Entertainment
9 Essential Mick Herron Books You Must Read at Least Once
If you’re a fan of Apple TV‘s critically acclaimed series Slow Horses, you probably already know that the show is based on the Slough House novel series. Their author, Mick Herron, has been writing spy fiction since 2010, and what began as a cult favorite has grown into one of the most acclaimed thriller series of the 21st century, earning comparisons to John le Carré while doing something entirely unique: satirizing British intelligence with wit so dry it could sand furniture. The BBC described him as “the le Carré of the future.” The New Yorker described the series as “the best in a generation, by some estimates, and unquestionably the funniest.”
As a reminder, Slough House is MI5’s dumping ground for disgraced agents; they made mistakes that should normally cost them their careers but ended up in Slough House. Led by the monumentally disorderly Jackson Lamb, these agents, known internally as slow horses, shuffle paper and wait out their professional deaths, except, of course, they keep stumbling into genuine danger. The fine line between institutional irrelevance and real responsibilities is what makes both the adaptation and the books so compelling. The Slough House series now runs to nine novels, and not every entry is equally essential. Whether you’re a Herron connoisseur or picking up his books for the first time, here are the essential Mick Herron books you must read at least once.
‘Down Cemetery Road’ (2003)
Before Jackson Lamb and Slough House, there was a quiet Oxford street and a gas explosion that turned out to be foul play. Mick Herron’s debut novel, Down Cemetery Road, introduces Sarah Tucker, a bored housewife whose comfortable life is upended when a house on her street is blown up, two adults killed, and a four-year-old girl left unaccounted for. What begins as a neighbor’s concern escalates quickly into something far more dangerous, leading Sarah to hire private investigator Zoë Boehm and stumble into the long shadow of a government agency.
Down Cemetery Road is a more conventional thriller than anything Herron would later write; the cynical wit is present but less fully developed, and the plotting occasionally sprawls, but the essential Herron ingredients are already locked in: ordinary people facing off against official secrets, institutional deception, and a clear understanding of how power protects itself. The Apple TV adaptation of the same name starring Emma Thompson premiered in October 2025, giving the novel a fresh wave of readers. Starting here before Slow Horses is not essential, but for readers who want to understand where one of Britain’s best crime writers came from, Down Cemetery Road is a quietly revelatory place to begin.
‘Spook Street’ (2017)
It’s safe to say that River Cartwright is and has always been the series’ moral center; this young agent who ended up at Slough House because he made the wrong call in a training exercise spends several novels fighting to prove that his judgment was more complicated than anyone cared to admit at the time. Spook Street, the fourth novel in the Slough House series, earns its place on this list by finally turning that lens on his family, specifically his grandfather David Cartwright, a retired intelligence legend whose apparent mental decline may or may not be what it seems. Without understanding the Cartwrights, you cannot fully understand what Herron is doing with River across the whole series.
Herron uses the family dynamic to ask a question that runs beneath the entire surface: whether a lifelong immersion in deception corrupts everything from emotions to love and memory. The plot mechanics are typically intricate, but the novel’s real subject is inheritance, or better say, what we pass on to the people who come after us and what we hide from them. Spook Street is one of the series’ less raved-about entries but paradoxically one of its most essential. Readers who commit to River’s character development will find Spook Street unexpectedly emotional and will spend the rest of the series paying closer attention to the Cartwright name. Season 4 of Slow Horses adapts Spook Street.
‘Bad Actors’ (2022)
By the time Bad Actors, the eighth novel in the series, arrives, Herron has built a world so fully inhabited that it can sustain a story and plot in which the slow horses operate almost entirely within the margins of their own story. The plot centers on a Downing Street special advisor who vanishes without explanation, a Russian First Desk who has slipped away from her handlers in London, and Diana Taverner’s increasingly dangerous attempts to keep her grip on MI5’s top job. Within the Slough House borders, Shirley Dander gets exiled to a spy rehabilitation retreat in the West Country, while Roddy Ho’s hacking skills take center stage in ways that are both comic and crucial.
What makes Bad Actors essential rather than merely good is all the plans, events, and long-running plots it sets in motion. It is, with hindsight, one of the most carefully constructed pieces of dramatic groundwork in the series, establishing power dynamics, delivering real consequences, and tightening threads that the most recent novel, Clown Town, pulls on and borrows from to make a point. Readers who race through Bad Actors for the plot alone may feel it is lighter than its predecessors, but those who understand it as preparation for what follows will realize it’s fundamental. By 2022 and the eighth novel, the series begins functioning like a well-oiled machine; Herron seemingly has a beginning and end in sight for each character he plants into the Slough House universe.
‘Nobody Walks’ (2015)
Tom Bettany is working in a French meat-processing plant when he receives a voicemail informing him that his estranged son Liam is dead. The police call it accidental: Liam fell from his London balcony while high. Bettany, a former MI5 undercover operative, arrives for the funeral and within hours realizes that it wasn’t. What follows is a stripped-back and intense revenge narrative that Kirkus Reviews described as “a violent little elegy that grows both more clever and more sour as it hurtles along.” It was shortlisted for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and named one of Booklist’s 101 Best Crime Novels of the Last Decade.
