Dungeons & Dragons has evolved from a role-playing game into a cultural phenomenon, impacting pop culture along the way. Without Dungeons & Dragons, Stranger Things wouldn’t have its big narrative hook. Critical Role wouldn’t be a thing, which means no Legend of Vox Machina or Mighty Nein. In 2023, Paramount decided to take the next logical step and make a D&D movie, resulting in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Honor Among Thieves is one of the rare films that were both critically acclaimed and box-office flops, which is a shame because it perfectly captures the spirit of Dungeons & Dragons.

As its title suggests, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is essentially a heist movie set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons. Led by the boisterous bard Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine), the barbarian Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith), and druid Doric (Sophia Lillis) join forces to rob the Lord of Neverwinter, Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant), of his treasures. They end up embroiled in a sinister plot concocted by the Red Wizard, Sofia (Daisy Head), and wind up having to save Neverwinter. What follows is a fast, funny, and engaging adventure that will appeal to both Dungeons & Dragons super fans and newcomers to the game.

‘Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves’ Mixes Heart, Humor & Action

Image via Paramount

Throughout Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, writer/directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley manage to keep up a blend of hilarious and emotional moments that are punctuated by bouts of action. A key example is when the party, led by Paladin Xenk Yandar (Regé-Jean Page), travels into the subterranean realm known as the Underdark to retrieve a magical artifact. They wind up running afoul of Themberchaud, a dragon feared throughout the land…only to discover that Themberchaud has packed on a few pounds over the years. Emotionally, the film doesn’t hold back: Edgin is putting himself through a lot to see his daughter and potentially resurrect his wife; Simon is struggling with his magic; and Doric wishes to protect her people from Forge’s greed.

Goldstein and Daley also manage to introduce plenty of Dungeons & Dragons Easter eggs, showcasing their deep love for the game. Whether it’s creatures like Mimics, the dreaded sorcerer Szass Tam, or the cast of the beloved Dungeons & Dragons animated series, these Easter eggs are skillfully woven into the movie; longtime fans can enjoy them, while newcomers won’t feel lost. Goldstein also told Den of Geek that the heist element of Honor Among Thieves was crafted to appeal to non-D&D fans.

“We wanted to create a film that would be entertaining and appealing to all audiences, whether you knew D&D or not. For that to work, we needed a sort of scaffolding and infrastructure for the movie that would be enjoyable and engaging. We’ve always wanted to do a heist movie.”

The response was extremely positive, as Honor Among Thieves currently holds a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Most reviews pointed out how it was one of the few modern blockbusters that actually managed to replicate the feeling of a Marvel Studios movie; ironically, Goldstein and Daley previously helped write the screenplay for Spider-Man: Homecoming, while producer Jeremy Latcham worked on some of Marvel’s biggest hits, including Guardians of the Galaxy. Sadly, Honor Among Thieves was released in the same month as other major blockbusters, like The Super Mario Bros. Movie and John Wick: Chapter 4; this resulted in a less-than-stellar box office haul.

Paramount Should Capitalize on Fantasy’s Resurgence with a ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Sequel

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves might not have set the box office on fire, but its story could potentially continue in a different form. Netflix is currently developing Dungeons & Dragons: The Forgotten Realms, a television series that is set in the same fictional realm as Honor Among Thieves. The timing couldn’t be more perfect; fantasy shows are making a splash on streaming services, and Honor Among Thieves was a big streaming hit for Netflix. If Forgotten Realms is a huge hit for Netflix, that could be the push Paramount needs to put another Dungeons & Dragons movie into production. In the meantime, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is still worth a watch, whether you’re a fan of the game or not.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 1 second ago

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight is one of the most beloved superhero movies ever made. It’s a deconstruction of the medium as a whole that pits Batman and the Joker against each other like archetypal forces of nature, all while giving us top-notch writing and characterization. However, some fans have always had a problem with the film’s ending, in which the titular Dark Knight takes the blame for Harvey Dent’s crimes. Sure, we got a cool Commissioner Gordon speech out of it, but Batman could probably have escaped to inspire and save lives another day. 

Plus, The Dark Knight Rises largely undoes that ending. Batman enables the same authoritarian overreach he previously preached against, and his sacrificial arc is rendered meaningless because the Caped Crusader ultimately ends up clearing his name. Interestingly, The Batman basically fixes The Dark Knight’s ending because Robert Pattinson’s Batman ultimately learns the lesson Christian Bale’s Batman never did: unless his vigilante activities become a source of hope instead of fear, there is no real meaning to his endless quest for justice.

