Ted Lasso star Hannah Waddingham admitted that she feels guilty “all the time” when she has to temporarily leave her 12-year-old daughter for acting jobs.

“I’m about to go away to do press for the next season of Ted [Lasso], and the mummy guilt descends,” Waddingham, 51, told The Guardian in an interview published on Saturday, July 18. “But I have to try and combat it.”

Waddingham welcomed daughter Kitty with Italian hotel manager Gianluca Cugnetto in 2014, though the former couple split in 2022.

The Emmy winner revealed that she was “eight months pregnant” with Kitty when she was offered her international breakthrough role on Game of Thrones as the vengeful Septa Unella. While the actress considered turning down the job, she realized that it would be a mistake to pass up a “juggernaut” like Game of Thrones.

Related: Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham Breaks Silence on Jason Sudeikis Feud Rumors

Hannah Waddingham didn’t hold back when addressing rumors of a feud between her and Ted Lasso costar Jason Sudeikis. “For the first time ever I am finding it necessary to silence the utter bollocks being written about a ‘rift’ between me and my beloved, long-standing friend and acting partner Jason Sudeikis,” Waddingham, 51, wrote in […]

Still, Waddingham recalled feeling intense guilt about being away from newborn Kitty when it came time to film her role on the HBO series.

“[One part of me] just thought, ‘Oh my God, what am I doing?’” she said. “The other part was going, I’ve got terrible separation anxiety. So when I watch it back, I just see a woman who doesn’t know whether she’s coming or going.”

Now, Waddingham tries to keep something from her daughter close when she’s away working — including bringing a cardboard purse designed by Kitty to the 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards (now known as The Actor Awards).

“I picked it up and went, ‘It’s actually got more space in it than a normal, designer, ridiculous handbag, so I’m going to take it up the red carpet,’” she said. “I did it on purpose, to show her that she’s never far away from me.”

With her daughter entering her teenage years, Waddingham has contemplated taking an extended role on the stage. (The British actress has been nominated three times at the Laurence Olivier Awards but she hasn’t worked on the stage since a 2015 London production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying due to the rigorous demands of theater.)

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Related: Which ‘Ted Lasso’ Stars Are — And Aren’t — Returning for Season 4?

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Ted Lasso is coming back for season 4 after seemingly coming to an end — but will every original star return to the show? The hit Apple TV series, which premiered in 2020, follows an American football coach who moves across the pond to take over a scrappy British soccer team. Fans previously questioned whether […]

“I don’t think my daughter is ready,” she admitted, adding, “I need to find the time to be able to go, ‘I’m taking this coat off for now and I’m putting my theatre coat back on.’”

For now, Waddingham is reprising her role as soccer team owner Rebecca Welton in the long-awaited fourth season of Ted Lasso, which premieres on Apple TV+ in August.

She also has two major movies in the works — an animated adaptation of Paul McCartney, Geoff Dunbar and Philip Ardagh’s novel High in the Clouds and the surreal action-comedy Jason Statham Stole My Bike.

Matty Healy is a married man as he and his fiancée, Gabbriette Bechtel, have reportedly tied the knot.

JustJared and Extra published photos on Saturday, July 18, of Healy, 37, exchanging rings with Bechtel, 28, at Madonna‘s former Hollywood Hills mansion Castillo del Lago, which was immortalized in the classic 1963 horror movie House of the Damned. (Madonna owned the historic home from 1993 to 1997.)

The musician looked sharp in a black tuxedo while Bechtel opted for a traditional white gown and long veil. Photos showed Healy dipping Bechtel for a romantic kiss after they exchanged vows.

Per JustJared, the celebrity guest list included Charli XCX and her husband, Healy’s The 1975 bandmate George Daniel, influencers Anastasia Karanikolaou and Devon Lee Carlson, and model Quenlin Blackwell.

Related: Matty Healy and Fiancee Gabbriette Bechtel‘s Relationship Timeline

Getty Images (2) Matty Healy and Gabbriette Bechtel’s romance has been years in the making. According to Bechtel’s 2024 profile in HommeGirls magazine, she and Healy tried to meet for four years before they actually did. “He came to L.A., and we’ve been in love ever since,” Bechtel gushed to the magazine in their spring/summer […]

Us Weekly has reached out to Bechtel’s spokesperson for comment.

The reported nuptials followed just two weeks after Healy’s ex, Taylor Swift, tied the knot with NFL star Travis Kelce in a star-studded ceremony at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on July 3. (Another of Healy’s ex-girlfriends, Gabriella Brooks, attended Swift and Kelce’s wedding with fiancé Liam Hemsworth.)

