‘9-1-1’ Showrunner on How Spring Premiere’s Big ‘Death’ Leads to Major Character Revelation: ‘It’s an Important Lesson for Him to Learn’

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Lego’s answer to “Mario Kart” will drive into the video game market in May with the arrival of “Lego 2K Drive.” But the execs behind the title assure Variety this game has way more to it than just racing. The driving adventure game comes from Take-Two Interactive publisher 2K and developer Visual Concepts, and will feature a game play experience “with a vast, open world where players can build any vehicle, drive anywhere and become a Lego racing legend.” “Yes, it is a racing experience but, actually, it’s just about enjoying driving and digging into those things that you can only really get if you’re adding Lego into the mix,” Kate Bryant, head of licensed games at Lego, told Variety. “So the cars transform — that’s super Lego-y, the idea that you can take and remix things and build your own cars.”

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International A Canadian documentary maker whose film helped police crack one of the art world’s biggest fraud cases has been forced to surrender his source material to the Ontario Provincial Police as part of a production order. Jamie Kastner is the director of “There Are No Fakes,” a 2019 documentary that uncovered an art fraud ring that passed off fake paintings as originals by the celebrated Indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau, known for his vibrant paintings of the natural world and First Nations mythology. The eye-opening film, which premiered at Hot Docs in Toronto, revealed there were up to 10 times more Morrisseau forgeries on the market as there were real works, and that the artist’s own nephew may have been complicit in helping to produce the fakes.

Lance Reddick was noticeably missing from the John Wick: Chapter 4 premiere earlier this week.

The fallout continues. Kristen Doute is still sharing her unfiltered thoughts on Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss‘ cheating scandal — and continuing to stand up for Ariana Madix.

Pregnant Stassi Schroeder and her husband, Beau Clark, are excited about welcoming baby No. 2 — and they aren’t nervous about any potential sibling squabbles between daughter Hartford and her brother.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Bruce Dixon and Hozefa Lokhandwala have been on the job for less than two weeks as co-CEOs of Vice Media Group. But despite the newness of their current roles, Lokhandwala and Dixon are already well versed in the inner workings of the Brooklyn-based company, having served for several years in senior roles under recently exited CEO Nancy Dubuc. Lokhandwala has been chief strategy officer at VMG since October 2018, and Dixon has held the position of CFO since 2021 and was previously CFO of Vice Studios. Both were brought in by Dubuc — who departed the company Feb. 24 after nearly five years as CEO — and now seek to follow in her footsteps while shaping the future of Vice, a company that has been seeking a buyer over the past year.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Because triples is best, “I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson” has finally set the premiere date for its highly anticipated third season, just under a year after Netflix announced its renewal. And it just so happens that the debut is planned for May 30, one day before the 2023 Primetime Emmy eligibility cutoff, meaning the six-episode third season of Robinson’s absurdist sketch comedy series will be in the running for this year’s noms at TV’s biggest night. Created and written by Robinson and Zach Kanin, Netflix promises the third season of “I Think You Should Leave” will see the duo “bring their distinct comedy style and observational humor to the forefront, continuing to poke fun at life’s most bizarre and mundane situations.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from the “Poker Face” Season 1 finale, “The Hook,” now streaming on Peacock. “Poker Face” revealed more about the personal life of protagonist Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne) than viewers learned throughout the first nine episode of Rian Johnson’s Peacock howdunit series, with the introduction of her sister Emily Cale (Clea DuVall) when Charlie needs a place to hide out after she’s accused of another murder. This is when we discover that Charlie has had a rough history with her sister, and hasn’t seen her in so long that she’s never even met her young niece, Shasta.

Country music singer-songwriter Lainey Wilson leads this year’s roster of CMT Music Awards nominations with a total of four nominations, including Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year, Collaborative Video of the Year and CMT Performance of the Year.

EXCLUSIVE: Endeavor is putting its money into non-scripted television. The company, which owns WME, IMG and UFC, has acquired Asylum Entertainment Group, the unscripted production company led by Steve Michaels, with plans to “supercharge” its footprint with a major M&A drive.

