“I just was so excited to take on something that just felt different from anything I’ve ever done before,” Moore told TheWrap. The Peacock original marks the first major television series the actor has starred in since the conclusion of “This Is Us.” But it was the knowledge that Édgar Ramírez would be part of this project as well that really sold the actress on the series.

“We both love Season 1, and I just knew we were going to make something special,” Moore said.

“We really wanted to work together. When I heard that Mandy wanted to do it, I was so happy,” Ramírez told TheWrap, noting that he felt like the planets were going to “align” for them on this project.

“Ultimately, as an actor, I really want to have experiences like the one we had where you can really abandon yourself completely to your partner and be safe with them,” Ramírez said. “We knew that we were going to navigate very, very dark waters.”

Much like Season 1, the second installment is indeed a dark story. But unlike its predecessor, Ramírez described this season as “a beautiful love story that then gets shattered.”

Just like the podcast of the same name, “Dr. Death’s” second season is based on the real-life reign of crimes orchestrated by the Italian thoracic surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. In the mid 2010s, Macchiarini became a major name in the medical community due to his method of using patients’ own stem cells as trachea transplants. But the more famous he became, the more those around him began to question his claims. His medical malpractice eventually led to an investigation by the Swedish Prosecution Authority, and he was eventually convicted by the courts for causing bodily harm.

Unlike Season 1’s deep dive into Christopher Duntsch, Season 2 centers around the budding romance between this too-good-to-be-true surgeon and journalist Benita Alexander (Moore). Even though this true crime tale is the center of Season 3 of the podcast, executive producer Ashley Michel Hoban called Macchiarini’s story “a no brainer” for Season 2.

“In Season 1, we got to explore Duntsch’s downfall. But this season, we’re falling in love with a man along with Bonita, and we’re falling in line with the man along with the whistleblowers,” Hoban told TheWrap. “It’s a different way to approach the whole ‘Dr. Death’ franchise.”

Adding to the enthralling nature of this season was its international focus. Because Macchiarini’s work spanned the globe, this season becomes more of a critique of international medical standards than simply U.S. healthcare.

“I think we were all surprised in this season to find that somewhere like Sweden, or anywhere in Europe, could have some of the same systemic problems that we see in our medical system,” Hoban said. “We have these peer-reviewed research papers that are a kind of self a self-policing system, and we explore in the show the problems with that. With medicine and money, when those two things come together, it doesn’t always necessarily lead to patient advocacy.”

Then there was Bonita Alexander’s role in Macchiarini’s rise to fame. Because of her position as a journalist who produced a story on the surgeon, the season questions what it means to blur the lines of journalistic ethics.

“She’s so capable and so strong and really at the top of her field,” Moore said of her character. “I hope that because of that people are able to see themselves in her. She’s sort of a surrogate for the audience.”

Hoban emphasized that it was important that the audience meet Paolo Macchiarini through Benita’s eyes. “She is skeptical, she does her research, she’s smart. And it all checks out. The fact is, it did all check out,” Hoban said of Macchiarini’s lies. “I think audiences will find her character sympathetic and that people will really find her struggle universal. Because this can really happen to anybody, frankly.”

When it came to creating Season 2, neither Hoban nor executive producer Patrick Macmanus reached out to the real-life people at the center of this stranger-than-fiction saga. Rather, they relied heavily on interviews from the original Wondery podcast while still trying to keep the patients most impacted by Macchiarini’s crimes “in the forefront.”

“We named the patients. That was really important for all of us that we name these patients, the real people, and try to tell their stories because their journeys were so difficult and harrowing,” Hoban said.

Yet it was equally important for the team to “shine a light” not just on the faults of the healthcare system but on the people who have put their lives and reputations on the line to try and do the right thing.

“As much of a horror story as both seasons of ‘Dr. Death’ can be looked at, it should also be looked at through the heroic lens,” Macmanus told TheWrap. “What I’ve always hoped from Season 1 and on was that we really were focused more on the heroes than on the villains of the story.”

All episodes of “Dr. Death” Season 2 are now streaming on Peacock.

The post Mandy Moore Was Drawn to ‘Dr. Death’ Because It ‘Felt Different’ Than Anything She Had Done Before appeared first on TheWrap.