The 1975 frontman and the model went public with their relationship in September 2023. At the time, the couple were spotted kissing while out in New York City.

In May 2024, Bechtel shared a rare glimpse into her romance with Healy, explaining the roots of their connection.

“I think that we just both enjoy good food, honestly,” she told E! News at the time. “He’s taught me a lot about food.”

Bechtel added that the pair “have the same taste in music” and offered some insight into their typical date night.

“The last thing I did was a really good kale salad with pine nuts,” she said of a meal she had recently cooked for Healy. “Parmesan, sexy little skirt steak and I did potato gratin.”

The following month, Bechtel and Healy sparked engagement rumors when she posted a series of Instagram Story photos showing off a large black diamond ring on her left hand.

“MARRYING THE 1975 IS VERY BRAT,” Bechtel captioned one of the pictures, referencing Charli XCX’s Brat album. (Charli got engaged to The 1975’s drummer, Daniel, in November 2023, and Bechtel’s photos appeared to be taken during Charli’s Brooklyn concert.)

Related: Matty Healy‘s Dating History: Taylor Swift, Halsey and More

The 1975’s Matty Healy has dated several A-listers over the years. Healy reconnected with Taylor Swift following her April 2023 split from Joe Alwyn, nine years after the singers were initially linked in 2014. “They’re looking to give things a second chance,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in May 2023 of Healy and Swift. […]

Although Healy did not comment on the speculation at the time, he reposted Bechtel’s Instagram Story.

Healy’s mother, Denise Welch, ultimately confirmed the engagement during a June 2024 episode of ITV’s Loose Women.

“I woke up this morning to the fact that they put it on Instagram,” she said. “Instagram official! He’s got engaged to Gabriella Bechtel, Gabbriette she’s known as.”

Welch noted that Healy procured a custom-made “black diamond” ring for Bechtel.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled,” she continued. “She’s from Los Angeles, she’s absolutely gorgeous. She does have a [pet] rat. … Anyway, we couldn’t be happier. She is everything that I would want in a daughter-in-law, and so I’m thrilled.”

In July 2024, Bechtel hinted at her plans to start a family with Healy in the future.

“When I have kids, it’s going to be: dinner every night — no phones — to celebrate the smaller things and recognize people’s happiness,” she told British Vogue at the time.

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Bechtel also gushed over Healy after receiving a phone call from him during her interview.

“I love being in love,” she raved. “When I thought that I was in love before it was just me being a person of service to somebody else.”

Prior to his relationship with Bechtel, Healy made headlines for his whirlwind romance with Swift in 2023. He was also previously linked to Halsey in 2015, Brooks from 2015 to 2019 and FKA Twigs from 2020 to 2022.

Adaptations are proving more popular than ever, with many of the biggest streaming sites in the world dominated by screen interpretations of literature. On Netflix, the new Western series Little House on the Prairie has made a wonderful start to streaming life, even if there are claims that the show is being review bombed. The series, which is based on the children’s novels by Laura Ingalls Wilder, earned 6.4 million views in just four days, according to a new report, cementing Netflix’s quick decision to renew the show for a second season.

Little House on the Prairie isn’t just a hit in viewership terms; it has also proved successful with critics, including Collider’s Maggie Lovitt, who called it a “masterpiece” in her review, adding that, “Little House on the Prairie is sure to be an instant hit for Netflix, and with any luck, it will live on for many more seasons, just as the original series did.” In the U.S., the show is unsurprisingly the most-streamed on Netflix. However, on the global stage, it has been unable to overtake its biggest rival.

At the time of writing, Little House on the Prairie is the third-most-watched show on Netflix in the world, with the charts topped by Harlan Coben‘s new Netflix crime thriller, I Will Find You. Based on a bestselling novel by Coben, I Will Find You is the latest in a prolific working relationship between the acclaimed author and Netflix, which has previously included the likes of Missing You and Fool Me Once. Avatar‘s Sam Worthington and Severance fan-favorite Britt Lower star in the hit series, which accumulated 85 million views in a month of release.

Is ‘I Will Find You’ a Critical Hit?

Little House on the Prairie might be trailing I Will Find You on the global streaming charts, but has it at least been better received by critics? The short answer is yes, with the former earning a 78% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, compared to the latter’s 61%. Called “a solid way to pass the time” by Collider’s Taylor Gates, adding that it “will satisfy those who love to binge Coben’s shows the day they premiere.”

Both Little House on the Prairie and I Will Find You are streaming now on Netflix. Stay tuned to Collider for more.

