(L to R) Sabrina Carpenter and the original Muppet cast in 2026’s ‘The Muppet Show’. Photo: Disney/Mitch Haaseth.
Premiering on Disney+ and ABC February 4th is the new ‘The Muppet Show‘ special, which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking original series.
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Executive produced by Seth Rogen and featuring guest stars Sabrina Carpenter and Maya Rudolph, the new special will feature all your favorite Muppet characters including Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy and Animal, and is a revival of the original 1976 ‘The Muppet Show‘.
In honor of the new series, Moviefone is counting down every Muppets TV show from worst to best!
Editorial Note: For this list, we are including any TV series that featured a Muppet character, which also includes ‘Sesame Street‘, ‘Fraggle Rock‘, and Muppet cartoons.
(L to R) Miss Piggy and Kermit The Frog on ‘The Muppets’. Photo: ABC Studios.
The Muppets return to primetime with a contemporary, documentary-style show. For the first time ever, a series will explore the Muppets’ personal lives and relationships, both at home and at work, as well as romances, breakups, achievements, disappointments, wants and desires. This is a more adult Muppet show, for “kids” of all ages.
‘Sam and Friends’ was an early live-action/puppet television show created by puppeteer Jim Henson and his eventual wife Jane. It was taped and aired locally in Washington, D.C. on WRC-TV in black-and-white, and later, color on weekdays from May 9, 1955 to December 15, 1961.
The cast of ‘Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock’. Photo: Apple TV+.
Join Gobo, Red, Wembley, Mokey, Boober, and new Fraggle friends on hilarious, epic adventures about the magic that happens when we celebrate and care for our interconnected world.
‘The Jim Henson Hour’ was developed as a showcase for the Jim Henson Company’s various puppet creations, including the popular Muppet characters. This hour-long anthology series was hosted by Jim Henson and generally included two segments. The first segment, ‘Muppetelevision’, included comedy skits starring the Muppets, as well as frequent guest appearances by popular entertainers. The second segment often featured rebroadcasts of original, Henson-created productions, such as episodes from Jim Henson’s ‘The StoryTeller‘ anthology series.
(L to R) Pepe The King Prawn, Rizzo the Rat, Kermit the Frog and Clifford on ‘Muppets Tonight’. Photo: Disney Channel.
‘Muppets Tonight’ is a live-action/puppet television series created by Jim Henson Productions and featuring The Muppets. Much like the “MuppeTelevision” segment of ‘The Jim Henson Hour’, ‘Muppets Tonight’ was a continuation of ‘The Muppet Show’, set in a television studio, rather than a theater. It ran on ABC from 1996 to 1998 and reruns ran on Disney Channel from 1997 to 2002.
(L to R) Gonzo the Great, Rowlf the Dog, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and Animal in ‘Muppet Babies’. Photo: CBS.
The Muppet Babies (Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzy and company) live in a large nursery watched over by Nanny. The babies have active imaginations, and often embark upon adventures into imaginary worlds.
Scooter rushes to make his delivery deadlines and upload the brand-new Muppets series for streaming. They are due now, and he’ll need to navigate whatever obstacles, distractions, and complications the rest of the Muppet gang throw at him.
(L to R) Zoot, Dr. Teeth, Floyd Pepper, Animal, Janice, and Lips in ‘The Muppets Mayhem.’ Photo: Disney/Mitch Haaseth.
The Electric Mayhem Band goes on an epic musical journey to finally record their first studio album. With the help of a driven young music executive, Nora (Lilly Singh), the old-school Muppet band comes face to face with the current day music scene as they try to finally go platinum.
The Fraggles are a fun-loving community of creatures who live in a subterranean fantasy land where they love to play, sing and dance their cares away, sharing their world with the tiny Doozers and the giant Gorgs. The series teaches empathy and tolerance and encourages children to understand people different from themselves.
(L to R) Seth Rogen and Fozzie Bear in 2026’s ‘The Muppet Show’. Photo: Disney/Mitch Haaseth.
Music, comedy, and a whole lot of chaos is bound to ensue when The Muppets once again take the stage of the original Muppet Theatre with their very special guest, Sabrina Carpenter! The series is executive produced by Seth Rogen.
(L to R) Grover, Oscar The Grouch, Big Bird, Elmo, and Cookie Monster in ‘Sesame Street’. Photo: Netflix.
On a special inner city street, the inhabitants—human and muppet—teach preschoolers basic educational and social concepts using comedy, cartoons, games, and songs.
