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This ‘NCIS’ Spinoff Quietly Fixed a Problem Most Procedurals Still Have

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Main cast of NCIS: Los Angeles.

Procedurals live and die by their formulas. For instance, a crime happens, the team investigates, the bad guy gets caught, then roll credits, and repeat next week. This is the key reason many series within a single genre can seem so alike: the cases may differ, but the people who solve them don’t often change. Characters become vehicles for exposition rather than the reason viewers tune in.

It’s a problem plenty of procedurals still struggle with, but NCIS: Los Angeles figured out the solution years ago. Instead of making audiences care about the case first and the characters second, the long-running spinoff flipped the equation. The investigations were important, but they were rarely the reason fans kept coming back for 14 seasons.

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‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ Made Viewers Care About the Team More Than the Cases

Main cast of NCIS: Los Angeles.
Main cast of NCIS: Los Angeles.
Image via CBS.

From the beginning, NCIS: Los Angeles understood that its greatest strength wasn’t terrorism plots or undercover operations. It was the people sitting around the Ops Center. The original NCIS thrived on its ensemble, but NCIS: LA built something that felt slightly different. The Office of Special Projects felt like a family from the first moment.

G. Callen (Chris O’Donnell) and Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) formed the emotional backbone of the series. While Gibbs (Mark Harmon) often served as a mentor figure on the flagship series, Callen and Sam felt more like brothers, and their banter never came across as competition. The mutual trust, constant teasing, and warmth among all involved were key to creating an atmosphere that set NCIS:LA apart from other shows of its kind.

The glueof this, of course, was Hetty Lange (Linda Hunt), the mysterious operations manager who was actually the head of the team butacted much more like a parental figure to them. The bonds she developed with Callen, Sam, Kensi (Daniela Ruah), Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen), Eric (Barrett Foa), and Nell (Renée Felice Smith) gave the series an emotional anchor that was much more than just answering a crime each week.

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Even with the absurdity of some of the scripts (and NCIS:LA had some very outlandish plots and some of the most outrageous action ever seen on television—which was incredibly refreshing), people were still willing to go along for the ride because they were invested in the characters. Plenty of procedurals ask audiences to invest in the mystery, while NCIS: Los Angeles had them count on investing in the team.

Callen, Sam, and Hetty Created One of Television’s Best Found Families

Hetty Lange (Linda Hunt) walking away from Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) in NCIS: Los Angeles.
Hetty Lange (Linda Hunt) walking away from Sam Hanna (LL Cool J) in NCIS: Los Angeles.
Image via CBS

One of the biggest differences between NCIS: Los Angeles and other procedurals was its lack of rigid hierarchy. Yes, Callen led the field team, and yes, Hetty was in charge, but relationships inside OSP felt remarkably casual. Characters teased one another, protected one another, and genuinely enjoyed spending time together, and naturally, that chemistry became the show’s secret weapon.

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Eric and Nell evolved from co-workers into one of television’s sweetest couples, while Granger’s (Miguel Ferrer) initially frosty relationship with the team gradually transformed into mutual respect and affection. Later additions like Fatima Namazi (Medalion Rahimi) and Devin Rountree (Caleb Castielle) slipped naturally into the dynamic rather than feeling like replacements for Nell and Eric, who departed the show in later seasons and only returned for guest appearances thereafter.

Most importantly, however, the series allowed these relationships to evolve. Callen’s decades-long search for identity remained one of the show’s longest-running arcs, Sam navigated marriage, fatherhood, and loss, and Hetty’s mysterious past slowly unfolded over the years. Characters came and went, but the emotional continuity remained intact. Many procedurals essentially reset after every episode. NCIS: Los Angeles rarely did, showing that their actions had consequences, that relationships deepened, and that people changed.

Kensi and Deeks Proved Procedurals Could Handle Long-Term Romance

Eric Christian Olsen and Daniela Ruah in a Season 4 scene of NCIS: Los Angeles.
Eric Christian Olsen and Daniela Ruah in a Season 4 scene of NCIS: Los Angeles.
Image via CBS.
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Television has a long history of stretching romantic tension indefinitely. Shows spend years building couples up, only to lose momentum once they finally get together. Kensi and Deeks — a.k.a. Densi, to the shippers — never had that problem. Their relationship evolved gradually over more than a decade. Reluctant partners became friends, and friends became something more, until eventually, they married, became foster parents, and continued building a life together.

What made the pairing work wasn’t simply the chemistry between Ruah and Olsen, but it was also the writers’ willingness to let the relationship grow. The banter remained, and so too did the affection. Their romance became part of the show’s identity without overwhelming everything else around it.

More importantly, NCIS: Los Angeles understood that emotional stakes could be just as compelling as physical ones. Fans weren’t necessarily worried about whether Callen or Sam would survive every shootout. After 14 seasons, viewers knew better, but they cared deeply about how these experiences affected the people they had spent years getting to know. Would Callen finally find peace? Would Deeks and Kensi survive another difficult chapter? Would Hetty ever come home?

While many procedurals still treat characters as vehicles to solve the mystery, the CBS drama reversed the formula. The investigations gave the team something to do, but the relationships gave viewers a reason to care. Fourteen seasons later, that’s still the show’s greatest accomplishment, and one can only wish it were available to stream on platforms in the U.S. to live it again and again.

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10 Greatest Horror Movie Endings of the 2020s

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Together

Endings really are the best part of any film, especially in horror. The horror genre, in particular, has some of the most captivating and iconic endings in film history, both strikingly executed and well set up. A perfect ending is essential to turn any story into something magnificent. Without it, an otherwise good movie could easily fall apart. It’s the endings that have turned some horror movies into legendary classics, and as these last six years are anything to go by, the 2020s so far have some truly terrifyingly amazing conclusions.

The following are some of the greatest, most talked-about, and satisfying endings in modern horror. They’re truly special and give these stories a perfect send off and a relief for the audience. Some of these are bone-chillingly terrifying, others are bittersweet, but they’re undoubtedly the finales these films needed and what we all wanted. From a body horror romance to 2026’s latest box office-smashing masterpiece, here are ten of the best horror movie endings of the 2020s so far.

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10

‘Together’ (2025)

Together Image via Neon

2025 was an incredible year for horror that was marked by endless excellence. But so many good ones slipped under the wave of other big hits. Among them was Michael ShanksTogether, a body horror drama starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a struggling couple who must find a way to stop their bodies from forcibly merging after drinking contaminated water in a cave. We follow this couple through several horrifying situations and see as they painfully try to fight their affliction, but, in the gruesome finale, they give in to their fate and decide to merge as one single new person.

The merged transformation is one of the most brutal, disgusting, and ultimately tragic scenes in modern horror. It was built up throughout the story, and it seemed inevitable to happen, but it’s still so graphic and shocking to see, especially as the effects done to achieve the couple’s merge look so intense and painful. Together didn’t make the hugest impact in 2025, but its conclusion is truly a remarkable highlight that every horror fan should see. Over time, perhaps the ending will turn this underrated gem into a cult favorite.

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9

‘The Ugly Step Sister’ (2025)

Lea Myren as Elvira holds an axe preparing to cut off her toes in The Ugly Stepsister
Lea Myren as Elvira holds an axe preparing to cut off her toes in The Ugly Stepsister 
Image via IFC Films 

If you think Together‘s conclusion was the most disgusting, you clearly haven’t seen this next one. Also released in 2025, Emilie Blichfeldt‘s Norwegian dark comedy The Ugly Step Sister is truly one of the year’s greatest international horror cult classics. A twisted retelling of Cinderella, it follows Elvira (Lea Myren), the “ugly” stepsister who goes to extremely dark lengths to alter her body to win over the prince of her dreams. To achieve this, she goes too far, damaging her body, mutilating her own feet to fit small shoes, and, most disgustingly, ingesting a parastatic tapeworm to lose weight. By the end, she’s a broken, deformed shell of her former self who not only loses her happily ever after, but has to vomit up the tapeworm, which has multiplied inside her.

It is an ending that will have any viewers dry heaving long after the end credits. The Ugly Step Sister is a film that certainly pulls no punches when telling a brutal, unrelentingly shocking body horror reimagining of a classic literary tale. The ending complements the story, leaving audiences with something they certainly won’t ever forget anytime soon. It’s so stomach-churning, so painful to watch, and ultimately so fascinating to experience.

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8

‘Oddity’ (2024)

Steve Wall shines a flashlight on a haunting figure in Oddity.
Steve Wall shines a flashlight on a haunting figure in Oddity.
Image via IFC Films

Irish filmmaker Damian McCarthy is steadily rising through the ranks in modern horror, thanks to a string of small notable successes, with his most recent horror hit Hokum becoming a standout of 2026. But it was his rise in 2024 with the release of his supernatural mystery thriller Oddity that really put him on the map. Arguably the scariest film of that year, Oddity follows the despicable doctor Ted Timmis (Gwilym Lee) as he tries to get away with orchestrating his wife’s murder. But he didn’t count on her blind psychic twin sister, Darcy (Carolyn Bracken), to come after him using her supernatural abilities. Though she was ultimately killed by him in the end, Darcy did leave one last trap for Ted, leaving a cursed bell for him as a gift that, once it rang, unleashed a murderous ghost that creeps up behind him.

