‘S.W.A.T.’ Renewed By CBS for a Sixth Season

Anna Franklin Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby will start shooting next week in Malta on Ridley Scott’s film “Kitbag,” about Napoleon’s rise to power. Polish cinematographer Dariusz Adam Wolski is lensing, according to Film New Europe. Phoenix, who plays the French emperor, and Kirby, who plays his wife Josephine, arrive in Malta this week, according to Times of Malta, quoting sources in the local film industry.

Travis Scott will return to festival stages this winter with three performances at Primavera Sound in South America, Pitchfork reports. The first show will take place in São Paulo, Brazil on November 6, with shows in Buenos Aires, Argentina (November 12) and Santiago, Chile (November 13) to follow.

Travis Scott is slated to make his first public performance since the Astroworld Festival tragedy next weekend in Miami. The upcoming appearance will be followed by the rapper headlining a music festival in South America.The «Goosebumps» rapper will perform May 7 at the famed nightclub E11even as the city welcomes Formula One for the 2022 Miami Grand Prix.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe 49th Daytime Emmy Awards return to a live, in-person format this year on Friday, June 24, airing on both CBS and Paramount+. Also, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences confirmed that, as expected, the ceremony will take place at Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, Calif.; nominations will be announced on May 5.The Daytime Emmys dates were part of a slew of announcements made on Tuesday morning by NATAS, which also revealed Lifetime Achievement Awards for PBS’ “This Old House,” soap opera icon John Aniston (“Days of Our Lives”), documentarian Sir David Attenborough, “Reading Rainbow” host LeVar Burton and journalist Judy Woodruff.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeYou know what I’m talking about. The event that changed the course of Oscar history.

EXCLUSIVE: Julian Fellowes’s breakout HBO period drama The Gilded Age is expanding its cast in a big way for Season 2, going from 12 to 24 series regulars, and deepening the Upstairs, Downstairs feel of the show. That includes thirteen actors who recurred in Season 1 and have been promoted to series regulars: Kelli O’Hara as Aurora Fane, Donna Murphy as Mrs. Astor, Debra Monk as Armstrong, Kristine Nielsen as Mrs. Bauer, Taylor Richardson as Bridget, Ben Ahlers as Jack Trotter, Kelley Curran as Turner, Douglas Sills as Baudin aka Borden, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Mrs. Bruce, Michael Cerveris as Watson, Erin Wilhelmi as Adelheid Weber, Patrick Page as Richard Clay and Sullivan Jones as T. Thomas Fortune.

Clayton Davis Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official awards predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis; Awards Circuit Column, a weekly analysis dissecting the trends and contenders by television editor Michael Schneider (for Emmys) and Davis (for Oscars); Awards Circuit Podcast, a weekly interview series with talent and an expert roundtable discussion; and Awards Circuit Video analyzes various categories and contenders by Variety's leading awards pundits. Variety's unmatched coverage gives its readership unbeatable exposure in print and online, as well as provide inside reports on all the contenders in this year's awards season races.

Ethan Shanfeld We haven’t seen the last of Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.After dancing around the question on Thursday’s red carpet premiere, “Better Call Saul” co-creator Peter Gould has now officially confirmed that Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul will guest star in the final season of the “Breaking Bad” spinoff.Gould announced the news Saturday at PaleyFest LA on a “Better Call Saul” panel moderated by Variety television editor Michael Schneider, though he was tight-lipped on exactly when Cranston and Paul will show up or in what capacity. But as he told Variety on Thursday, “These two worlds cross over in a way that you haven’t seen before, that’s for sure.”At Thursday’s premiere, co-creator Vince Gilligan told Variety, “It would be a damn shame if the show ended without [Cranston and Paul] appearing, would it not?” Bob Odenkirk, who plays the series’ titular crooked lawyer, also hinted at Cranston and Paul’s appearance, telling Variety that Season 6 features “some wonderful new characters… your brain is gonna explode when you see them.”Odenkirk continued, “I personally feel that the two shows — ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Better Call Saul’ — are entwined even more than ever in the final season.

