While Universal has made a firm commitment to extend the theatrical window of its films, Amazon Studios is still doing things on a case-by-case basis. For instance, the studio made sure to release Red One on Prime Video in time for Christmas, even though the movie was far from recouping its reported $250 million budget at the box office. On the other hand, the same studio gave Project Hail Mary an extended run in theaters after it exceeded box-office expectations. However, one of its most expensive films of the summer debuted at home less than two months after its theatrical release, falling between Project Hail Mary and Red One. The movie fell drastically short of expectations, but it appears to be redeeming itself with strong numbers on Prime Video.

The latest Nielsen report sheds more light on how the movie performed in the week of its debut. Nielsen shares weekly viewership data for television and streaming, with the streaming figures delayed by a month. This is why the latest edition of the report tracks streaming viewership for the week of July 20 to July 26. The movie we’re talking about was released on Prime Video on July 22, after debuting theatrically on June 5. Directed by Travis Knight, it was headlined by Nicholas Galitzine, with Jared Leto, Camila Mendes, Idris Elba, Alison Brie, and Morena Baccarin in supporting roles.

The Fantasy Flop Received Better Reactions from Audiences Than from Critics

By now you’ve already guessed that we’re talking about Masters of the Universe, the newest live-action adaptation of the popular Mattel property. Produced on a reported budget of $170 million, the movie ended its theatrical run with just $114 million worldwide. This is a lower haul than that of fellow summer underperformer Supergirl, which made $126 million worldwide against a similar budget. Masters of the Universe received mixed reviews, with some praising its camp aesthetic and others finding it too broad for their tastes.

The film now holds a 67% critics’ score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “By the power of Grayskull and with a little help from its self-deprecating script and spirited cast, Masters of the Universe is a delightful adventure that finds the humanity in He-Man.” But its 86% audience score seems to be powering it to success at home. According to Nielsen, the movie debuted at the number-one spot on Prime Video in the week of its release, accumulating 1.1 billion minutes watched.

Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

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Release Date

June 3, 2026

Runtime

141 minutes

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Director

Travis Knight

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Writers

Aaron Nee, Chris Butler, Dave Callaham, Adam Nee

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DeVon Franklin, Jason Blumenthal, Robbie Brenner, Todd Black

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While historical shows about monarchs like The Crown, Victoria, or The Tudors are all the rage with a certain audience, taking the idea of royalty and imposing it on our contemporary world is a bit of a tougher sell. After all, most don’t want to be ruled by a king. Perhaps that was some of the brilliance of the short-lived NBC series simply titled, well, Kings. It’s unlikely you’ve ever heard of this 12-episode series, but if you have, then you’re probably still pining for Michael Green‘s contemporary (and highly speculative) take on an age-old story.

‘Kings’ Was a Bold New Take on the King David Story Set In an Alternate Universe

From the get-go, Kings was nothing like you had ever seen on network television before. Inspired by the Old Testament story of David and Saul, the royal drama departed from that source material to focus on the entirely fictional Kingdom of Gilboa. Ruled by King Silas Benjamin (Ian McShane), who was divinely chosen by God himself for the task, it picks up many years into his reign when a young soldier, David Shepard (Christopher Egan), takes down the secret weapon of Gilboa’s neighboring enemy Gath: the Goliath tank. The biblical names were just enough to clue audiences in on the type of story that Kings meant to tell, but also divorced enough from the original text to remind viewers that this was not meant to be a 1:1 adaptation. Nothing had ever been done like this on television before, and NBC went all out to make it happen.

As Kings continued, Silas’ place on the throne comes under scrutiny as it begins to seem that David now has God’s favor — and that of the Reverend Ephram Samuels (Eamonn Walker). This is the exact conflict between the shepherd David and Israel’s King Saul, but unlike the Old Testament tale, Kings took these characters in a different direction. From the beginning, the series was incredibly ambitious. McShane delivered a profound and powerful performance as Silas, revealing a man who wrestled with his loosening grip on power and the lengths he would go to secure it. His complicated relationship with his children, Jack (Sebastian Stan) and Michelle (Allison Miller), pushed the Benjamin family nearly to the brink.

It didn’t help that Silas had a secret family elsewhere, away from the prying public eye. While the entire cast is quite brilliant, it’s McShane who made Kings such a dramatic spectacle to behold. His ability to command the screen is like something out of theater rather than television, and yet it’s that very boisterous and dramatic nature that spoke so well to the role he played. As David so quickly rises to “hero” status in the capital city of Shiloh, gasoline is only poured more intently on the burning fire that is Silas’ slipping sanity and desire to maintain the crown.