Oddity is a tense, shocking mystery thriller that provides endless scares and a dark, ominous atmosphere. Its ending is just as dark, but also very satisfying, as it was building to see a hated antagonist finally getting his well-deserved comeuppance. It shows that in horror movies, crime doesn’t always pay and comes back to bite someone in the most eerie ways possible. You’ll be scared, but cheer at the same time, and it’s a well-set-up and executed finale that was well worth waiting for in the whole story.

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7

‘When Evil Lurks’ (2023)

An image from 'When Evil Lurks.'
An image from ‘When Evil Lurks.’
Image via IFC Films

Hailed for its nonstop intensity, Demián Rugna‘s 2023 demonic disaster thriller When Evil Lurks is sure to scare the pants off anyone who sees it. The story follows a pair of farming brothers in Argentina, Pedro (Ezequiel Rodriguez) and Jimi (Demián Salomon), as they try to save Pedro’s family and prevent a demonic force from being born by killing a possessed body that’s spreading evil throughout the country. But the evil was too powerful, and not only did Pedro fail to stop the demon from rising, but his last surviving child, Jair (Emilio Vodanovich), had now become possessed as well, leaving Pedro to collapse in despair as the evil would now consume the world.

It’s truly a dark, depressing kind of horror film that really felt like it was building up to a bleak resolution throughout much of the story. And, boy did it end as such. When Evil Lurks certainly has one of the most downer finales of the 2020s, a real gut-puncher that’s just as brutal and unforgiving as the rest of the film. You’ll be gasping for air the moment you see just how shocking this feels to see for the first time.

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6

‘Nosferatu’ (2024)

Count Orlok, played by Bill Skarsgard, screams into the sunlight, bleeding from all over his face, while lying on top of Ellen, played by Lily-Rose Depp, in Nosferatu.
Count Orlok, played by Bill Skarsgard, screams into the sunlight, bleeding from all over his face, while lying on top of Ellen, played by Lily-Rose Depp, in Nosferatu.
Image via Focus Features

Filmmaker Robert Eggers cemented his legacy as one of the biggest names of horror this decade, thanks to his chilling hits that pack shocking terror, eerie suspense, and memorable folk horror storylines. It’s his 2024 reimagining of Nosferatu that has established him as the modern master of dread, a striking and visually creepy remake that brings this iconic tale to the modern age. Much like its 1922 original, the ending is nearly the same, but with more emotional weight and heavier acting, showing the dreaded vampire Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) as he’s finally defeated by the beautiful Ellen Hutter (Lily-Rose Depp), who sacrifices herself to distract Orlok long enough to perish in the sunlight.

It’s probably one of the saddest happy endings in horror this decade. Sure, evil is vanquished, the heroes won, and the town is saved from damnation, and it’s emotional to see Ellen die along with him, but it’s so satisfying to see this menacing, terrifying bloodsucker finally being taken down. Nosferatu is an emotional roller-coaster ride that evokes profound feelings out of the audience, and this ending is the powerful high note this type of masterpiece needed to end on.

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5

‘Weapons’ (2025)

Callie Schuttera as Mrs. Lilly breaking through the bathroom door and screaming in Weapons
Callie Schuttera as Mrs. Lilly breaking through the bathroom door and screaming in Weapons
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

Whereas When Evil Lurks and Nosferatu‘s endings were dark and bleak, this next one is just straight-up insane. From comedian and filmmaker Zach Cregger comes Weapons, 2025’s most wild, chaotic, and disturbingly thrilling horror mystery film. Josh Brolin and Julia Garner star as a worried parent and a school teacher who learn a sinister witch, Gladys Lilly (Amy Madigan), has used a mind-control spell to kidnap a classroom full of children to use their life force to cure her illness. In the end, after the pair confronted Gladys and her small army of possessed victims, Gladys’ captive nephew, Alex (Cary Christopher), put an end to her reign of terror by using her magical spell against her, sending the possessed children to chase her around the neighborhood and brutally rip her apart.

What better ending to complement a wild, fun horror thrill ride than this bonkers finale? Weapons is captivating from start to end, providing audiences with an experience that’s so horrifying and bizarrely exciting at the same time. This couldn’t have ended with a more graphic and satisfying payoff. Really, no horror fan is going to forget this conclusion any time soon.

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4

‘Pearl’ (2022)

Mia Goth staring into the screen in 'Pearl'
Mia Goth staring into the screen in ‘Pearl’
Image via A24

Slicing its way into slasher history, director Ti West‘s X trilogy has been keeping the slasher subgenre booming in the 2020s. A fresh mix of horror, drama, and even dark humor, these three films are on their way to becoming classics. But for this next one, we journey to the gripping second installment, Pearl, released in 2022. A prequel to X, this story follows the antagonist of the first film, Pearl (Mia Goth), in her youth in the 1910s as her fading dreams and stagnant farm life slowly cause her to snap into a violent rage. In the end, after succumbing to her darker impulses and going on a killing spree, her husband, Howard (Alistair Sewell), finally returns home from WWI to find her parents murdered and her welcoming him with an eerie, long smile.

Pearl is an excellent blend of slasher terror and character drama all wrapped together into a well-paced and perfectly acted story. This ending is the cherry on top, as it concludes with a skin-crawling downer that greatly sets up how the events of the first film would come to be. It’s also a perfect scene for actress Mia Goth to show off her remarkable acting talents, cementing her role as one of the most captivating performances in horror of the 21st century so far.

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3

‘The Substance’ (2024)

Monstro Elisasue lying down on the ground in pain and sadness in 'The Substance'
Monstro Elisasue lying down on the ground in pain and sadness in ‘The Substance’
Image via MUBI

2024 was an acclaimed year for horror, thanks largely to Coralie Fargeat‘s masterpiece The Substance. A flawlessly directed, perfectly written, and incredibly acted gruesome body horror drama, The Substance stars Demi Moore as fading TV celebrity Elizabeth Sparkle, who takes a mysterious, highly unstable street drug to give her a temporary youthful body to use called Sue (Margot Qualley). But when her ambition and ego get the better of her, her overuse of the drug while in Sue’s body causes a terrible mutation. In one of the most brutal endings in recent cinema history, Elizabeth’s grotesque mutated form graphically falls apart into heaps of flesh and blood on the stage of a New Year’s Eve show.

The Substance is by all means one of this century’s greatest body horrors, and a disgustingly beautiful one at that. This ending is a perfect yet incredibly bleak one and is a sad note to go out on, showing just how brutal the main character’s fall from grace has truly come. It’s violent, intense, and doesn’t skimp out on gore. What it achieves is truly horrific, and it’ll leave any new viewers stunned long after seeing it.

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2

‘Sinners’ (2025)

One of the biggest pop-cultural sensations of this decade so far is Sinners, Ryan Coogler‘s vampire action thriller magnum opus that’s not just one of the greatest horror movies this century; it’s one of the best movies, period. A flawless blend of pulse-pounding action, intense dread and terror, heartbreaking drama, and wonderful music, this story is about the two twin criminal brothers, Smoke and Stack (Michael B. Jordan), and their musically gifted cousin Sammy (Miles Caton) as they struggle to survive the night after the opening of their new juke joint is interrupted by a growing army of vampires. In the end, Stack becomes a vampire, but the others are defeated, and Smoke sacrifices himself, so Sammy can run off to live his best life as a musician.

It doesn’t even end there, as, after Sammy drives off into the sunrise, the end credits see him decades later near the end of his life, and a still immortal Stack comes to speak with him one last time. This, too, is just as brilliant and emotional, coupled with the incredible feeling of watching Michael B Jordan’s and Old Sammy’s actor Buddy Guy‘s performances. Emotionally charged, well set up, and endlessly enjoyable, Sinners‘ ending is truly one for the cinema history books.

1

‘Obsession’ (2026)

Obsession-Finale Image via Focus Features
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Number one goes to the bleak, intense, and unbelievably shocking finale to Curry Barker‘s 2026 instant horror classic Obsession. The story is of a twisted romance, following helpless romantic Bear (Michael Jonston) as he unwisely uses a powerful magical wish toy to make his crush Nikki (Inde Navarrette) obsessionally fall in love with him, but with disastrous consequences. By the end, Nikki’s unhinged state has caused her to murder two of her closest friends, and Bear is left with no choice but to end his life in order to break the wish spell and set her free. But, as the credits roll, she screams in terror and confusion after snapping back to reality, while bodies lie around her, and she’s likely going to be implicated in all of these horrible crimes.

Not only considered one of the most captivating horror films of this century, but just one of the all-time greats now, this tremendous blend of supernatural terror and dark romantic drama is a nightmarish experience that’s too hard to look away from. Obsession‘s ending is truly striking and an unforgettable one that plagues the mind and fills viewers with terror and shock long after seeing the film. It’s perfect in every way and emotional, and deserves the top spot as the best horror movie ending of the 2020s so far.


