In brief: ‘The Magnificent Seven’ TV series, and more
The classic 1960 western The Magnificent Seven is being turned into a series for MGM+ with Matt Dillon in the starring role. He’ll play the leader of a group of seven mercenaries who agree to protect a village from a greedy land baron …
The new sci-fi series The Boroughsis coming to Netflix on May 21. The eight-episode series, about a group of retirees who fight monsters, stars Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Geena Davis, Bill Pullman, Denis O’Hare and Clarke Peters. Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews are creators, showrunners and executive producers on the project, with Stranger Things’ The Duffer Brothers also on board as executive producers …
Another box office milestone for Zootopia 2: The Disney animated film is now officially the highest-grossing domestic movie release of 2025, taking in over $424 million. Disney is the parent company of ABC News …
Actor Robert Duvall poses for a portrait during the 87th Academy Awards nominee luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Feb. 2, 2015 in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Jeff Vespa/Getty Images)
Robert Duvall, the Academy Award-winning actor known for roles in some of American cinema’s greatest films, including The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, has died at age 95.
“Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time. Bob passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by love and comfort,” read a statement posted on the actor’s official Facebook page by his wife, Luciana.
A statement from Duvall’s representative confirmed the actor’s death, reading in part, “Academy Award winning actor Robert Selden Duvall passed away peacefully in his home in Middleburg, Virginia, the evening of Sunday, February 15, 2026, with his wife Luciana Duvall by his side. He was 95.”
Duvall brought a signature naturalism to the roles he played, an unmannered style that infused his myriad characters with a calm intensity – a counterpoint to his self-confessed often hot-tempered on-set disposition – and earned him a reputation as one of his generation’s finest actors. Beginning with his memorable film debut as Boo Radley in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird, in which he didn’t utter a word, Robert Duvall went on to appear in more than 90 films over the next seven decades, working with some of Hollywood’s most celebrated filmmakers and performers.
Duvall shared the screen as the outlaw Ned Pepper opposite John Wayne in 1969’s True Grit, originated the role of Maj. Frank Burns in Robert Altman’s 1970 dark comedy M*A*S*H, and starred in the title role in Star Wars creator George Lucas’ 1971 directorial debut, THX 1138. Duvall also played Corleone family consigliere Tom Hagen in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather and The Godfather Part II opposite his acting hero, Marlon Brando, and had a pivotal role as the ruthless network VP Frank Hackett in the acclaimed 1976 media satire Network.
As the shirtless, cowboy hat-wearing Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic Apocalypse Now, Duvall delivered the film’s most oft-quoted line: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Four years later, Duvall won the Academy Award for best actor for playing Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music star attempting to make amends, in Tender Mercies.
Other career highlights included playing cynical sportswriter Max Murphy in the 1984 Robert Redford baseball fable The Natural; NASCAR crew chief Harry Hogge opposite Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in the 1990 action hit Days of Thunder; Sgt. Martin Prendergast, the retiring LAPD officer who spends his final day on the job pursuing Michael Douglas’ unhinged character in 1993’s Falling Down; and a criminal court judge accused of murder who’s defended by his estranged son, played by Robert Downey Jr., in the 2014 legal drama The Judge.
Of all his many celebrated acting roles, however, Duvall repeatedly said his favorite was that of retired Texas Ranger Augustus “Gus” McCrae in the 1989 TV Western miniseries Lonesome Dove. The series was one of several TV projects in which Duvall starred. Others included playing the title role in 1992’s HBO film drama Stalin, for which he won a Golden Globe – his fourth lifetime win – and the 2006 AMC Western miniseries Broken Trail, which earned Duvall a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor, in addition to another for producing the series.
In total, Duvall was nominated for seven Academy Awards, the final three for his performances in 1997’s The Apostle, which he also wrote and directed; 1998’s A Civil Action, co-starring with John Travolta as a corrupt corporate attorney; and 2014’s The Judge. His nomination for The Judge, at age 84, then made him the oldest actor ever nominated in the best supporting actor category, until Christopher Plummer, at age 86, was nominated three years later for All the Money in the World.