Technically a standalone, Nobody Walks is, in practice, a Slough House adjacent novel; familiar MI5 figures appear on the sidelines, ready to step in. More than anything, Nobody Walks represents the first significant appearance of the quiet and somewhat terrifying J.K. Coe, who appears in the Apple TV series starting with Season 4; J.K. Coe is played by Tom Brooke. More than that, it is the book that most nakedly shows what Herron can do when he removes the ensemble safety net and focuses everything on the main character with nothing left to lose. Leaner and colder than any Slough House entry, it is essential reading for anyone who wants the full picture of what this writer is capable of.
‘Joe Country’ (2019)
Widely regarded by the fans of the Slough House series as its emotional high, Joe Country brings several long-running plot threads to a close and delivers at least one genuinely heartbreaking farewell to a beloved character (but no spoilers here). Set partly in the Welsh countryside, a jarring change of scenery from Herron’s typical London-bound universe, it follows Louisa Guy to Pembrokeshire as she searches for Lucas, the teenage son of her late partner Min Harper, who has gone missing after seeing something he was never supposed to see. Frank Harkness, a renegade ex-CIA operative, looms over the whole novel like a storm that keeps on brewing.
Joe Country is essential because it is the book that proves Herron is not just an extraordinarily witty and clever writer but has the chops to write something genuinely moving. The comedy is still present and sharp, but here it exists in direct tension with loss in a way the series hadn’t previously attempted. Crime Fiction Lover called it “a triumph” and “the series highlight” at the time of publication. For readers who have followed the slow horses from the beginning, this novel earns every feeling it reaches for. The upcoming Season 6 partly adapts Joe Country, and we’re not sure if we’re fully saying goodbye or another hello to Rosalind Eleazar as the brilliant Louisa Guy.
‘Dead Lions’ (2013)
Dead Lions is the novel that put Herron on the map; it won the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award, the most prestigious prize in British crime fiction. This is the novel that most clearly announces what the Slough House series is capable of, though not all critics would agree it’s the best Herron has to give—and yet, it’s so brilliant, you can only imagine what the rest have to offer. Dead Lions is essential because it reveals Jackson Lamb’s past a little more, involving the apparent murder of a former Cold War sleeper agent and the reactivation of old Soviet networks that nobody believed were still active. This leans into classic le Carré territory but is handled with Herron’s characteristically sardonic twist. Lamb is given significantly more room to operate here than in the debut.
What Dead Lions gets exactly right is the balance between genuine spy thriller mechanics and dark comic character work; this is the balance that the rest of the series would later be built on, and Herron achieves it here with particular elegance. The Cold War material feels neither nostalgic nor exhausted, rather bringing the shabbiness of modern-day Slough House into a sharp focus. Dead Lions is also just one of the most entertaining thrillers of its decade, an essential entry point for anyone arriving from the TV show and wondering where to begin with the books. With Season 2 of Slow Horses having been done with great precision, Dead Lions (Season 2’s source material) will be an even more impressive feat to enjoy after the show.
‘Clown Town’ (2025)
The ninth and most recent novel, Clown Town, is a true game-changer in the Slough House series. This one resolves two of the series’ longest-running power struggles: the tension between Peter Judd and Diana Taverner and the uneasy standoff between Taverner and Lamb. Simultaneously, it upends the status quo in ways that leave Slough House’s future genuinely uncertain for the first time. River Cartwright, recovering from a case of poisoning, is drawn into a mystery surrounding a missing book from his grandfather David’s library. Meanwhile, Taverner, threatened by figures connected to a covert operation from the height of the Troubles, turns blackmail into opportunity, as she always does.
The Spectator Australia named Clown Town one of its books of the year, calling it “a magisterially accomplished novel” with “a plot of shining, machine-like efficiency.” What makes Clown Town essential is not just its quality but its finality; it closes doors that have been open since book one, takes some meaningful casualties, and arrives at an ending that is the very definition of the word “cliffhanger.” If you have read the Slough House series from the start, Clown Town is the payoff; if you haven’t, well, this is the most compelling argument for starting the series immediately.
‘Slough House’ (2021)
The seventh novel is where Herron’s ambitions expand from spy thriller to something closer to a state-of-the-nation novel: a panoramic, almost Dickensian portrait of Britain at its most paranoid and compromised. Brexit has pushed the slow horses further into the cold, Slough House has been erased from official records, and members of the team are dying at an unsettling clip. The satire extends far beyond intelligence services this time, reaching into media manipulation, global finance, and the privatization of state power, a territory Herron navigates with the confidence of a writer who has been building toward exactly this for a decade.
Universally, the unnerving realism of Slough House (the novel) has been considered as Herron gone spooky, with the satire getting even more biting and the comedy developing harder edges. Slough House is essential because it is the novel that makes the fullest case for what the series actually is: a genuinely serious piece of contemporary fiction that just so happens to operate through the conventions of the spy thriller. This one converted casual fans into devotees, and it’s the one that most convincingly demands to be taken seriously on its own terms. Season 6 partly adapts Slough House, meaning that the stakes are growing higher and more real within the Slow Horses TV universe.
‘Slow Horses’ (2010)
The one novel that started everything and is still the most essential of all is the first book, Slow Horses, because without it, none of the rest exists. Like in the series, River Cartwright lands at Slough House in disgrace after a training exercise goes catastrophically wrong in a very public way. Then a young man is kidnapped and threatened with beheading by a group claiming to be terrorists, and the slow horses begin noticing inconsistencies that lead them into a conspiracy with roots deep inside MI5 itself. The plot is gripping, and the atmosphere, with its unglamorous, rain-soaked, bureaucratic exhaustion, is immediately distinctive from other similar novels.