(L to R) Kermit The Frog, Floyd Pepper, Miss Piggy, Dr. Teeth, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Rowlf the Dog, Scooter, Robin The Frog, and Gonzo The Great on ‘The Muppet Show’. Photo: Henson Associates.
Go behind the curtains as Kermit the Frog and his muppet friends struggle to put on a weekly variety show.
David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr. in ‘Selma’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is on January 19th and there have been many documentaries, movies and TV shows made about the iconic civil rights leader.
From films like director Ana DuVernay‘s ‘Selma‘, to documentaries like 2018’s ‘I Am MLK Jr.‘, to mini-series like season 4 of ‘Genius‘ entitled ‘MLK/X‘, there are plenty of movies and TV shows to watch to learn more about King’s life and contributions.
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In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Moviefone is counting down the 15 best movies and TV shows about the civil rights leader, his family and his legacy.
1999’s ‘Selma, Lord, Selma’. Photo: Walt Disney Television.
In 1965 Alabama, an 11 year old girl (Jurnee Smollett) is touched by a speech by Martin Luther King, Jr. and becomes a devout follower. But her resolution is tested when she joins others in the famed march from Selma to Montgomery.
A powerful drama of soaring ambition and shattered dreams that takes a provocative insider’s look at the way the USA goes to war—as seen from inside the LBJ (Michael Gambon) White House leading up to and during the Vietnam War.
A chronicle of the final chapters of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, revealing a conflicted leader who faced an onslaught of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum.
‘Bringing King to China’ is a father’s “love letter” to his adult daughter, a young American woman struggling to bring Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream of nonviolence to China, and then back to the United States.
(L to R) Anthony Mackie as Martin Luther King Jr. and Bryan Cranston as President Lyndon B. Johnson in ‘All the Way’. Photo: HBO Films.
Lyndon B. Johnson‘s (Bryan Cranston) amazing 11-month journey from taking office after JFK‘s assassination, through the fight to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act and his own presidential campaign, culminating on the night LBJ is actually elected to the office – no longer the ‘accidental President.’
Every year, hundreds of children from pre-K through 12th grade take the stage at the Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest, a public speaking competition where they perform poetry and speeches inspired by the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The film covers the months leading up to the 40th annual festival, as schools across the city send their top-placing students to compete. It is a portrait of young people raising their voices about issues they care about and of the unique community that celebrates and supports them.
This feature documentary deeply explores Dr. King, his experience, his legacy and the Movement at large through key events – The Montgomery Bus Boycott, The Birmingham Campaign, March on Washington, the Selma Movement and Assassination and Legacy.
‘Our Friend, Martin’ is a 1999 animated children’s educational film about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the American civil rights movement. Two friends travel through time, meeting Dr. King at several points during his life. It featured an all-star voice cast and was nominated for an Emmy award in 1999 for Outstanding Animated Program.
Constructed from a wealth of archival footage, the documentary follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from 1955 to 1968, in his rise from regional activist to world-renowned leader of the Civil Rights movement. Rare footage of King’s speeches, protests, and arrests are interspersed with scenes of other high-profile supporters and opponents of the cause, punctuated by heartfelt testimonials by some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
The widows of Martin Luther King (Angela Bassett) and Malcolm X (Mary J. Blige) and how they carry on as single mothers after the assassination of their husbands.
This made-for-TV movie dramatizes the historic boycott of public buses in the 1950s, led by civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Jeffrey Wright).
(Center) David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr. in ‘Selma’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
‘Selma,’ as in Alabama, the place where segregation in the South was at its worst, leading to a march that ended in violence, forcing a famous statement by President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) that ultimately led to the signing of the Voting Rights Act. David Oyelowo plays Martin Luther King Jr.
(L to R) Sadie Sink, Noah Schapp, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, and Caleb McLaughlin in Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things.’
When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one strange little girl (Millie Bobby Brown).
Jeffrey Dean Morgan in ‘The Walking Dead’. Photo: AMC Studios.
Sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) awakens from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic world dominated by flesh-eating zombies. He sets out to find his family and encounters many other survivors along the way.
(L to R) Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey in ’30 Rock’. Photo: NBC.
Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), the head writer for a late-night TV variety show in New York, tries to juggle all the egos around her while chasing her own dream.
(L to R) Evan Rachel Wood and James Marsden in ‘Westworld.’ Photo: HBO.
A dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the evolution of sin. Set at the intersection of the near future and the reimagined past, it explores a world in which every human appetite, no matter how noble or depraved, can be indulged.
