Hayden Panettiere is publicly revealing for the first time that she identifies as bisexual.

“The first time it even crossed my mind to touch on this subject was while I was in the process of writing this book,” Panettiere, 36, exclusively tells Us Weekly in this week’s cover story while discussing her memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, out May 19. In the book, Panettiere discusses her attraction to women and the moment she finally felt comfortable enough to share that aspect of her identity with the world.

“It took two years to write this book, and I did not know what I was going to feel comfortable touching on … and what stories were naturally going to come up, and the fact that that did come up, I was like, ‘Why not?’” the Nashville alum continues. “I’ve chosen to be completely brutally honest about this, and that’s something about me that I was never able to share with the world, because it was just never the right time.”

Panettiere admits that she avoided revealing her attraction to women in the past because she felt like she was “forced to be perfect at all times” when she was younger.

“I was not encouraged to just be myself,” she tells Us. “No one ever encouraged me to just be myself, and then it came, the period of time, where it felt like people coming out, especially women coming out, and saying that they were bisexual, or liked girls, was a fad.”

Panettere says she felt “afraid” that if she came out sooner, people would see it as “jumping on the bandwagon.”

“And once again, it was always the fear of not being perfect, and what my team was going to think about it, what the public’s opinion was going to be about it,” she continues. “It was just never the right time, and it was a very difficult topic to articulate properly. I wanted to make sure that I really sat down and chose my words carefully and was able to tell my story in an honest way, that people understood. On one hand, it’s sad that I had to wait till I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?”

Panettiere adds, “Now that I know that this book is coming out, and that I’ve chosen to share it with the world, I’m comfortable saying I’m bisexual. I’m comfortable to confidently say that, yes, I am bisexual. I said it!”

Advertisement

Related: Keke Palmer Says She’s Experienced ‘Confusion’ About Her Sexuality

Speaking her truth. Keke Palmer opened up about her personal journey with gender and sexuality while accepting an award at the Los Angeles LGBT Center Gala. “I’ve always been my own person, and sexuality and identity, for me, it’s always been confusion,” the Nope star, 29, said as she received the Vanguard Award — which […]

The Ice Princess star also opens up about her past experience dating women.

“It was always scary, because my life, I mean, there were paparazzi always outside, waiting for me outside, to follow me everywhere,” she recalls. “I had very little privacy, and I mean, I have dated women. It started at a very, very young age.”

Panettiere says she was “much more into women” than men when growing up.

Thank You!

You have successfully subscribed.

“But, yeah, I have explored it, but I don’t think I ever had the courage, because I hadn’t shared this with anybody,” she notes. “I didn’t really have the courage to throw myself fully, emotionally into it, because then if I did fall in love, that wasn’t something that I wanted to ever have to hide. I didn’t feel confident enough, and I was too afraid to really let that part of me explore that part of me.”

Panettiere’s most recent public romance was with ex Brian Hickerson from 2018 to 2020. She was also previously engaged to Wladimir Klitschko, with whom she shares 11-year-old daughter Kaya, from 2013 to 2018.

This Is Me: A Reckoning hits shelves on Tuesday, May 19.

55 WHERE? That’s the common reaction to the latest swimsuit photos Chrissy Lampkin shared on social media. But the one reaction fans are locked in on is Jim Jones‘. He had her comment section poppin’ after he jumped in to compliment his lady, asking for more than a lil’ BAWDY tease.

RELATED: Sheesh! Fans Say Chrissy Lampkin Is “Aging Backward” After Slaying In Curve-Hugging Look (VIDEO)

Chrissy Lampkin Shows Off Her Curves Beachside

Summer is still around the corner, but Chrissy Lampkin is already putting fans on notice about what to expect! On Tuesday (May 5), she dropped her first Instagram feed post since March: two photos and a video. It appears the reality TV star is on vacation after celebrating her 55th birthday on April 27. It’s unclear if Jim Jones joined Lampkin on her getaway!

The first photo shows her posing against a glass balcony wall. Clear ocean water, sand and palm trees are visible in the background. Meanwhile, Chrissy herself is serving body -ody -ody -ody. In that first photo, she’s wearing a black swimsuit with a cutout that reaches across her midsection, exposing her belly button. One side of the swimsuit features a train of what appears to be black beads or braided material. She elevated her beach look with gold hoops, layered gold necklaces and gold bracelets. And the nails and toes? All white! Her second image is a mid-shot, showing her holding a straw hat to her chest while slightly smirking. Her caption reads, “In My Element 🌴☀️🌊.” Also, in the comment section, she wrote, “Thank you for all the birthday love ❤️.” 