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Release Date

July 9, 2026

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Netflix

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Directors

Kat Candler, Julie Anne Robinson, Sydney Freeland, Sarah Adina Smith, Erica Tremblay

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Adam Starks, Eleanor Burgess, Adam Starks, Tom Hanada, Francesca Butler

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Actor Adam Driver, best known for playing Kylo Ren/Ben Solo in the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, will reportedly be in attendance when “Paper Tiger” opens the New York Film Festival later this year. The film, directed by James Gray, debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, where it received rave reviews. The film also stars Driver’s “Marriage Story” costar Scarlett Johansson and “Top Gun: Maverick” star Miles Teller.

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“Paper Tiger,” the crime drama directed by James Gray, will open the 64^th New York Film Festival on September 25. This is Gray’s fourth film to appear at the film festival, following 2013’s “The Immigrant” and 2022’s “Armageddon Time,” which were both official main selections. 2016’s “The Lost City of Z” was the closing night film.

The film, which premiered at Cannes and received a seven-minute standing ovation, features two brothers: Irwin Pearl (Teller) and Gary Pearl (Driver). Irwin gets entangled with the Russian mafia after Gary, a former cop, drags him into a get-rich-quick scheme that quickly goes sideways and puts Irwin’s two sons and his wife (Johansson) in danger.

Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, and Miles Teller Expected To Attend NYFF

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“James Gray has been a fixture at the New York Film Festival for many years, and we are thrilled to welcome him back as our Opening Night filmmaker with a career-best achievement,” NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim said in a statement to Variety.

Director James Gray added, “I’m immensely grateful to be welcomed back to this remarkable festival. This deeply personal film is rooted in New York City; from my upbringing to life-changing family experiences. To be here, at the heart of art and cinema, with our cast and crew — many of whom are New Yorkers — is a privilege.”

Gray, along with members of the cast and crew – including Driver, Johannson, and Teller – is expected to attend the premiere. NYFF64 single tickets will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, September 15, at noon Eastern Time. Presale access for FLC members and pass holders will be available before then.

Miles Teller Talks Working With Adam Driver On ‘Paper Tiger’

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As The Blast previously reported, “Eternity” actor Miles Teller talked to IndieWire about working with Adam Driver on the set of the crime drama. He described one scene in which he is acting opposite Driver, and he is so angry that his face quivers with rage.

“At least in my own life, your family can get to you in a way that nobody else can,” Teller explained. “Those feelings are so deeply rooted and established from childhood, so I guess in that moment, and neither one is fully aware of the ramifications of the Russians, this deal going bad, and how it’s affecting that person in their life.”

“In that particular scene, you’re letting out. It’s not just about what they’re talking about right there,” he continued. “It’s an entire lifetime of misgivings — he’s going to let him have it.”

Scarlett Johansson Wanted More Scenes With Adam Driver

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Scarlett Johansson played Driver’s estranged wife in 2019’s “Marriage Story.” In “Paper Tiger,” she plays Teller’s wife. That being said, she wished that she got to film more scenes with the “Star Wars” alum.

She told The Hollywood Reporter, “I would’ve loved to have had even more scenework with him,” adding, “I love working with him.”

In 2025, she told PEOPLE magazine that she had a “great” experience working with Driver on the set of the 2019 divorce drama. “I love Adam as a person, and he is an absolutely extraordinary actor,” she said at the time. “If I could make every movie with Adam Driver, I would.”

Adam Driver Answered A Question About Lena Dunham’s Memoir Claims At Cannes

Jodie Sweetin credited Full House costar John Stamos with supporting her sobriety over the years.

“John and I really, really connected in a lot of ways over [sobriety],” Sweetin, 44, shared during a Wednesday, July 15, appearance on the “Dory Jackson Interview” podcast.

The pair’s friendship started out when Stamos, 62, played Sweetin’s Full House character Stephanie Tanner’s uncle Jesse Katsopolis on the ABC sitcom from 1987 to 1995.

Sweetin has spoken candidly about battling addiction in her adolescence while Stamos wrote in his 2023 memoir, If You Would Have Told Me, that he got sober after entering rehab in 2015. (Stamos sought treatment following a misdemeanor DUI arrest in Beverly Hills at the time. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor of driving under the influence and was sentenced to three years probation.)

“We have been there to celebrate each other’s big successes and milestones, and I am so glad that I got to be an example of attraction rather than promotion, which is a big principle in recovery,” Sweetin said in her latest interview.

She added. “[The principle is] don’t beat people over the head. Just be the result of all of your work, and chances are, people that are looking will find you.”

