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Even before the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of the summer, 2023 marked a pivotal time in TV.

Studios and streamers spent the year compiling a lengthy list of small screen staples ending in 2023 and 2024; the announcements came amidst a string of mergers, strategy pivots, and a smattering of natural narrative conclusions that for good or bad were impacted by the industry-wide work stoppages.

From awards darlings like “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “The Handmaid’s Tale” (renewed for a sixth and final season expected next year) to tried-and-true audience favorites like “Archer,” “The Blacklist,” and “Riverdale,” many of the TV shows that got the chop this year were considered buzzy cultural touchstones at one time or another.

Emmy winners “Barry” and “Succession” famously both came to an end on May 28 in a doubled-header spring TV finale that closed the curtain on a memorable phase in HBO’s post-“Game of Thrones” recovery.

The first edition of the Alternativa Film Project wrapped with an award ceremony this weekend in Almaty, the cultural capital of Kazakhstan, with filmmakers from Central Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region being feted as part of a new initiative launched by the California-based tech company inDrive, best known for its ride-hailing app.

The event marked a successful close to what organizers hope will be an ongoing non-profit initiative aimed at supporting emerging filmmakers from under-developed film industries. Along with this weekend’s award ceremony, the Alternativa Film Project is developing a multi-pronged approach that includes training labs, public film screenings, pitching workshops and networking events.

The project’s emphasis is on movies that champion efforts to combat social injustice in the world. “We want to motivate talented filmmakers to create meaningful art, impactful art,” said inDrive CEO Arsen Tomsky.

In keeping with that focus, the awards — which were accompanied...

Another limited series is getting the ongoing series treatment.

Hulu has officially picked up Nine Perfect Strangers Season 2, almost two years after the freshman season wrapped.

Variety first reported the news, revealing that Nicole Kidman would return to star and executive produce.

This isn't the first limited series with Kidman at the wheel to score a surprise second season:

HBO's Big Little Lies famously returned to tell more stories about the characters from Big Little Lies Season 1.

Kidman will, once again, play the role of resort director Masha.

But the rest of the cast from Nine Perfect Strangers Season 1 is not expected to return.

Instead, the hit streaming series is targeting some more big names for the next chapter.

Variety reports that White Lotus and Last of Us star Murray Bartlett is nearing a deal to star.

Liv Ullmann, Dolly De Leon, Maisie Richardson Sellers, and Aras Aydin are all...

“Nine Perfect Strangers” has officially been renewed for Season 2 at Hulu.

Variety reported in May 2022 that the show was nearing a deal to return, though no castings were confirmed at that time. It is now confirmed that Nicole Kidman will return in the role of resort director Masha as well as in her capacity as executive producer.

In addition, “White Lotus” and “The Last of Us” breakout Murray Bartlett is nearing a deal to star in Season 2, according to sources. The role would deepen Bartlett’s relationship with Hulu, as he recently starred in the streamer’s limited series “Welcome to Chippendales” opposite Kumail Nanjiani.

Also joining “Nine Perfect Strangers” for its second season are Liv Ullmann, Dolly De Leon, Maisie Richardson Sellers, and Aras Aydin.

The first season was based on the book of the same name by “Big Little Lies” author Liane Moriarty. It took place at a...

Warning: spoilers ahead for The Walking Dead: Dead City episode 1The Walking Dead: Dead City introduces a new character to the franchise with Mahina Napoleon's Ginny, who doesn't talk due to a past trauma. The main series may have come to a close with season 11, but AMC is still very much in The Walking Dead business. Of the multiple The Walking Dead spinoffs in the works, Dead City is arguably the most exciting. This reunites former enemies Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Maggie (Lauren Cohan), as the latter needs Negan's help sneaking into Manhattan to rescue her son Hershel (Logan Kim).

The Walking Dead: Dead City feels like an extended riff on John Carpenter's Escape From New York - right down to the show's poster art - and while it has close ties to the original series, it actually works as a potential entry for new viewers too.

