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It’s almost time to check into our favorite gossipy hotel once more. The White Lotus will soon return for season four, and this time, it’s more meta than ever, as the TV series takes on one of the biggest moments in the entertainment world, the Cannes Film Festival. There’s no doubt that among the glittering stars in their expensive fashions, there’s a lot of dirty laundry to unpack, dramas to play out, and hopes and dreams to shatter… And no one does it quite like The White Lotus. The White Lotus also revealed that season four has begun filming and confirmed its typically star-studded cast… Although this time, there appeared to be some drama behind the scenes as well as in the narrative. But our biggest question remains: Will Survivor‘s Ozzy Lusth get his White Lotus cameo? Come on, Mike White, you know you want to! Here’s what we know about The White Lotus season four so far.

White Lotus Season 4’s Cast Marvel/Paramount Pictures/ABC

This season’s cast of characters was meant to include Helena Bonham Carter, Vincent Cassel, Steve Coogan, Caleb Jonte Edwards, Dylan Ennis, Corentin Fila, Ari Graynor, Marissa Long, Alexander Ludwig, Chris Messina, AJ Michalka, Kumail Nanjiani, and Nadia Tereszkiewicz. Additional cast includes Chloe Bennet, Sandra Bernhard, Heather Graham, Max Greenfield, Frida Gustavsson, Charlie Hall, Jarrad Paul, Rosie Perez, Ben Schnetzer, and Laura Smet.

Lucasfilm

But… just a few days into filming, Helena Bonham Carter suddenly exited White Lotus season four. HBO shared in a statement, “With filming just underway on season four of ‘The White Lotus,’ it had become apparent that the character which Mike White created for Helena Bonham Carter did not align once on set.” Le gasp. Sounds like there’s some tea worthy of White Lotus to unpack there. Mike White does seem to like to spill the gossip, though, so we may very well find out at some point.

In the meantime, though, a new leading lady has been flown into the fourth season of the series. Laura Dern will replace Helena Bonham Carter on The White Lotus season four. Variety shares, “Dern is not taking over the exact role Bonham Carter was to play, however. Instead, she is playing a new character developed by series mastermind Mike White.”

Where Will The White Lotus Season 4 Take Place?

A new release about The White Lotus season four shares, “The Emmy-winning HBO Original series THE WHITE LOTUS, from Mike White, has begun filming on the French Riviera. The season will film in Cannes, St. Tropez, and Monaco. Filming will also take place in Paris, though the story will remain along the Côte d’Azur.”

HBO

The logline for The White Lotus season four lets us know a little bit more about what’s in store for us: “he fourth season will follow a new group of White Lotus hotel guests and employees over the span of a week, taking place during the Cannes Film Festival.” Basically, what we could have expected from The White Lotus, but we do love this season four twist that takes us to Cannes. The White Lotus has always been great about incorporating real-world energy into its heightened fiction. But anchoring this new chapter in an actual event we all know will take it to the next level.

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WHITE LOTUS Actor Tom Hollander Once Got Tom Holland’s AVENGERS Paycheck By Mistake Will Survivor‘s Ozzy Get a White Lotus Cameo?

Of course, we’ll be curious to see how Mike White’s Survivor 50 outing shifts the narrative. He was blindsided by people he considered to be close friends on the show. (But not Ozzy, Mike White, not Ozzy.) And while The White Lotus‘ tales always include some backstabbing and lies, perhaps the tone will be more cutting than ever. As a person currently watching Survivor with great enthusiasm, I know I’ll be curious to see if there’s even MORE meta-drama within the meta-drama. And if there’s anyone who might just deliver on that, it’s Mike White.

CBS

But, as we said, on a sweeter note, we would like for Mike White to make the dreams of Survivor‘s Ozzy come true and give him that cameo he’s been hoping for, unrepentantly. Hey, you have to go after what you want in this life. And we feel like he’s earned it. We’d certainly be excited to see Ozzy pop up on The White Lotus in season four and would cheer. So many dreams to make come true, Mike White.