Sweetin told Us Weekly in 2009 that she’d recently decided to get sober following an incident that threatened her child custody. (Sweetin shares daughter Zoie, 18, with her second ex-husband, Cody Herpin, and daughter Beatrix, 15, with third ex-husband, Morty Coyle.)

“I got sober for good on December 7, 2008. I was flying to L.A. and I ended up taking a bunch of Nyquil and drinking a s***load,” she recalled. “When I got home, I got a call that there was an emergency custody investigation because of my drinking. From that day forward, I threw myself into going to [Alcoholics Anonymous] and avoided people who do blow off their coffee tables. … Life is good. I’m happier than I can remember.”

She revealed in a 2016 Dancing With the Stars episode that getting sober caused “a huge shift in my life.”

“Everything I had known from the time I was 5 years old suddenly ended [after Full House] and it was like saying goodbye to a family I had loved very, very much,” she noted. “At such a young age it really was a huge loss for me, I didn’t know how to grieve. Drugs and alcohol just sort of numbed everything.”

Sweetin continued: “I was doing cocaine and ecstasy and alcohol and all of that. The darkest moments for me weren’t necessarily winding up in the hospital or anything like that. It was those quiet moments alone when I just hated the person I had become.”

During her latest podcast interview, Sweetin clarified that she had her “last drink” in 2011.

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“It’s been such a journey — the work I did in 12-step programs, the work I did in outside programs and therapy and also just kind of growing up and, and perspective, all of those things,” she said. “You get the opportunity to become a different person and once you start actually liking that person, it becomes really hard to go back and continue destructive behavior. You kind of go, ‘Oh, wait, hold on, I want to take care of this little person inside here and see what they’re capable of.’ And I’ve been really fortunate to be able to do that. I’ve definitely fallen flat along the way and learned hard lessons.”

The actress concluded, “For so long, I think people like me use drugs and alcohol to not at all be attached to who they are, and so to be like, ‘No, no, no, I like me, I don’t need anything, I’m good,’ is very freeing.”

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.

There is something about Chris Pratt that makes him the perfect actor to play law enforcement officers, especially those in the military. From Zero Dark Thirty to The Terminal List, his TV and film career has featured these roles that have made him one of the most recognizable actors of the last two decades. Just this year, he played a police officer in Mercy, a timely film about AI that, while it underperformed in theaters, became a hit on streaming. This November, Pratt is once again taking on another military character, but there is something different about this one.

If you’re wondering whether he might be getting typecast, his upcoming Apple TV movie taps into a different side of him. Instead of relying on the hard, gritty exterior Navy SEALs are known for, his character, Jake, uses military training for something different. In the film directed by McG, Jake is a decorated Navy SEAL who spends a summer with his sister, Sarah (Linda Cardellini), and her son, Marc (Jude Hill). Jake learns that his nephew is having a hard time at school.

Middle school has been hell for Marc because, apart from being bullied, he has bad grades, horrible physical education, and his friends are non-existent. Many movies about bullies follow a similar script: The bullied kid learns to fight and shows his bullies who’s the boss. But not Way of the Warrior Kid, as the film is titled. Jake draws on his military training to launch Operation Warrior Kid to help his nephew address his current problem. The film’s description remains cryptic about what Operation Warrior Kid entails, saying that he “shows Marc what real courage is.” Jake is also benefiting from this operation, as it helps him confront his own demons. Way of the Warrior Kid was written and adapted for the screen by Will Staples, based on Jocko Willink‘s book.

Chris Pratt Will Be Back for ‘The Terminal List’ Season 2

If you’re craving Pratt in his full element, look no further than the second season of his hit Prime Video espionage thriller, The Terminal List. Four years after the first season premiered, James Reece is back, blowing more conspiracies open in the second season based on Jack Carr‘s book, True Believer. The story sends Reece on a “journey of violent redemption, finding a new purpose after finishing his list.” The entire season drops on Wednesday, October 21.

Way of the Warrior Kid hits Apple TV on Friday, November 20, 2026. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

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June 30, 2022

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David DiGilio

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Fred Toye, Sylvain White, Antoine Fuqua, Ellen Kuras, M.J. Bassett

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​Chris Pratt2, David DiGilio

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Search interest in sleep supplements has spiked as more people look for alternatives to prescription sleep aids and endless doomscrolling. Below is what dietitians, physicians and sleep researchers actually recommend, drawing on specialists cited by Eating Well, Johns Hopkins, WebMD, the Sleep Foundation and Yahoo Health.

Does Magnesium Actually Help You Sleep?

