While there have been some divisive casting decisions (and the specter of creator J.K. Rowling‘s controversial views) hanging over it, HBO’s Harry Potter reboot has generated a lot of interest, to the tune of 277 million views of the trailer over the first 48 hours of release. The behind-the-scenes special Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic revealed the series‘ grand sets, previously unseen creatures, and a wealth of props, proving that they’re intent on building something special that hews closer to the books.

But the series faces a big problem: the young characters that are pivotal to the story. You can build all the fantastic sets you want, bring in Flubberworms, and even ensure that the pronunciation of “Leviosa” is correct (lev-i-O-sa, for the record), but you can’t stop kids from aging. Correction — the production faced a big problem, and they solved it by renewing the series for a second season early.

An Early Season 2 Renewal for ‘Harry Potter’ Avoids the Cast Aging Problem

Adults playing teenagers has long been a thing in Hollywood, and that includes the Harry Potter franchise on film as well, with 21-year-old Daniel Radcliffe playing a 17-year-old Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. That gap can be significantly larger on television, where large gaps between filming seasons can result in an actor playing a character well below their own age (Stranger Things‘ Caleb McLaughlin was 24, playing 17-year-old Lucas Sinclair in Season 5).

By closing that gap, with production beginning this fall ahead of Season 1’s Christmas premiere, HBO assuages the fears of Potterheads who dreaded the thought of years-long production gaps. HBO CEO Casey Bloys confirmed the rationale behind such a move even before the official renewal came out, saying, “There’ll be a break in there, but we’re going to do whatever we can to not have a huge gap. For the kids, obviously, but also for viewers.” The early renewal, then, effectively allows the characters to age at the same pace as the actors.

The early renewal has other benefits as well. For the older cast, like Nick Frost and John Lithgow, the move creates a classic “short-term pain for long-term gain” situation. They may have a shorter window in which to do other projects, but by squeezing the Harry Potter production into a shorter time frame, their commitment to the series is, in turn, condensed, leaving them free to find other roles earlier than anticipated. From a marketing perspective, shortening the gap allows the second season to benefit from the momentum of the first, eliminating the need to kick up a fresh promotional campaign to re-engage viewers after an extended absence, as befell the aforementioned Stranger Things thanks to the 3.5-year gap between Seasons 4 and 5.

An Early Season 2 Renewal for ‘Harry Potter’ Also Proves HBO’s Commitment to the Series

As far as the series itself is concerned, the early renewal speaks volumes about HBO’s confidence in Harry Potter. Granted, 277 million views of the teaser trailer make it a relatively safe bet. But considering there are still months to go before the first season even premieres, let alone how it will be received by fans and critics alike, it’s a bold statement. It means that Warner Bros. Discovery sees Harry Potter as bulletproof, an entity bigger than its own creator and one that could be a flagship franchise for years to come. It means that once the books that make up the Harry Potter tale as we know it have been adapted, there are few limitations on the direction it can then potentially take: a prequel (that isn’t Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them); the period following the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows; or even an adaptation of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Interestingly, the official announcement of a second season came with a major update to the creative team, one that reinforces the commitment made to the series by Warner Bros. Discovery. Jon Brown, a writer on Season 1, was named as a co-showrunner for Season 2 alongside current showrunner Francesca Gardiner. In doing so, it proves that the commitment to Harry Potter is more than a cash grab (and let’s be honest, there is a degree of it) but includes artistic merit, with the idea that sharing the load ensures an authenticity to the world they’re creating. And that dedication to authenticity comes full circle back to the decision to initiate work on Harry Potter‘s second season earlier.

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2026 – 2026

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Beau Maxwell might only be a side character in Off Campus season 1, but he already has the fans in tears.

“Saw him and started crying. Oh, Beau Maxwell,” one fan wrote via TikTok in May 2026 after season 1 was released, editing clips of Khobe Clarke’s character to Taylor Swift’s emotionally charged ballad “loml.”

Another viewer tweeted, “I actually think they want to emotionally wreck us by giving us so many Beau scenes.”

A third social media user wrote via X, “They made me fall for Beau Maxwell bad in the show just for them to kill him like this can’t be happening. I KNEW I couldn’t pay attention him but they were dangling him.”

