Hunter Schafer has signed on to join Michelle Yeoh in the cast of the Prime Video limited series Blade Runner 2099

Former model Hunter Schafer made her acting debut on hit HBO series Euphoria – and with production on season 3 of that series being delayed while creator Sam Levinson reworks the scripts, The Hollywood Reporter has broken the news that Schafer has landed a lead role in the Prime Video limited series Blade Runner 2099 – which is, of course, a continuation of the franchise that began with the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner and then got a long-awaited follow-up called Blade Runner 2049, which had Denis Villeneuve at the helm, in 2017. Details on the role Schafer will be playing are being kept under wraps. She joins the previously announced Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) in the cast… and we don’t know anything about Yeoh’s character, either.

Blade Runner 2099 was originally expected to start shooting in Belfast last summer, but the Hollywood strikes put the kibosh on that plan. When the show does go into production, it’s now set to be filmed in Prague.

Shining Girls creator Silka Luisa is the writer, showrunner, and executive producer of the series, which has Ridley Scott executive producing through his Scott Free production banner. Jonathan van Tulleken (Shogun) will be directing the first two episodes.

When this project was first announced in 2022, Amazon Studios head of global television Vernon Sanders said, “We are honored to be able to present this continuation of the Blade Runner franchise, and are confident that by teaming up with Ridley, Alcon Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, and the remarkably talented Silka Luisa, Blade Runner 2099 will uphold the intellect, themes, and spirit of its film predecessors.“

While we wait for Blade Runner 2099 to get rolling, we’ll have the chance to see Hunter Schafer on the big screen twice in the next couple months. She has a role in the latest Yorgos Lanthimos / Emma Stone team-up, Kinds of Kindness, which is set to reach theatres on June 21st, and she stars in the horror film Cuckoo, which gets a theatrical release on August 9th.

Are you interested in Blade Runner 2099? What do you think of Hunter Schafer joining Michelle Yeoh in the cast? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Are you not entertained? You will be when you watch Peacock’s Those About to Die trailer. The new series revolves around gladiatorial combat, political upheaval, and deception lurking around every piss-soaked corner of an evolving empire. Peacock‘s Those About to Die series hails from director/executive producer Roland Emmerich, who details his passion for the project in today’s press release and shares its origin.

“I have always been fascinated by the history of the Roman Empire. So much still seems relevant for our society today – from the entanglement of politics and sports to the disciplines of the competitions, which haven’t changed much either over the last 2000 years. The most electrifying spectacles for the masses still involve two men in an arena, beating each other up, and the chariots of today are called race cars whose drivers still crash and often pay with their lives,” Emmerich writes.

“When my partners Gianni Nunnari and Harald Kloser put Daniel Mannix’s Those About to Die on my reading list, I was immediately hooked. My goal was to create a show that explores a side of Rome never told before – the dirty business of entertaining the masses, giving the mob what they want most…blood and sport. Let the games begin.”

According to Peacock’s official description, Those About to Die is “an epic drama set in the corrupt world of the spectacle-driven gladiatorial competition, exploring a side of ancient Rome never before told — the dirty business of entertaining the masses, giving the mob what they want most…blood and sport. The series introduces an ensemble of characters from all corners of the Roman Empire who collide at the explosive intersection of sports, politics, and dynasties.”

If you watch Peacock’s Those About to Die trailer closely; you’ll catch sight of an ensemble cast to reckon with, including Anthony Hopkins, Iwan Rheon, Sara Martins, Tom Hughes, Jojo Macari, Moe Hashim, Johannes Haukur Johannesson, Rupert Penry-Jones, Gabriella Pession, Dimitri Leonidas, Emilio Sakraya, David Wurawa, Pepe Barroso, Gonçalo Almeida, Eneko Sagardoy, and Romana Maggiora Vergano.

All Those About to Die episodes launch on July 18, just in time to watch the 2024 Paris Olympics (July 26-August 11, 2024).

Are you prepared to enter the arena for Those About to Die? Let us know in the comments section below.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.

Karl Urban and Antony Starr lead the best season yet of Prime Video’s dark superhero series.

Check out our interviews with the cast HERE!

