‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ Gets May Premiere Date at Disney Plus

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched “Fairytale Wedding,” the Feb. 28 episode of NBC’s “The Endgame.”NBC’s new high-octane crime drama “The Endgame” aired its second episode Monday, revealing many more compelling details about its leading ladies — Morena Baccarin’s international arms dealer/crime boss Elena Federova and Ryan Michelle Bathé’s FBI agent Val Turner — than it did in its week-ago series premiere.In the episode, “Fairytale Wedding,” we saw the titular nuptials go up in flames when the church where Elena and her now-husband Sergey Vodianov (Costa Ronin) were to be wed was blown up with everyone they loved inside.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Good News About Hell” and “Half Loop,” the first two episodes of “Severance,” which premiered Friday on Apple TV Plus.The Ben Stiller-directed “Severance” debuted its first two episodes Friday, revealing a fictional world where people, like Adam Scott’s Mark Scout, are able to undergo a procedure that allows them to mentally separate their work and home lives. Why a person would choose to do this and why Lumon, the company that created the process, would require it of some of its employees is just the start of the questions posed by the initial pair of “Severance” episodes.“What we know of them is that they are a med-tech company.

Star Wars composer John Williams has returned to write a theme for upcoming Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi.According to Variety, Williams has written the musical signature for the series and recorded it last week with a Los Angeles orchestra under tight security.This is the first time Williams has composed a theme for the franchise since Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker in 2019. He’s composed the score for every mainline film in the franchise, but this marks a rare occasion where he’s writing music for television.It’s unclear if Williams has contributed any additional music beyond the theme for Obi-Wan Kenobi.Obi-Wan Kenobi, a limited Original series, starts streaming May 25 on @DisneyPlus.

Jon Burlingame editorMore than two years after completing his ninth “Star Wars” movie, composer John Williams is returning to the Jedi fold with a theme for “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” Variety has learned.Williams has written the musical signature for the continuing adventures of the character played by Ewan McGregor, airing on Disney Plus beginning May 25. He recorded last week with a Los Angeles orchestra under tight security, sources say.It is a coup for both Lucasfilm and Disney, considering the five-time Oscar winner rarely composes for television.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterIna Garten’s new Discovery Plus series, “Be My Guest With Ina Garten,” has been renewed for two additional seasons ahead of its launch on March 26.The show will launch with full episodes on Discovery Plus, to be followed by a “food-centric half-hour” airing on Food Network at 12 p.m. ET, along with the debut of a companion podcast.Season 1 consists of four episodes, rolled out weekly in the same manner as the premiere.“Be My Guest With Ina Garten” features Barefoot Contessa inviting friends old and new to her East Hampton home for a day of conversation, connection, food and fun visits to some of her favorite local spots.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterBon appetit! A cooking competition inspired by culinary legend Julia Child and featuring her “superfans” as contestants has been ordered at Food Network and Discovery Plus, Variety has learned exclusively.Based on the legacy of Child, who motivated generations of home cooks with her talent, enthusiasm and humor, “The Julia Child Challenge” will see eight top-notch home cooks compete in high-stakes culinary challenges to find out who has the fire, skill and passion to win the first-ever primetime competition series dedicated to all things Julia, per the show’s official description. The competitors, all Julia Child superfans, share personal stories about their hero, cook in a kitchen recreated in the likeness of where Julia herself cooked, using the same ingredients Julia used and are even guided by Julia herself through a larger-than-life television screen right in the middle of all the action.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer“Yellowstone” prequel “1883” has been renewed for Season 2 at Paramount Plus, and the ViacomCBS-owned streaming service has ordered another Taylor Sheridan-created origin-story show following the Dutton Family called “1932.” Yes, you guessed it — the show will follow a new generation of Duttons “during the time of western expansion, Prohibition and the Great Depression.”“1883″ stars Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Billy Bob Thornton, Isabel May, LaMonica Garrett, Marc Rissmann, Audie Rick, Eric Nelsen and James Landry Hébert.The show follows the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. It is a stark retelling of western expansion and an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America’s promised land — Montana.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterParamount Plus will begin integrating Showtime content this summer, launching an in-app upgrade that includes access to the pay TV channel’s programming, ViacomCBS announced during its Tuesday investor event.“So let’s talk about how we’re helping subscribers access even more of our amazing streaming services, right there in the Paramount Plus app,” Tom Ryan, president and chief executive officer of streaming at ViacomCBS, said during the virtual presentation, which covered the company’s fourth-quarter 2021 results and forward-looking goals for this year. “Our existing bundle, of Paramount Plus and Showtime, has performed very well out of the gate.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterParamount Plus and Showtime topped a combined 56 million subscribers by the end of last year, ViacomCBS revealed Tuesday ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings presentation and investor event. That’s up 9.4 million from where it was in the previous quarter.At the end of Q3 of 2021, Paramount Plus (formerly CBS All Access) and Showtime OTT added 4.3 million global subscribers, raising their combined total to nearly 47 million.For comparison, HBO and HBO Max ended 2021 with 73.8 million global subscribers, Disney Plus closed the year with nearly 130 million worldwide, and Netflix reached 221.8 million total in Q4.ViacomCBS said last February it expects to reach 65-75 million global subscribers between Paramount Plus and Showtime by 2024.