The Season 2 finale of Max’s “Rap Sh!t” sees up-and-coming rap group Shawna (Aida Osman) and Mia (KaMillion) cementing their management with Francois Boom (Jaboukie Young-White) as they attempt to “fast track” their success in the hip-hop world, according to showrunner Syreeta Singleton, leaving their longtime alliance with Chastity (Jonica Booth) in the dust.

“He’s shinier and he comes with shinier people,” Singleton told TheWrap of Francois Boom, pointing to rapper and songwriter Pardison Fontaine, who is introduced to Shawna and Mia by Francois at the beginning of the final episode. “What it takes to make it a lot of times it’s like alright, ‘Where am I going to get the most eyes?'”

After working with Pardi on what the duo thinks could be their next hit, Singleton notes that they are drawn to the access provided by Francios’ connections, especially Pardi, who’s worked with Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion.

“By working with Francois Boom, by getting to work with Pardi who’s written for all these other women who are in places that they want to be, they think that, ‘OK, so that means that I’ll be there as well.'”

Francois’ ultimatum prompts Shawna and Mia to turn their back on Chastity, who reminds them of the times Francois has left the girls hanging while she has always advocated for them.

“I think a lot of times [Shawna and Mia] struggle to see [Chastity’s] value, especially because she is like them and she comes from where they come from, and they’re eager to get to that other side and [they’re] wanting to skip some steps,” Singleton said. “We’ve seen them really struggle and build things from the ground up and I think they’re just tired of doing it from the ground up — even though a lot of times that’s what most sustainable.”

Instead, Singleton notes that Shawna and Mia are “looking to fast track themselves” as they search for the next thing that will make them go viral again.

Below, Singleton teases why Chastity was meeting with Gat (Patrick Cage) and what other storylines we might see in a potential Season 3, and discusses Lord AK’s mental health crisis.

TheWrap: At the end of the episode, we see Chastity meeting with Gat. Can you tease what that meeting might have been about?

They now have a common enemy. Gat and Shawna have kind of gone back-and-forth online and Shawna has promised to expose what she knows and what she’s seen behind-the-scenes and now Chastity feels like she’s been like taken for granted and looked over. Shawna and Chastity have always had a rough relationship — Shawna has never really shown her much respect. Chastity has taken a page out of Shawna and Mia’s books where [she’s thinking] “you guys are gonna go with who you feel is gonna get you on the fastest, alright, let me make my own alliances.”

In Episode 5 we saw Lord AK (Jacob Romero) attempt suicide by lighting himself on fire, which a lot of viewers didn’t see coming. How did that idea come together?

When we were speaking during Season 1, we talked about the state of rap and all of the drug overdoses that we were seeing with a lot of artists and a lot of the deaths that we see happen in the industry and how a lot of the music had become so sad, that was something that we were talking about a lot and wanting to touch on that in this world. When Season 2 came around, and we had this headliner, it was a lot of conversation around the pressures of the industry, the lack of support that people feel when it comes to your mental health, but also as a young Black person who’s at the height of their career and has all these expectations and pressures on them … and just this constant “go, go, go” society that never allows you the chance to really check in with yourself and get the help that you need.

Unfortunately in hip-hop, it seems like we’re always losing someone and [their groups] keep going — you look at Migos and what happened to Takeoff and then still putting out music. We also were thinking about Houston, who was an artist back in the day with Capitol Records, who gouged his eye out at a party and all of these kinds of conversations came together and we put inside of this character, Lord AK, and as commentary on some of this stuff that we see.

Even in the aftermath of that labels make more money off of these artists, after they’ve either hurt themselves or died, and other people use it and they do press tours and it just becomes another viral thing and the world just keeps going. It’s dark, but very real, and it’s really real for like the current state of hip-hop.

After seeing Gat smugly talking about Lord AK and advocating for mental health, Shawna claps back at him, and draws the support of some pretty big female rappers like Flo Milli and Rico Nasty. How did those cameos come together?

We were like, we want to legitimize Shawna going forward and make Shawna excited — she almost ends up kind of using this story and what happened to Lord AK to her own benefit. We wanted to find real women rappers who are recognizable, who are loved to help push Shawna in that direction.

