‘The Mandalorian’ Lost Its Way in Season 3, but Season 4 Could Hold a New Hope for Din and Grogu

spoke out against the decision, noting that it “[made] no sense.”“I’m a little bit sad. I’m a lotta bit sad.

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 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.

Having had their wedding day cancelled by the pandemic, Georgie and John Gillbanks couldn’t wait to finally tie the knot.

Reading & Leeds have added over 20 new names to this year’s festival, including Mae Stephens, Cordae and Venbee.The acts who have joined the line-up include Foushee, Ken Carson, skaiwater, Artan, Jordy, Dreya Mac, Highlyy, Mnelia, Lost Girl and Tibasko. Upsahl will also be performing at Reading only.Also set to play Reading & Leeds are Somebody’s Child, Malaki, Bilk, Mothica, Joey Valence & Brae, The Royston Club, Lauran Hibberd, Mya Craig and Fat Dog.In addition, the festival has confirmed the DJs for Leeds’ post-headliner entertainment programme, Late Night Leeds, as well as those who will be entertaining punters who arrive early on the Thursday night (August 24).

Forget ‘normcore’ and ‘balletcore’, because there’s a new fashion buzzword doing the rounds – ‘quiet luxury’ has been coined as a new mood for 2023. Its influence has been linked to two recent cultural moments that hit headlines: 1) Gwyneth Paltrow's chic courtroom wardrobe and 2) the popular series Succession, which recently dropped season 4. But what does the term quiet luxury actually mean? In a nutshell, it’s the mega rich not showing their wealth – which means no designer logos (sorry, Kim K), no heavy bling, no OTT designs that look like they’ve fallen straight off the latest catwalk.

All a ruse? Tom Schwartz asked Tom Sandoval to help him figure out his lack of chemistry with Raquel Leviss — while his business partner was having a secret affair with her.

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.

The following contains spoilers from the season 3 finale of Disney+/Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian, episode Chapter 24, “The Return” written by Jon Favreau and directed by Rick Famuyiwa.

season 3 was released a year later, creator Jon Favreau confirmed that a fourth installment in the series was a go. And not only that, but he's «written it already,» he has since revealed.With Chapters 17 through 24 that made up season 3 officially behind us, what's next for the titular bounty hunter played by Pedro Pascal and his newly adopted son, Din Grogu? That all certainly remains a mystery, but here's everything ET knows about the future of and what's to come in season 4. After the season kicked off with Din Djarin in search of the Living Waters and Bo-Katan Kryze (Katee Sackhoff) simmering over her failed plans to reclaim Mandalore, the final few episodes brought the story back around to where things started. «This entire season has been about building up to something bigger and I think that for the fans that have been watching weekly, I think they can sense that episodes seven and eight are the payoff,» Sackhoff told ET. And in the final chapters, a mostly absent Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) returns in an attempt to prevent the Mandorlians from returning and reclaiming their rightful place on Mandalore.

The Mandalorian are divided after the finale of season three.*This article includes spoilers*The last episode of the third season was released on Disney+ this morning (April 19), and has already divided fans over its surprisingly optimistic conclusion.In ‘The Return’, Grogu and Bo Katan Kryze (played by Katee Sackhoff) pursue their mission to rescue the show’s lead character Din Djarin (played by Pedro Pascal) — who was captured by the antagonist Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) in last week’s episode.Using Grogu’s powers with the force and both Din Djarin and Bo Katan’s strengths as Mandalorian warriors, the trio finally defeat the villain and reclaim the planet Mandalore for their people.Drawing the season to a close, the episode ends on an upbeat note and viewers see Din formally adopting Grogu as his child and giving him the name Din Grogu. The pair are also given a home in a cabin by the character of Greef Karga – played by Carl Weathers.However, many fans have been left divided by the conclusion.

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. 

Lizzo gave Nickelback major props the Canadian rock band's responding, and they're super flattered.The band's verified Instagram account re-posted the «About Damn Time» singer's 2019 interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Music for its "Jam or Not a Jam" segment and when Nickelback's 2001 track «How You Remind Me» came on the songstress immediately declared it's a jam by vibing to the song and letting out an exciting yelp.«Why do people not like Nickelback?» she asked. «I feel like Nickelback gets way too much s**t.

Weighing in. Raquel Leviss was thrilled by her hookup with Tom Schwartz — but her Vanderpump Rules costars had different thoughts on the matter.

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).

The Mandalorian have criticised the ongoing season of the show, labelling it as experiencing “a massive drop in quality”.Currently, the series is more than three-quarters of the way through its third season, and has been on the receiving end of backlash as critics and fans alike deem the episodes as being the weakest yet.Since the new season launched, user review scores have consistently plummeted and fans have taken to social media to discuss the “quality decline” in the plot. This is seen as user reviews on Rotten Tomatoes have plummeted from an average of 90 per cent to just 57 per cent since season three began.Although The Mandalorian was universally acclaimed for its first two seasons – as a result of its ability to deliver a family-friendly hit that also fared well with critics and received Emmy nominations – last week’s episode saw the series experience its worst week ever.Titled ‘Guns For Hire’, the episode featured guest appearances from Lizzo, Jack Black and Christopher Lloyd.