Magnesium glycinate can support better sleep by calming the nervous system before bed. It’s one of the few supplements doctors say they feel comfortable recommending given its safety profile.

Saema Tahir, M.D., told Eating Well, “Magnesium glycinate is one of the few supplements I feel confident recommending because the safety profile is strong and the rationale is solid. It activates the parasympathetic nervous system and supports GABA receptor activity, essentially helping your brain and body shift into a calmer state before bed.”

The rationale hinges on the parasympathetic nervous system, which governs the body’s rest-and-digest state. Tahir’s recommendation specifically flags glycinate, one of several magnesium forms available on shelves.

How Does Melatonin Work and When Should You Take It?

Melatonin doesn’t force you to sleep. It signals your body that bedtime is approaching, which is why sleep experts recommend it mainly for short-term use like jet lag, insomnia flares or shifting your schedule earlier.

Johns Hopkins sleep expert Luis F. Buenaver, Ph.D., C.B.S.M., told Hopkins Medicine, “Your body produces melatonin naturally. It doesn’t make you sleep, but as melatonin levels rise in the evening it puts you into a state of quiet wakefulness that helps promote sleep.”

He added, “Most people’s bodies produce enough melatonin for sleep on their own. However, there are steps you can take to make the most of your natural melatonin production, or you can try a supplement on a short-term basis if you’re experiencing insomnia, want to overcome jet lag, or are a night owl who needs to get to bed earlier and wake up earlier, such as for work or school.”

Does Ashwagandha Improve Sleep Quality?

Ashwagandha may improve sleep quality, especially among people experiencing stress or insomnia, but more research is needed. Research suggests ashwagandha, an adaptogenic herb traditionally used to help the body manage stress, produces small but meaningful improvements in sleep, especially for people with insomnia who take at least 600 milligrams a day for eight weeks or longer.

Leah Rosenbaum, writing for WebMD said, “One study showed taking 300 milligrams of the herb two times a day improved sleep, and another found that people who took 120 milligrams of an ashwagandha extract reported a significant improvement in sleep quality. A meta-analysis of five studies looked at ashwagandha’s impact on sleep in humans. It found that the herb had a small but significant impact on improving sleep, especially in people who had insomnia. The benefits were greatest when people took at least 600 milligrams of ashwagandha each day for 8 weeks or longer.”

What Do Valerian Root and L-Theanine Do for Sleep?

Valerian root and L-theanine are two of the gentler nighttime options that show up on dietitian lists, and neither is designed to force sleep. Both work by supporting relaxation instead.

Valerian root is an herbal supplement traditionally used for relaxation and sleep. L-theanine, an amino acid naturally found in green tea, may promote relaxation by increasing calming brain chemicals, including GABA, dopamine and serotonin, without causing heavy sedation. Since neither acts as a strong sedative, both are typically presented as tools that help the body ease into rest rather than as direct sleep inducers, which is why they often appear in evening blends alongside other calming ingredients.

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Related: Here’s What Your Vivid Nightly Dreams Reveal About Sleep Quality

New research is reframing dreams not as random mental noise, but as one of the clearest signals of how well your body is actually resting. Here’s what scientists now know about dreams, REM sleep and what your nightly patterns may be flagging. What Do Your Dreams Say About Your Sleep Quality? Think of your dreams […]

Can CBD Help With Sleep and Insomnia?

CBD may help improve sleep indirectly, mainly by reducing the anxiety that keeps many people with insomnia awake. Evidence is still developing, and CBD remains legally restricted in some places.

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CBD, or cannabidiol, interacts with the body’s endocannabinoid system, which plays a role in stress, mood and sleep regulation. Lauren Fountain wrote for the Sleep Foundation, “People who suffer from insomnia experience difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep at night. Because of their history of poor sleep, people with insomnia may suffer from anxiety about getting inadequate sleep, which can then increase sleeplessness at night. Given the potential positive outcomes of CBD treating anxiety, it is speculated that CBD may also help reduce the anxiety associated with insomnia.”

Related: Get a Full Night’s Sleep With These All-Natural Supplements

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If you’ve ever had trouble sleeping, you know how difficult it can be to finally get a healthy amount of rest. You need it to function, but sleep can be elusive in so many frustrating ways. Whether you find yourself dealing with insomnia or low-quality sleep, it can be maddening to face the day with […]

Does Tart Cherry Juice Really Improve Sleep?

Tart cherry juice may offer modest sleep benefits, particularly for older adults and people experiencing insomnia or disrupted sleep, thanks to naturally occurring melatonin and antioxidant compounds.

