Season 4 of the hit Max comedy begins on April 10, when the first two episodes drop followed by one a week through May 29. As we emotionally prepare to see Jean Smart’s Deborah and Hannah Einbinder’s Ava go toe-t0-toe following that jaw-dropping season 3 finale, it’s only natural to wonder how much more life the show has left. In conversation with Deadline, showrunners Jen Statsky, Lucia Aniello, and Paul Downs revealed that five seasons have always been the plan.

“I think keeping the relationship fresh and making sure there are new places for Deborah and Ava to go, that is the beating heart of the show,” Statsky said. “If we found a way [to do more] that made sense, then maybe, yeah. But right now, that is still the plan.” As the conversation continued, it didn’t take long to see what “more” might look like. When asked whether or not a Jimmy/Kayla spinoff might be in the cards, Statsky said, “Demand it. We’re building up the world, you know">some kind of gold statue. Having achieved her dream of procuring her own late-night talk show, Deborah promised that Ava could be her head writer ⏤ only to totally go back on her word by episode’s end. This resulted in Ava deciding to fight fire with fire and blackmail Deborah in exchange for what she was promised. It was a shocking move, proving just how far Ava’s character has come since season 1 ⏤ and how much she’s learned from Deborah about “being a shark.”

Given that season 4 picks up right where 3 left off, we’re in for plenty of drama. But Hacks is a comedy through and through, so we’ll still want to minimize the amount of champagne we’re drinking while we watch lest it not remain in our mouths for very long. We’ll see how these characters balance this season’s dramedy when Hacks season 4 arrives on Max starting April 10. As for that Jimmy/Kayla spinoff ⏤ your move, Downs.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The White Lotus season 3.

Sorry, White Lotus fans ⏤ if you think you know the season 3 killer’s identity, there’s a chance you’re very, very wrong.

In a recent appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, cast member Michelle Monaghan spoke at length about her experience working on the popular Max drama’s third outing. In doing so, she squashed a popular fan theory about who may be responsible for an as-yet-unknown character’s death. Helmed once again by creator Mike White, season 3 of The White Lotus features a new ensemble of vacationers as well as the returns of Natasha Rothwell’s Belinda and Jon Gries’ Greg. No one can stop talking about the incestuous Ratliffs ⏤ or that Jason Isaac scene ⏤ but it’s the trio of female friends who seem to be getting the most attention.

Even The View co-hosts have talked about the squad of longtime friends who have spent the season getting secretly catty behind each other’s backs. Monaghan’s character, Jaclyn, is a successful actress in the trio opposite Carrie Coon’s Laurie and Leslie Bibb’s Kate. When asked if she was having fun going on the episodic journey along with audience , Monaghan offered a resounding yes.

“I’ve been doing this for over 20 years,” the 49-year-old told Kimmel. “And I have never been a part of something as fun as this.” A lot of that fun comes from playing pot-stirrer Jaclyn, who at the end of episode 5 decided to deceive one of her so-called “friends.” But what Kimmel and other viewers saw as deception, Monaghan interpreted as opportunity. “I think it was impulsive,” she said of Jaclyn’s decision to engage in evening shenanigans with a gorgeous hotel employee (despite the fact that he’d spent episodes plural flirting with her friend, Laurie). “But I’ve got a lot of people in my life who feel very differently. I immediately got texts from friends going, ‘Oh my god, Jaclyn is a b⏤.’ And then I had other girlfriends going, like, ‘Whoo! Go, Jaclyn, go!'” Most importantly, she clarified that, “The gays were all for it!”

No one will soon forget former cast member Jennifer Coolidge’s iconic season 2 finale line, “These gays, they’re trying to murder me!” But what fans also won’t forget is the fact that each season finale of The White Lotus sees a major cast member die at the hands of someone unexpected. Sometimes even multiple characters. We already know from the season 3 opener that this one will be no different ⏤ and now Monaghan has brought us one step closer to identifying the shooter.

Who is not the killer in The White Lotus season 3? 1n1il

When Kimmel asked whether or not Monaghan has been paying attention to the “whodunnit” fan theories circulating online, she did not mince words. “I’ve just gotta debunk a theory out here, guys,” she said. “The monkeys did not do it.” Cue hands hitting tables the world over. “I was hoping it was the monkeys,” Kimmel itted, echoing the Enola Holmes in all of us. It was the Planet of the Apes crossover we all deserved, but according to Monaghan, that’s not what happens. “Maybe we’re going there here, in this life, but not on the show.”

