The official trailer for HBO’s The Survivor stars Ben Foster (Leave No Trace) as boxer Harry Haft, a formidable presence in the ring who was forced to use his fighting skills to survive Auschwitz. The film’s based on a true story and tells of Haft’s attempts to reunite with the woman he loved before the Holocaust tore them apart.
In addition to Ben Foster, The Survivor stars Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread), Billy Magnussen (No Time to Die), Peter Sarsgaard (Jackie), Saro Emirze (Wilsberg), Dar Zuzovsky (Hostages), Danny DeVito (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), and John Leguizamo (Latin History for Morons).
The Survivor reunites Ben Foster with Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson (Rain Man) who cast Foster in the actor’s first feature film, Liberty Heights, way back in 1999. Based on Alan Haft’s Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano, The Survivor was written by Justine Juel Gillmer and executive produced by Joel Greenberg, Ben Foster, Danny Devito, Brenda Gilbert, Steven Thibault, Ashley Levinson, Anjay Nagpal, Ron McLeod, Jason Cloth, and Richard McConnell.
The Survivor will premiere on HBO on Wednesday, April 27, 2022 at 8pm ET/PT in honor of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day).
Vicky Krieps and Ben Foster in ‘The Survivor’ (Photograph by Jessica Kourkounis / HBO)
The Plot, Courtesy of HBO:
When the Nazis invade Poland, Harry Haft is sent to the Auschwitz extermination camp. He is a powerfully built man, so a charming but sadistic Nazi officer offers him an impossible deal: fight fellow prisoners in the boxing ring for the amusement of his captors, or die. The winner of the bout survives to fight again. The loser is shot or sent to the gas chamber. How far will Harry’s will to live take him? What will he do to escape the death all around him?
The two-minute official trailer for Paramount+’s The Offer reveals new details on the battle to adapt Mario Puzo’s critically acclaimed The Godfather novel into a feature film. The limited series is based on true events, as recalled by Oscar-winning producer Albert S. Ruddy, and is set to premiere on April 28, 2022.
The 10-episode series will release the first three episodes on April 28th followed by new episodes on subsequent Thursdays.
The Offer‘s cast includes Miles Teller as Albert S. Ruddy, Matthew Goode as Robert Evans, Juno Temple as Bettye McCartt, Giovanni Ribisi as Joe Colombo, and Dan Fogler as Francis Ford Coppola. Burn Gorman plays Charles Bluhdorn, Colin Hanks is Barry Lapidus, and Patrick Gallo stars as Mario Puzo.
Emmy nominee Michael Tolkin (Escape at Dannemora) created and wrote The Offer, with Nikki Toscano (Hunters) also writing, executive producing, and serving as the showrunner. In addition, Oscar winner Albert S. Ruddy (Million Dollar Baby, The Godfather), Teller, Russell Rothberg, and Leslie Greif executive produce. Rocketman‘s Dexter Fletcher directed multiple episodes and was also involved as an executive producer.
The Godfather was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and released in theaters in March 1972. It earned 11 Oscar nominations, winning three – Best Picture, Best Actor (Marlon Brando), and Best Adapted Screenplay.
The Godfather earned $133 million domestically and grossed $243+ million worldwide before exiting theaters.
The official trailer for Men starts off innocently enough. A woman arrives at a house in the country and receives a friendly greeting from the home’s occupant. But given that Men is an A24 film from Alex Garland, that friendly vibe doesn’t last long. 45 seconds into the nearly two and a half minute trailer the woman reveals she feels haunted. She’s confused as to why her husband threw himself off a balcony and is looking for answers.
Men stars Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter), SAG Award nominee Rory Kinnear (The Imitation Game), and Paapa Essiedu (Lazarus Project), and was written and directed by Oscar nominee Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation).
A24 has set a May 20, 2022 premiere date.
The Plot, Courtesy of A24:
In the aftermath of a personal tragedy, Harper (Buckley) retreats alone to the beautiful English countryside, hoping to have found a place to heal. But someone or something from the surrounding woods appears to be stalking her. What begins as simmering dread becomes a fully-formed nightmare, inhabited by her darkest memories and fears in visionary filmmaker Alex Garland’s feverish, shape-shifting new horror film.
Poster for Alex Garland’s ‘Men’ (Photo Courtesy of A24)
The trailer for season two of Hulu’s The Hardy Boys teases you can’t escape the past. Season two finds the sibling sleuths setting out to discover what happened to a missing classmate.
