Alexis Bledel Exits ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Ahead of Season 5 (EXCLUSIVE)

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAmazon Prime Video’s “The Boys” is bringing another iconic character from the comics to the screen, this time with the help of Paul Reiser.The legendary actor will take on the all-important in-universe role of “The Legend,” which in the original “Boys” comics from Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson was a parody version of the late famed Marvel creator Stan Lee.According to Amazon, “Reiser will be introduced as The Legend in this week’s episode titled ‘The Last Time To Look On This World Of Lies,'” which is the fifth episode of “The Boys” Season 3.Prime Video’s “The Boys,” which is executive produced by “Supernatural” creator Eric Kripke along with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, didn’t provide a description for its version of “The Legend” beyond referring to him as “an iconic fan-favorite character fromt he original comic book series,” but the streamer did release a first look photo, which can be viewed above. New episodes of the eight-episode third season of “The Boys” premiere Fridays, with four remaining until the July 8 finale.“The Boys” has already been renewed for a fourth season by Amazon Studios, a decision that was announced soon after the impressive viewership for the Season 3 premiere weekend came in last week.“We’re just really excited.

Hulu has announced The Handmaid’s Tale will return for its fifth season on September 14.Along with the release date, the streaming service released two photos from the upcoming season, featuring Elisabeth Moss as June and Yvonne Strahovski as Serena.The upcoming season will see June face consequences for killing Serena’s husband, Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes), at the end of season four.A synopsis reads: “June faces consequences for killing Commander Waterford while struggling to redefine her identity and purpose. The widowed Serena attempts to raise her profile in Toronto as Gilead’s influence creeps into Canada.Season 5 arrives September 14.

June is coming back with a vengeance.

Controversial plans to open a Hooters restaurant and bar - where scantily-clad young women will serve customers - at Salford Quays have been given the go-ahead. The decision flies in the face of fierce local opposition, including from both the Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

Wilson Chapman editorSpoiler Alert: Do not read if you haven’t watched “starting now,” the Season 3 finale of “Barry,” now streaming on HBO Max.After three seasons of barely getting away with his many crimes, Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) has finally been caught.Season 3 of Hader and Alec Berg’s increasingly dark comedy series “Barry” ends with the title character — a reluctant hitman whose attempts to avoid the consequences of his actions have caused increasingly greater tragedies — apprehended by a SWAT team, heading to jail for the murder of detective Janice Moss (Paula Newsome). That act, which has hung over the series since Season 1, initially seemed like it would get Barry in jail even sooner, when her boyfriend Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler) discovered that Barry, his student, was responsible for her death.

Spoiler Alert: The following podcast and article contains spoilers about tonight’s season 3 finale of HBO’s Barry. 

