In this photo illustration, the logo of Warner Bros. Discovery is displayed on a computer screen in Ankara, Turkiye, on August 12, 2025. (Photo by Omer Taha Cetin/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Warner Bros Discovery has agreed to a deal with Paramount Skydance, the two companies confirmed Friday in a news release.
According to the release, under the terms of the agreement, Paramount plans to pay “$31.00 per share in cash for all outstanding shares of WBD.”
“The merger unlocks innovative and compelling storytelling opportunities across the combined company’s best-in-class film and television studios, streaming and linear platforms,” the release stated.
According to the release, the board of directors of both companies approved the deal unanimously.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, “subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearances and approval by WBD shareholders, with a vote expected in the early spring of 2026.”
Ryan Hurst as Kratos and Callum Vinson as Atreus on the set of ‘God of War.’ (Leah Gallo/Prime Video)
Prime Video has released its first look at its upcoming God of War series.
Additionally, Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios have announced that production on the new series has begun. The first photo from the show’s set has also been released. It features stars Ryan Hurst and Callum Vinson in character as Kratos and Atreus.
God of War is based on the popular ancient mythology-themed Playstation video game. It has already received a two-season order from the streamer.
Hurst previously played Thor in the Playstation game God of War Ragnarök and already has established familiarity with the franchise.
The storyline for the upcoming series follows “father and son Kratos and Atreus as they embark on a journey to spread the ashes of their wife and mother, Faye,” according to an official synopsis from Prime Video. “Through their adventures, Kratos tries to teach his son to be a better god, while Atreus tries to teach his father how to be a better human.”
Also starring in the show are Mandy Patinkin as Odin, Ed Skrein as Baldur, Max Parker as Heimdall, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Thor, Teresa Palmer as Sif, Alastair Duncan as Mimir, Jeff Gulka as Sindri and Danny Woodburn as Brok.
Michael B. Jordan and Ryan Coogler joined ‘GMA’ to discuss their record-breaking film. (ABC News)
Sinners star Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler are opening up on making Oscar nominations history.
The actor-director duo sat down for an interview with Good Morning America‘s Chris Connelly to discuss Sinners, which gathered a record-breaking 16 Oscar nominations, and their partnership, which has been over a decade in the making.
Coogler and Jordan recalled meeting in a Starbucks in 2011 to discuss their first joint project, Fruitvale Station.
“He reassured me. ‘Mike, I think you’re a movie star. Let’s go do this,'” Jordan said Coogler told him at the time.
The pair also discussed the moment they both realized that they had broken Oscars history on Oscar nomination morning.
Jordan said he woke up to missed messages and called his mother. “It felt great. You know, just to kind of hear her happiness and joy and knowing how much that she poured into me.”
Coogler said he watched the nominations with his spouse, Zinzi Coogler, who is also nominated as a producer on the film, and the pair celebrated with waffles.
Sinners marks the fifth collaboration between Coogler and Jordan, a partnership that includes the Creed movies and Black Panther.
Coogler reflected on what makes Jordan such an effective presence on screen.
“There’s a magic to Mike that I think like Tom Hanks has, where you see him and you care about him,” Coogler said. “As a character, he does everything. So what that gives him is an incredible amount of empathy when he’s on the screen,” Coogler said, adding that he also has “incredible drive.”
The pair said working together for as many years as they have has allowed them to work in sync.
“We complement one another,” said Jordan.
“You kind of know what the other person might need at a particular time to achieve a certain goal,” Coogler added.
Paul Wesley poses for a portrait for TV Guide Magazine on July 26, 2025, in San Diego, California. (Maarten De Boer/Getty Images)
Paul Wesley has joined the cast of The Buccaneers.
Apple TV has announced that Wesley will be part of the season 3 cast of the romantic drama series based on Edith Wharton’s unfinished final novel.
Wesley joins the cast in the role of Frank, who is described as a mysterious but charming stranger who arrives in Nan (Kristine Frøseth) and Mrs. St. George’s (Christina Hendricks) world, turning it upside down.
The streaming service posted a video of Wesley in costume as Frank to its YouTube on Friday.
“Formally inviting him in. Welcome Paul Wesley to #TheBuccaneers Season 3,” the video’s caption reads.
The Buccaneers was renewed for season 3 in October 2025. At the time, the series’ creator, Katherine Jakeways, expressed excitement over the show’s renewal.
“We couldn’t be more delighted to be lacing up our corsets, slipping on our ball gowns and running breathless across the cliffs of Tintagel for the third time to see what passionate adventures our beloved Buccaneers get up to next,” she said in a press release.
As for what fans can expect from season 3, a description from Apple says the fun-loving young American girls are looking for the loves of their lives.
“With a new and enigmatic Duke at the helm, Tintagel is also facing an uncertain future,” the description reads. “If polite English society thought these American girls rocked the boat, this new bad-boy Duke is about to sink the ship.”
Along with Frøseth and Hendricks, season 2 of The Buccaneers starred Guy Remmers, Aubri Ibrag, Alisha Boe, Josie Totah, Josh Dylan, Imogen Waterhouse, Mia Threapleton, Leighton Meester and Matthew Broome.
The first two seasons of The Buccaneers are available to watch on Apple TV.
Power Ballad, the new movie starring Nick Jonas and Paul Rudd, will have its premiere Sunday on the closing night of the Dublin International Film Festival. Why there? Because the story is mostly set in Ireland and the film’s writer, director and producer, John Carney, is Irish.
According to the film’s official synopsis, Nick plays a “fading boy band star” named Danny, who meets Paul’s character, Rick, a “past-his-prime wedding singer,” during a gig. But after Danny turns one of Rick’s songs into his comeback hit, Rick is determined to get the “recognition he believes he deserves” from it.