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Obsession

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Release Date

May 15, 2026

Runtime
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108 minutes

Director

Curry Barker

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Writers

Curry Barker

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10 Mystery Movies That Are Perfect From the First Scene to the Last

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Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes & John Watson in The Hound of the Baskervilles 1939

People love a good mystery movie. They are inherently compelling and intriguing, and a skilled screenwriter or discerning director knows just when and what breadcrumbs to feed us so that we keep following them down the path to the truth. Whether that truth is satisfying or not comes down to the individual story we’ve been told and whether the facts of it add up to something greater. Often, films or series can whet our appetites with clever clues and plot machinations, only to turn our stomachs sour with an unsatisfying ending that leaves too many plot threads dangling or ties them up in too tidy a bow.

Crafting a compelling and narratively satisfying mystery can be like pulling off a magic trick, and if a filmmaker tips their hand too soon, it can ruin the whole show. While we all patiently wait to see if the second season of Widow’s Bay still has some tricks up its sleeves, it’s the perfect time to revisit those mystery movies that have both interesting setups and satisfying payoffs. They give you a puzzle, they solve it in front of you, and the result is a wonderful sight to behold. These are ten mystery movies that are perfect from the first scene to the last.

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‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ (1939)

Basil Rathbone & Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes & John Watson in The Hound of the Baskervilles 1939 Image via 20th Century Studios

It’s hard to create any list of mystery movies without including the character of Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle‘s iconic detective has been adapted across a variety of mediums with varying degrees of success over the years. In film, the actor probably most associated with the character, at least for those whose viewing habits extend beyond a couple of decades, is Basil Rathbone, who appeared in fourteen separate films as Holmes, alongside Nigel Bruce as Watson. The first one, The Hound of the Baskervilles, is still the best, a gothic film thick with atmosphere and a classic mystery.

Though the film makes several notable changes to Doyle’s original, it still captures the spirit of the story, from its horror-tinged aesthetic to the Victorian-era setting. It follows Holmes and Watson as they investigate a supposed curse that’s been placed upon the Baskerville family and a demonic dog that haunts the moors surrounding their Devonshire estate. The Hound of the Baskervilles is the most famous Holmes mystery, and it’s been adapted, in one form or another, more than any other. but the Rathbone film set the cinematic standard for the character.

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‘The Maltese Falcon’ (1941)

Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade wearing a hat, trenchcoat, and tie in 'The Maltese Falcon'.
Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade wearing a hat, trenchcoat, and tie in ‘The Maltese Falcon’.
Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

​​​​​​​Doyle’s legacy was succeeded by authors like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, whose hard-boiled detective novels became noir classics. Those two, along with authors like Mickey Spillane and James M. Cain, provided almost all the subgenre’s golden age. The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity, and Kiss Me Deadly all offer scintillating mysteries in perfect movies, but The Maltese Falcon came first and was the crystallization of the noir template. It’s got a hard-boiled detective, a femme fatale, a MacGuffin to kill for, and one hell of a mystery.

Humphrey Bogart plays Sam Spade, a private eye who gets more than he bargained for when his partner is killed, and he’s pulled into a conspiracy involving the titular statue and the underworld figures who covet it. Directed by John Huston, the film was actually the second adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett novel on which it was based, but has completely eclipsed it. It’s a seminal film noir and, in addition to Bogart giving a bona fide movie star performance, it features a killer supporting cast which includes Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre. It’s a dark labyrinth you’ll love to get lost in.

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‘Rear Window’ (1954)

Jimmy Stewart with a camera in Rear Window Image via Paramount Pictures

Alfred Hitchcock‘s career has plenty of mysteries, at least when it comes to the film. Vertigo is a masterpiece, North by Northwest is an immaculate spy thriller, and Rear Window is a masterclass in sustained suspense. Set entirely in a single location, the film never feels stagnant or restricted thanks to incredible set design and tight pacing.

Photojournalist Jeff (James Stewart) is confined to his apartment in a wheelchair with a broken leg, passing the time by watching his neighbors across the courtyard from him. Jeff’s peeping gets him more than he expects when he believes one neighbor has murdered his wife. It’s a classic premise that has inspired more than a few other voyeuristic thrillers, but Rear Window remains unsurpassed. It’s a contained mystery thriller that keeps you in the thick of it from its very first frame.

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‘A Shot in the Dark’ (1964)

Peter Sellers as Inspector Jacques Clouseau looking surprised in 'A Shot in the Dark' (1964)
Peter Sellers as Inspector Jacques Clouseau looking surprised in ‘A Shot in the Dark’ (1964)
Image via United Artists

Peter Sellers most iconic character of the bumbling Inspector Clouseau was introduced in Blake Edward‘s The Pink Panther. That film holds its own special place in film history, but many forget that Sellers’ character was but one member of a larger ensemble in it. In its superior sequel, A Shot in the Dark, the spotlight is all on Sellers, and he absolutely shines. The broad characteristics of Clouseau, such as his exaggerated French accent and pratfalls, become even more pronounced, and the film is a slapstick classic.

When a murder occurs at the estate of a millionaire, Clouseau is called upon to take the case, and he quickly becomes embroiled with certain members of the household while ignorantly dodging attempts on his life. From the moment Sellers is on screen, he’s making you laugh; even when he isn’t, there is plenty more to admire in Edwards’ direction and the widescreen cinematography. Rather than feeling disjointed, the result is a perfectly balanced comedy mystery that will keep you entertained from beginning to end.

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‘The Conversation’ (1974)

Gene Hackman as Harry fixing a toilet in The Conversation Image via Paramount Pictures

Though it was slightly overshadowed by director Francis Ford Coppola‘s other film released in 1974, The Conversation is every bit a masterpiece. Where The Godfather Part II is sprawling and epic, The Conversation is intimate and claustrophobic, a mystery thriller set in the world of surveillance that, despite being written years before, was made all the more relevant for its proximity to the Watergate scandal. In today’s political circus where constant surveillance is part of modern life, the mystery is still captivating with its slow-burn suspense.

Gene Hackman plays Harry Caul, a cautious and paranoid surveillance expert whose current job has him overhearing a potential threat of murder, putting him in the middle of a mystery involving an affair and a powerful executive. Inspired by Michelangelo Antonioni‘s Blow-Up, Coppola advanced that film’s themes of perception and reality through images by applying them through sound recording. There’s something particularly paranoid about The Conversation that makes it still feel applicable. The final scene is a cynical summation of our futile attempts to maintain control.

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‘Missing’ (1982)

An businessman and his daughter-in-law on the lookout while military vehicles pass in the background. Image via Universal Pictures

The ’80s were a prime time for thrillers, many of them built around solid mysteries. While the decade is better known for its sweaty, sexy thrillers like Body Heat and neo noirs like Blood Simple, there were also some less lurid films built on real events, like Costa-Gravas Missing. A political thriller based on the murder of American journalist Charles Horman after the Chilean coup led by Augusto Pinochet, the film finds its emotional anchor in Horman’s father and wife. It’s incendiary and absorbing, exposing the political corruption and government complicity that played major roles in Horman’s execution.

Jack Lemmon plays Horman’s father Ed, who travels to Chile to search for his son. He meets his daughter-in-law Beth (Sissy Spacek), who holds conflicting political views to those of the conservative Ed. As Ed is repeatedly stonewalled by the U.S. government in his investigation, his politics change. The film expertly captures the frustrations of American bureaucracy and diplomacy, which more often than not ignore the human cost of political calculations. Missing is a character drama wrapped in a political thriller whose central mystery isn’t about how someone died, but why they did.

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‘Lone Star’ (1996)

Matthew McConaughey as Buddy Deeds looking at a person offscreen in Lone Star
Matthew McConaughey as Buddy Deeds looking at a person offscreen in Lone Star
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

John Sayles‘ neo-Western mystery Lone Star is one of the best written and most underrated films of the ’90s, a keenly observed drama about the racial and cultural divides that exist in America, illustrated through a small Texas border town with a history of violence and deception. Featuring a stellar lead performance by Chris Cooper and incredible support from Kris Kristofferson, Elizabeth Pena and some outstanding early work by Matthew McConaughey, it’s a stark counterpart to many of the other ’90s crime films, particularly those made in the wake of Quentin Tarantino‘s success.

Sam Deeds (Cooper) is a county sheriff in South Texas leading an investigation into a discovered skeleton that is revealed to be that of the corrupt sheriff who preceded Sam’s father (McConaughey). The investigation leads Sam to learn some uncomfortable truths about his father, while the film explores the broader historical revisionism that papers over these same kinds of truths within American history. The solving of the film’s mystery is more akin to picking at a scab and uncovering the bloody truth underneath. Lone Star is another quiet classic from Sayles from one of the most exciting eras of independent filmmaking.

