‘Black Doves’ season 2 starts production, adds more to cast
Ben Wishaw and Keira Knightley in ‘Black Doves’ season 1. (Ludovic Robert/Netflix)
Production has officially started on Black Doves season 2.
Netflix has announced that cameras are rolling on the sophomore season of the spy thriller series starring Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw.
The streaming service also revealed several new additions to the cast. One Day star Ambika Mod will play Laila, an anarchic Black Doves agent who has been sent to help Helen on a mission. Babou Ceesay is set to portray Mr. Conteh, a Black Doves executive with suspicious motivations, while Sam Riley will play Patrick, an emissary who offers Whishaw’s Sam a lifeline.
Notably, Neve Campbell has also joined the cast, playing a character named Cecile Mason. Other additions include Sylvia Hoeks, who plays Katia Chernov, Goran Kostic, who takes on the role of Alexi Chernov, and Samuel Barnett, who plays Jerry.
Sarah Lancashire, Andrew Buchan, Kathryn Hunter, Ella Lily Hyland, Gabrielle Creevy, Agnes O’Casey and Molly Chesworth all also return for season 2, which is now filming in London.
Season 2 finds Helen (Knightley) still betraying her nation’s secrets to the Black Doves, according to its logline.
“But after the misadventures of last Christmas, and with her husband Wallace (Buchan), preparing to become Prime Minister, she is walking a more treacherous line than ever,” the logline reads. “As Helen’s enigmatic handler Mrs. Reed (Lancashire) is ensnared in a ruthless plot to undermine her position in the Black Doves, Helen is reunited with her best friend Sam (Whishaw).”
The show’s creator, writer and executive producer, Joe Barton, says he “couldn’t be more excited to delve back into the world of our murderous little spy family.”
“To have so many of our amazing cast returning and also being able to add some of my absolute favourite actors into the mix is such a great joy. Downing Street will never be the same again,” Barton said.
Aunt Vivian is putting her mental health first in the fourth and final season of Bel-Air. Cassandra Freeman, who plays Aunt Viv on the Peacock series, tells ABC Audio the season finds her once again balancing family and ambition, but doing so on her own terms.
“I’m really big on this philosophy of the more women center themselves in their life and work, the easier life is, and I feel that a lot with Aunt Viv,” she says. “She could go back to her old ways in season 1 and only center her family, and in this [season] she’s like, ‘No, I’m gonna redo this thing.’ And she’s gonna put her own sanity and mental health in the driver’s seat, which is why she makes a lot of the decisions that she makes.”
Aunt Viv, as fans know, is the matriarch of the Banks family; the other women in the family are Hilary and Ashley, played by Coco Jones and Akira Akbar, respectively.
Coco says fans “will be gagged” by her storyline in the fourth season, especially when it comes to her relationships with LeMarcus and Jazz.
“Ithink Hilary has a lot on her shoulders this season. And it does get rocky, I can’t even lie, but it comes out with her finding a purpose and finding a reason behind all of the things,” Coco explains.
And Akira says Ashley becomes “more comfortable with who she is and her identity” while growing up and still going through “teenager problems.”
The first three episodes of Bel-Air‘s fourth season are now streaming on Peacock.
‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ returned to ABC on Sept. 23, 2025. (Disney/Randy Holmes)
Jimmy Kimmel returned to the airwaves on Tuesday evening after his late-night show was preempted for nearly a week.
In a more than 15-minute monologue at the top of the show, Kimmel gave an impassioned defense of free speech, needled the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and President Donald Trump and explained his comments about the response to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“It was never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man,” Kimmel said, his voice choking up with emotion. “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it.”
Nor, he said, was it his intention to blame any specific group, saying he understood that, to some, that’s what it sounded like.
“That was really the opposite of the point I was trying to make,” Kimmel said. “But to some, that felt ill-timed or unclear or maybe both, and for those who think I did point a finger, I get why you’re upset. If the situation was reversed, there’s a good chance I would have felt the same way.”
“I don’t think the murderer who shot Charlie Kirk represents anyone. This was a sick person who believed violence was a solution. And it isn’t — ever,” Kimmel continued.
Kimmel criticized statements from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, calling them efforts at “un-American” censorship and thanked his supporters, fellow late-night comics and even conservatives, such as Ben Shapiro and Ted Cruz, for speaking out.
“This show is not important,” Kimmel said. “What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this.”
He closed his monologue on another emotional note, referring to the remarks made by Erika Kirk at her late husband’s memorial service on Sunday, in which she said she forgave his suspected killer.
