we were together almost every day, all the time. He was just dropping knowledge on me, teaching me. We talked about not only basketball and the Lakers, but we talked about life and where do I see myself 10 years, 15 years from now. He used to always ask me those type of questions. ‘Okay, now we got to build a strategy to help you accomplish that. Make sure that come to fruition.’ So, it was all those things that he was just preparing me for life after basketball.”
Johnson continued: “And sure enough once it was over, I was ready already because I had a great teacher. I had a great role model. I had a great mentor in Dr. Jerry Buss. And then Pat made me a perfectionist. That’s why my team gets mad at me today because I like everything done the right way. And so that’s because of Pat Riley.”
Earvin “Magic” Johnson in “They Call Me Magic,” premiering globally April 22, 2022 on Apple TV+.
Speaking of defining moments, when Johnson tested positive for HIV it was considered to be a death sentence. Johnson was committed to fighting for his life and never thought about giving up.
“I’m all about winning. I’ve always been that way. I think that I never said hey, at the end that I’m going to die. What I tried to do is ask my doctors, ‘What do I have to do to be able to live for a long time?’
And so everything that they told me – take my meds, have a positive attitude, work out – the things that they told me to do, I did those things. And then also be comfortable with my new status. I think that was the main thing. Because I was giving up the game that I love in basketball and that was hard for me to do. And so, I think at the end of the day I’ve done everything the right way.
Johnson added: “But last but not least – this is the most probably important thing and this is why I’m probably still here is because of my support system: my wife, Cookie, my kids, my parents, my brothers and sisters. […] So that’s what it’s all about. And, again, it’s been an amazing journey. You think about 30 years this year – that’s incredible – that I announced HIV.”
The docuseries also touches on the decades-long relationship between Johnson and Larry Bird. Johnson confirmed they remain good friends and continue to enjoy each other’s company.
“Larry and I are busy working together. We’re business partners like that. We shoot commercials together, and we see each other, hang out, and we’re just really good friends. I’m so glad that God put Larry Bird into my life because he made me a better basketball player, as well as a better man, and so I think I did the same for him. He pushed me to limits that I never thought I could go to, and I think I did the same for him. That’s what it’s all about.
We’ve been linked together since ’79, and we’re still – even today when I go speak or I’m anywhere, not a single moment that a person won’t say, ‘Hey, man, I love you versus Larry, the Lakers versus the Celtics.’ That always comes up every single time. So, we were blessed to have each other and be in that rivalry. There hasn’t been a rivalry in the NBA since then, and so thank you LB – that’s what I call him,” said Johnson.
Hulu’s Candy debuted a new teaser trailer during the most controversial Oscars broadcast in history. The new teaser focuses on Jessica Biel as Candy Montgomery, a housewife who murdered her neighbor with an axe.
Hulu’s five-episode limited series is based on tragic true events and stars Critics Choice Awards winner Melanie Lynskey (Yellowjackets) as the neighbor Candy murdered. The cast also includes Timothy Simons, Pablo Schreiber, and Raúl Esparza.
Emmy nominee Robin Veith (Mad Men, The Act) wrote the pilot and executive produces. Eat the Cat’s Nick Antosca (Brand New Cherry Flavor) and Alex Hedlund also executive produce along with Iron Ocean’s Jessical Biel and Michelle Purple (Cruel Summer). The pilot was directed by executive producer Michael Uppendahl (Fargo, American Crime Story: Impeachment).
Candy is set to premiere on Monday, May 9, 2022, with new episodes airing each night leading to the finale on Friday, May 13th.
Betty Gore (Melanie Lynskey) and Candy Montgomery (Jessica Biel) in ‘Candy’ (Photo by: Tina Rowden/Hulu)
The Plot, Courtesy of Hulu:
Candy Montgomery is a 1980 housewife and mother who did everything right — good husband, two kids, nice house, even the careful planning and execution of transgressions — but when the pressure of conformity builds within her, her actions scream for just a bit of freedom. With deadly results.