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‘Memento’ (2001)

Guy Pierce holding up a polaroid in Memento.
Guy Pierce holding up a polaroid in Memento.
Image via Newmarket Films

As the film that truly put Christopher Nolan on the map as a filmmaker, Memento often gets reduced to discussions of its non-linear narrative, but it is far more than just a gimmick. The story alternates between forward and reverse chronology to meet in the middle at the end, which puts the audience in the same position as the anterograde amnesiac protagonist. It’s a delicate balancing act that risks becoming alienating or incomprehensible, but Nolan clearly had the confidence, or hubris, to pull it off. It demands attention, and it rewards repeat viewings.

Guy Pearce plays Leonard Shelby, an investigator who can’t form new memories following the attack that also killed his wife. He’s now committed to tracking down her murderer but must rely on polaroids and tattoos to keep track of his clues. The film’s structure was criticized by some critics and lauded by others. It’s futile to argue if the narrative, or mystery, would be just as interesting if it were told in linear fashion, since the structure is an integral part of the story. How a story is told is just as important as the events that transpire within it, and Memento is told perfectly.

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‘Mother’ (2009)

Kim Hye-ja in Bong Joon-ho's 'Mother' (2009)
Kim Hye-ja in Bong Joon-ho’s ‘Mother’ (2009)
Image via CJ Entertainment

Bong Joon Ho has made many films with mystery elements embedded within them, from his Academy Award-winning masterpiece Parasite to the sci-fi thriller Snowpiercer and his greatest film, Memories of Murder. Mystery is also at the heart of his wrenching neo-noir thriller Mother, a film that’s focused on the power of maternal love as an overwhelming force that can harm just as easily as it can heal. Just like Bong’s best films, Mother is a deft balance of tones that, in less assured hands, would result in narrative whiplash.

Kim Hye-ja plays the titular mother, a widow with an intellectual disabled adult son. She fiercely defends him from mockery and abuse, but when he is accused of the murder of a young woman, she pushes herself to the brink to clear his name and find the real killer. The mystery of Mother doesn’t offer simple satisfaction, and the deeper the main character digs, the dirtier she gets. Bong’s darkest films often end lingering, with the characters more haunted than before. By the end of her story, the Mother just wants to forget, but the film itself is unforgettable.

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‘The Nice Guys’ (2016)

Holland and Russell Jackson sit at a bar in The Nice Guys.
Holland and Russell Jackson sit at a bar in The Nice Guys.
Image via Warner Bros.

Now for something completely different. Even if there’s plenty of bloodshed and lots of bodies in The Nice Guys, it ends pretty far from the somber tone set by some of the preceding mystery films. You’d expect no less from Shane Black, the quick-witted screenwriter who came to fame with punchy action comedies like Lethal Weapon. His directorial career has seen its own highs (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) and lows (The Predator), but anyone who’s made a stone-cold classic like The Nice Guys should get to do whatever they want. It’s easily one of the most entertaining mysteries to unravel.

Par for the course for Black, the film follows private investigator Holland March (Ryan Gosling) and enforcer Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe), who reluctantly join forces to find a missing teenage girl. Set in Los Angeles in the ’70s, the film is steeped in the political turmoil of the era, but it’s far from some high-minded thriller, yet well above the level of a standard potboiler. Black has a killer sense of humor, and it’s in every perfect little scene of this cult classic. Gosling and Crowe have explosive chemistry, and neither has ever been funnier than they are here. It genuinely doesn’t matter if you find the mystery of The Nice Guys fascinating or not, because you’ll be laughing too hard to care.

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3 Most Exciting Shows to Binge on Netflix This Week

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For the past week, Will Ferrell‘s first TV comedy as creator, executive producer, and star, The Hawk, the return of Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly‘s western series Ransom Canyon, and the latest Netflix Harlan Coben adaptation, I Will Find You, have dominated the streaming charts. But this past weekend saw a true-crime documentary rise back to the streaming summit, as the nation indulged in the many twists and turns of The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare. So, in a period of change in the Netflix charts, what else should you be watching? To help you decide, here’s a list of three shows you should binge-watch on Netflix this week.

For more recommendations, check out our list of the best shows and movies on Netflix.

Disclaimer: These titles are available on US Netflix.

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1

‘Best Medicine’ (2026)

Rotten Tomatoes: 73% | IMDb: 6.6/10

Earlier this year, FOX found a surprise medical drama hit in Best Medicine, a remake of the long-running British favorite Doc Martin. Almost four months since the Best Medicine finale aired, the entire first season has made its way to Netflix in the U.S., and is one of the most intriguing, heartwarming, and easily binged shows new to the platform.

The series follows Boston heart surgeon Dr. Martin Best (Josh Charles) as he does what all good TV doctors do: moves to a small town to try and build a new life. However, he soon finds himself alienated by locals as he struggles to adapt to their way of living. Boasting “lovable characters, strong actors, and interesting ideas,” according to Collider’s review, this is one cozy gem you won’t want to miss.











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Collider Exclusive · TV Medicine Quiz
Which Fictional Hospital Would You Work Best In?
The Pitt · ER · Grey’s Anatomy · House · Scrubs
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Five hospitals. Five completely different ways medicine goes sideways on television — brutal, chaotic, romantic, brilliant, and ridiculous. Only one of them is the ward your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out exactly where you belong.

🚨The Pitt

🏥ER

💉Grey’s

🔬House

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🩺Scrubs

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01

A critical patient comes through the door. What’s your first instinct?
Medicine under pressure reveals who you actually are.





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02

Why did you go into medicine in the first place?
The honest answer says more about you than the one you’d give in an interview.





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03

What do you actually want from the people you work with?
Who you want beside you under pressure is who you are.





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04

You lose a patient you fought hard to save. How do you carry it?
Every doctor who’s worked a long shift has had to answer this question.





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05

How would your colleagues describe the way you work?
Your reputation on the floor is usually more accurate than your self-image.





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06

How do you feel about hospital protocol and procedure?
Every institution has rules. What you do with them is a choice.





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07

What does this job cost you personally?
Nobody works in medicine without paying a price. What’s yours?





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08

At the end of a long shift, what keeps you coming back?
The answer to this question is the most honest thing about you.





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Your Assignment Has Been Made
You Belong In…

Your answers have pointed to one fictional hospital above all others. This is the ward your instincts, your temperament, and your particular brand of dysfunction were built for.

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Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center

The Pitt

You are built for the most unsparing version of emergency medicine television has ever shown — one that puts you inside a single fifteen-hour shift and doesn’t let you look away.

  • You need your work to be real, not romanticised — meaning over drama, honesty over aesthetics.
  • You find purpose inside the work itself, not in the chaos surrounding it.
  • You’ve made peace with the fact that this job takes from you constantly, and gives back in ways that are harder to name.
  • Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center demands exactly that kind of person — and you would not want to be anywhere else.

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County General Hospital, Chicago

ER

You are the person who keeps the whole floor running — not the most brilliant in the room, but possibly the most essential.

  • You show up, do the work, absorb the losses, and come back the next day without needing the job to be anything other than what it is.
  • You care about patients as individual human beings, not as cases to solve or dramas to live through.
  • You believe in the system even when it fails you — and you understand that emergency medicine is about holding the line just long enough.
  • ER is television about endurance. You have it.

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Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, Seattle

Grey’s Anatomy

You came to medicine with your whole self — your ambition, your emotions, your relationships, your history — and you have never quite managed to leave any of it at the door.

  • You feel things fully and form deep attachments to the people you work with.
  • Your personal and professional lives are permanently, chaotically entangled — and that entanglement drives both your greatest disasters and your most remarkable saves.
  • You understand that extraordinary medicine often happens at the intersection of clinical skill and profound human connection.
  • It’s messy at Grey Sloan. You would not have it any other way.

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Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, NJ

House

You are drawn to the problem above everything else — the symptom that doesn’t fit, the diagnosis hiding underneath the obvious one.

  • You’re not primarily motivated by the patient as a person — though you are capable of caring, even if you’d deny it.
  • You work best when the stakes are highest and the standard answer is wrong.
  • Princeton-Plainsboro exists to house one extraordinary, impossible mind — and everyone around that mind is there because they’re smart enough to keep up.
  • The only way forward here is to think harder than everyone else in the room. That is exactly what you do.

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Sacred Heart Hospital, California

Scrubs

You understand that medicine is tragic and absurd in almost equal measure — and that the only sane response is to hold both of those things at the same time.

  • You are warm, self-aware, and funnier than most people in your field.
  • You use humour to get through terrible moments — and at Sacred Heart, that’s not a flaw, it’s a survival strategy.
  • You lean on the people around you and let them lean back. The laughter and the grief are genuinely inseparable here.
  • Scrubs is a show about learning to become someone worthy of the job. You are still very much in the middle of that process — which is exactly right.
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2

‘Big Mistakes’ (2026)

Rotten Tomatoes: 80% | IMDb: 7.2/10

With seven months of 2026 in the rearview mirror, it might be time to catch up on those underrated gems that have thus far passed you by. One of the best in this category is Big Mistakes, a clever heist comedy series starring Schitt’s Creek‘s Dan Levy and Taylor Ortega as a pair of siblings who are quickly caught up in a brutal world of underground crime through blackmail.