It’s one of the few sleep aids on this list that shows up as a food rather than a capsule. Tart cherries naturally contain melatonin and antioxidant compounds called anthocyanins. “A small glass of tart cherry juice is my ‘secret’ to sleeping better,” Jackie Newgent, RDN, culinary nutritionist, told Yahoo Health. “The juice may help play a role in slightly improving sleep duration and quality, especially for older people or those with insomnia.”

The 118 is together again following Peter Krause’s shocking 9-1-1 exit ahead of season 9.

“Peter Krause [and] Ryan Guzman Stache Battle,” Kenneth Choi wrote via Instagram on Friday, July 17, sharing a video of his fellow costars deep in a staring contest of sorts.

In the footage, Krause, 60, and Guzman, 38, each wore baseball caps and sunglasses while looking at one another.

“I like your mustache,” Guzman said, which Krause repeated back.

Related: Peter Krause Leaves Message for ‘9-1-1’ Fan Convention After Onscreen Death

Peter Krause’s Captain Bobby Nash has risen from the dead — well, sort of — and is sending 9-1-1 fans a message from his latest adventure. “Ah, bonjour,” Krause, 60, began his Instagram video message on Friday, July 10, which showed the actor seemingly backpacking in the wilderness. “La vie est belle.” He continued, saying, […]

The two actors subsequently whipped off their glasses, looking inquisitively at each other.

As for the winner of the so-called mustache battle, Choi, 54, had a theory.

“Can you guess who won,” he quipped via Instagram comment, prompting hoards of fans to cast their votes in favor of Krause.

Krause starred as Captain Bobby Nash for the first eight seasons of Ryan Murphy’s 9-1-1, which featured Choi and Guzman as members of his firefighting team. Krause’s character was ultimately killed off in the April 2025 season finale.

When the next season began in October 2025, Bobby’s fire station and wife Athena Grant (Angela Bassett) were left to face their grief after his heartbreaking death.

“We had a very big emotional thing on the show, losing Peter and Bobby Nash, and I know that a lot of the audience took that very personal,” Jennifer Love Hewitt, who plays 911 operator Maddie Han, exclusively told Us Weekly one month earlier. “We did too, and I want the audience to know that. As a cast and as a show, we took it as seriously as they took it. We miss him dearly.”

The ninth season, which concluded in May, featured a handful of tributes to Bobby.

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“He is there in spirit. He’s in our hearts,” Hewitt, 47, told Us at the time. “It’s just a show, and nine seasons in, you have to do things, right? You have to shake things up and you have to tell stories and you have to do those things. But we miss him too.”

Hewitt’s costars overwhelming felt the same, noticing a Krause-sized void on the set.

“He was obviously such a ball of energy, so kind. But I mean, we’re just so lucky to have worked with him when we did,” Corrine Massiah, who portrays Athena’s daughter on the hit drama, told Us. “I mean, he’s literally a father figure, such a kind person. So patient, so kind and yeah, we wish him nothing but the best. Amazing person.”

For fans of science fiction, Apple TV has become a go-to television destination. Whether it’s the corporate dystopia of Severance, the far-future space opera of Foundation, the speculative post-apocalypse of Pluribus, or the towering kaiju of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, every beloved niche genre is represented. There’s something for everyone, but it can often take years to get the next installment and, even then, it’s a long seven days between episodes. Silo, one of the best sci-fi offerings on the platform – and one of the best shows on TV right now, period – returned for a third season on July 3, and it’s already clear the signature cliffhangers will leave us wanting more all summer.

Instead of speculating about what might happen next week, the time between summer Fridays presents the perfect opportunity to explore the worlds of other science fiction book series that, much like Silo’s source material, Hugh Howey’s New York Times bestselling Wool trilogy, are worth getting lost in for a while. From rogue AI hijacking robots and starting a war with humanity to interspecies space colonization to an alternate present in which a country has completely fallen off the map, in the same way Apple TV’s wide-ranging offerings entice every type of viewer, literary sci-fi continually pushes the boundaries of imagination to create new extensions of our reality that appeal to every type of reader. Pulled from across the genre, these are some of the very best book series sci-fi has to offer, and the worlds that unfold within their pages are guaranteed to keep you entertained all season long.

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‘Children of Time’

By Adrian Tchaikovsky

Images via Hachette Book Group

There are two parallel narratives at the heart of Children of Time that unfold over generations, both born out of one brilliant, narcissistic scientist’s plan to terraform a distant exoplanet and accelerate the evolution of non-human life. One tracks the human survivors who attempt to resettle on the exoplanet after the fallout of an ideological war over the ethics of the scientist’s actions renders the Earth uninhabitable, the other focuses on a species of jumping spider that was unintentionally infected by the scientist’s genetic virus, and how the species evolves over thousands of years into a highly intelligent race that populates the exoplanet with an entire civilization of its own.

