Adam B.Vary-Senior Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

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. 

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+. When Patrick Stewart first met with producers Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman in 2017 to discuss the possibility of returning to play Jean-Luc Picard again on a new “Star Trek” series, Stewart famously did so as a courtesy to explain that he had absolutely no interest in revisiting the world of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” “I explained to them all those elements of ‘Next Generation’ which belong in ‘Next Generation,’ and why I didn’t want to go near them again,” Stewart told Variety in a January 2020 cover story. When the producers noted that the show could show a much different Picard, one who’d changed over the two decades since the events of the final “TNG” movie, 2002’s “Star Trek: Nemesis,” Stewart became intrigued, and signed on to do three seasons of “Star Trek: Picard” — but without the rest of the “TNG” cast.

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.

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.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in Season 3, Episode 9 of “Star Trek: Picard,” currently streaming on Paramount+. Gates McFadden didn’t know what to expect when she first got on a Zoom call with “Star Trek: Picard” executive producers Terry Matalas and Akiva Goldsman. A few years earlier, Patrick Stewart had taken the cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” — Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn, Brent Spiner and McFadden — to dinner to announce that he was going to star on the spinoff series without them. But for the show’s third and final season, Matalas wanted to bring the full cast back together. 

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Oswald Cobblepot is finally getting his moment in the sun. Warner Bros. Discovery executives have unveiled the first look at “The Penguin,” the spin-off series focusing on Colin Farrell’s titular Gotham City gangster from the 2022 blockbuster film “The Batman.” The preview was part of the company’s presentation on Wednesday of its streaming service, Max, a combination of the HBO Max and Discovery+ services. “The Penguin,” which is currently in production, will run for eight episodes. Spoiler alert for that film: After Paul Dano’s the Riddler kills Carmine Falcone, one of Gotham City’s top mob bosses, he floods the major downtown area in a coordinated terrorist attack — leaving Farrell’s Cobblepot with a city in chaos and a power vacuum within Gotham’s underworld.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer The “Creature Commandos” can speak! The animated series — which is set to premiere in 2024 as the first title in the new DC Universe headed by James Gunn and Peter Safran — unveiled its voice cast featuring David Harbour, Indira Varma, Alan Tudyk, Maria Bakalova, Zoe Chao, Steve Agee and more. Varmawill voice the show’s main protagonist, Bride of Frankenstein, a version of the classic horror character; Frank Grillo will play Rick Flag Sr., the father of Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag, Jr. from 2021’s “The Suicide Squad” (written and directed by Gunn); Harbour will voice Eric Frankenstein, a version of the classic monster and ostensible love interest for the Bride; Chao will voice Nina Mazursky, an amphibious scientist; Gunn will voice G.I. Robot, a military android; and Tudyk will voice Doctor Phosphorus, who is permanently radioactive (and often a Batman villain).

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer The past, present and future of Star Wars was on ample display on Friday at the Star Wars Celebration fan convention, as Lucasfilm unveiled the most robust look yet at the company’s plans for the hallowed franchise. As studio chief Kathleen Kennedy revealed three new feature films and first looks at four upcoming TV series, Lucasfilm made clear it aims to test just how far it can stretch the Star Wars galaxy: creatively, logistically and even historically. Starting with “The Phantom Menace” and concluding with “The Rise of Skywalker,” the previous nine “Star Wars” movies have all taken place within a roughly 70-year timeline, straddling the climactic Battle of Yavin in “A New Hope” that has served as the official fulcrum point for the franchise for six decades. Every live-action and animated spinoff TV series has unfolded within that timeframe, including the shows launched on Disney+: “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett,” “Andor,” “The Bad Batch” and the upcoming shows “Ahsoka” and “Skeleton Crew.” (“Visions,” an animated anthology series launched in 2021, exists outside of Star Wars canon.)

