Patrick Stewart Explains Why Watching the ‘Picard’ Finale Was ‘So Emotional,’ Teases ‘Star Trek’ Return

Oppenheimer starring Cillian Murphy – check it out above.Directed by Christopher Nolan, the historical biopic stars Murphy as theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is considered the “father of the atomic bomb” for his role in the Manhattan Project.This latest trailer showcases the ensemble cast, including Emily Blunt as wife Katherine ‘Kitty’ Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock and Robert Downey Jr.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments and the post-credits scenes in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” currently playing in theaters. By this point, it’s no secret that Marvel Studios has lost some of its luster in its post-“Avengers: Endgame” era. Between the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s rapid expansion on Disney+ and the exits of stars like Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and the late Chadwick Boseman, the Marvel saga has often felt at once too much and not enough: Sprawl without a center. It’s a problem that “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” is particularly ill-equipped to address. For one, the film is wholly disconnected from everything else that’s happened in the Marvel Cinematic Universe post-“Endgame” — there’s not a whisper of Kang or the multiverse or incursions or Talokan or, hilariously, Thor, even though the Guardians made a special appearance in “Thor: Love and Thunder” last summer. For another, the Guardians themselves — at least, as audiences have grown to know and love them — are also leaving the Marvel Cinematic Universe, between stars Zoe Saldaña and Dave Bautista making clear they’re finished with their respective roles, and writer-director James Gunn departing Marvel to co-run DC Studios with Peter Safran. 

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Marvel Studios’ “Blade” is going back into hibernation. Due to the ongoing writers strike, Marvel has shut down pre-production on the vampire reboot, which is set to star Mahershala Ali as the titular vampire hunter alongside Aaron Pierre, Delroy Lindo and Mia Goth. Production was expected to start in Atlanta within the month for an anticipated Sept. 6, 2024 release. This isn’t the first time Disney has had to delay production on the film. Last October, Disney pushed “Blade” from a 2023 release to 2024 after the original director, Bassam Tariq (“Mogul Mowgli”), left the project two months before filming was set to begin. In November, Yann Demange (“Lovecraft Country”) took over directing duties from a script by Michael Starrbury (“When They See Us”). In April, just weeks before the WGA contract deadline, Nic Pizzolatto (“True Detective”) joined the production, re-writing from Starrbury’s screenplay. He ran out of time to complete his work before the strike began.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer When A.C. Bradley was hired to write on the 2022 Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel,” part of her job entailed going to set every day to help with re-writing scenes on the fly while the show was being filmed. “It was a mixture of everything from wanting to add new characters into the show to needing to change things because of location,” Bradley tells Variety. Just one example: The day the production was set to shoot a chase sequence at Marriott hotel, she helped to add a beat where the chase entered the kitchen because it was nearby. “Why not use what you have?” This kind of scenario is, of course, no longer possible during the ongoing writers strike. “Pens down” means no WGA member can write or change scripts whatsoever, before, during or after production. In many cases, that has meant that showrunners have left their shows entirely, like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay or “Cobra Kai” executive producer Jon Hurwitz. Other writers rooms have shut down in advance of production on their next seasons, like “Abbott Elementary” and “Yellowjackets.”

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is the latest marquee TV series to move forward with production amid the ongoing WGA strike, but the Amazon Prime Video show will be doing so without the services of executive producers J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay. The sweeping fantasy series has 19 days of filming remaining, sources confirm to Variety, but per WGA strike rules, Payne, McKay and any other writer-producers are barred from participating in any writing-based duties during production while the strike continues — including making creative decisions on set. Instead, the show’s non-writing executive producers (like Lindsey Weber), directors (Charlotte Brändström, Sanaa Hamri and Louise Hooper) and crew are overseeing production on the U.K.-based shoot.

Wendi McLendon-Covey and cast, saying goodbye to the ABC comedy — which officially signs off Wednesday after 10 seasons — hasn't sunk in yet. In February, ABC announced that the long-running 1980s family comedy, created and inspired by executive producer Adam Goldberg's childhood, would be ending.«It doesn't feel real,» star Hayley Orrantia told ET's Deidre Behar in an exclusive sit-down interview with the cast. «Because, in a way, I still have this feeling of we just wrapped the season and I'll see them again in August.

Meghan Trainor had some doubts about Daryl Sabara at first!

While “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” crosses the billion-dollar mark this weekend at the global box office, another big Chris Pratt film is heading to theaters next week with “Guardians of The Galaxy Vol.