Antony Starr as John Gillman / Homelander in Prime Video’s ‘The Boys’ season 4. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
A group of vigilantes known informally as “The Boys” set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than blue-collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty.
A character drama based on the 2001 Elmore Leonard short story “Fire in the Hole.” Leonard’s tale centers around U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) of Kentucky, a quiet but strong-willed official of the law. The tale covers his high-stakes job, as well as his strained relationships with his ex-wife and father.
(L to R) Charlie Hunnam and Tommy Flanagan in ‘Sons of Anarchy’. Photo: FX Productions.
The Sons of Anarchy (SOA) are an outlaw motorcycle club with many charters in the United States and overseas. The show focused on the original and founding charter, Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original, often referred to by the acronym SAMCRO, Sam Crow, or simply Redwood Charter. The charter operates both legal and illegal businesses in the small town of Charming, California. They combine gun-running and a garage, and involvement in porn film industry. Clay (Ron Perlman), the charter president, likes it old school and violent; while Jax (Charlie Hunnam), his stepson and the club’s VP, has thoughts about changing the way things are done. Their conflict has effects on both the club and their personal relationship, especially when Jax goes on a personal quest to cleanse the SAMCRO name and image.
(L to R) Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, and David Ramsey in ‘Arrow’. Photo: Warner Bros. Television.
Spoiled billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) is missing and presumed dead when his yacht is lost at sea. He returns five years later a changed man, determined to clean up the city as a hooded vigilante armed with a bow.
(L to R) J.K. Simmons and Krya Sedgwick in ‘The Closer’. Photo: Warner Bros. Television.
Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) transfers from Atlanta to LA to head up a special unit of the LAPD that handles sensitive, high-profile murder cases. Johnson’s quirky personality and hard-nosed approach often rubs her colleagues the wrong way, but her reputation as one of the world’s best interrogator eventually wins over even her toughest critics.
(L to R) Daniel Breaker as Roger “Scooter” Dunbar, Corey Stoll as Mike Prince, Toney Goins as Philip Charyn, Damian Lewis as Bobby “Axe” Axelrod, Asia Kate Dillon as Taylor Mason, David Costabile as Mike ‘Wags’ Wagner, Paul Giamatti as Chuck Rhoades, Maggie Siff as Wendy Rhoades, Sakina Jaffrey as Daevisha ‘Dave’ Mahar, Dola Rashad as Kate Sacker and Jeffrey DeMunn as Chuck Rhoades, Sr. in ‘Billions’ Season 7. Photo Credit: Mark Seliger/Showtime.
A complex drama about power politics in the world of New York high finance. Shrewd, savvy U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) and the brilliant, ambitious hedge fund king Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Damian Lewis) are on an explosive collision course, with each using all of his considerable smarts, power and influence to outmaneuver the other. The stakes are in the billions in this timely, provocative series.
Jon Hamm in ‘Made Men’. Photo: Lionsgate Television.
Set in 1960-1970 New York, this sexy, stylized and provocative drama follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising.
Kevin Costner as John Dutton III in Paramount Network’s ‘Yellowstone’ season 5. Credit: Paramount Network.
Follow the violent world of the Dutton family, who controls the largest contiguous ranch in the United States. Led by their patriarch John Dutton (Kevin Costner), the family defends their property against constant attack by land developers, an Indian reservation, and America’s first National Park.
Emilia Clarke in HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones.’ Photo: HBO.
Seven noble families fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. Friction between the houses leads to full-scale war. All while a very ancient evil awakens in the farthest north. Amidst the war, a neglected military order of misfits, the Night’s Watch, is all that stands between the realms of men and icy horrors beyond.
Bryan Cranston in ‘Breaking Bad’. Photo: Sony Pictures Television.
Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a New Mexico chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live. He becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting desire to secure his family’s financial future at any cost as he enters the dangerous world of drugs and crime.
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11. ‘Succession’ (2018-2023)
Brian Cox in season 4 of HBO’s ‘Succession.’ Photograph by Macall Polay/HBO.
Follow the lives of the Roy family as they contemplate their future once their aging father begins to step back from the media and entertainment conglomerate they control.
(L to R) Amaury Nolasco, Robert Knepper, Wentworth Miller, Peter Stormare and Dominic Purcell in ‘Prison Break’. Photo: 20th Century Fox Television.
Due to a political conspiracy, an innocent man (Dominic Purcell) is sent to death row and his only hope is his brother (Wentworth Miller), who makes it his mission to deliberately get himself sent to the same prison in order to break the both of them out, from the inside out.