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer The modern superhero movie would not exist without the version of Superman limned by Christopher Reeve in Warner Bros.’ 1978 smash “Superman.” First created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for Action Comics, the Man of Steel became a pop-culture mainstay with the syn- dicated “Adventures of Superman” TV series in the 1950s. But it wasn’t until DC Comics moved into the world of Warner Bros. and Reeve donned the last son of Krypton’s blue-and-red tights for the Richard Donner-directed “Superman” that bringing a comic book superhero to life on the big screen was seen as blockbuster business. And the spoils were considerable: In the moment, “Superman” ranked as WB’s highest-grossing movie ever.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Oscar-winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) will direct an adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed Shakespeare-era novel “Hamnet” for Amblin Partners. Zhao is writing the screenplay with O’Farrell. Amblin Partners, Hera Pictures, Neal Street Productions and Book of Shadows are all backing the project. O’Farrell’s New York Times bestseller reframes the creation of William Shakespeare’s most famous play, “Hamlet,” through the lens of the playwright’s wife Agnes (a variation on Anne Hathaway, the name of Shakespeare’s real wife), as she grieves the death of her only son, 11-year-old Hamnet, to the bubonic plauge. The novel also traces the beginnings of Agnes’ relationship with young Shakespeare — who is never named, known only as the world’s most famous playwright. In 2020, “Hamnet” won the Women’s Prize for fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses an unannounced cameo in the film “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” which is currently playing in theaters. For “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” writer-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley pulled from the expansive trove of creatures and lore created over the 50-year history of the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. There are paladins and sorcerers, red wizards and owlbears, bards and barbarians — all of them written by Goldstein and Daley and performed by Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Hugh Grant, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis and Daisy Head with the same good-natured pluck that has imbued the countless campaigns waged by the game’s players.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Liv Tyler is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, 16 years after her last appearance. The actor will appear in 2024’s “Captain America: New World Order,” reprising her role from 2008’s “The Incredible Hulk” as scientist Betty Ross, the daughter of General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. That role was originated by the late William Hurt, who reappeared several times for Marvel Studios, starting with 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War,” in which Ross had become Secretary of State. Harrison Ford is stepping into the role of Thaddeus Ross for “New World Order,” in which the character has become President of the United States.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Victoria Alonso’s work as a producer of the Oscar-nominated feature film “Argentina, 1985” is coming under greater scrutiny as a major factor in Disney’s decision to fire the longtime Marvel Studios executive for cause, according to three sources with knowledge of Alonso’s exit. At issue, according to these sources, was Alonso’s 2018 employment contract with Disney that prohibited her from working on projects for any rival studios. “Argentina, 1985” — which tracks the real-life trials of the country’s final dictatorship — was produced in part by Amazon Studios, which released the film on Prime Video in October. But Alonso, who was born and raised in Argentina, did not alert Disney to her work on “Argentina, 1985” in advance, sources say.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer If you’re going to remake a movie, why not remake one of the most acclaimed movies ever made? Paramount Pictures has preemptively acquired a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 classic psychological thriller “Vertigo,” as a possible starring vehicle for Robert Downey Jr.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in Season 3, Episode 6 of “Star Trek: Picard,” currently streaming on Paramount+. Of the many pleasures of the third season of “Star Trek: Picard,” the greatest has to be watching the cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” finally reunite on screen for the first time since the 2002 feature film “Star Trek: Nemesis.” That movie was a failure critically, commercially and with “Star Trek” fans, many of whom were especially upset that the beloved character of Data (Brent Spiner) was killed off. Except, it turns out, he wasn’t. In Season 1 of “Star Trek: Picard,” fans learned that Data’s android consciousness had been kept alive within an inanimate memory core by Altan Inigo Soong (Spiner), the brother of Data’s original creator, Noonien Soong — until Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) honored Data’s desire to finally perish from existence completely. 

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight is set to write the screenplay for the untitled “Star Wars” movie that Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (“Ms. Marvel”) is attached to direct, as original screenwriters Damon Lindelof and Justin Britt-Gibson have departed the project, Variety has confirmed. The movie is widely expected to be among Lucasfilm’s first “Star Wars” films since 2019’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” More information about the movie, including a possible title, is expected to be announced at the Star Wars Celebration in London in April. (A representative for Lucasfilm did not respond to a request for comment.)