Kings wasn’t afraid to take liberties with the source material by consistently reminding viewers that this wasn’t meant to be a true adaptation. While future projects like ABC’s short-lived (and terrible) Of Kings and Prophets or Amazon’s current streaming powerhouse House of David are meant to translate the material more directly, that was never Green’s intent here. He only used the story as a basic framework for how Gilboa would function — and the growing conflict between Silas and David as a result. The show always found new and creative ways to throw twists at the audience that causal viewers with a cursory knowledge of the material wouldn’t have seen coming. It made it difficult to predict exactly where Kings would go next and ultimately allowed the series to forge its own identity. By the end, it was going in a direction that fans have continued to speculate about ever since…

‘Kings’ Was Cancelled Before It Had the Chance To Find an Audience

Tragically, this kind of ambition fell on deaf ears at the time. Sure, not every change to the material was worth its salt (some loved Stan’s Jack, but I could never get behind the angsty, re-imagined Prince Jonathan), but Kings forged its own path. Unfortunately, the show struggled to find an audience. Despite Green’s best efforts, Kings proved too expensive for the network, even considering the program’s unique advertising partnership with Liberty Mutual. It didn’t help that the marketing for the show was confusing in itself. While Green maintained that he got overwhelming support in his desire to re-imagine the story of King David in a contemporary way, NBC refused to promote the series as such.

“There was a fear of either backlash or marginalizing or pigeonholing,” the creator told Newsarama after the fact. “They wouldn’t go near it in the marketing, but they never had a problem with it on the creative level, which is why I was so baffled.” Even all these years later, it’s a shame that Kings never really got its due. It’s disappointing, especially considering the rise of prestige TV that would come later meant there was always an audience for a show like Kings. Instead, audiences were confused as to what Kings was exactly, and we can’t really blame them. The marketing focused more on the light sci-fi elements of the show rather than the thematic content or ancient parallels, which ultimately set the show up for failure.

Kings is available for streaming on The Roku Channel.

There’s nothing worse than diving into a good show, only to discover that there’s an episode or two that’s just meh. When filler episodes leave your attention wandering, it can feel like the binge wasn’t truly worthy of your time. Even some fantastic spy thrillers, like The Day of the Jackal, Killing Eve, and Homeland, have been guilty of sometimes unnecessary plotlines or episodes that draw us away from the action. However, if you’re looking for a spy thriller masterpiece that genuinely has zero bad episodes, one Apple TV series fits the bill.

What Is ‘Slow Horses’ About?

Slow Horses premiered in 2022, and despite rave reviews and Emmy nominations, the series is not as well-known as it should be. Each season offers six episodes of fast-paced, intriguing storylines, and with Season 6 set to drop next month, there’s plenty of time to binge-watch the whole series before then. Slow Horses follows a team of spies who have been rejected from the UK’s MI5 intelligence agency. They work out of a location called Slough House, which has resulted in the crew’s nickname, the Slow Horses. Each spy is trying to fight to improve their standing within the service, but they’re constantly faced with obstacles that prevent them from succeeding.

Slough House is led by the irascible, slovenly Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), who was a fantastic spy back in his heyday, but is now more often found sleeping off a hangover on his office couch. The protagonist of Slow Horses is River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), an agent who gets relegated to Slough House after a particularly disastrous training exercise. The young spy’s goal is to get back into MI5’s good graces, but he still somehow forms a dysfunctional family with the other Slough House members. Every season offers a new exciting investigation that the Slow Horses take part in, and despite low expectations, they’re constantly saving England from a variety of threats.

‘Slow Horses’ Is an Addictive, Action-Packed Thrill Ride

Slow Horses is one of the best spy thrillers ever made. Based on a series of novels by Mick Herron, the series includes plenty of twists and turns. Danger lurks around every corner, and the show is certainly not afraid to kill off a main character or two. This creates a high-stakes suspense that makes it easy to zoom through each episode. Because the seasons are so short, there’s no room for meandering plotlines that don’t feel essential to the narrative, resulting in episodes that capture your attention. The element that pushes this series above others is that Slow Horses also takes time to dive into its characters. Whether you’re following along with the icy MI5 boss, Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas), or watching the bonds forming between the Slow Horses, the series develops characters that are instantly authentic and incredibly easy to root for.

Slow Horses is a genius thriller for more than its writing. Without a talented cast, the series could have languished as an unbelievable drama. Instead, its impressive roster of actors makes you feel like you’ve stepped into MI5 duty. Oldman has the role of a lifetime with Jackson, but his choices never make the grumpy spy feel like a caricature. Lowden also proves himself by nailing every beat of River’s character; whether he’s perfectly capturing River’s frustration or including a sly humor in his delivery, Lowden demonstrates he’s one of the best young actors working today. Many other supporting actors help make Slow Horses compelling, including Saskia Reeves, Rosalind Eleazar, and Christopher Chung. It’s no wonder that Jonathan Pryce, along with Oldman and Lowden, have been nominated for Emmys for their impressive performances.