Other notable later films in which Duvall appeared include The Handmaid’s Tale in 1990, 1996’s Sling Blade, 1998’s sci-fi action thriller Deep Impact, Crazy Heart in 2009 – this time with Jeff Bridges playing a down-on-his luck country singer – and as a shooting range owner in the 2012 Tom Cruise hit Jack Reacher.
In addition to his Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe wins, Robert Duvall won a BAFTA and a Screen Actors Guild Award, the former for Apocalypse Now and the latter for A Civil Action, as well as dozens of other critical and popular award nominations and wins. He was also awarded the National Medal of Arts by then-President George W. Bush in 2005.
Duvall was married four times, most recently in 2005 to Luciana Pedraza, who survives him. He had no children.
Seth MacFarlane attends ‘The Naked Gun’ New York premiere on July 28, 2025, in New York City. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
It seems today, that all we see, is violence in movies and Seth MacFarlane on TV. As long as you’re watching TV on streaming services, that is.
MacFarlane has been named the winner of the inaugural Streaming Icon of the Year award from the media audience measurement firm Nielsen. This award was given as part of the company’s annual Audience Rated Television Entertainment of the Year Awards, or the ARTEY Awards, which recognize the most-watched streaming titles of the year.
The honor of Streaming Icon of the Year recognizes a creator, actor, producer or writer whose body of work drives significant viewership across many platforms, according to Nielsen.
MacFarlane’s catalog of TV shows and films contributed majorly to his win. In all, they generated over 60 billion viewing minutes across multiple platforms, which Nielsen notes would be equivalent to 116,000 years.
Among his many shows and films, it was Family Guy that contributed greatly to MacFarlane’s win. The show was the second most-watched adult animation show of 2025 and the #7 streaming program overall. It charted in the top 10 on Nielsen’s streaming charts for 37 weeks in 2025. American Dad! also contributed to his win, as the #3 most-watched adult animation streaming title of the year.
“I want to thank Nielsen for this Streaming Icon Award,” MacFarlane said in a statement. “It’s a high honor to receive the first prize in show business that isn’t determined by quality.”
As for some of the other big winners at the 2025 ARTEY Awards, Bluey was the top overall program and the top acquired program with 45.2 billion minutes streamed. Stranger Things was the top original streaming program, while KPop Demon Hunters won for top kids movie.
Cobie Smulders and Jason Segel in ‘Shrinking’ season 3. (Apple TV)
Jason Segel worked with Cobie Smulders for nine years on How I Met Your Mother. Now, the pair star together in season 3 of the Apple TV comedy Shrinking. Smulders made her season 3 debut in Wednesday’s episode, where her character, Sofi, shared flirtatious banter with Segel’s Jimmy.
Segel spoke to ABC Audio about how working with Smulders on Shrinking is both the same and different to working with her on How I Met Your Mother, where they played friends Marshall and Robin.
“The way it is the same is that Cobie Smulders is like the nicest human being on Earth. And not just cause she’s Canadian. She is just like to the core, a wonderful human being,” Segel said. “We didn’t have much overlap on How I Met Your Mother despite working together for almost a decade because our storylines were always — Marshall was usually paired with Lily.”
Segel said that what’s special about doing Shrinking with Smulders now is that they have shared history.
“We’ve known each other for 20 years, 25 years, maybe something like that. Both been through a bunch of life stuff and the twisty-turny road that being in this business is about … and we’ve stayed in touch that whole time,” Segel said.
This, Segel said, helps the audience feel that Jimmy and Sofi have a real connection.
“I think when these two characters look at each other, it seems like they’ve known each other forever. Even though story-wise, they’ve only known each for a little bit,” Segel said. “It reads like soulmate because of that. That’s sort of like what a soulmate is supposed to feel like. Like, you’ve only just met, but you’ve known other forever. So I think that that was the magic trick of the casting.”
New episodes of Shrinking release every Wednesday on Apple TV.
