Kumail Nanjiani in ‘The Big Sick.’ Photo: Amazon Studios.
Preview:
Kumail Nanjiani is the latest addition to ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4.
The series stars Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez.
Season 4 has just started shooting.
If there’s one thing that ‘Only Murders in the Building’ is known for despite its confounding, twisty murder mysteries, it’s the starry main and guest cast it is always able to attract.
Anchored by a crime-solving trio of amateur sleuth podcasters played by Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez. The three are more normally found solving –– and occasionally being falsely implicated in –– murders at the swanky Arconia apartment building in New York where they all live.
What’s the story of ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4?
(L to R) Charles (Steve Martin), Mabel (Selena Gomez) and Oliver (Martin Short) on Hulu’s ‘Only Murders In The Building’. Photo: Craig Blankenhorn/Hulu.
Most details of the plot for the fourth season are themselves a mystery right now, though in keeping with the show’s tradition, the main crime was set up at the end of the third season.
In the finale of the last batch of episodes, we’re re-introduced to Sazz (Jane Lynch) the longtime friend and former stunt double of TV actor Charles-Haden Savage (Steve Martin).
Sazz warns Charles that she has to talk to him privately, and while she’s waiting in his apartment, she is fatally shot by someone who presumably thought they were murdering Charles. Cue the dramatic sting!
As they try to figure out what Sazz was mixed up in, Season 4 will see our heroes headed to Los Angeles.
Here’s what show co-creator and executive producer John Hoffman told Us Weekly about the new season:
“It is something we haven’t done before. So I’m excited about that. The joy of working on the show is rare and I think everyone working on the show knows that’s rare. So the instinct and inclination is that there’s room here — certainly in what we’re looking at and thinking about for season 4 — to explore something new.”
Who are the new guest stars playing in ‘Only Murders in the Building’?
Meryl Streep as Loretta in Hulu’s ‘Only Murders in the Building.’ Photo by: Patrick Harbron/Hulu.
So far, all we know is that the newcomers will be integral to the story for the new season, but beyond that, only Molly Shannon’s character has been revealed: she’s playing a high-powered Los Angeles businesswoman who gets drawn into the mystery.
Alongside the new faces, Meryl Streep will return as actor Loretta Durkin, who formed a love connection with Martin Short’s Oliver Putnam in Season 3.
Has ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4 started shooting?
Since you ask, yes! The cameras started filming a few days ago, with Steve Martin posting a picture of himself, Short and Gomez relaxing in chairs on set.
When will ‘Only Murders in the Building’ Season 4 be on screens?
Given that it has only just kicked off filming, we won’t expect the show to return until later in the year at the earliest. If it keeps to previous season premiere dates, it may well launch in August.
(L to R) Selena Gomez as Mabel, Martin Short as Oliver and Steve Martin as Charles in Hulu’s ‘Only Murders in the Building.’ Photo: Patrick Harbron/Hulu.
Other Movies Similar to ‘Only Murders in the Building’:
Launching on Netflix with all eight episodes on Thursday March 21st, ‘3 Body Problem’ represents two gigantic challenges all at once: how do the creators of the ‘Game of Thrones’ TV adaptation follow their mammoth fantasy undertaking, and how do they do it using one of the most acclaimed science fiction novel series of recent years?
As it turns out, the answer is: with an abundance of brains and style, putting together a quality cast and fully using the resources offered by Netflix’s deep pockets to bring the novels’ story (or at least the first in the ‘Remembrance of Earth’s Past’ trilogy, which in book form is known as ‘The Three-Body Problem’) to life.
‘3 Body Problem’ is excellent right out of the gate, even more so than ‘Thrones’. It’s audacious, detailed, emotional and sweeping, hooking you with a teasing mystery (at least for those who have not read the books) that slowly and logically unfolds.
A hefty challenge is that a chunk of the narrative revolves around some big physics concepts, but the show smartly explains them in ways that anyone can understand. You won’t feel like you have to have ‘A Brief History of Time’ open on your lap as you watch.
The story weaves its way towards big revelations, but never feels out of reach, grounding its concept in human behavior and satisfying character interactions –– the main group all feel like people you want to spend time with as you take this journey alongside them.
D. B. Weiss and David Benioff know plenty about adapting sprawling stories with big casts, but here, even more than with ‘Thrones’, they smartly choose to follow a (relatively) small group so as to keep viewers engaged.
So while the story trips through two different time periods and focuses on a few different places across the planet (plus an advanced, immersive video game system that becomes key to the plot), you’re never left wondering who is doing what and why.
Working alongside fellow showrunner Alexander Woo (‘True Blood’), they stay mostly faithful to the book while making necessary changes for the new medium. Thanks to certain moments, they do get to indulge in what you might expect given their previous show –– the series kicks off with some serious head trauma and there is some nudity (though not sexual) in a future episode.
And with luck, they’ll avoid the pitfalls of ‘Thrones’ controversial final season, as the ‘Remembrance’ novel trilogy has an actual ending (no disrespect to George R.R. Martin there).
The show employs ‘Thrones’ veteran director Jeremy Podeswa plus Minkie Spiro, Derek Tsang and Pixar leading light Andrew Stanton, who has been building his live-action directing career steadily with the likes of ‘Legion’ and ‘For All Mankind’, and they all contribute some fantastic visuals as well as subtle and entertaining character work.
There are moments in this series that will have your jaw drop, though we won’t spoil anything here –– trust us, though, you’ll be sorely tempted to watch all the episodes as soon as possible.
Having clearly been happy with a lot of their cast on ‘Game of Thrones’, a few of key actors carry over here.
John Bradley plays Jack Rooney, a man who has hit it rich with his snack business but is still close to his college friends. Rooney offers Bradley the opportunity to play a polar opposite of ‘Thrones’ Samwell Tarley, a cocky but still loveable sort who is one of the first start playing the mysterious game that will be a core element of the early chunk of the story.
Liam Cunningham, meanwhile, feels more like his ‘Games’ character of Davos Seaworth, sharing the cunning brain and salty tongue of the Westeros resident, but as Thomas Wade, a man with a definite mission to protect humanity (no matter the cost), he’s authoritative and darkly funny –– suffering zero fools.
‘Thrones’ High Sparrow, Jonathan Pryce, meanwhile, plays a character who… Well, that would be telling.
On Wade’s team is Benedict Wong’s Da Shi, and this is honestly the best role the actor has enjoyed for years. He knocks it out of the park as the world-weary but funny not-quite-cop who is investigating what is happening to scientists in the UK. While we’re big fans of Wong’s role as, well, Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he has more to do in one scene here than most of the movies he’s shown up in.
The core of the characters is the scientist group who are friends with Rooney, who all feel like actual buddies instead of actors swapping dialogue. And they’re all very different personalities, brought to life by the likes of Eiza González, Alex Sharp, Jess Hong and Jovan Adepo.
‘3 Body Problem’ is a show blessed with a near note-perfect cast: everyone is worth watching here.
