All posts tagged: hbo

Lena Dunham is bringing back Girls for a limited run at HBO

Lena Dunham is bringing back Girls for a limited run at HBO

Published by Daniella Wilson

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Girls is back! Fans of Lena Dunham’s beloved New York City-based series were surprised Tuesday when HBO Max announced that new episodes of the series are in the works after the series ended in 2017. The five-episode, limited run revival will feature Dunham, the show’s creator and star, alongside co-stars Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet and Andrew Rannells. Not mentioned in the returning cast so far is Adam Driver, who played Dunham’s character on-and-off boyfriend. Dunham’s bombshell memoir released earlier this year revealed that tensions on the set of the 2010s show’s six seasons culminated in the Marriage Story actor throwing a chair at a wall. Dunham said in a post shared on her Substack: “There was a long period in which it was impossible to imagine reconvening Girls– it felt so recent and so big, like a glacier we were sailing away from. Zosia Mamet, Lena Dunham, Allison …

HBO Orders Animated Series Merrick & Treves from Archer Creators

HBO Orders Animated Series Merrick & Treves from Archer Creators

Published by Daniella Wilson

HBO has ordered a new original half-hour animated comedy series, and gave it a two-season pickup to boot. The premium studio says that it has picked up Merrick & Treves, from veterans of FX’s Archer and Adult Swim‘s Frisky Dingo. Merrick & Treves is a period animated series, set in Queen Victoria’s top secret Royal Temporal Constabulary. The show “follows a team of unlikely heroes as they voyage back and forth through time in an effort to stop Jack the Ripper.” The show is from Adam Reed, Casey Willis and Lucky Yates, who are co-creators and executive producers. “Adam, Casey, and Lucky are exceptional comedic talents whom we have admired for years,” says Amy Gravitt, executive VP of HBO programming and head of HBO & HBO Max comedy series, in a statement. “We couldn’t be more excited to team up with them to bring the wholly original Merrick & Treves to HBO audiences.” “The three of us are beyond excited to have found a home for Merrick & Treves at HBO,” added Reed, Willis and …

Everyone’s watching DC’s Lanterns, but HBO already gave us something much better

Everyone’s watching DC’s Lanterns, but HBO already gave us something much better

Published by Miika Tikkanen

James Gunn and Peter Safran are busy building out a new DC Cinematic Universe, and they have just completed an important project: the first season of Lanterns, an HBO show about the Green Lantern Corps, has wrapped up. Overall, it was a success, but HBO has already made a vastly superior show based on DC Comics. Lanterns burned bright Although not everyone saw the light In DC Comics, the Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic police force made up of people from all over the universe; through the use of their power rings, they can will anything they can imagine into existence, and use it to fight evil. Although Lanterns occasionally engaged with this cosmic aspect of the story, it was mostly earthbound. We meet Hal Jordan (Kyle Chandler), the Green Lantern in charge of the section of outer space that includes Earth; and his trainee John Stewart (Aaron Pierre). Most of the action takes place in the small town of Rushville, NE, where there’s been mysterious extraterrestrial activity. Although there are some big action …

Crazy Rich Asians is returning for a long-awaited sequel with HBO TV series

Crazy Rich Asians is returning for a long-awaited sequel with HBO TV series

Published by Daniella Wilson

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in Fans of the 2018 romcom Crazy Rich Asians have been waiting for news of a potential sequel for years – and now an update has finally arrived. The movie, which starred Constance Wu and Henry Golding and was based on the novel by Kevin Kwan, was a huge box office success story, grossing more than $239 million worldwide. It was a critical hit, too, and rumours of a second movie, inspired by later books in Kwan’s series, began to circulate. It has now been confirmed, however, that the sequel will come in the form of a TV series, rather than a film. The series will include eight episodes and will feature returning cast members Wu, Golding and Ronny Chieng. Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh will also reprise her role as Wu’s formidable on-screen mother-in-law. Constance Wu is one of the original stars set to reprise their role (Sanja Bucko/Warner Bros) The …

HBO just dropped its best show since Succession — and it has something for every generation

HBO just dropped its best show since Succession — and it has something for every generation

Published by Daniella Wilson

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today. Join today Already a member? Log in If, like me, you’ve had a Succession-sized hole in your life since the HBO series concluded in 2023, then I come bearing good news. The streamer has just released an elegant, intoxicating eight-episode drama with all the hallmarks of the award-winning show: corporate espionage, billions of dollars on the line and, of course, well-dressed rich people strutting aggressively into glass boardrooms. HBO’s War follows the high-profile, multi-million-dollar divorce between movie star Carla Duval (Sienna Miller) and tech magnate Morgan Henderson (Dominic West), and the two London-based law firms representing them, who will do just about anything to win the case. It has a stacked cast: alongside Miller and West, there’s Calendar Girls star Celia Imrie, Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed, The Brutalist actor Emma Laird and British drama stalwart Nina Sosanya. The ensemble alone will make this show an intergenerational hit beloved around the dinner table. And like Succession, it will …