So, why are Off Campus fans sobbing over Beau? Allow Us to break down their heartbreak below:

Warning: Spoilers below for Off Campus. 

What Is ‘Off Campus’ About?

Off Campus was initially a four-book hockey romance series written by Elle Kennedy, in which four Briar University athletes found love in their own book. Season 1 of the Prime Video series, released in May 2026, chronicled the first novel, The Deal, about captain Garrett Graham and Hannah Wells’ love story.

Other books in the series include The Mistake (John Logan and Grace Ivers), The Score (Dean Heyward-Di Laurentis and Allie Hayes) and The Goal (John Tucker and Sabrina James).

Kennedy has also written two follow-up series, Briar U and Campus Diaries, about the next generation of collegiate love stories.

What Is Beau Maxwell’s Role in ‘Off Campus’?

Beau (played by Clarke) was introduced in season 1 as a friend of Garrett (Belmont Cameli) and Dean’s (Stephen Kalyn), a football player who is often involved in the friend group’s activities.

Just like Clarke’s portrayal, book Beau was also a Briar football star and a close friend to the hockey team. He was also pals with Sabrina (Tucker’s eventual love interest, who has yet to be cast) throughout the series. In the book, Beau dies in Sabrina and Tucker’s story after a car crash.

Fans React to Beau Maxwell on ‘Off Campus’

As soon as the Prime Video series premiered, viewers were gaga over Clarke’s character.

“Just started the off campus show and yes I did make a sound resembling that of a sad puppy when I realized that Beau Maxwell is the one sitting next to Garrett in class,” one fan wrote via X, with another adding, “He isn’t even dead in the series [in the first season] and I’m already mourning.”

“I’m so serious when I say Beau’s death in the show is going to impact me a lot more than it did in the books,” another fan tweeted. “Please Beau Maxwell, don’t get in that f***ng car and keep your neck safe.”

What Elle Kennedy Has Said About Beau’s Expanded Role Onscreen

Off Campus featured many changes from the book, including more glimpses of Beau.

“I mean, in season 1, we only get, I think, a little taste of Beau, but he does [fill] the screen a little,” Kennedy exclusively told Us Weekly before the show’s May 2026 premiere. “I think that Khobe, he’s such a great actor and he’s the sweetest guy. He had a lot of the little comedic bits in the season.”

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According to Kennedy, fans would “fall in love” with Clarke’s Beau before they are “eventually devastated” by his death.

Will Beau Maxwell Return for Season 2?

Prime Video renewed Off Campus for a second season months before the premiere. It’s not known which couple will take the lead, or if Beau will return.

Off Campus season 1 is streaming now on Prime Video. Season 2’s production begins in June 2026.

By Brian Myers
| Updated 1 hour ago

Some fans of the 2026 Lord of the Flies Netflix series have begun exploring older incarnations of the 1954 William Golding novel. Transitioning the late novelist’s words onto the screen has been met with mixed success over the last three-quarters of a century, with a British film adaptation from 1963 being critically lauded and a 1990 American version resulting in mediocre reviews and box office receipts. But between the big and small screen versions of Golding’s work, one adaptation reigns supreme: a 22-minute episode from Season 9 of The Simpsons, entitled “Das Bus.”

The 1998 installment follows a main storyline where students from Springfield Elementary are headed on a field trip to New York City, where the Model U.N. Club will get to visit the actual U.N. Building in Manhattan. When Bart, Nelson, Milhouse, and Ralph “It Tastes Like Burning” Wiggum compete to see which of their fruit will roll to the front of the bus the fastest, a grapefruit gets stuck under the brake pedal. When bus driver Otto presses on it, the juice squirts into his eyes and temporarily blinds him. This causes the bus to careen off a bridge and into a river where he and the students are carried away by the current. While Otto is swept one direction (ultimately getting brought aboard a Chinese fishing vessel and forced into hard labor), Bart and the gang drift out to sea and wind up stranded on a deserted island.

Brief, But Thorough (Zeppelin Rules!!!)

Though a brief but thorough parody of the novel, “Das Bus” manages to pack in plenty of sight gags, well-timed humor, and memorable one-liners. Amazingly enough, the sequence of events also follows a good amount of the novel’s story arc. The bespectacled Milhouse stands in for the book’s Piggy, while Bart and Nelson are almost immediately at odds with one another in the style of Ralph and Jack. “Das Bus” also utilizes the book’s conch shell and “beast.” Like the source material, the students of Springfield Elementary are split into two camps. One (Bart, Lisa, and Milhouse) represents logic and order, while the remainder (led by Nelson) are animated embodiments of social devolution, and the chaos that erupts when the social contract is removed from the equation.

