‘Charlotte’s Web’: Luke Matheny To Oversee HBO Max & Sesame Workshop Series

Charlize Theron is getting into the “superhero business,” but we should clarify, an atypical one that doesn’t seem all that connected to the superheroes you know. At least not yet.

Charlize Theron is getting into the superhero producing business.

HBO Max executive vice president and general manager Andy Forssell is leaving WarnerMedia ahead of the close of the company’s merger with Discovery, which is now set to close as early as Friday, Variety has learned.News that Forssell is out the door comes just as sources confirmed WarnerMedia studios and networks group chairman and CEO Ann Sarnoff was informed on Tuesday by leadership that her position would be eliminated, and follows WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar’s resignation this morning.As Variety reported earlier Tuesday, though insiders previously said the transaction between Discovery and WarnerMedia’s current owner AT&T would be formally completed on April 11, leading to the creation of new company Warner Bros. Discovery, two sources with knowledge of the situation say the merger is now expected to potentially be finalized by the close of business Friday.

After his stint as Marvel‘s “Iron Man,” Robert Downey Jr. has been moving into the role of producer.

HBO Max and Warner Bros. are looking to build a Sherlock Holmes film-TV universe in the mold of the TV series offshoots of Suicide Squad and The Batman on the WarnerMedia streamer.

EXCLUSIVE: HBO Max has acquired streaming rights to the family film Brie‘s Bake Off Challenge, from writer-director Emily Aguilar, for release today.

EXCLUSIVE: Vivian Bang, the co-writer and star of the Sundance Film Festival debut White Rabbit, has boarded the New Line ensemble comedy The Parenting for HBO Max.

HBO Max original series picks up 15 years later, with the beloved original cast spending two months in Rivera Maya in Mexico.  Three generations of Garcias sit in a beautiful room, while the family matriarch makes an announcement.

HBO Max is slowly turning into the home for projects directly connected to the cinematic side of WarnerMedia. The streaming service hosts multiple feature films set in the DCEU and even two shows directly set in the world of Matt Reeves‘ “The Batman.” Now, HBO Max is setting its sights on a recent billion-dollar horror film property.

Wilson Chapman editor“The Staircase,” a new true-crime drama miniseries starring Colin Firth and Toni Collette, will premiere on May 5, HBO Max has announced.The series is based on the true story of Kathleen Peterson, who in 2001 was reported dead by her husband Michael after having fallen down the stairs of their home. Michael was soon charged with her murder, leading to a court case that drew headlines and revealed secrets about the couple’s relationship. The story received renewed interest in 2018, when Netflix released the documentary miniseries “The Staircase,” which covered the case from 2001 to 2017.In HBO Max’s series, Firth portrays Michael, while Collette plays Kathleen.

The true-crime phenomenon—documentaries, movies, documentaries, series, and everything in between—has obviously hit an absolute zenith in recent years. This inexorable truth would explain why HBO Max would bother rehashing the mysterious circumstances of the death of Kathleen Peterson with their new scripted series “The Staircase” from showrunners Antonio Campos and Maggie Cohen (“American Crime Story”)—there’s still so much meat on the bone.

The phrase, “Well behaved women rarely make history,” attributed to Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Harvard professor Lauren Thatcher Ulrich, gets bandied about a lot these days in conversations about women who push the boundaries of acceptable feminine behavior. But that particular brand of feminism, in which women are allowed to be anti-heroes in search of their ambition, rarely seems to rear its head in the slew of recent documentaries and series about women who made history in the mid-20th century.

Sex and the City fans rejoice: And Just Like That… is coming back for a second season!

reboot!In the season finale, Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) and Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) are all making big moves in their lives. Carrie decides to spread the ashes of her late husband, Mr. Big (Chris Noth), off a bridge in Paris, France, and comes back to New York City to start a new podcast, appropriately titled, and makes out with her podcast producer, Franklyn (Ivan Hernandez), in an elevator. As for Miranda, she divorces her husband,  Steve Brady (David Eigenberg), and jets off to Los Angeles to be with her new romantic partner, Che Diaz (Sara Ramirez), as they start their new pilot.And as for Charlotte, she has a bat mitzvah for herself after her youngest child, Rock, refuses, and is facing menopause later than the rest of her friends.'s finale also opens a door for one leading lady to return.

HBO Max announced on Tuesday the renewal of the Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That... for a second season.

Betty Gilpin (GLOW, The Hunt) has been tapped as the lead of Mrs. Davis, Peacock’s new drama series written and executive produced by Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof. Emmy-winning director Owen Harris (Black Mirror: San Junipero, Brave New World) will direct and executive produce multiple episodes, including the first episode, of the series, which comes from Warner Bros. Television, where both Hernandez and Lindelof are under overall deals.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterBetty Gilpin will star in the lead role of Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez’s upcoming Peacock drama series “Mrs. Davis,” Variety has learned.The series was originally ordered in May 2021.

What happens after you blow up your entire life to be with the person you love? The second season of “Starstruck” explores the question that rom-coms generally leave unanswered after their happy endings, wisely acknowledging that a big romantic gesture doesn’t erase all the obstacles present between two people getting — and staying — together. On its surface, the British import on HBO Max seems like a standard wish-fulfillment fantasy à la “Notting Hill”: a “normie” finds unlikely romance with a star.

, plus the raunchy pirate adventure,  and a few Oscar-nominated films arriving on the platform. Fans of the Fox sitcom should be stoked to hear that the Jake Johnson-led  is now streaming. Set in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s, the series follows Johnson's Doug and second-wave feminist, Joyce, as they push to publish the very first erotic magazine for women.Best picture nominees , , , and will also be made available to stream on the platform in this month. HBO Max currently has two subscription tiers, an ad-supported subscription for $10/month and an ad-free plan available for $15/month.Sign Up NowFor even more streaming recommendations, make sure to check out our guides to everything that's new on Prime Video, what's new and what's leaving Hulu this month and the best TV and movies to stream this week.