The post-apocalyptic humans naturally didn’t expect to find a super-spider society on the planet they intended to call home, and when the narratives collide, chaos ensues. But once the dust settles, it becomes clear that the scientist – who was forced to merge with her ship’s AI to survive – wasn’t the only one responsible for the terraforming, and that humanity’s schadenfreude extends further into space than anyone could’ve imagined. The resulting four-book hard sci-fi journey showcases the importance of unity for survival, and how the power of communication, empathy, and understanding can bring together even the most radically different individuals when given enough time.

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‘Scattered All Over the Earth’

By Yoko Tawada

Images via New Directions Publishing

Books are very rarely described as “cheerfully dystopian” by their publisher, but there’s truly no better phrase to use when talking about the Scattered All Over the Earth trilogy. Set in a near-future in which the climate crisis has caused Japan to disappear, a refugee in Denmark searching for others from her missing country creates a new language, Panska, to communicate with the pan-Scandinavian people she encounters. Drawn to her by language and bonded through friendship, she creates an ever-widening multinational band of companions who join her on her hunt as it expands throughout Europe and beyond.

The three books are built on a first-person narrative structure, with each chapter featuring the perspective of a different member of the group or a person adjacent to them. By rotating through unique characters and giving each a rich backstory, the underlying quest ultimately becomes less about finding other refugees from “the land of sushi” – as it’s exclusively called – and restoring the past, and more about building a new, resilient community around the belonging they’ve built on their shared love of language. Few people could take two of the most harrowing topics, the climate and refugee crises, and build a story around them that feels optimistic in the way that Yoko Tawada does; Scattered All Over the Earth is so utterly original, lovable, and unforgettable you’ll be thinking about it for months to come.

3

‘Wanderers’

By Chuck Wendig

Images via Penguin Random House

Though Wanderers is only two books, Chuck Wendig‘s masterpiece duology is well over 1,600 pages – and it’s one of the most vivid sociopolitical renderings of an apocalyptic America ever written. It starts with a group of people who become gripped by a sleepwalking epidemic; they won’t wake up, they won’t respond, and as more and more people amass into a flock and their loved ones join as shepherds, it becomes clear they’re intent on reaching an unknown destination. As the narrative expands, it becomes clear just how many things have simultaneously fractured across the country: a different pandemic threatens to extinguish human life, an extremist group is rapidly expanding, and a predictive AI may be the most powerful figure of all.

The first book tracks the apocalypse, and without giving too much away, the second tells the story of what happens after. Much like Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, the collapse is narrated from the third-person shifting perspective of people experiencing the events in real time, often as pilgrims, and their stories tackle survival, trauma, and loss. It’s a journey through every worst-case scenario in our modern lives where survival is predicated on the strength of the human spirit, and it leaves you breathless by the time you reach the final page.

4

‘Noumena’

By Lindsay Ellis

Images via Macmillan Publishers

First contact is a foundational pillar of science fiction, and alternate histories are a core subgenre – but combining the two is very rarely done, as it’s incredibly difficult to merge the imaginary nature of alien life we haven’t encountered yet with plausible real-world geopolitical stakes. That’s what makes the Noumena series so extraordinary; Axiom’s End takes the lofty ideal of first contact and drops it into ordinary 2007 American life by presenting it as a cover-up by the sitting presidential administration, which pans out exactly the way it would have in that year, down to the last cultural detail. By covering all the bases of plausibility in the first book, Lindsay Ellis sets the stage to examine all the larger implications of extraterrestrial life on Earth with stunning authority.

The latter books explore the definitions of citizenship, the very real possibility of backlash, threats posed by a common enemy, and the role of media and celebrity in influencing our everyday lives. But while the events of each book feel plausible – probable, even – communication between human and non-human species is conducted through a transfer of emotions, which layers in a deeply relatable sentimentality as the bond between the two grows closer and the series progresses. It’s an exploration of what humanity really means in the context of life beyond what we know, yet it’s grounded in a strikingly similar world to the one we live in.

5

‘Remembrance of Earth’s Past’

By Cixin Liu

Images via Tor Publishing Group

Before 3 Body Problem became a big-budget hit on Netflix, Remembrance of Earth’s Past was a global phenomenon in print. The trilogy begins during the Chinese Cultural Revolution, when a disillusioned astrophysicist discovers a way to broadcast a message into space using the sun as an amplifier. Eight years later, she receives a response from the planet Trisolaris saying not to contact them again or Earth will be invaded, as their system will soon be destroyed by its three chaotic suns – the classical three-body problem of physics – and her response is, more or less, bring it.

