Laura Dern attends the U.K. Gala screening of ‘Is This Thing On?’ at the Odeon Luxe West End in London, United Kingdom, on Jan. 19, 2026. (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Laura Dern is checking into The White Lotus.
The actress has joined the season 4 cast of the Emmy-winning HBO series. The news was shared in a post to the network’s Instagram on Tuesday.
This new casting announcement comes a few days after the news that Helena Bonham Carter had departed the season after production had already started in the French Riviera.
The star-studded season 4 cast also includes Vincent Cassel, Steve Coogan, Caleb Jonte Edwards, Dylan Ennis, Corentin Fila, Ari Graynor, Marissa Long, Alexander Ludwig, Chris Messina, AJ Michalka, Kumail Nanjiani and Nadia Tereszkiewicz. Additional cast includes Chloe Bennet, Sandra Bernhard, Heather Graham, Max Greenfield, Frida Gustavsson, Charlie Hall, Jarrad Paul, Rosie Perez, Ben Schnetzer and Laura Smet.
This new season’s plot will take place during the Cannes Film Festival, where it will follow a new group of White Lotus hotel guests and its employees over the course of a week. It is set to film in Cannes, St. Tropez and Monaco. Additionally, some filming will take place in Paris, although the main story remains along the Côte d’Azur.
The hotels that will be featured in this season of the show are the Airelles Château de la Messardière, which will be the White Lotus du Cap, and the Hôtel Martinez, which will be the White Lotus Cannes.
The White Lotus is created, written and directed by Mike White. White also executive produces alongside David Bernad and Mark Kamine.
A year ago nobody knew what a HUNTR/X was and nobody had ever heard of Saja Boys. But on June 20, 2025, KPop Demon Hunters took over pop culture, and now Netflix has planned special celebrations for the movie’s one-year anniversary.
First, KPop Demon Hunters will return to theaters across the U.S. and the world for anniversary screenings. Check your local listings for a theater near you. Additionally, there will be free outdoor screenings of the sing-along versions of the Oscar-winning film across the U.S. starting June 19 in Salt Lake City. That will be followed by free screenings in Atlanta, San Francisco, San Diego and Brooklyn on June 20; Butte, Montana, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 24; and Cleveland, Ohio, on June 25. A different location in San Diego will host an additional screening on June 26. Visit Tudum.com for full details.
Both Netflix houses — one in Philadelphia and one in Dallas — will offer a full day of fan activities on June 20. There will be screenings all week at the Philly house.
KPop Demon Hunters became the most-watched original title in Netflix history. Its soundtrack dominated the Billboard charts, including the #1 hit “Golden,” the first K-pop song in history to win a Grammy Award and the first to win an Academy Award. The film also won the best animated feature film Oscar. The voices of HUNTR/X — EJAE, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna — have become stars in their own right, performing on TV and at live events, and a KPop Demon HuntersWorld Tour is coming.
The Paramount Pictures logo is displayed on a water tower in Los Angeles, California, on Feb. 17, 2026. (Michael Yanow/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Stars from across Hollywood are expressing their opposition to the Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance deal that rocked the entertainment industry earlier this year.
Jane Fonda, Don Cheadle, Rosanna Arquette, Ben Stiller and Joaquin Phoenix are just a few of the more than 1,000 Hollywood professionals who signed their names on an open letter expressing opposition to the studio merger.
“As filmmakers, documentarians, and professionals across the movie and television industry, we write to express our unequivocal opposition to the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger,” the letter opens.
The note continues, “This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries — and the audiences we serve — can least afford it.”
According to a February release announcing the sale, Paramount plans to acquire Warner Bros. in a transaction valued at about $110 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Paramount will pay “$31.00 per share in cash for all outstanding shares of WBD.”
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.”
Paramount launched a hostile takeover bid in December to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, just days after Netflix struck a deal to purchase a large part of the media giant.
The letter from the stars of Hollywood cites some of the potential downsides of the deal as “fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world.”
The letter also notes the merger leaves only four major studios remaining in the U.S.
The note, which is also signed by names like Mark Duplass, Javier Bardem, Ilana Glazer, Noah Wyle, Tiffany Haddish and Jason Bateman, summarizes some of the effects of studio consolidation.
“We have witnessed a steep decline in the number of films produced and released, alongside a narrowing of the kinds of stories that are financed and distributed. Increasingly, a small number of powerful entities determine what gets made — and on what terms — leaving creators and independent businesses with fewer viable paths to sustain their work,” the letter reads.
The letter also claims the consolidating media landscape “accelerated the disappearance of the mid-budget film, the erosion of independent distribution, the collapse of the international sales market, the elimination of meaningful profit participation, and the weakening of screen credit integrity.”
The group said they were “deeply concerned by indications of support” for the deal, which it says would harm the creative community and several of the small businesses therein.
“Competition is essential for a healthy economy and a healthy democracy,” the letter concludes, in part.
Along with the aforementioned signatories were names like Alyssa Milano, Ramy Youssef, Rosario Dawson, Mark Ruffalo, David Fincher, JJ Abrams, Kristen Stewart, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ted Danson, Rose Byrne and Denis Villeneuve.
Paramount responded to the letter in a statement to ABC News.
“We hear and understand the concerns that some in our creative community have raised and respect the commitment to protecting and expanding creativity,” the company said.
The statement also emphasized the “need for strong, creative-first and well-capitalized companies.”
The studio highlighted what it said are potential advantages to the deal, claiming Paramount will be able to “greenlight more projects, back bold ideas, support talent across multiple stages of their careers, and bring stories to audiences at a truly global scale.”
Paramount noted its “commitment” to investing in the industry, with examples including “increasing output to a minimum of 30 high-quality feature films annually with full theatrical releases.”
“Paramount remains deeply committed to talent, and this merger strengthens both consumer choice and competition, creating greater opportunities for creators, audiences and the communities they live and work in,” Paramount’s statement concluded.
ABC News has reached out to Warner Bros. Discovery for any statement on the letter.