The cast of ‘Battlestar Galactica’. Photo: Universal Media Studios.
When an old enemy, the Cylons, resurface and obliterate the 12 colonies, the crew of the aged Galactica protect a small civilian fleet – the last of humanity – as they journey toward the fabled 13th colony, Earth.
The cast of ‘The Shield’. Photo: Sony Pictures Television.
The story of an inner-city Los Angeles police precinct where some of the cops aren’t above breaking the rules or working against their associates to both keep the streets safe and their self-interests intact.
(L to R) Wendell Pierce and Dominic West in ‘The Wire’. Photo: HBO.
Told from the points of view of both the Baltimore homicide and narcotics detectives and their targets, the series captures a universe in which the national war on drugs has become a permanent, self-sustaining bureaucracy, and distinctions between good and evil are routinely obliterated.
Idris Elba in ‘Luther’. Photo:BBC Studios Drama Productions.
A dark psychological crime drama starring Idris Elba as Luther, a man struggling with his own terrible demons, who might be as dangerous as the depraved murderers he hunts.
(L to R) Sarah Shahi and Damian Lewis in ‘Life’. Photo: Universal Media Studios.
Complex, offbeat Detective Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) returns to the force after serving time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Crews’ new lease on life has provided him with a Zen-like outlook, peace of mind and no need for vengeance, an attitude which can be challenging to maintain when someone he cares about is threatened — or when he is investigating the mystery surrounding the murder he was falsely accused of.
Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer in ’24’. Photo: 20th Century Fox Television.
Counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) fights the bad guys of the world, a day at a time. With each week’s episode unfolding in real-time, “24” covers a single day in the life of Bauer each season.
Titus Welliver in season 4 of ‘Bosch’. Photo: Aaron Epstein. Copyright: Amazon Studios
Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver), an LAPD homicide detective, stands trial for the fatal shooting of a serial murder suspect. A cold case involving the remains of a missing boy forces Bosch to confront his past. As daring recruit Julia Brasher (Annie Wersching) catches his eye and departmental politics heat up, Bosch will pursue justice at all costs.
“Friends” is known for their epic annual Thanksgiving episodes, but the sitcom also got into the Christmas and New Year’s Eve spirit over the course of its 10-season run. Which holiday-themed installments filled us with cheer and which ones are as stale as an old sugar cookie? We’re ranking all the “Friends” Christmas episodes, from just alright to merry and bright.
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9. The One With Ross’s Step Forward (Season 8, Episode 11)
It’s hard to believe that a hopeless romantic like Ross who’s been married three times so flippantly would have to much trouble taking his relationship to the next level with Mona, but alas, that’s the focus of this somewhat forgettable storyline. There’s also Rachel’s ragin’ pregnancy hormones and a thing about Chandler’s boss, but overall this holiday episode is ho-ho-ho-hum.
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8. The One with Christmas In Tulsa (Season 9, Episode 10)
The whole Chandler moving to Tulsa concept never really made sense to us — could it BE anymore unnecessary? Chan Man gets stranded in Oklahoma with a co-worker (Selma Blair) who comes on to him… and nothing happens. But who are we kidding? This is a glorified clip show.
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7. The One with the Inappropriate Sister (Season 5, Episode 10)
Rachel’s new guy has a way-too-close relationship with his sister, which makes a few laughs and just an all around feeling of yuckiness. Watching Phoebe deal with her tough stint as a Salvation Army donation collector makes up for any discomfort, because she can make any situation funny.
6. The One Where Rachel Quits (Season 3, Episode 10)
Seeing Rachel quit her very first big girl job at Central Perk is like an end of an era, but it’s nice to see her take matters into her own hands and follow her dreams, even if the path to those drams involves making more coffee. Phoebe exclaiming “God bless us every one” a la Tiny Tim makes this episode a festive little treat, albeit somewhat of a throwaway in the significance department.
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5. The One with the Girl From Poughkeepsie (Season 4, Episode 10)
“Monica, Monica. Have a happy Hannukah. Saw Santa Clause. He said hello to Ross. And please tell Joey, Christmas will be snowwww-yyy. And Rachel and Chandler…elrjalkfjdkfjs.” Phoebe’s Christmas carols are the best Christmas carols.
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4. The One with Pheobe’s Dad (Season 2, Episode 9)
Joey and Chandler’s unconditional support of Phoebe when they come with her to potentially track down her real dad is what the holiday spirit is all about. And of course Monica would make the building’s maintenance person holiday cookies instead of tipping them. Oh, Mon.