Jim Jones Shares Risqué Reaction To Chrissy’s New Photos

Amid 3,700 comments was one from her longtime boo, Jim Jones. He commented, “What under tht hat sexy 👀😎,,” referencing her second image. It doesn’t seem like she’s publicly responded to his compliment. Still, his comment picked up over 500 likes, and 44 replies in 21 hours. While some appeared to be sarcastic responses telling him to look at the first photo, others brought up the never-ending topic of marriage.

@mommabsoulkitchen replied, “BRUH IM 60 YEARS OLD I THINK ITS TIME TO PUT A RING ON IT SHE THE MOST CLASSIEST LADY ON TV N BEAUTIFUL.”

“@jimjonescapo a ring marry her neowww than invite Me to wedding because I’m do the nails🫣,” @arrogantnailsss added.

“Marriage isn’t for everyone they already common law married anyway if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it,” @kiyasbodyscultping replied amid debates about whether it’s “too late.”

Meanwhile, @bronxraisedme speculated that they might’ve already tied the knot in some way or another. He wrote, “Look like a ring is on her finger 🤷🏾‍♂️.”

What’s Up With Jim & Chrissy Getting Married? 

The couple started dating in the mid-2000s and later appeared on the show, ‘Love & Hip Hop: New York.’ During the season one finale in 2011, Jim Jones finally proposed after several episodes made the topic of marriage  their storyline. Earlier in that season, she had proposed to him first, a moment fans still highlight! Despite getting a ring in 2011, no public record of a marriage has ever surfaced.

Eight years after the proposal, Chrissy Lampkin shared she had moved on from the idea of marrying Jim Jones. She made the comments during a 2019 guest appearance on ‘The Real.’ Lampkin emphasized that she no longer felt pressured by outsiders to get hitched and that getting married was no longer “a priority.” She added, “We’re good right now.”

Then in 2022, a circulating clip of the couple on vacation showed them discussing marriage. In it, she says she does not want to marry him. Then, she proceeds to explain that he can be mean, cold and distant while requiring her to be “loving, sexual, crazy, cook..” It’s unclear where they both stand on marriage in 2026. Last year, he opened up about how they met.

RELATED: Jim Jones Reveals How Chrissy Reacted To Ciara Interrupting His Recent Interview To Urge Him To Put A Ring On It (VIDEOS)

The ever-busy Brendan Fraser is blasting off for his next film. Amidst a successful career revival that saw him win a Best Oscar Academy Award for The Whale, the Mummy star is set to star in a new science fiction adventure. The film is being shopped at the Cannes Film Market this month.

According to reports, Fraser will star in Starman, which is not a remake of the 1984 John Carpenter science fiction romance. Fraser will play Tom Adams, a scientific visionary who’s leading a historic mission to Mars. Along the way, however, something goes wrong, and he finds himself stranded millions of miles from Earth. Soon, he’s on a quest for survival, driven not only by self-preservation but by love. The film is written and directed by Josh Wakely in his feature film debut; Wakely is the creator of the Netflix animated series Beat Bugs and Motown Magic. It is expected to begin production this summer.

What Has Brendan Fraser Appeared in Lately?

Last year, Fraser starred in Rental Family, the tale of an American actor in Japan who hires himself out as a stand-in family member. This summer, he’ll star in Pressure, the true story of the most consequential weather forecast in history: Andrew Scott plays James Stagg, the meteorologist who was tasked with predicting whether the elements would cooperate with the D-Day invasion in 1944, while Fraser plays General Dwight D. Eisenhower. This year, he’s also starring alongside Bill Murray, Dustin Hoffman, Vicky Krieps, and Andy Garcia (who also directs) in the crime drama Diamond; it will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this month. Further in the distance, Fraser will return to one of his most iconic roles in a new sequel to The Mummy; he’ll be joined by Rachel Weisz and John Hannah in a new entry of the classic supernatural adventure series. He has also signed on to star in Barry Levinson‘s Assassination, a mystery thriller centering around the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Starman will be produced by Eddie Vaisman of Sight Unseen, who produced Rental Family. Wakely and Rebecca Graham also produce for Grace: A Storytelling Company. Screenwriter David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight) will executive produce along with Tarek Sherif, Ryan Graves, and Sight Unseen’s Julia Lebedev.

Starman will be shopped to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival, and will begin production this summer. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 19 seconds ago

If your Roman Empire is the Roman Empire, you’ve already seen Spartacus. Not the 1960 film with Kirk Douglas. The bloody, violent, sex-filled Starz series that took the world by storm in 2010 and proved the overlooked cable network was capable of hanging with Showtime and HBO. 

Now that it’s on Netflix, the award-winning, over-the-top pulp hit is going to be your next binge. That is, if you can get past the first three episodes. Even in 2010, they weren’t great, but after that, the series kicks into high gear, and for three seasons, multiple spin-offs, betrayals, murders, and lots of sex, it never lets up.