A half century later, a string of high-profile scientists commit suicide, which causes shocking facts to be uncovered. The Trisolarians are 50 years into their 450-year journey to Earth; Trisolarian microcomputers have been spying on humanity and stunting the planet’s scientific development to ensure dominance; and the organization the astrophysicist founded to help them has been split into factions that either want them destroyed or have been recruiting sympathizers for decades. Humanity is forced to reckon with itself and try every solution to stop the Trisolarians before it’s too late – and over an 18-million-year timeline spanning three books, the conflict unfolds in ways you would never imagine.

6

‘The Water City Trilogy’

By Chris McKinney

Images via Penguin Random House

Noir is one of the greatest subgenres ever, but it’s exceptionally great when it’s sci-fi noir. The Water City Trilogy is a perfect three-book noir-tinged plunge into a future climate dystopia where megacities are built underwater, the planet is recovering from a near-miss with an asteroid, and the woman who eliminated the threat is being hailed as the second coming. When she’s brutally murdered, her former head of security – a nameless synesthetic who’s now a detective on the police force – begins an investigation that pulls him into a set of events that spans decades, takes him from the bottom of the ocean to the moon, and puts everything he loves in jeopardy.

It starts with a comforting detective procedural vibe, which remains a steady but less-present force as the stakes grow higher over the course of the series. As things tilt towards full-on post-apocalypse, it’s hard not to be drawn to the nameless noir shadow who’s constantly fighting for justice in a world where nothing is clear, and everything has consequences. And there’s absolutely nothing that can prepare you for the thrilling twist that leads to the page-turner insanity that is the final book, Sunset, Water City.

7

‘Robopocalypse’

By Daniel H. Wilson

Images via Penguin Random House

I’ve read more than my fair share of robot-based science fiction, and absolutely nothing compares to the brilliance of Robopocalypse and its sequel, Robogenesis, which have held a spot in my top five for well over a decade. Much like its contemporary, World War Z by Max Brooks, the first book is an oral history of the war between humans and robots from zero hour onward, cobbled together from transcripts, interviews, testimonies, and logs by a human soldier who survived. What starts as a pretty clear-cut case of man versus machine is soon revealed to be AI using a virus to hijack machines, and as the story unfolds, the “Freeborn” robots who manage to break away from their hivemind begin to join the humans in their fight.

The second book features just as many characters and still serves as a record of war, but uses third-person chapters to pick up right after the war has ended – or so they thought, as the human, robot, and hybrid alliance quickly find themselves up against a much more dangerous threat. Former robotics engineer Daniel H. Wilson masterfully delivers a two-part crash course on what could actually happen if AI tries to take control in the most realistic way possible, and delivers a tale of human resiliency at its finest. And one day, it’ll eventually find its way to the big screen where it belongs.

8

‘Southern Reach Series’

By Jeff VanderMeer

Images via Macmillan Publishers

It is incredibly difficult to describe the groundbreaking, awe-inspiring, utterly bizarre cosmic horror world of the Southern Reach Series. Loosely, the original trilogy focuses on Area X, a coastal region being consumed by an alien presence and plagued by inexplicable phenomena, and Southern Reach, the secret agency that manages expedition teams – consisting of a biologist, anthropologist, psychologist, and surveyor – to the rapidly expanding area. The first book – Annihilation, which was adapted into a movie starring Natalie Portman that has recently found a second life with fans – depicts an expedition, the second book documents the collapse of Southern Reach, and the third book ties all the narratives together and tracks a final mission to the area.

From the start, everything about this series has been different. Jeff VanderMeer‘s editor rewrote the rules of publishing in 2014 by rapidly releasing the original trilogy in eight months; then, a decade later, the trilogy became a series with the publication of a surprise fourth book, a prequel that fills in some of the missing backstory, and a fifth release was announced for 2027. The lack of a real plot summary here isn’t because the books aren’t amazing – they unquestionably are – but because the series is best experienced with an open mind to start and a willingness to spend hours on Reddit once you’re done.

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Release Date

May 5, 2023

Network

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Apple TV

Showrunner

Graham Yost

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Directors

Morten Tyldum, David Semel, Michael Dinner, Aric Avelino

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Writers

Graham Yost, Hugh Howey, Jeffery Wang, Lekethia Dalcoe

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