The White Lotus season four is now filming. Hopefully, we’ll get to see it sooner rather than later.

The post THE WHITE LOTUS Season 4 Casts Laura Dern After Sudden Helena Bonham Carter Departure appeared first on Nerdist.

Chris Gray is suing his startup’s acquirer, Sallie Mae, for wrongful termination and alleging it's selling student data through a subsidiary. Sallie Mae denies the allegations and vows to fight.

San Diego Comic Con 2024 cemented itself as one of the event’s most memorable installments the moment the MCU’s new Victor Von Doom unmasked himself. That’s when we all learned Robert Downey, Jr. is playing the iconic comic book character. No one expected the franchise’s first big screen hero to return as one of Marvel’s greatest villains. So who had the idea to bring RDJ back as Doctor Doom? Turns out it was the man in charge of the entire MCU, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige. Yes, Feige himself has wanted Downey as Doctor Doom for some time. But he’s not responsible for another big return that is also taking place. Downey helped talked Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo into also coming back.Marvel Studios

During an appearance with Omelete (which we first heard about at Deadline), the Russo brothers provided some insight into how one of Hollywood’s most shocking casting decisions happened. Joe Russo said, “That was Kevin [Feige].” Turns out the MCU’s head honcho never stopped thinking about a possible “what if” from 2005’s Fantastic Four. RDJ was considered for the role of Doctor Doom in that film. While fans have known about the sliding doors superhero moment, Kevin Feige decided to open it when given the chance.

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The Russos also said “that conversation” about the former Iron Man as Doctor Doom “was had a while ago.” Feige was apparently thinking about “Victor Von Downey” longer than anyone knew.

Despite Downey’s stunning casting, the Russos claim they weren’t onboard with their own MCU return initially. (We say “claim” because they always said they’d only return for Secret Wars.) How did they end up agreeing to helm both Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars? “Robert tried to talk us into doing it and we said ‘no.’ We just didn’t have a story,” the brothers said. “We didn’t have a way in.” That lack of an “in” made them “resistant for a while.”

They say that changed when their “key” collaborator Steve McFeely came up with “a really powerful story.” It’s one they said “has to be told.” While they refused to say what that exact story is, we should expect it to center Downey’s villain the way the Russos Infinity War centered Thanos. “We love villains who think they’re the hero of their own stories,” said Joe Russo. “That’s when they become three dimensional and they become more interesting. And when you have an actor like Robert Downey, you have to create a well shaped, three-dimensional character for the audience.”

Meanwhile, Robert Downey Jr. himself shared some thoughts on why he returned for Doom, offering at the 1:13:08 mark:

And so, again, what he really did was say, I want to go I want to cast against type supposedly because I know that Downy’s as much a Strauss as he is a Tony Stark or whatever. So really what it is too is sometimes the universe has this larger perspective and someone says, ‘Hey, guess what? I think you can do this thing that people have never seen you do very well and I’m and I’m betting on it.’ And then you go, ‘Oh s**t.’ So then there’s that sense of obligation can be the mother of deformity. But I think also appreciation for validation is demonstrated in perspiration. So I worked my ass off to make sure that I was so prepared. Sydney Lumett would have been happy exactly with the way I showed up to set.

Now I’m dipping my toe back in there but I honestly feel like I’ve I don’t want to say I’ve earned the the right to be able to be granted access where no actor for hire has been. But I’ve always had this thing where I’m kind of, even in Chaplain it was about he transitioned from the silent era to talkies or did he? Because really it was but it was all to make The Great Dictator which was possibly the most important statement of his entire artistic career. And now having played Tony Stark for all those years, I’m coming back into Marvel again. Without Lewis Strauss and without Nolan’s endorsement, it wouldn’t make as much sense to say, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to hit that button again, but now I’m going to do it in this genre.’ But really, what’s interesting to me is digging into what happens backstage at the world, not being afraid of scale.”

