Every streaming service on Earth has figured out that if you call something a “limited series,” audiences will actually finish it. Fair enough. But the form is harder than it looks. You can’t hide a weak middle act behind the promise of a better season to come, and you can’t pad a four-hour idea into ten without people noticing.

The shows on this list understood the assignment, whether that meant condensing a Russian tome into six hours, turning a game of chess into appointment television, or making you deeply afraid of a nuclear reactor you already know exploded. They picked a story, told it, and left before anyone could demand they stay.

10

‘War & Peace’ (2016)

Image via BBC One

Andrew Davies adapted Tolstoy’s 1,200-page novel into six episodes for BBC One which, on paper, is an absurd proposition. Paul Dano, Lily James, and James Norton anchor the three families at the story’s center, moving through ballrooms and battlefields in a production that somehow cost a fraction of what it looks like it did. The scope is enormous, the costuming is gorgeous, and Davies’ script makes the Napoleonic-era social politics surprisingly easy to follow, even if you skipped your mandatory reading in college.

The story follows three aristocratic households through Napoleon’s wars — Dano’s Pierre, a wealthy bumbler searching for meaning; Norton’s Prince Andrei, a disillusioned soldier; and James’ Natasha, the young woman who complicates both their lives. Davies keeps the love triangles, the carnage, and the philosophical detours all moving at the same clip, so you’re never stuck in one place long enough to get restless. And the show does something most prestige adaptations fumble: it actually ends. Six episodes to tell one of the longest novels in Western literature without feeling rushed or truncated? It’s a small-screen miracle.

9

‘Midnight Mass’ (2021)

Image via Netflix

Mike Flanagan‘s seven-episode Netflix series is set on Crockett Island, a dying fishing community that gets a jolt of new energy when a charismatic young priest — Hamish Linklater, giving the performance of his life — arrives to fill in for the aging monsignor. Strange things start happening at the parish. People are getting healthier. The island’s faith is surging. And Flanagan, who built his reputation on haunted-house stories, is interested in something harder to pin down than a jump scare.

Midnight Mass asks its audience to sit through monologues. Long ones. Characters talk about their relationship to God, death, and addiction, all while supernatural stirrings happen in the background. That’s a heavy gamble that would sink a lesser series, but Flanagan writes dialogue that makes every word feel alive, almost antsy. And the ensemble — Zach Gilford, Kate Siegel, Rahul Kohli — commits fully. The final two episodes are wild, and the fact that it wraps in seven hours means Flanagan never has to dilute the dread.

8

‘Generation Kill’ (2008)

Image via HBO

David Simon and Ed Burns followed up The Wire by adapting Rolling Stone reporter Evan Wright‘s account of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and they brought the same institutional skepticism with them. The seven-episode HBO series follows First Recon Marines through the early weeks of the war, and it’s less interested in heroics than in the grinding bureaucracy of combat. Orders contradict each other and officers with no field instincts make calls that endanger their own men.

The cast was almost entirely unknown at the time, and everything feels so lived-in that it’s easy to forget you’re watching actors and not a documentary crew’s footage. Generation Kill never became a cultural phenomenon the way Band of Brothers did, partly because it refused to give its audience a clean emotional arc. The war it depicts is chaotic, stupid even, and the series lets that marinate without trying to resolve it into meaning. Almost two decades on, it might be the most honest war story American television has produced.

7

‘Angels in America’ (2003)

Image via HBO

Tony Kushner adapted his own Pulitzer-winning play into six episodes for HBO, directed by Mike Nichols with a cast that borders on ridiculous. We’re talking Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Jeffrey Wright, Mary-Louise Parker, and Emma Thompson. Set in 1985 New York during the Reagan era and the AIDS crisis, the story follows Prior Walter (Justin Kirk), a man visited by an angel after his diagnosis, alongside the closeted lawyer Roy Cohn (Pacino, absolutely unhinged and loving every second of it) and a tangle of relationships fracturing under political and personal pressure. It’s a big, unwieldy, sometimes operatic piece of television, and it knows it.

Kushner’s script shifts between realism, hallucination, and full-on magical surrealism without warning, and Nichols lets the actors match that energy. The whole thing could easily tip into prestige-TV self-importance, but Kushner keeps it grounded, and the show is unexpectedly funny. Angels in America is twenty-plus years old now and still feels like it’s ahead of a lot of what’s on television right now.

6

‘The Queen’s Gambit’ (2020)

Image via Netflix

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There is no good reason a show about chess should have become one of Netflix’s biggest cultural events, but Scott Frank’s seven-episode adaptation of Walter Tevis‘ 1983 novel turned the game into the most watchable sport on television for about three weeks in the fall of 2020. Anya Taylor-Joy plays Beth Harmon, an orphan and chess prodigy with a pill dependency and a preternatural ability to visualize the board. The show makes her rise through the chess world feel thrilling, which, logically, shouldn’t be given that most of the action involves two people staring at a table.