Hanging Up The Cape For All The Wrong Reasons

The Dark Knight is an insanely well-written film, and one that sets up Batman’s fateful decision very early on. You see, the Caped Crusader runs into multiple vigilantes who are clumsily trying to follow in his footsteps, using violent weapons (including guns) to stop the criminals of Gotham City. This is part of why Bruce Wayne is so enamored with Harvey Dent. Not only does the ambitious District Attorney inspire people without wearing a mask, but he inspires them to do something better than distributing street justice while wearing bad cosplay. At the end of the film, Batman preserves Harvey’s reputation by taking the blame for the crimes he committed as Two-Face.

This makes for a tragic ending, one where Batman has to become the public’s number one villain so they could have the hero they needed. However, the sequel film, The Dark Knight Rises, undoes much of the impact by revealing that a law named after Harvey Dent greatly expanded police power (remember when The Dark Knight preached against the surveillance state and the dangers of giving anyone too much power?). The movie also lets Batman clear his name, which makes for a heartwarming end to a cinematic trilogy, but retroactively ruins the ending of The Dark Knight by revealing how the titular character’s sacrifice was only temporary. 

A New Batman Begins

In its own way, The Batman did its best to fix what Christopher Nolan did to the Caped Crusader. Much of this Matt Reeves film is bleak because it features Batman contending with the sobering fact that he is just one force for justice in a city teeming with criminals. Eventually, he accepts the blunt reality that he can’t make all of the crime in Gotham City go away simply by punching the mentally ill. But after the Riddler floods the city, Batman focuses on saving citizens rather than punishing criminals, ultimately realizing he is more useful to Gotham as a source of inspiration rather than a source of fear.

When I first saw The Batman, the ending really blew me away. I kept muttering to myself, “They actually gave Batman an arc?” Normally, he’s one of the most static characters in superhero media. Sure, big things happen around Batman, but he remains the unflappably cool guy who is always rewarded for using fear and violence to get the job done. Having the Caped Crusader realize that fear and violence weren’t enough seemed like a genuine revelation, and one that intentionally called back to the ending of The Dark Knight, which similarly had Batman realize that his brutal ways wouldn’t be enough to truly save the city. 

The Hero They Need AND Deserve

However, Nolan’s Dark Knight decided to simply hang up the cape, retiring (albeit temporarily) the vigilante so that the public could find better heroes to emulate. Weirdly, though, Christian Bale’s Batman never seemed to consider the option that Robert Pattison’s Batman later embraced: simply becoming the change he wanted to see. Obsessed with duality, the earlier iteration of Batman decided that he had to be the villain so that Harvey Dent could be the public’s hero. He seemingly never considered that he had the option of becoming an inspirational hero himself, saving the city while redeeming Batman’s reputation. 

Ironically enough, that’s more or less what he does in The Dark Knight Rises. After recovering from the injury Bane gives him, Batman returns to save Gotham City and seemingly dies, sacrificing himself to stop a neutron bomb from killing everyone. Just like that, Batman becomes an inspirational hero to millions of people who once saw him as a murderous vigilante. Becoming openly inspirational rather than striking from the shadows with fear was always an option. It’s just one that Pattinson’s vigilante figures out much earlier in his career, which is why The Batman has a far, far better ending than The Dark Knight.

As it turns out, the secret ingredient to a good Batman ending is simply giving the Caped Crusader a proper arc from the beginning. Bale’s Batman didn’t get to become a different kind of hero until the very end of his trilogy, which retroactively ruined the ending of The Dark Knight. However, The Batman effectively fixed that disappointing ending by allowing Pattinson’s hero to realize he had the capacity to grow and change. He learned it wasn’t that hard to become the kind of hero that Gotham both needed and deserved. Best of all, he didn’t have to fight a terrorist luchador wearing a fetish mask in order to learn that particular lesson.

The Batman is streaming on Max.