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Co-created by Levy and the genius comic mind of Rachel Sennott, Big Mistakes is one of the best comedies to hit Netflix this year and has rightfully already earned a second season renewal. Alongside Levy and Ortega, the series also includes Laurie Metcalfe, Abby Quinn, Boran Kuzum, Jack Innanen, Elizabeth Perkins, Mark Ivanir, and more, with eight short episodes currently available for your binging pleasure.

3

‘Arcane’ (2021–2024)

Rotten Tomatoes: 100% | IMDb: 9.0/10

If you’re a fan of animation, then watching the frankly genius Arcane is a must. Set in Riot’s League of Legends world, Christian Linke and Alex Yee‘s steampunk series follows sisters Vi and Jinx as they become caught in a bitter conflict between the underbelly of Zaun and the city of Piltover.

Undeniably one of the best Netflix original series of all time, Arcane shines as a masterclass in stylish animation and a near-perfect example of immersive world-building, earning consistent critical praise and an impressive eight Primetime Emmys. Sadly, just 18 episodes of this masterpiece are available, but for those 18 episodes, you are sure to have the time of your streaming life.

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Release Date

2021 – 2024

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Network

Netflix

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Showrunner

Christian Linke

Directors
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Barth Maunoury, Marietta Ren, Christelle Abgrall

Writers

Amanda Overton, Nick Luddington, Mollie Bickley St. John, Ben St. John, Giovanna Sarquis, Henry G.M. Jones

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Franchise(s)

League of Legends

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The Lord of the Rings Officially Brings Back Sauron for New September 2026 Release

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The Lord of the Rings fans have a lot to be excited about this year and beyond, with new releases coming at least every few months. The biggest new project on the schedule is the long-awaited third season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The Tolkien-inspired series officially returns to streaming on November 11. Following TROP Season 3 is The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which is coming to theaters on December 17, 2027, the same day as Avengers: Secret Wars. Lord of the Rings fans who are also passionate about video games have a new open-world RPG from Warhorse on the way, the same studio that delivered both critically acclaimed Kingdom Come games. No word yet on when the new game will be released.

There is a new Lord of the Rings game with an expansion coming very soon that may have slipped under the radar, though. Free League Publishing recently announced a new expansion for The One Ring tabletop roleplaying game, The White Tower and the Hall of Gold. The new campaign is officially set to launch in September 2026, and it centers around Gondor and Rohan, putting players in the shows of those exploring the last great kingdoms of Men during the Third Age. This is around the same time that Sauron was rising to power as his influence spread like wildfire across Middle-earth. The new expansion is full of lore and exciting new adventures throughout the realms, and it’s set to be released as The Lord of the Rings: Realms of the South for The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying E5 version of the game. The new release includes a comprehensive bestiary also launching in September.













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Collider Exclusive · Middle-earth Quiz
Which Lord of the Rings
Character Are You?

One Quiz · Ten Questions · Your Fate Revealed
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The road goes ever on. From the green hills of the Shire to the fires of Mount Doom, every soul in Middle-earth carries a destiny. Ten questions stand between you and the truth of who you are. Answer honestly — the One Ring has a way of revealing what we most want to hide.

💍Frodo

🌿Samwise

👑Aragorn

🔥Gandalf

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🏹Legolas

⚒️Gimli

👁️Sauron

🪨Gollum

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01

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You are handed a responsibility that could destroy you. What do you do?
The weight of the world falls on unlikely shoulders.




02

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Your closest companion is heading into terrible danger. You:
True loyalty is revealed not in comfort, but in crisis.




03

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Enormous power is within your reach. Your instinct is:
Power corrupts — but only those who reach for it.




04

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What does “home” mean to you?
Where we long to return reveals who we truly are.




05

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When a battle is upon you, your approach is:
War reveals what we are made of — whether we like it or not.




06

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Someone comes to you for advice in their darkest hour. You:
Wisdom is not knowing all the answers — it’s knowing which questions to ask.




07

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How do you see yourself, honestly?
Self-knowledge is the most dangerous kind.




08

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Which of these best describes your relationship with the natural world?
Middle-earth speaks to those who know how to listen.




09

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You encounter a wretched, pitiable creature who has done terrible things. You:
How we treat the fallen reveals the height of our character.




10

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When the quest is over and the songs are sung, what do you hope they say about you?
In the end, we are all just stories.




The Fellowship Has Spoken
Your Place in Middle-earth
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The scores below reveal your true character. Your highest number is your match. Even a tie tells a story — the Fellowship was never made of simple people.

💍
Frodo

🌿
Samwise

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👑
Aragorn

🔥
Gandalf

🏹
Legolas

⚒️
Gimli

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👁️
Sauron

🪨
Gollum

You carry something heavy — and you carry it alone, even when you don’t have to. You were not born for greatness, and that is precisely why greatness chose you. Your courage is not the roaring, sword-swinging kind; it is quiet, stubborn, and terrifying in its refusal to quit. The Ring weighs on you more than anyone can see, and still you walk toward the fire. That is not weakness. That is the rarest kind of strength there is.

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You are, without question, the best of them. Not the most powerful, not the most celebrated — but the most essential. Your loyalty is not a trait; it is a force of nature. You would carry the person you love up the slopes of Mount Doom if it came to that, and we both know you’d do it without being asked. The world needs more people like you, and the world is lucky it has even one.

You were born to lead, and you have spent years running from it. The crown is yours by right, but you know better than anyone that right means nothing without the will and the worthiness to back it up. You are tempered by loss, shaped by long roads, and defined by a code of honour you hold to even when no one is watching. When you finally step forward, the world shifts. Because it was always waiting for you.

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You have seen more than you let on, and you say less than you know — which is exactly as it should be. You are a catalyst: you do not fight the battles yourself, you ignite the people who can. Your wisdom comes not from books but from an age of watching what happens when it is ignored. You arrive precisely when you mean to, and your presence alone changes what is possible. A wizard is never late.

Graceful, perceptive, and almost preternaturally calm under pressure — you see things others miss and act before others react. You do not need to make a scene to be remarkable; your presence speaks for itself. You are loyal to those you choose to stand beside, and that choice is not made lightly. You have lived long enough to know that the most beautiful things in this world are also the most fragile, and that is why you fight to protect them.

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You are loud, proud, and absolutely formidable — and beneath all of that is one of the most fiercely loyal hearts in Middle-earth. You don’t do anything by half measures. Your friendships are forged like iron, your grudges run as deep as mines, and your courage in battle is the kind that makes legends. You came into this fellowship suspicious of everyone and ended it willing to die for an elf. That is not a small thing. That is everything.

You think in centuries and act in absolutes. Order, dominion, control — not because you are cruel by nature, but because you have decided that the world left to itself always falls apart, and you are the only one with the vision and the will to hold it together. You were not always this. Something was lost, or taken, or betrayed, and the version of you that stands now is the answer to that wound. The tragedy is that you’re not entirely wrong — just entirely too far gone to course-correct.

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You are a study in contradiction — pitiable and dangerous, cunning and broken, capable of both cruelty and something that once resembled love. You are defined by loss: of innocence, of self, of the one thing that gave your existence meaning. Two voices war inside you constantly, and the tragedy is that the better one sometimes wins, just not often enough, and never at the right moment. You are a warning, yes — but also a mirror. We are all a little Gollum, given the right ring and enough time.

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Who Stars in ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum’?

The first live-action Lord of the Rings movie in over 10 years is bringing back franchise veterans, including Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Lee Pace as Thranduil, Elijah Wood as Frodo, and Andy Serkis as Gollum. Additional cast members include Anya Taylor-Joy as Seren, Leo Woodall as Halvard, Kate Winslet as Marigol, and Jamie Dornan as Aragorn. Peter Jackson is producing and writing the new Lord of the Rings movie and overseeing the production personally, with the talented Andy Serkis directing. Philippa Boyens, Phoebe Gittins, and Art Papageorgiou also worked on the script for The Hunt for Gollum.

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Stay tuned to Collider for more updates and coverage of The Lord of the Rings franchise.


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Release Date
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December 17, 2027

Writers

Arty Papageorgiou, Phoebe Gittins, Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, J.R.R. Tolkien

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Franchise(s)

The Lord of the Rings

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10 Near-Perfect Space Opera TV Shows No One Remembers Today

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Gil Gerard as Buck Rogers and Pamela Hensley as Princess Ardala as 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.'

The appeal of science fiction is the vast worlds that the stories we watch can take us to. A time machine can take us to the past, while a spaceship can take us to, well, space! The latter have served as places where the narratives familiar on our surface become even more extraordinary in the galaxy. Within the larger sci-fi space genre is the space opera, stories that emphasize grand, sweeping adventures, high-stakes drama, and epic conflicts over scientific accuracy; they’re battles of good and evil that only imagination could think up.

The most familiar space opera in pop culture is Star Wars, and since its massive success, the subgenre has found its place on the small screen. Here, we discuss ten near-perfect space operas no one remembers today. The series on this list are set in vast galactic empires, feature interstellar warfare, and chronicle larger-than-life characters, prioritizing epic storytelling, which is why the devoted fans adore them.