The Roman Empire Like You’ve Never Seen It Before

Spartacus, like most gladiator stories, starts off with the Romans betraying a man, kidnapping his wife, and forcing him to fight in the Colosseum as a gladiator. The unnamed Thracen (Andy Whitfield) is dubbed Spartacus by his owner Batiatus (The Mummy’s John Hannah), after the legendary Thracen king. With the promise he’ll be reunited with his wife, Spartacus fights in the gladiator pits for Batiatus, entertaining the Roman elite, including Batiatus’ wife, Lucretia (Lucy Lawless). It’s all going great for the Romans until Spartacus’ wife turns up dead, Batiatus is found responsible, and with nothing left to lose, Spartacus decides to “kill them all.” 

It’s a simple story, but it’s effective. The gladiator rebellion leads to some of the most satisfying deaths you’ll ever see on screen, and since it was on Starz, there’s no sugarcoating the bloody violence that hits the streets of ancient Rome. Spartacus: Blood and Sand is only the beginning, but it’s not the beginning, as Starz turned the series into a franchise with a prequel (Spartacus: Gods of the Arena) and more recently, a sequel series exploring an alternate timeline (Spartacus: House of Ashur). 

Behind The Scenes Tragedy Changed Everything

When the star of Spartacus: Blood and Sand, Andy Whitfield, revealed he had lymphoma following the filming of the first season, Starz did what no other studio would do and decided to rework all of their plans to support him. Pivoting to the prequel, Gods of the Arena, featuring Batiatus, Lucretia, and Crixius (Arrow’s Manu Bennett), they wanted to give Whitfield time to beat cancer and come back. Sadly, he passed away 18 months after his diagnosis, leading to Spartacus being recast with Liam McIntyre. 

The show went on for two more seasons, dubbed Vengeance and War of the Damned, both of which include more of what made the first season so great: blood, sex, pulpy action, and ridiculous campy dialogue. This is not a high-brow Shakespearean take on the Roman Empire, which means you’re either going to love it, or hate it. There is no middle ground when it comes to Spartacus. 

There’s Nothing Like Spartacus

Spartacus takes a little bit to get going, and in those initial three episodes, you’ll see some of the worst greenscreen effects imaginable. The initial battle between the Thracians and the Getae looks like it takes place on the set of a community theater. But stick with it; the reward is a series that ends up finding its way, and Rome has never looked better than in War of the Damned.

The entire series is currently streaming on Netflix, and yes, it is uncensored, which means all the nudity (both male and female) is uncut. If you binge Spartacus and still need more, House of Ashur recently wrapped up its first season, and there’s more on the way. 

This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.

We are so back, witches. It’s been a tumultuous three years since Hocus Pocus 3 was first announced to be in development at Disney, with numerous updates from Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and other members of the cast about another return for the Sanderson Sisters. Although things appeared to be trending in the wrong direction for a moment, a new report confirms that the House of Mouse has officially cast a spell and brought the threequel back into early development. All three of Midler, Parker, and Kathy Najimy are also attached to reprise their witchy roles under Disney Live-Action Studios.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Release Date

September 27, 2022

Advertisement

Runtime

107 minutes

Director

Advertisement

Anne Fletcher

Writers

Mick Garris, Blake Harris, David Kirschner, Jen D’Angelo

Advertisement

Producers

Lynn Harris, Aldric La’Auli Porter, Steven Haft

Advertisement

Advertisement

• 
• 

  Sarah Jessica Parker

  Sarah Sanderson

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.

Josh Duggar is lashing out at his parents from behind bars, accusing them of playing roles that led to his conviction for minor abuse.

In a series of heated messages, the former reality star claimed that his mother and father have failed to take responsibility for the impact of their past decisions on his life. 

These explosive allegations surface as Josh continues to maintain his innocence regarding the criminal charges that led to his lengthy prison sentence.

In a collection of intense text messages obtained by People Magazine, Josh expressed deep resentment toward his parents, Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, following his conviction for possessing child sexual abuse materials. 

In texts written a week after receiving a 151-month prison sentence, Josh told his mother that he felt the family’s public relations efforts and attempts to save their television shows were consistently prioritized over actual family bonds.

He criticized his parents for trying to “look good” to the public rather than showing genuine concern for him or the reality of his legal situation. 

“[I] am very disappointed. I feel like you just don’t receive criticism or take admission for your own actions THAT HAVE DIRECTLY AFFECTED (sic) MY LIFE, including in this situation,” Josh wrote.

Josh argued that his parents refuse to accept criticism or admit to actions that he believes directly affected his life, leading to his current troubles.

Throughout the exchange, Josh continued to proclaim his innocence, insisting that another individual at his car dealership was responsible for downloading the illegal content found on his computer. He told his mother that she did not know the “truth” and accused her of blaming him for a crime he claims he did not commit. 

