Danny Ramirez as Manny, Ariela Barer as Mel, Tati Gabrielle as Nora & Spencer Lord as Owen

The Last of Us is expanding its Season 2 cast, adding Danny Ramirez (Top Gun: Maverick), Ariela Barer (How To Blow Up a Pipeline), Tati Gabrielle (You) and Spencer Lord (Riverdale).Based on Naughty Dog’s video game, The Last of Us takes place 20 years after modern civilization has been destroyed. Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, a hardened survivor, is hired to smuggle Ellie (Bella Ramsey), a 14-year-old girl, out of an oppressive quarantine zone. What starts as a small job soon becomes a brutal and heartbreaking journey as they both must traverse the U.S. and depend on each other for survival.The Last of Us is written and executive produced by Mazin and Druckmann. The series is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television. For more on the Season 2 cast, click here. (via Deadline)

If you look on social media this weekend, you’ll likely see posts about wanting Aldis Hodge to be the next Black Panther. Hodge is best known for playing Hardison on the TV series Leverage, Hawkman in the Black Adam movie and most recently playing Alex Cross in the new Cross series for Prime. These posts are likely driven by the recent rumor that Marvel Studios is looking into recasting the role of T’Challa left vacant by the untimely passing of Chadwick Boseman. The other part of what’s behind this movement is an interview from 2012 where Hodge expressed interest in playing Black Panther. He mentioned that Black Panther is the role he really wants to play. He grew up loving the Marvel universe and admires the character of Black Panther, seeing him as almost like an African American Batman. It’s not known at this time if Marvel truly is recasting the role of T’Challa, if Hodge would be interested after having played in the comic book movie world already and if Marvel would be interested in him. 

Are big studios now trying to use “gaslighting” to help explain bad films? A few weeks ago Sony CEO Tony Vinciquerra tried to blame the failure of films like Madam Web and Kraven on the critics being too harsh. He stepped down from the company shortly after. Now the director of the poorly received The Flash flim, Andy Muschietti, is trying to spin why his movie flopped. “Apart from all the others reasons, it wasn't a movie that appealed to the 4-quadrants. It failed at that. When you spend $200 million making a movie, Warner wants to bring even your grandmother to the theaters. And I found out in private conversations that a lot of people just don't care about The Flash as a character. Particularly the two female quadrants. All that is wind going against the movie that I learned about.” That seems like a legitimate excuse until you remember that the most popular series on the CW for years was The Flash and the CW is a series that skews towards female audience. I mean there was a reason why Stephen Amell on Arrow was doing the salmon ladder all the time and it wasn’t about character growth. It’s more likely that the film did poorly because of a troubled star making a lot of negative press and it being attached to a universe that it was obvious was on the way out. But, hey, whatever helps you sleep at night. 

We are about six months away from the debut of a new Fantastic Four, but this time done by Marvel Studios and within the MCU. The film stars Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm. One of the surprises in casting was that of Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal, a version of the Silver Surfer and a herald of Galactus who will be played by Ralph Ineson. Garner recently talked to ET Online about on the main cast and director Matt Shakman: “The Fantastic Four are fantastic. They are phenomenal in this film, and I am very excited for people to see them. And they're just also some of the kindest people I've ever worked with. So, they're wonderful. [They’re] a fun cast [with] a great, fun director.” Also, in the cast but in undisclosed roles are Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich and Sarah Niles. Fantastic Four: First Steps will be in theaters on July 25th, 2025. 

We know that the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World has gone through a lot of rewrites and reshoots, but now we’re learning just how severe as WWE star Seth Rollins has confirmed that he is no longer in the film. Rollins was originally slated to play a mysterious villain, likely a member of the Serpent Society, but when asked about the film on Chris Van Vliet’s podcast, Rollins said, “I wish it the best, but I am not a part of that film. I’m not in the movie. I will say unequivocally I’m not in the film. I do not want anybody to go to the film thinking, ‘I’m here to see Seth Rollins.’ There might be two people that would do that, but I don’t want those two people to waste their time. I don’t want to misinform anybody. I don’t want to lead anybody astray. I am not in the film.” When pressed for more details, Rollins added, "Does my NDA still apply if I’m not in the film anymore? Truth be told, any answer I gave would only be my opinion on it. The script went through a lot of rewrites and reshoots so what I was there to do, essentially, my role got either repurposed or completely erased. So I did do a bit of an audition to possibly pop into another role, I believe, or the repurposing of my role, I’m not exactly sure on what it was, but they ended up going in a different direction with it. My understanding was there were just a lot of rewrites and a lot of reshoots, and they know they’ve got a finished product that hopefully they’re happy with, and hopefully it’s successful, but it will be sans Seth Rollins.” Since the rewrites and reshoots began, the film added Giancarlo Esposito as Serpent Society member Sidewinder, so it is possible that is the role Rollins auditioned for but didn’t get. 