Apple TV knows it’s got a gem on its hands with this series, which boasts an unrivaled 97% Rotten Tomatoes score even if it hasn’t earned the same fans as some more famous shows. Season 7 has already been greenlit ahead of Season 6’s drop, so there’s no reason you shouldn’t be binging this insanely good spy thriller already.

Seasons 1-5 of Slow Horses are available to stream on Apple TV in the U.S. Season 6 is set to premiere on September 16.

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Slow Horses

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Release Date

April 1, 2022

Network

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Apple TV+

Showrunner

Douglas Urbanski

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Directors

Adam Randall, James Hawes, Jeremy Lovering, Saul Metzstein

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Tommy Lee Jones had a peculiar status late in his career: he starred in several action blockbusters, without getting to do anything action star-like in them. When you think of Jones in action movies, you remember how he commands a scene, rather than any physical dominance. In Under Siege, the climactic knife fight isn’t what makes him memorable; it’s moments like the conversation directly beforehand, where you can practically see the footprints on the ground due to him acting circles around Steven Seagal, with banger lines like, “I got tired of coming up with last-minute desperate solutions to impossible problems created by other f**king people.” Jones was frequently action-adjacent throughout the ’90s, until he made the bold career step of playing a professional going after a wanted fugitive — and actually getting in some action star moments — in 2003’s The Hunted.

Directed by legendary filmmaker William Friedkin, the story follows tracker and former survival instructor L.T. Bonham (Jones) as he gets recruited by the FBI. The target is a mentally unstable Special Forces operator, Aaron Hallam (Benicio del Toro), who is savagely murdering anyone he comes across in the woods that he inhabits, believing them to not be true hunters. As Aaron is a former student of his, L.T. takes it upon himself to track him down and capture him before he can harm anyone else.

‘The Hunted’ is Finding An Audience on Streaming

Image via Paramount

The Hunted didn’t do so hot at the time of its release, earning a meager 30% on Rotten Tomatoes, and underperforming at the box office, but it’s getting a new surge of eyes on it since it recently began streaming on Paramount+. This’ll hopefully garner some renewed interest in it. Because while the basic plot is nothing new or off-the-charts with originality, the film has merit just in how it made Tommy Lee Jones a late-in-career action star, if only for one movie.

Unlike The Fugitive, where Jones was in a commanding role and the one he was after (i.e. Harrison Ford) got to do the cool action hero antics, with The Hunted, L.T. is considerably more hands-on — and this time, he’s the one who has to take a tumble into a waterfall and sport an impressive beard. More than that, his fugitive, Hallam, is actually guilty and willing to get dirty to keep from getting into custody, which means the two of them throw down. The action isn’t just stunt doubles and quick editing doing the work, either; Jones and Del Toro seemingly perform most of their own combat on camera, both with their bare hands and with knives, which is the result of three months of daily training before filming.

Tommy Lee Jones Is a Badass (In General, But Also Specifically Here)

Impressively, Jones was 55 during filming, and he plays up the archetype of a weathered professional who has to be brought in for one last job. Unlike other characters who fit into a similar mold, the film allows him to be vulnerable and show his age. He’s scared of heights and flying (even throwing up when getting out of a helicopter), is socially anxious when talking about himself, and despite how skilled a fighter he is, he still gets cut up and bruised in his altercations with Hallam and has to power through to keep up. And even though he’s trained others in how to kill, L.T. has never done it himself. It’s a nice balance of humanity that keeps him from falling into the standard trope of the retired legend.

Surprisingly, for all the stunt work he does in the movie, Jones’ most epic moment is his introduction. L.T. starts out running through the woods of British Columbia, tracks and saves a wolf from a snare trap that caught its leg, and mends the wound before freeing it. That would be enough to make him likable, but afterward, he goes to a bar, finds the poacher who laid the snare, and uses said snare to slam his head into the table. As the guy’s imposing friend gets up, L.T. does the most badass finger point that would make Harrison Ford jealous, and it keeps the guy at bay. The scene ends with L.T. casually saying, “No more snares on wolves, guys.” The unspoken level of intimidation that he has on the guy is cool on its own, but it’s made way better upon rewatch when you realize L.T. could’ve probably gone all Galahad from Kingsman on the lot of them, and he just chose not to.

Beyond all that, The Hunted is an entertaining action movie that benefits from a runtime that’s less than 90 minutes (not including credits), and a third act that’s effectively one long action sequence with minimal dialogue, which feels oddly reminiscent of Predator. Also, Johnny Cash does the opening narration, and “The Man Comes Around” is the needle drop as the end credits roll, which means it beat out the opening credits for Dawn of the Dead by a year. and the credits to Logan by 14 years. Johnny Cash makes everything better, and The Hunted supports that fact.