What makes Slow Horses essential rather than merely good is Jackson Lamb, and this applies to both the novels and the TV show. He arrives fully formed as one of the great characters in modern crime fiction: self-sufficient, brilliant, and oddly principled in ways that take an entire series to fully understand. Every subsequent book depends on the reader’s relationship with Lamb, which is established here; it’s hard to read the books without imagining Gary Oldman, who portrays Lamb in the Apple TV adaptation, and he seems to perfectly embody the spy’s description from the books. The show is excellent, of course, sometimes so much that it’s hard to imagine what the novels might represent. And yet, even here, we do get to say—the books are better, just because they establish a world so detailed and incredible that you will be drawn in to the very end.
Slow Horses
- Release Date
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April 1, 2022
- Network
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Apple TV+
- Showrunner
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Douglas Urbanski
- Directors
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Adam Randall, James Hawes, Jeremy Lovering, Saul Metzstein
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Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing another legal headache from behind bars, this time involving attorneys representing him in a civil case.
Three lawyers have asked a federal court for permission to stop representing the music mogul, claiming he owes a significant amount in legal fees and has become difficult to work with.
However, Diddy strongly disputes their account of events, maintaining that money is not the real problem and claims he decided to change lawyers after being billed for charges he never approved.
Three attorneys from Sher Tremonte LLP, Michael Tremonte, Erica Wolff, and Katie Renzler, are seeking to withdraw from Diddy’s civil case against Nexstar Media, Ariel Mitchell, and Courtney Burgess.
According to TMZ, the lawyers claim Diddy has failed to settle a “substantial balance of attorney’s fees” along with other expenses connected to their work. They alleged that his last payment was made more than six months ago and that he remains significantly behind on what he owes.
Money is not their only complaint. The attorneys also described Diddy as “unreasonably difficult” to work with and accused him of failing to cooperate. They maintain that communication between both sides has deteriorated to the point that they no longer want to continue representing him.
The dispute adds another complication for Diddy as he serves his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Dix, in New Jersey. He was sentenced to just over four years after being convicted on two federal counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
The Rapper Blasted His Former Lawyers, Claiming They Were ‘Overcharging’ Him
Diddy has rejected the claims that his attorneys simply want out because he refused to pay them. Instead, he claims the disagreement stems from charges that he believes should never have appeared on his legal bills.
Through spokesperson Juda Engelmayer, Diddy told The Blast that he personally decided it was time to find different representation.
“I made the decision to switch lawyers because I won’t let anyone take advantage of me by overcharging me and running up bills that were never approved,” he said.
The music mogul described the disagreement as “strictly a business matter.” He also argued that claims surrounding unpaid fees are part of a larger dispute over expenses he says he did not authorize.
His position differs sharply from that of the attorneys, who accuse him of deliberately failing to meet his financial obligations to them. A judge will ultimately have to decide whether the three lawyers can withdraw from the ongoing civil case.
He Could Still Face Charges In Connection With Tupac’s Murder
Diddy’s current legal problems may not be the only ones he has to worry about. Prosecutors have not completely ruled out the possibility of charges connected to the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur if new evidence emerges.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson told TMZ there is currently not enough evidence to bring charges against anyone else in the case. However, he explained that prosecutors could reconsider if additional information becomes available.
The comments followed Duane “Keefe D” Davis’ murder conviction. During his trial, jurors heard recordings in which Davis alleged that Diddy had offered $1 million to have Tupac and Suge Knight killed. Diddy has consistently denied being involved in the rapper’s death.
A source close to the music mogul previously insisted that “Diddy had absolutely nothing to do with the Tupac murder. He did not pull the trigger or set it up.” For now, prosecutors have not charged him in connection with the killing, and Wolfson stressed that any additional charges would depend on new emerging evidence.
The Rapper’s Daughters Move On With Their Lives As He Cools Off In Prison
While Diddy remains behind bars, his 19-year-old twin daughters, D’Lila and Jessie Combs, continue to build their own identities.
The sisters recently stepped out together at New York Fashion Week, attending LaQuan Smith’s spring/summer 2027 show at Brookfield Place.
The twins coordinated their outfits for the event, with D’Lila wearing red while Jessie opted for black.
They completed their similar looks with matching hairstyles and accessories and held hands as they entered the venue.
Diddy’s Twins Say Their ‘Journey Is Separate’ From Their Father’s: ‘His Press Is His Press’
The rapper’s twins’ appearance at NYFW comes as they prepare to launch their own fashion brand, 12TWINTY1, a project they have reportedly been developing for three years.
Jessie explained that their interest in the industry goes way back, saying, “Ever since we were little, we’ve loved fashion.”
D’Lila has also made it clear that they do not want their father’s situation to define what they are building. “His press is his press, and our press is our press; our journey is separate,” she said, per Page Six.
As Diddy serves his prison sentence, the sisters appear focused on establishing a name for themselves through their shared passion for fashion.
Maddie Price has received plenty of gifts from fans, but one OnlyFans subscriber took generosity to another level.
The social media star tells The Blast her No. 1 subscriber sent her a staggering $400,000 so she could buy her dream Porsche 911 GT3 RS.
Price got the car she wanted, but its latest adventure didn’t exactly go according to plan. After losing control on a tree-lined road, her six-figure dream car ended up against a tree. Thankfully, Price walked away unharmed.
For Price, the Porsche meant considerably more than adding another expensive vehicle to her growing collection.