All 10 episodes of the new season will premiere on Wednesday, April 6, 2022.
The cast is led by Rohan Campbell (Virgin River) as Frank Hardy and Alexander Elliot (Locke and Key) as Joe Hardy. Keana Lyn (The Yard) plays Callie Shaw, Adam Swain (A Million Little Things) is Chet Morton, Cristian Perri (A Simple Favor) is Phil Cohen, and Riley O’Donnell (Big Top Academy) is Biff Hooper.
Newcomers to the series include Krista Nazaire (Before We Crash) as Belinda Conrad and Sadie Munroe (Workin’ Moms) as Lucy Wayne. Athena Georgaklis, Joan Lambur, Doug Murphy, Pam Westman, Chris Pozzebon, Jason Stone, and Madeleine Lambur serve as executive producers.
The Season 2 Plot, Courtesy of Hulu:
The second season picks up six months after the events of Season 1, building on the mystery and drama of the inaugural season and welcoming new friends and suspects. In Season 2, when a Bridgeport classmate mysteriously disappears, Frank (Campbell) and Joe Hardy (Elliot) drop their new normal routine to get back to detective work. But when they discover the mystical relic they destroyed last year is still in play, it becomes clear their simple missing person case is actually part of something far more sinister.
The Hardy boys and their friends must quickly learn who they can and can’t trust as they race against time to unravel the truth, and ultimately realize that no one is safe from their past.
Netflix just released the first batch of photos from Stranger Things season four volume one which finds the action taking place in four locations, including California. With the young group of actors growing up, the tone of the upcoming fourth season will be different from previous seasons. In an interview for the Present Company With Krista Smith podcast, co-creator Ross Duffer described what fans can expect from the much-anticipated fourth season.
“When we pitched it to Netflix all those years ago, we pitched it as the kids are…The Goonies in E.T.,” said Ross Duffer. “That’s their storyline. And the adults are in Jaws and Close Encounters and then the teens are in Nightmare on Elm Street or Halloween. But, this year, we don’t have the kids. We can’t do The Goonies anymore. And so, suddenly, we’re leaning much harder into that horror movie territory that we love. It was fun to make that change.”
Season four volume one will premiere on May 27, 2022 followed by volume two on July 1st.
Stranger Things season four stars Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, David Harbour as Jim Hopper, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, and Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair. Noah Schnapp plays Will Byers, Sadie Sink is Max Mayfield, Natalia Dyer is Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton is Jonathan Byers, Joe Keery is Steve Harrington, and Maya Hawke is Robin Buckley. Priah Ferguson stars as Erica Sinclair, Brett Gelman plays Murray, Cara Buono is Karen Wheeler, and Matthew Modine is Dr. Brenner.
Additional cast members include Jamie Campbell Bower as Peter Ballard, Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munson, Eduardo Franco as Argyle, Sherman Augustus as Lt. Colonel Sullivan, Mason Dye as Jason Carver, Nikola Djuricko as Yuri, and Tom Wlaschiha as Dmitri.
Season four also features Myles Truitt as Patrick, Regina Ting Chen as Ms. Kelly, Grace Van Dien as Chrissy, Logan Riley Bruner as Fred Benson, Logan Allen as Jake, Elodie Grace Orkin as Angela, John Reynolds as Officer Callahan, Rob Morgan as Chief Powell, Amybeth McNulty as Vickie, and Robert Englund as Victor Creel.
Stranger Things was created by The Duffer Brothers. The Duffer Brothers, Iain Paterson, Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, and Curtis Gwinn executive produce. Shawn Levy, The Duffer Brothers, and Nimród Antal direct.
Netflix released the following synopsis for season four:
“It’s been six months since the Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins. Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time – and navigating the complexities of high school hasn’t made things any easier. In this most vulnerable time, a new and horrifying supernatural threat surfaces, presenting a gruesome mystery that, if solved, might finally put an end to the horrors of the Upside Down.”
Ludo Lefebvre and Natasha Leggero host TBS’s ‘Rat in the Kitchen’ (Photograph by Jace Downs / Credit: TBS)
TBS’s new unscripted cooking competition series Rat in the Kitchen puts a weird twist on traditional culinary competitions. Despite its name, Rat in the Kitchen has nothing to do with Pixar’s Ratatouille. Instead, the “rat” in this cooking show is a saboteur who tries to screw up his or her team’s dishes without getting caught.