If you want to see Tommy Lee Jones fill the role of an older man who can rough up young hooligans (a proud position held previously by Charles Bronson, then followed by Liam Neeson, and currently held by Bob Odenkirk), The Hunted is currently streaming on Paramount+.

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Release Date

March 11, 2003

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Runtime

94 minutes

Writers

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Art Monterastelli, David Griffiths

Producers

James Jacks, Marcus Viscidi, Ricardo Mestres

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Zach Hickerson, the brother of Hayden Panettiere’s on-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, has spoken out after the actress’ death.

“There are a lot of assumptions, speculations and accusations currently swirling,” Zach told TMZ on Friday, August 21. “The truth will come out as the authorities complete and release additional details from the investigation. And that is important because the people who loved and adored Hayden deserve the truth.”

He continued, “At this time, I want to clarify my involvement in effort to keep the focus on the fact that we lost one of the most precious individuals on this earth and to allow those that cared about her to mourn without additional noise, chaos and misinformation being created and propagated by the media as well as the public.”

Laying out the timeline of events, Zach told the outlet that he woke up at his Airbnb in Greenville, South Carolina, on Sunday, August 16, and got dressed to attend church.

Related: Hayden Panettiere Once Dated Brian Hickerson’s Brother Zach

Hayden Panettiere was once romantically involved with on-again, off-again boyfriend Brian Hickerson’s brother before her death. Us understands that Panettiere dated Zach Hickerson in 2019. She and Brian, meanwhile, were together on and off from 2018 to 2020. The Daily Mail was first to report the news alongside photos of Panettiere and Zach holding hands […]

“I exchanged messages that morning with Brian on my way. We planned on us all getting lunch and playing indoor golf after the service,” he added. “When I left church, I called and texted both of them. When I didn’t reach Brian or Hayden, I just assumed maybe they fell back asleep, so I drove over and went to the Airbnb. When I got there, I knew the code to the building but not the door code to the Airbnb.”

Zach recalled knocking loudly on the door, which woke up Brian, 37, from the nap he had been taking with Hayden.

“When we went in and tried to wake Hayden up for lunch, we realized she was unconscious,” he continued. “I immediately called 911, and Brian gave her Narcan. We then jointly performed CPR while 911 was on speaker until Fire and EMS arrived. At that point, we watched as they tried every measure possible to save her life.”

Zach told the outlet that he is “beyond heartbroken and devastated” by Hayden’s death.

“Hayden was one of my dearest and closest friends that I loved and cared about for the last eight years,” he concluded. “Out of respect for her loved ones, the speculation and sensationalism of her death needs to end until the facts can be released from the investigation.”

Hayden’s father, Skip Panettiere, confirmed her death to Us on Sunday. She was 36.

Related: DEA Joins Hayden Panettiere Death Investigation: What to Know

Actress Hayden Panettiere was found unresponsive at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina, on August 16, 2026, and pronounced dead at the scene. She was 36. According to a statement from the Greenville Police Department, officers, “accompanied by EMS personnel, responded to a report of an unresponsive female” at approximately 1:50 p.m. “Upon arrival, medical […]

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“It is with profound sadness that we share the tragic passing of our beloved Hayden. She was an incredible light and a force of nature who brought immeasurable love and joy to all who knew her — and to the millions who watched her onscreen,” Skip said in a statement at the time. “We ask for privacy as our family takes time to process this unimaginable loss.”

The Greenville Police Department and Greenville County Coroner’s Office confirmed that officers responded to reports of an “unresponsive female” at a South Carolina residence, later identified as Hayden, and a possible “drug overdose.” First responders and EMS performed “advanced cardiac life support measures,” but Hayden was pronounced dead on Sunday afternoon.

An autopsy found “no signs of trauma that would have contributed” to Hayden’s death, the coroner’s office confirmed to Us. The cause and manner of her death “remain pending further investigation and the completion of additional studies.”

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The New York Times reported on Thursday, August 20, that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was looking into the circumstances surrounding Panettiere’s death.

Brian broke his silence on Hayden’s death via a statement from his attorney Sloan Ellis.

“Hayden’s death remains under investigation and it is important to allow that investigation to proceed,” Ellis told Us on Thursday. “As has been publicly reported, police confirmed there were no signs of foul play. Out of respect for Hayden’s loved ones and the ongoing investigation, there will be no further comment at this time.”

Marshals fans, look out, because the upcoming season plans to change things up. Those hoping that the show will further explore the personal lives of Kayce Dutton’s (Luke Grimes) new teammates are in luck, as the CBS series is making strides in that direction. While the first season no doubt rode off the success of Yellowstone, Marshals continues due to the efforts of fans who have flocked to this new corner of Taylor Sheridan‘s complex neo-Western world — and Season 2 looks to be even better now that Morgan Lindholm‘s Maddie will have an expanded role.