“I have one subscriber who has been unbelievably good to me, and he knew this car was the dream,” Price told The Blast. “So when he sent me the money to go get exactly the one I wanted, I honestly couldn’t believe it. I’d been working really hard for a long time, and that was the first moment I really felt like it was paying off.”
The $400,000 gift allowed Price to get the Porsche 911 GT3 RS she had been dreaming about. That made what happened next particularly painful.
The OF Star’s Porsche Ended Up Against A Tree
Price shared footage of the accident on Instagram, turning an expensive mishap into a joke at her own expense.
The reel begins with footage from two months earlier showing Price admiring the gray Porsche at a dealership.
“I’m gonna buy my dream $400k supercar & prove women can drive too,” she wrote over the clip.
The video then jumps forward to Price behind the wheel on a tree-lined road. As the Porsche moves through the road, its rear swings out and the vehicle fishtails off the pavement before coming to a stop against a tree.
Price was not injured. “I’m totally fine. The Porsche took it worse than I did,” she told The Blast. “That’s my baby, so I was definitely crushed when it happened. She’s already fixed and back where she belongs, though.”
Price also leaned into the irony of her original declaration. “Back to the kitchen I go,” she joked in the Instagram caption.
Maddie Price’s Followers Had Plenty To Say About The Crash
Price may have been able to laugh about the accident, but her followers weren’t going to let the moment pass without joining in.
The comments quickly filled with jokes about the crash and her initial promise to prove women could drive, although some followers defended her and pointed out that handling a high-performance vehicle requires experience.
“It’s actually quite impressive you managed to lose traction with this type of car,” one commenter wrote.
Another joked, “Ohh she could drive, into a tree.”
A third offered a more sympathetic assessment, noting, “Men can’t magically drive either. It takes years of practice.”
The Porsche has since been repaired, according to Price, meaning the dramatic encounter with the tree did not permanently remove her dream car from her garage.
More From The Blast
Her Porsche Is Only Part Of A $3 Million Car Collection
The wrecked Porsche may have an unusually memorable origin story, but it is far from the only noteworthy vehicle Maddie Price owns.
Earlier this year, Price showed off a car collection valued at roughly $3 million.
The garage includes multiple Porsche GT3 RS models, a custom pink Porsche 911, a Lamborghini and two lifted Mercedes-AMG G 63 4×4² trucks.
Her tastes also extend beyond expensive supercars. Price owns motorcycles, a Honda Acty and a tiny Suzuki Cappuccino worth around $4,000.
That unusual mix has attracted attention from car enthusiasts online. Complex reported in April that the inexpensive Japanese Cappuccino had become one of the most talked-about vehicles in her collection despite sharing garage space with cars worth dramatically more.
Price’s love of cars has become a significant part of her social media identity, alongside the subscription content that helped finance her lifestyle.
Maddie Price Insists Her ‘Car Girl’ Image Isn’t For Show
An expensive collection naturally comes with skeptics. Price has faced speculation over whether the vehicles appearing throughout her social media content actually belong to her or are simply being used to cultivate an online image.
She previously shut down those questions when discussing her collection.
“I think people expect the car girl thing to be performative,” Price told InTouch Weekly. “But I can tell you the torque specs on every single one of mine. I picked the colors. I sat at the dealership. I signed the paperwork. These are mine.”
That claim matches how Price presents herself online, where cars remain a defining part of her public persona. Her social profiles describe her interests in cars and lifestyle content, and her collection has continued to generate attention beyond her OnlyFans audience.
Ke Huy Quan is recalling a bizarre encounter with a fellow actor at an awards ceremony where he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the acclaimed movie “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
According to Quan, the well-known star told him he would not win after he made a silly face while taking a selfie with him. Quan ultimately took home the award, becoming the first Asian actor to win in the category.
In his recently published memoir, Quan shared details for the first time about an incident at the 2023 SAG Awards, where he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
“I spotted a well-known actor I’d respected for years standing right behind me,” Quan wrote in his memoir, Never Say Die. “Without thinking too much about it, I asked if we could take a picture together. I held the phone out between us, angled it back toward our faces, and leaned in.”
The Selfie Took A Turn With A ‘Stupid Face’ Dig
However, when Quan made one of his silly faces while taking the selfie, the actor, whom he did not name, responded with a cutting remark.
“He shook his head and added, ‘You’re not going to win tonight with that stupid face,’” Quan recalled.
At that moment, Quan brushed off the remark and decided to enjoy the rest of the show.
Quan Had The Last Laugh After His SAG Awards Win
At that moment, Quan brushed off the remark and decided to enjoy the rest of the show.
Eventually, his name was called as the winner, leaving him momentarily stunned as the crowd erupted in applause.
“For a second, I didn’t move,” Quan recalled. “Then I stood, that familiar disbelief rushing back in. I walked to the stage and accepted the award, feeling the weight of it settle into my hands.”
After receiving the award and returning to his seat, Quan remembered the actor’s comment and felt a surge of pride.
“I went back to my seat, holding the statue, and smiled to myself. I’d won with that stupid face. I wasn’t going to let someone else’s comment touch that night. It was too big for me,” he shared.
The Actor Was The First Asian Star To Win The Award
At that year’s SAG Awards, Quan not only won the award for the first time but also became the first Asian actor to win in the category.
The moment left him deeply emotional, but he also used it to honor other Asian performers in Hollywood, including fellow nominees Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, and Hong Chau.