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‘Buck Rogers in the 25th Century’ (1979-1981)

Gil Gerard as Buck Rogers and Pamela Hensley as Princess Ardala as 'Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.'
Gil Gerard as Buck Rogers and Pamela Hensley as Princess Ardala as ‘Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.’
Image via NBC

Back in 1928, Philip Francis Nowlan created an iconic character known as Buck Rogers. Since then, he has appeared in an assortment of media, including comic strips, radio, and novellas. Nearly 50 years later, the character returned to the small screen in the two-season space opera Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, following the adventures of Captain William “Buck” Rogers (Gil Gerard), a 20th-century astronaut accidentally frozen in space for 500 years. Revived in 2491, he discovers Earth rebuilding from nuclear war and uses his piloting skills to defend the planet against alien empires and galactic villains.

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century struck a balance between high-stakes cosmic adventure and unapologetic pulp charm. From evil galactic empires with seductive space princesses to dogfights in sleek, futuristic starfighters, there was a cinematic quality to the television budget. Buck Rogers in the 25th Century chose kitsch over a philosophical sci-fi thriller. By never taking itself too seriously, the series rarely did, relying on clever humor and dazzling visual design that was bright and optimistic. Certainly a product of its time, this gem was meant to entertain first and foremost.

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‘Dark Matter’ (2015-2017)

Joel Edgerton and Alice Braga stepping into a lighted area looking alarmed in Dark Matter.
Joel Edgerton and Alice Braga stepping into a lighted area looking alarmed in Dark Matter.
Image via Apple TV

Even though a second season is around the corner, there is a faction of TV-watchers who either forgot about or have never even realized Dark Matter existed. Created by Blake Crouch, based on his 2016 novel, it follows Jason Dessen (Joel Edgerton), a Chicago physicist who is abducted and thrust into the multiverse. He wakes up in alternate realities where his life choices went differently, and he must fight his way back home through a labyrinth of parallel worlds to save his true family from the most dangerous foe imaginable: himself.

A deeply character-driven love story set within a high-stakes multiverse thriller, Dark Matter explores the roads not taken, challenging viewers with a core question: Are you happy in your life? Blending epic space-opera ambition with deeply intimate family drama, Dark Matter uses “space” in terms of the infinite multiverse. It’s the ultimate “what if” story, taking a protagonist and introducing twisted reflections of his life and career, leading to a masterful, multidimensional war fought on a personal level. It may not use the stars as its backdrop, but its space opera sensibility makes it a near-perfect option.

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‘Farscape’ (1999-2003)

Ben Browder as John Chrichton in Farscape
Ben Browder as John Chrichton in Farscape
Image via SYFY

Farscape chronicles the adventures of Earth astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder), who is accidentally sucked through a wormhole into a distant, hostile part of the universe. He ends up aboard Moya, a living spaceship, alongside a crew of escaped alien fugitives while being relentlessly hunted by a merciless military empire. The antithesis of Star Trek, Farscape blends space-opera adventure and dark emotional arcs with innovative, groundbreaking puppetry.

The massive allure of the series was the incredible work by The Jim Henson Company and the creatures they created. The series uses a stranger-in-a-strange-land premise, with Crichton using modern science and pop-culture references to survive, often clashing with and enlightening his alien crewmates. It flipped the good-guy tropes on its head, as the merry band of convicts operated in moral shades of grey. If you’re looking for romance, look no further than Crichton and Peacekeeper warrior Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black). Prefer slapstick, bizarre humor, or gut-wrenching psychological horror? Farscape has you covered. It’s a time capsule series that truly delivered on all cylinders.

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‘Killjoys’ (2015-2019)

Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), Johnny (Aaron Ashmore), and D'avin (Luke Macfarlane) in Killjoys
Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), Johnny (Aaron Ashmore), and D’avin (Luke Macfarlane) in Killjoys
Image via SYFY

Coming out of Canada was one of the more underrated space adventure series, Killjoys. A thrilling space Western, Killjoys follows three interplanetary bounty hunters who work as a neutral police force. Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen) is a highly skilled, top-tier bounty hunter with a mysterious, dark past. John Jaqobis (Aaron Ashmore) is a kind-hearted, tech-savvy peacemaker who acts as the glue of the group. D’avin Jaqobis (Luke Macfarlane) is John’s older brother and an elite former soldier with combat skills and deep-seated military trauma.

The high-octane series blends the “monster-of-the-week” bounty-hunter format with a surprisingly deep, serialized sci-fi conspiracy, featuring unique worldbuilding and the ability to balance lighthearted humor with serious stakes. The heart comes from the found family dynamic built by the primary trio: each character is distinct enough that you may have a favorite, but together they create the perfect team. Killjoys was a show that let you dip in and out, but for those who journeyed through, it wove a massive, satisfying overarching narrative.











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Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz
Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like?
Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
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Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides

🖖Capt. Kirk

Princess Leia

🔦Ellen Ripley

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🔥Max Rockatansky

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01

How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher?
The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.





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02

What is your greatest strength in a crisis?
The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.





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03

What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for?
Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.





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04

How do you relate to the people around you?
Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.





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05

You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do?
How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.





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06

What has your heroism cost you personally?
Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.





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07

How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in?
Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?





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08

When everything is on the line, what keeps you going?
The answer is the most honest thing about you.





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Your Hero Has Been Identified
Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…

Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

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Arrakis · Dune

Paul Atreides

You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

  • You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
  • You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
  • Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
  • That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.

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USS Enterprise · Star Trek

Captain Kirk

You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

  • You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
  • Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
  • Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
  • That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.

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The Rebellion · Star Wars

Princess Leia

You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.

  • You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
  • You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
  • Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
  • That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.

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The Nostromo · Alien

Ellen Ripley

You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

  • You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
  • Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
  • You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
  • When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.

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The Wasteland · Mad Max

Max Rockatansky

You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

  • You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
  • Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
  • Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
  • That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
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‘Lexx’ (1996-2002)

Stanley H. Tweedle (Brian Downey) and Zev Bellringer (Eva Habermann) look forward in Lexx.
Stanley H. Tweedle (Brian Downey) and Zev Bellringer (Eva Habermann) look forward in Lexx.
Image via Sci Fi Channel
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Another space thriller from Canada with a ‘90s aesthetic is Lexx. Created by Lex Gigeroff and brothers Paul and Michael Donovan, Lexx was a bizarre and darkly satirical sci-fi series about a ragtag group of reluctant misfits who accidentally steal the “Lexx,” an enormous, sentient, dragonfly-shaped spaceship that doubles as the most destructive weapon in two universes. They wander through hostile and chaotic universes, avoiding the clutches of a tyrannical empire.

Leaning heavily into irony, parody, and adult-oriented humor rather than traditional space heroism, its subversion of every space opera trope allowed it to stand out uniquely on its own. Lexx lives and breathes via its band of anti-heroes and pokes fun at the genre within its worldbuilding. Each of the show’s four seasons has a distinct essence. The first two seasons are wild, raunchy space operas; the third season is a darker, slow-burn psychological journey on a literal hell-planet, and the fourth season is a satirical send-up set on modern-day Earth. And yet, they all thrive together as one complete series.

‘Space: 1999’ (1975-1977)

Lynne Frederick and Catherine Schell in Space: 1999
Lynne Frederick and Catherine Schell in Space: 1999
Image via ITV
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If there might have been a rival to Doctor Who, it was Space: 1999. The classic space drama set in 1999 follows the 311 inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha, a scientific research station on the Moon. When a catastrophic nuclear waste explosion blasts the Moon out of Earth’s orbit, the crew is sent hurtling uncontrollably into deep space. The runaway moon serves as the crew’s unlikely spacecraft as they drift across the universe, encountering strange alien civilizations and cosmic phenomena, and battling for survival.

Across two epic seasons, Space: 1999 combines cinematic hard-sci-fi aesthetics with surreal, philosophical storytelling through breathtaking practical effects, an existential focus, and an adventurous premise. Space: 1999 is revered for its special effects design by Academy Award winner Brian Johnson, who went on to work on Alien and The Empire Strikes Back. With realistic and cinematic weight on the small screen, Johnson helped craft some of the most believable and iconic spacecraft in genre history. By believing in the universe in which the characters occupied, the story of survival resonated.

‘Spaceballs: The Animated Series’ (2008-2009)

The cast of 'Spaceballs: The Animated Series.'
The cast of ‘Spaceballs: The Animated Series.’
Image via G4
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There will most certainly be a faction of individuals reading this who will shake their heads at the inclusion of Spaceballs: The Animated Series. For those of us who have great reverence for the Mel Brooks film, the 13 episodes were the perfect way to scratch the itch of our beloved comedy classic. Created by Brooks and Thomas Meehan, the show follows the galactic misadventures of a ragtag space hero named Lone Starr (Rino Romano), a half-man/half-dog Barf (Tino Insana), and Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) as they continually outwit the evil, power-hungry President Skroob (Brooks) and his bumbling henchman, Dark Helmet (Dee Bradley Baker).