Our advice for this one is: if you’ve yet to read the books, stay away from them and avoid Wikipedia! It’s absolutely recommended to go into this one knowing as little as possible, so the surprises hit harder, and the characters feel fresh.
Book readers are likely to be happy with the adaptation, which certainly doesn’t embarrass itself when put up against the literary source. But having seen the whole series, we’re confident in saying that this is a superior, satisfying piece of science fiction TV we can easily see ending up on Best of 2024 TV lists.
‘3 Body Problem’s story begins in 1960s China when a young woman makes a fateful decision that reverberates across space and time into the present day. When the laws of nature inexplicably unravel, a tight-knit group of brilliant scientists must join forces with an unflinching detective to stop humanity’s greatest threat.
Who is in ‘3 Body Problem’?
The ‘3 Body Problem’ cast includes Jovan Adepo, John Bradley, Rosalind Chao, Liam Cunningham, Eiza González, Jess Hong, Marlo Kelly, Alex Sharp, Sea Shimooka, Zine Tseng, Saamer Usmani, Benedict Wong and Jonathan Pryce.
Prime Video has unveiled the first trailer for ‘Fallout,’ the long-awaited series based on the iconic post-apocalyptic video game franchise that first began publishing back in 1997, yielding four games in the main narrative and more than half a dozen spinoffs since then.
In the games, nuclear war has rendered the United States (and the world at large) into what’s called the Wasteland, with pockets of survivors living underground in highly protected shelters known as Vaults. The games are set further and further in the future each time out, with inhabitants of the Vaults venturing out into the Wasteland on various missions and encountering dangerous creatures (such as the artificially created bioweapons known as Deathclaws), mutants, and irradiated humans.
‘Fallout,’ the streaming series, takes much of this premise and the popular ‘Fallout 3’ game – which is set 200 years after the war – as its starting point. Ella Purnell stars as Lucy, a character created for the show, who ventures outside her Vault and learns the hellish nature of life on the surface. Along the way she meets Maximus (Aaron Moten), a member of the militaristic technology cult The Brotherhood of Steel, and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), a mysterious figure with a connection to the past and the Vaults.
(L to R) Aaron Moten, Ella Purnell, Todd Howard, and Walter Goggin from ‘Fallout’ attend The Game Awards 2023 at the Peacock Theater on December 7, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Scott Kirkland/PictureGroup.
After years of rumored films and false starts, ‘Fallout’ comes to streaming thanks to husband-and-wife team Jonathan (Jonah) Nolan and Lisa Joy, whose previous sci-fi series was HBO’s ‘Westworld.’ Joining Nolan and Joy as executive producers and showrunners are Geneva Robertson-Dworet (‘Captain Marvel’), Graham Wagner (‘Portlandia’) and Todd Howard of Bethesda Game Studios, along with James Altman for Bethesda Softworks.
In conjunction with the arrival of the trailer, Prime Video held a virtual press conference featuring Nolan (who directed the first three episodes), Robertson-Dworet, Wagner, and Howard, along with Purnell, Moten, and surprise remote guest Walton Goggins.
Here are 10 things we learned at that press conference, edited for clarity and length.
Jonathan Nolan says that his obsession with ‘Fallout’ was so intense that, ironically enough, he spent more time early in his career playing the game than looking for writing opportunities.
Jonathan Nolan: I think it started, for me, with ‘Fallout 3,’ which devoured about a year of my life. You know, I was an aspiring young writer at that point. It almost derailed my entire career. It’s so ludicrously playable and fun. I mean, seriously, the games were just incredible. It’s such a rare thing and such an unbelievable thing — and I’ve gotten to do it twice in my career — to take something that you love and get a chance to play in that universe, to create your own version, I guess, of that universe. The first go-round for me was Batman (Nolan co-wrote ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ with his brother, Christopher Nolan), and this time with ‘Fallout,’ a series of games that I absolutely loved. About five years ago, Todd and I went and had lunch together — it was a bit of a fanning-out moment for me — and just started talking about the possibilities of how you could take this incredible universe… we came out of lunch with a handshake deal that we’re going to try to make this work.
Graham Wagner says that the show is a continuation of the mythology from the games but also a new story, not an adaptation of the existing games.
Graham Wagner: It’s set in the world of ‘Fallout,’ but it’s a new story that comes, sort of, after the events we’ve seen. So the show is really built on 25 years of creativity and thinking and building. We sort of thought the best thing to do is to continue that [rather than] retread it. Because that’s sort of what has worked with ‘Fallout’ over the years. It’s traded hands, it’s changed, it’s been altered, and it’s a living thing. We kind of felt like we ought to take a swing at trying to build a new piece on top of all of that.
3) What Canada Has to Do With A Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland
(L to R) Actors Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, Co-Showrunner Geneva Robertson-Dworet, and Actor Aaron Moten attends ‘Fallout’ Cast and Creators Presentation at The Game Awards at Peacock Theater on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.
According to Geneva Robertson-Dworet, a big factor in the appeal of adapting ‘Fallout’ was the underlying themes of the story.
Geneva Robertson-Dworet: The themes of ‘Fallout’ are also what really drove us to want to adapt this with Jonah, and we were really especially drawn to the social commentary inherent to the idea of these Vaults. Graham is a citizen of Canada. I’m a dual citizen of the US and New Zealand, and we often talk about how those countries are sort of celebrated as these wonderful, peaceful utopias…But what would it mean if those countries were to open their borders and let everyone in, and everyone could have a better life? Well, they would change, right? We saw the Vaults as basically a mirror to that. This idea that, like, ‘What if we create a Vault that is very peaceful and wonderful?’ But what does it mean that not everyone gets to live there, and people suffer on the surface?
4) Why It Took Years to Bring ‘Fallout’ to the Screen
Todd Howard of Bethesda Game Studios says that the company was very deliberate in allowing ‘Fallout’ to be adapted to another medium.
Todd Howard: People would approach us over, I would say, a 10-year period after ‘Fallout 3’ came out, from 2009 on, to adapt ‘Fallout’ to film or television. We took a very cautious approach, and Jonah was somebody [who] I was such a fan of the movies he did and the TV he was doing, and I actually had someone reach out. And when I first talked to Jonah, I mean, honestly, it was like someone I had known for a long time: [he] obviously played the games a ton, and his approach, right from the get-go, was in sync with what I was thinking.
5) Why Ella Purnell and Aaron Moten Were Thrilled to Be Part of ‘Fallout’
Actor Ella Purnell attends ‘Fallout’ Cast and Creators Presentation at The Game Awards at Peacock Theater on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.
British actor Ella Purnell and ‘Emancipation’ star Aaron Moten described what made their characters so exciting to play.