‘Marshals’ Season 2 Plans To Bridge Cal’s Personal and Professional Lives

We already know that Marshals has committed to developing Pete “Cal” Calvin’s (Logan Marshall-Green) cancer story further going forward. This was good news for those of us who felt like that particular plotline was a bit half-baked last season. That said, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Maddie will have an expanded role in Season 2. Cal spent much of the first season trying to make amends with his estranged daughter, but now that he has received his diagnosis, it will assuredly complicate their dynamic further — especially since it’s already become more complex after Maddie began dating Cal’s subordinate Miles (Tatanka Means). That already makes this quite a sticky situation, as conflict has arisen between Cal and Miles in the workplace. Mixed with all the physical pain the former SEAL operator is going through, it seems like this is a recipe for disaster.

Still, bridging Cal’s personal and professional lives is long overdue. While Belle (Arielle Kebbel) — who has her own feelings toward Cal — needs to keep her family life separate from her work for a plethora of reasons, Cal has long been merging the two. Whenever the team aimed to unwind after a hard day’s work, they found themselves at the Bullet N’ Barrel Saloon, the same establishment where Maddie serves as a bartender. Although her identity was a mystery for the first few episodes (we mistakenly thought that Cal was hitting on the younger woman), their relationship was soon revealed — just not in time for Miles to avoid asking her out. Now that those lines between work and play are a bit more blurred, Marshals aims to push Cal’s newfound challenges into the forefront of the second season.

While many of us are still wondering how Kayce is going to get his son back from not-so-surprising big bad Tom Weaver (Chris Mulkey), others are itching for their soapy fix by wondering how everything is going to play out between Cal and Maddie, Cal and Belle, and Cal and Miles. Even if the show takes its sweet time to unpack these relationships in light of the U.S. Marshal’s health complications, we’re happy to hear that Maddie will be a bigger part of the show. As far as underdeveloped dynamics go, everything between Cal and his daughter deserves some time to find its legs.

‘Marshals’ Season 2 Has a Lot To Live Up To After ‘Yellowstone’

While Marshals Season 2 sounds like it will improve upon the first, it has a lot to live up to now after the first season of Yellowstone sequel Dutton Ranch. The Paramount+ drama picks up after the events of Sheridan’s original series (and seemingly some of Marshals as well) as Kacey’s sister Beth (Kelly Reilly) and her husband Rip (Cole Hauser) find themselves migrating from Montana to Texas. Dutton Ranch succeeded where Marshals did not in its ability to maintain the same tone and feel as Yellowstone even outside Big Sky Country. Where Marshals leaned into the network television style of police procedurals, Dutton Ranch is just as much a prestige neo-Western drama as its predecessor — if not more so. In short, Marshals has a lot to live up to. Network television has certainly surprised us before, so there’s no telling how the Dutton drama could find its footing in Season 2.

Marshals returns to CBS on Sunday, October 4, 2026.

A father in Florida was arrested after he allegedly let his 4-year-old son wander onto a busy road for roughly an hour, claiming that he lost track of the young boy because he had “too much energy.”

Semyon Levin was charged with child neglect without great bodily harm following the incident, which took place on Wednesday, August 19, around 3 p.m. when Levin, 63, was at a Starbucks in Sunny Isles, Florida. He was eating and watching his son until the boy wandered off.

Levin was arrested and placed in jail, while he made his first appearance in court on Thursday, August 20. He has since pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Levin denied wrongdoing, telling officers that “he lost sight” of his son, according to an arrest affidavit filed by the Sunny Isles Beach Police Department and viewed by Law & Crime. While he admitted to not knowing where his son was, Levin did not take “immediate action such as contacting police to request help in locating him.”

He said he believed his son was walking home from Starbucks with “an adult” and his two daughters, who are 9 years old and 7 years old. He went on to say “that he constantly loses sight” of the young boy and that his son “has too much energy.” Because of his energy level, Levin said it’s “hard for him to keep him in sight.”

Levin was asked why he didn’t call the police when he realized his son was missing, and he “stated that he did not think [the boy] being lost constituted an emergency.”

Police found the boy when a motorist stopped to tell an officer during a traffic stop that there was “a wandering small child on the sidewalk.” The motorist said that the boy was heading North and “had visible redness on his face.” Additionally, the motorist said the boy was carrying a half-eaten slice of pizza.

The officer found the child and placed him in his vehicle before he tried to locate his guardians.

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The officer eventually noticed a woman “walking rapidly” outside a nearby apartment complex. The woman, who was accompanied by a girl, then confirmed to the officer “that she was looking for her son.”

The woman was revealed to be Levin’s wife, and she contacted him to tell him to come to the scene. He “responded to the scene and admitted” that the boy had been under his supervision when he went missing, and he said that he last saw their son about an hour earlier.

The investigation into the case remains ongoing.

