In brief: ‘A Different World’ gets Netflix release date and more
A Different World has received a Netflix release date. The series debuts to the streamer on Sept. 24. It stars Maleah Joi Moon as Deborah Wayne, the youngest daughter of Whitley and Dwayne. A new generation joins her at Hillman College for this show that’s “set against the rituals, humor, and nuances of an HBCU,” according to its official description …
Florence Pugh’s latest film has landed at Paramount Pictures. Variety reports that North American and select international distribution rights for the film The Midnight Library have been scooped up by Paramount Pictures. Pugh is set to star in and produce the film, which will be directed by Lion helmer Garth Davis …
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are reteaming for a Disney+ sailing docuseries. The Deadpool & Wolverine co-stars are set to lead a docuseries about the SailGP team they co-own …
Hayden Panettiere pictured on Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
Hayden Panettiere has publicly revealed that she identifies as bisexual.
The actress shared the detail about her personal life in a new interview with Us Weekly that was published on Wednesday. In the interview, Panettiere said it was her experience writing about her life for her new memoir, This Is Me: A Reckoning, that helped her decide to share this part of herself.
“Now that I know that this book is coming out, and that I’ve chosen to share it with the world, I’m comfortable to confidently say that yes, I am bisexual. I said it! This is the first time I got to say it out loud,” Panettiere said.
The actress said she didn’t always know what she would be comfortable sharing about herself in the two years it took her to write the memoir. This did come up, and she decided, “Why not?”
“I’ve chosen to be completely brutally honest about this, and that’s something about me that I was never able to share with the world, because it was just never the right time,” Panettiere said.
The actress continued, detailing her attraction to women but also that she felt “afraid” to come out at first.
“I was not encouraged to just be myself,” she said. “Then it came, the period where it felt like people coming out, especially women coming out, and saying that they were bisexual or liked girls, was a fad.”
Panettiere didn’t want to be simply “jumping on the bandwagon,” as she put it, rather, she “wanted to make sure that I really sat down and chose my words carefully and was able to tell my story in an honest way, that people understood. On one hand, it’s sad that I had to wait till I was 36 years old to share that part of me, but better late than never, right?”
Zoey Deutch as Jill and Nick Robinson as Wes in ‘Voicemails for Isabelle.’ (Diyah Pera/Netflix)
Voicemails for Isabelle, which became the #1 movie on Netflix the first weekend it was released, has a musical pedigree. The score was co-composed by Este Haim of the group HAIM, and it features several big pop music needle drops, including Taylor Swift’s “Marjorie,” from Evermore, and “New Year’s Day,” from Reputation.
Director Leah McKendrick, who identifies as a “hardcore Swiftie,” told ABC Audio that she was thrilled to be able to use the songs in the film. “I love Taylor. She’s the poet of our time. She’s the Shakespeare of our times, the voice of our generation,” she said.
“I think we can all really connect with this wistful little girl that became a woman, who has experienced the full spectrum of love and heartbreak and articulates it so gorgeously in a way that is accessible and, simultaneously poetry,” she continued, adding, “She amazes me. … I want Taylor Swift’s songs in all my movies.”
“Marjorie” is used to soundtrack a pivotal moment in the film when Jill, played by Zoey Deutch, is grieving for her younger sister Isabelle, who passed away. “New Year’s Day” is heard when Jill’s love interest Wes, played by Nick Robinson, is missing her.
“In my mind, we have this girl who’s yearning, longing, grieving, and we have the perfect song: ‘Marjorie’ just feels so right,” said McKendrick. “But by the end, he’s the one longing, yearning, grieving — listening to Taylor Swift.”
At first, McKendrick wasn’t sure if the production would be able to afford not two Taylor Swift songs. But, she said, “Netflix really understood … [that] [m]y music is my everything. It’s part of my process. It’s a part of what I want to deliver to my audience. It will always be banger after banger in all of my movies. I own that.”
James Lafferty visits the Empire State Building on May 13, 2026, in New York City. (John Nacion/Getty Images for Empire State Realty Trust)
James Lafferty is open to competing on Dancing with the Stars. That is, under one condition.
The One Tree Hill star said in a recent TikTok that if his series Everyone Is Doing Great reaches the most-watched chart on Netflix, he will lace up his dancing shoes and compete on season 35 of the reality competition show.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about this and I’m going to do it. Yeah, I’m going to do Dancing with the Stars. I’m down,” Lafferty said. “I have one condition: that Everyone Is Doing Great makes the top 10 TV shows on Netflix in the U.S.”
The actor told his fans, “How do we make that happen? We watch the show. We finish the show. We tell friends about the show. Most importantly, we hit the double thumbs-up on the show page on Netflix. I think if enough people do those things, or some of those things, we can make this happen.”
Everyone Is Doing Great is a comedy series Lafferty created with his One Tree Hill costar Stephen Colletti. Netflix acquired the global rights to the show in 2026 and released its first two seasons on May 11.
Dancing with the Stars pro Ezra Sosa shared his thoughts on the possible casting, commenting, “he’s hot im down.” Lafferty responded by saying Sosa is “very kind” and that he’s “not so bad yourself.”
While Lafferty is looking to get a third season of Everyone Is Doing Great, he says he’s also really interested in competing on DWTS.
“I want both things to happen because I am a terrible dancer and I’ve always wanted to fix that and I think Ezra can help me,” Lafferty said. “I think everybody wins here.”
Dancing with the Stars season 35 currently has three contestants confirmed: Maura Higgins, Ciara Miller and Savannah Bananas player Jackson Olson.