One of the more notable features of James Gunn's 2014 film "Guardians of the Galaxy," the tenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was its rockin' soundtrack of familiar 1970s hits. The film's main character, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), was abducted from Earth as a boy and raised among space aliens. One of the only things he kept as a vestige of his life on Earth was a Walkman and a mixtape that was gifted to him by his dying mother. The tape contained "Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede, David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream," The Runaway's "Cherry Bomb," and Rupert Holmes' oft-reviled "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)." Peter Quill's mother had interesting taste. Norman Greenbaum's popular pick "Spirit in the Sky" played in the film's preview and is on its soundtrack record, but isn't actually played in the final cut of the movie.

Peter, as an adult,...

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” Season 2 will beam down to Paramount+ on June 15. The series is a throwback to the style of the original show in which the crew of the USS Enterprise explores the universe in the decade before the original series takes place. “Strange New Worlds” features a number of characters from Trek lore, including Spoke, Number One, Nyota Uhura, Christopher Pike, and more.

Check out the “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” trailer:

The streamer’s original “FBI True” returns for a third season on June 20. The docuseries gives agents an opportunity to share their most compelling cases and introduce viewers to how this key agency operates.

Watch the “FBI True” trailer:

To open the month, Season 3 of the “iCarly” reboot arrives on June 1. Carly Shay (played by Miranda Cosgrove) and Freddie Benson (Nathan Kress) are deciding if they are friends or something more. Also, Spencer (Jerry Trainor...

While each actor to appear on Doctor Who has a memorable experience, each has gone on to other roles after portraying the famous Time Lord. For any actor who steps into the shoes of the Doctor, it tends to be a life-changing and career-changing experience. Especially when portraying a role that’s been filled by so many others that it has become a pop-culture icon, playing the Doctor always leaves an impact on their actors and often becomes one of the roles they are most known for. But every Doctor must then pass their role on to the next actor, leaving them to grow their career in new ways.

The long-running series tells the story of a time-traveling alien called the Doctor who travels with a human companion in Doctor Who. A key aspect of the Doctor is that they can regenerate their body when they die, becoming an entirely...

Martin Scorsese is executive producing “Escape,” the next film from Spanish writer-director Rodrigo Cortés, who burst onto the international scene directing Ryan Reynolds in the 2010 Sundance hit “Buried.”

Set to go into production at the end of May, Cortés’ first Spanish-language film since his debut feature, 2007 madcap dark comedy “The Contestant,” “Escape” stars Mario Casas, a Spanish Academy Award Goya winner for 2020’s “Cross the Line.”

One of Spain’s biggest film-tv stars, Casas leads a top-notch Spanish cast in “Escape” which takes in Anna Castillo, José Garcia (“Bastille Day”), Guillermo Toledo (“I’m So Excited”), Josep Maria Pou (“The Realm”), Blanca Portillo (“Maixabel”), and Jose Sacristán (“Velvet”).

Produced by Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls at Barcelona-based Nostromo Pictures, “Escape” is a free adaptation of the same-title novel penned by Spanish author Enrique Rubio.

“Escape” turns on N., a young man who wants to live in prison and will do whatever...

The release of the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 featured a few classic songs that tied into the ongoing narrative of the franchise. 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy was one of the first MCU movies to put a focus on music that helped fans relate to the out-of-this-world sci-fi story. However, other entries in the shared superhero universe have also followed suit over the years.

Related: 10 Ways Guardians of the Galaxy 3 is the Best Post-Endgame MCU Movie

MCU films like Thor: Ragnarok became just as memorable for reintroducing classic songs to a new generation. Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” received a new swell of popularity after Ragnarok, while films like Black Widow popularized new versions of classic hits like Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Even Iron Man repopularized AC/DC’s “Back in Black” for a younger audience.

AC/DC - “Back in Black” Iron Man (2008)

While...