“I recently was told that if I were to win tonight, I would become the very first Asian actor to win in this category,” the actor said onstage. “When I heard this, I quickly realized that this moment no longer belongs to just me; it also belongs to everyone who has asked for change.”
Everything Everywhere All At Once Sequel Remains Unlikely
For fans still hoping for a sequel to “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the prospect remains unlikely, based on comments from cast and crew.
At the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Michelle Yeoh, who played lead character Evelyn Wang, appeared to rule out a follow-up.
“We would just be doing the same thing,” she told Variety at the time, as PopSugar reported.
A year earlier, directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert also dismissed the idea and refuted a report claiming a potential sequel would focus on parents being “radicalized” by social media.
“Don’t even remember making this joke,” the filmmakers wrote in a tweet. “Must have been back in March when the idea of a sequel was especially comically far-fetched to us.”
The ladies of Dancing With the Stars season 35 are bringing the moves — and competition — to the ballroom.
ABC’s two-night premiere concluded on Wednesday, September 16, with the female celebrity contestants each dancing to a Billboard No. 1 hit from their birth year. Similar to night one on Tuesday, September 15, the judges did not hold back when it came to delivering honest feedback and scores.
“We’re all very excited to see what this cast can do, but we also want to leave room for growth, so remember that as the scores come out,” Carrie Ann Inaba shared at the top of the show before giving Jan Ravnik and Tatyana Ali a 4 out of 10. “We want you to earn every point of those scores.”
Maura Higgins and Mark Ballas wowed the judges with one of the highest scores of the night, while Ciara Miller and Brandon Armstrong’s foxtrot left them near the bottom of the leaderboard.
At the end of the night, the votes were counted and cohosts Julianne Hough and Alfonso Ribeiro revealed Sarah Jane Nader and pro partner Hailey Bills were eliminated from the competition.
Dancing With the Stars airs on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET. Scroll down for a complete breakdown of each couple’s scores from the second night of season 35’s premiere:
The X-Men‘s Master of Magnetism is in a bit of a strange spot right now. As the MCU assembles its X-Men for Jake Schreier‘s much-anticipated first mutant movie in 2028, Magneto was surprisingly left out of the picture. Instead, the focus of casting has been on the younger heroes, like Jean Gray (Sadie Sink) and Cyclops (Kit Connor), who’ll join Christopher Abbott‘s Charles Xavier and likely tangle with Adam Driver, who was instead tapped to play Nathaniel Millbury, another name for Mister Sinister. In live-action, at least, that leaves one of the series’ most iconic characters up in the air after Ian McKellen reprises the role in Avengers: Doomsday, with an eye towards future installments as the point to introduce a new iteration.
Marvel Comics similarly has Magneto taking a bit of a back seat at the moment during the new DNX crossover. The special event sees the X-Men teaming up with the Fantastic Four to help save the veteran mutant from a mysterious condition that has left him in a dire state, all while confronting a major threat from 3K, led by an older version of Beast, who seeks to unleash the X-virus upon the world. As both groups act upon what they learned from the dark future of the Age of Revelation, the latest issue of the X-Men comics breaks off for a telekinetic showdown for the ages with one of 3K’s members and one of the most powerful telepaths around, Cassandra Nova. The spiritual opposite of Xavier, given form by the professor’s overwhelming potential, she’s a threat that few telepaths, let alone other mutants, could stand against, but Jed McKay and Netho Diaz‘s run has a strong candidate to step in and succeed Magneto at such a crucial time.
Spoilers ahead for X-Men #37
Cassandra Nova Meets Her Match in Magneto’s Spiritual Successor
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Image via Marvel Comics -
Image via Marvel Comics -
Image via Marvel Comics
Issue #37 finds Quentin Quire going “brain-to-brain” with Cassandra, and while he talks a big game, he quickly backs it up with a showcase of skills in the mindscape. While his opponent vomits bugs and summons Sentinels, the young mutant plays the classics by calling in the X-Men in a physical manifestation of their powers clashing together. In a particularly poignant moment, as they pit their ideals against one another, Quentin invokes Magneto and how the mutant grew to understand what it meant to truly protect his kind without affecting another. Like Magneto, he learned from past mistakes, now believing that “There is only the oppressed and the oppressor” and that genes do not decide who is greater.
Their battle feels like a collision between the old mutant supremacist Magneto and the reformed leader now fighting for a better future for everyone. Quentin counters Cassandra’s assertion that human extinction is the only way to save mutantkind, actively summoning the visage of his northern star as a reminder of how he was inspired to see the world and the people in it differently. His arc as a hero directly mimics his mentor, and it’s that determination to create a better tomorrow for mutants without any more oppression that allows him to overpower Cassandra and deliver a very fitting, vital blow. The fight doesn’t end in that moment, but it’s a symbolic victory and a passing of the torch to the next generation of heroes empowered by the efforts and ideals of those who came before.
X-Men #37 is now available for purchase. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the latest Marvel Comics issues as they release each week.
- Release Date
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May 5, 2028
- Director
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Jake Schreier
- Writers
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Joanna Calo, Lee Sung Jin, Michael Lesslie
- Franchise(s)
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Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), X-Men
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Inde Navarrette
Rogue / Anna Marie
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Kit Connor
Scott Summers / Cyclops
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Samara Weaving
Emma Frost
Jan Ravnik is not taking his return to Dancing With the Stars as a season 35 pro dancer for granted.