The video game medium has several incredible fantasy titles, from modern gems like Elden Ring and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to certified classics like Final Fantasy VII and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. One of the genre’s greatest franchises is Dragon Age, BioWare’s crowning jewel, which dominated the fantasy space in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The series arguably peaked with its third entry, 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition, which won the first-ever Game of the Year at the Game Awards and remains one of the best open-world experiences of the 2010s.

A huge reason behind Inquisition‘s success is the brilliant writing, which does a truly outstanding job with the complex worldbuilding, compelling narrative, and characterization. Perhaps the greatest aspect of the writing, however, is the dialogue, which can be equal parts informative, clever, and witty. More than once, Inquisition delivers some genuinely iconic quotes, including what might just be the best line in fantasy gaming during the 2010s. Spoken by the villainous Corypheus, this line is not only striking and incredibly impactful within the game’s context but also undeniably badass and outright unforgettable, a perfect encapsulation of the Dragon Age saga as a whole.

What Is ‘Dragon Age: Inquisition’ About?

Image via BioWare

Dragon Age: Inquisition takes place in the continent of Thedas, a medieval-inspired place living under a state of constant conflict. The biggest threat to it is the Blight, a catastrophic event that happens when demonic underground creatures known as darkspawn find one of the slumbering Old Gods and taint them, thus creating an Archdemon. The Archdemon then leads a horde of darkspawn to the surface, launching a Blight that can last decades. The physical world also lives in proximity to the Fade, the realm of spirits and demons, separated by a metaphysical barrier known as the Veil. Before the game’s events, a civil war has broken out between the Templars and the Mages, devastating most of the Kingdom of Ferelden and the Empire of Orlais.

The game’s main plot sees an unnamed protagonist attending a conclave summoned by Divine Justinia V to settle the Mage-Templar conflict. However, an explosion destroys the Temple of Sacred Ashes, killing everyone at the Conclave except for the protagonist, who emerges with no memory of the attack and a mysterious mark on their hand. The explosion also causes a hole in the Veil known as the Breach, as well as several minor rifts which the Inquisitor can close with their mark. As Thedas descends into chaos, the protagonist and their allies reestablish the Inquisition, acting separate from Ferelden and Orlais and hoping to close the rifts and seal the Breach for good.

As the story progresses, the Inquisitor learns of the existence of Corypheus, an ancient Tevinter Magister who is behind the attack at the Conclave. By using a powerful, ancient elven orb, Corypheus meant to destroy the Veil, enter the Fade, and declare himself a god, hoping to reshape the world in his image. Because the Inquisitor interrupted the ritual, Corypheus is left to find other ways to achieve godhood.

What Does Corypheus Say to the Player in ‘Dragon Age: Inquisition’?

Image via BioWare

Corypheus’ introduction happens in the main quest known as “In Your Heart Shall Burn,” in which his dragon attacks the town of Haven, the protagonist’s base of operations. Like any good villain, Corypheus loves to monologue; unlike many mediocre villains, however, the magister actually has something interesting to say. As he approaches the protagonist, Corypheus confronts them for interrupting the ritual at the conclave, speaking in a threatening and assured yet vague tone.

Many things make this cutscene incredibly badass. Corypheus’ design is striking and off-putting, coming out of the flames like a spectre from a long-forgotten past. His lyrium dragon is rad as hell, and Trevor Morris‘ incredible score amplifies the tension as the magister slowly creeps towards the player. However, it’s the dialogue that’s the cutscene’s centerpiece, further elevated by David Sterne‘s booming, assured, terrifying voice performance. Of all the lines he speaks, one stands out as the greatest, a concise, perfectly constructed sentence that not only summarizes his motives but captures the series’ main thematic concerns: “Beg that I succeed, for I have seen the throne of the gods, and it was empty.”

Why Is Corypheus’ Line So Brilliant?

Image via BioWare

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With this one line, Corypheus dismantles the entire belief system of the Chantry (Dragon Age‘s main religious organization) and puts into question everything the player knows about Thedas as a whole. Previous games, not to mention the in-world Chant of Light, claim that the Blight was punishment by the Maker, Thedas’ version of God, after ancient Tevinter Magisters breached the Veil and entered the Golden City in the Fade. Their presence corrupted it, turning it into the Black City, and causing the Maker to expel them, sending them back to the physical world as distorted, corrupted versions of themselves.

Corypheus challenges this notion by claiming he indeed entered the Black City, but there was no god; no Maker to punish or banish him, no gold to make the city shine. In fact, the city was already blackened when he entered, and whatever tainted it happened long before the magister’s arrival. Religious concerns are a major theme in Dragon Age. Conflicting views between different institutions are the root of many of the continent’s conflicts, whether it’s the polytheistic Tevinter Empire trying to expand or the intolerant Chantry attempting to spread its influence. With this one line, Corypheus shatters Chantry teachings and even Tevinter’s beliefs, revealing that the very foundations of modern Thedas are not only wrong, but they’re as tainted as the Blight itself.