Although it’s disappointing that KPop Demon Hunters isn’t expected to follow up on its world-dominating first tour until 2029, the members of HUNTR/X should be back on-screen before then. Last year, it was announced that Arden Cho and May Hong, the voices behind Rumi and Mira, would be re-teaming for a new film set against the backdrop of the K-pop industry — Perfect Girl. The project is a much different beast than their animated smash hit, focusing on the darker side of the scene with a story that’s been described as “Scream meets Black Swan.” Among those accompanying the pair is Adeline Rudolph, who had nothing but kind words for her two co-stars, even if the film pits them against one another.

With Mortal Kombat II now in theaters, Rudolph sat down with Perri Nemiroff for a new episode of Collider Ladies Night, where they dug into her career, bringing Kitana to life from the iconic fighting games, and some of the exciting projects she has on the horizon. When asked what subgenre of horror Perfect Girl occupies, the actress admittedly had a bit of trouble finding the right descriptor. The synopsis described the story as revolving around a fierce competition to find the members of a K-pop supergroup designed to steal the spotlight. However, with one last-second arrival, the audition turns out to be a literal bloodbath where every entrant is hunted down until the final four are left standing. Rudolph ultimately agreed that “psychological thriller” would be the best category for the film. “That’s what I would have said,” she responded. “I wasn’t sure if that was a subgenre, but it’s very much in that world and in that realm.”

The mere mention of Hong and Cho’s involvement had Rudolph thinking of all the ways the two stars had made her experience better. “Firstly, working with May was lovely,” she continued. “She’s so sweet and so kind.” For Hong, Perfect Girl represents just her third film role, though she’s been a regular presence on television from Full Circle to Hacks. Rudolph got a ton out of watching Cho, though, as the Teen Wolf alum wasn’t just starring, but also producing, and brought with her a track record of trailblazing for Asian-American actors. Rudolph continued:

“And then, of course, working with Arden was a gift of a lifetime. I mean, Arden is so incredible in very many ways. She’s just kind of carved out a path for Asian-Americans, or AAPI talent, and she’s very much a person who wants everyone to win, and you can feel that. Girls’ girl, 100%. She’s incredible. She was also producing on this film as well as acting. But yeah, to play opposite her and then also have her on set every day to help guide the project was so amazing. I mean, she deserves everything this planet has to offer. She’s incredible through and through.”

‘Perfect Girl’ Twists the K-Pop Industry Through the Realm of Horror

Although she had much to say about the reunited HUNTR/X members, Rudolph couldn’t speak as freely about Perfect Girl itself. She did, however, tease that, despite its more horrifying premise, it does hit at the very real, cutthroat paths to stardom that prospective K-pop stars have to endure. “Without giving too much away, it’s a movie about the K-pop training system,” she said. “It’s very rigorous. And it’s about these artists’ journeys being in that system, and the insecurities or the fears or the competitiveness that comes out being placed in a situation like that.”

It’s too early at this time to start talking about her character, but there’s a lot about the idea that has the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina alum excited. Based on the Blacklist script by Lynn Q. Yu, Perfect Girl hails from director Hong Won-ki and features a cast that is packed with real musical talent. John Kim, Peter Lee Jae Yoon, and Samantha Cochran are also on board alongside Filipino-Canadian singer AC Bonifacio, Thai singer and actress Ally, and real-life K-pop idols Jeon Somi from The Black Label, Nancy from Momoland, Siyoon from Billie, and Chaerin from Cherry Bullet. Somi also made one of the six original K-pop tracks for the film. So far, Rudolph loves how all those elements come together to paint a heightened, tense picture of the K-pop world that still speaks to the truth hopeful artists face.

“I cannot wait, honestly, to just talk all about the project. I feel like it’s a space that lends itself to a psychological thriller horror. Obviously, it’s exaggerated, but there’s so much that goes on in that world that is so fascinating. Taken to the extreme, not that any of this would ever happen, but you can understand how, just mentally, it could be tough.”

There’s no release date yet for Perfect Girl. In the meantime, Rudolph is in theaters for Mortal Kombat II. Stay tuned here at Collider for further updates. You can watch Rudolph’s full episode of Ladies Night below.

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Release Date

May 8, 2026

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116 Minutes

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As fans gear up for Season 2 of HBO Max’s docuseries On the Roam with Jason Momoa, the DC star and jack of all trades took some time to chat with Collider’s Steven Weintraub about what to expect this time around. Talking alongside director and executive producer Brian Andrew Mendoza, Momoa shares the art, adventures, and bonds he explored while juggling his “manic schedule” (on top of filming Supergirl), plus an exciting tease for more from Apple TV’s hit series Chief of War.