For anyone who has read the novel, you’ll recall how the boys on the island are eventually and unexpectedly rescued by a British naval officer, who had seen the flames from the forest fires that were set by Jack. This story resolution by an unexpected character is a literary device known as deus ex machina, from the Latin phrase “God from the machine.” Though originally associated with ancient Greek tragedies, it has found a use in countless works of literature and film in the centuries since it was first introduced by Aeschylus nearly 3,000 years ago.

Consider The Source, Respect The Absurdity

The writers at the helm of this episode of The Simpsons made use of deus ex machina, albeit in their own hilarious way. After the kids seem to resolve their conflict, a narrator (voiced by special guest star James Earl Jones) leaves viewers with the following words: “So the children learned how to function as a society, and eventually they were rescued by, oh, let’s say … Moe.” There are no attributing actions to that effect, no dialogue leading to that direction prior to, just the episode fading out with a hilarious angle.

“Das Bus” gave fans more than just a parody of Lord of the Flies. Animated reimaginings of both Raiders of the Lost Ark and Swiss Family Robinson are easy to catch, while an action sequence on the bus that mirrors the 1994 action-comedy True Lies might take a sharper eye. The title of the episode is an homage to the 1981 West German war film Das Boot, and the coconut-shaped radio and Teri/Sherry’s pony tails are visual nods to Rescue From Gilligan’s Island and The Flintstones, respectively. 

A Common Simpsons Practice

The Simpsons using film and television favorites as a source for parody was already a go-to move in the show’s playbook well before the record-breaking show’s ninth season. The animated series had already spoofed everything from A Clockwork Orange to The Twilight Zone to Citizen Kane before taking on Golding’s classic novel. Now in its 37th season, the show has stacked up more references and parodies than you might imagine. As of April 2026, Bart, Homer, and the gang have used this sort of plot device more than 2,700 times for just film alone. That’s an average of 6.1 times per episode (per SpringfieldGoogleplex).

“Das Bus” remains not only the greatest take on Golding’s novel but also has etched itself deep into the fandom of a favorite animated series. The parodies from its writers keep them coming episode after episode, but this 9th-season installment sure is a hard one to top.

The Simpsons can be streamed on Disney+.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 26 seconds ago

Brad Pitt is, without a doubt, one of the biggest movie stars in the world. One of the reasons he grew so popular is that he (a character actor stuck in a leading man’s body) took on so many different types of movies. He had already dominated the ‘90s with very different roles in breakout films like Seven, 12 Monkeys, and Fight Club. Heading into the early aughts, he kept the momentum going with movies like Ocean’s Eleven and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Between those last two films, though, he headlined a largely forgotten blockbuster: Troy. 

This 2004 film was a huge deal at the time. Not only did it star big names like Pitt, Sean Bean, Eric Bana, and Orlando Bloom, but it was directed by Wolfgang Petersen, the mastermind behind hits such as The NeverEnding Story and Air Force One. However, this huge production ground to a halt for six weeks due to the most ironic injury in film history. You see, he managed to get injured in literally the only place that his onscreen character was vulnerable: his Achilles’ heel

Blessed By The Gods

If you slept your way through English back in high school, you may need a little context for this mythic movie tale. In Greek mythology, Achilles was an accomplished warrior born to a goddess, Thetis. There are multiple myths about Thetis attempting to make her son immortal. The most popular is that she held him in the river Styx, and everything the water touched became immortal. But she held him by the ankle, which was still mortal and, therefore, left his heel vulnerable. Eventually, he is shot in the heel and ultimately killed by Paris, the man who started the Trojan War by stealing Helen. 

In case you never knew, that’s where the expression “Achilles’ heel” comes from. Colloquially, this term is typically used to describe a single vulnerability (often a hidden or surprising one) on someone who otherwise seems impossible to defeat. The film Troy takes great liberties with many aspects of Greek mythology, but it keeps most of the biggest ones in place. For example, Brad Pitt’s Achilles is presented as a warrior who seemingly cannot be beaten on the battlefield. However, he is ultimately defeated after Paris fires a skillful arrow shot directly into this demigod’s heel. Long before they filmed that scene, however, Brad Pitt ground production to a halt due to his own unexpected weakness.