Each episode targeted a different blockbuster franchise or pop culture element, such as the Star Wars prequel trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, and video games like Grand Theft Auto. If you admire the Brooks brand of humor, Spaceballs: The Animated Series is exactly what you expect. The series is gloriously nostalgic, and animation allowed the parodies to have fewer budgetary constraints, exaggerating the spectacle. The space oddities are bigger and better than ever, and the animation style was distinct, but the viewing accessibility was, well, not universal. Still, if you were counting down to Spaceballs: The New One, you absolutely tuned in to this short-lived space series. ​​​​​​​

‘The Expanse’ (2015-2022)

Thomas Jane as Josephus Miller in a protective suit in a glowing blue field in The Expanse Season 2, Episode 5
Detective Josephus Miller (Thomas Jane) wears a protective suit and helmet as he treks through a peculiar, luminescent blue field in ‘The Expanse’ Season 2, Episode 5 “Home”.
Image via SYFY
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A major reason some of these shows have been forgotten might be the place where they aired. Nothing against Syfy, but the weight of the network was outmatched by the big-name streamers. Nevertheless, Syfy delivered one of the best space shows of the 21st century: The Expanse, set in a future where humanity has colonized the solar system. Now, there are political tensions and military conflicts among three factions: Earth, a militarized Mars, and the working-class citizens of the Asteroid Belt, all while a mysterious alien technology threatens to destroy them.

To some, The Expanse played out like Game of Thrones in space. The series excelled at geopolitics, weaving together the converging interests and deeply flawed perspectives of three major factions through a story of survival, power, and exploitation rather than the classic good-versus-evil. The worldbuilding was some of the strongest in the genre. Leading the ensemble were Thomas Jane as Joe Miller, a gritty, cynical detective, and Shohreh Aghdashloo as Chrisjen Avasarala, alongside an ensemble that served as the heart of the show. The Expanse was an epic and ambitious series that felt cinematic in scale.​​​​​​​

‘The Orville’ (2017-Present)

Seth MacFarlane as Ed Mercer on The Orville.
Seth MacFarlane as Ed Mercer on The Orville.
Image via Hulu.
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There are very few things that Seth MacFarlane can’t do, and we’re here to celebrate another of his masterpieces, The Orville. The narrative centers on Captain Ed Mercer (MacFarlane), who gets command of the U.S.S. Orville to get his career back on track after a difficult divorce. In a twist of workplace awkwardness, Captain Mercer’s ex-wife, Commander Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki), is assigned to his ship as his First Officer. Joining them are an eclectic mix of humans and aliens.

Inspired by classic Star Trek, The Orville quickly moved away from parody to earn its own identity, positioning itself more as a touching love letter to science fiction space operas. The blend of heart and humor may be different than other MacFarlane projects, yet his stamp is very present. The characters truly drive the action, with each member of the crew grounded in real-world themes. From a visual perspective, The Orville made great use of its big budget: the visual effects, space battles, and alien designs are at a popcorn-blockbuster level. The Orville’s embrace of optimism and hope made it a comforting show, which space operas tend not to be. ​​​​​​​

‘Vagrant Queen’ (2020)

Adriyan Rae holding hands up and smirking in Vagrant Queen
Adriyan Rae holding hands up and smirking in Vagrant Queen
Image via SYFY
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Sometimes a legacy is born by being canceled too soon — for Vagrant Queen, the Jem Garrard-created series’ single season was near-perfect. Airing on Syfy for ten triumphant episodes, it is a snarky space opera that follows Elida (Adriyan Rae), an overthrown child queen who becomes an outlaw scavenger. When she learns her mother is still alive, she and her crew — Isaac (Tim Rozon), a charming rogue “frenemy,” and Amae (Alex McGregor), an optimistic, tech-savvy mechanic — embark on a dangerous galaxy-wide rescue mission, all while being hunted by an unhinged military leader obsessed with wiping out her bloodline.

Based on the Vault Comics series by Magdalene Visaggio and Jason Smith, Vagrant Queen rejects the typical, gritty doom-and-gloom of modern sci-fi in exchange for colorful and campy adventures. Many hero stories focus on the chosen one arc; here, that’s tossed out the window. Elida is a deposed child queen-turned-scavenger who has absolutely zero interest in returning to her throne. In doing so, her journey explores the nuances of the burden of royal expectations, making her a highly relatable, reluctant hero. The story is fun and funky, leaning into sharp, witty banter and confrontational buddy relationships, featuring an all-female writing and directing team, elevating diverse voices and representation.

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Courteney Cox’s Woven Crossbody Is a Go-With-Everything Staple

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Producer/Actor Courteney Cox from Starz’ ‘Shining Vale’ attends Deadline Contenders Television at Paramount Studios on April 10, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.

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Some handbags only work with certain outfits. However, there are styles that you instinctively reach for day after day because they look good with literally everything. Courteney Cox reminded Us why a woven crossbody bag belongs in the second category. The actress was seen last week carrying the effortlessly chic style with one of her signature casual looks. And unsurprisingly, we’re ready to copy it ASAP.

The Friends alum was spotted in Malibu, CA on July 28, 2026, wearing relaxed blue jeans, a button-up shirt and classic black flats. Instead of relying on flashy accessories, Cox finished the outfit with a black woven crossbody that tied everything together. The timeless texture gave the laid-back look a more elevated feel while still being practical enough for everyday wear.

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Get the Dabdays Handwoven Crossbody Bag for $44 (was $46) at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.

Luckily, recreating the look doesn’t require a designer budget. The Dabdays Woven Crossbody Bag delivers the same woven finish and sleek silhouette for $44 on Amazon. Available in Cox’s classic black, it’s the kind of bag that quietly works with nearly everything already hanging in your closet.

Producer/Actor Courteney Cox from Starz’ ‘Shining Vale’ attends Deadline Contenders Television at Paramount Studios on April 10, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.


Related: Courteney Cox Wore These Exact $26 Adidas Slides, and They’re on Amazon

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Packing for vacation always sounds easier than it actually is. You want shoes that can survive cobblestone streets, airport terminals and long sightseeing days — all while feeling comfortable and looking effortlessly cool. As it turns out, Courteney Cox may have found the perfect pair, and they’re on sale right now. The Adidas Adilette Comfort […]

The vegan leather bag features an intricate woven design, a roomy main compartment and an adjustable strap that lets you wear it over your shoulder or as a crossbody. A secure zip closure and interior slip pocket help keep everyday essentials organized and safe, whether you’re heading to brunch, running errands or catching a flight.

One shopper who called the bag “stunning and timeless” wrote in a review, “The craftsmanship is evident in every detail, from the stitching to the hardware. It adds a touch of elegance to any outfit.”

Other reviewers say it’s just as functional as it is stylish. A customer praised the “easy-to-adjust” straps, as well as the practical design, which “held all the essentials without being too heavy.”

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We’re leaning into the black hue style to get the star’s look. However, if you’re looking for a little more color, the bag also comes in camel, burgundy, silver and several other versatile shades.

Like Cox’s effortlessly cool style, this woven crossbody proves that the best accessories don’t have to steal the spotlight. They simply make every outfit look better. Whether you’re pairing it with jeans, breezy dresses or tailored separates this season, it’s an easy way to add a polished touch.

Get the Dabdays Handwoven Crossbody Bag for $44 (was $46) at Amazon! Please note, prices are accurate as of the publishing date but are subject to change.

Looking for something else? Explore more from Dabdays here, and don’t forget to check out all of Amazon’s Daily Deals for more great finds!

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UsNow Summer Sale Alert: These Chic Fashion Finds are over 30% off – Plus Free Shipping

Welcome to summer with our biggest sale of the year. This summer’s chicest dresses, tops and swimsuits are all over 30% + free shipping. Inventory is limited so hurry before they’re gone.

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Gisele Bündchen attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating


Related: Gisele Bundchen’s Dreamy Tahiti Bikini Look Is Only $26 on Amazon

Gisele Bündchen is giving Us a masterclass in beach style, and honestly, it’s a summertime look that women in their 40s will instantly fawn over. During a beach day in Tahiti, the supermodel reached for a timeless white bikini style that felt equal parts polished, relaxed and endlessly flattering. The best part is you don’t […]

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Aaron Rodgers Subtly Shades Estranged Brother

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Celebrity Sightings in NYC

Aaron Rodgers is getting honest about the painful rift that kept his family members at odds with each other for years. 

The veteran quarterback credited his marriage to his wife, Brittani, for inspiring a long-awaited reconciliation with his family, while also dropping a subtle nod to those who handled the private conflict publicly.

Notably, Aaron’s wife also supported and encouraged him to do one more year with the Steelers to see how it turns out.  

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After years of sitting out August exhibition games, Aaron is set to suit up during Pittsburgh’s first two preseason matchups against the Packers and the Jets.

During a candid conversation about his career, Aaron’s personal life also came up. Speaking on his recent family reconciliation, he noted that his wife was a major catalyst for the repair of the long-strained relationship. 

Reflecting on the resolution, Aaron noted that while he always believed family disputes should stay out of the media, not everyone in his family adhered to that boundary. This appeared to be a subtle nod to his brother Jordan’s public comments during their separation. 