[Raedio president] Benoni [Tagoe] reached out to see who would be interested and we’re such fans of Flo Milli and Rico Nasty and were excited when they said yes. We had Flo Milli actually come in and then I remember talking to [Rico Nasty] through how to use the equipment that they sent her and talking them through the story. They were excited to do it and we’re really happy to have them.

Amid all the chaos, Shawna abandoned her plans to see Maurice off as he heads to prison. Why did she neglect those plans and do you think she’ll feel bad about not saying goodbye?

I think she feels bad about not saying goodbye because of the relationship that they have, but also because of now what that’s done to what Maurice is then going to do in turn.

She got so caught up and I think Shawna is very attention-seeking and she’s desperate. That’s what it is. She’s desperate to make it and and sometimes I think she loses sight of her “why” — it’s just caught up in that drive. It took her away from being there for Maurice because, “Oh, look, now I have the song happening, I have all this stuff happening online.” I think we saw what her priorities were.

I know Season 3 is not official yet, but can you tease any storylines or ideas you would be excited to explore for a potential next season?

All of the stuff that we’ve talked about is in very early stages. We definitely want to continue to pick up on Shawna, Mia and Chastity and continue with all the characters that we kind of set up here in Season 2 and and see what that next level is for Shawna and Mia.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

“Rap Sh!t” Seasons 1 and 2 are now streaming on Max.

The post ‘Rap Sh!t’ Showrunner Breaks Down Shawna and Mia’s Season 2 Finale Alliance, Shares Season 3 Hopes appeared first on TheWrap.

But at a time when scandals have pushed the highest court’s legitimacy into question, former CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin believes there is a legal argument that SCOTUS could use to put Trump back on the ballot “without embarrassing themselves.”

In a conversation with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Toobin analyzed the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling that disqualified Trump from being on the ballot for violating Section 3 of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. That section, originally created after the Civil War to prevent the leaders of the Confederacy from running for federal office, disqualifies those who “have engaged in insurrection” against the United States.

In a 4-3 ruling, the state court declared that Trump’s involvement in inciting his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was grounds for declaring a violation of Section 3. But Toobin believes that an “intellectually respectable” way for SCOTUS to overturn that ruling is on the argument that Trump was not given “adequate due process” to defend himself.

“He was not given adequate opportunity to prove that he did not engage in [the insurrection]. The trial was too brief, he was not allowed to subpoena witnesses, he was not allowed to take depositions. That is a way 0f getting rid of the case without too embarrassing themselves,” he said.

Hayes acknowledged that such a ruling would be a more sound argument than the one made by five conservative SCOTUS justices in the landmark Bush v. Gore case in 2000 that denied Al Gore the right to a recount of votes in Florida, handing George W. Bush the presidential election. The host even called the Colorado case “Bush v. Gore 2.0.”

NYU law professor Melissa Murray also noted that the dissenting opinion in the Colorado case “laid the seeds” for the potential ruling Toobin suggested, saying that those judges “were reluctant to disqualify someone in the absence of a criminal conviction for insurrection.”

The Supreme Court will have to hand down a ruling quickly, as the deadline for ballot entry in Colorado is Jan. 5. But even if SCOTUS puts Trump back on the ballot in Colorado, Toobin notes that the Republican frontrunner isn’t out of the woods yet as he is still facing criminal indictments in several states.

“If he’s convicted for a first time, then you will see other states come back to this issue, and there will be an even better case [for disqualifying Trump] because he will have had due process. What is better due process than a criminal trial?” he said.

Watch the clip from “All In With Chris Hayes” above.

The post Jeffrey Toobin Explains How SCOTUS Could Put Trump Back on Ballot ‘Without Embarrassing Themselves’ appeared first on TheWrap.

The decision states that Disney failed to properly license the MOVA Contour technology, owned by Rearden, despite knowing that its visual effects partner, DD3, may not have had rights to use or sublicense the software. Disney continued to benefit from using the proprietary MOVA system in “Beauty and the Beast” regardless, the jury ruled.

The jury awarded Rearden about $600,000, including $350,000 meant to represent Disney’s profits attributed to using the copyrighted MOVA technology. While Rearden had asked for over $100 million in damages related to the film’s success, the jury’s award indicates they did not see a strong connection between MOVA Contour and the film’s box office performance.