Life Imitates Art

After training for six months to get into demigod shape for Troy, Brad Pitt was happy to do many of his own stunts. In fact, his epic onscreen duel with Eric Bana was filmed without the use of any stunt doubles. Normally, this is a good thing; a sign that the actor is taking a role very seriously and wants to give every scene a personal touch. Unfortunately, during one of his stunts, Pitt actually injured his own Achilles tendon. It took him time to heal, and production of this $175 million movie stopped entirely while he recovered.

Looking back on the incident, Pitt had a sense of humor, saying that he injured his Achilles heel “in a bout of stupid irony.” Director Wolfgang Petersen was reportedly far less happy. Any delay of a blockbuster production schedule is bad, and production had previously been delayed when a hurricane destroyed many of the film’s props. It’s easy to sympathize with an acclaimed filmmaker having to deal with these delays, but he really should have seen it coming. After all, who would know better than the director of Troy how casually cruel the gods can be?

By Robert Scucci
| Published 1 hour ago

If you lived in rural California and suspected alien activity near your farm, what would you do about it? Would you contact the authorities or set up trail cams for your personal safety? Or would you go into hiding so you don’t have to deal with getting abducted, probed, and all of the other horrible things that allegedly happen after getting sucked up by a UFO’s weird laser beam thing? If you’re like the characters in 2022’s Nope, you might have the wise idea to try getting the perfect shot of the spacecraft so you could sell it to the highest bidder, sell the ranch, and become filthy rich off that sweet, sweet alien money.

At its core, Nope is a film about exploitation, and the lengths people go to make something out of themselves, consequences be damned. Looming just beneath the surface, though, is another story about resilience, ingenuity, and adapting to an increasingly bizarre situation, not just for clout, but for survival and saving face.

I’ve Been Through The Desert On A Horse And Got Maimed

When we’re first introduced to OJ (Daniel Kaluuya) in Nope, it’s under tragic circumstances. During a freak accident in which metal objects fall from the sky, OJ’s father (Keith David) is struck dead when a nickel goes through his eye and into his brain. Suddenly stuck managing the family farm, OJ finds himself in a tough spot. The family business involves training horses that can be used in Hollywood productions, but after a grisly on-set incident, OJ and his younger sister Em (Keke Palmer) are kicked off the movie lot.

To close the financial gap, OJ starts selling horses to Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun), a former child star who now owns the theme park Jupiter’s Claim. Ricky does well for himself despite his traumatic past. As a child, Jupe starred in Gordy’s Home, a sitcom about a family with a pet chimp. The show was suddenly canceled after the chimp on set was pushed to its limit, resulting in the cast and crew getting mauled. In addition to running the theme park, a grown-up Jupe allows fans of the sitcom to spend the night in a room full of memorabilia from the show, for a nominal fee, of course.

While OJ struggles to get through each day running his late father’s farm, he starts noticing electrical disturbances, and his prized horse, Lucky, begins behaving strangely. OJ swears he sees some sort of unidentified object hiding behind the clouds, so he and Em purchase trail cameras and all the equipment they can get their hands on, inadvertently recruiting a tech salesman named Angel (Brandon Perea) to help them out with their project. The goal is simple: capture solid footage of the UFO, then reap the benefits.

What OJ doesn’t know, however, is that Jupe is also aware of the alien presence and has been using the horses he bought from him as bait. He’s already making a living exploiting his horrific past, and it seems to be a solid business model for him, so why not exploit what he can in the present as well? Luckily, OJ and Em have something Jupe doesn’t: the help of renowned cinematographer Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott). As the UFO slowly descends on the community of Agua Dulce, California, there’s no telling what its motivations are, but it’s reasonable to assume it has been watching everybody for a very long time and has some serious apprehensions about being discovered and documented.

Believable Characters In A Preposterous Situation

While the scenery, cinematography, and action sequences are top notch in Nope, what really kept me enthralled was the relationship between OJ and Em. Their interactions as brother and sister feel completely authentic, and if you didn’t know they were actors in a movie, you’d think they were actually related. I haven’t seen sibling chemistry this good since Donnie Darko, where Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal used the fact that they’re siblings in real life to effortlessly portray a believable brother and sister dynamic on-screen.