Before Michael Crichton was known as the bestselling author of works like The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Congo, Sphere, Rising Sun, and Disclosure, and before he directed movies like Westworld, Coma, The Great Train Robbery, Looker, Runaway, and Physical Evidence, he was a medical school student who was publishing novels under the pseudonym John Lange because he didn’t want his future patients to worry that he would use their stories in his writing. Now Deadline has broken the news that CrichtonSun, which is run by the author’s widow Sherri Crichton, has secured a deal with Blackstone Publishing to get the eight John Lange novels re-published.

According to Deadline, Blackstone Publishing has made a seven-figure deal with CrichtonSun to acquire the worldwide print, eBook and audiobook rights to Crichton’s first series of novels, which he wrote under the pseudonym John Lange. The eight books comprise unconnected tales of...

No one puts on a show like P!nk. Just look at last year’s tour, a carnival of flashing lights and giant balloons that culminated each night in the US pop artist somersaulting through the air while suspended on wires. She’s a born ringleader.

Be that as it may, she’s sometimes missed the mark. Second LP Missundaztood, with its merging of DIY punk, garage, hip-hop and R&b asserted her dominance over pop princesses such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. But Try This, in 2003, tried too hard to replicate its predecessor’s success. P!nk does best when she makes and breaks her own rules.

Perhaps that’s why Trustfall, her ninth record, falls short. It’s less a kaleidoscope than a clash of influences, with frenetic, thrashy pop-punk competing for attention against characterless dance music. This is P!nk’s latest collaboration with pop guru Max Martin,...

100 Gecs are literally burning down the house in the video for “Hollywood Baby,” the latest single off the duo’s upcoming LP 10,000 Gecs.

In the 100 Gecs-directed visual, Laura Les and Dylan Brady set off a Fourth of July amount of fireworks in the confines of their own apartment, risking life and limb to create a music video that perfectly explodes in step with every beat of “Hollywood Baby.”

Already a fan favorite at the duo’s riotous shows, “Hollywood Baby” finds 100 Gecs smashing their hyperpop sensibilities together with the pop-punk...

In anticipation of her upcoming ninth studio album Trustfall, set for release on Feb. 17, Pink has revealed the complete tracklist, featuring appearances from First Aid Kit, Chris Stapleton, and the Lumineers.

“I am so in love with this new album and Cannot Wait for you to hear every single song,” the singer wrote on Twitter. The album comes in at 13 tracks, including the previously released singles “Trustfall” and “Never Gonna Not Dance Again.”

I am so in love with this new album and Cannot Wait for you to hear every single song!

100 Gecs will hit the road this spring for a six-week North American tour in support of the hyperpop duo’s upcoming LP 10,000 Gecs.

The trek kicks off April 4 in San Jose and finds the band circling the U.S. over the course of 31 shows before winding back in California for a leg-ending gig in Anaheim. Check out 100 Gecs’ website for ticket information.

10,000 Gecs, 100 Gecs’ much-anticipated second album and follow-up to 2019’s 1000 Gecs, arrives on March 17. In December, after announcing the new LP, the duo of Laura Les and Dylan Brady...

Meet Marcel, the mini mollusk behind the mockumentary of the year.

Runaway hit animated film “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” has racked up nominations at the Critics Choice Awards, Spirit Awards, and Golden Globes, and won Best Animated Feature at both the National Board of Review and New York Film Critics Circle awards. Jenny Slate voices the titular creature, with Isabella Rossellini also lending her voice to the adorable feature film based on a trio of previous shorts and a series of best-selling storybooks.

Slate co-wrote “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” with director Dean Fleischer Camp and Nick Paley. The stop-motion feature follows Marcel as he grapples with growing up beside his grandmother (Rossellini) and Airbnb guests in the house he lives in.

As an IndieWire exclusive, you can now read the full screenplay for “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” here.

While “Marcel” may appear to be a children’s film,...