“I have never watched this show in my life,” Jan, 31, revealed to The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published on Wednesday, September 16. “It wasn’t on my [mood] board. And I’m still a little bit shocked that I’m back.”
Jan joined the DWTS pro troupe for season 34 in 2025, after he was scouted by famed executive producer Deena Katz while he was performing as a backup dancer as part of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in 2024.
His casting proved to be controversial, in part because he has no prior ballroom experience. Veteran DWTS pro Maks Chmerkovskiy made headlines in October 2025 when he suggested that Jan had “absolutely no business being a pro on Dancing With the Stars.”
Jan Ravnik’s drama with Maks Chmerkovskiy has rocked the Dancing With the Stars fandom. Maks criticized Jan’s first season on the show during an appearance on wife Peta Murgatroyd’s “The Penthouse With Peta” podcast. “I’m sorry, Jan has absolutely no business being a pro on Dancing With the Stars,” Maks said on the October 24 […]
“There’s zero foundation technique, quality, understanding of the partnership,” Maks, 46, said on the “Penthouse With Peta” podcast at the time. “Bro, I’m getting emotional. It is absurd, and this is unreal how blind we have to be and God forbid say what’s obviously there.”
In the end, Jan and his celebrity partner, Secret Lives of Mormon Wives star Jen Affleck, finished season 34 in ninth place after their week seven elimination.
“Just try to ignore the background noise happening around you. I learned that I’m a very patient person, which I didn’t know,” Jan told THR of what he has learned since joining DWTS. “It’s just to find ways to humble yourself, but still love yourself at the same time. This job, you need to humble yourself a lot.”
Jan Ravnik Disney/Andrew Eccles
The pro dancer stressed that he’s discovered “a lot of things on the production side” that he’s carrying into his second season on DWTS, in which he is paired with Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actress Tatyana Ali.
“All the pros, when they are coming into a show, they are [on] troupe before, so you’re learning the background; how the camera works, how the music department works, how they’re assigning your styles,” he explained. “When I went in, I just went with the flow. And now, I’m thinking back, I’m like, why the f*** did I have cha cha for week four on this song — I didn’t know that I was able to maybe talk with my partner and switch the song, or because I knew the things that she couldn’t do, but they were still pushing for the style, and I was like, ‘Oh s***!’”
He continued, “But now, this time around, the first thing that I did, I went to a studio with Tatyana. We went through a lot of styles, frame, out of frame, the fast speed, so I know what she’s good at. So then, at least if the style is coming, I can be like, ‘Hey, this is a suicide. We are not doing that for week two. We’re gonna do [this] for week five.’ Now I’m more comfortable, and put my foot down and be like, ‘Hey, we’re not doing that.’”
Jan Ravnik and Tatyana Ali on “Dancing with the Stars.” Disney/Andrew Eccles
Following the conclusion of Dancing With the Stars two-night premiere on Wednesday, the Emmy-winning competition show will air on ABC and Disney+ Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET.
Julia Haart is marking a monumental moment in her life as an officially single woman.
“Four and a half years later… we finally get to celebrate. ❤️,” the My Unorthodox Life star, 55, wrote via Instagram on Wednesday, September 16, announcing her lengthy divorce from Silvio Scaglia is final after a contentious, four-year battle. “There are no words for what it means to look around this table and see my children beside me. They’ve watched me fight, held me up on the hardest days, made me laugh when I needed it most, and never stopped believing in me.”
Julia’s included a video of her and her kids celebrating her legally single status. (Julia shares Batsheva, Shlomo, Miriam and Aron with first husband, Yosef Hendler.)
The group marked the occasion by enjoying a celebratory dance.
My Unorthodox Life star Julia Haart is celebrating a major win in her divorce from Silvio Scaglia. Us Weekly confirmed on Tuesday, January 21, that Haart, 53, was awarded 50 percent interest in Freedom Holding — the company that owns the exes’ business Elite World Models agency — and received power of attorney over Scaglia’s […]
“The divorce is FINAL. This chapter is closed,” she continued. “And getting to celebrate this moment surrounded by my kids? That’s the win that means the most to me. 🥂.”
The fashion designer hinted that “there is so much more to this story,” adding that she can’t “wait” to tell her fans and followers “everything.”
“Stay tuned,” she teased.
Us confirmed that Julia filed for divorce in February 2022, two years after she and Silvio tied the knot.
“Silvio’s moving out today. It’s really scary,” she said in a confessional during a December 2022 episode of the Netflix series. “It feels like the end of a dream. I’m so disappointed in myself.”
During their marriage, Julia was named the CEO of Silvio’s model and talent agency, Elite World Group. Following the announcement of their split, Julia was fired from her role and claimed to be “completely blindsided” by his actions. One day after filing for divorce, she was accused of making “illegal withdrawals” from the EWG bank account exiting the company.
Julia Haart’s eldest daughter, Batsheva, is cheering for her mom after a victory in her divorce from Silvio Scaglia. “Celebrating my moms [sic] win in her divorce case!” Batsheva, 31, shared via TikTok on Tuesday, January 21, captioning the post, “She wonnnnnn @juliahaart finally getting her freedom.” In the clip, Haart, 53 and her loved […]
The following month, Us exclusively confirmed that Silvio filed a complaint against Julia accusing her of stealing a $401,500 Bentley that was owned by EWG. Julia subsequently filed a lawsuit in June 2022 claiming that Silvio withdrew $1.5 million from the account holding her CEO salary. Later that year, Silivio dropped the lawsuits filed against Julia.