Universal is moving around their upcoming releases from Dreamworks Animation and Illumination. Shrek 5, which features the return of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz, is moving from their original date of July 1, 2026 to December 23rd, 2026. Walt Dohrn, Conrad Vernon and Bard Ableson are co-directing. Moving into the vacated July 1st slot will be Minions 3, bumping up a full year from its original June 30th, 2027 date. Pierre Coffin, who directed the first three Despicable Me films and the first Minions spinoff, returns to helm the new film. Coffin also provides the voices for the Minions. Finally, Universal isn’t giving up the 2027 slot either, claiming the prime summer release frame for an untiled film that had previously been set for March 19th of the same year. Shrek 5’s late December release keeps it in the 25th anniversary of the franchises debut back in 2001. 

Sebastian Stan’s star is on the rise as he takes on a wider array of roles and scored his first Golden Globe the other night for his performance in A Different Man. But Stan has been a fan favorite member of the MCU since his debut in Captain America: The First Avenger and he will be returning to Bucky Barnes this summer in Thunderbolts*. While being interviewed by Deadline, they asked about him being part of the upcoming Marvel feature that pulled together various supporting characters from other franchises. The actor said that the new film will be “its own thing” and says, “I don’t feel you can compare it to any previous Marvel movie, and that’s because of the group of characters in this film and these actors. I couldn’t have had a better time than I did with David Harbour, Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I mean, every single one of these people are funny, they’re generous, and so I think a lot of that chemistry did make it into the movie, and I’m excited for people to see that. It’s a little bit like The Breakfast Club. It has its own vibe, and it’s funny, and it’s real, and we did actual real stunts, like when you’re watching a truck blow up, it’s a truck blown up. It’s not CGI. Marvel really wanted this to have its own- there were many things in the movie that were actually done practically, and I think that does go a long way, because people are just smart. I think audiences just, they know.” Thunderbolts* will be released on May 2nd, 2025. 

John Nolan and the Mid-Wilshire crew will be back on screens in 2025 for The Rookie Season 7 on ABC, and the wait won't be long.

After skipping its usual fall release window to kick off the 2024-25 TV season, The Rookie returns for Season 7 mid-season with 18 new episodes.

ABC officially confirmed The Rookie will return for Season 7 on Tuesday, January 7 at 10 p.m. ET with the season premiere, "The Shot."

Episode 2 will debut at 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday, January 14, as the team hunts a local vigilante while Tim and Lucy "discover secrets" about the recruits. (via The Direct)

The anticipated sixth season of “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir,” the Paris-set blockbuster animated superhero series, is set to world premiere in the U.S. on Jan. 25.

The new season will bow on Disney Channel and Disney XD with episodes airing in simulcast at 11am ET/PT, while the international rollouts will begin during the first quarter of 2025.

The Miraculous saga revolves around the double lives of Marinette and Adrien, two seemingly ordinary teenagers who transform into secret superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir to protect their city of Paris.

“Marinette and Adrian navigate a deepening relationship filled with life-altering revelations and unforeseen challenges, while their superhero alter egos must confront their most formidable adversary yet,” reads the synopsis. (via Variety)

Sebastian Stan won the Golden Globe for best actor in a motion picture (comedy or musical) thanks to his acclaimed performance in “A Different Man,” and few people were more excited than his longtime Marvel co-star Anthony Mackie, who proceeded to crash several of Stan’s post-win interviews with overjoyed enthusiasm for his friend. The two actors have been Marvel scene partners since 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Solider” and co-headlined the 2021 limited series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” on Disney+.

Some Marvel fans were confused at the start of the Golden Globes when Stan chatted with MTV’s Josh Horowitz and made a playful jab at Mackie. Stan was asked which 2025 Marvel tentpole Horowitz should see: the Stan-starring “Thunderbolts” or the Mackie-headlined “Captain America: Brave New World”?

“I don’t know who Anthony is,” Stan said while ending the interview short and running into the ballroom for the awards ceremony.

Mackie later appeared on stage during the Globes telecast to present the award for best animated feature to “Flow” alongside his new Marvel co-star Harrison Ford. Mackie looked around the ballroom and said: “We’re still friends with Sebastian Stan, by the way.” He then made a heart with his hands. (via Variety)

Watch Mackie and Stan’s full interview with Entertainment Tonight: https://youtu.be/haLOSRofiYc

Rumors involving superhero movies are everywhere these days and while there are some “scoopers” with better track records than others, the truth is that more of these leaks are false than true. Most of the time we don’t address them at all unless they come from one of the major entertainment sites. But according to one of the more popular scoopers, Daniel Richtman or DanielRPK, actor Josh Brolin is being considered for a role in the new DCU. Now this isn’t exactly shocking news as Brolin is well versed in genre films having just been in the two Denis Villeneuve Dune films as well as playin the major MCU villain Thanos throughout the Infinity Saga and appearing as the time traveling mutant Cable in the Deadpool franchise. But there are a few other comic book movies in the actors past as well including a turn as Dwight in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For and appearing as a young K in Men In Black 3. And while there are reports out there that Zach Snyder had considered Brolin for Batman before going with Ben Affleck, the actor has already been one of DC Comics popular characters back in 2010 when he played the legendary western bounty hunter Jonah Hex in a film that also starred Megan Fox, John Malkovich, Michael Fassbender, Will Arnett, Michael Shannon and Wes Bentley. So a rumor that Brolin is being considered to join the new DCU isn’t really news, but more of a matter of time. The real question is why hasn’t he shown up in the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises yet?