In brief: ‘Wicked’ named best film by National Board of Review and more

In brief: ‘Wicked’ named best film by National Board of Review and more

Good news for fans of The Agency — there’s another season on the way. The Showtime thriller series, which stars Michael Fassbender, has scored a quick season 2 renewal after its big debut weekend. The first two episodes of the show have earned 5.1 million viewers on streaming and linear since it premiered on Nov. 29. Jodie Turner-Smith, Katherine Waterston and Richard Gere also star in the show, which has already become Showtime’s most-streamed new series ever, according to Paramount Global …

Period drama fans can rejoice. Apple TV+’s The Buccaneers is adding four new actors to the mix for season 2. Greg Wise, Jacob Ifan, Grace Ambrose and Maria Almeida have joined the cast of the show based on Edith Wharton‘s unfinished novel of the same name. Wise’s casting marks his return to the source material — he previously starred in the 1995 miniseries based on the novel, also called The Buccaneers …

There’s nothing that can stop Wicked from becoming populer … lar! The 2024 musical film has been named best film by the National Board of Review. The organization made the announcement on Wednesday, also recognizing Jon M. Chu with the best director prize, and a special award for Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo‘s creative collaboration …
 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Related Posts

In brief: ‘Unstable’ canceled at Netflix and more
In brief: ‘Unstable’ canceled at Netflix and more

Netflix has canceled Unstable, the comedy series starring Rob Lowe and his son John Owen Lowe, after two seasons, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series stars Lowe as Ellis Dragon, a “universally admired, eccentric, narcissist-adjacent biotech entrepreneur” whose son goes to work for him to help save his company. The show’s second season failed to make it into Netflix’s top 10 …

A sequel to the horror film Ready or Not is in the works starring Samara Weaving in the lead role, according to Variety. The first movie, released in 2019, starred Weaving, along with Adam Brody and Andie MacDowell, and centered on a bride whose wedding night takes a sinister turn when her eccentric new in-laws force her to take part in a terrifying game …

The Wild Robot filmmaker Chris Sanders tells Deadline that a sequel to the animated adventure is already in the works. The movie “follows the journey of a robot—ROZZUM unit 7134, ‘Roz’ for short — that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings,” according to the official logline. The Wild Robot — featuring the voices of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Kit Connor and Stephanie Hsu — has grossed more than $100 million worldwide … 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

John Amos, Emmy-nominated ‘Good Times’ and ‘Roots’ actor, dies at 84
John Amos, Emmy-nominated ‘Good Times’ and ‘Roots’ actor, dies at 84
Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Time Warner Inc.

John Amos, the actor best known for playing doting father James Evans Sr. on the sitcom Good Times, has died, his publicist told ABC News. He was 84.

Amos was also known for his role as the older Kunta Kinte on the 1977 TV miniseries Roots, for which he received an Emmy nomination.

Born in Newark, New Jersey, on Dec. 27, 1939, Amos first tried to make it as a professional football player before he turned to acting. He is also a veteran of the 50th Armored Division of the New Jersey National Guard and an honorary master chief of the United States Coast Guard.

Amos is best known for his role on the Norman Lear-created series Good Times opposite Esther Rolle‘s Florida Evans. The sitcom, following a Black family in Chicago and tackling subjects like poverty, drug use and inner-city crime, ran for six seasons between 1974 and 1979 — though Amos was only on the show for the first half of its run.

Elsewhere on television, Amos starred as Gordy the weatherman on The Mary Tyler Moore Show; as the adult Kunta Kinte on the landmark miniseries Roots in 1977 — which earned him an Emmy nomination; and as the recurring character Admiral Percy Fitzwallace on The West Wing.

Other roles on the small screen included Maude, Hunter, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, In the House, The District, All About the Andersons, Men in Trees, Two and a Half Men and The Ranch, to name a few.

The actor appeared in numerous films, as well, including Let’s Do It Again (1975), The Beastmaster (1982), Coming to America (1988), Die Hard 2 (1990), Madea’s Witness Protection (2012) and Coming 2 America (2021). He even played himself in a small cameo in 2019’s Uncut Gems.

Amos, a member of the New Jersey Hall of Fame, was married twice. He is survived by his daughter, Shannon, and son K.C., both of whom he shared with his first wife, Noel Mickelson.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Demi Moore, Zendaya and more among ‘People’ mag’s 25 Most Intriguing of 2024
Demi Moore, Zendaya and more among ‘People’ mag’s 25 Most Intriguing of 2024
DISNEY/John Argueta

People magazine is out with its list of the 25 Most Intriguing People of 2024.

Stars making the list this year include Demi Moore, who had a buzzed about role in the horror movie The Substance; The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri; Zendaya, who starred in Challengers and Dune 2 this year; Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan; Sing Sing’s Colman Domingo; and Nicole Kidman, who had multiple TV projects out this year and is set to star in the steamy film Babygirl.

Also on the list are Wicked stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and Bowen Yang, and Gladiator II stars Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington.

Jennifer Lopez is on the list as well, thanks to a roller-coaster of a year that saw her release a less-than-successful album and big-bucks documentary, cancel her tour and split with husband Ben Affleck.

The magazine’s People of the Year issue hits newsstands Friday.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.