The production design does a lot of heavy lifting here. Beth’s costumes evolve with her confidence, the period details are meticulous without being fussy, and the tournament sequences are shot with the pacing of a sports movie. But the reason The Queen’s Gambit became the kind of show your mom texted you about is Taylor-Joy, who makes Beth’s loneliness and brilliance feel specific rather than archetypal. If you don’t know what a Sicilian Defense is now, just wait seven episodes. You will.

5

‘Adolescence’ (2025)

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Stephen Graham co-created and stars in this four-episode Netflix series about a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of a classmate, and the family left trying to understand what happened. Each episode of Adolescence is filmed in a single continuous take. That sounds like a gimmick until you realize how much it changes the viewing experience, locking you in with no cut to relieve the tension, no scene transition to give you a breath. The camera follows characters through police stations, schools, and homes in real time, and the effect is suffocating in a way the show clearly intends.

The brevity is doing real work here too; there’s no B-plot about a detective’s home life, no episode devoted to backstory that could have been a flashback. Graham is devastating as the dad, and the young cast is shockingly good, but the structural discipline is what elevates this above the standard true-crime-adjacent limited series. It asks one question and follows it all the way down the rabbit hole without flinching.

4

‘Station Eleven’ (2021–2022)

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Patrick Somerville adapted Emily St. John Mandel‘s novel into ten episodes for HBO Max, and the result is one of the most unlikely pandemic-era successes in recent memory. The story spans decades, following a handful of loosely connected characters before, during, and after a flu wipes out most of civilization. A traveling Shakespeare troupe, a vengeful prophet, a child actor, an air traffic controller who becomes a kind of accidental community leader. On paper, it sounds scattered. On screen, every thread pulls toward the same emotional center.

Station Eleven refuses to be bleak about the end of the world, and that’s the whole trick. There’s grief everywhere in this show, real and specific grief, but the overall effect is somehow warm, almost comforting. The performances from Mackenzie Davis, Himesh Patel, and especially the young Matilda Lawler are wonderful, and the non-linear structure rewards patience. Ten episodes is long for this list, but Station Eleven uses every one of them effectively.

3

‘Watchmen’ (2019)

The usual move with a beloved comic is to adapt it faithfully and hope nobody gets mad. Damon Lindelof went the other way entirely. His nine-episode HBO series translating Alan Moore‘s source material isn’t a retelling. Instead, Watchmen is set decades after the original story, in an alternate-history Tulsa where cops wear masks, squid falls from the sky, and a blue god has relocated to Mars.

Regina King anchors this weird reality as Angela Abar, a detective whose family history turns out to be tangled up in the original Watchmen mythology in ways the show takes its time revealing. The surrounding cast is stacked with names like Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Hong Chau, Jeremy Irons, and Jean Smart, and Lindelof gives each of them room to do something genuinely surprising. What separates Watchmen from the pile of superhero IP cluttering every platform is that it has a real argument. The show is interested in how America confronts its own history of racial violence, who gets to wear a mask and why, and what happens when the people in power decide vigilantism is fine as long as it’s state-sanctioned. Those are big, unwieldy ideas, and Lindelof doesn’t always land them cleanly, but the swings are so ambitious that the near-misses are more interesting than most shows’ bull’s-eyes.

2

‘Band of Brothers’ (2001)

Image via HBO

Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg produced this ten-episode HBO adaptation of Stephen Ambrose‘s nonfiction account of Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, from training through the end of World War II in Europe. The cast is staggering in retrospect: Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, Simon Pegg, James McAvoy, all of them relatively unknown at the time. Each episode focuses on a different phase of the war and shifts perspective to a different soldier, giving the series an almost anthology-like structure within a continuous narrative.

25 years later, Band of Brothers remains the high mark for the war miniseries as a form. It cost a fortune (reportedly $125 million in 2001 dollars), it looks like it cost more, and the emotional payoff of that final episode, when the real veterans appear on-screen, is devastating no matter how many times you’ve seen it.

1

‘Chernobyl’ (2019)

Image via HBO

HBO’s five-episode reconstruction of the 1986 nuclear disaster works because Craig Mazin, against all odds, figured out how to make bureaucracy feel like a ticking clock. The reactor has already exploded when the show begins, so the question isn’t whether things will go wrong, it’s how many people the Soviet government will sacrifice to avoid admitting they already have. Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgård play the scientist and the party official forced into an uneasy alliance to contain the damage, and Emily Watson rounds out the leads as a composite character representing the researchers who refused to let the official story stand. The three of them carry the show with a kind of grim, worn-down intensity that never feels put on.

There’s a sequence involving the “liquidators” — the men sent onto the reactor roof to clear radioactive graphite in 90-second shifts — that is as tense as anything we’ve seen on TV. Mazin’s script is meticulous about the science without ever making you feel like you’re being lectured, and the five-episode runtime means there isn’t a single scene that exists just to fill space. Chernobyl trusts its audience to sit with the discomfort of history book horrors made real by never diluting the human ignorance and complicity that combined to create a tragedy.

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Chernobyl

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Release Date

2019 – 2019

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HBO

Showrunner

Craig Mazin

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Johan Renck

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Sandra Bullock knows a thing or two about the power of sisterhood.