“I believe the fact that Silvio withdrew these cases with prejudice, meaning dismissed permanently, on the day discovery was due, speaks volumes,” Julia said in a December 2022 statement. “No money was paid by me and I intend to continue to pursue my fraud and defamation litigation against Silvio and others named in those cases. Now my focus and priority is to heal through the strength and support of my family and to continue to build businesses that will empower others.”
Cher’s son, Elijah Blue Allman, has reportedly been indicted on a felony criminal mischief charge months after allegedly forcing his way into a New Hampshire woman’s home and smoking a cigarette on her couch. The indictment represents the latest development in a pair of criminal cases involving the 50-year-old musician, who was arrested twice within three days earlier this year.
Allman pleaded not guilty to charges related to the alleged home invasion. The proceedings have since been delayed while he receives treatment at New Hampshire State Hospital.
A New Hampshire grand jury indicted Allman on a felony criminal mischief charge connected to the alleged March 1 incident in Windham, according to court records obtained by the Daily Mail. His arraignment on the newly indicted charge is scheduled for October 2.
An indictment indicates that a grand jury found sufficient probable cause for the charge to proceed. It is not a finding of guilt.
Allman previously pleaded not guilty to criminal mischief, burglary, and breach of bail charges stemming from the same incident. The criminal proceedings have been delayed while Allman undergoes treatment at New Hampshire State Hospital. He is also scheduled to face a competency hearing in November in connection with a separate case involving St. Paul’s School in Concord.
Competency proceedings determine whether a defendant can understand the criminal case and assist attorneys with a defense. They do not decide whether the defendant committed the alleged offenses.
Police Say He Broke Into An Occupied Home
Windham police responded to a residence on March 1 after a woman reported that an unknown man had entered her home while she was still inside. The homeowner reportedly hid inside a closet and called 911. Authorities allege that Allman forced his way through a back door before sitting on the woman’s couch and smoking a cigarette. Police said he did not have permission to enter the residence.
According to PEOPLE, investigators alleged that Allman used loppers to force his way inside. Damage to the home, including the broken door and a burned rug, reportedly totaled more than $2,700. Police did not accuse Allman of stealing anything from the residence.
Allman was arrested and initially ordered held in preventive detention. The incident allegedly violated conditions imposed after his earlier release, resulting in an additional breach-of-bail charge.
The Arrest Came Days After An Alleged School Disturbance
Allman’s Windham arrest occurred two days after police were called to St. Paul’s School, a private boarding school in Concord. Police said Allman had no known connection to the school and was reported as an unwanted visitor. The musician allegedly presented himself as the parent of a prospective student to gain access to the campus. Authorities said he later became belligerent inside the school’s dining hall.
According to the Associated Press, Allman was charged with two misdemeanor counts of simple assault, as well as criminal trespass and criminal threatening. He was also accused of disorderly conduct, which is classified as a violation rather than a crime under New Hampshire law.
Police alleged that Allman poked a student with his cane during the disturbance. Students also claimed he approached female students and attempted to start conversations before school security intervened.
Student Described The Scene After Police Arrived
A student who witnessed the aftermath said multiple police vehicles arrived outside the dining hall. “I was walking through campus, and I saw the cop cars outside the dining hall,” the student told the Daily Mail. “At that point the guy [Allman] was sitting against a car, talking to police. It looked like he was handcuffed, and everything looked pretty calm.”
The student said friends who were inside the dining hall described Allman as behaving strangely before officers arrived. “What I do know, from a few of my girl friends, is that right before he was in the dining hall bothering people,” the student said. “He was right in front of a girls’ dorm, trying to get in. They slammed the door in his face.”
The witness also claimed Allman appeared to be looking for companionship but focused his attention on female students. “He was so weird. He wanted friends, I guess, but the only kids he was trying to talk to were girls,” the student recalled. “He kept hitting on all the girls. It was kind of scary for everyone.”
Allman Has A History Of Substance Abuse
Allman is the only child Cher shares with her late second husband, musician Gregg Allman. He has publicly discussed struggling with substance abuse from a young age and undergoing multiple periods of rehabilitation.
In June 2025, Allman was hospitalized after reportedly being found unconscious in Joshua Tree, California. The health emergency was described as a suspected drug overdose. His health and substance abuse history have also been at the center of his mother’s efforts to establish a conservatorship over his estate.
Cher initially filed a conservatorship petition in December 2023, arguing that her son could not safely manage payments from a trust established by his late father. A judge denied her request for a temporary conservatorship in January 2024. Cher later dismissed that petition in September 2024 following private mediation. She filed another petition after Allman’s 2026 arrests, citing renewed concerns about his mental health, substance abuse, and finances.
In April, a judge again declined to establish an emergency temporary conservatorship, finding insufficient urgency while Allman remained hospitalized and could not access an upcoming trust payment.
During BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard went ahead and boldly teased two projects that are still in development and still roughly minimum 3 years in the future. The goal behind that was to let the world know that Blizzard has a strong footing and that StarCraft and Diablo 5 will be rolled out just in time. In a world where Rockstar is constantly extending the release date for GTA 6 and CD Projekt Red did the same with Cyberpunk 2077 back in 2020, that sort of commitment can genuinely be comforting.