Ella Purnell: Lucy is a Vault Dweller, and what excited me about playing her was that she is so innocent and naive and obviously very privileged as well. It was exciting for me to start in that place. She’s essentially a newborn baby. She hasn’t had any real-life experiences. All she knows is what she was taught and what she’s read in books that she has in the Vault. It’s limited. Then you put her in the Wasteland, and what happens? What happens with that? That’s a really exciting place for me to start in.
Actor Aaron Moten attends ‘Fallout’ Cast and Creators Presentation at The Game Awards at Peacock Theater on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.
Aaron Moten: I play Maximus. He’s part of the Brotherhood of Steel. I guess what excited me was a little bit of what Ella’s talking about — that starting place, and where you go from there. [He’s] a person who’s lived in the Wasteland for his entire life, and he has to have a certain type of moral ambiguity that is forced upon him, living in the world that he lives in. Where do you go from there? How do you hold onto what is your unique, pure self, how does that change, and how do you discover what it is that you want?
Not able to participate in the press conference, acclaimed actor Walton Goggins (‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’) beamed in with a pre-recorded message about his character. Alive since before the war and once known as Cooper Howard, he’s now a mutated bounty hunter called The Ghoul.
Walton Goggins: The Ghoul is, in some ways, the poet Virgil in ‘Dante’s Inferno.’ He’s the guide, if you will, through this irradiated hellscape where we find ourselves in this post-apocalyptic world. He is a bounty hunter, an iconic bounty hunter. He is pragmatic, he is ruthless, he has his own set of moral codes, and he has a wicked sense of humor — much like me [laughs]. No, he’s a very, very, very complicated guy, and to understand him, you have to understand the person that he was before the war. He had a name. His name was Cooper Howard, and he was a vastly different person than the ghoul that you’ve seen so far. Over the course of the show, through his experience back in the world before the nuclear fallout, you will understand how the world was, and he is the bridge between both these worlds.
7) The Level of Detail in ‘Fallout’ Is Off The Charts
Both executive producer Todd Howard and star Ella Purnell emphasize that there is an incredible amount of detail and world-building in the show, with Purnell adding that most of the show was done practically instead of digitally, as per the wishes of Jonathan Nolan.
Todd Howard: The authenticity they brought to it [is] obsessive. We like to say when we make the games that we obsess over every pixel. And Jonah and crew, they obsessed over every pixel [laughs] of every frame, just to make it authentic. The other thing, watching that trailer, the trick with ‘Fallout’ is it has so many different tones. It goes between the serious, the dramatic, and the action, and some humor and nostalgic music and dramatic music…it weaves those different things together in a very unique blend that only ‘Fallout’ can bring, and they’ve done just an awesome job.
Ella Purnell: This was so much fun, working on this show. Every shoot is hard, not every shoot is fun, and this one was just so fun for an actor. No two days were the same. Every prop, every costume, every location, every set was just bonkers. One of the joys of working with Jonah is he loves to do everything, as much as he can, for real. So you’re not working with that much green screen or dudes in green leotards. You get to really work with practicals, and you don’t have to imagine so much. It’s real and you can really do it.
Two completely different aspects of ‘Fallout’ – the physical protective suits known as power armor, worn by the Brotherhood of Steel, and the more elusive overall vibe of the show – are the two elements that Jonathan Nolan cites as difficult to pin down.
Jonathan Nolan: We talked a lot about the power armor. The tone was a big thing. I think the tone was maybe the most challenging and the most intimidating thing for me. But working with Geneva and Graham, you knew that we were going to be in a really good place with that incredibly ambitious story. On a technical level, the scope of the world and the power armor in particular was one of those things where you go, ‘Oh, how on earth are we going to do that?’ But we got there.
9) What Sets ‘Fallout’ Apart From a Million Other Shows
There are tons of shows out there now on many different platforms competing for our eyes, and quite a number of them are actually set in post-apocalyptic landscapes. But ‘Fallout,’ says its creators, is different.
Geneva Robertson-Dworet: It’s not just the incredible tone, which is, as people have talked about, this unbelievable blend of action and comedy and just weirdness. But I think it’s these incredibly prescient themes, factionalism being maybe the most obvious. When you play the game ‘Fallout,’ you go from settlement to settlement or from faction to faction. That was something we were really excited to manifest with our heroes.
Jonathan Nolan: I think you also have a moment that we’re in right now in which the world seems to be ever more frightening and dour. So [this is] an opportunity for us to work on a show that gets to look that in the eye, right, and we get to talk about the end of the world, but to do it with a sense of humor. I think, honestly, there’s a thread of optimism woven into the show as well, that I think for us, you know, is a bit of expiation to be able to work on this every day.
10) Pleasing ‘Fallout’ Fans is Not the First Priority
(L to R) Actors Aaron Moten, Ella Purnell, and Walton Goggins speak onstage during ‘Fallout’ Cast and Creators Presentation at The Game Awards at Peacock Theater on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.
Video game adaptations are notoriously hard to get right – the filmmakers often try (and fail) to walk a tightrope between servicing the fans of the game and attracting new viewers who couldn’t care less about the game. Jonathan Nolan doesn’t think that’s the right approach.
Jonathan Nolan: I don’t think you really can set out to please the fans of anything, or please anyone other than yourself. I think you have to come into this trying to make the show that you want to make, and trusting that as fans of the game, we would find the pieces that were essential to us about the games and try to do the best version of those that we can. I think it’s kind of a fool’s errand to try to figure out how to make people happy in that way. You’ve got to make yourself happy. And I’ve made myself very happy with the show.
(L to R) Actors Walton Goggins, Ella Purnell, and Aaron Moten attend with ‘Fallout’ Cast and Creators at The Game Awards at Peacock Theater on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.
What is the Plot of ‘Fallout’?
The show depicts the aftermath of an apocalyptic nuclear exchange in an alternate history where advances in nuclear technology after WWII led to the emergence of a retrofuturistic society and a subsequent resource war. The survivors took refuge in fallout bunkers known as Vaults, built to preserve humanity in the event of nuclear annihilation. Two centuries later, a young woman (Ella Purnell), a descendant of the original “Vault Dwellers” from one of many Vaults, leaves behind the only life she has ever known to venture out into the dangerously hostile and savage Wasteland of a devastated Los Angeles.
(L to R) Actors Aaron Moten, Ella Purnell, and Walton Goggins speak onstage during ‘Fallout’ Cast and Creators Presentation at The Game Awards at Peacock Theater on December 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Photo by Anna Webber/Getty Images for Prime Video.
(L to R) Kali Reis and Jodie Foster in HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country.’ Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO.
Preview:
‘True Detective’ will return for Season 5.
‘Night Country’ showrunner Issa López is once more overseeing the series.
It’s not yet known if it’ll continue Season 4’s story or start fresh.
If you were a fan of Season 4 of HBO series ‘True Detective’ subtitled ‘Night Country’ –– and the viewership figures suggest plenty of people enjoyed it –– there is good news.
The cable channel has commissioned a fifth season of the series, with ‘Night Country’ showrunner Issa López returning to run it as part of her overall deal with the company.