“I am so lucky to have this brilliant soul by my side who knows me, missteps and all, and still chooses to love me. Every. Single. Day,” Bullock, 62, wrote via Instagram on Sunday, August 2, sharing throwback family photos with her sister, Gesine Bullock-Prado. “Happy Sisters Day. Both those born to you, and those you have chosen along the way! I love you Gigi.”

The actress also quoted Alice Hoffman’s The Book of Magic, writing, “When you have a sister, someone who knows the story of who you were and who you will always be, there is no deeper tie, no stronger bond.”

Hoffman’s book was later adapted into 1998’s Practical Magic, where Bullock stars opposite Nicole Kidman. The two stars recently reprised their roles as witchy siblings in Practical Magic 2.

Related: Sandra Bullock Is ‘Excited’ About ‘Practical Magic 2’ With Nicole Kidman

Fans have already started to prepare their midnight margaritas in anticipation of Practical Magic 2 — and star Sandra Bullock is thrilled to be returning for the sequel alongside Nicole Kidman. “Sandra’s really excited about Practical Magic 2,” a source exclusively shares in the latest issue of Us Weekly. “Nicole is someone she adores, and […]

“Last year, I was quiet. I had other things going on. I was in my shell. Now, I’m in a place of saying, ‘2026. Here we go,’” Kidman, 59, told Variety in March of the follow-up flick. “I have Practical Magic with Sandy. I’ll be in full witch mode.”

Kidman and Bullock will be joined in the highly anticipated sequel by Joey King and Maisie Williams portraying their daughters.

“As fans of the original film ourselves, I feel like when you love something as much as we already love Practical Magic, there’s just massive responsibility of joining the team and wanting to do it justice,” King, 27, told People at Teen Vogue Fest held late last month. “They are the best duo ever. Nicole and I worked together a few years ago [on Netflix’s A Family Affair]. She plays my mom in a movie and we become really close from that, which is so crazy. I’m just such a fan of her. I’m so in awe of her. She’s the nicest person ever.”

King further revealed that Bullock took the two young actresses “under her wing” when they filmed Practical Magic 2.

“It is really special to have this post-movie bond with her that we have. She sends us voice notes all the time,” the Kissing Booth star gushed. “She’s always hyping us up. She’s just the sweetest. They’re the best.”

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As for Williams, 29, she told People that Bullock will “text us both straight away.”

“I think it says, ‘Hello, it’s your mother here.’ And I think, ‘Wow,’” the Game of Thrones alum recalled. “It is just amazing. She’s so lovely. The nicest woman in Hollywood.”

Practical Magic 2 hits theaters Friday, September 11.

Editor’s note: The below contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 7.

As House of the Dragon explores a divided Westeros, each dragon taking part in the civil war has a vital role to play. Yet, in Season 3, the Dance of the Dragons has become more of a one-sided conflict. With Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) holding King’s Landing, the Greens divided, and Vhagar nowhere to be found, there is little hope for Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) and his allies. However, Episode 7 drastically alters the situation by bringing one important figure back into play in a fiery twist that will have a major impact on the ongoing conflict.

Both sides have suffered major losses, but Sunfyre’s apparent death in Season 2 was one of the worst. This blow not only cost the Greens a dragon, but put the king out of commission; for much of Season 3, Aegon has been barely surviving and has gained almost no power to oppose Rhaenyra’s rule. However, with the dragon back, this is a turning point for the Greens. Sunfyre’s reappearance puts Aegon back in the game. While Sunfyre’s survival won’t be enough to fully tip the scales of the war, especially when Rhaenyra still controls so many dragons, Aegon once again has a chance, which is an exciting prospect as the series heads into its Season 3 finale.

Sunfyre’s Return Is Vital for ‘House of the Dragon’s Conclusion

Since Aegon and Aemond’s (Ewan Mitchell) fiery clash at the Battle of Rook’s Rest, everyone has believed Sunfyre to be dead. House of the Dragon leans into this, with Season 3’s fourth episode even revealing Sunfyre’s seemingly dead body after Aegon returns to the scene of the battle. Though he stops to mourn his friend, Sunfyre shows no signs of life. However, in the season’s penultimate episode, when Lord Mooton’s army corners Aegon and Tyland Lannister (Jefferson Hall), the king makes a stand, revealing his identity and expecting to be killed for it. In a shocking twist, Aegon’s loyal dragon suddenly appears and saves him by burning his enemies.

Sunfyre may not be at full strength and will always bear scars from the battle, much like Aegon himself, but the creature’s return is nothing but good news for the Greens. With this, Aegon now holds a new advantage as Sunfyre provides his side of the war with the element of surprise. Of course, the dragon has a continuing role to play, as fans of Fire & Blood already know. But for now, Sunfyre’s seemingly miraculous survival offers new hope to Aegon and his supporters, setting up a major shift in the Dance of the Dragons.

‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3’s Biggest Twist Yet Puts Aegon Back in the Fight

While any dragon that turned up would be significant, Sunfyre’s return is especially impactful because of his bond with Aegon, who has spent Season 3 at a low point. Despite firmly believing, along with half of Westeros, that he is the rightful king, he is on the run, penniless, and almost completely without allies, leaving him at the mercy of Larys (Matthew Needham) and anyone he meets on the road. After Larys expressed his candid thoughts on Aegon in Season 3, Episode 5, the king was forced to confront his own failings, ultimately leading to the moment in which he chooses to face his enemies head-on, despite knowing his chances of survival are slim.

While Sunfyre is just one dragon and can’t muster much opposition against Rhaenyra’s six, this moment is game-changing for the Greens, largely because of what it represents for Aegon. Because few know his location or that he once again commands a dragon, Aegon has an advantage over Rhaenyra for the first time in House of the Dragon Season 3. With this twist, Aegon is officially put back into the mix, simultaneously providing a rallying point for the Greens’ divided forces and a chance to challenge Rhaenyra.

Ariana Grande plans on stepping away from the spotlight after she ends her Eternal Sunshine Tour amid public scrutiny over the singer’s body.

“Ariana will be taking a step back from visibility after she completes the Eternal Sunshine Tour,” a rep for Grande, 33, told People in a statement on Sunday, August 2. “She looks forward to finishing the tour and ending it on a high note, both healthily and happily.”

Grande will close out her tour in September with 10 dates at London’s O2 Arena. Her spokesperson told the outlet that the Wicked actress plans to enjoy a “much-deserved break from public-facing work and appearances.”

Per the rep, Grande’s recent appearance has allegedly caused “endless, ongoing public scrutiny.” (After Grande dropped her “Petal” music video on Friday, July 31, social media users commented on her thin frame, with many voicing concern and alleging the singer is privately battling an eating disorder.)

Related: Ariana Grande Doesn’t Invite Criticism of Her Appearance Anymore

Ariana Grande has heard it all about her body, and she’s had enough. The Wicked star recently appeared on the web series Oui Oui Baguette where she vented about the body shaming she has faced since first entering the public eye as a teenager. “I’ve been doing this in front of the public, and kind […]

“This tour has been a beautiful experience for her,” the statement concluded. “She loves her fans and has loved every minute of this tour so much.”

The outlet also reported that Grande would no longer appear in the West End revival of Sunday in the Park With George, which she was set to star opposite her Wicked costar Jonathan Bailey.

Grande has not publicly addressed the most recent online commentary regarding her weight or her forthcoming hiatus. Us has reached out for comment.

A source further told People that Grande “performs a very physical show” on tour with “a lot of athleticism involved.”

“She performs healthily and successfully at a very high level night after night,” the outlet’s insider added, pointing to the singer’s performance as a sign she is not unwell.

While Grande has not commented on the most recent wave of public scrutiny and concern, she has previously discussed the toll that certain remarks take on her mental and emotional well-being.

“I don’t do this often. I don’t like it. I’m not good at it,” Grande said in a TikTok video shared back in April 2023. “I just want to address your concerns about my body. There are ways to compliment someone or to ignore something that you don’t like that I think we should help each other work towards.”

She added at the time, “Just to aim towards keeping each other safer. There are many different kinds of beautiful. There are many different ways to look healthy and beautiful.”

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The Oscar nominee went on to explain that “the body that you’ve been comparing my current body to [what] was the unhealthiest version of my body,” recalling how she was “on a lot of antidepressants and drinking on them and eating poorly” at the time.

“I was at the lowest point in my life when I looked the way you consider ‘my healthy,’” she stated. “That in fact wasn’t my healthy.”

If you or someone you know struggles with an eating disorder, visit the National Alliance for Eating Disorders website or call their hotline at (866) 662-1235. Text “ALLIANCE” to 741741 for free, 24/7 support.

Phil Collins is recalling the moment his five children were called to his bedside to say goodbye amid his prior hospitalization.

“Because there were some decisions to be made about ‘Do we keep Phil on life support?’ kind of thing,” Collins, 75, explained to The Sunday Times in a profile published on Sunday, August 2. “My kidneys were packing up, my organs were just seizing up. People were coming to say goodbye.”

He continued, “But I don’t remember them coming. I didn’t have no idea this was going on. They were all worried that they wouldn’t see me again. It could all have gone so terribly wrong.”

The outlet reported that Phil — who is the father of daughters Lily and Joely and sons Simon, Nicolas and Matthew — was taken to the hospital in November 2023 relating to his alcohol use. Three days before Christmas, Phil was discharged before being taken back into intensive care. He went on to spend seven months in the hospital. Phil’s manager of 50 years had called the musician’s five children to be at this bedside.

Related: Phil Collins, 75, Reveals He Has Live-In Nurse After 5 Knee Surgeries

Phil Collins has opened up about his health woes after going through a “frustrating last few years.” “You know, I have a 24-hour live-in nurse to make sure I take my medication as I should do,” Collins, 75, told BBC Radio 2’s Zoe Ball in a new interview released on Sunday, January 18. “I’ve had […]

“I was very lucky to have come out of that,” Phil said. “Needless to say, I haven’t had a drink since.”