On the Roam Season 2 takes viewers across the country with Momoa once again for even more artistry, craftsmanship, and pushing technological boundaries for the sake of passion, admiration, and curiosity. This time around, Momoa chronicles the resurfacing of garage punk band The Bobby Lees, spotlighting the struggle of artists and the state of the music industry; meets and collaborates with yet another “top hero,” painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel; and breaks down the innovative mechanics that make Season 1’s Rolls-Royce look easy. Don’t miss the full conversation in the video above, or the transcript below.

Jason Momoa Says ‘Chief of War’ Is at a “Standstill”

But he’s eager to tell more stories from the hit Apple TV series.

Image via Apple TV

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COLLIDER: You guys know that I love Chief of War, and before I get into On the Roam, I think you envisioned it as a one-season show, but did Apple ever tell you how it did? Is there more in that world you want to explore, or other stuff that you want to explore from Hawaiian stories?

JASON MOMOA: No, absolutely. We sold it as a one-shot with the inspiration to hopefully do more. We’re just waiting for it to do its run and hopefully get some more words. But basically, right now, it’s kind of at a bit of a standstill. But yeah, there’s definitely high hopes to do more with that storyline because there’s so much to tell.

‘On the Roam’ Turned Heroes Into Family

Momoa discusses working with The Bobby Lees and meeting Julian Schnabel.

If you make more, I would watch more. Jumping into why I get to talk to you guys. On the Roam feels like a love letter to things that take time in a world that moves too fast. So after two seasons of meeting these masters of time, how has that changed your relationship with time and with your work?

MOMOA: Great question.

BRIAN ANDREW MENDOZA: There’s not enough time. Realizing there’s not enough time. One of the things I really love about this is that the people that we get who let us go into their homes are really good at knowing how to control their time. They’re artists. They’re craftsmen. They’re fulfilled by what they’re able to complete at the end of the day, if it’s a song or if it’s just part of an engine or it’s a piece of art on canvas. I love being able to get in these spaces because each one of them really knows how precious that time is, and they do a really good job of slowing down and making sure that the world moves at their speed. They’re not moving at anybody else’s speed, and it’s a good thing to see.

MOMOA: I love watching the show, and the sense of where we start with our idea and where we were at. For The Bobby Lees, for instance. We just read that I was doing SNL, and in between doing SNL, which is the hardest thing you could ever do in your life, I’m literally trying to meet this band to try to pull something off to shoot their last show, and then get up to see them in their hometown.

So, we’re trying to plan all this stuff, and in between, probably doing Lobo at that time. It’s just a manic schedule. But you get to see that section of time that, if I just were doing that passion without shooting it, it would be just in pictures and maybe lost, but you get to relive that moment, like, “Holy shit, we had so much going on.” I mean, Sam [Quartin] literally got knocked up, had a kid, had a baby. We went through a whole thing with them. We went to record the album. I didn’t get to be there because I was doing Lobo. Brian was there.

MENDOZA: [Julian] Schnabel made a whole film.

Image via Everett Collection

MOMOA: Yeah. I mean, I was scared meeting Schnabel in the very beginning, and now he’s, like, frickin dad, the great uncle you got. So, everything changes so much. Even the thing with Kirk Hammett, like, “Bro, tonight?” We’re on camera having my first conversation with Kirk, and trying to just talk about this guitar that we want to talk about that’s so special, getting invited over to his house. He’s cooking fucking breakfast omelets for us and wants to go surfing. We’re talking about this amazing guitar that then we’re going to make duplicates of it so that we can auction it off.

Next thing you know, the person who shot his book, they call us, and Sharon Osbourne wants us to be a part of the fucking Black Sabbath concert. Then that thing opens up, and now it’s turned into this huge thing, and we’re here in Hawaii, I just wrapped this movie, and we’re doing a benefit thing. I’m playing with my band, who I didn’t have in Season 1 because all this happened, and now I’m playing music, and then Kirk Hammett is going to come play fucking “For Whom the Bell Tolls” with us for flood relief!

All this shit is happening right now. So it starts like this, and you talk about time, you get to go, like, “Wow, I get to relive all this shit.” You’re like, “Wow, this started as, really, this idea of like, ‘I hope, hope, hope he’ll pick up the phone.’” Now I’m like, I hope he fucking leaves me alone because I just want to play guitar with my friends. Like, leave us alone, Kirk. You already did it. We’re playing your song our way. [Laughs]

It just keeps evolving. It’s just a really cool marker of time. And for us just to go, “I have an idea,” and then to see what the universe offers us, and then see if it opens up and we’re making the right steps.