What was the story of ‘True Detective: Night Country’?
Jodie Foster in HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country.’ Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO.
‘Night Country’ brought us to Ennis, Alaska, where the sun sets on December 17 and doesn’t rise again until after the New Year. On the third day of night, police chief Liz Danvers is called to the scene of a strange maybe-crime: the Tsalal Arctic Research Station, home to eight scientists who spend their days investigating arctic biology, geology, and the impacts of climate change.
But when Danvers arrives, all eight are missing. They’ve left behind their access passes, their cell phones, an uneaten sandwich; it’s as if the entire group has simply vanished into thin air. To solve the case, Detectives Danvers and Evangeline Navarro will have to confront the darkness themselves and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.
Starring Jodie Foster, Kali Reis, Fiona Shaw and John Hawkes, the season has been warmly received critics, and set viewership records for HBO, with 12.7 million cross platform viewers.
What will the story be for ‘True Detective’ Season 5?
‘True Detective: Night Country’ Showrunner Issa López. Photo: Chino Lemus/HBO.
Nothing was included in HBO’s announcement about the new season regarding a storyline. Assuming it keeps to ‘True Detective’ tradition, Season 5 will be a completely new setting with a fresh set of characters.
Here’s what López had to say about the news:
“From conception to release, ‘Night Country’ has been the most beautiful collaboration and adventure of my entire creative life. HBO trusted my vision all the way, and the idea of bringing to life a new incarnation of ‘True Detective’ with Casey, Francesca and the whole team is a dream come true. I can’t wait to go again.”
And here’s HBO head of drama series Francesca Orsi on the renewal:
“Issa Lopez is that one-of-a-kind, rare talent that speaks directly to HBO’s creative spirit. She helmed ‘True Detective: Night Country’ from start to finish, never once faltering from her own commendable vision, and inspiring us with her resilience both on the page and behind the camera. Alongside Jodie and Kali’s impeccable performances, she’s made this installation of the franchise a massive success, we are so lucky to have her as part of our family.”
When will ‘True Detective’ Season 5 be on screens?
HBO has yet to announce a date for Season 5, though since it has yet to be cast or shot, we predict it won’t land until 2025 at the earliest.
Kali Reis in HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country.’ Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO.
Other Movies Similar to ‘True Detective: Night Country:’
Idris Elba in ‘Hijack,’ now streaming on Apple TV+.
Preview:
Idris Elba will return for a second season of ‘Hijack’.
Apple TV+ confirmed the show will return.
There’s no date for the new season.
Though we’ve all gotten more used to seeing him as gruff detective John Luther on TV screens, actor Idris Elba scored a big new small screen hit with last year’s ‘Hijack’.
And while it took things to a pulpy level at times, the pulse-pounding drama thriller certainly drew a solid audience. Enough that Apple TV+ has now announced a second season for the series.
Idris Elba in ‘Hijack,’ now streaming on Apple TV+.
Told in real time, “Hijack” is a tense thriller that follows the journey of a hijacked Kingdom Airways plane as it makes its way to London over a seven-hour flight, and authorities on the ground scramble for answers.
Elba stars as Sam Nelson, an accomplished negotiator in the business world who needs to step up and use all his guile to try and save the lives of the passengers — but his high-risk strategy could be his undoing.
And when he starts to dig in what is happening with the situation, he learns that all is far from what it initially seems. Plus, if the passengers decide to stage their own intervention, things could go south –– never a good thing for a plane while it’s in the air –– very quickly.
On the ground, meanwhile, we have Archie Panjabi as Zahra Gahfoor, a counter terrorism officer who is on the ground when the plane is hijacked and becomes part of the investigation.
Who else is in ‘Hijack?’
(L to R Max Beesley and Christine Adams in ‘Hijack,’ premiering June 28, 2023 on Apple TV+.
All those people (besides Elba) are only possible returnees –– as seen below, there are no details on what Sam Nelson might be landed into this time. Will he be on a hijacked train? A runaway bus? A rickshaw with a particularly fleet-footed driver?
Okay, probably not the last one. But it’ll be fun finding out.
What are Elba and others saying about the news?
Idris Elba in ‘Hijack,’ premiering June 28, 2023 on Apple TV+.
Idris Elba is, somewhat naturally, happy to see the show coming back:
“I was floored by the overwhelming audience response after season one. It’s top secret what new situation unfolds for Sam Nelson but I can assure you we will bring the high octane back!”
And Jay Hunt, Apple TV+ creative director for Europe also commented:
“Global audiences were on tenterhooks watching Idris’s riveting performance in ‘Hijack,’ and we’re thrilled to be working again with 60Forty and Idiotlamp on an equally compelling season two.”
When will ‘Hijack’ Season 2 be on Apple TV+?
Apple TV+ has yet to confirm a release date for the next season, though we would estimate it’ll either be much later this year or in 2025.
(L to R) Harry Michell and Idris Elba in ‘Hijack,’ now streaming on Apple TV+.
(L to R) Maya Erskine and Donald Glover in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
Premiering on Prime Video this week, ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ loosely –– very loosely –– adapts the 2005 Doug Limanmovie that saw Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie playing married assassins unaware of each other’s secret job whose stale relationship is re-ignited when they’re assigned by their competing agencies to take each other out (and we don’t mean on a date).
But the new series shares really only the title and the most basic concept with the movie. Instead, here we have two strangers who apply for a job that sees them partnered up and moving through the various stages of relationships in their fake coupledom even as real feelings develop and the missions become more perilous.
Maya Erskine in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ deployed monsters as metaphor for teenage angst, body changes, and concerns. ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ tries a similar trick (though hopefully without the problematic future Joss Whedon of it all), utilizing the central couple’s various experiences as a mirror for a developing relationship.
It’s not a completely 1:1 situation, though some episodes play to that much more than others (episode 5, for example, sees the duo forced into a situation where their charge, played wonderfully by a superbly grumpy Ron Perlman is effectively a substitute child) but in general, the idea works.
Sometimes the balance of character work to action can be off-kilter, and not everything about the main dynamic works (Donald Glover and Maya Erskine have decent chemistry, though it takes some time to find its groove). Which, we suppose is how all relationships start and end up working.
But on the whole, it’s an entertaining peek into the various marker points of the relationship and the series format certainly offers more scope to explore the character levels than anything in the movie.
‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’: Script and Direction
(L to R) Maya Erskine and Donald Glover in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
Though Glover originally developed the show with ‘Fleabag’ creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, creative differences saw Waller-Bridge depart and Glover instead create the show with his ‘Atlanta’ cohort Francesca Sloane (who runs the show here).
The writing for the series carries some of the hallmarks of Glover and Sloane’s past work (though none of its experimental, random nature which probably wouldn’t have worked for this). This time around, their focus is on the burgeoning relationships and using the spy missions/job as a giant metaphor for an evolving connection between two people is one that largely works well, even if it does mean there tends to be a larger focus on interaction between the two main characters rather than the action side of things. Jane and John are written decently, though they may end up testing the patience of some audiences.