Other films like “Guardians of the Galaxy” and the “Avengers” franchise had also been under dispute, but the sole claim in this case focused on “Beauty and the Beast” and Disney’s liability for knowingly sublicensing software it did not own rights to.

A prior federal court decision already found that DD3’s licensure and ownership transfer of MOVA Contour was fraudulent. While Disney was not party to that ruling, a subsequent case may still be brought over the two “Avengers” films released following that initial judgment.

Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.

The post Disney Loses ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Case Over Visual Effects Technology appeared first on TheWrap.

At one point Michael Keaton shot a cameo scene for the movie, and then Ben Affleck shot a scene as well that even “Aquaman” headliner Jason Momoa posted on his social media back in July 2022.

“REUNITED bruce and arthur. love u and miss u Ben WB studio tours just explored the backlot alright. busted on set all great things coming AQUAMAN 2 all my aloha j”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jason Momoa (@prideofgypsies)

Earlier this year, Momoa was asked at the TheWrap’s Sundance Studio what it was like filming scenes with Keaton’s Batman.

“I shot with a couple different Batmans, but you just don’t know what’s going on and we’ll see what the end product is,” Momoa said.

“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” director James Wan recently spoke out on whether the film would connect to other DCEU movies like “The Flash” or feature cameos from characters like Batman.

“The tricky thing early on was not knowing whether Aquaman would come out first or come out after [The Flash],” Wan told Entertainment Weekly. “So, we just had to be prepared. At the end of the day, the best thing I would say about this movie is that it is not connected in any way to any of those films. That’s the bottom line. [When asked if either Batman appears in the movie] That’s a ‘no comment,’ right now. You’re going to have to wait for the movie to come out.”

Does Michael Keaton or Ben Affleck’s Batman Appear in “Aquaman 2?”

Unfortunately, the answer is no. Neither Michael Keaton or Ben Affleck’s Batman appear in “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.” Neither does any other member of the DCEU – no Flash, no Wonder Woman – appear in the film. So if you were looking for a final “Justice League” reunion in the film, it doesn’t happen. Goodbye DCEU, enter the DCU.

How is the film? In his review of “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” TheWrap’s William Bibbani wrote: “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” is a hacked up mess, and that’s not just the editing, but boy is it also the editing. The film tediously recycles the plot of the original, with two characters switching places and another one cut out so haphazardly that it’s genuinely embarrassing and hurts the whole film. 

The post Does Batman Appear in ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom?’ appeared first on TheWrap.

Action-oriented series continues to be a winning genre when it comes to the biggest screen in the home. “Reacher” is back on Amazon’s Prime Video, making a strong viewership debut in its second season.

The sophomore season premiere scored 1.3 million U.S. households viewing within the first three days available to stream, according to the Samba TV Weekly Wrap Report for the week of Dec. 11 to Dec. 17.

The second season’s premiere saw more than a 20% increase compared to the prior season opener. Viewership of the series tended to resonate most with older adults, as Baby Boomers (adults aged 65-74) over-indexed by 10% based on the initial three-day viewing window.

Then there was a jolt from “Barbie” which catapulted Max to No. 3 this week. The much-anticipated streaming release of “Barbie” garnered 1.2 million U.S. households in the first four days it was available to stream. That’s more than five times the number of households who watched Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster film live on demand when it first arrived, signaling a strong preference to stream the movie via subscription service rather than rent or buy the film at home.

Of all income earners, higher-income households making over $200,000 over-indexed by 16% in the initial four-day viewing window compared to the average household.

Coming-of-age drama “My Life with the Walter Boys” starring Suits actress Sarah Rafferty took fourth. In fifth this week was “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” streaming on Netflix and VOD.

The second half of “The Crown’s” final season soared into sixth place, as nearly 700,000 U.S. households tuned in to get their final fix of the Royal Family drama within the first four days available on Netflix. While that’s down double digits from the first part of this season (the fifth season premiere saw 778,000 households tuning in within its same four-day initial viewing window), the fascination around another royal scandal may keep the series on the leaderboard for weeks to come. “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” on Paramount+ followed at No. 7.

With families gearing up for the holidays, Christmas programming had another strong week. Amazon Prime Video’s “Candy Cane Lane” and Netflix’s “Family Switch” both topped the charts at No. 8 and No 9, respectively. Rounding out the final spot is “World War II: From the Frontlines” a docu-series unlike any other, with archival stories and footage with accounts on both sides of the conflict.