The movie is described as a “feel-good story about music, self-respect, friendship, and the price of ambition.”
Power Ballad hits theaters June 5.
Nick will appear in another movie due to be released this year: the as-yet-untitled sequel to Jumanji: The Next Level. And in June he’s expected to begin filming another movie called Bodyman, about a bodyguard who stands to inherit his billionaire employer’s company, much to the dismay of the billionaire’s children.
The new film In the Blink of an Eye tells three interwoven stories spanning from prehistoric times to a future in space — but the chapter that audiences will likely find most relatable is the story of Claire and Greg. Set in 2023, it follows two Princeton post-graduate students and the evolution of their romance.
Rashida Jones, who plays Claire, tells ABC Audio she loves Claire and Greg’s dedication to making the relationship work.
“What I love so much about this relationship is the improbability of ever making it work with somebody,” she says. Claire and Greg experience career pressures, grief and even “literal geographical obstacles,” Jones says, but they still choose each other.
“The fact that anybody gets together and loves each other enough to make a baby … and raise a child is so improbable,” she says, which is what makes their story romantic. “It’s really hard to be with somebody and to have a family. Like, it’s amazing that it happens.”
Diggs appreciates that the film doesn’t shy away from exploring the hard parts of a relationship. “It follows love in a very honest way,” he says. “Two people who eventually decide that, like, we are really doing this thing and have to be honest about how difficult that is, but it’s always worth it.”
The film also asks whether living forever would make love more or less meaningful. Diggs, who notes he’s “pretty nervous about death,” believes that mortality deepens connection. “The fact that there is a clock … guides a lot of our decisions and allows us to love more deeply,” he says. He suggests that without it, “You would probably be a lot less likely to fall in love.”
According to Jones, one message of the film, and more specifically their storyline, is: “We do all have a clock and really our only job is to be completely present for whatever moment is in front of us.”
In the Blink of an Eye is now available to stream on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.
Two Saturday Night Live alum are teaming up for a new series at Apple TV. Variety reports that Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Cecily Strong will star in a limited drama-comedy series inspired by the New York Magazine article The Nanny Squatter by Bindu Bansinath. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You director Mary Bronstein will write, direct and showrun the series, which centers on a couple whose lives are upended after they welcome a caregiver into their home …
Netflix has shared its first look and release date for season 2 of Running Point. The series, which comes from executive producer Mindy Kaling and stars Oscar nominee Kate Hudson, returns with more episodes on April 23. Season 2 also stars Drew Tarver, Brenda Song, Scott MacArthur, Fabrizio Guido, Chet Hanks, Toby Sandeman, Uche Agada and Justin Theroux …
Chris Pine is looking to team up with Emma Stone. Deadline reports the actor is in talks to star alongside Stone in an upcoming romantic comedy film for Universal Pictures. While the film’s plot is being kept under wraps, Stone’s husband, Dave McCary, will direct it from a script by Patrick Kang and Michael Levin …
Hannah Dodd as Francesca Bridgerton and Victor Alli as John Stirling in season 4 of ‘Bridgerton.’ (Liam Daniel/Netflix)
(SPOILER ALERT)The ton bid farewell to a beloved character in the newly-released second part of Bridgerton season 4.
Lord John Stirling, the husband of Francesca Bridgerton, dies in the sixth episode of the fourth season. While fans of Julia Quinn’s book series anticipated this at some point, no one knew exactly when it would occur. ABC Audio spoke with actors Victor Alli and Hannah Dodd, who portray the couple, about the fate of John.
“It’s interesting, because we knew it was coming for quite a while,” Dodd said. “You’re getting these scripts come in and you’re like, ‘OK, we have another episode, we have another episode.’ And, obviously, it is not something that the characters are aware of. So you try not to focus on it too much.”
Still, Dodd said she and Alli “really wanted to make sure that the time that we had, we really invested in those two characters.” They wanted to make “sure that it was going to be devastating to lose you,” Dodd continued, speaking directly to Alli.
Alli says the season was not shot in order, so the day he filmed John’s death scene was actually not his final day on the Bridgerton set.
“We shot that scene quite early on, and so it didn’t feel like it was the end,” Alli said. “Which, kudos to the guys who wrote the schedule, because it just felt like we got it out of the way, and we can now just enjoy the time left that we have with John.”
As for what it was like to channel Francesca’s grief, Dodd said, “a lot of those those scenes are a gift to get as an actor.”
“You really get to emote and it can be quite a cathartic experience,” Dodd said, calling her scenes in the episodes after his death “really lovely” but also “quite demanding.”
“But fun as well, in a psychotic actor way,” Dodd continued. “A couple of them were quite exhausting and I just wanted to make sure that we did John justice.”
Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish in ‘The Comeback’ season 3. (Erin Simkin/HBO)
Get ready for the comeback of The Comeback.
HBO has released the official trailer for the third and final season of the Lisa Kudrow-starring comedy series.
The new season, which comes from the show’s original creators Michael Patrick King and Kudrow, premieres to HBO and will stream on HBO Max on March 22. A new episode will debut each week leading up to the series finale on May 10.
The trailer shows off what this third and final chapter in Valerie Cherish’s (Kudrow) journey will consist of. We see her starring in and executive producing a sitcom called How’s That?!, which she loves, before she discovers the show is being written by AI.
This new trailer comes more than 20 years after the first season of the show debuted in 2005 and more than 10 years after season 2. King and Kudrow will both executive produce the season, which will include other returning series regulars Dan Bucatinsky, Laura Silverman and Damian Young.
The season 3 cast will also include Tim Bagley, Matt Cook, Jack O’Brien, Ella Stiller, John Early, Barry Shabaka Henley, Abbi Jacobson, Tony Macht, Brittany O’Grady, Zane Phillips, Julian Stern and Andrew Scott.