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3. The One With the Holiday Armadillo (Season 7, Episode 10)
Perhaps the most memorable “Friends” holiday episode due the outrageous sight gag of Ross dressed up as a phony holiday mascot so he can teach Ben about his Jewish heritage. It’s pure Ross ridiculousness, like only he could pull off.
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2. The One With the Routine (Season 6. Episode 10)
Ross and Monica may have had their fair share of fights growing up, but we totally believe they spent hours on end choreographing an intricate dance to be performed at New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. We love seeing these two goofballs when they’re on the same team in all their unapologetic Geller-ness.
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1. The One with the Monkey (Season 1, Episode 10)
Chandler imposes a no-date rule for New Year’s Eve, but of course everyone ends up coupled up for the holiday. This is where we get to see Phoebe and David’s short-lived love story before he leaves for Minsk — one of the best romantic mini-arcs of the series. Naturally, the clock strikes midnight and each member of our beloved gang is alone again, but they’re never really by themselves because they’ll always have each other. Aww.
If you’re Universal, and you have Steve Carell as the main voice in your big new animated family movie ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’, how are you going to exploit that?
Well, if you also have beloved sitcom ‘The Office’ as one of your big titles on streaming service Peacock – a show that just so happened to be one of Carell’s big breaks – you look to employ a little corporate synergy. Literally, in this case.
It also helps if it’s actually fun, which this video is, recreating the ‘Office’ credits while swapping out Carell’s Michael Scott for his Gru character and putting the various main Minions in place of the ‘Office’ characters played by the likes of John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson and Jenna Fischer.
‘The Office’, of course, was adapted from the UK show created by Ricky Gervais, and brought to the US by Greg Daniels. It’s the story of the employees of Dunder Mifflin, a paper sales company where Michael Scott is the branch manager.
He’s the sort of boss who thinks he’s more fun than he really is, a good-natured sort with a terrible taste in jokes and references, who is perennially upbeat. Around him are a staff of different types – the rule-following martinet weirdo (Wilson’s Dwight Schrute), the talented but unfulfilled everyman (Krasinski’s Jim Halpert) and the sweet, thoughtful receptionist (Fischer’s Pam Beesly).
Courtesy of ‘The Office’ YouTube channel.
Then there’s the supporting cast with their own quirks, including Angela Kinsey’s Angela Martin, an uptight, cat-loving accountant, Brian Baumgartner’s slobby fellow finance team member Kevin, Mindy Kaling as enthusiastic customer service representative and Creed Bratton’s Creed, a supremely strange man with a mysterious background.
While there were initial concerns about being able to replicate the success of the British series, and critics complained when the first episode largely replicated the UK version, ‘The Office’ grew into a huge success, running for nine seasons and expanding its fanbase thanks to time on Netflix and now, Peacock.
As for ‘Rise of Gru’, the latest extension of the ‘Despicable Me’ movie universe acts as a sequel to the 2015 ‘Minions’ spin-off movie and a prequel to the original ‘Despicable Me’.
Carell is back to voice the strangely-accented Gru, here portrayed in the 1970s as a child with big supervillain ambitions. But when he’s invited to interview for an open slot on his favourite villain team The Vicious Six, he’s mocked by the gang for being a kid. Yet after Gru steals the special Zodiac Stone that the Six intend to use to become more powerful, the chase is on.
It’ll end up involving an acupuncturist who teaches kung-fu, a wronged former leader of the villain gang and a chatty new Minion called Otto who is, if it’s possible, even more of a nuisance than the likes of Kevin, Stuart and Bob.
‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ is in theaters from tomorrow.
Courtesy of ‘The Office’ YouTube channel.
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Today HBO’s acclaimed series “Deadwood” comes at long last to an end with a two-hour film reuniting its colorful characters one last time. At the time of its premiere 14 years ago, many of its leads were hard-working character actors hoping for a breakout role, while others were longtime performers looking for a comeback. Creator and showrunner David Milch gave each of them unforgettable calling cards that exploded and expanded their careers, opening doors on television shows and movies alike. To commemorate the series’ overdue conclusion, Moviefone scoured the filmographies of the show’s incredible cast for some of the incredible work they did before, during and especially after appearing on one of the most groundbreaking, mesmerizing television shows ever.