Beyond the in-world impact, Corypheus’ line strikes at the heart of real-life religious concerns. We’ve all wondered if there is indeed a god, if religion has any validity at all. Faith is one of the most powerful forces in this world, yet it can be so easily shattered with just a few well-chosen words. Corypheus’ quote does just that: it speaks into our greatest fears concerning faith and captures the hopelessness and dread of realizing everything you know is a lie. Of course, it’s meant to be a badass line spoken by a video game villain, but it’s also so much deeper and more discomforting than just that. It’s perhaps the single most memorable and profound quote in any 2010s video game, and further proof that Inquisition is the best Dragon Age game by far.

The NCIS franchise has never exactly struggled to find a new corner of the map. After more than two decades, CBS has sent its investigators from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, Hawaii, and beyond, building one of television’s most durable procedural universes in the process. But NCIS: New York has something its predecessors can’t quite manufacture: a city that can do some of the storytelling for it.

That starts with CBS making the unusually important decision to actually film the new series in New York City. NCIS: New York isn’t simply going to slap a few recognizable skyline shots between scenes filmed somewhere else and call it a day. Production has been underway across the city, with LL Cool J, Scott Caan, Jacqueline Byers, and Shane Harper photographed filming in places including Brooklyn and Central Park.

‘NCIS: New York’ Is Actually Filming Where It’s Set

Image via Sonja Flemming / ©CBS / courtesy Everett Collection

That distinction matters more than it might sound. Television has a long history of asking viewers to accept one city as another, and the NCIS franchise is hardly an exception. NCIS: Los Angeles, for instance, was built largely around production in Los Angeles and the Paramount lot, while NCIS: Origins has likewise used Paramount’s Los Angeles facilities and Southern California locations.

NCIS: New York is taking a different route. The series is being produced in the city it calls home, and recent set photos have already shown the cast working in real New York locations, which gives the spinoff an immediate visual identity before viewers even know whether its new characters will become as beloved as the franchise’s veterans.

New York is not exactly a city that needs help making an impression, and a case unfolding in Brooklyn can feel different from one unfolding in Manhattan, and a chase through Central Park doesn’t need a line of dialogue explaining why the location matters. The danger with any spinoff is that familiarity can become sameness, but NCIS: New York has the opportunity to make it feel different because its surroundings are different.

CBS Is Spending More to Give Its New ‘NCIS’ Spinoff a Real Identity

Image via CBS

Filming in New York also represents a meaningful commitment from CBS. Location production is not the easy, interchangeable option for a network procedural, particularly when a series could theoretically recreate plenty of streets, offices, and city exteriors somewhere cheaper or more production-friendly.

CBS is nevertheless putting NCIS: New York on the ground. The series began filming in the city in July, with production moving through locations such as Brooklyn and Central Park. New York’s production infrastructure and tax incentives can help offset some of the expense — the state offers a production tax credit for eligible television projects — but choosing to build a series around the city still requires a commitment to location work that a studio-based production doesn’t.

CBS has placed this show directly in the middle of an all-NCIS Tuesday, with the original NCIS at 8 p.m., New York at 9 p.m., and NCIS: Origins at 10 p.m. The strategy makes obvious business sense because viewers who already know the franchise are being given an entirely new hour without leaving the universe. But that also puts pressure on the spinoff to justify its existence. If NCIS: New York were simply another version of the same show with a different sign on the office door, viewers could reasonably wonder why they needed it. The New York production gives CBS a much better answer.

LL Cool J’s Return Makes the New Setting Even More Important

Image via CBS

The other major piece is Sam Hanna. LL Cool J isn’t playing a brand-new character who needs to establish himself from scratch. He spent 14 seasons as one of the defining faces of NCIS: Los Angeles, and Hanna has also appeared elsewhere in the franchise. Now he’s returning to his hometown to lead a new team alongside Caan’s Nick Schaeffer.

Hanna already has history with viewers, but putting him back in New York gives that history somewhere meaningful to go. This isn’t just another assignment in another city. He’s returning home, and the series is following him there. Jennifer Beals, Byers, Harper, and Devin Druid round out the new field team, giving the show plenty of fresh personalities around its returning lead.

The result could be exactly what the franchise needs from its newest branch. NCIS doesn’t need another city in name only as each new series needs a reason to exist, and New York provides one. The city gives the series a visual language that can’t be copied simply by changing the establishing shot. CBS’s willingness to film there gives that choice some weight, while Hanna’s return provides the franchise connection longtime viewers need. When NCIS: New York premieres on October 6, 2026, there may be a question of whether New York can make this one feel like its own thing.