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Based on the deafening cheers that shook the walls of the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas on Monday, the SXSW Film Festival premiere of “John Wick: Chapter 4” was a rousing success — and that’s before the film had even started. All it took was star Keanu Reeves to step on stage at the behest of director Chad Stahelski for the 1,000-plus audience to erupt in unbridled enthusiasm. That fervor never waned throughout the film’s epic two-hour-and-49-minute runtime, with booming ovations following the prodigious action sequences in Osaka, Berlin and Paris — and vocal gasps after several major twists. Stepping onto the stage after the screening, Reeves and Stahelski both seemed pleasantly shell-shocked by the raucous reception.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Before the LGBTQ teen sex comedy “Bottoms” premiered at the SXSW Film Festival on Saturday, festival director Claudette Godfrey told the audience in the Paramount Theater to prepare themselves for an experience that defied description, and that’s largely what they got. The movie stars Rachel Sennott (“Bodies, Bodies, Bodies,” “Shiva Baby”) and Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”) as high schoolers who decide to form a girls’ fight club — technically, a self-defense club — in order to convince the two hottest cheerleaders in school to sleep with them. What unfolds isn’t quite like any high school sex comedy before it, which was exactly what director Emma Seligman (“Shiva Baby”) — who wrote the screenplay with Sennott — set out to do.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Eva Longoria’s feature directorial debut, “Flamin’ Hot,” had audiences on fire at its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival on March 11 — while deftly navigating the controversy surrounding the film’s subject without ever addressing it by name. The movie is based on the life of former Frito-Lay executive Richard Montañez, played by Jesse Garcia (“Quinceañera,” “Narcos: Mexico”), who has said that he was responsible for inventing the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos brand when he was working as a janitor for the company.  Before “Flamin’ Hot” went into production in 2021, however, Montañez’s claims were disputed by a Los Angeles Times report in which Frito-Lay stated that an internal investigation turned up no evidence that “Richard was involved in any capacity in the Flamin’ Hot test market” in 1990. Instead, the Times’ story attributed a Frito-Lay factory in the Midwest with spearheading the Flamin’ Hot brand and credited Montañez for helping to bring to market the Flamin’ Hot Popcorn brand and a line of spicy products called Sabrositas.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” stole the hearts of the audience at its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival on March 10, no matter whether or not they’d played the 50-year old role playing game that shares its title. The action comedy stars Chris Pine as a rakish bard named Edgin and Michelle Rodriguez as his platonic life-partner, the tough-as-nails warrior, Holga. The two set off on a quest to reunite Edgin with his estranged daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman), and they wind up working with Xenk (Regé-Jean Page), a valorous paladin; Simon (Justice Smith), a sorcerer with an inferiority complex; and Doric (Sophia Lillis), a no-nonsense shapeshifting druid. Rounding out the cast are Hugh Grant as Forge Fitzwilliam, Edgin and Holga’s untrustworthy former compatriot; and Daisy Head as Sofina, a powerful wizard who is more than she initially seems.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein have been to the SXSW Film Festival twice before — for 2013’s “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,” which they wrote, and 2019’s “Stuber,” which they produced. But when the pair debut the action-comedy “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” as the opening film of the annual Austin event this Friday, it will be the first time they’ve done so as directors. They couldn’t be more excited. “It’s the perfect setting for this movie,” Goldstein says, sitting in the Paramount lot office he shares with Daley, for an interview with Variety about the release of their latest movie. “It feels like the quintessential South By film,” Daley adds. “It’s big and all-encompassing but there’s also something a little bit subversive about it.”