Josh Duggar Faces Third Sentence Extension

The tension between Josh and his parents comes as his time behind bars continues to grow due to repeated disciplinary issues. Although he was originally scheduled for release in August 2032, his stay at FCI Seagoville in Texas has been extended for a third time. 

The Blast previously reported that the Federal Bureau of Prisons added two more months to his sentence, pushing his official release date to February 2, 2033.

This latest setback reportedly follows another “rules violation,” which his cousin, Amy Duggar King, claimed landed the former reality star back in solitary confinement.

Notably, this is not the first time Josh’s conduct has resulted in extra jail time, as he previously received an extension for possessing a contraband cell phone. 

Josh Duggar Defended His Younger Brother Amid New Arrest

As Josh’s prison stay lengthens, the eldest Duggar brother is also speaking out about the new legal crisis hitting his immediate family.

While serving his own sentence in Texas, Josh publicly defended his younger brother, Joseph, who is currently facing child molestation charges in Florida. 

Through his legal team, Josh shared his perspective on the allegations, drawing parallels between Joseph’s situation and his own experiences within the criminal justice system. He made it clear that he does not believe the claims brought against Joseph, dismissing the allegations as “sensationalized fiction,” per The Blast.

Speaking through his attorney, the 38-year-old suggested that the charges are the result of targeting a public figure for publicity rather than reflecting the truth. 

Joseph Duggar Wrote Some Emotional Letters from Jail

While Josh remains focused on his own legal defense and the “stigma” of his conviction, Joseph has reportedly adopted a more apologetic tone through personal correspondence. 

From his jail cell, the younger Duggar brother reportedly reached out to several family members in a series of emotional letters. According to an insider, Joseph’s letters are filled with expressions of shame and regret.

He reportedly admitted to his relatives that he had brought embarrassment upon the entire family and stated clearly that he was “ashamed of himself.” 

The Blast reported that the 31-year-old also acknowledged the growing rift between him and his loved ones, noting that he understands why some family members currently have no desire to speak with him.

Joseph Duggar Demands Evidence In New Court Filing

Joseph’s apparent remorse in his personal letters has not stopped his legal team from aggressively challenging the prosecution’s case.

In a new move to clear his name, the former reality star is now demanding full transparency regarding the evidence and the people who handled the investigation. 

According to The Blast, Joseph’s attorneys filed a formal motion in a Florida court, seeking a subpoena to force the disclosure of all data collected during the early stages of the child abuse inquiry.

Joseph’s defense team is seeking authority to interrogate individuals from multiple agencies, including the Child Protection Team and the Department of Children & Families.

They are also looking to question law enforcement and protective services across state lines in Arkansas to ensure they have access to every detail gathered before Joseph was taken into custody. 

By TeeJay Small
| Published 1 hour ago

If you’re a fan of violent horror films, you’ve probably seen your fair share of simulated blood and gore. From shootouts, to monster flicks, to brutal car crashes with glass streaming across the dashboard, it can be difficult to shock modern audiences.

Even still, 2015’s Bone Tomahawk is one of the most jaw-droppingly violent movies I’ve ever encountered, offering some truly horrific visual effects, gripping performances, and a terrifying ending that will keep you awake for days.

Squirting And Screaming

Bone Tomahawk was written and directed by brutalist filmmaker and certified sicko S. Craig Zahler. Despite being his directorial debut, and working with a shoestring budget, Zahler managed to drum up tremendous support for his script, courting the likes of Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Richard Jenkins, and David Arquette in the leading roles. The film centers on a small-town sheriff and his gang of cowboys as they attempt to rescue a group of civilians from a clan of bloodthirsty cannibals.

As the gunslingers venture forth into no-man’s land, they realize that they’re being hunted by the cannibal tribe, known only as the Troglodytes. Against the advice of everyone, from the local anthropologist to members of other local native tribes, the gang attempts to save the hostages, only to be dismantled in increasingly horrific ways. As the narrative of Bone Tomahawk progresses, the main characters are scalped, tortured, and dragged through the desert squirting blood and screaming. Most of the horror unfolds in broad daylight, too, which gives the film a very unique and visually interesting palette compared to other horror slashers.

So Beyond Violent, We Can’t Even Show It Here

There’s genuinely no way for me to oversell how violent this movie is. It’s more like a snuff film than a traditional western, making it a perfect watch for the horror fan that feels like they’ve seen it all. After Bone Tomahawk released, it quickly gained status as a cult classic, paving the way for S. Craig Zahler to helm additional ultra-violent outings such as Brawl in Cell Block 99 and Dragged Across Concrete.

Personally, I’ve always been a big fan of the Western genre, though many old school Westerns are too corny and straightforward for modern viewing. Bone Tomahawk takes the idea of a Western and turns it on its head, giving you a shocking change of pace that makes the film feel unlike anything else. Today, the film has a near-perfect 91 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, and no official rating from the MPAA. That’s probably for the best, because I don’t even know how you’d begin to rate something like this.