Well, we guess that if the MCU had to cast Robert Downey Jr. in the MCU for the second time, it may as well be for a totally different role that’s lived rent-free for him in the minds of its makers. We’ll see how it all plays out when Avengers: Doomsday releases on December 18, 2026.

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Originally Published on March 24, 2025.

The post Casting Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom Was Kevin Feige’s Decades-Long Dream appeared first on Nerdist.

In many ways, the content on our screens has never been better. Just look at the upcoming Spider-Man Noir starring Nicolas Cage. The series looks like an incredible mix of genres, and just like a ton of fun. In fact, it will even air in black and white — a truly inspired touch for the release. But even though we’re looking at some of the coolest releases we’ve ever seen, the web of streaming platforms is becoming a stickier and more tangled web all around us. For instance, Spider-Noir will release on Prime Video in May, but it turns out it will FIRST release on a whole other streaming channel, MGM+.Prime Video

Even though Spider-Man Noir is a Prime Video series, it will first air on MGM+’s linear channel on May 25, 2026, BEFORE rolling out globally on Prime Video on May 27. But the catch is, to watch the series when it first releases, you’ll have to subscribe to MGM+, and that will cost you another $7.99/month as a Prime Video add-on. Of course, Amazon owns both Prime Video and MGM+, but different content lives on the different channels at different times. In this case, Spider-Noir will arrive early on MGM+ before rolling out on the more mainstream channel.

This Spider-Noir release cadence becomes even more complicated when we recall that all eight episodes of Spider-Noir will release at once, as a binge release. So if you really want to watch the series fresh and avoid spoilers, you’d better subscribe to MGM+ or plan extra caution for the two days before it arrives on Prime. We’re not sure we’ve seen this release tactic before, and we’re not sure we love it. But, the situation is what it is.

Click To View Gallery Prime Video Prime Video Prime Video

There’s a possibility that MGM+ will receive only 2 or so episodes of Spider-Noir for early release, but so far there’s been no confirmation of that speculation. All we know is that the series is slated for a binge release and it will release early on MGM+.

The synopsis for Spider-Noir shares, “Spider-Noir” is a live-action series based on the Marvel comic Spider-Man Noir. “Spider-Noir” tells the story of Ben Reilly (Nicolas Cage), a seasoned, down on his luck private investigator in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life, following a deeply personal tragedy, as the city’s one and only superhero.“

As mentioned, Spider-Noir will air on MGM+’s linear channel on May 25, 2026, before rolling out globally on Prime Video on May 27, 2026.

The post SPIDER-NOIR Will Release Early, If You’re Willing to Pay appeared first on Nerdist.

Beautiful. We finally know when Ted Lasso will officially head back to AFC Richmond. Apple TV announced the hit series’ fourth season will premiere this summer on August 5 via an all-new trailer. This latest look at the show promises an emotional return across the pond for the beloved mustachioed coach. But while he seems happy to be back, this promo suggests a lot of his old friends are not doing nearly as well. They might need Ted’s help more than ever.

The bloody wanker is back! And this time around he’s coaching AFC Richmond’s new women’s professional soccer club. What will that mean for both him and the people he cares about? Here’s the show’s official synopsis from Apple TV:

In season four, Ted returns to Richmond, taking on his biggest challenge yet: coaching a second division women’s football team. Throughout the course of the season, Ted and the team learn to leap before they look, taking chances they never thought they would. 

Apple TV

Season four will mark the return of star Jason Sudeikis, Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Brett Goldstein, Brendan Hunt, and Jeremy Swift. Newcomers to the show include Tanya Reynolds, Jude Mack, Faye Marsay, Rex Hayes, Aisling Sharkey, Abbie Hern, and Grant Feely. This trailer also includes the great Tracey Ullman. She is getting in on the football fun with a character that looks absolutely chaotic. Brilliant.