OJ is clearly the more responsible sibling, feeling the weight of obligation to do right by his father’s business. He has a legacy to think about, but you can tell he’s tired. So tired, in fact, that he has almost zero patience for Em’s more fast-and-loose approach to life. In her mind, she and her brother will one day sell the farm, collect a nice payday, and move on with their lives. OJ is tempted, but you can tell he isn’t quite ready to do that.

However, both come to the same conclusion that while they still own the farm that just so happens to have an alien presence, they should take a page from Jupe’s playbook and exploit the opportunity to get a perfect shot they can sell to the tabloids for an epic payday. The parts that made me laugh the most, even though they’re not overtly hilarious, involve Em getting ready to settle down for the day while OJ flatly announces that after all of the extracurriculars they just did, he still has to get back to work because he has mouths to feed. It’s total big brother energy.

Add in the ingenious absurdity of using a bunch of Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Men as bait to lure the entity out of the sky, and you have a movie that really looks like nothing else.

Nope is sincere, exploitative, gorgeously shot, and packed with vibes thanks to its setting alone. It will also make you want to drive out into the middle of an empty field with a good camera in hope of finding alien life, because we all know they’re out there somewhere, but every single picture we’ve seen so far has been blurry and inconclusive.

Nope is coming to Netflix on May 18, 2026, so be sure to set a reminder if you’re ready to sit down with what may very well be Jordan Peele’s best film.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 13 seconds ago

In the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, nobody was done dirtier than John Boyega. Ahead of The Force Awakens, he was teased as the franchise’s newest Jedi, but this was a bait-and-switch: Rey became a Jedi, and Finn became nothing more than comic relief. He was later given the absolutely stupidest plot from The Last Jedi, complete with a new love interest who disappears after this film. In The Rise of Skywalker, Finn has become so unimportant that his plot is left incomplete, and we never learn what deep secret he was about to confess to Rey. 

For these reasons and more, I was excited to learn that John Boyega is likely to return to the Star Wars universe. Previously, the actor had boldly claimed he had no intention of returning to the franchise, which is understandable. Why give Disney a third chance to waste his talents? Now that he seems likely to return to the fold, though, Finn may be able to finally finish his arc. You see, the secret he was going to confess to Rey was that he was actually a Jedi!

Somehow, Finn Returned?

There have been rumors about John Boyega returning to Star Wars ever since the end of The Rise of Skywalker. Early on, he did his best to get ahead of those rumors with a pre-emptive answer. When Variety asked in 2019 whether he would be returning to this famous galaxy far, far away, the actor bluntly (and hilariously) replied, “You ain’t gonna Disney+ me!” After watching Disney mishandle his character for three consecutive movies, Boyega seemed understandably checked out of the franchise that made him a household name and never wanted to return.

However, as the late Sean Connery might have reminded the younger man, “never say never again.” Rumors have been intensifying that Boyega would be returning to Star Wars, and these rumors reached a fever pitch when the actor confirmed he had run into Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni. Now, reliable scooper Daniel Richtman is reporting that Boyega has begun official discussions to return to the franchise, though it’s not clear whether this would be in the form of movies, TV shows, or both. They might Disney+ him and give Boyega his own series, or (with his luck) he might end up a sidekick in the long-rumored Rey movie.

There Is Another

However Finn pops back up in Star Wars, I just want to see his intended story play out. In The Rise of Skywalker, when his character is getting sucked into some sand (it gets everywhere, you know), Boyega says “Rey, I never told you…” before getting cut off. At the time, many fans thought he was going to confess his love to the Jedi warrior he had crushed so hard on in The Force Awakens. But Boyega later confirmed something much wilder: the rest of the line was “I’m a Jedi,” confirming he can use the Force. Despite saying the line during filming, it was ultimately cut. 

Cutting the line was arguably for the best. The Rise of Skywalker was such a cluttered mess of a movie that there wouldn’t have been time to properly develop this exciting new story for Finn. Still, it’s hard not to feel like Star Wars did John Boyega dirty yet again. Actually making his character into a Jedi would have partially made up for only teasing his Force-sensitive nature back in The Force Awakens. But by cutting the line entirely, JJ Abrams buried the only really cool thing to happen to Finn in the entire trilogy. 