If you’re interested in checking out Bone Tomahawk today, and you don’t have a particularly weak stomach, be sure to give this one a spin on Hulu. Afterwards, be sure to watch something less gruesome to wind down, like Kill Bill, or a World War II documentary.

By Joshua Tyler
| Published 18 seconds ago

Star Trek has never been at a lower point. The franchise’s last batch of shows received almost no ratings, and the brand’s total mismanagement became so bad that it drove away existing Trekkies while failing to attract any new viewers.

With no clear plan to turn it around, Star Trek has been shut down. It’s done. It’s finished. There’s nothing new in production, and there aren’t firm plans to make anything more. Paramount has torn down all its existing sets, and they’re currently auctioning off the Discovery-verse props to the highest bidders, and there aren’t many bidders.

Star Trek has been in a place where there’s nothing new coming before; in fact, it’s happened twice previously in the franchise’s history. But this time it’s different. Those previous Star Trek dark periods happened because of either Hollywood underestimating its potential or a cooling fan interest.

Star Trek enters this new dark age, drowning in hatred and indifference. Trekkies are so burned they’re now happy to see it go, convinced that no Star Trek at all is better than watching their favorite thing ruined over and over and over again. Things got that bad. It means getting out of this mess, if Star Trek ever does, will be harder than ever. 

What happened? What went wrong? More than a year ago, we tried to find the answer, but since then, things have gotten so, so much worse. Our warnings weren’t heeded, and now the end times are here.

To find out how Trek can get out of this darkest of all timelines, we’re going to have to take some risks. Luckily, risk is our business. What follows is the full and complete history of how Star Trek self-destructed.

All Of This Has Happened Before

To find the answers we need, we’ll need to visit the Guardian of Forever and peer deep into Star Trek’s past. The year is 2017. Star Trek had been off television for 12 years. The last Trek release, Star Trek: Beyond, turned out to be a box-office disappointment.

Paramount devised a bold new plan to revitalize Star Trek with a prequel series.

Oh, wait, they’d just done that. The entire 2009 Star Trek movie franchise was a prequel.

But that was on the big screen; this time, it would be different. This time it wasn’t a movie, it was a television series. 

Oh, wait, they already did that, too. It was called Enterprise, and Paramount pulled the plug on that show after four seasons. 

That very recent past somehow totally forgotten, Paramount moved forward with another prequel, their third attempt in a row at making a Star Trek prequel happen. The focus of the plan was that it serve as a flagship show for their new streaming service, CBS All Access.

Oh, wait, they’d already tried that, too. When Paramount launched its own television network in the 1990s, it created Star Trek: Voyager to serve as its flagship program. The UPN network ceased broadcasting in 2005.

Third, and I guess also second, time was not the charm. These obviously stupid decisions began the worst chapter in Star Trek’s history: The Disco era.

Star Trek Enters The Disco Era With Brian Fuller

The Disco era of Star Trek did not actually begin in the era of disco, the ‘70s, no matter what Bones’ outfit from The Motion Picture might have you believe. The Disco era began with the debut of Star Trek: Discovery in 2017. It ended, spiritually at least, with the cancellation of Starfleet Academy in 2026, a television show widely agreed to be one of the worst things ever made.

Discovery was created by a man named Brian Fuller. Fuller was a well-known television writer and producer. He’d written for both Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager in the 90s. Since then, he’d established himself as a much sought-after talent, creating critically acclaimed series like Pushing Daisies and Hannibal.

Fuller had the right resume, and so, Paramount hired him to create a new Star Trek series. His initial pitch was for an anthology series, with “diversity” as a focus, and a dark, gritty tone inspired by Game of Thrones.

That’s right, Brian Fuller wanted to turn Gene Roddenberry’s bright and hopeful view of the future into dark, gritty, and violent Game of Thrones. 

Fuller worked on the show for 9 months. His tenure was marked by missed deadlines and ever-expanding budgets. Paramount clashed with him over his desire to reboot Star Trek into a gritty Game of Thrones knockoff. The company wanted its brand to stick with the traditions that made Star Trek work, and Fuller wanted to warp it into something entirely different.

Eventually, Paramount grew fed up with Fuller and fired him.

Fuller’s Ghost Pushes Star Trek: Discovery Forward

Aside from the fact that no lessons were learned from their previous failures, Paramount had up til this point made at least some reasonable decisions on this project that, probably never should have happened in the first place. Hiring Fuller didn’t work out, but on paper, it should have. And when Fuller failed, Paramount made another good decision by firing him. Paramount’s good decisions stop here.

They replaced Fuller with Gretchen J. Berg & Aaron Harberts. Berg & Harberts were Fuller’s people. They’d worked with him on past projects and were already helping him make Discovery. The ideas Fuller was implementing, the terrible ideas that got him fired, were also their ideas. So they stayed the course and kept working on their Game of Thrones-ification of Star Trek.