How will she help (or make things worse) for Coach Ted when he heads back to his old-new team? We’ll find out one episode at a time. Ted Lasso season four takes the pitch on Wednesday, August 5 with its premiere episode. It will then release new episodes every Wednesday until the finale on October 7. By then we’ll probably have had plenty of laughs, plenty of tears, and hopefully for Ted’s new soccer team plenty of wins.

The post TED LASSO Kicks Off Season 4 With Trailer and Release Date appeared first on Nerdist.

Apple is adding a new subscription option that lets app developers offer lower monthly pricing in exchange for a 12-month commitment.

Users will be able to chat with a brand's AI agent to do things like ask questions and get recommendations.

YouTube is rolling out the new AI search feature to Premium subscribers in the U.S. on an opt-in basis.

The startup specializes in "non-invasive" "mind-reading" tech—a kind of neural data collection that, its CEO hopes, will have all sorts of consumer applications.

Tank OS puts OpenClaw AI agents into a container that let's it run reliably and more safely, especially for those running fleets of them.

Otter is also releasing a new Windows app that can capture meeting notes without joining one

Golden Child is launching with two "five-star" products: a fresh frozen meal system and, more intriguingly, a "drizzle." It has also raised $37 million in funding.

Snabbit now processes over 40,000 daily jobs and has cut costs sharply as it expands across cities and services.

Few people have the encyclopedic knowledge of just about everything to win at Jeopardy! We certainly count ourselves in that “few people” category, by the way. But Pop Culture Jeopardy!, now that’s another story. We know the answers (or should we say questions) for that one a lot. The spin-off of the iconic game show launched in December, 2024 on Prime Video. Hosted by SNL’s Colin Jost, fans loved this more lighthearted version of the show. But after one season, the show did not come back to Prime Video. But now, Pop Culture Jeopardy! is launching season two on Netflix, and you can watch the first trailer for the second season down below:

In the trailer, Colin Jost jokes about switching from one giant streaming platform to another, and cracks wise about the show’s next home being on OnlyFans. We know he jests, but we think Jost underplays how big any OnlyFans account with him in it would get. Among the categories for Pop Culture Jeopardy! are “AI Slop Will Give You Brain Rot” and one for all things Real Housewives. And for those of you with Generation Alpha children, there is an entire category devoted to “6-7.” Maybe then someone can explain to us what it actually means. Because we sure don’t know.

Netflix

Pop Culture Jeopardy! is the first version of the franchise to debut via a streaming service. The classic Alex Trebek version ruled in broadcast syndication. Season one consisted of forty episodes, but season two will contain half of that. Perhaps fewer episodes were a condition for the season two renewal over at Netflix. Hopefully, on Netflix, this iteration of the series will find a much larger audience. The second season of Pop Culture Jeopardy! drops on May 11, and runs every weekday through June 5.

The post POP CULTURE JEOPARDY! Trailer Features a Snarky Colin Jost appeared first on Nerdist.

It’s time to go back to simpler days. In 2007, many nerds tuned into a fun and funny web series created by Felicia Day called The Guild. Throughout its six-season run, The Guild set out to break down some stereotypes about gamers and show the world that true friendship, cool people, and a whole lot of adventure could be found through fandom. And somehow, 20 years later, it’s time to do it all again. Felicia Day has revealed that The Guild will hopefully soon return in The Guild Movie. But to do that, The Knights of Good need you. Yes, The Guild Movie Kickstarter will arrive this summer, and hopefully, you are ready to pledge your allegiance.