PLOT: The world is on the brink. Victoria Neuman is closer than ever to the Oval Office and under the muscly thumb of Homelander, who is consolidating his power. Butcher, with only months to live, has lost Becca’s son as well as his job as The Boys’ leader. The rest of the team are fed up with his lies. With the stakes higher than ever, they have to find a way to work together and save the world before it’s too late.

REVIEW: While most viewers have loved The Boys since it debuted, I was lukewarm on the first season. With improvements in the second and third years, I have become a big fan of the Prime Video series and its bleakly hilarious take on the superhero genre with each successive season. For the long-anticipated fourth season, Eric Kripke has upped the ante significantly after the shocking third season finale changed the dynamic for Homelander and The Seven just as much as for Butcher and The Boys Still, chock full of pitch-black humor, extreme violence, and timely satire, The Boys is better than ever, with a run of episodes that brings together long-running plots, brand-new characters, and some of the trademark shocks that fans have come to love from this series. No one is safe as The Boys brings us the most political and pertinent narrative this series has ever had, along with many surprises I did not see coming.

Season four picks up after the events of the spin-off series Gen V and finds a public divide has formed between those in support of Homelander (Antony Starr) and those in favor of Annie “Starlight” January (Erin Moriarty). The first episode finds Homelander in the middle of his trial for the very public murder of a civilian. At the same time, Victoria Neuman (Claudia Doumit) continues her run for the White House as Vice President to Robert Singer (Jim Beaver). Still, Butcher is suffering the side effects of using Compound V as Huey (Jack Quaid), and the team keeps the pressure on stopping Neuman and Homelander. Things quickly go awry in the premiere with some shocking moments, but nothing compared to what unfolds throughout the season. The Boys has always raised the bar with how far it is willing to go to surprise audiences with sexual or violent content. Still, the most shocking part of the fourth season is how much the satirical elements of this story have aligned so closely with reality.

The divide between those who support Homelander and those who hate and fear him, The Seven, and Vought have shifted into a parallel with the split between liberal and conservative extremes in the global political landscape. The mocking look at the alt-right is no longer shrouded or subtle as showrunner Eric Kripke’s messages have evolved from Garth Ennis’ source material into something prescient, disturbing, and more entertaining than ever. While The Boys began as a comedic satire on comic book superheroes, it has evolved into a powerful dramatic series that is still very funny but humorous in stride with tense and anxious storytelling of the highest caliber. Last season featured The Deep (Chace Crawford) having sex with an octopus and the death of Black Noir (Nathan Mitchell), two subplots that factor into this season. We also have the introduction of new characters Firecracker (Valorie Curry), an alt-right social media influencer, and Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), who may be the only character who can go toe-to-toe with Homelander but not in the way you might expect. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is also added as someone with a past connected to Butcher. The nature of Morgan’s character in the plot has been one of the season’s biggest questions, and the answer won’t be spoiled here, but trust me, it is well worth the wait.

Throughout this season, many things shift for the main cast, including the perpetually underutilized Tomer Capone as Frenchie and fan favorite Colby Minifie as Ashley Barrett. While Antony Starr plays with Homelander’s mortality a bit differently than Karl Urban’s terminally ill Billy Butcher, Jack Quaid gets a substantial subplot concerning Huey’s relationship with his dad (Simon Pegg). Erin Moriarty gets to have a lot of fun with a late-season arc involving Annie January’s personality, as does Karen Fukuhara’s eternally dying Kimiko. Of all the returning characters, Victoria Neuman remains the character I love to hate almost as much as Homelander, which is due immeasurably to the great Claudia Doumit. This season is full of romances, break-ups, deaths, and new allegiances, culminating with a season finale that not only sets the table for a huge change in the fifth season but also a potential sign of where the eventual end of The Boys may be headed.

Showrunner Eric Kripke directs the stellar finale of season four, his first time in the director’s chair on The Boys since the first season. He is joined by helmers Catriona McKenzie, Karen Gaviola, Shana Stein, Philip Sgriccia, and Frederick E.O. Toye. Toye and Sgriccia are the sole returning directors in that bunch and the only male directors this season. The Boys has always balanced criticism of alpha male machismo in the form of most of The Seven, but there is an increased focus on balancing the female characters who have long been key to this series. While this does not undermine any arcs for the men in the cast, the depth and development of the female characters are handled better here than in any other major series currently on the air. There is a clear power disparity between men and women on both sides of the divide in The Boys, which Kripke and his writing team exploit to have a dramatic and comedic impact.