On broadcast television, NBC’s “The Voice” earned yet another week atop the leaderboard as the remaining contestants battled it out in the semifinals. Two additional telecasts earned spots among the Top 10.

This week’s linear charts also saw several country music specials make the list. At No. 2 was “Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration” airing on CBS, while “CMA Country Christmas” on ABC earned No. 5. 

ABC, meanwhile, has aired the beloved “The Sound of Music” musical this time of year for decades, making it a TV event that is highly anticipated around the holidays. The Rodgers & Hammerstein film came in at No. 3 this week. Game show program “Wheel of Fortune” nabbed three telecasts in the Top 10, followed by CBS’ “Survivor.”

Cole Strain is VP and Head of R&D at Samba TV, a WrapPRO partner. Click here for more data and analysis  from Samba TV. 

The Wrap Report provides an exclusive first look at the most watched movies and TV series from the past week across both streaming and linear television sourced from viewership trends collected from Samba TV’s panel of more than 3 million households drawn from over 25 million connected TVs, balanced to the U.S. Census.

The post ‘Leave the World Behind’ Holds Off ‘Barbie’ and ‘Reacher’ to Win Streaming Top 10 | Charts appeared first on TheWrap.

The aptly titled “South Park (Not Suitable for Children)” contained more nudity in its 46-minute runtime than Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s animated comedy has shown to date. According to TheWrap’s calculations, nine minutes and 27 seconds of that runtime showed the character Randy naked from the waist down. True to the style of this adult animated comedy, the animation of Randy’s often-shown genitalia was more detailed and graphic that other examples of genitalia the series has shown in the past.

(Note: This estimate only applies to the regular seasons of “South Park” and its Paramount+ specials. The video game “South Park: The Stick of Truth” notoriously contained a battle sequence that took place while the parents of the player character were having sex, a sequence that could last longer than nine minutes depending on gameplay.)

The Comedy Central show is no stranger to depicting nudity. Most episodes contain at least one raunchy sex joke, and both male and female genitalia as well as numerous sex acts have been shown multiple times over the series’ 26 years on the air. An episode the show used during one version of its opening credits — Season 14’s “Medicinal Fried Chicken” — even showed Randy and several other men of South Park literally bouncing down the street on their own overlarge testicles.

However, in nearly every instance, these moments of nudity are only briefly shown for a few seconds at a time. It’s unusual for “South Park” to zoom in on a nude character for several minute-plus scenes in the same episode, which is exactly what “(Not Suitable for Children)” does.

The switch in content was made apparent before Paramount+’s latest special even began. Typically, new episodes and specials of the series begin with the same disclaimer, which reads, “All characters and events in this show — even those based on real people — are entirely fictional. All celebrity voices are impersonated … poorly. The following program contains coarse language and due to its content it should not be viewed by anyone.”

This disclaimer has been altered slightly over the years, like when “its content” was replaced by “COVID-19” for “The Pandemic Special” or when the series rewrote the disclaimer to mock Disney+’s content warning before “The Muppets” during the “South ParQ Vaccination Special.”

But Wednesday’s special marks one of the few times the disclaimer was completely altered. This new version read, “The following film contains graphic sexual content. Due to its extreme erotic nature this program is not suitable for children.”

This introductory change and all of this animated nudity served to underscore the larger point of “(Not Suitable for Children.)” As parents worry how dangerous OnlyFans may be to their children, defenders of the platform and representatives for tech companies emphasize that OnlyFans is only for adults and that the average user of the biggest social media sites are over the age of 22. It’s only when Randy starts an OnlyFans that these claims are tested. After making explicit content using a popular hydration drink aimed at children, he uncovers a vast conspiracy theory that connects influencers, major companies and the Chinese and Russian governments.

The post ‘South Park’ Shows the Most Nudity in Show’s History in OnlyFans-Centric Special appeared first on TheWrap.

The first is “Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire,” followed by “Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver” in 2024, then extended, R-rated director’s cuts of both films.

But when can you watch “Rebel Moon” on Netflix? Here’s everything you need to know.

When Is “Rebel Moon” Released?

“Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire” will be streaming on Netflix at exactly 7pm PT on December 21.

Is “Rebel Moon” in Theaters?

Unlike Snyder’s previous Netflix movie “Army of the Dead,” which got a wide theatrical release before it streamed on Netflix, “Rebel Moon” is only playing in very few select theaters. Check your local listings, especially for 70mm showings, but the majority of people will only be able to watch “Rebel Moon” on Netflix.

Find “Rebel Moon” tickets online.

What Is “Rebel Moon” About?

Per the official synopsis, when a peaceful colony on the edge of a galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force, Kora (Sofia Boutella), a mysterious stranger living among the villagers, becomes their best hope for survival. Tasked with finding trained fighters who will unite with her in making an impossible stand against the Mother World, Kora assembles a small band of warriors — outsiders, insurgents, peasants and orphans of war from different worlds who share a common need for redemption and revenge. As the shadow of an entire Realm bears down on the unlikeliest of moons, a battle over the fate of a galaxy is waged, and in the process, a new army of heroes is formed.

Who’s in the “Rebel Moon” Cast?

The ensemble cast of “Rebel Moon” includes the following:

• Sofia Boutella
• Djimon Hounsou
• Ed Skrein
• Michiel Huisman
• Doona Bae
• Ray Fisher
• Charlie Hunnam
• Anthony Hopkins
• Staz Nair
• Fra Fee
• Cleopatra Coleman
• Stuart Martin
• Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson
• Alfonso Herrera
• Cary Elwes
• Rhian Rees
• E. Duffy
• Jena Malone
• Sky Yang
• Charlotte Maggi
• Corey Stoll

Is “Rebel Moon” a “Star Wars” Movie?

No, but it nearly was. Snyder originally pitched the “Seven Samurai” riff to Kathleen Kennedy at Lucasfilm over a decade ago, but after Disney bought Lucasfilm the pitch went away. Snyder then reworked the “Rebel Moon” story as an original not set in the “Star Wars” universe.

When Does “Rebel Moon 2” Come Out?

“Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver” will be released on Netflix on April 19, 2024.

When Does the “Rebel Moon” Director’s Cut Come Out?

We don’t know yet, but Snyder promises the “Rebel Moon – Part 1” director’s cut will be R-rated and is an hour longer.

Watch the Trailer

The post What Time Is ‘Rebel Moon’ on Netflix? appeared first on TheWrap.

In Oyelowo’s more-than-capable hands, Reeves isn’t a 2D dimensional Old West cop, but a deeply conflicted person, born into slavery, forced to do things that he might find reprehensible and on the hunt for a villain that is taking Black lives in an era when nobody thought they’d be missed. It is one of the great performances of the year and it just so happened to be in a show that everybody (with a Paramount+ subscription) watched.

TheWrap spoke to Oyelowo about developing the show and finally getting it on the air, why it was so important to have the element of Reeves’ family, and how the show resonated with contemporary audiences. Also learn how Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” influence made it possible for “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” to find its viewership (Sheridan is an executive producer).

How are you feeling being at the end of this journey – or at least the first chapter of this journey?

I feel full to the brim with joy at the fact that the show has done the thing that I hoped and anticipated it would but was constantly being told it was unlikely to do, which is resonate with a global audience. There is a mindset in our industry that anything Black, historical isn’t recognizable IP, all of those things are not worthy of big budgets and taking a big bet. And I’ve got to give it to Paramount. They took that big bet, they gave us the requisite budget and they are being rewarded by a global audience for doing it.

And a western too, which some say doesn’t travel well either.

Right, exactly. Which is so weird to me because I grew up wanting to be a cowboy living on a council state in London, born of Nigerian parents. I don’t know that it gets more global than a British kid of African descent wanting to be a cowboy in the ’80s. Do you know what I mean? I am not quite sure where they get that from.

You had been wanting to do this project for a while. What was it about meeting with Chad Feehan and his take on the material that made it finally move forward?

Well, initially the thing about Bass Reeves that became an obsession for me in terms of trying to get the story told was just how impressive a figure he was and just how unjust it felt that we didn’t know more about him from a cultural perspective. This felt like someone who, the moment you said the word cowboy or western should be in your top five figures you’re talking about along with Billy the Kid and Wyatt Earp and whoever else, and that wasn’t the case. And to my mind, people talk about him being the inspiration for the Lone Ranger. He’s way more of a badass than the Lone Ranger. The Lone Ranger did not have to deal with one iota of enslavement and go on to do what he went on to do. That’s where it began for me.