GUYS ITS HAPPENING! Let's make a "Guild" movie together!!!! Sign up now at this link to be alerted when our Kickstarter is live: https://t.co/bRUCM2DDYm Excited to see the gang back together with your help! #reunion'd pic.twitter.com/ORUHH0j3w7

— Felicia Day🇺🇸 (@feliciaday) April 27, 2026

The official website for The Guild movie shares, “Help us celebrate The Guild‘s upcoming 20th anniversary by being part of our most epic quest yet. That’s right, we need your help making a full-length film that reunites Codex, Zaboo, Vork, Tink, Clara, and Bladezz for an adventure unlike anything they’ve ever faced before. And yes, that’s vague, we know. Which is why you should sign up below to receive updates about the crowdfunding campaign later this summer. Let’s get Kickstart’d!”

The Guild Movie

Listen, if there’s anyone who could bring us the best possible version of “an adventure unlike any” we’ve ever seen, it’s Felicia Day and the rest of The Guild‘s cast. We’re so excited to hear The Guild Movie will reunite all our favorites.

Day further shares:

In 2007, I created The Guild because no one in Hollywood understood what real gamers were like. I wanted to show the world that genuine friendships could form online and prove that geeks and nerds didn’t need to be clichéd punchlines, but could be main characters, too. We were able to do that for six wonderful seasons because you, the community, showed the world there was a place for it. And I’m forever grateful.

The 20th anniversary is coming up in 2027 (gasp!) and with your support, we’re gonna do it again: Prove Hollywood wrong, stay true to what you guys love and just generally laugh our butts off. I can’t wait to get the gang back together. We’ll still be SO dysfunctional, I promise!

SO SIGN UP PLEASE F-YEAH LET’S DO THIS!

oxox
Felicia

Nothing like a promise to be SO dysfunctional to get our support. There’s no official Kickstarter page for The Guild Movie yet, but you can sign up to get all the latest updates as soon as they go live. You can watch all of The Guild‘s episodes on YouTube right now.

The post THE GUILD Returns with New Movie From Felicia Day appeared first on Nerdist.

Potential buyers of Letterboxd include Versant, the parent company of CNBC and MS NOW, and Hollywood media company The Ankler, according to Semafor.

One of the most important writers in modern American comic books has left us, as we’ve learned that Gerry Conway has died at age 73. The sad news comes via Variety. Although the cause of death is unknown, the New York City-born Conway fought pancreatic cancer in recent years. Conway broke into writing mainstream comics at the young age of 16, and by his early twenties, was writing seminal runs for series like The Amazing Spider-Man, where he famously scripted the death of Peter Parker’s great love, Gwen Stacy. He’s also the co-creator of iconic characters like the Punisher, Jason Todd, and many others. He was among the first generation of comic book “fanboys” who grew up to write the characters they had loved as children.

Marvel Comics/DC Comics/Near Future Industries

In a statement following the news of Gerry Conway’s death, Marvel President Dan Buckley said, “Gerry Conway was a gifted writer. He was thoughtful, deeply attuned to the emotional and moral core of storytelling, and a wonderful and articulate advocate for comics and creators. His writing has inspired all of us at Marvel, and will continue to inspire generations of writers, readers, and fans to come.” Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige added, “Gerry Conway brought real stakes to his writing, able to weave together sensational super heroics with the human and relatable, and in doing so created some of the most memorable stories and characters of all time… Gerry was a wonderful collaborator and friend to so many and will be dearly missed.”

Marvel Comics

At the tender age of 16, Conway wrote his first short story for DC Comics’ House of Secrets #81, published in 1969. He then went on to write The Phantom Stranger when he was still only 18. He caught the attention of Marvel Comics‘ editor Roy Thomas, who hired him to write a Ka-Zar story. From there on out, Gerry Conway wrote for nearly every major Marvel publication, including Daredevil, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, The Fantastic Four, the Avengers, andAmazing Adventures, which showcased Black Widow and the Inhumans. He also has a co-creator credit for the horror characters Man-Thing and Werewolf by Night. But his biggest Marvel work was easily on Spider-Man.