Each season of The Boys has built on what came before it, and I cannot think of anything before this run of episodes that compares. Season four is the best-developed, most nuanced, funniest, and equally scariest run of The Boys yet. The repercussions of this season will be felt for the remainder of the series, however long The Boys remains on the air. Conceptually, the fourth season of The Boys is the best structured and most holistically successful run of storytelling this series has presented and shows no signs of running out of steam. Karl Urban and Antony Starr are as great as ever without carrying the series since everyone else is doing their best work. I have nothing but positive things to say about every plot path or character decision which is unheard of for a series four seasons in. The Boys is still not for everyone and will make or break some fans this season, but for those who appreciate great storytelling, this is one of the best shows out there.

HBO officially announces that House of the Dragon Season 3 will deliver more Game of Thrones drama to fans worldwide.

HBO‘s sophomore season of House of the Dragon doesn’t premiere until Sunday, but the network is ready to announce Season 3 today! This announcement is an amoosbouche for the carnage, incest, and backstabbing to come when Season 2 launches this weekend. Word about HBO greenlighting House of the Dragon Season 3 is hardly a surprise, considering the show’s overwhelming success. In addition to attracting new fans to the epic familial drama series, many who wrote off Game of Thrones after an underwhelming final season have caved to the FOMO and embraced the star-studded spinoff.

House of the Dragon is based on George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood,” set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, and focuses on the House Targaryen.

After a significant death in House of the Dragon Season 1, Rhaenyra and Alicent are ready to go to war, trading “blood for blood” and burning oppressors where they stand. The Game of Thrones spinoff is set hundreds of years before the original series. It is based upon George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, a Targaryen history book that chronicles the history of House Targaryen, starting with “Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and [going on] to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold the throne, all the way up to the civil war, known as the Dance of the Dragons, that nearly tore their dynasty apart.”

Matt Smith, Eve Best, Steve Toussaint, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, Harry Collett, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Phia Saban, Jefferson Hall, Matthew Needham. Abubakar Salim, Gayle Rankin, Freddie Fox, and Simon Russell Beale join Emma D’Arcy and Olivia Cooke as primary cast members.

While House of the Dragon Season 3 was inevitable, it’s nice to have an official announcement about the show’s continuation. In addition to more House of the Dragon, HBO is working on another GOT spinoff series, Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight. HBO has now cast the lead roles for The Hedge Knight, with Peter Claffey (Vikings: Valhalla) and Dexter Sol Ansell (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes) set to star in the series as Dunk and Egg.

The official logline for The Hedge Knight: “A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros … a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall (Claffey), and his diminutive squire, Egg (Ansell). Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne, and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends.”

The Hedge Knight is written and executive produced by George R.R. Martin and Ira Parker, with Ryan Condal, Vince Gerardis, Owen Harris, and Sarah Bradshaw also executive producing. The series is based on three novellas published by Martin — The Hedge Knight (1998), The Sworn Sword (2003), and The Mystery Knight (2010). All three stories were then collected and published together as A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms in 2015. The stories have typically been seen as “lighter” tales in the realm of Westeros, but we’ll see if the series follows suit.

Michael Richards was struck with a case of Bell’s palsy when preparing for UHF, and Weird Al encouraged him to report to set anyway

The same year he was cast to play the iconic character Kramer on the sitcom Seinfeld, Michael Richards could also be seen on the big screen in the comedy UHF – which was a financial disappointment at the time of its release in the summer of 1989, but has gone on to gather a huge cult following over the years. Musician “Weird Al” Yankovic plays the lead role of George Newman, who is put in charge of the UHF television channel Channel 62, with Richards in the supporting role of janitor-turned-host Stanley Spadowski… and for a while, it looked like Richards would be playing Stanley while dealing with a case of Bell’s palsy.