Eventually, Berg & Harberts were also fired, amidst accusations of abuse towards the show’s writers.

Alex Kurtzman Seizes Control Of Star Trek

Alex Kurtzman was put in Berg & Harbert’s place. Kurtzman was the man most responsible for the worst of the recent Star Trek movies, Star Trek: Into Darkness. He now held the future of the entire franchise in his hands. He would remain in charge not just of Discovery, but of the entire Star Trek franchise, throughout the Disco era.

By then, production on Star Trek: Discovery was pretty far along. Kurtzman made tweaks to satisfy some of Paramount’s concerns, but much of what the show would be was already written in stone. 

Discovery was the most expensive series Star Trek ever produced. Paramount could have trashed it and taken a tax write-off, but that’s tough to do with so much money on the line. So they released it.

Star Trek: Discovery Arrives On Streaming And Gets Quarantined

Star Trek: Discovery was poorly received by fans from the beginning. Critics initially praised it, but critics rarely watch shows beyond the first one or two episodes. They ignore it after that, which makes their reviews meaningless. 

Reports of Discovery’s ratings were vague and unreliable. Most indications were that after an initially strong showing, people began abandoning the show.

Paramount took note and tried making big changes for season 2. They brought in Anson Mount to play Christopher Pike, and Mount was fantastic. 

Unfortunately, the rest of the show was still the show it was always designed to be. Adding one good character to a terrible show cannot save it. 

Stuck with a show no one liked, Paramount did the only thing they could do besides cancel it: They quarantined the entire series, separating it from the rest of Star Trek. They did that by time-jumping Star Trek: Discovery so far into the future that nothing it did could have any further impact on the franchise.

Strange New Worlds Rights Discovery’s Wrongs

Then, they created a spinoff called Star Trek: Strange New Worlds for Pike to rescue him from Discovery’s sinking ship. Though his new series was technically an extension of the Disco-verse, it quickly went to work differentiating itself from Discovery and the mistakes it had made. Strange New Worlds even fixed the Klingons.

That new direction should have been it for the Disco era. The franchise forked away from it; Paramount was working on other Star Trek shows. Discovery limped onward but was soon canceled after five seasons of disinterest

But as Discovery was canceled, Strange New Worlds soon morphed into something different. 

Strange New Worlds Becomes A Vaudeville Act For Theater Kids

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 was a distinct decline in quality from season one. By season three, the show had become a vaudeville act for theater kids, filled with musical episodes, puppet episodes, and endless silliness, which had nothing to do with Star Trek. 

Paramount finally had enough. With season 3 still airing and two more seasons completed and awaiting airtime, Paramount pulled the plug. The remaining two seasons would eventually be allowed to stream because they’d already been completed, but the sets were torn down and thrown in the trash. 

Michelle Yeoh Wins An Oscar And Changes Everything

Amidst all of this, Alex Kurtzman had been trying to make a Star Trek: Section 31 spinoff since the first season of Discovery. His plan centered on a widely disliked Star Trek: Discovery character, played by actress Michelle Yeoh. 

Fans hated the idea, and no one at Paramount seemed particularly excited about it. They prioritized Strange New Worlds over it, and while a Section 31 series was announced, it never went into full production. Kurtzman’s last update stated clearly that Section 31 was now a very low priority.

And then, in March of 2023, Michelle Yeoh won an Oscar. 

In April of 2023, Star Trek: Section 31 went into full production as a full-length feature film. Oscar-winning tends to have that effect.

The Worst Star Trek Movie

In January of 2025, Star Trek: Section 31 arrived as a direct-to-streaming movie on Paramount+. It was the first Star Trek movie released in nearly a decade. It’s now the worst-reviewed movie in the entire Star Trek canon, and audiences have given it an appalling 15% fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Star Trek: Section 31 begins when a spitwad flies across the screen, tracing the shape of the Starfleet logo. Viewers would later learn that Spitwad is actually the movie’s hero ship, but that knowledge doesn’t make it any better. 

The movie revolves around Michelle Yeoh’s Philippa character, a woman responsible for numerous acts of genocide, and she’s not sorry about any of it. The movie quickly confirms her status as a monster with a flashback, in which she exterminates her entire family for a job promotion, where she’ll get to spend decades committing galactic massacres and torturing the man she loves for fun. This murderous abomination is Philippa Georgiou, played by Michelle Yeoh on Star Trek: Discovery.

Star Trek Endorses Genocide And Cannibalism

The movie flashes forward to a present where she runs a floating space bar. We’re reintroduced to her while the soundtrack blasts badass chick rock music to clue the audience in on the notion that we’re supposed to think she’s really, really awesome, despite being an unapologetic slaughterer of innocents. 