Jason, have you thought about playing the lottery? Because you have clearly won life.

MOMOA: I’m the most unlucky fucking person! I gamble on my life in the things that I do, so I’m lucky that way, but man, if you see me at a poker table, sit next to me because I’m going to lose. If I pick black, pick red. You’re going to win.

‘On the Roam’ Addresses the Real Cost of Being an Artist

“We literally can’t buy a fucking sandwich.”

Image via Warner Bros. Discovery

Being serious, is On the Roam, the entire series, really just a covert thing for you to become friends with Julian Schnabel?

MOMOA: Well, he’s actually kind of our hero. Same thing with Todd Hido. He was our hero. If we were to think, “Who are our top heroes?” It’s Tom Waits, Julian Schnabel, and Todd Hido. Those were our holy grail. And through that, he’s almost like a dad, man. He’s like a fucking uncle to us. Just mutual respect. Then he forced me to do a movie I did not want to do. It’s a weird thing to say that, but I had to play this crazy character, and I was like, “I cannot do this, Julian. I cannot do this.” And he literally made me do it, and we killed it. But I’ve never had a bigger fan believe in me. Because he was stoked on See. That really hit it off for him.

Then, when we were doing Chief of War, [Brian]’s directing and I’m producing, we’re both producing, we’re doing everything, and he’s watching us do it behind the scenes, and he’s going, “You motherfuckers…” Like, Julian couldn’t believe it. He was so stoked to be watching us do Chief. I’m like, “We’re just your bastard children now. You are our inspiration.” He’s like, “How do you have time to do all this?” I’m like, “Motherfucker, you have a book this big of paintings by Taschen, and then seven films and fucking seven kids. What do you mean you don’t have the fucking goddamn time? He’s got one, I got two. I’m barely trying to make good cinema, you know? You fucking just decide to go, like, “Oh, painting! Let’s try cinema,” and just pop out four… I mean, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly — what the hell? Before Night Falls, Basquiat. I haven’t made that. Sure, we did Chief of War, but I ain’t you, man. How did you do it?

So yeah, I think all of it just comes down to, like, we want to do stuff that is like, what are the dreams? But at the same time, showcase small things, big things. Just the idea of talking about the music industry. Until I talked to Sam, like, “What’s going on? You look so great on Instagram. Blah, blah, blah.” And she just explains, “We don’t make any money. By the time we come back, there’s nothing left. We’ve been gone for two years.” She’s like, “We literally can’t buy a fucking sandwich.” You’re just like, wow, and she’s like, “Yeah, if you don’t sell this and this and that, you’re not making any money.” We pay $4 for a coffee every day, but you won’t buy your artist’s fucking favorite songs. It hit me, where I’m like, oh my god, we gotta explain this to the world so they understand art is not free. We need to support the arts. So, it was nice to make an episode without bitching at someone just to go, like, “Hey, this is what state some artists are in. Support your artists. Get that shirt, buy that sticker.” If you love it, do it.

No, 100%. This is a whole bigger conversation, but I want to ask a specific question.

Jason Momoa Breaks Down the Ambitious Tech Behind ‘On the Roam’ Season 2

“The Rolls-Royce was easy compared to what they pulled off.”

In Season 1, the 1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom electric conversion was a highlight of technical rule-breaking. Is there something in Season 2 that pushed the boundaries of what you thought was possible with craftsmanship?

MOMOA: The shit that we pull off for our electric, the stuff that we went for, the technology has never gone to. We fucking did it. I’m like, “It should be easy, right? Blah blah blah blah.” He’s like, “This is the hardest…” Dude, the Rolls-Royce was easy compared to what they pulled off. So, Electrogenics, we do four different types of things, whether it’s solar or whether it’s batteries, but basically just working on green energy. We took all these old bikes…. Say your grandfather had a 1920s bike, right? A 1920s bike doesn’t work. It’s frozen. You take that back wheel off, you put a wheel on. That hub will basically power it. You put the batteries, like, on the side, and that bike from the 1920s is all E. That’s with it not even running, the motor. We also did, it could be gas and oil, so say you’re an 80-year-old guy that can’t kick his bike over anymore. You basically switch it over; you’re just changing out the back wheel. It’s still gas and oil, and it goes E. So the hub works as E, then you pop the clutch and it kicks over in and goes into gas.