Later that year, Phil and his family reunited at the Mandarin Oriental in Knightsbridge for four days. Phil told the outlet that Lily, 37, “was sitting beside me in tears, saying, ‘I never thought I’d get these moments.’”

“We had an incredible time,” he said of the moments he shared with his children. “I can’t overemphasise how fantastic it was.”

Earlier this year, Phil told BBC in an interview that he was two years sober.

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Related: Lily Collins Shares Heartwarming Note on Dad Phil Collins’ 74th Birthday

Courtesy of Jim Spellman/WireImage Legendary musician Phil Collins turned 74 years old, and his famous daughter, Lily Collins, celebrated the special day with a heartwarming note on Instagram. “From a west coast star to the West End stage and everywhere in between — I’m so grateful to be by your side and for the support, […]

“[I had] probably been drinking too much,” he said. “I enjoyed coming off tour. Coming off the road… I thought, right, I’m gonna do all those things that I couldn’t do.”

Phil shared he was day-drinking, but would cut himself off at 6 p.m. each night.

“I guess I had too much of it,” he remembered. “I was never drunk, although I fell over a couple of times. But it is just one of those things that happened and it all caught up with me, and I spent months in hospital.”

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Two months ago, Lily paid tribute to Phil on Father’s Day. “Happy Father’s Day, Dad,” Lily wrote via her Instagram Story. “I’m endlessly grateful for your unconditional love, guidance and support. Now as a parent, I have a newly found understanding and deeper appreciation for everything you’ve done and continue to do.”

“Tove is lucky to call you Grandpa P,” Lily continued, referring to her daughter with husband Charlie McDowell. “Love you to the moon and back.”

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance abuse, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

Last year, Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air after remarks he made following the death of podcaster Charlie Kirk​​​​​​. This sparked a heated discussion about censorship, along with furious audiences canceling their Disney+ and Hulu subscriptions en masse. Eventually, Kimmel was put back on the air, but it looks like he’s back in the crosshairs again after hosting a faux version of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. This time, ABC as a whole is being targeted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the fallout could radically reshape America’s TV landscape.

The FCC is preparing to initiate early license reviews for eight ABC stations, which is a practice that’s unheard of in the organization’s history. Disney and ABC are fighting back, filing a brief that alleges the FCC is starting these license reviews as retaliation for Kimmel’s jokes about Melania Trump:

“There is no question why the Commission is singling out these eight stations,…Each is owned by ABC, and the Administration has openly and repeatedly called for the revocation of ABC’s licenses, because it dislikes the content and viewpoints expressed on ABC network programs.”

By filing this brief, ABC is drawing a line in the sand and showing how the FCC could potentially use its power to crack down on free speech. It also highlights how Jimmy Kimmel Live won’t be the only show in jeopardy if the FCC goes through with the license renewals.

The FCC-ABC Case Affects More than ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’

Image via ABC

Jimmy Kimmel Live isn’t the only show mentioned in ABC and Disney’s brief, as The View is alsoa potential target of the FCC. Many of The View‘s hosts, particularly Whoopi Goldberg, have been critical of President Donald Trump; ABC argues that FCC chair Brendan Carr is trying to carry out Trump’s wishes to silence anyone who criticizes him, and points out that the organization shouldn’t have the ability to police comedy or opinion programming, which Jimmy Kimmel Live and The View both fall under. A single sentence from the brief sums things up: “The retaliation against ABC is a signal to every media company in the country: Accommodate the Administration’s view of what news coverage should look like or pay the price.”

It’s not hard to argue ABC’s point of view, particularly when it comes to Trump’s reaction to other network programming. The president has called for Comcast to be investigated for treason and spent the majority of the White House Correspondents’ dinner insulting the journalists in attendance. Given this unchecked vitriol against the press and shows like Jimmy Kimmel Live and The View for expressing their own opinions, the FCC-ABC case could mean that other shows on other networks could find themselves under scrutiny for merely expressing their opinions. It’s a frightening thought, and it shouldn’t be the norm. Whether you agree or disagree with something that’s being said on television, the hosts of late-night shows, talk shows, and the news should be free to express themselves — just as viewers are free to change the channel.

Jimmy Kimmel and Other Late Night Hosts Have Been The Target of Donald Trump’s Ire

The conflict between the FCC and ABC is another reminder of the shifting landscape of late-night television, as most late-night hosts have found themselves under fire. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was canceled last year after its host called the Paramount-Skydance merger “a big fat bribe,” sparking another debate about censorship. Donald Trump has also targeted Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon, calling for them both to be fired by NBC and saying that Meyers’ jokes about him are “probably illegal“; this is despite the fact that Fallon had him on his show.

Perhaps the strongest verdict on the FCC-ABC conflict has come from former FCC chairs, who are calling Brendan Carr’s actions “an assault on free speech disguised as regulatory process.” It’s a moment that shows that there’s more than the fate of one late-night show on the line, and that ABC isn’t the only entity willing to speak out.