As for the metaphors, they run the gamut from excellent to exhausting. One episode, where our main pair meet and spend time with another “John” and “Jane” is at times interminable (no fault of the actors involved). But the mission-of-the-week format means that if you don’t spark to one episode, you may well enjoy another.
Directors Hiro Murai, Christian Sprenger and Karena Evans (the first two have ‘Atlanta’ experience on their busy resumes, the latter has focused more on music videos and other TV series) bring a fresh, dynamic look to the show, and if the action moments aren’t quite up there with the likes of the ‘Mission: Impossible’ or ‘Bond’ franchises, that’s because it isn’t the main point here. This is a relationship drama with a side of set-pieces.
‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’: Performances
(L to R) Donald Glover and Maya Erskine in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
With the guest cast almost constantly changing (only one or two people beyond the leads appear in more than a single episode), the weight is very much on Glover and Erskine. As people who have both been the focus of TV series they co-created, they’re both more than able to carry the load of leading roles.
Of the two, Erskine comes off better, getting to show more development than the slightly more disconnected Glover. She’s excited for the opportunity to begin with, but you can really see the weight settle upon her as the season moves on. Keeping the metaphor of the relationship going, she becomes more and more disenfranchised as she realizes she’s holding up more of her end in terms both missions and personal life.
Which is not to say that Glover is bad –– his John Smith is a man who seems far less willing to leave his old life behind (a nod towards the usual commitment issues found more often in men than women) –– and he has some superb moments as the relationship develops and, at times, sours.
(L to R) Maya Erskine and Donald Glover in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
Neither of the main pair are natural action stars, but they do their best, aided with a decent stunt team.
Around them is an ever-changing roster of others: Paul Dano is a good-looking neighbor who Jane takes a shine to, while Wagner Moura and Parker Posey are the other John and Jane who share the double date that ends awkwardly (and dangerously). Again, as mentioned above, the actors are perfectly fine in their roles, they’re just let down a little by the episode’s script.
Perlman, meanwhile, is wonderful in his role as the mysterious man that John and Jane are assigned to protect.
‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’: Final Thoughts
(L to R) Maya Erskine and Donald Glover in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
If it sometimes stretches the concept a little thin, ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ is an effective mix of spy thriller and marriage drama with the emphasis on the latter.
Those seeking the next ‘Atlanta’ won’t find that here, but then, that wasn’t the point –– and as adaptations of movies go, this at least has the confidence to truly be its own thing.
‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ receives 7.5 out of 10 stars.
(L to R) Donald Glover and Maya Erskine in ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith.’ Credit: David Lee/Prime Video. Copyright: Amazon Studios.
What’s the story of ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’?
Two lonely strangers land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travel, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan.
The catch? New identities in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith. Now hitched, John (Donald Glover) and Jane (Maya Erskine) navigate a high-risk mission every week while also facing a new relationship milestone.
Their complex cover story becomes even more complicated when they catch real feelings for each other. What’s riskier: espionage or marriage?
(L to R) Jon Robin Baitz, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Ryan Murphy, Naomi Watts, Tom Hollander, Molly Ringwald, Demi Moore, and Calista Flockhart attend the red carpet premiere of FX’s “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ at MOMA on January 23, 2024 in New York City. FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ premieres with two episodes on Wednesday, January 31 at 10pm on FX, next day on Hulu. Photo by Kristina Bumphrey/PictureGroup for FX.
‘Feud: Capote vs The Swans’ is a limited series based on Laurence Leamer’s best-selling book, ‘Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betray, and a Swan Song for an Era.’ The series focuses on writer Truman Capote and a group of elite socialites, how he became their confidant, and how their friendship ended with his ultimate betrayal in a fiery excerpt of his book. The women, or as Capote called them, “Swans,” band together to exile him from the high society that he loved, sending him spiraling into self-destruction.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of attending the virtual press conference for ‘Capote Vs. The Swans.’ In attendance were show creator/executive producer Ryan Murphy, writer Jon Robin Baits, director Gus Van Sant, and actors Naomi Watts (who also serves as Executive Producer), Tom Hollander, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Calista Flockhart, Demi Moore, and Molly Ringwald
Here are 10 things we learned from the ‘Capote vs The Swans’ virtual press conference:
1. Naomi Watts Had To Invent And Recreate the Likeness of Babe Paley’s Voice and Movement Through Only Photographs
Naomi Watts as Babe Paley in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
While the series is based on Laurence Leamer’s book, the cast of incredible actresses in the series did their research beyond written material – finding recordings, photographs, and more to bring them to life on screen.
Naomi Watts, who plays Babe Paley, and is also an executive producer on the series, talks about her research process as there were no recordings of Paley.
Naomi Watts: Laurence Leamer’s book was our source material, but then we had these wonderful writers as well, and so we really stuck to the scripts. But with Babe [Paley], there was no footage available that I could find, recordings or visuals, so trying to create a voice and her physicality was, you know, something that I had to invent through a multitude of wonderful photographs. You know, just how her hand was placed, perhaps, or how she held her cigarette; it was clear to me that there was never a hair out of place, never a wrong word spoken. So much effort put into her appearance and not just for her own vanity but how she designed a dinner table, who were the guests, what would the conversations be, what would the cutlery be, how it was placed. There was just so much time and thoughtfulness put into how each event would go, and yes, plenty to find on the internet, plenty of things to read. But there was this delicious writing that we could lean in on, so creating Babe was a complete joy for me.
Watts also serves as an Executive Producer on the series. When asked how she became involved in such a role, she says:
Naomi Watts: I had been working with Ryan [Murphy] on ‘The Watcher’ and really enjoyed that experience and established a nice rhythm and he’s very, very, very generous! So that is how I became an EP.
2. Tom Hollander on Why The Swans Befriended Capote
Tom Hollander attends the red carpet premiere of FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ at MOMA on January 23, 2024 in New York City. FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ premieres with two episodes on Wednesday, January 31 at 10pm on FX, next day on Hulu. Photo by Kristina Bumphrey/PictureGroup for FX.
Truman Capote’s close friendship with The Swans allowed him a look into their private lives and secrets, which would later lead to him exposing their secrets in ‘Answered Prayers.’ Actor Tom Hollander expands on why he thinks Capote befriended the Swans to begin with.
Tom Hollander: I think he was the greatest writer of his generation, so for a bunch of people that were very rich and fancy houses but kind of, at some level, disempowered by their marriages, to have the greatest writer of his generation in their salons made… he was an accouterment. He was a dazzling accouterment on their dinner table. Maybe he would celebrate them. So maybe at some level, their vanity was flattered by having him around and him understanding them and listening to them in a way that their husbands weren’t, didn’t have time for. He was filling a great gap in their emotional lives, and he was brilliant. He was an incredibly entertaining, perceptive, clever, interesting, singular man, so they were all- so I’d say that’s what they were getting out of it. Quite a lot. Until it went wrong.