Rat in the Kitchen will premiere on Thursday, March 31, 2022 at 9pm ET/PT. Hosted by Natasha Leggero and Chef Ludo Lefebvre, Rat in the Kitchen’s competitors are a mix of home cooks and professional chefs. Each team will be tasked with figuring out who among them is the rat as they attempt to create dishes that impress judge Lefebvre.
During the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour, ITV’s Chief Creative Officer David Eilenberg revealed the rat was given a lot of freedom to figure out how to sabotage dishes. “If other contestants were foolish enough to leave the food alone during the plating process, the rat could jump in then,” said Eilenberg. “It was very free-flowing in terms of when the rat might jump in to do their dastardly deeds.”
Eilenberg discussed the casting process, noting the rat was chosen from among the chefs cast in the show. Being selected to be the rat was actually a surprise to the chosen chef.
“You want them to be ready to become a saboteur. What’s been really interesting watching the show evolve is that every rat we ultimately ended up selecting brought his or her own personality and skills to the job,” said Eilenberg. “And, again, without giving too much away, you saw people occasionally deceive the other contestants even about parts of their own background. They got very deep into going cloak and dagger.”
Eilenberg added: “You should know that the rat doesn’t know that they’re the rat until the night before shooting. The rat doesn’t have weeks to prepare to be a rat. They have one tense night to figure out how they’re going to pull this off.”
Host Natasha Leggero enjoyed watching the chefs bond and then being shocked when the rat was revealed.
“One of the most fun things about watching it is the chefs really start to trust each other and make friends and allies with each other throughout the game, and then oftentimes, they find out that someone has deceived them who they’ve been almost becoming friends with. So, I think that really added to it. I feel like they were all so convincing,” said Leggero.
Chef Ludo Lefebvre confirmed that neither he nor Natasha Leggero knew the rat’s identity. “If I will be a contestant, I would test all the food and don’t trust anybody,” said Lefebvre, laughing. “It was hard to find the rats, you know. It was hard, especially if you have a good cook or bad cook. Sometimes it was just a big mess. It was hard to figure out what’s going on in the kitchen. I was not used to seeing a kitchen (with) so many different foods in the kitchen, movement, creativity. I mean, there’s a lot of chefs in one kitchen, and a lot of things going on. It’s very difficult to find the rats.”
Leggero admitted they got worse at guessing the rat’s identity as the season went on, mainly because the rats were getting better at hiding in plain sight.
“There were a few episodes where we were squealing. We couldn’t believe who it was. I definitely don’t think we got better at guessing,” said Leggero.
The best rats were also the best actors, according to Leggero.
“I don’t know what I can say…but, you know, just pretending like you’re tripping and spilling something, and it feeling very real and then finding out, oh, that was a sabotage,” explained Leggero. “I think everyone would come up with their own unique things, and I think the acting would really help, too.”
The team tries to stay one step ahead of a shooter on CBS’s FBI season four episode 16. Directed by Alex Zakrzewski from a script by Joe Webb, episode 16 – “Protective Details” – will air on Tuesday, March 29, 2022 at 8pm ET/PT.
Missy Peregrym stars as Special Agent Maggie Bell, Zeeko Zaki is Special Agent Omar Adom ‘OA’ Zidan, and Jeremy Sisto plays Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine. The season four cast also includes Alana De La Garza as Special Agent in Charge Isobel Castille, John Boyd as Special Agent Stuart Scola, and Katherine Renee Turner as Special Agent Tiffany Wallace.
“Protective Details” Plot: After an ICE agent is fatally shot at an ICE vs. DEA hockey game, the team attempts to find the shooter who they believe may also be targeting Congressman Curtis Grange (guest star Brett Cullen), who was at the same game.
Grant Gustin as The Flash and Danielle Panabaker as Caitlin Frost in ‘The Flash’ season 8 (Photo (C) 2022 The CW Network, LLC)
The CW’s just given seven of its primetime dramas early renewal orders as the network works on setting its 2022-2023 season lineup. Superhero shows The Flash and Superman & Lois will return for new seasons, with The Flash earning a ninth season and Superman & Lois getting picked up for season three.
Riverdale has been renewed for its seventh season and All American will be sticking around for a fifth season. Additionally, Walker and Kung Fu have both been given third season orders, while Nancy Drew will return for a fourth season.
The seven renewals join previously announced alternative series Penn & Teller: Fool Us, Masters of Illusion, and World’s Funniest Animals, all of which are set to return for the 2022-23 primetime season.