The dust has hardly settled on Avengers: End Game, but Marvel is back with another big risk.

Amber Dowling The L.A. Rams’ 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals at Super Bowl LVI scored a massive touchdown on Variety’s Trending TV chart for the week of Feb. 7 – 13, tackling this week’s other televised offerings with almost 805,000 engagements during its Feb.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery Plus has ordered “Serving the Hamptons,” a spinoff of “Selling the Hamptons” following the “young, sexy restaurant staff” at a hot Hamptons restaurant and all of the drama they dish up on and off the clock, Variety has learned exclusively.Premiering on Thursday, April 7, the five hour-long episodes take viewers into one of the most exclusive enclaves in the world while showcasing the juicy lives of the staff at Southampton’s “it” destination for dining. The show brings viewers inside 75 Main Restaurant as its staffers hook up, argue and work together to make sure the clients come back for more, per the show’s official logline.To attract the best employees to serve his elite clientele of celebrities, politicians and the uber rich, 75 Main owner Zach Erdem provides his staff with a gorgeous beach house — provided they follow his rules and take care of his customers.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAMC Networks dropped a teaser during Super Bowl LVI Sunday featuring the first look at its Anne Rice series “Interview with the Vampire,” along with footage from the sixth and final season of “Better Call Saul,” the middle third of the 11th and final season of “The Walking Dead” and upcoming anthology “Tales of the Walking Dead,” the fourth and final season of “Killing Eve” and several other shows coming to AMC, streaming service AMC Plus or BBC America this year.A longer 60-second version of the TV spot was released online, which teased the upcoming series “61st Street,” “Dark Winds,” “Moonhaven” and “That Dirty Black Bag.”AMC’s “Interview with the Vampire,” adapted from Rice’s iconic novel of the same name, centers on the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (played by Jacob Anderson) as he relates the story of his life to a reporter, in particular how he was turned into a vampire and then mentored by Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid). The show is currently in production in New Orleans.

Ewan McGregor is taking fans around the world in Expedia’s new Super Bowl commercial.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterAMC has finally set the premiere for the sixth and final season of “Better Call Saul” — as well as the second half of the sixth and final season of “Better Call Saul” — after teasing fans mercilessly with the information earlier this week. As an added bonus, the cable channel also revealed first-look images from the sixth season (see above) and unveiled upcoming digital series set in the “Breaking Bad” prequel’s universe.On Thursday, AMC announced that the seven-episode Part 1 of “Better Call Saul” Season 6 will premiere on April 18 at 9 p.m. ET.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, the new spin-off Star Wars series led by Ewan McGregor, has received a May premiere date at Disney+.The limited live-action series, which sees McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi) reunite with his old Star Wars castmate Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker), will start airing on May 25.Obi-Wan Kenobi is set 10 years after the events of the 2005 Star Wars film Revenge Of The Sith, where Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi witnessed the downfall of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.With the premiere news comes a poster reveal, which you can see below.Obi-Wan Kenobi, a limited Original series, starts streaming May 25 on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/XCV1xQZhDR— Star Wars (@starwars) February 9, 2022Last year Star Wars boss Kathleen Kennedy discussed the “incredibly emotional” reunion between McGregor and Christensen for the show.“The thing that was most exciting was being on the set and watching the two of them get excited,” Kennedy told Empire.She continued: “They hadn’t seen one another in a long time.“I was surprised at just how incredibly emotional it was for each of them to find themselves back in these roles, and just realising how important Star Wars was to each of them.

Today marked the finale of “The Book of Boba Fett,” and we now have official confirmation that “Obi-Wan Kenobi” is going to be the next big “Star Wars” event series. Scottish actor Ewan McGregor returns to reprise the role of the iconic Jedi with a story that takes place between years after “Star Wars: Revenge of The Sith” and many before “Star Wars: A New Hope.” Disney+ and Lucasfilm have officially announced the show will begin airing on May 25, a fitting month given that May 4 is Star Wars Day, and the month should be filled with promotional materials for various “Star Wars”-related projects.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek said during the company’s Wednesday earnings call that the next Star Wars Disney+ series, Obi-Wan Kenobi, will debut on May 25, the Wednesday before Memorial Day weekend.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced on today’s earnings call that the next Star Wars Disney+ series Obi-Wan will debut on May 25.