3. The series marks Calista Flockhart’s return to television since ‘Supergirl’ and reunites her with Jon Robin Baitz
Calista Flockhart as Lee Radziwill in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
Playing Lee Radziwill, Calista Flockhart reunites with writer Jon Robin Baitz for the series. The two worked together on ‘Brothers and Sisters’ in 2006. Flockhart elaborates on working again with Baitz.
Calista Flockhart: I have been a fan of Robbie’s way, way, way back when we were doing New York theater together. I’ve done readings of so many of his plays. I remember in ‘Brothers and Sisters,’ we had a very collaborative relationship when we were discovering who Kitty was as a character, and so yes, I was excited to do this again with Robbie because I admire and love his talent, his intelligence, and also his sensitivity and humanity.
4. Diane Lane Had Access To Slim Keith’s Memoir
Diane Lane as Slim Keith in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
In her research on Slim Keith, Diane Lane was able to have access to her memoir, which allowed her to have a better understanding of the amount of anger Slim had toward Capote.
Diane Lane: The word that has been bandied about is ringleader, and I want to counter that with a little bit more nuance. I think that she saw from afar that Truman needed support and she was there for him in times—you know, he came to her to be an agent for the book, becoming a movie, ‘In Cold Blood,’ and until she could find him Swifty Lazar and help him to get a million-dollar deal, which at that time was pretty huge. I mean, historically there was a lot of loss in this betrayal that we don’t see on camera. I got the wonderful cheat of having access to her memoir, so I have an extra amount of compassion for the amount of anger that she is accountable for in this story because she did empower him and nurture his growth and was there for a lot of his formative time. They traveled the world together and she did seem to have a sixth sense about not trusting him with too much of her secrets, so when she was chosen to be the person quoted about other people’s indiscretions in the infamous ‘Answered Prayers’ article in Esquire, as though she were the one betraying the ladies who lunch and everyone else. I mean, he called her “Big Mama,” that was his nickname for her. So she was really baffled, and I’ll leave it there.
5. Ryan Murphy thinks The Swans would have been as influential as the Kardashians if they were living in this era
(L to R) Calista Flockhart, Chloë Sevigny, Diane Lane, Molly Ringwald, Naomi Watts and Demi Moore in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
As a group of extremely smart and capable women, they were brilliant in putting together many business deals that they were not given credit for. If they were alive today, it would be a completely different story.
Show creator Ryan Murphy elaborates on the topic of timing for these women.
Ryan Murphy: That’s actually something Robbie and I talked a lot about when we were first thinking of doing it, and I think the tragedy of that generation, which I would include my mother in, is a generation of women sort of caught between ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and the pill, who were, I think, very frustrated a lot of times with the misogyny of the society. I think all of those women in our show were so brilliant in their personal lives and so intelligent that I do think 10 years-post, they all would’ve had successful businesses or brands. You can just see that they were all so smart, particularly in the world of manners and society and beauty, and I think they all would’ve had skincare lines, I think they all would’ve had house care lines. I think they would’ve done a Kardashian thing, you know, which is a very brilliant business way of looking about selling an aspirational lifestyle. But some of them did have that—I mean, if you look at Slim, the tragedy of that is she was behind particularly, and so was Babe, so many incredible business deals that she helped put together professionally that she was not given credit for—both of them, I think. So I think the frustration and the sadness was baked into that time. I think, to answer another question, that’s one of the reasons they turned to Truman, because they were all in marriages or with men who constantly put them in their place and told them they weren’t enough. Truman was the one who said to them, “You’re actually smarter than your husbands, you control everything. All of these lives are because of what you’re doing.” There’s a baked-in sadness in that, that so many women of that generation, I think, that we wanted to write to. There’s nothing more depressing than lost potential, which I think they all really had.
Demi Moore chimed in on the topic as well:
Demi Moore: I don’t know if I can speak for all of the women, but I think that there was a great desire of beauty and, in an interesting way, I think that there was a great desire for connection with one another. While their life had certain limitations, I think that they were incredibly expansive in how they were living their lives.
6. The series touches on the LGBTQA+ community during that time
Gus Van Sant attends the red carpet premiere of FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ at MOMA on January 23, 2024 in New York City. FX’s ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans’ premieres with two episodes on Wednesday, January 31 at 10pm on FX, next day on Hulu. Photo by Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup for FX.
Truman Capote was openly gay, and the series leaned into homophobia during that time period. Ryan Murphy speaks on the including the use of the words “f*g” and “fa**ot” and how it was depicted in the show.
Ryan Murphy: In terms of the sexuality and the homophobia of the time, I think the most fascinating thing about that is we talked a lot about the use of those words, particularly the use of the word “f*g” or “fa**ot” and how it was depicted in the show. In the scene where Demi confronts him, you know, obviously it’s a word none of us like, none of us use, and we had a lot of conversation about it, but it was so important to him. It was the thing that he claims that she did and also that Lee did to him that broke his heart and broke his soul because he thought that was such a betrayal. It was a thing that ultimately turned him—when he talks about Demi’s character, it is the thing that he references where he decided to go after her. In the case of Lee, it’s an offhand remark that she made about a lawsuit he was in, and he was so stunned and hurt. So for us, as difficult as it was to articulate, being true to the characters and the time and the power of words. So we researched that quite heavily and we had a lot of conversations about “Should we leave it in? Should we take it out?” But ultimately, we did [leave it in]. As a gay person who that word has been used about since I was three years old, I really understand the wound of it and the pain of it and how it really can turn your life upside down. So we decided to be honest.
Director Gus Van Sant elaborates more on queer culture in that time period.
Gus Van Sant: I think in the time period that we’re depicting, there is an emerging gay culture. People are out…ish. Chloë and I had an art teacher who was out in 1961, teaching in a homophobic town, Darien, Connecticut, and sharing his gay weekends by explaining things that he was involved in on the weekends in the Greenwich Village. But yeah, there was a long road to travel. I mean, Truman was out by virtue of his art and his novels, the dates of his novels coming out, he predated, like, many people, along with Gore Vidal and Tennessee Williams. They were very exposed compared to, like, the general culture, but it’s a fascinating sort of character within gay history. I’d often thought there’s this great story of him going with Norman Mailer to a working man’s bar, and Norman thinking they were gonna get attacked, and Truman just pulled it off perfectly because of his energy and his, I guess, peace of mind, you know, as an open gay man. So we didn’t get to that scene, but he’s sort of a representation of queer culture through the ’50s and ’60s and ’70s and ’80s.
7. Molly Ringwald on her character Joanne Carson and why she remained friends with Capote
Molly Ringwald as Joanne Carson in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
Joanne Carson, wife of famous TV host Johnny Carson, was Capote’s last remaining friend. Played by Molly Ringwald, the actress expands on the friendship between Capote and Carson.