Then Georgiou pops a human eyeball into her mouth and savors its taste as the music swells and the camera swirls around her in adoration. Yes, Star Trek: Section 31 is selling the idea of cannibalistic mass murder being super cool, as long as it’s done in high heels. It’s the entire premise of this film. 

Hooray for space Hitler?

There are other characters in Section 31, but they’re no better. The super cool Section 31 spy team engages in introductions by shouting at each other, making threats, and posing for the camera. Like Georgiou, they’re also mostly serial killers, and they’re all pretty upset they aren’t able to do more killing.

Luckily, this mission to do a thing takes place in the exact same space bar they’re already standing in. Paramount didn’t need to build any other sets for their heist. What a financially fortuitous coincidence. 

There’s a confusing fistfight in front of a bad green screen rendering of a blurry tunnel. A murder mystery that no one cares about. A robot gets incapacitated by being kneed in the crotch. Star Trek: Section 31 ends when Phillipa Georgiou genocides an entire universe on suspicion of possible mischief and then tells her team she’s going to kill them.

If you still have doubts about the quality of Star Trek: Section 31’s writing, please enjoy this actual line of dialogue from the movie: “She died like she lived. By that you know what I mean.” 

Alex Kurtzman Solidifies Star Trek As A Franchise For Criminals With Starfleet Academy

Using Star Trek to glorify atrocities while offering up a light endorsement of cannibalism in a movie everyone hated and no one watched should have ended the career of Alex Kurtzman and prompted a pause for self-reflection. That didn’t happen.

At the same time, he’d been pushing for this terrible Section 31 movie, Alex Kurtzman’s other pet project was a show set at Starfleet Academy. This idea had been kicking around for a long time as a way to get hot, young people on screen posing for the camera. Obviously, it’s a terrible idea; fans never liked it or wanted it. Which is why it never happened. With the failures stacking up, some coke fiend at Paramount said, ‘Why not?’ and Kurtzman made it.

Starfleet Academy begins with a hero character who is a criminal. It’s the second NuTrek series to be led by a criminal, and the third time a Star Trek project has been centered around a lawbreaker.

A criminal past was Michael Burnham’s introduction, too, on Star Trek: Discovery. 

The 2009 Star Trek movie begins with a young James T. Kirk being arrested for stealing a car.

In the future, all the best people will be criminals, I guess? No more high-achieving, hardworking professionals. Something to aspire to, kids.

40,000 Viewers Per Episode Ends Star Trek

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy would go on to be the most hated thing in the history of the franchise. You might think otherwise, since Kurtzman did manage to convince critics to give it good reviews by stuffing every episode with woke political propaganda. Critics love that stuff and will praise it any time they see it.

Objective viewers and anyone who likes good writing hated it. The show has some of the lowest audience scores of any series in history.  Some reports have Starfleet Academy’s viewership as low as 40,000 tune-ins per episode. For a Star Trek show. Paramount’s flagship Star Trek show. 

Starfleet Academy was humiliation on an epic scale. Despite the fact that a second season had already been filmed, Paramount quickly waved the white flag and canceled Starfleet Academy, too.

No Lessons Were Learned

As of this moment, that’s the end. The end of Star Trek. There’s been some vague talk from Paramount that they’re exploring ideas, but for now, they aren’t making it anymore.  It’s also the final legacy of Star Trek’s Disco era. The destruction of everything Star Trek fans loved. The destruction of a franchise 50 years in the making.

Along the way, no lessons were ever learned. Instead, mistakes were repeated over and over and over again.

Did your show about a criminal fail? Make another one. 

Did your prequel fail? Make another one. 

Did your network fail? Make another one.

Rejecting Good Ideas Along The Way

It didn’t have to be this way. Even after Fuller’s initial Discovery plans failed, Paramount had ways to correct course.

Developing in parallel with the Disco-verse was a Star Trek animated series called Lower Decks, helmed by Rick & Morty alum Mike McMahan. The show he created was a huge success, and it had nothing at all to do with the Disco-verse. Paramount rewarded McMahan’s success by canceling the show after five seasons and firing him. 

There was also Star Trek: Prodigy, an animated series for kids, which was so beloved that fans basically forced Paramount to give it another season with a letter-writing campaign. Paramount gave in and allowed more of the show, but only begrudgingly. They didn’t put it on their streaming app, opting instead to let Netflix have it to defer costs.

Tangential to the Disco-verse was the Picard-verse, a series vanity project developed around Patrick Stewart’s Captain Picard character. The show was a standard Alex Kurtzman disaster for two seasons until the third, when Paramount turned the whole thing over to veteran TV showrunner and legit Star Trek fan, Terry Matalas.

Indications are that Kurtzman wasn’t involved in making the third season, occupied with filming his pet projects, instead. That allowed Matalas to run with it and make Picard season 3 a tribute to the thing he loved most: Actual Star Trek.