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January 26, 2003

Writers

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Joel Hodgson, Sal Iacono, Tony Barbieri, Eric Immerman, Jonathan Bines, Rick Rosner, Bryan Paulk, Danny Ricker, Jeff Loveness, Josh Halloway, Bess Kalb

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Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3 Episode 7.

As much as House of the Dragon has been a show about war, with members of the same family on opposing sides trading brutal blows, it’s also occasionally dipped into the more magical aspects of Westeros — and we’re not necessarily just talking about the majestic and fearsome dragons who are capable of leaving plenty of destruction in their wake. Season 2 introduced Harrenhal, which is revealed to have its own twisted history and eerily affects anyone who stays there for an extended period of time (looking at you, Daemon Targaryen), as well as Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin), a mysteriously witchy woman who becomes the haunted castle’s de facto caretaker.

When Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) literally faints at Alys’ feet after slaying Harrenhal’s castellan, Simon Strong (Simon Russell Beale), and his sons, it sparks the beginning of an unexpectedly twisted connection, one that has grown to involve a surprise clutch of dragon eggs — but what are Alys’ true intentions in all of this, especially in the wake of Alicent’s (Olivia Cooke) attempt to poison her son? Ahead of Episode 7’s premiere, Collider spoke with Rankin about how much her character knows about what’s really going on in Aemond’s head, why she enjoyed playing that “weird and freaky” dinner scene, whether Alys has actually bought into Aemond’s “line of unsullied kings” dream, and more.

COLLIDER: At the beginning of the episode, Aemond has that freaky vision/dream about Alicent. Alys has been playing a certain role with him so far and really, in many ways, leaning into very maternal gestures with him — but how much awareness do you think she has of what he sees before Alicent shows up at Harrenhal?

GAYLE RANKIN: I was just talking to someone about the interchange between Alys and Alicent in the intimacy scene and whether they thought Alys was controlling that. It’s so interesting how people perceive that. Daemon also had an Oedipal dream about his mother. I think it opens something up about Alys, about how much she knows, actually, and how much she’s just reacting like a normal person who cares about someone in a non-manipulative way. I think it’s just an interesting commentary on women in general. We’re so ready to presume. Add the layer of witchcraft, which is just such a rich metaphor for power, and it goes nuts.

To your credit, I didn’t read it as her manipulating Aemond into having the dream, but I always wonder how much she is attuned to because it’s happening in Harrenhal, and how much of it is her having a sort of extrasensory perception.

RANKIN: Yeah, I think she definitely is.

The dinner scene is something that you expect is going to be awkward, and there are really great moments of comedy. The moment when Aemond reaches for Alys’s and then Alicent’s hand — was that in the script, or was that something that Ewan just decided to do?

RANKIN: Ewan just pulled that on the day. [Laughs] Which, we were just like, “You sick, you sick, sick, sick boy.” It was so fun. We all just really wanted it to feel really weird and freaky. In some ways, there was something kind of meta about that because I’m always alone. It’s like me and beautiful Matt Smith or amazing Ewan or beautiful Simon Russell Beale. I never get to have any scenes with any girls. To work with Liv, who’s a dear friend of mine, I was like, “Ooh, this is crazy.” We were giddy about it.

‘House of the Dragon’s Gayle Rankin Explains the State of Aemond and Alys’ Relationship

“They’ve been alone, and I think it’s become a real trauma bonding.”

Time in Harrenhal already feels a little unpredictable and untrustworthy, so it’s hard to know how long they’ve really been alone together, and it feels like Alicent showing up is really harshing the vibes, but there’s also that line reading you have where Alys tells Aemond to get more firewood without explicitly telling him, and he throws down his cutlery. It makes the relationship feel more lived in because they’re having those little moments of snipping at each other.

RANKIN: Yeah. They’ve been alone, and I think it’s become a real trauma bonding. Did you ever see that intense documentary on Netflix [Longest Third Date], about this couple that got stranded together during COVID in Costa Rica after a first date? That’s what it is. It’s really that.

As we see, though, Alys is using the firewood as a pretense to get Aemond alone so that she can talk to him about his mother, and about what she senses around Alicent in terms of her true intentions. Where does that suspicion primarily stem from, for Alys? Is it natural intuition, or her power and what she can pick up that non-magic people can’t, or a bit of both?

RANKIN: I think it’s a bit of both — intentionally, because it does start to blur into that comedic, kind of relatable thing of just like, “I don’t like your mother. Something’s up with your mom.” That’s a very funny trope and stereotype of monster-in-law vibes, which is funny, but there’s also a profundity to it because it’s about her intuiting something much bigger and really sad actually about their dynamic, which is just so fucked, you know?

I really loved the callback to Aemond and Alys’s first meeting when he stumbles in after being poisoned by Alicent and just faceplants on the ground, and she just calls him an idiot under her breath. What did the two of you really enjoy about playing that moment? At this point, Alys has seen Aemond at his lowest moments more than anyone else.