So you can ride it in gas. Say you break down and don’t have enough gas, switch it over to E, and it’ll get you home. Or if you wanted to combine it at the same time, where it’s E and gas, which I wouldn’t recommend because those bikes weren’t meant to go that fast, but we did it, is to go gas and E at the same time. So you’re taking something that’s a historical piece, keeping it in its original form, adding just the rear wheels so if you wanted to take it off, you can go back to the way it was, but you just put that tire on, and that tire would be E technology. So you can ride all these really beautiful old things and not hurt the planet.

MENDOZA: Also, the technology in some of the places that we went, like we went to Poland, with this company called Sunreef that is pushing the boundaries of solar panels.

MOMOA: Basically, having the whole mast and the whole side of the boats all solar panels. It’s called solar skin. So being able to run the whole fucking boat, just going off sails for your energy, and then you’re going off of your motors. So it’s only getting better using the marine motors. But when that gets to a certain level, it’s like, oh my god, we’re not putting all that shit into the ocean. So it’s just touching on everything that we’re moving and shipping being able to have E motors. There’s just a lot of stuff that I’m curious about where things are at, and so we talk about a lot of those things.

On the Roam Season 2 premieres on HBO Max on May 14. Episodes will release weekly.

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January 16, 2024

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Ben Holmes, Adam McClaughry

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Kylie Kelce was a good sport about her relatable wardrobe malfunction at the 2026 Webby Awards.

“This week, I had no place being at the Webby Awards accepting the Podcast of the Year Award for NGL,” Kelce, 34, said during a Thursday, May 14, episode of her “Not Gonna Lie” podcast. “Yes, I do have a hair tie on my wrist,” she said while showing a photo of her look. “Did I remember to take it off before the red carpet? Absolutely not.”

“Am I wearing open-toed shoes?” Kelce continued, telling her fans not to “zoom in on the dogs.”

“Yes, I am. Should I have been? No,” she quipped. “I shouldn’t have been but those are the shoes I brought and I didn’t know what I was wearing when I left the house that morning.”

She continued to break down her look through laughter, noting she “did” her own hair, which featured a side part, a half-up coif and her ends curled. “It was fine from the front,” Kelce said. “Did it look good from the back? We may never know because I made it a point not to turn my back to anyone.”

Related: Why Kylie Kelce Feels ‘Guilty’ About How ‘Invested’ Fans Are in Her

Kylie Kelce has been dubbed Philly’s princess, but she’s just like Us. “I feel almost a little guilty that people are so interested and invested in what I’m doing,” the 31-year-old wife of Jason Kelce in a Good Morning America segment that aired on Monday, January 29. “I’m like, ‘I am trying to scrape applesauce […]

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“Would I ever wear this outfit again? As long as I’m not near my children,” she said of the four daughters she shares with retired NFL star husband Jason Kelce: Wyatt, 6, Elliotte, 5, Bennett, 3, and Finnley “Finn,” 13 months. “Why? You might ask, because it’s an ivory suit, people. I would get within a mile of my children and still end up with ketchup on the sleeve.”

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During her latest podcast episode, Kylie also opened up about receiving the award, accepting the prize on stage to “acknowledge [her] team as a whole.”

At the awards show, Kylie went viral for her five-word acceptance speech which included a shout-out to Jason’s former team, the Philadelphia Eagles.

“Women supporting Women,” she said to a cheering audience. “Go Birds.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Harry Potter

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Release Date

2026 – 2026

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Showrunner

Francisca Gardiner

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Directors

Mark Mylod

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

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

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

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

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

Warning: Spoilers below for Off Campus. 

What Is ‘Off Campus’ About?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fans React to Beau Maxwell on ‘Off Campus’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Will Beau Maxwell Return for Season 2?

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

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

By Brian Myers
| Updated 1 hour ago

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

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

Brief, But Thorough (Zeppelin Rules!!!)

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

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

Consider The Source, Respect The Absurdity

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

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

A Common Simpsons Practice

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

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

The Simpsons can be streamed on Disney+.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 26 seconds ago

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

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

Blessed By The Gods

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

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

Life Imitates Art

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

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