During the opening ceremony, StarCraft developer Dan Hay went on to reveal that the game would be released sometime in 2030. It was also unveiled that instead of being a real-time strategy title, the 2030 StarCraft game will be an open-world shooter. As per GameRant, then came a surprising tease of Diablo 5, which is a good straw for fans to hold onto ahead of Diablo 4 rolling out its ninth playable class, the Amazon, in early 2027.
During an interview with Bloomberg, Blizzard’s president Johanna Faries insinuated that the studio is focused on shipping big releases on time. She specifically added that they have “all hands on deck to set those projects up for success.” Historically, however, that’s not been the case. In fact, Blizzard has followed a strict policy of “it’s done when it’s done,” and they rarely announce specific release years or windows for their games until the projects are very close to being finished. She further expressed her confidence in the Studio’s aims in the following words:
“We’re a Blizzard that’s going to ship, and ship big, and ship on time, and all hands on deck to set those projects up for success. We want to convey confidence in some of our biggest bets coming forward.”
StarCraft Has Tried to Become a Shooter Before — Twice
StarCraft: Ghost was announced way back in 2002 as a third-person action game before being indefinitely postponed and eventually treated as cancelled. Then Blizzard developed another StarCraft FPS, codenamed Ares, for roughly two years before cancelling it in 2019 so resources could move toward Diablo IV and Overwatch 2. That prototype was reportedly envisioned as something like Battlefield in the StarCraft universe, with players controlling a Terran Marine against the Zerg.
It’s also important to note here that Blizzard showed no StarCraft gameplay at BlizzCon, and the video shown was a cinematic. Platforms, precise gameplay systems, exact camera perspective, and many core details remain undisclosed for now.
StarCraft is being planned for a release in Spring 2030, and Diablo 5 is being shipped for Spring 2029. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
In the era before streaming, many series may have slipped under the radar. The 2004 series The 4400 certainly falls into this category, but just like its characters, it has a hidden ability. It also happens to be one of the best sci-fi shows on television. A predecessor to the strange yet perfect sci-fi world of Fringe, The 4400 was an interesting combination of The X-Files and X-Men. Implementing an early role for Mahershala Ali, the series follows the strange circumstances of 4400 people arriving in a beam of light at the same place and time.
All of these people were abducted separately, starting in 1946. What first appeared to be an obvious case of alien abduction segued into a little-seen series that has no bad episodes. The 4400 has not only lasted the test of time but is still one of the most unique series out there.
‘The 4400’ Was an Overlooked Puzzlebox Mystery
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Image via Alan Zenuk / © CBS/Paramount Network Television / Courtesy: Everett Collection -
Image via Alan Zenuk / © CBS/Paramount Network Television / Courtesy: Everett Collection -
Image via Alan Zenuk / © CBS/Paramount Network Television / Courtesy: Everett Collection -
Image via USA Network -
Image via USA Network
In the heyday of Lost, The 4400 was a series that was just as deserving of attention. The high concept was unlike anything else on television and was set up perfectly for appointment viewing. When the titular 4400 arrive in a mysterious ball of light, Tom Baldwin (Joel Gretsch) and Diana Skouris (Jacqueline McKenzie) are tasked with investigating the circumstances of these arrivals. Each person who appears in the same spot in Washington has not aged a day since their abduction, and some have even developed supernatural abilities.
The mystery of how and why powers the series in a fascinating mystery that gets better and better. Each episode follows Homeland Security’s attempt to unravel the enigma of these returnees. Extremely character-driven, The 4400 explores the specifics of many of the abductees.
Mahershala Ali’s character, Richard Tyler, was a pilot in the Korean War who had fallen in love with a white woman. Racial tensions were high when he was abducted and returned to the present day. Decades later, the granddaughter of his lover, Lily (Laura Allen), is also abducted and returns pregnant with his child. The first season seeks to uncover exactly why these people were abducted and the truth behind their abilities.
The 4400 plays with the idea of alien abduction only to reveal that these people weren’t taken by extraterrestrials, but humans from the future. This twist deepens the intrigue even further in typical puzzlebox mystery fashion. These humans had sent the abductees to this time in order to avert some sort of ambiguous catastrophe.
Each season of the perfect Manifest replacement show escalates the stakes of the previous, a rarity for high-concept sci-fi series such as this. The heart of the narrative, however, is the characters. Once the main mystery is solved, The 4400 explores the ramifications of what people with such power are able to do. Tragically, the 2008 Writers’ Strike took another victim. Like so many other inventive series of the time, the show fell to the sword. Only heavy-hitters such as Lost and Breaking Bad survived, while other deserving stories were cancelled. Despite all, The 4400 delivered four solid seasons. Though it ends on a cliffhanger, none of the episodes leave viewers wanting.
- Release Date
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2004 – 2007-00-00
- Directors
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Vincent Misiano, Leslie Libman, Nick Copus, Colin Bucksey, Allison Liddi-Brown, Nick Gomez, Morgan Beggs, Aaron Lipstadt, Craig Ross Jr., David Straiton, Douglas Petrie, Ernest R. Dickerson, Fred Toye, Helen Shaver, John Behring, Michael W. Watkins, Milan Cheylov, Oz Scott, Tim Hunter, Tony Westman
- Writers
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Amy Berg, Bruce Miller, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Andrew Colville, Michael Narducci, Darcy Meyers, Mark Kruger, Nick Wauters, René Echevarria
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Jacqueline McKenzie
Diana Skouris
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