Spain has been named as the country of honor for the upcoming edition of the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film running May 16 to 24.

Attack On Titan killed off one of its major characters in the show’s opening episode for The Final Season: Part 3.Adapted from the manga by Hajime Isayama, the anime series is set in a post-apocalyptic world where the remains of humanity live behind walls to protect them from giant humanoid titans.The third part of the show’s fourth season debuted last week (March 3) via a one-hour special, with the second half set to arrive later this year.The episode itself continued the show’s tradition of killing off key characters, with Survey Corps leader Hange Zoë being the biggest casualty. The scientist character, who played a key role in developing weapons against the Titans, has been a mainstay since the first season.While fans of the manga knew that her death was on the horizon, viewers on social media praised the show’s execution of Hange’s send off.“Have rewatched this scene 15 times by now,” one viewer wrote on Twitter.

Michael Corleone said it best: “Never let anyone know what you are thinking.”

Refresh for latest…: MGM’s Creed III is enjoying a knockout opening weekend, punching up $100.4M globally. Of that, $41.8M is from 75 international box office markets. Domestically, the Michael B Jordan-directed movie opened to a franchise record and the best debut ever for a sports title.

Carole Horst Kerry Condon earned her first Oscar nomination for Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin,” in which she plays Siobhán, the complex sister of Colin Farrell’s simple Pádraic. Condon has worked with McDonagh for two decades; her first major role was in his play “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” and in 2009, she starred in his drama “The Cripple of Inishmaan.” She also appeared in his film “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” which won Academy Awards for Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell. The actor, who hails from Thurles, Tipperary, Ireland, also shared that she shaved her head twice for McDonagh — once for “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” in London and four years later for the play’s New York premiere.

A couple of would be Duke boys ran out of luck — and road — when they wrecked their “General Lee” muscle car in Missouri on Sunday.The pair ran off of Highway 165 in Hollister, outside Branson, on Sunday afternoon, seriously damaging the vehicle.Photos posted by the Western Taney County Fire Protection District show the iconic orange Dodge Charger on a grassy roadside embankment.Its front end crumpled in from hitting a tree.According to authorities, the occupants, whose names were not released, were evaluated at the scene and taken to a hospital, but only suffered minor injuries.But while early reports identified the car as one of the dozens used during the making of either the “Dukes of Hazzard” TV show or the 2005 film based on it, a Western Taney County Fire Protection District spokeswoman told to Fox News Digital that it was just a custom-built replica.Part of the confusion stemmed from the fact that it had been autographed by cast members, but the owner of the car, who was not present during the accident, reached out to the agency to confirm that it was not a screen-used vehicle.

The winter box office continues to have some breadth as MGM’s feature directorial debut of Michael B. Jordan, Creed III, eyes a potential franchise opening high for the Rocky spinoff about Apollo Creed’s son with a $38M-$40M opening at 4,007 theaters.

EXCLUSIVE: Clock, a timely horror feature from 20th Digital Studio and Hulu Originals has dropped new images.

Clock, a timely horror feature from 20th Digital Studio and Hulu Originals will have its World Premiere at the Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana before debuting exclusively on Hulu on April 28. The film will be available on Disney+ internationally at a later date.

Julia MacCary editor Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult’s vampire horror-comedy “Renfield” will get its world premiere at the Overlook Film Festival on March 30. Hoult (“The Menu,” “About a Boy”) stars as Renfield, the tortured aide to Dracula, who is being played by Cage (“Face/Off,” “The Rock”). Chris McKay (“The Tomorrow War,” “The Lego Movie”) directed the film, and Ryan Ridley (“Rick and Morty,” “The Wastelander”) penned it. Additional cast members include Awkwafina, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Brandon Scott Jones and Ben Schwartz. Lee Cronin’s “Evil Dead Rise” will close out the festival on April 2. Lily Sullivan and Alyssa Sutherland star in the film about estranged sisters reuniting, only to have flesh-possessing demons force them into a battle to survive. Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campell produced the film.