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer When Jon Favreau stepped onto the red carpet for the Season 3 premiere of “The Mandalorian” on Feb. 28, the Disney+ show’s creator and executive producer was feeling nostalgic. “It’s been a while since we’ve been all together here like this,” Favreau told Variety, evoking the November 2019 premiere for the launch of the show — and of Disney+ itself. “It was before the first episode aired!” At that time, “The Mandalorian” was a scrappy landspeeder in the vast “Star Wars” galaxy, nipping at the heels of “The Rise of Skywalker,” the culminating feature film from director J.J. Abrams that was expected just a month later to obliterate the box office like a cinematic Death Star. Instead, “The Mandalorian” became a global sensation thanks to the incandescent cuteness of Baby Yoda, blasting Disney+ into light-speed with 26.5 million subscribers in its first six weeks.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer After nearly two years of production, Amazon Prime Video has finally pulled back the curtain on “Citadel,” the wildly ambitious new spy series starring Richard Madden and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, with the first trailer released Monday. The show is meant to serve as the mothership for several planned spin-offs based in local countries and performed in local languages: “Citadel” series set in Italy and India are already underway, with another Mexico-based show also in the works. It’s a gigantic and expensive bet on an original concept that had remained, up until this month, shrouded in mystery. As Variety previously reported, “Citadel” boasts a $185 million budget.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer One of Austin’s hometown filmmakers is bringing his next movie to SXSW. Director Robert Rodriguez will screen a work-in-progress cut of his crime thriller “Hypnotic,” starring Ben Affleck, for fans at the SXSW Film Festival in the Texas capital on March 12. In the film, written by Rodriguez and Max Borenstein (“Godzilla vs. Kong,” HBO’s “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”), Affleck plays a detective who is investigating a series of inexplicable crimes while searching for his missing daughter, whose disappearance is somehow involved with a secret government program.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer In the Season 2 finale of “The Mandalorian” — which first streamed on Disney+ on Dec. 18, 2020, over two years ago — Mando (Pedro Pascal) bid a moving farewell to Grogu, handing over his adorably wee ward to Grogu’s new Jedi master, Luke Skywalker (played by a digitally de-aged Mark Hamill). The wrenching final scene culminated in Mando removing his helmet — violating the core precept of Mandalorian doctrine — so Grogu could see his face for the first time. It felt like the definitive end of a two-season journey, one painstakingly crafted by executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni to reset the show and send it into a new storytelling galaxy. As the trailers for Season 3 of “The Mandalorian” have already made clear, however, the new season will begin on March 1 with Mando and Grogu back together. It’s almost as if the events of the Season 2 finale hadn’t happened.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” currently playing in theaters. Over the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there have been several characters pulled from the comic books that have pushed the boundaries of verisimilitude and just common sense, including Rocket and Groot from “Guardians of the Galaxy,” Korg and Miek from “Thor: Ragnarok,” Goose from “Captain Marvel” and Morris from “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” None of them, however, hold a candle to M.O.D.O.K. One of Marvel’s earliest characters, created in 1967 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, M.O.D.O.K. — which stands for Mental (or Mobile or Mechanized) Organism Designed Only for Killing — is the nom-de-guerre of a human whose physique was horrifically contorted to give him a giant head and a tiny body. In order to be able to move, M.O.D.O.K. is placed inside a hover-chair that doubles as a mechanical suit, and equips him with all the tools he needs for the aforementioned killing.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points, including the ending, of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” currently playing in theaters. One day in early 2020, Jeff Loveness got a call from his agent telling him to go to the Marvel Studios offices in Burbank by 3 p.m. that day, with no further information. It wasn’t until he walked into the meeting room and saw director Peyton Reed — who’d helmed Marvel’s “Ant-Man” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp” — that Loveness understood that he was there to talk about a third movie starring Paul Rudd’s incredible shrinking superhero. But then Loveness was asked a surprising question: “Do you have a take on Kang the Conqueror?”

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses plot points on Season 3, Episode 2 of “Star Trek: Picard” (currently streaming on Paramount+) as well as the first half of the fourth season of “You” (currently streaming on Netflix). When Ed Speleers was growing up in the UK, he remembers coming home from school, turning on BBC Two, and tuning into “Star Trek: The Next Generation” at 6:30pm — but he never quite considered himself a Trekkie. So when “Star Trek: Picard” showrunner Terry Matalas cast Speleers for the third season of the Paramount+ series, he told the actor he needed to go to “Star Trek University.” “He gave me this long list of ‘TNG’ episodes that he felt were pertinent, and of films going right from ‘Wrath of Khan’ all the way to ‘First Contact,'” Speleers tells Variety via Zoom. “I devoured them. I’d spend three or four hours a day working on how I was going to approach this guy, and then I’d finish it all off with either watching two episodes of ‘TNG’ or one of these films.”

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer When Jimmy Warden was a kid growing up in Chicago, he wound up watching “a lot” of horror movies when he was, he says, “far too young.” “I became used to seeing people get their guts eaten or torn out of their bodies, stuff like that,” he says over Zoom with a wry chuckle. “So that’s where a lot of my taste is right now.” Warden’s sensibility is on robust display in his screenplay for “Cocaine Bear,” the R-rated action-comedy, directed by Elizabeth Banks, that is loosely based on the true story of a black bear who died after ingesting a mountain of cocaine in 1985 from a botched drug smuggling operation. Warden stumbled on the account in the mid-2010s while scrolling through Twitter, “not doing work that I should have been doing,” and instantly realized that “there was something there.”

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points, including the ending and the post-credits scenes, for “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” currently playing in theaters. At this point, even casual followers of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are likely aware that “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” launches Phase 5 of the MCU. What that means is a bit fuzzier to define.  To start, there’s the whole idea of “Phase 5” as a discrete unit of measurement within the larger Multiverse Saga, especially since Phase 4 wound up feeling like the least cohesive the MCU has ever been. A few titles did link together — “Black Widow” flowed into “Hawkeye”; “WandaVision” set up “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” — but that feeling of a single, larger story coming together that made the MCU so thrilling in the Infinity Saga didn’t quite cohere in Phase 4. How can “Quantumania” start a new phase if what came before it didn’t really end more than it just kinda stopped?