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NCIS: New York

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Release Date

October 6, 2026

Directors

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Eagle Egilsson, Adam Davidson

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While Prime Video’s original series often draw from novels to tell their stories, they rarely do as much justice to the book as 2026’s The House of the Spirits, with some exceptions like Barry Jenkins’ take on Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad. Drawing from Chilean author Isabel Allende’s 1982 debut novel of the same name, the show does a beautiful job transposing the book’s blend of multigenerational family saga, magical realism, and poetic tale of the ravages of time and the longstanding effects of violence to a new medium. The series is not afraid to be melodramatic, colorful, and rich, studying the Trueba family from their humble beginnings in an unnamed Latin American country that slowly descends into a horrific political situation. Narrating the saga is Alba (Rochi Hernandez), who thrusts us into the world of the family with as much speed as The Royal Tenenbaums.

Every episode of The House of the Spirits feels like a short film in itself, with the show as a whole mimicking the book’s decades-spanning structure. Much like the first season of House of the Dragon, years can pass between episodes, but familial relationships stay the same, lingering on old wounds and traumas hidden behind. Allende’s novel was unafraid to deal with heavy subject matter, like animal violence, a country’s descent into fascism, and sexual violence, and the show’s faithfulness to those aspects of the book is its greatest feature. Part of the passage of time is conveyed by a color palette. Like in Greta Gerwig’s 2019 take on Little Women, the nostalgic early years are often offset by a steely grey-blue take on the present day, as Alba pores over her family history, digging into a journal left behind by her clairvoyant grandmother Clara (Dolores Fonzi as an older woman; Nicole Wallace in younger years). Clara’s journal is a Rosetta Stone for the family history, a document of 50 years from the mid-1920s onward.

‘House of the Spirits’ Has A Compelling Villain in Esteban Trueba

While The House of the Spirits moves quickly through its eras, running with a montage-like pace through Esteban Trueba’s (Alfonso Herrera) courtship of Clara’s older sister Rosa (Chiara Parravicini), it’s hard to imagine it in a more condensed timeframe. But the book was first adapted as a Hollywood drama in 1993, with a number of subplots shelved and a cast full of English-speaking actors like Jeremy Irons, whose cold villainy was appropriate enough for Esteban, but not quite on the level of Herrera’s three-dimensional performance. After Rosa’s tragic early passing, the show version of Esteban grows into a darkly tyrannical patriarch whose class resentment and casual cruelty becomes a stand-in for the terrors the country will soon face. Herrera’s performance as Esteban shows his descent and development into the wicked master of Las Tres Marías, the Trueba family estate, and the eventual husband of Clara.

Esteban is a tricky character, in large part because he lasts so long. The series is brutal and rewarding because it deals so much with the subjugation, abuse, and resilience of women. Esteban is an immediate foil. In his younger years, his cruel treatment of women and campaign of sexual misconduct have aftereffects you can only see by the series’ end, with the full picture in mind. Rising from the back-breaking toils of mine work to being a property owner, he has nothing but contempt for the political shift heralded by the arrival of the Communist party to the country. Because of the show’s structure, with Alba looking backwards at events, viewers get a sense of dramatic irony not quite present in Allende’s novel, with a sense of where all these lives go. That framing device casts a unique glow on the show’s rich melodrama. Births and deaths collide as Clara, whose clairvoyant gifts become more prominent as the show progresses, gives birth to Esteban’s daughter Blanca (Fernanda Urrejola, who co-wrote the series, in middle age; Sara Becker in younger years).

‘House of the Spirits’ Is A Magical Realist Latin Melodrama

By emphasizing the actual Latin American qualities of the original decades-spanning book, the show gets the chance to breathe, with its operatic elements playing directly against its larger saga of political change. It’s neither a dry retelling of history nor total soap opera, but a mix that is true to the spirit of Isabel Allende’s novel. Its acknowledgment of the passage of time means one episode might have a character being born and the next might cast them as a young adult. Alba grows from childhood to participating in revolutionary politics and discovering horrific truths about her family. The novel emphasized heartache, trauma, and magical realism, and the show works in the same big, melodramatic beats, slowly replacing the charming nostalgia of its early episodes with the devastation of a country falling into ruin. If the first half of the show is Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the second is more Steven Soderbergh.

Ghosts are real in the story of House of the Spirits. They are almost incidental, complex characters in their own right that can guide or complicate the journeys of the living. Uncle Marcos (Juan Pablo Raba) serves as a ghostly confidant to young Clara, and in the 1970s, Alba is often visited by her grandmother Clara in times of great despair. But more pertinently, the ghosts reflect Esteban’s actions and the privilege the family was able to experience by ignoring who had to pay most, particularly in the form of Esteban Garcia, Jr. (Pedro De Tavira). The show is a richly compelling meditation throughout, and a novel adaptation that allows the characters the tragic complexity they deserve.