At age 19, Conway took over writing on The Amazing Spider-Man, not long after Stan Lee ended his epic run. During his three-year run on the series, he famously killed off Peter Parker’s longtime girlfriend, Gwen Stacy, in a touchstone story for the character. Not long after, Conway and artist Ross Andru introduced the Punisher, who would become one of Marvel’s leading characters. The seeds of the iconic “Clone Saga” were planted in Conway’s run, which introduced the villainous Jackal, along with Peter Parker’s clone, Ben Reilly. In 1976, Conway wrote the first Marvel/DC crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, which just got two sequels fifty years later. He’d return for longer Spidey runs in the ’80s and ’90s with Spectacular Spider-Man and Web of Spider-Man.

DC Comics

After a brief tenure as Marvel’s EIC, Gerry Conway left for DC Comics. There, he co-created Power Girl, an alternate-universe version of Supergirl, along with the hero Firestorm. He also co-created Jason Todd, the second Robin, who is now the Red Hood, along with Batman villain Killer Croc. All these characters remain DC mainstays today. In the ’80s, he wrote long runs on Wonder Woman, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Action Comics, and Superman. He also famously wrote an eight-year run on Justice League of America. Conway’s run included his creation of the “Detroit JLA.” Although unpopular at the time, it featured new heroes Vixen and Vibe, both Gerry Conway co-creations. They would find new life decades later in the CW Arrowverse.

Warner Bros. Animation/Marvel

Gerry Conway also had a very prolific Hollywood career. He co-wrote the animated ’80s fantasy film Fire and Ice and Conan the Destroyer. For television, he became a regular writer on procedurals like Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Diagnosis Murder, and Matlock. In animation, he contributed scripts for G.I. Joe and Transformers. But he remained true to his comic book roots, even on television. He wrote two episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, and the very first episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. He somehow squeezed in two sci-fi novels and a Star Trek newspaper strip into his resume as well. Gerry Conway’s legacy in entertainment spans over five decades, and his mark on comic books especially can’t be overstated. Gerry Conway is survived by his wife and two children.

The post Gerry Conway Dies, Comics Author, Punisher Co-Creator Was 73 appeared first on Nerdist.

Way back when, January of 2023, DC Studios’ co-CEO James Gunn unveiled the initial plan for his and Peter Safran’s new DCU. He shared a number of exciting projects, many of which have arrived more or less on schedule. Creature Commandos, Superman, Supergirl, and Lanterns all found or will have found their way to screens by the end of this year. Others, like Paradise Lost, Swamp Thing, and Booster Gold have continued to percolate and have seen substantial delays for various reasons or others. But when it comes to The Authority, the true outlier of that first batch, it seems Gunn is saying farewell to that idea.DC Comics

In a report from Variety, Gunn said the script wasn’t coming together for The Authority. “The script wasn’t quite there but more importantly it didn’t work in terms of the larger DCU both in terms of the story and practical concerns. Maybe some day. Not soon.” This echoes what Gunn said to several journalists a little over a year ago at a first “state of the franchise” event. Despite Superman still featuring the Authority’s Engineer as a major character, that set-up will not carry over to a feature film for the team.

The Authority began in 1999, in the pages of Wildstorm Comics, Jim Lee’s comics company that DC acquired in 1998. Created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, the titular team were a dark, gritty mirror to teams like the Justice League or the Avengers. They were more violent and had lots of very adult themes and storylines. Gunn saying the team didn’t work in terms of the larger DCU makes a lot of sense. Why introduce the very hopeful Superman and immediately throw the super violent anti-Justice League when the Justice League themselves don’t yet exist?

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Plus, The Authority were the thematic progenitors to later subverted superhero series like The Boys and Invincible. In a world where both of those comics and shows exist, it’d be hard for the Authority not to feel very behind the times.

Despite this setback, the DCU will have a big 2026. Supergirl hits theaters June 26, Lanterns premieres on HBO in August, and Clayface will go to theaters in October.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.

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