In brief: ‘Wuthering Heights’ gets HBO Max release date and more
Wuthering Heights is headed to HBO Max. The Emerald Fennell film adaptation of Emily Brontë’s classic novel will make its streaming debut May 1 on HBO Max before debuting to HBO linear on May 2. Margot Robbie stars as Cathy while Jacob Elordi is Heathcliff in the film, which also stars Hong Chau, Shazad Latif and Alison Oliver …
Ellen DeGeneres is swimming back to her iconic character of Dory. Deadline reports that the comedian will return to voice the cartoon blue tang fish in a new short film set in Pixar’s Finding Nemo universe. While plot details for the short film haven’t been released, the outlet reports that production has started on the project …
Gen V has been canceled at Prime Video. Variety reports that The Boys spinoff series will not return for a third season on Amazon’s streaming service. Although Gen V is ending, its executive producers told the outlet that characters from the show will find their stories continued in The Boys season 5, as well as other upcoming projects set in the same universe …
Naturi Naughton-Lewis as Ruby in ‘The Nowhere Man’ (Courtesy of Starz)
Naturi Naughton-Lewis is back on Starz in a brand-new role. After years of portraying Tasha St. Patrick on Power, she returns to the network in The Nowhere Man as Ruby, a woman of God and owner of a shelter. Ruby takes in the show’s main character, ex-mercenary Lukas, helps him get his life together and encourages him to use his violent skills for good.
Naturi says the role was different for her, which is exactly what drew her to it.
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” she tells ABC Audio. “Obviously, Tasha’s very … fancy, but Ruby is a lot more grounded, stripped down, natural. She is of the people.”
“I was really excited at the fact that [Ruby] started her own shelter,” she says, “and really was committed to helping the people there in South Africa, and how committed she was to Lucas and trying to push him to his purpose. … I think that we all need somebody like that … an angel amongst us.”
With two grandmothers who were deeply devout, Naturi says she drew inspiration from them, as well as from her own spirituality and sense of consistency.
The show’s setting was also a selling point. Set in Johannesburg, the series was a great opportunity to turn a work trip into a family getaway.
“The opportunity to be in Joburg was like, come on, why would I not say yes?” she said, adding her family got the “chance to take in the culture.”
“It was of course work, but why not have fun while you’re working?”
James Van Der Beek arrives at the premiere of Prime Video series ‘Overcompensating’ at Hollywood Palladium on May 14, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
James Van Der Beek, the actor best known for starring in the teen TV drama Dawson’s Creek and films including Varsity Blues, has died. He was 48.
“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” reads a note posted on Van Der Beek’s Instagram page. “There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.”
Van Der Beek revealed in a November 2024 Instagram post that he’d been diagnosed with cancer, stating that despite the diagnosis he was “in a good place and feeling strong.”
Later that month, the actor further revealed to People that he was battling Stage 3 colorectal cancer. Van Der Beek shared that he received the diagnosis after a colonoscopy.
In December 2024, Van Der Beek joined Good Morning America to discuss his mindset and emotional state during his ongoing battle with the disease.
“And thus began the full-time job of having cancer, signing up for all the various medical portals and getting on the phone with insurance and creating appointments. … I was not prepared for just how much of a full-time job that it really is,” Van Der Beek said.
“I’m going to make changes that I never would have made otherwise, that I’m going to look back on in 30 years and say, ‘Thank gGod this happened.’ So, what can I do right now in order to make that the case? And that’s how it was, about 90 percent of the time,” he went on. “But 10 percent of the time, I was a sobbing, terrified mess, which I feel like is a pretty good percentage.”
Born March 8, 1977, in Cheshire, Connecticut, Van Der Beek began acting while in middle school and made his professional debut at age 16 in a 1993 off-Broadway production in New York City. He continued to appear in various amateur and professional productions throughout high school and while attending New Jersey’s Drew University.