And then when we brought Chad on board of the show, the thing that made me so keen for it to be him is like me, he’s a family man and like me, he understands the challenges of the work/life balance and like me, we realized between us that making a pure western limits the potency and the possibility of the show because if we think this story is amazing and global, then we have to understand that not everyone are fans of westerns, so what makes it universal? And we both felt it’s the family. If you have a guy who’s on the road a lot of the time doing a very dangerous job, there’s a real tension within the home. And the work/life balance is a relatable aspect but there’s something really dramatic about a guy who’s constantly leaving and all he’s thinking about is getting back. And that’s tension, that is drama, but that’s also universal.

Towards the end of the season there’s this interesting dynamic where Bass comes home after these wild adventures and the kids are not interested in him.

And that’s the relatable portion of this. With westerns, we tend to have a squinty eye, raspy voiced loner, mysterious type who comes into town and is there to get revenge on the bad guy or whatever, fairly impenetrable, aspirational and heroic, but not necessarily relatable, but a guy coming home from many, many days on the road and his kids barely recognizing him. I think anyone and everyone who’s been part of a family, aspires to have a family, you know that’s bad. You know that’s not what you want. And so that again, is the way into the show.

You mentioned “The Lone Ranger.” Was it fun to play with that iconography?

So much fun. And what was even more fun about it is that those tropes, those beats were rooted in reality. He did ride a gray horse, which is white, they call them grays, like the Lone Ranger. He did MacGyver-like employ his ability to disguise himself in order to bring outlaws to justice and that’s a tipping of the hat to the mask that the Lone Ranger wears. Even the rearing of the horse, that was something I spent months learning to do so that we could get that poster. Because I was like, I loved that image as a kid and never seen a Black dude doing that on a white horse. I’m having that poster and so we got to do that as well.

There are all of these elements that reveal themselves throughout the season, whether it’s the serial killer subplot or spooky Southern Gothic overtones or the more modern commentary on race. Was it hard to find that tone?

It was hard. It is always hard. We cover 15 years, and it’s particularly hard when you’re trying to do these kinds of things in a movie, but eight hours gives you more scope and bandwidth to do that. But the hazardous thing with these kinds of stories, is it feeling like one thing after the other, it feeling episodic in that way that is not as satisfying as, Okay, let’s really get into the blood and guts of this story. But being afforded eight episodes and being afforded this very relatable entry point of the family and the love within the family was something that give us the ability to go in these different directions. Also, it’s just true.

At that time, it was an incredibly complex time in America’s history. You’re coming from the Civil War into Reconstruction, pre-Jim Crow. These things all happened within about a 15-year period, and our show is a 15-year period, so it’s an incredibly rich time in America’s history. It’s a time within which it’s the only time you could argue that someone like Bass Reeves could become who he became in the context in which he did. Because you’re not deploying someone like Bass Reeves to be arresting white people during enslavement. You’re not even doing that within Jim Crow. He really is a product of Reconstruction. All of the things you talk about there are very specific and germane to that time.

And the show gets to say things about race and policing that feels very contemporary.

I mean, for me, there’s no point telling a historical story if it doesn’t speak to the now in some way. It becomes redundant. We can watch documentaries, we can read history books, but the beauty of having these moments within Bass Reeves’s life that were true and certainly documented is true. Even those that have become legend and then getting to color between those pillars and as storytellers use it as a means of how does this reflect now, how does now reflect then? That’s the only way I think you are having this level of audience engagement that we are having, is that you are going, Wow, some of that’s still going on or We have made progress, or some of that’s coming back again, or my goodness, I cannot believe we were doing that to people in this country, or that gives context to what I hear Native Americans talk about or what I didn’t learn in the history books that focused more over there than on this. And so all of those things are things we tried to infuse into the show.

I ran into Shea Whigham a couple of weeks ago and we talked briefly about how hard it was for him to do that scene in the first episode.