Head Towards The Light (Saber)

Now, a new Star Wars movie or show featuring John Boyega can finally rectify that mistake by showing Finn as a Jedi. If he pops up in a movie with Rey, she could help him learn the ways of the Force as they fight the last of the First Order. If it’s a show, maybe Finn could use the Force to help other former Stormtroopers see the light. No matter how it’s handled, a Jedi storyline could finally give John Boyega’s character a proper arc and fix the stupidest thing about The Rise of Skywalker by following up on that cut line. 

Now, will the return of Finn magically make the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy any better? Let’s be honest, y’all: not even the Force could do that!

The clock is ticking, and the internet is already in detective mode. While fans count down the hours until Drake officially drops ‘ICEMAN,’ social media is doing what it does best. Digging for clues, dissecting every rumor, and now apparently leaking music before the rollout is complete. Now, fans are debating whether Drake used his album to take shots at Kendrick Lamar, LeBron James, J. Cole and others!

RELATED: Latto, Drake & Soulja Boy Catch Strays As Victoria Woods Claps Back At Sister GloRilla Over ‘GOMF’ Diss (VIDEO)

Everybody Seems To Be Catching Strays On Drake’s New Leak

Drake is officially set to drop ‘ICEMAN’ on May 15, marking his first solo release since his explosive back-and-forth with Kendrick Lamar. Despite the massive hype surrounding the album, Drake has remained relatively quiet leading up to the release, choosing not to push a formal lead single. But now, leaks are beginning to force the conversation early. A track reportedly titled ‘1 AM In Albany’ surfaced online Thursday, and listeners immediately began connecting the dots. The nearly five-minute record appears to feature Drake addressing multiple familiar names tied to the past year’s rap drama.

At one point, he seemingly throws shots at Kendrick Lamar with bars referencing height and competition. “Muggsy Bogues dunked for once, even I’m a bit amazed, someone give the kid a raise,” the rapper cites. While other lyrics appear aimed at LeBron James over his perceived support of Kendrick during the feud. “I shouldn’t even be shocked to see you in that arena, because you always made your career off of switching teams up,” Drake raps. “Please stop asking what’s going on with 23 & me, I’m a real n****, and he’s not, it’s in my DNA.“

Drake also appears to reference J. Cole’s decision to step away from the rap battle conversation, calling out a “married rapper” who backed down. Still, the response online has already been intense, with fans debating every line and trying to figure out who else Drake could be targeting.

The Comment Section Said “Now Aubrey…”

Chile, the roommates wasted NO time running to The Shade Room comment section after the leaked Drake track started making rounds online. And whew, the opinions were all over the place. Some folks said Drake needs to “hang it up… flat screen.” While others argued that he actually snapped on the record and everybody knows it deep down. Meanwhile, plenty of commenters were stuck on one thing: if Drake is still throwing diss bars, they feel like he can’t also be suing behind the scenes too.

This Instagram user @bcg_mag claimed, “Having to ‘Leak’ music before an album drop is always funny. Remember: Kendrick Lamar just dropped and let the world hear everything when they did.“

And, Instagram user @1rockemx added, “Now when Kendrick wake back up, don’t file no lawsuits… 📝”

Meanwhile, Instagram user @blaqbuety said “Man Dey got new viruses and gas is sky high…. Respectfully.. we don’t care 🎯🙏🏿”

While Instagram user @porshadeshannon wrote, “Drake saving hip hop and the Summer yet again. 😂”

Then Instagram user @bella_rrt shared, “Please move on Drake 🫠 Don’t let your L define you.“

And, Instagram user @itsladielike commented, “Hang it up, flatscreen.. Plasma.“

Finally, Instagram user @luxuryhairbynaijabosslady said, “He ateeee with this … sorry.“

Joe Budden Enters The Chat

While Drake’s leaked track ‘1 AM In Albany’ instantly sparked conversation over the apparent shots aimed at Kendrick Lamar, LeBron James, J. Cole, and Dr. Dre, Joe Budden’s response quickly became a storyline of its own. During a recent conversation with Ian Schwartzman, Budden seemingly brushed off the diss with humor, acknowledging that just about everybody is probably catching strays on Drake’s upcoming album. At one point, Budden even joked that he and Ian may need to throw their next few podcast episodes behind a paywall, clearly aware that fans are now waiting on his full reaction to the leaked record. Budden laughed through most of the discussion. Still, listeners couldn’t help but notice that he largely avoided directly addressing Drake’s more personal lyrics involving his girlfriend and the rapper’s wild references to Budden’s infamous naked hallway moment.