Molly Ringwald: She was really like his last friend. But I feel that it was such a betrayal because they adored him so much. I think even though they knew he was a writer, I feel like they didn’t- they were going to be immune to that, to what writers do, which is use material in their lives and fictionalize it. I think it was pretty self-destructive, what he did. I don’t think he wanted to lose their friendships either, but he is a writer, you know. Like Joanne Carson, I think one of the reasons why she stayed friends with him—because he wrote things about her too—but she was in love with his genius. I think she really thought that he was a genius. I do too—as a writer, I think he was a genius, and I think all writers need somebody in their lives there sort of saying, “You can do this, you’re great.” I don’t know, I feel like there was maybe a little bit of anger on his part from being a little bit of a court jester, like he was a court jester, but maybe there was some anger about that.
8. How Did Tom Hollander Nail Down The Voice of Capote?
Tom Hollander as Truman Capote in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
Capote had a specific way of speaking, in his intonation and pauses. Tom Hollande describes his process of getting into character before walking on set:
Tom Hollander: Honestly, I just listened to it a lot, and I was helped enormously by the most brilliant voice coach called Jerome Butler, who was there with me every day. Then Truman himself was on my phone in my ear before every take, and so I could be with him whenever I wanted to and remind myself what he sounded like. So you just keep scratching away at it. It’s not something that you get and then you’ve got it and then you can hold on to it. You have to keep going, keep working at it.
9. The Cast Did Not Interact With Each Other Outside Of Their Scenes Due To COVID
Chloë Sevigny as C. Z. Guest in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
‘Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans’ began filming in New York in Fall 2022, when productions had to adhere to strict COVID restrictions such as masking and distancing. Aside from their scenes together, the cast were not able to interact with each other during filming.
Chloë Sevigny: We were still masked then. We were still in the throes of COVID. We had to eat alone. We couldn’t even all eat together in the cafeteria, so we were kept kind of separate from one another. Even in the hair and makeup trailer, we were like six feet apart, so the most intimate we were was when we were in La Côte Basque.
Did this make it harder for the cast to bond? Naomi Watts anwsered:
Naomi Watts: There was some high-level concentration going on because of this high-level writing, these delicious words that we wanted to savor and, you know, really honor, not to mention these beautiful characters to play. Oftentimes when you’re working on a film or a show, I mean, especially if you’re on the road somewhere and you’ve left your home territory, it’s nice to have a meal at the end of the day or, you know, a drink or a hangout and there just wasn’t time for this because we were always concentrating on the next day’s work ahead. But yes, to Chloë’s point, when we came together at the Côte Basque, those in-between moments, though they were short, they were bonding, and I think we were all just super-grateful for these wonderful group of people.
10. The particular way Ryan Murphy titles his shows
‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
With a plethora of shows under his belt, how does creator Ryan Murphy decide what order to put place the colon and why? Murphy explains:
Ryan Murphy: First of all, that is my- 100 percent my decision. People talk a lot about that, colon versus semicolon. I think I’m being correct. I think in the case of ‘Feud,’ it’s always about a versus—you know, we did that in Season 1, which was Bette vs. Joan or so that’s how that came about. Because, you know, ‘Feud’ is about a love turned to hate, and I think it is very much about a clash which the Vs. gives you.
Demi Moore as Ann Woodward in ‘Feud: Capote vs. The Swans.’ Photo: FX.
What Is ‘Feud: Capote vs The Swans’ about?
Acclaimed writer Truman Capote (Tom Hollander) surrounded himself with a coterie of society’s most elite women, rich, glamorous socialites whom he nicknamed the Swans. Beautiful and distinguished, the group included Babe Paley (Naomi Watts), Slim Keith (Diane Lane), C.Z. Guest (Chloê Sevigny), and Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart). Enchanted and captivated by his Swans, Capote ingratiated himself into their lives, befriending them and becoming their confidant, only to ultimately betray them by writing a thinly veiled fictionalization of their lives and exposing their most intimate secrets. When an excerpt from the book Answered Prayers was published in Esquire, it effectively destroyed his relationship with his Swans, banished him from the high society he so loved, and sent him into a spiral of self-destruction from which he would ultimately never recover.
Andrew Scott, Dakota Fanning and Johnny Flynn star.
The new series lands on Netflix in April.
Given the proliferation of spin-offs and prequels, you might be forgiven, upon seeing the title ‘Ripley’, that the new Netflix series focuses on the earlier days (or somehow, through science fiction trickery, continues the story) of Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley from the ‘Alien’ movies.
But from a first look at the teaser for the show, it all becomes clear: instead, what we have is the latest adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’.
The story has, of course, already been brought famously to screens by Anthony Minghella in the 1999 film named for the novel, starring Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow, but this new version appears to take inspiration from other books as well the main ‘Ripley’ tome.
Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott) is a grifter scraping by in early 1960s New York. When he’s hired by a wealthy man to travel to Italy to try to convince his vagabond son (Johnny Flynn’s Dickie Greenleaf) to return home, Tom’s acceptance of the job is the first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud and murder.
Zaillian writes and directs all eight episodes, and from the looks of the first teaser, has shot the whole thing in crisp monochrome to give it some standout style.
Scott, who is garnering plenty of attention thanks to superb work in the likes of ‘All of Us Strangers’, looks set to receive more acclaim for this. And the teaser spotlights an excellent ensemble around him.
All eight episodes of ‘Ripley’ are scheduled to arrive on Netflix on April 4th. If you ask us, given his less-than-truthful nature, April 1st might have made sense, but that doesn’t fit the streamer’s release policy.
Gary Oldman in ‘Slow Horses’ season 2, premiering December 2, 2022 on Apple TV+.
Preview:
Apple TV+ has renewed ‘Slow Horses’ for a fifth season.
The show, starring Gary Oldman, adapts Mick Herron’s novels.
This new season will see bizarre events happening around London.
They might not be considered the best of the best when it comes to MI5’s roster, but the denizens of Slough House are certainly proving successful for Apple TV+, proving to be one of the breakout hits for the tech giant’s streaming service.
Which is to say that across three seasons (so far), ‘Slow Horses’ the Gary Oldman-starring series have scored plenty of critical praise and won lots of fans.
It’s hardly surprising then, that after rolling out renewals for the third and fourth seasons as a block (the third just launched its finale on December 27th), Apple TV+ has handed down a fifth season order almost as quickly.
What is ‘Slow Horses’?
Gary Oldman in ‘Slow Horses’ season 3 premiering November 29, 2023 on Apple TV+.
‘Slow Horses’ is adapted from Mick Herron’s eponymous novel series, which is also known as ‘Slough House’, named for the low-rent MI5 office our heroes work from.
Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant but misanthropic leader of the spies, who end up in Slough House due to their career-ending mistakes as they frequently find themselves blundering around the smoke and mirrors of the espionage world.