It was while he was a student at Drew in 1998 that Van Der Beek auditioned for and won the title role of Dawson Leery in The WB network’s new show Dawson’s Creek. Van Der Beek dropped out of Drew University to star in the show for the whole of its six-year run, opposite fellow cast members and future stars Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson.
“That was when life was at its craziest,” Van Der Beek said about his time on the hit show in a 2020 interview with Good Morning America. “At 20 years old I got stupidly lucky and found myself in a zeitgeist, cultural phenomenon TV show, and I was suddenly famous.”
Van Der Beek also admitted his sudden stardom was difficult to handle. “My reaction to fame was to run away from it,” he said, though looking back he said he would tell his younger self to “relax, be grateful, enjoy it.”
Despite having already begun a small film career with roles in films like the 1996 romantic drama I Love You, I Love You Not, which also starred Claire Danes, Julia Stiles and Jude Law, Van Der Beek’s Dawson’s Creek fame earned him the headlining role in the 1999 coming-of-age sports drama Varsity Blues. Van Der Beek’s character of Jonathan “Mox” Moxon, the backup quarterback on a small-town Texas high school football team, remains the film performance for which he’s best remembered. It also earned him the best breakout male performance award at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.
“It was a movie I really, really cared about, it was a role I really cared about,” Van Der Beek told Good Morning America. “It was a role I really had to fight for. I had to fight for that role, nobody wanted me for that role initially.”
The success of Varsity Blues led to roles in other films, including 2000’s horror film send-up Scary Movie, in which Van Der Beek made a cameo appearance as his Dawson’s Creek character, the 2001 Western Texas Rangers and the 2002 dark comedy Rules of Attraction. Later film roles included the 2009 thriller Formosa Betrayed, 2013’s Labor Day with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, and the 2019 comedy Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Yet Van Der Beek remained a larger small-screen presence, appearing on dozens of hit TV shows over the years in starring or guest roles, including How I Met Your Mother, Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, One Tree Hill,Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: Cyber and Modern Family, as well as providing the voice of Boris Hauntley on the Disney animated children’s series Vampirina. Van Der Beek also placed fifth on season 28 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars in 2019. In 2025, he was announced as a recurring character on the Legally Blonde prequel series Elle.
In September 2025, the cast of Dawson’s Creekreunited for a one-night-only live reading of the show’s pilot episode to raise money for the nonprofit F Cancer and for Van Der Beek. A stomach virus prevented him from attending in person — Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda stepped into the role of Dawson Leery in Van Der Beek’s place — but he shared a video message in which he thanked those who attended and shared his disappointment for not being unable to “stand on that stage and thank every soul in the theater for showing up for me, and against cancer, when I needed it most.”
Van Der Beek was married twice. He’s survived by his wife, film producer Kimberly Van Der Beek, and their six children.
We now know when The Handmaid’s Tale spinoff series The Testaments will premiere. Hulu has announced that the new series, which is based on Margaret Atwood‘s eponymous novel, premieres its first three episodes on April 8. This dramatic coming-of-age story follows young teens living in Gilead who attend a preparatory school for future wives, where obedience is brutally instilled. Ann Dowd, Chase Infiniti, Lucy Halliday, Mabel Li and Rowan Blanchard star in the upcoming series, which is executive produced by Elisabeth Moss …
The upcoming limited series based on the whirlwind romance between one of the 20th century’s most iconic couples has a release date. Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette will premiere to FX and Hulu on Feb. 12. Its first three episodes will debut at that time, while one new episode of the nine-episode series will air weekly after the premiere. Paul Anthony Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon star as the titular couple, while Grace Gummer, Naomi Watts and Alessandro Nivola co-star …
The ceremony date for Broadway’s biggest night has been announced. The 79th annual Tony Awards will take place on June 6. CBS will broadcast the awards show live from Radio City Hall. It will also be available to stream on Paramount+. Nominations for this year’s Tony Awards will be announced on May 5 …