Joe Budden’s reaction to finding out Drake slept with his girl on 1am in Albany pic.twitter.com/ZxlZqa4Op7

— Akademiks TV (@AkademiksTV) May 14, 2026

RELATED: Time Flies! Social Media Users Are Doin’ A Double-Take After Drake & Adonis Attended Toronto Raptors Game

After nearly two years of legal drama overshadowing the original “It Ends with Us” movie, reports suggest actor-director Justin Baldoni is going back to the drawing board and already working on a sequel.

Despite the messy court fight, the project is reportedly still in motion, leaving fans with one major question: whether his co-star, Blake Lively, will be part of it.

Lively and Baldoni reached a settlement earlier this month, but the actress is reportedly still seeking damages over alleged retaliation tied to his dismissed $400 million countersuit.

Lively and Baldoni appear to be on very different paths following the end of their contentious court battle.

While insiders have claimed the “Gossip Girl” alum has become unpopular in some Hollywood circles, with one industry source alleging that no one wants to work with her again, Baldoni is reportedly already focused on another, possible “It Starts with Us” movie.

Baldoni’s production company, Wayfarer Studios, still owns the rights to a sequel and is said to have begun early development on the project following the success of the original movie.

“Justin finally feels like he can breathe again,” an insider told Rob Shuter’s #ShutterScoop. “For months, it was nonstop lawsuits, backlash, and crisis management. Now he’s focused on rebuilding.”

Lively And Baldoni’s Feud Nearly Sank The Franchise

The original film’s momentum took a massive hit after Lively filed a lawsuit in 2025, accusing Baldoni of sexual harassment on set. He denied the allegations and fired back with a $400 million countersuit against her, though a judge threw it out last year.

Their court battle also spilled beyond the two stars, dragging several high-profile names into the drama, including Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, and her former friend, Taylor Swift.

Fans labeled their dynamic “toxic” and feared the bitter legal fight may have marked the end of the film franchise. However, a source claimed Baldoni is now moving on regardless, even if that means doing it without Lively.

Justin Baldoni ‘Wouldn’t Mind’ Working With Lively

Despite their public fight, Baldoni reportedly believes the story’s message is bigger than the behind-the-scenes drama and is willing to push ahead to bring it back to life.

“Justin still believes in these stories and believes audiences are ready to move on,” a source explained. “He thinks the focus can finally return to the movies instead of the drama.”

However, per Mandatory, whether Lively will reprise her role as Lily Bloom remains the multimillion-dollar question for many fans. Although sources claim it is highly unlikely, Baldoni is reportedly leaving the door open and “wouldn’t mind” working with her again.

“Justin would work with Blake again if it helped save the franchise,” an insider revealed. “He’s not interested in revenge. He just wants to make movies again.”

Lively And Baldoni Settled Their Legal Fight

The news comes barely a week after they reached a settlement that reportedly didn’t cost either party anything.

Before then, the “A Simple Favor” actress had already suffered a massive blow to her case after a judge dismissed 10 out of the 13 claims she made against him, including sexual harassment and defamation.

In a statement released as part of their settlement, they noted that starring in the film and raising awareness about the rigors of domestic violence remains a source of pride for both parties, per Variety.

“We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard,” they continued. “We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments.”

Justin Baldoni Reportedly Wants To ‘Tell His Story’

Meanwhile, it may be hard for Baldoni to remain silent about everything that has happened, as reports suggest he is considering a tell-all to share his side of the fallout with Lively.

Their co-star in the film, Adam Mondschein, who appeared as a doctor, accused Lively of hurting his friend and claimed Baldoni wants to “tell his story” because he “deserves to be heard,” despite her camp allegedly doing everything to prevent that, per Radar Online.

Another source claimed Baldoni felt “vindicated” by how things played out before the settlement, adding that Lively probably did not expect the case to be challenged as “aggressively” as it was.