Yet for all their issues, the team frequently proves to be much more effective than any of their colleagues suspect, with Lamb a crafty genius who uses his off-putting, cantankerous exterior to thwart expectations. There are times when the Horses are the last line of defence between the UK and some serious threats.
Christopher Chung stars in the third season of ‘Slow Horses,’ coming to Apple TV+ on Friday, December 1, 2023.
Season 5 adapts Herron’s fifth book, ‘London Rules’, and the story finds the team suspicious when resident tech nerd Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung) has a glamorous new girlfriend, but when a series of increasingly bizarre events occur across the city, it falls to the Slow Horses to work out how everything is connected.
After all, Jackson Lamb knows that in the world of espionage, “London Rules” should always apply.
Who else is in ‘Slow Horses’?
Jack Lowden returns for the third season of ‘Slow Horses,’ coming to Apple TV+ on Friday, December 1, 2023.
No information is available about any cast additions for Season 5.
When will ‘Slow Horses’ Season 5 be on our screens?
Given that Season 4 has yet to launch (it has no official premiere date yet, but showrunner Will Smith has promised it’ll be sometime in 2024), there is zero information on the fifth as of yet. Add to that the fact that it still has to film, and we’ll be waiting for a while.
Academy Award winner Gary Oldman returns for the third season of ‘Slow Horses,’ coming to Apple TV+ on Friday, December 1, 2023.
(L to R) Jodie Foster and Kali Reis in HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country.’ Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO.
Premiering on Max January 14th, ‘True Detective: Night Country’ offers a very different spin on the usual mystery story, one that draws upon the eternal clash between modern progress and native lands, between parents and children, and between the forces of right and wrong, even as the main characters sometimes cross those lines.
Built around a typically excellent performance by Jodie Foster, in what might be her most iconic law enforcement role since Clarice Starling of ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, the new ‘True Detective’ pivots away from creator Nic Pizzolatto’s seasons of the show to focus instead on a stranger mystery –– time might have been a flat circle in the first season, but here it is frozen in ice.
Does ‘True Detective: Night Country’ find the light in the darkness?
(L to R) Kali Reis and Jodie Foster in HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country.’ Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO.
As mentioned, this will feel very different to past ‘True Detective’ seasons. While the show has generally re-invented itself with each iteration (from the Louisiana-set first to the California-inflected second and Ozarks-featuring third), incoming showrunner Issa López maintains what worked about particularly the first and third seasons while imbuing the fourth with her own particular viewpoint and energy.
And filming in Iceland –– standing in for the fictional Alaskan town of Ennis –– gives the new season a distinctly different look too, its dark, snowy night-time setting upping the stakes for the officers and locals as they try to figure out what exactly is going on in this frosty, close-knit community.
‘True Detective: Night Country’ : Script and Direction
(L to R) Kali Reis and Jodie Foster in HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country.’ Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO.
In addition to running the show (and having a hand in all the scripts alongside writers Alan Page Arriaga, Namsi Khan, Chris Mundy, Katrina Albright and Wenonah Wilms), López directs all six episodes of this new season.
And the result is a hauntingly consistent look for the story, which makes full use of the gloomy, doomy landscape against which the mystery takes place. This is a haunting and haunted place, which makes for a fascinating backdrop for a neo-noir. The writers’ minds are full of conflict and survival, and subplots about protests against a local mining operation and the strange case of the frozen lab staff give the narrative plenty of weight.
Jodie Foster in HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country.’ Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO.
Foster, in a very rare TV performance (she’s primarily been a director on the small screen) and, in concert with López’ writing, her Liz Danvers is a fine creation, weather-beaten and careworn, not afraid to bend the rules to do her job and with little time for the fantastical theories others suggest as to what happened to the victims in her cases.
She’s also dealing with her step-daughter, Leah (Isabella Star LaBlanc), a young woman caught between her native heritage, her anger at the world and her own new romance. Their dynamic is complicated and truthful, and while it sometimes slips into expected teen-parent cycles, it’s always involving.
But while this is often the Jodie Foster show, that’s not to say that the rest of the ensemble doesn’t match up to her level. Kali Reis is the intense, torn trooper Evangeline Navarro, once a close colleague of Danvers whose relationship with her after a particularly tragic case, is now frostier than the air they breathe. Reis brings a damaged vulnerability to the role, cloaked in a steel attitude towards her job and those who would hurt her family. She certainly gets her moments to shine.
John Hawkes in HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country.’ Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO.
While Reis might be less familiar to some, there is also a host of “it’s-that-person” character actors to bring smaller parts to life with their usual care and attention. John Hawkes plays Hank Prior, one of Danvers’ direct colleagues, whose approach to law enforcement is decidedly more macho. He oozes toxic masculinity (which Hawkes portrays perfectly despite his wiry frame), his manner nevertheless hiding his own damage, yearning for love he can’t quite make work.
Then there’s Christopher Eccleston (best known for the likes of ‘Doctor Who’ and ‘The Leftovers’), as Danvers’ superior, with whom she has a complicated relationship. He’s a perfectly-judged mix of authority figure and ridiculous doofus. Fiona Shaw, meanwhile, is Rose Aguineau, who lives on the outskirts of town and appears to see visions of the dead. It’s a role that Shaw fully engages with.
Beyond the core cast, there is a tapestry of bro-style hunters and some compelling native characters, who appear to offer clues to what is really going on.
‘True Detective: Night Country’: Final Thoughts
Kali Reis in HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country.’ Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO.
Bold and melancholic, with some wonderfully pitched performances and well-realized detail, the new run of ‘True Detective’ is a more than worthwhile addition to the show’s canon. It’s great to see Jodie Foster given another meaty role to get her teeth into, and she’s aided by a top-notch ensemble.
It’s certainly not going to be comfort watching, but then do you expect that from a ‘True Detective’ tale?
‘True Detective: Night Country’ receives 8 out of 10 stars.
Fiona Shaw in HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country.’ Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO.
What’s the story of ‘True Detective: Night Country’?
In Ennis, Alaska, the sun sets on December 17 and won’t rise again until after the New Year. On the third day of night, police chief Liz Danvers (Jodie Foster) is called to the scene of a strange maybe-crime: the Tsalal Arctic Research Station, home to eight scientists who spend their days investigating arctic biology, geology, and the impacts of climate change.
But when Danvers arrives, all eight are missing. They’ve left behind their access passes, their cell phones, an uneaten sandwich; it’s as if the entire group has simply vanished into thin air. To solve the case, Detectives Danvers and Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) will have to confront the darkness themselves and dig into the haunted truths that lie buried under the eternal ice.
Who is in ‘True Detective: Night Country’?
Jodie Foster stars in the series as Danvers, with Kali Reis as Navarro. The cast also includes Fiona Shaw, Isabella Star, Christopher Eccleston, John Hawkes, Finn Bennett, Anna Lambe, Aka Niviâna and Joel Montgrand.
Christopher Eccleston in HBO’s ‘True Detective: Night Country.’ Photo: Michele K. Short/HBO.
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