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterOne week after exploding genitalia in its Season 3 premiere and increasing viewership by 17% from Season 2’s debut, “The Boys” has been renewed for a fourth season at Amazon.While “The Boys” star Karl Urban previously spilled the fourth-season beans when he said at Variety‘s SXSW Studio on March 12 that he was “shooting ‘The Boys’ through the end of the year,” well after production had already wrapped on Season 3, Friday’s renewal marks the official Season 4 pickup from Amazon.Of course, giving “The Boys” a fourth season was always a no-brainer for Amazon, as the Eric Kripke-created show is at the center of the streamer’s first real multi-series franchise, which now includes animated anthology spinoff “The Boys Presents: Diabolical”  and the currently in-production untitled spinoff, which is set at America’s only college exclusively for young-adult superheroes.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Stranger Things” Season 4, Volume 1 has already smashed multiple Netflix viewership records in less than two weeks after its release, and anticipation for Volume 2’s July 1 launch is building more by the day. But the success of the streamer’s first-ever two-batch drop with just over a month in between releases does not mean Netflix is considering shaking up the “Stranger Things” model further ahead of its fifth and final season, meaning there are no plans to shift the Duffer Brothers series to a weekly release.“For the fans of ‘Stranger Things,’ this is how they’ve been watching that show, and I think to change that on them would be disappointing,” Peter Friedlander, Netflix’s head of scripted series for U.S.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterChicken Soup for the Soul Studios has picked up two new shows, including a new wedding talk show hosted by Olympic figure skater Tara Lipinski, and renewed Joe Morton’s Crackle series “Inside the Black Box” for a second season, Variety has learned exclusively.Created in collaboration with wedding-centric media company Love Stories TV, Lipinski’s series is titled “Wedding Talk” and includes event planner José Rolón and wedding designer Jove Meyer as her co-hosts. Chicken Soup for the Soul Studios, the production arm of Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, has also picked up “World’s Best Wedding,” another Love Stories TV-backed reality show that follows couples from different cultures, background and orientations as they tie the knot.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Payback,” “The Only Man in the Sky” and “Barbary Coast,” the three episodes that are part of the June 3 launch of “The Boys” Season 3.Within the first three episodes of Season 2, “The Boys” blew up a whale by having Butcher (Karl Urban) crash into it with a speedboat. In the Season 3 premiere, the Amazon Prime Video show exploded a smaller, but much more graphic, object in an even more bizarre way.As “The Boys” showrunner Eric Kripke previously promised Variety, within the first 15 minutes of the Season 3 premiere, a moment occurs that is “a thousand times crazier” than the whale scene: A superhero named Termite shrinks down and climbs into the urethra of his significant other in order to pleasure him from inside his penis.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab,” they Volume 1 finale episode of “Stranger Things” Season 4.The second part of “Stranger Things” Season 4 will debut in less than a month. But what member of the Hellfire Club can wait that long for answers to all the questions posed by the shocking Volume 1 finale and its major reveal that Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) created the Upside Down and the big bad Vecna, by locking One (Jamie Campbell Bower) inside the supernatural realm.“Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer, professionally known as the Duffer Brothers, weren’t willing to spill on everything just yet when sitting down with Variety to talk about the first seven episodes of Season 4 on Thursday — but they gave us plenty to go on until Volume 2 debuts July 1.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterJonathan Bing has left his post as director of communications at Netflix to take the role of chief communications officer at Vice Media Group, Variety has learned.Based out of Los Angeles, Bing will lead Vice Media’s communications strategy across its portfolio of brands, including Vice News, Vice TV, Vice Studios and Refinery 29. He will head up Vice’s communications, brand, and reputation strategy globally “to reflect and deliver against the new ambitions for the business,” per the company.Most recently, Bing was head of communications at Netflix and previously senior vice president of communications for Fox Network Group.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterThe midseason finale of the sixth and final season of “Better Call Saul” grew 87% with three days of delayed viewership, according to Nielsen’s Live + 3 data.The May 23 episode, which is the conclusion of Part 1 of the “Breaking Bad” prequel’s final chapter, drew 2.2 million viewers including its initial linear airing on AMC, plus three days of mostly DVR viewing.According to AMC, viewership via streamer AMC+ was up 61% over the Season 6 premiere, and “Better Call Saul” currently stands as the top acquisition driver in the history of the SVOD.“The response to this final season of Better Call Saul, from viewers, critics, long-time fans and new arrivals to the series – on all platforms – has been everything we had hoped for,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “The series looks like nothing else on television, which is a tribute to the creative genius and excellence of Vince, Peter, Bob, Rhea, Giancarlo, Patrick, Jonathan, Michael, Tony, our partners at Sony and everyone else associated with this extraordinary effort.

Warning: The Handmaid's Tale season four spoilers, ahead.Before of The Handmaid's Tale even had a chance to air, fans of the were promised a fifth, and potentially final, season.“We’re very grateful to Hulu and MGM that the show will be returning for a fifth season, and especially to our loyal fans for their support,” showrunner Bruce Miller told back in December 2020. “We are thrilled to be able to continue to tell these stories, with our incredible cast and crew, and can’t wait to be back on the air with season four next year.”This content can also be viewed on the site it from.Now it's 2022 and season four of The Handmaid's Tale has come and gone. June () has been reunited with her daughter Nichole after killing Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) with Emily () and a group of other former handmaids.

The Handmaid's Tale.Bledel, who has starred as Emily/Ofglen on the since 2017, said she decided to “step away” from the series in a statement released by on May 27. “After much thought, I felt I had to step away from The Handmaid’s Tale at this time," the statement read.

Alexis Bledel has announced she will not be returning for the fifth season of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“The Lincoln Lawyer” moved to No. 1 on Netflix’s list of top English-language titles for the week of May 16-22, its first full week after premiering May 13.