Casey Bloys Indicates HBO Max and Paramount+ Likely to Be Bundled

Casey Bloys Indicates HBO Max and Paramount+ Likely to Be Bundled

Published by Daniella Wilson

Casey Bloys is not prepared to say much about the near-term future of HBO under Paramount — it’s simply not his news to announce, he said (several times) on Thursday. To everyone else in the industry, Bloys is poised to lead the combined streaming efforts of HBO (and Discovery) and Paramount. To make room, the former Paramount+ and Pluto TV chief Cindy Holland is leaving; Bloys still has a year remaining on his Warner Bros. Discovery deal. Bloys was asked about what’s to come once Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery combine, which is set to happen all of five days from now. Like, for starters, is he getting the top streaming job? “Obviously there was news this week, and obviously there’s news across the board. I will say that the merger is not closed,” Bloys responded. “I believe that David (Ellison) and the team want to announce their leadership structure — it’s not mine to announce, so I don’t have any news for you to confirm.” OK, fine, but what happens to the streaming …

‘The Last of Us’ Season 3 Casts John Goodman

‘The Last of Us’ Season 3 Casts John Goodman

Published by Daniella Wilson

The cast of The Last of Us season three is expanding. John Goodman, Ian Alexander and Laura Bailey have joined the HBO series based on the video game franchise. HBO made the announcement Saturday, as Sept. 26 is a key date in Last of Us lore: It’s when the cordyceps outbreak sets the events of both the video games and the TV series in motion. Goodman (The Righteous Gemstones, Digger) and Alexander (Star Trek: Discovery) will play Joey and Paco, a “friendly duo” who call themselves the “Heroes of the Highway.” Bailey (Critical Role) is set to play Elizabeth, one of the leaders of a religious sect called the Seraphites. The three actors join fellow Jason Ritter, Patrick Wilson, Clea DuVall and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. in the season three cast along with returning stars Bella Ramsey, Kaitlyn Dever, Isabela Merced, Gabriel Luna, Jeffrey Wright, Ariella Barer, Tati Gabrielle and Spencer Lord. Alexander and Bailey may be familiar to players of the video games, as both had voice roles in The Last of Us: Part II. …

‘Jaÿ-Z in 8’ Premiere Party Report

‘Jaÿ-Z in 8’ Premiere Party Report

Published by Sam Flores

Premiering on HBO on September 18, the show’s first two episodes deliver on the promise of unprecedented access to a particularly introspective Jaÿ-Z. A barefoot Rubin stands in for the audience as Jaÿ-Z goes lyric by lyric—sometimes word by word—through songs from his catalog, including “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” “Brooklyn’s Finest,” “4:44,” “99 Problems,” “The Story of O.J.,” “Family Feud,” and “Legacy.” The pair goes deep on Jaÿ-Z’s life, digging into his childhood growing up in the Marcy Houses; his relationship with his mother, Gloria Carter; and even 4:44, his album detailing a rocky patch in his marriage to Beyoncé. After the screening, the party continued for those lucky enough to have a blue sticker on their ticket. (A blue sticker for Jaÿ-Z and Beyoncé’s eldest daughter, Blue Ivy, perhaps?) Inside the private after-party, model Winnie Harlow graciously posed for photos with NYPD officers who were working the event. By this point, the 20-piece orchestra had been replaced by a single DJ. A solo, smiling Jaÿ-Z sipped Champagne by the DJ booth and greeted scores …

HBO Max is sacrificing its credibility to vertical video

HBO Max is sacrificing its credibility to vertical video

Published by Sam Flores

Historians like to claim that the pre-millennium monoculture is dead. Really, it’s just blurred. Smartphones have fooled us into thinking that we curate what our screens show us. But when so much of the media we consume is presented the same way, no piece of media can stand out. More does not always equal better. Take HBO Max’s new foray into the short-form space. The streamer is the latest to integrate a tab for vertical videos into its interface, following Netflix, Prime Video and more. Each of these streamers hopes to compete with YouTube (and its successful Shorts tab), Instagram and TikTok to get viewers to spend more time on their platform. And to do it, they’re clipping some flabbergasting selections from their media libraries and pumping them out into vertical videos. Thank goodness we can now watch TV, movies and short-form content the same way. That certainly won’t have any negative impact on our brain function and attention spans. Out of curiosity, I scrolled through a few vertical videos on HBO Max to see …

Offseason NFL Hard Knocks Comes Back In 2027

Offseason NFL Hard Knocks Comes Back In 2027

Published by Daniella Wilson

HBO Max and NFL Films are reviving the offseason edition of their Hard Knocks NFL franchise, bringing the series back next year. While Hard Knocks has been an HBO and HBO Max staple for a quarter century, the offseason edition debuted in 2024, following the New York Giants front office and coaching staff as they navigated free agency, the NFL Draft, and the combine. The series included memorable footage of the Giants grappling with the exit of Saquon Barkley to the Philadelphia Eagles. The new edition of the series will film after the 2026 season, and will follow the staff of an entire NFL division, rather than a single team, mimicking a format that NFL Films has been using for its in-season edition of the docuseries. The specific division being featured is still TBD. Executives at NFL Films told The Hollywood Reporter after it debuted that the offseason installment of the show expanded what they thought was possible turning football into a “workplace drama” with entirely different stakes than the typical format of the docuseries. …