Terry jettisoned everything the series had done previously, started over, and, in the process, delivered the best Star Trek season of the modern Trek era. Fans loved it. Audience scores were through the roof.

Matalas lobbied to be given more work, pitching a spinoff series called Star Trek: Legacy. Fans launched petitions to support him, trying to convince Paramount to hand the entire franchise over.

But Kurtzman was still firmly in charge, and if I had to guess, probably jealous over the response Matalas was getting, in comparison to the way people were deservedly shitting on him. So, he responded to that outpouring of support by firing Matalas. 

Why Star Trek Failed

That’s the current state of Star Trek. It’s dead. There are two more seasons of Strange New Worlds in the can to release, and maybe Paramount will also still release that completed second season of Starfleet Academy, but that’s it, and those last few dribbles are likely to do more harm than good since basically everyone hates all of it.

Ok, sure, the .001% of humans who spent their formative years as theater kids may like it. But is that really a demographic worth pursuing? It’s like five people, and four of them are named Skylar.

I get the impulse. The entertainment industry actually is run by theater types. By actors and drama dorks who actually really were theater kids. But that’s not who their audience is. That’s not who they’re making shows for. 

Star Trek is supposed to be for people who like Star Trek, and instead of making that, Paramount got a bunch of theater kids together and let them turn Star Trek into something for themselves. It’s next-level narcissism. Rot from the inside. The antithesis of everything that the entertainment industry is supposed to be about.

Your job as a creative is to think outside yourself, to think beyond you to something bigger, greater, and more noble. What you create should be informed by your experiences, not imprisoned by them.

That’s what Star Trek is now: A prison. Let me out!

Joe McCann, the fiancé of Ashlee Jenae, also known as Ashly Robinson, has broken his silence and released a statement as she is laid to rest.

RELATED: UPDATE: Tanzanian Officials Are Reportedly Questioning Ashlee Jenae’s Fiancé Following Her Death In Zanzibar Hotel

Ashlee Jenae’s Fiancé Joe McCann Breaks His Silence & Releases Statement As She Is Laid To Rest

On Tuesday, May 5, Joe McCann took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share a lengthy statement, breaking his silence on the death of Ashlee Jenae, also known as Ashly Robinson. Furthermore, McCann explained that “there are no adequate words to describe the total devastation, emptiness, and shock” he feels losing his “best friend, confidante, and fiancé.”

“As a father myself, I am also heartbroken for Ashly’s parents, Yolanda Endres and Harry Robinson. Ashly’s death is an incomprehensible tragedy,” he continued. “…Ashly cared deeply for the people closest to her, which to my eternal gratitude included me. She fattened me up with her amazing cooking and had a great relationship with my kids. Each day, we shared both quiet moments of reflection and the many joys of being in love with each other… What Ashly desired most was to become a mother and to raise a family together. There is no question that she would have been an amazing mom.”

Before concluding his lengthy statement, he referred to Jenae as an “angel who shined her light on everyone fortunate enough to be in her presence.”

“There is no way to fill the unfillable void left by Ashly’s passing and no way to make sense of this unfathomable loss. All we can do is carry on Ashly’s legacy of helping other people and strive to live up to her virtues every single day. Ashly, I love you forever,” he concluded.

To note, McCann reportedly shared his statement amid Ashlee Jenae’s being laid to rest at her funeral without his attendance on Tuesday, May 5. Per TMZ, her family did not invite him to the service.

Social Media Reacts To Joe McCann’s Statement

Social media users entered TSR’s comment section with strong reactions to Joe McCann’s statement about Ashlee Jenae’s death.

More On Ashlee Jenae Being Laid To Rest

As The Shade Room previously reported, Ashlee Jenae, also known as Ashly Robinson, passed away on April 9 after being found unconscious in her hotel room in Zanzibar. Jenae had traveled there with McCann for her 31st birthday, and they had become engaged during the trip. Ultimately, it was reported that the discovery of her body was made after the hotel received reports about her and McCann having strong disputes, which sparked them being moved into separate rooms. To the public’s skepticism, it was reported that Jenae died by suicide.

In the weeks that followed, it was reported that Tanzanian officials were questioning Joe McCann as a “witness.”

Most recently, it was reported that Ashlee Jenae’s body was returned to her family without her belongings or engagement ring. KGW reports that Jenae’s “immediate cause of death” has been listed as “cerebral hypoxia due to strangulation and suffocation.” This, as her family awaits the results of their own independent autopsy.

Those interested in donating to the GoFundMe created in remembrance of Ashlee Jenae can do so by clicking here.

RELATED: Ashlee Jenae’s Father Says Family Is Planning A Funeral After Her Body Was Returned From Tanzania Without Her Belongings (UPDATE)