“If you believe in the teachings of Jesus, as I do, there it was — that’s it. A selfless act of grace. Forgiveness from a grieving widow, and it touched me deeply,” he said. “And if there’s anything we should take from this tragedy to carry forward, I hope it can be that — and not this.”
After returning from the first commercial break, Robert DeNiro appeared via satellite for a skit in which he played the FCC commissioner, and Kimmel later continued with his traditional monologue, cracking jokes about the faulty escalator at the United Nations headquarters that stopped working as Trump and first lady Melania Trump were ascending it Tuesday morning.
The Walt Disney Co., the parent company of ABC, announced the return of the late-night show Jimmy Kimmel Live! with a statement on Monday, saying they had engaged in “thoughtful conversations” with Kimmel during the break.
“Last Wednesday, we made the decision to suspend production on the show to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country. It is a decision we made because we felt some of the comments were ill-timed and thus insensitive,” Disney said in a statement. “We have spent the last days having thoughtful conversations with Jimmy, and after those conversations, we reached the decision to return the show on Tuesday.”
Before Tuesday’s show aired, President Donald Trump criticized Kimmel and ABC.
“I can’t believe ABC Fake News gave Jimmy Kimmel his job back,” Trump posted on his social media platform.
“Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny,” he added.
ABC previously announced on Sept. 17 that Kimmel’s show would be preempted “indefinitely” after comments Kimmel made last week regarding the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Before the network’s decision was announced last week, Carr suggested that Kimmel should be suspended over the comments.
“There’s calls for Kimmel to be fired. I think, you know, you could certainly see a path forward for suspension over this and again, you know, the FCC is going to have remedies that we could look at,” Carr said on a podcast with conservative commentator Benny Johnson.
Unions that represent entertainment professionals and TV writers condemned the move.
Nexstar and Sinclair broadcast groups both released statements this week announcing their intention to continue to preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! on the companies’ ABC affiliate stations.
“Beginning Tuesday night, Sinclair will be preempting Jimmy Kimmel Live! across our ABC affiliate stations and replacing it with news programming. Discussions with ABC are ongoing as we evaluate the show’s potential return,” read a statement from Sinclair.
Nexstar stated, “We made a decision last week to preempt Jimmy Kimmel Live! following what ABC referred to as Mr. Kimmel’s ‘ill-timed and insensitive’ comments at a critical time in our national discourse. We stand by that decision pending assurance that all parties are committed to fostering an environment of respectful, constructive dialogue in the markets we serve.”
“In the meantime, we note that Jimmy Kimmel Live! will be available nationwide on multiple Disney-owned streaming products, while our stations will focus on continuing to produce local news and other programming relevant to their respective markets,” Nexstar added.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! can also be viewed on a variety of streamers including Hulu + Live TV. Full episodes of the show are available for streaming the next day on Hulu and Disney+, and clips of Jimmy Kimmel Live! are posted to the show’s YouTube page.
The Walt Disney Co. is the parent company of ABC News.
Mads Mikkelsen stars in ‘Dust Bunny.’ (Roadside Attractions)
The scariest monsters may not be from your imagination in the new film Dust Bunny. It stars MadsMikkelsen, who plays a contract killer who takes a job from a young girl (Sophie Sloan) who believes her parents were eaten by a monster under her bed.
Dust Bunny, which also stars Sigourney Weaver and David Dastmalchian, takes place in a world of ultra-stylish street gangs. Mikkelsen says the film’s heightened world allowed him more freedom as a performer.
“I’m being enlightened every day, and I’m learning something new about my character every day,” Mikkelsen tells ABC Audio.
The movie marks the feature directorial debut of Bryan Fuller, who previously worked on the show Hannibal with Mikkelsen. Fuller says he enjoyed working in a different medium because it allowed him to be closer to the cast and crew.
“And what was wonderful about doing the movie for the first time I got to be present in the experience with the cast and the department heads in a way that felt so much more intimate,” Fuller said.
Mikkelsen also says the trust he formed with Fuller over Hannibal’s three-season run was crucial.
“You have to rely on, obviously on what Bryan’s doing,” says Mikkelsen. “Like, OK, I’m wearing weird pajamas in this fighting scene — so be it!”
Dust Bunny exists in a world of both real and imagined monsters, and Fuller and Mikkelsen say both types of experiences contributed to the creative process.
“The scariest thing for me as a kid was my dad, honestly, so that’s hard to beat in terms of childhood fears,” says Fuller.
“I got to see [John Carpenter’s Halloween] a little too early for my age,” says Mikkelsen. “So that haunted me for a while.”