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer One of the great charms of the first two “Ant-Man” movies is how little they have to do with the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sure, Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang tussles with Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson in the 2015 original. And yeah, the introduction of the Quantum Realm in the 2018 sequel lays the groundwork for the time travel shenanigans in “Avengers: Endgame.” But generally speaking, audiences could take in Scott’s size-shifting adventures alongside scientist Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Hank’s wife and Hope’s mother Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), without needing to be steeped within the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is a different beast entirely. Despite the assurances of Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige that every Marvel title can exist on its own terms, the third “Ant-Man” film is neck deep in series lore as it launches Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — and the second act of the Multiverse Saga. Here’s everything you need to know before watching “Quantumania.”

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER WARNING: This story discusses major plot elements of the Season 1 finale of “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” currently streaming on Disney+. “This is a mess!” Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) complains directly to the camera in the season finale of “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,” after several dangling plot strands from the season — the anti She-Hulk site Intelligencia run by toxic bro Todd Phelps (Jon Bass), the zen superhero retreat run by the Abomination (Tim Roth), the superhero influencer Titania (Jameela Jamil), the return of Jennifer’s cousin Bruce Banner as the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) — suddenly collided in the same showdown action sequence.  

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Nikki Finke, a tenacious journalist who revolutionized entertainment reporting with what became the Hollywood trade website Deadline, died Sunday morning in Boca Raton, Flor. after a prolonged illness. She was 68. After spending the beginning of her career reporting on everything from Moscow (for the Associated Press) to Washington, D.C. (for Newsweek), in 2002, Finke started a column for L.A. Weekly called Deadline Hollywood, which she took online in March 2006 as Deadline Hollywood Daily in an effort to better cover up-to-the-minute news. Rather than focus on celebrity or content, Finke placed a singularly unforgiving spotlight on the studio executives and high-powered agents who make the industry run. She was unafraid to call out what she believed to be ill-conceived or substandard decision-making in the bluntest possible terms, and her take-no-prisoners approach made her site a must-read in a media ecosystem Finke saw as excessively fawning and credulous.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Legendary filmmaker John Waters is stepping back to the directors chair for the first time in 18 years, for an adaptation of his 2022 novel “Liarmouth: A Feel-Bad Romance.” Waters — a pioneering independent filmmaker who catapulted to cinema infamy with bad taste masterpieces like 1972’s “Pink Flamingos” and 1981’s “Polyester” — will write and direct the project for Village Roadshow, with Steve Rabineau producing. It will be Waters’ first movie since 2004’s “A Dirty Shame.” “‘Liarmouth’ is the craziest thing I’ve written in a while so maybe it’s fitting that my novel was shocking enough to jumpstart the engine of my film career,” the 76-year-old filmmaker said in a statement. “Thrilled to be back in the movie business, hopefully to spread demented joy to adventuresome moviegoers around the world.”

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Blumhouse is ready to spend “Five Nights at Freddy’s.” The venerable horror production company has set Emma Tammi (“The Wind”) to direct an adaptation of the popular video game series, set in a Chuck E. Cheese-like children’s restaurant called Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, where the animatronic creatures within go on a killing rampage after closing time. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop are handling the creation of the evil, murderous children’s mascots. Launched in 2014, the “Five Nights at Freddy’s” video game series quickly developed a robust and inventive fan base due in part to its unusual approach to survival horror gameplay. Rather than navigate the restaurant or fight off the rampaging animatronics, the game places the player in the role of the night watchman, who must remain in their office and use a limited number of grainy security cameras feeds and electronic door controls to track the movements of the creatures. If the player survives five nights — and a subsequent bonus night — they effectively win the game (by getting fired). Subsequent sequels expanded the scope of the world of the game and its macabre mythology.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Marvel Studios is one step closer to “Secret Wars.” The company has tapped “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” screenwriter Michael Waldron to write the script for 2025’s “Avengers: Secret Wars,” the climactic final film in the Multiverse Saga. Waldron has been instrumental in crafting the multiverse within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He created and served as head writer on the 2021 Disney+ series “Loki,” in which the single, sacred Marvel timeline was ultimately fractured into a multiplicity of alternative realities. In “Doctor Strange 2,” Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) encounters several new dimensions, and in the film’s mid-credits scene, he meets Clea (Charlize Theron), a sorcerer from the Dark Dimension who tells Strange that his multiverse-hopping adventures have caused an “incursion.”