RANKIN: Totally. That response is actually really endearing and really loving because… it feels like marriage. I’m not married, but it feels like a long-term… like they could be 80. Time starts to blur, and it makes you love them. That was one of the first scenes that we shot, actually, and so it was difficult, because it’s such a short moment that you have to capture a lot in. Those are sometimes the hardest to do, but I love that little scene.

‘House of the Dragon’s Gayle Rankin Explains Alys’ Real Plan With Those Dragon Eggs

“I think she’s ready to use them in a really untraditional way because she’s an untraditional girl.”

Image via HBO

I have to ask about the dragon eggs. Other characters, like Ormund, especially, really have this deep-seated hatred for dragons and Targaryens. In contrast, Alys is presenting these eggs to Aemond and playing up the idea of a line of unsullied kings and bringing purity back to the Targaryen line. Do you feel like Alys has fully bought into that whole line of thinking, or is she just using this as a stepping stone to get to where she really wants to be?

RANKIN: Yeah. She’s like, “Look at what I have. What do you think we could do with these?” I don’t think she’s going to be following any traditional path, and that’s really cool to explore. Not to get too girly, weird, deep on it, but I do think it’s a bit of a container, or metaphor, for how women can choose different ways of being maternal or not, or using their body in a certain way to have a life. These eggs are eggs for a reason, and they’re representative of fertility, and that is power. I think she’s ready to use them in a really untraditional way because she’s an untraditional girl.

What can you tease about how Alicent’s actions in this episode will impact Aemond and Alys’s relationship? Is this betrayal going to push Aemond even further toward Alys?

RANKIN: I do think they’re going to hit a new level of intimacy, if you can imagine it. Something has been brewing inside of Alys, and I think she’s feeling a bit out of control, and something’s got to give.

New episodes of House of the Dragon Season 3 premiere Sundays on HBO and HBO Max.

Aaron Rodgers is sharing portions of his long-awaited reconciliation with his family after a decade-long estrangement.

“I have been very closed off about that part of my life and I want to keep it that way, but there’s been a narrative that has gone on for too long that I wanted to kind of shut down,” Rodgers told NFL Network in an August 2026 interview. “And it’s been really beautiful to reconnect with them — all of them.”

Weeks earlier, Rodgers revealed that he visited with mom Darla Rodgers, dad Ed Rodgers and brother Luke Rodgers.

Keep scrolling for more of Aaron’s candid comments about reconciling with his parents and siblings:

Related: Aaron Rodgers Credits Mystery Wife ‘A Lot’ for His Recent Family Reunion

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is crediting his mystery wife, Brittani, for his recent family reunion. “There’s been a lot of conversation about it outside of my own conversations for so many years,” Rodgers, 42, told NFL Network’s Kyle Brandt on Saturday, August 1, of his decision to reconnect with his previously estranged family members. […]

Aaron Rodgers Reunites With Parents Ed and Darla After Nearly a Decade

Aaron uploaded an Instagram carousel, captions “Another bonding week,” in July 2026. In the snaps, Aaron posed for pics with his parents and Luke. (Younger sibling Jordan Rodgers did not appear in the photos.)

Their rebuilt relationship appears to be years in the making, according to biographer Ian O’Connor, author of Out of the Darkness: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers, who reported that Rodgers invited his parents to his Pleasant Valley High School Athletics Hall of Fame induction in April 2026.

“They had been working towards reconciliation for a while,” O’Connor wrote on X. “The timing was right last night for the Steelers quarterback to make it public with his photos on Instagram.”

Aaron Rodgers’ Wife Brittani Helped Heal the Family Rift

During an August 2026 interview with the NFL Network, Aaron praised his wife, Brittani, for helping him mend fences between the once-estranged relatives.

“You know, a big part of it was getting married and having those conversations with my wife that allowed me to kind of open up to the possibility of coming together — it’s been a couple-year process now, the conversations with [my family],” Rodgers said at the time. “I’m happy to be reunited and that part of my life is a really beautiful addition, and I got to give my wife a lot of credit — not that she was pushing me, because she never was, but just the way that she loves and supports me.”

Rodgers, who announced his marriage to Brittani in 2025 without sharing further details about their love story, stressed that his spouse never pressured him into the reunion.

“I got to spend a long weekend recently … in Nashville with my parents and his brother and his sweet wife and their incredible two kids,” he added. “I got to be an uncle, so it’s really special.”

The Origins of the Rodgers Family Rift

The quarterback has publicly wrestled with the estrangement for years, opening up about the toll it took on him in his 2024 Netflix docuseries, Enigma.

“It wasn’t like I was super-duper close with everybody in the family. I was close with my little brother. But in actuality, it goes back to stuff from high school that kind of made me feel distant. Stuff in college, stuff post-college,” Rodgers said in the doc, also citing their religious background. “I grew up in a very white, dogmatic church, and that just didn’t really serve me. It was very rigid in structure. I’m not a rigid person. Shame, guilt, judgment.”