As Richards writes in his memoir Entrances and Exits, “Before the Seinfeld pilot, I star in three pilots: Herndon (1983), Help (1984), and Slickers (1985). All three are offered to me. The second pilot, Help, is retooled and called Marblehead Manor, and NBC airs twenty-four episodes in the 1987-1988 season. Though I didn’t find my niche in the pilots, I am able to do some physical comedy in Marblehead Manor. The producers welcome it, and the writers serve me well. The work I do provides a segue into the character of Stanley Spadowski in Weird Al’s film UHF.

It’s summer 1988, and I’m set to head for Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the next six weeks of shooting when out of the blue half my face freezes up with Bell’s palsy. What causes this kind of paralysis is a mystery, but it looks like I’ll have to back out of the film. I call Weird Al, and his response is classic. “Now you can play Stanley with half your face not working. You’ll be funny. It’ll be great.”

Right. It’s all part of the character now.

When I get to Tulsa for the shoot, Al is eager to see my face, but the palsy has gone away. He’s actually disappointed. Then, he lights up. “Maybe it’ll come back!”“

I’m sure Richards didn’t share Weird Al’s disappointment that his Bell’s palsy facial paralysis had gone away, but it’s nice to know that Al was supportive and encouraged Richards to report to set while he was dealing with the medical condition.

Directed by Jay Levey, who wrote the screenplay with Weird Al, UHF has the following synopsis: After losing yet another job, George wonders if there is any career that can handle his outrageous personality. When George’s uncle hands him the deed to a local TV station, George creates a series of television shows based on social satire and hyperactive humor, with the help of his best friend, Bob. However, a rival station’s bitter CEO tries to destroy George’s wacky programming, forcing him to fight back.

Weird Al and Michael Richards were joined in the cast by David Bowe, Fran Drescher, Kevin McCarthy, Victoria Jackson, Stanley Brock, Sue Ane Langdon, Anthony Geary, Billy Barty, Trinidad Silva, Gedde Watanabe, Vance Colvig Jr., David Proval, John Paragon, Belinda Bauer, Dr. Demento, Emo Philips, Patrick Thomas O’Brien, John Cadenhead, and the Kipper Kids.

Are you a fan of UHF? What do you think of Michael Richards’ story of Bell’s palsy and Weird Al? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Inside Out 2 should post Pixar’s best opening in awhile, but will it reinvigorate the box office as much as everyone hopes?

The weekend sees the release of Pixar’s Inside Out 2. Given the company’s dire track record as of late, many expect it to be the movie that puts the company back on top of the box office heap. Over at Box Office Pro, they predict the movie can open with anywhere from $85 to 115 million. While I’d love to see the box office get a much-needed kick in the pants, I think these predictions are too optimistic for a few reasons.

For one, PIxar’s track record in terms of openings has been pretty bad over the last few years. Lightyear, which everyone assumed would be a smash hit given that it’s a spin-off of the Toy Story movies, opened with $50 million, a number many considered disastrous. However, it got a lot worse, with Elemental opening to a terrible $29 million last summer, even though it legged out to a decent $150 million plus finish (significantly ahead of Lightyear, which was torpedoed by bad worth of mouth). Inside Out 2 is getting respectful reviews (including ours), but no one is saying its on par with the original, which opened with $90 million nine years ago, on track to an incredible $350 million plus finish – a number that used to be pretty achievable for the company.

But, ever since the disastrous idea to release Pixar movies direct to Disney Plus during the pandemic and to shorten theatrical windows, family audiences have been very picky about what they go see. Going to a movie with the family is very pricey, and people are having to tighten their belts a bit, and they’ve been feeling it at the box office for years. While I still think Inside Out 2 will open decently, I do not expect it to make over $60 million. Even that number might be overly optimistic, but we’ll see.

Meanwhile, Bad Boys: Ride or Die should easily hang on to number 2, with it looking to fall about 50% to $28 million. The Garfield Movie should lose most of its family audience in the face of Inside Out 2, meaning it will finish in 3rd place with about $6 million. John Krasinski’s IF should hold on to 4th place with about $5 million, while WB’s The Watchers, which lost a huge chunk of its audience this week, should slip to 6th behind Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which should make about $3 million.

Here are my predictions:

1. Inside Out 2: $60 million
2. Bad Boys: Ride or Die: $27 million
3. The Garfield Move: $6 million
4. IF: $5 million
5. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes: $3 million

Do you think Inside Out 2 will do better than I think it will? Let us know in the comments!