K.J. Yossman Actors and creatives from “Star Trek” and “Ghosts” are set to host Master Classes during the Banff World Media Festival in June, Variety can confirm. The two Paramount Global shows will be repped at the 44th edition of the festival, which is set to take place in Banff, Alberta, Canada from June 11-14. The “Star Trek” masterclass will feature “Star Trek: Discovery’s” Sonequa Martin-Green, “Star Trek: Lower Decks’” Tawny Newsome, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’” Ethan Peck plus Alex Kurtzman, who is an executive producer for the “Star Trek” franchise, and CBS Studios president David Stapf. They will all be on hand do discuss “ushering in the golden age of ‘Trek,’ growing the franchise, and introducing a new generation to this universe all while staying true to what made it a cultural phenomenon 56 years ago,” according to the festival.

premiered in 1987, Denise Crosby helped Patrick Stewart and co. launch a new chapter of Gene Roddenberry's universe. But unlike Captain Picard and other OG characters, security chief Lieutenant Tasha Yar didn't survive s inaugural outing — let alone reunite with the Enterprise crew during Star Trek: Picard's final season.ET was on the set of «Skin of Evil» in 1988, as Crosby filmed Tasha's now-infamous death scene, following a sit-down between the actress and Roddenberry, who «came together agreeably» while discussing her exit from the series.«I am leaving the show.

Russ Weakland Just days before the “Star Trek: Picard” team celebrated its series finale with an FYC red carpet event in Hollywood Wednesday night, Paramount+ announced that Michelle Yeoh will reprise her role of Philippa Georgiou in the upcoming event film, “Star Trek: Section 31.” The announcement had the cast of “Picard” extremely excited for Yeoh’s return and eager to give kudos to the newly minted Oscar winner. “It is a really cool time to have Michelle Yeoh back in the family,” Jonathan Frakes, who plays Commander William Riker and has directed dozens of episodes across the “Star Trek” television universe, told Variety. “I had the privilege of directing her a number of times on ‘Discovery.’ She’s a very special human being. She is a special actor. So the idea that we get her now on ‘Section 31’ is kind of a big deal.” 

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in “The Last Generation,” the series finale of “Star Trek: Picard,” currently streaming on Paramount+. The last time the cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” cast performed together on screen — in 2002’s “Star Trek: Nemesis” — ended with a sour one-two punch: the sudden death of Data (Brent Spiner) and the financial failure of the film, which caused Paramount to stop making movies with the cast. Effectively, after a brilliantly successful seven-season run on TV, “The Next Generation” had been canceled from movie theaters. Two decades later, when Terry Matalas was tapped to executive produce the final season of “Star Trek: Picard,” the lifelong “Trek” fan knew that he not only wanted to bring back the full “TNG” cast, but provide them with the send-off they had never received. 

reprise her role as Phillipa Georgiou from “Star Trek: Discovery” in a standalone movie event.Production on the movie, titled “Star Trek: Section 31,” will begin later this year. The film will “follow Georgiou as she joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets and faces the sins of her past.”“Section 31” was initially announced as a series back in 2019.

Patrick Stewart is saying farewell to his “Star Trek: Picard” character, Jean-Luc Picard, almost four decades after he took on the role in 1987 for “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points in the Season 3 finale of “The Mandalorian,” currently streaming on Disney+. It took all eight episodes of Season 3 for “The Mandalorian” to find its way back to itself, which is to say, back to Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his (now officially!) adopted child, Grogu. For most of Season 3, the core relationship of the series — the reason why “The Mandalorian” became an instant global phenomenon — was shunted aside in favor of tracking how Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan Kryze rallied the estranged factions of Mandalorians to take back their devastated homeworld.  Audiences have not responded kindly. Legions of reviews, tweets and YouTube videos vivisected this season of “The Mandalorian” for being “detached,” “unsatisfying,” “sloppy” and “the worst.” What had been a loose and uncomplicated story of Din and Grogu’s ongoing adventures had become instead a sprawling narrative steeped in Mandalorian lore that was brand new (and, even worse, uninteresting) to most people watching. An ironic strength of the show — audiences projecting themselves into Din’s helmet in the absence of Pascal’s deeply expressive face — became a major liability, with episodes in which dozens of helmeted Mandalorians talked to each other in a dry, monosyllabic monotones, with nary a human face to be seen.

We have good news and bad news for “Star Trek” fans. The good news is that there’s a new “Star Trek” film in development, with an Oscar-winning actor in the lead role.

Michelle Yeoh is returning to the Star Trek universe!

history-making Oscar win for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the beloved screen actor will reprise her “Star Trek: Discovery” role, Emperor Philippa Georgiou, in a new feature film at Paramount+: “Star Trk: Section 31.”“I’m beyond thrilled to return to my ‘Star Trek’ family and to the role I’ve loved for so long,” Yeoh said in a statement Tuesday. “Section 31 has been near and dear to my heart since I began the journey of playing Philippa all the way back when this new golden age of ‘Star Trek’ launched.

Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh is officially returning to Starfleet.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Lena Khan (“Flora and Ulysses”) is set to direct the Bollywood comedy “Best of the Best.” The project, formerly titled “For the Culture,” chronicles the highly competitive world of collegiate Bollywood dance competitions. Comedian Hasan Minhaj, best known for his Peabody Award-winning Netflix series “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj,” wrote the project with Prashanth Venkataramanujam to launch their production company, 186K Films. Minhaj will also play a role in the film.  Dan Lin’s Rideback is also producing. Additionally, Khan is attached to direct an adaptation of the classic children’s book “The Cricket in Times Square” — about a cricket from New Jersey named Chester who lands in Manhattan after accidentally getting trapped in a picnic basket — for Spyglass. That project remains in development.