Katcy Stephan Jean Smart’s Deborah Vance may be hitting the road in the sophomore season of the hit HBO Max series “Hacks,” but don’t expect her to ride around the country in your average tour bus.“She’s taking a little bit of Vegas with her,” co-creator Jen Statsky tells Variety on the red carpet for the show’s PaleyFest panel. “She’s roughing it, but she still has her creature comforts,” she adds, revealing that Vance’s signature fountain soda machine will indeed come with her on tour.“It’s a mansion on wheels,” co-creator Paul W.

Scott Disick‘s world was rocked last weekend when he learned that Kourtney Kardashian, 42, had decided to elope in Las Vegas with her fiancé, Travis Barker, 46.  However, it was not so much the fact that she got married (although, not legally) that bothered Scott so much. It was the fact that, 15 years ago, Kourtney almost walked down the aisle with Scott in Sin City. Because of this, a source close to Scott told HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY that Kourtney’s shotgun wedding was like a “gut punch” to the 38-year-old father of three.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeWhen “The Simpsons” creative team decided to use American Sign Language in this Sunday’s episode, there was one hitch: The show’s animated characters have only four fingers.“That was a little tricky, especially because the one thing we’re translating is Shakespeare,” says writer Loni Steele Sosthand. “But I think we pulled it off.”Sosthand, who joined “The Simpsons” in 2020, is the writer behind the show’s April 10 installment, “The Sound of Bleeding Gums.” The episode is not only notable for featuring the first-ever use of ASL on “The Simpsons,” but it also includes the show’s first-ever deaf voice actors. The story centers on Lisa Simpson, who discovers that her favorite musician and mentor, the late saxophonist Bleeding Gums Murphy, had a son who was born deaf.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeUPDATED 4/7/22: Now that the 74th Emmys has been set for September 12, some of the phase 2 key dates have been changed. Also: The Governors Balls are back!The Television Academy has officially shared its 2022 Emmy calendar, and not a lot has changed from last year.

Clayton Davis Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official awards predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis; Awards Circuit Column, a weekly analysis dissecting the trends and contenders by television editor Michael Schneider (for Emmys) and Davis (for Oscars); Awards Circuit Podcast, a weekly interview series with talent and an expert roundtable discussion; and Awards Circuit Video analyzes various categories and contenders by Variety's leading awards pundits. Variety's unmatched coverage gives its readership unbeatable exposure in print and online, as well as provide inside reports on all the contenders in this year's awards season races.

Momager to the rescue! Kourtney Kardashian almost had a Las Vegas wedding with her ex Scott Disick. The Poosh founder recently tied the knot in the same fashion with her now-husband Travis Barker.

FX has revealed that its hit show Snowfall will be back for one more, and final, season on the network, according to Variety.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeStrong Studios has tapped Scott Weinstock to serve as exec VP of development and production, while Melissa Traub has joined as vice president of marketing and development. Both will report to Strong Studios president David Ozer, who announced the hires on Tuesday.Weinstock’s credits include serving as a senior producer, and later VP, executive creative director/supervising producer for the NBA, where he helped create “NBA Inside Stuff” and managed the league’s advertising and marketing campaigns while also helming much of the NBA’s internal and external creative branding efforts.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThe Alec Baldwin-hosted “Match Game” isn’t expected to return to ABC, as the Alphabet web begins to firm up its plans for its annual game show-heavy summer lineup.Also unlikely to return are “Card Sharks,” “Celebrity Dating Game” and “The Hustler,” while “Celebrity Family Feud,” “Press Your Luck” and “The $100,000 Pyramid” are expected to be back.The fate of “Match Game” had been the source of speculation in the wake of Baldwin’s accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the independent production “Rust” last fall. But ABC’s decision to cancel “Match Game” is not related to that incident; “Match Game” hasn’t been in production since 2020, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic — and only aired two new episodes in 2021, which had been left over from the previous year. The latest revival of “Match Game,” hosted by Baldwin, debuted in 2016, and ran for five seasons.

Exciting news for Drew Barrymore!