Joey “Jaws” Chestnut will compete against rival Takeru Kobayashi in a hot dog eating contest live on Netflix this Labor Day.

When Netflix said they were getting into the live sports business, we never expected they meant this…Famed competitive eater Joey “Jaws” Chestnut will go bun-to-bun with rival Takeru Kobayashi on Labor Day in a weiner-takes-all hot dog eating competition, an announcement made in the wake of Chestnut being banned from competing at Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4th. A lot has transpired in the world of competitive eating this week, so let’s play ketchup.

Earlier this week, Joey Chestnut – who has won Nathan’s contest 16 times, including last year’s and 2021’s record-setting 76-dog day – unveiled that he had been disinvited from the Coney Island contest. This was due to Chesnut having a sponsorship with Impossible Foods, which Major League Eating deemed a “rival brand.” Chesnut took to X to express his frustrations, writing, “I was gutted to learn from the media that after 19 years Im banned from the Nathan’s July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest. I love competing in that event, I love celebrating America with my fans all over this great country on the 4th and I have been training to defend my title.” He ended his remarks with, “Sadly, this is the decision Nathan’s and Major League Eating are making, and it will deprive the great fans of the holiday’s usual joy and entertainment. To my fans, I love you and appreciate you.  Rest assured that you’ll see me eat again soon!! STAY HUNGRY!”

Enter Netflix, who announced one day later that Joey Chestnut will take on Japan’s Takeru Kobayashi in the aforementioned September 2nd showdown. Kobayashi – who holds world records in eating everything from buffalo wings to cow brains – actually announced his retirement just last month but is clearly up for competing to be top dog. “Retiring for me will only happen after I take him down one last time. This rivalry has been brewing for a long time. Competing against Joey live on Netflix means fans all over the world can watch me knock him out.”

While it’s a huge disappointment for fans of competitive eating (or those curious to see what gluttons are made of) that Joey Chestnut will not be at Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest this year, Netflix’s offering is far from a wurst-case scenario.

How do you feel about Joey Chestnut being banned from Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest? Will you check out his match against Kobayashi on Labor Day?

Christina Ricci and Hamish Linklater get on the slab for the upcoming true crime series set in a 1980s funeral home called Chop Shop.

With shows like Six Feet Under, Good Grief, Fun at the Funeral Parlor, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina putting the “fun” back in funeral homes, it’s high time a show came along to remind audiences how grim and mysterious these houses of death can be. That’s why I’d like to bring Chop Shop to your attention. Deadline says a new series starring Christina Ricci (Wednesday, Yellowjackets, Black Snake Moan) and Hamish Linklater (Legion, Midnight Mass, Tell Me Your Secrets) is gaining buzz as it prepares to court a network.

Inspired by the Kathy Braidhill novel, Chop Shop retells the true crime story about the Lamb Funeral Home in 1980s Los Angeles. The following description comes courtesy of Deadline‘s exclusive article: When David Sconce — the Machiavellian scion of a Bible college football coach and a church organist — takes the reins of the family business, the seemingly All-American clan begins a jaw-dropping descent from saints to sinners. Desperate to keep their funeral home afloat, Sconce engineers a sinister new business strategy, replete with human body harvesting and mass cremation. The script will paint a harrowing portrait of hubris against the neon greed of the era, where insatiable ambition turns a former football star into a SoCal sociopath.

Hamish Linklater plays David Sconce in the series, while Christina Ricci portrays a journalist inspired by Braidhill. Andy Bellin is writing the script, and Ricci, Laura Rister, and Untitled Entertainment are producing it. The search for directors and showrunners is in progress. While we wait for Chop Shop to open shop, Bellin’s upcoming project, The Baccarat Machine, starring Awkwafina, is in pre-production. The Baccarat Machine focuses on a young Chinese woman who becomes modern history’s most successful female gambler after partnering up with a legendary poker player.

Are you interested in learning more about Chop Shop? Which network or streamer will eagerly get their hands on this one? Do you find funeral homes unnerving? I wouldn’t say I like the smell of most flowers, so funeral homes tend to overwhelm my olfactory modality. Let us know if you’re looking forward to Chop Shop in the comments below.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.