Of course, it’s an enormous privilege between the legendary actors that we had in the show and some of the younger actors who are just the future, as far as I’m concerned, it was a real privilege. I’m so glad you bring up Shea Whigham because I will be grateful to him for having the bravery to step into that role. I cannot tell you how many actors expressed real trepidation, fear, and if I’m totally honest and in my opinion, cowardice, in relation to that role because it’s uncomfortable. Yes, you have to go to dark places. Yes, you have to say unconscionable things, but that’s what we do as actors.

The darkness must be present in order for you to see the light. And I just feel like what Shea did was so selfless because it took a massive toll on him. He was not in a good place for having to do those things, say those things, sit in that place. From a historical point of view, he’s antithetical to that person, obviously in real life. But boy, did he know what the cost was that he was prepared to pay in order to tell the truth of that character. And I will just forever be grateful to him for that.

Can you talk about working with Taylor Sheridan? Obviously “Bass Reeves” was a show that was announced as part of the “Yellowstone” universe and then it started its own potential franchise.

I mean, the amazing thing about what he has been able to build with “Yellowstone,” “1883,” “1923,” that audience, the tone that he’s created, it laid the groundwork for a show like “Bass Reeves” being able to exist because the idea of doing this show has been with me since the project was brought to me in 2014, and we went out with it in 2015. The entire industry – cable networks, studios, they all turned it down. Streaming didn’t even exist then. That’s how long we’ve been trying to get this done. And then in 2017, they all turned it down again. First time around they said, “We’re not doing this because no one’s doing westerns.” Second time around they said, “We’re not doing this because everyone’s doing westerns.” When you hear that, you go, “Okay, there’s some funny business going on here.”

And then along comes Taylor Sheridan and this underserved audience who love westerns, who love the tone of what he’s doing, who love the fact that he’s looking at this place in America that you could argue had become ignored in contemporaneous TV and film. And that gave us the platform, that gave us the foundation. Chad Feehan, to your point about the “Yellowstone” universe, I was always very keen that it stood apart from that, and there is such appetite for that, that people were keen for it to be another offshoot. But to me, that would be a diminishment of the fact that Bass was a real guy. And “Yellowstone,” though, I’m sure based on some truth out there in terms of what goes on in that place, is not, that emanated from Taylor’s mind.

This needed to be different, but they shared DNA, especially with “1883.” I remember seeing that and thinking, Whoa, now I have a very clear vision of what “Bass Reeves” could be. I hadn’t seen anything like that from an episodic standpoint, from a scope and scale standpoint in recent history that was so in line with my personal vision and ambition for the show. And again, I would say he laid the groundwork for us to build upon.

It’s a nice repudiation to those who suggest that Sheridan’s shows are all MAGA.

Right. I think that’s one thing that would be universally agreed is that “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” was not a MAGA show.

You can watch all of “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” on Paramount+ right now.

The post ‘Lawmen: Bass Reeves’ Star David Oyelowo Explains How ‘Yellowstone’ Made the Show Possible appeared first on TheWrap.

“Rick and Morty” Season 7 arrived with much interest as co-creator and star Justin Roiland was fired from the series in January 2023 over allegations of domestic battery. The criminal charges were subsequently dismissed, but Roiland was not reinstated on “Rick and Morty.”

Instead, two new voice actors took on the roles of the titular characters – Ian Cardoni voices Rick Sanchez and Harry Belden voices Morty Smith in Season 7 and onward. For executive producers Dan Harmon and Scott Marder, the search for Roiland’s replacement was difficult but rewarding.

“It’s been a lot of hard work,” Marder told TheWrap. “The irony of voice matching is that it’s tons and tons of work, but if you do it perfectly, no one notices. So it’s got such a weird high bar of excellence.”

The finale aired on Dec. 17, so there’s not much wait-time for the “Rick and Morty” Season 7 streaming release. And the future of the show — which has been renewed through Season 10 — is bright under the stewardship of Harmon and showrunner Marder.

“I think Seasons 1-7 have always been the result of coping with the production pipeline. Then you get what you get off of the assembly line, which I’m usually massively proud of,” Harmon told TheWrap. “But we’re coming up on an era now where it’s like, ‘Oh, actually, we can make creative strategic decisions about the content on the screen.’”

The post ‘Rick and Morty’ Season 7 Sets Streaming Release Date on Max appeared first on TheWrap.