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Aaron Rodgers Held No Grudges Toward His Family

“Who knows what that future is going to look like, when it’s going to look like, when the time is going to come, but I have no bitterness in my heart, I have no resentment,” Aaron said on the “Aubrey Marcus Podcast” in a 2022 interview. “I just have deep love and appreciation for the lessons that I learned and the fact that if I hadn’t been raised that way, all the good and all the frustrating, there’s no way I’d be sitting here today. So to not have that perspective that because of the things that I experienced I turned out the way I did is looking at the glass as half empty and I just won’t do that.”

He added, “I chose to be in this family and to deal with everything that I dealt with positive and difficult and I have deep love and gratitude for them and their journeys and hope for the future.”

This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. 

After refusing to denounce Rep. Max Miller after his own daughter accused the congressman of domestic violence, Sen. Bernie Moreno is calling the politician a “danger” who is unfit for public office.

“As a father and husband, I can tell you the last two years have been pure hell for my wife Bridget, our daughter Emily, me, and our entire family in the aftermath of Emily’s divorce,” Sen. Moreno, a Republican representing Ohio, said in a statement shared via X on Sunday, August 1. “It has been horrific to watch this play out in full public view, all while knowing an innocent two-year-old girl is caught in the middle.”

He continued, “Our priority has always been protecting our daughter and our granddaughter. Out of concern for the safety of my family, I hoped to keep this matter private but Max Miller’s increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior has made that impossible.”

Sen. Moreno’s daughter, Emily Moreno, has accused her ex-husband, Rep. Miller, also a Republican from Ohio, of domestic violence and abuse. She has alleged via court records obtained by Mother Jones and The New York Times that the congressman threw hot water on her body, held a gun to her head, pushed her with enough force to cause bodily harm and broke their daughter’s collarbone.

Related: What to Know About Eric Swalwell’s Misconduct Scandal and Investigation

Congressman Eric Swalwell is facing sexual assault allegations from multiple women, a Manhattan District Attorney’s investigation and calls from top Democrats to end his campaign for California governor. Four women — including a former staffer who claims the politician raped her — accused Swalwell in April 2026 of sexual misconduct and harassment. Swalwell has categorically […]

Rep. Miller has vehemently denied the allegations and has sued his ex-wife for defamation, according to The Guardian.

Just one day before denouncing Rep. Miller, Sen. Moreno said he didn’t “know” if the embattled congressman should resign and drop out of a consequential Ohio race that could determine which political party controls the House. (In January, Sen. Moreno publicly endorsed Rep. Miller, despite his daughter filing for divorce from the congressman in 2024.)

It appears the senator has now shifted gears and is calling for his former son-in-law to resign from office.

“As he has admitted privately, Max Miller needs serious psychological help. He is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute he has custody of my granddaughter,” Sen. Moreno said in the same Sunday written statement. “If there are any basic standards of character required to hold elected office, Max Miller fails them. He should not serve in the House of Representatives.”

He continued, “I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake. I believe he should not be free to continue endangering others until he does. I ran for office because I wanted to make a difference for our country that gave me every opportunity to succeed, and to leave this nation better for my children and grandchildren. That sacrifice has been especially hard on my wife Bridget, whose big heart and steady support have never wavered. I owe it to her, to Emily, and to my granddaughter to speak the truth now.”

Rep. Miller quickly responded to Moreno’s public statement, denying the senator’s claims.

“If my daughter said the same thing to me, I personally wouldn’t wait two years before holding him accountable,” Miller said via X. “You know this isn’t true and the only reason you are speaking out now is to hide from your own media circus. This is all political.”

Earlier on Sunday, Rep. Miller released his own video statement, denying his ex-wife’s allegations and claiming she suffers from mental health issues.

“Just want to be clear: no court, no agency has ever substantiated any allegation of abuse against me,” Miller claimed in his Sunday livestream. “Every single one of these allegations were already investigated, and I cooperated fully every single time because I had nothing to hide and I have nothing to hide now.”

Emily’s spokesperson, Stefan Mychajliw, also shared a public statement in response to Rep. Miller’s claims, calling his response “shameful” and a “bizarre and lie-filled rant” made to “desperately try to save his political career.”

Related: Meghan McCain Slams ‘Cruel Politics’ After Pete Buttegieg CPS Investigation

Political commentator Meghan McCain is weighing in on the intentionally false abuse claims against former presidential candidate Pete Buttegieg. “Absolutely horrified at what happened to @PeteButtegieg and his family,” the former The View cohost, 41, wrote via X on Saturday, June 27. “I am so sick of dirty, cruel politics and am truly deeply upset […]

“There is a documented trove of evidence that Miller has a history of violent and dangerous behavior and no amount of victim shaming will change that,” Mychajliw said in a statement on X. “It is despicable and abhorrent that Miller lied on an unhinged and humiliating video for their daughter to watch one day.”

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He added, “No loving parent would have ever used their daughter as a PR pawn to save their own political career. Miller can lie and spin on X, but he cannot do so under oath in a court of law. We are confident that justice will prevail in court.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.

If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.