“As we prepare for the 2022-23 season, these scripted series, along with the alternative series we renewed earlier, will serve as the start of a solid foundation utilizing some of our most-watched series for us to build on for next year and beyond,” said Mark Pedowitz, Chairman and CEO, The CW Network. “These dramas are also important to our overall digital strategy, as they are some of our most-streamed and socially-engaged programming, and we look forward to adding more new and returning series to help strengthen and expand our multiplatform footprint.”
The just-announced renewals come in advance of appearances by talent and producers of Kung Fu and Superman & Lois at the 2022 WonderCon.
Poster for ‘Grace and Frankie’ season 7 part 2 (Photo Courtesy of Netflix)
The final episodes of the critically acclaimed, award winning comedy Grace and Frankie will premiere on April 29, 2022. Netflix confirmed the date and unveiled a new poster in support of the upcoming release of season seven part two.
Season seven’s first four episodes debuted on August 13, 2021. Episodes five through 16 arrive on April 29th.
Jane Fonda (Grace) and Lily Tomlin (Frankie) lead the cast of Netflix’s longest-running original series. Season seven also stars Martin Sheen as Robert, Sam Waterston as Sol, Baron Vaughn as Nwabudike, Ethan Embry as Coyote, and Brooklyn Decker as Mallory. June Diane Raphael plays Brianna, Peter Cambor is Barry, Lindsey Kraft is Allison, Marsha Mason is Arlene, Tim Bagley is Peter, Peter Gallagher plays Nick Skolka, and Christine Woods stars as Jessica.
Series creators Marta Kauffman and Howard J. Morris guide Grace and Frankie as co-showrunners and executive producers. Fonda, Tomlin, Robbie Tollin, Hannah KS Canter, Marcy Ross, Paula Weinstein, and Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Bill Bost also executive produce.
Netflix released the following description of the final season:
“Seven years ago, Grace and Frankie’s lives turned upside down when their longtime husbands left them for… each other. Both sparring partners and partners-in-crime, Grace and Frankie formed an unlikely and unbreakable bond as they faced uncertain futures head-on, and hand-in-hand. They’ve laughed together, cried together, did shrooms together, and twice-over became successful entrepreneurs together.
A history-making 94 episodes later, Grace and Frankie continue to show themselves, their families, and their fans what it means to live life to the fullest, fearlessly and unapologetically. Here’s to seven seasons of laughs, tears, mood-enhancers, and good vibes. And, as Grace and Frankie would say, fuck it. This may be their final chapter, but they’re just getting started.”
Mario Cantone, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, and Sarah Jessica Parker in ‘And Just Like That…’ season 1 episode 5 (Photograph by Craig Blankenhorn/HBO Max)
The Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That… has been picked up for a second season by HBO MAX. The 10 episode first season premiered in December 2021 and finished up on February 3, 2022. HBO Max hasn’t confirmed a targeted premiere date for the second season.
“I am delighted and excited to tell more stories about these vibrant, bold characters – played by these powerful, amazing actors. The fact is, we’re all thrilled. And Just like That… our Sex life is back,” said executive producer Michael Patrick King.
Season one set a new record for the biggest debut of a Max Original series. The series is led by Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis reprising their Sex and the City roles as Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbs, and Charlotte York, respectively.
The first season’s cast also included Sara Ramírez as Che Diaz, Sarita Choudhury as Seema Patel, Nicole Ari Parker as Lisa Todd Wexley, Karen Pittman as Dr. Nya Wallace. Chris Noth briefly reprised his role as Mr. Big, Mario Cantone returned as Anthony Marentino, David Eigenberg was back as Steve Brady, and Evan Handler returned as Harry Goldenblatt. Willie Garson reunited with his Sex and the City co-stars/friends for a few episodes before he passed away in September 2021 at the age of 57.
“We have been delighted by the cultural conversation generated by these characters and their stories, set in a world we already know and love so much. We are proud of the work Michael Patrick King and our wonderful writers, producers, cast and crew have done to bring these stories to the screen. We can’t wait for fans to see what’s in store for season 2!” said Sarah Aubrey, Head of Original Content, HBO Max.
The Plot, Courtesy of HBO Max:
The Max Original AND JUST LIKE THAT…, the new chapter of the groundbreaking HBO series Sex and the City, from executive producer Michael Patrick King, follows Carrie (Parker), Miranda (Nixon) and Charlotte (Davis) as they navigate the journey from the complicated reality of life and friendship in their 30s to the even more complicated reality of life and friendship in their 50s.