“Now, not everybody in the family adhered to the same thing, but there are different things, situations, experiences, and people that actually change your life,” Aaron admitted to The Athletic.

Nevertheless, he expressed deep gratitude for having closed the rift and for reconnecting with his parents.

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Aaron Rodgers Revealed The Role His Wife Played In His Family Reconciliation

Covid 19 vaccination controversy leads to end of partnership between Aaron Rodgers and Prevea Health
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Building on his recent reflections, Aaron elaborated further on how his private marriage created the foundation for his family reunion.

The Blast reported that in a candid interview, he explained that his wife, Brittani, provided the steady emotional backing he needed to address a feud that had stretched back to 2014.

Following a viral social media post showing the quarterback reunited with his parents and brother, Aaron addressed the overwhelming public response, admitting that marrying Brittani served as a true catalyst for opening up a dialogue. 

“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,” he explained.

Quiet Steps Toward Healing Began Months Before Public Social Media Posts

While recent public posts brought attention to Aaron’s restored family dynamic, the foundation for healing had actually been laid long before the quarterback shared it online. 

According to The Blast, the initial steps toward mending their nearly decade-long separation began as far back as 2023, setting the stage for more public milestones in the months that followed.

In April, the family gathered for the inaugural Pleasant Valley High School Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony, where Aaron was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame. 

During the event, witnesses noted that Aaron appeared relaxed and in high spirits while sitting, talking, and laughing with his family. Taking the podium to deliver his acceptance speech, he publicly acknowledged and thanked them, offering a clear sign that the tension had dissolved. 

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Aaron Rodgers’ Wife Also Influenced His Career Choices

Aaron Rodgers posing on the red carpet.
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In addition to helping him find stability in his personal life, Aaron’s wife also had a say in his career choices. He recently highlighted how his marriage influenced his decision to continue his professional football career, as reported by The Blast

As the veteran quarterback prepares for his 22nd season in the league, he made it clear that his return to Pittsburgh would likely mark the definitive end of his playing career.

However, before committing to one final run under center, it took a combination of key coaching changes and direct encouragement from his wife to convince him to suit up once more.

The NFL icon admitted that he had initially contemplated walking away after last season, but his perspective shifted significantly following Pittsburgh’s hiring of head coach Mike McCarthy. He also revealed that discussions with his wife, Brittani, were central to making the choice to play one more season. 

Aaron Rodgers at 31st Barnstable Brown Kentucky Derby Eve Gala
Tammie Arroyo / AFF-USA.COM / MEGA

Despite speaking so lovingly about his wife’s role in his personal life and career, Aaron’s statements sparked a mix of skepticism and defense over his wife’s low-profile identity.

Following his comments regarding his decision to return for one final season, online users immediately zeroed in on his references to his wife, Brittani.

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Given that she has intentionally avoided the public spotlight, rumors and sarcastic commentary quickly spread across platforms, per The Blast

One user joked about how media outlets can track down anyone except Aaron’s spouse, leading to a wave of trolling that targeted the couple’s privacy.

However, another set of fans quickly rallied to the MVP’s defense, pushing back against the online cynicism and pointing out that the athlete has been transparent about his wife’s desire to remain private. 

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Kamri Peterson Recalls Finding Out She’s Joining DWTS Troupe

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Kamri Peterson recalled the exact moment she found out she would be part of the Dancing With the Stars troupe for season 35.

“I was in a hotel room. I was at a dance convention. I was in a hotel room all by myself. I got the call,” Peterson, 18, told Us exclusively at Dancing With the Stars Con 2026. “I was absolutely shocked and so excited.”

Peterson said it has “been a dream” of hers to return to DWTS since she took part in its short-lived spinoff DWTS: Juniors.

“I was just so excited. I really don’t think I’ve ever been so happy in my entire life,” she gushed. “I called my mom first, and then I called my dad, and then I called one of my best friends’ moms, Felicia, and then my best friend Malakai.”

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Related: A Guide to the ‘DWTS’ Pros Who Started in Troupe — And What That Entails

Several Dancing With the Stars pro dancers began their journey in the ballroom in the troupe. The hit dance competition first introduced its troupe during 2011’s season 12, featuring a selection of performers who didn’t have a celebrity partner but still appeared in group numbers and their own “bumpers” between competitive routines. “When I first […]

News broke on Sunday, August 2, at the first-ever DWTS Con that Peterson will perform in the troupe for the upcoming season of the hit show. When Peterson appeared on DWTS: Juniors in 2018, she was partnered up with Little Big Shots alum Akash Vukoti with help from mentor Witney Carson.

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“One of my favorite pros is Witney because she was my pro on Juniors, so I always feel like that’s so fun,” Peterson told Us. “I love Rylee [Arnold] because I grew up with [her], so it’s so fun seeing her.”

Remember When DWTS Had a Junior Version Where the Mini Pros Are Now Kamri Peterson 1040550284 1180924964
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She continued: “But literally, there’s Dani[ella Karagach]. I grew up watching Dani even before I was on Juniors. I’d watch her videos on YouTube. Like, I have been a die-hard fan of Dani since before Juniors. I mean, before Dancing With the Stars. So, yeah, I mean, literally everyone. Everyone’s so good.”

Peterson said being on DWTS: Juniors was an experience that shaped her life, adding, “I just remember having the absolute time of my life. Like, literally, my favorite memories ever are from that show.”

She’s even more excited to return to the ballroom in this new chapter.

“This is my first performance with Dancing With the Stars since Dancing With the Stars: Juniors. I’m just so excited,” she shared from the Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, California. “It’s surreal because this is such a big dream of mine. So it’s been amazing, and I feel like everyone’s had a lot of fun. I’ve had a lot of fun. It’s been amazing.”

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ABC has yet to announce the rest of the season 35 troupe members — or the pro roster — but so far, fans can expect to see celebs Ciara Miller, Maura Higgins, Jackson Olson and Guillermo Rodriguez competing in the ballroom this fall.

Peterson, meanwhile, is looking forward to leaving her mark, telling Us, “I want to inspire the younger generation. I want them to see that dance doesn’t have to be so serious. It can also be something that’s just fun because I feel like, at least for me, dance is something that I do because I enjoy it, not because I have to.”

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She concluded: “And I feel like sometimes people get a little distracted by the fact that ‘Oh, we have to win, we have to do this, we have to do that,’ but also we dance because we love it, so I think I want to show people that dance can be fun. It doesn’t always have to be competitive and scary.”

Dancing With the Stars returns to ABC with a two-night premiere starting Tuesday, September 15.

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Rasheeda Frost Uses “I Ain’t Leaving Kirk” Lyrics In Viral Trend

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Oop! Rasheeda Frost Sparks Mixed Reactions After Participating In Viral Trend Using "I Ain't Leaving Kirk" Lyrics (VIDEO)

Last July, Rasheeda Frost let her supporters know: “I ain’t never leaving Kirk.” That line alone had the freestyle buzzing across the internet. While some found humor in her approach to long-standing shade against her husband, others kept the hate train choo-chooing! More than a year later, Rasheeda is resurfacing her iconic lyrics to participate in a viral TikTok trend. Now, fans are divided as they debate the couple’s relationship history and Kirk Frost’s infidelities.

RELATED: Congrats! Restaurateur Pinky Cole Expecting Fourth Child With Husband Derrick Hayes

Rasheeda Frost Uses Viral Lyrics In TikTok Trend

Mrs. Frost dropped by Antoinette Media for a chat and participated in an acting challenge that’s been sweeping the internet. Folks have been picking a quote and repeating it in different emotional tones. In Rasheeda’s case, she used the tones happy, sad, sarcastic, disappointed, angry and flirty. Each time she repeated the phrase, “I ain’t leaving Kirk.” She appeared to enjoy the internet challenge and seemingly put her all into each acting cue. As mentioned, Rasheeda Frost debuted the freestyle rap that features those lyrics in July 2025.

 

Recap Of Kirk Frost’s Track Record

More than 10 years ago, Kirk Frost gagged his and Rasheeda’s fans after they learned of his cheating ways. During ‘Love & Hip Hop ATL’ S2 airing in 2013, his wife revealed her pregnancy with son Karter. Kirk’s reaction appeared to be less than ideal as he asked Rasheeda for an abortion and questioned who the father was. Later in S2 of ‘LHHATL’, camera caught Kirk Frost kissing and partying with two women or as most people call it: cheating. By the following year, in 2014, Kirk acted on his doubt toward his wife and tested Karter’s DNA. By 2017, Jasmine Washington came forward with her and Kirk Frost’s affair. Approximately two years laterk, court-ordered DNA proved he was the father. Their son was secretly born in 2016 and the following year she joined the ‘LHHATL’ cast, where her and Kirk’s coparenting issues got air time.

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RELATED: Calling It Quits! Brittney Griner Files For Divorce From Wife Of 8 Years Cherelle Griner 

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“Matilda ”turns 30! See where the stars of the beloved ’90s classic are today

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Mara Wilson and company have done a lot since leaving Crunchem Hall Elementary School.

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