It’s hard to believe that the would-be star of “Deadwood” went 13 years (from 1987 to 2000) without a film credit given his mesmerizing screen presence, but McShane’s comeback feels especially appropriate: in Jonathan Glazer’s “Sexy Beast,” he plays a stoic mob boss who does and says almost nothing, and still manages to be absolutely terrifying. He’d later provide echoes of both that role and his “Deadwood” turn as Continental manager Winston in the action-packed “John Wick” franchise.
When “Deadwood” was cancelled after its third season, Olyphant moved on to a familiar, equally memorable challenge with the acclaimed television series “Justified,” where he again played a rigid lawman. But immediately before starting on Milch’s show, he stole Luke Greenfield’s “Risky Business” riff “The Girl Next Door” as a calculating, charismatic pimp who throws a wrench into the plans of an overachieving high school senior.
Molly Parker has, for most of her career, been a bit of an indie darling, so it comes as no surprise that years before joining Milch’s show, she already transfixed audiences in Wayne Wang’s idiosyncratic drama about a Vegas stripper who confounds a dot-com millionaire who hires her to spend the weekend with him.
Like many of the show’s stars, Malcolmson went on to appear in a number of high profile television series, including “Ray Donovan,” where she has a starring role opposite Liev Schreiber. But prior to that, she signed on for a choice gig as Katniss Everdeen’s troubled mother in the “Hunger Games” franchise.
Few actors even on this show have the versatility of the great John Hawkes, who went on to play a terrifying meth addict opposite Jennifer Lawrence in Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone,” and followed up that performance with another one as a charismatic, mysterious cult leader in Sean Durkin’s “Martha Marcy May Marlene.”
Callie has long been one of Milch’s repertory players, popping up over and over again in his various television projects. But in Darren Lynn Bousman and Chris Monfette’s “Abattoir,” he plays the mysterious caretaker of a house built out of rooms where terrible things happened, and he effortlessly conveys the menace and gravitas of that responsibility.
Dourif’s Doc Cochran was often the heart of Milch’s series, which may come as a surprise to fans of his earlier work, which includes his breakthrough turn as a delicate mental patient opposite Jack Nicholson in Milos Forman’s 1975 Oscar winner, as well as the voice of iconic movie monster Chucky in the “Child’s Play” films.
Weigert’s Calamity Jane stole many scenes — and hearts — over the series’ three seasons, and she has quietly done the same in a number of acclaimed movies, disappearing into roles in Steven Soderbergh’s exercise in period filmmaking “The Good German,” Charlie Kaufman’s melancholy mind-bender “Synecdoche” before breaking out again in the lesbian drama “Concussion.”
As Al Swearengen’s Number Two, Dan, Brown was forced to tackle some tough challenges, but he’d already proven himself more than capable in a variety of movie and TV roles, perhaps most notably playing Warren, the disabled brother of Cameron Diaz’ Mary in the Farrelly brothers’ raunchy but as always surprisingly sweet 1998 comedy.
More than two decades before playing the Grand Hotel’s oily, scheming proprietor E.B. Farnum, Sanderson became known to moviegoers as the tender, troubled inventor J.F. Sebastian in Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking sci-fi classic, and then pulled a 180 in more than 90 episodes of the sitcom “Newhart” playing Larry, the dimwitted brother to two Darryls.
Kim Dickens is one of Hollywood’s most reliable character actors, appearing in films and television roles with equal ease and skill. For David Fincher, she played a doubtful detective searching for clues in the disappearance of Nick Dunne’s wife Amy before winning acclaim in not one but two popular television series, “House of Cards” and “Fear the Walking Dead.”
Ricky Jay’s pedigree as one of David Mamet’s regular played made him ideal for the role of a smart-talking card sharp and hustler in “Deadwood,” but he had already convincingly played a con artist in Mamet’s breakthrough film “House of Games,” and delivered a decidedly more avuncular performance as Jack Horner’s unflappable cinematographer in Paul Thomas Anderson’s ode to the 1970s porn industry “Boogie Nights.”
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Garret Dillahunt – “No Country For Old Men” (2007), “The Assassination of Jesse James” (2007), “Raising Hope” (2014), “Widows” (2018)
Few actors got a bigger bounce from “Deadwood” than Dillahunt, who was so good that Milch killed him off and then brought him back in another role. Just a year after the show ended he delivered memorable turns for both the Coen brothers and Andrew Dominik in two more Western-themed projects, then transitioned into a sitcom star with “Raising Hope” before delivering a powerful supporting performance as a dedicated but feckless driver in Steve McQueen’s feminist crime film “Widows.”