The monkeys Monaghan and Kimmel are referring to are the ones White’s camera has been focusing on all season so far. They’ve been climbing trees and staring the audience dead in the face from the get-go, even appearing in the form of statues. Characters are asked to calm their “monkey minds” in meditation practice, a phrase author Natalie Goldberg also uses when encouraging writers to get everything down on the page. One must wonder if a certain showrunner read her career-defining Writing Down the Bones and found its advice useful in his own writing journey.

White’s exploration of man’s monkey-ness began in season 1, when we saw Steve Zahn’s Mark Mossbacher beat his chest like a gorilla to communicate his sexual desires to his wife. (She was not impressed and immediately went to sleep.) And while his dive has gotten even deeper in season 3, Monaghan’s confirmation suggests that season 3’s primates may be more symbolic than crucial to the plot. This means that, no, a monkey will not pick up the gun Tayme Thapthimthong’s Gaitok has been tasked with learning how to use and shoot anyone.

As Kimmel pointed out, this revelation could mean that Monaghan’s character is, in fact, the killer. “Well, I don’t know, you’ll have to watch,” she teased. And while she obviously can’t reveal any finale spoilers, she did at least offer one important moral of the story: “Don’t go on vacation with three friends.” And if you do, don’t trust any bald swimmers named Greg.

Fantasy has had no easy time of things on screen lately. Warrior Nun‘s survival depended on one of the most massive fan campaigns this side of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Harry Potter spinoffs haven’t kept up momentum even as a somewhat-dreaded television adaptation gets cooked up, and The Rings of Power has hardly been doing Peter Jackson’s original LOTR trilogy any favors, to put it politely.

Of that last point, the same could be said for The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an animated prequel that managed to snag a theatrical release, rare for an adult animated film set in a high-profile canon, before squandering it as meekly as possible. It’s since found its way to Max, where its middling current viewership chart status will likely go on to be a footnote in its tragically unceremonious lifespan.

Per FlixPatrol, The War of the Rohirrim is shuffling around sixth place on the United States’ Max film charts at the time of writing, vying for that relatively-coveted fifth place by going head-to-head with the incumbent, Men in Black (a franchise that would also benefit from an animated film, so long as that film is actually good).

Set roughly 200 years before the events of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, The War of the Rohirrim stars Gaia Wise as the voice of Héra, the princess of the kingdom of Rohan, which is under siege by an army of Dunlendings led by her childhood friend-turned-enemy, Wulf. Torn between her yearning for adventure and reluctance towards her royal duties, Héra takes it upon herself to ensure that this dark chapter of Middle-earth’s history ends at least somewhat favorably.

A fantastic version of The War of the Rohirrim was sitting right there on a gigantic, sparkly plate; the two-dimensional, traditionally-animated frame invites a brand new perspective on the spectacle we so rightly expect from Tolkien’s world. A pair of childhood friends now stand on opposite sides of a deadly conflict, both characters touching upon the theme of duty. This film needed urgently to stick its landing, not only for the sake of The Lord of the Rings‘ cinematic legacy, but for the future of adult animated theatrical releases, which are in need of a reputational facelift.

There was absolutely no reason for The War of the Rohirrim to have manifested as weakly as it did. But at the end of the day, it just refused to put a finger on the pulse of any of its strengths, resulting in a lopsided chronicle of unearned pathos, combat for the sake of combat, a telling reliance on the Middle-earth stories that came before, and a Balrog-sized hole where a fully realized character-driven epic should have so triumphantly captured moviegoers’ imaginations.

And look, I get it — not everything can measure up to Peter Jackson’s behemoths of the early aughts, but that’s no reason to not try anyway.

It’s no controversial take that A24 is the most exciting “mini-major” distributor in Hollywood right now, and while it’s inspiring to see it play with higher and higher budgets (Alex Garland’s Civil War is currently the studio’s most expensive film at $50 million; a number that its Christmas 2025 sports drama Marty Supreme will beat by $20 million), it’s those storied A24 indie horror chops that excite like no other.

The current A24 horror all-star is Heretic, having dropped into theaters this past November before going on to rank as the 10th-highest grossing film in the studio’s whole library. The 91% critic approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes is but another cherry on top, second only to the fact that it earned each and every bit of the acclaim thrown its way. Nowadays, it has fallen into the good graces of Max viewers.

Per FlixPatrol, Heretic has ascended to the top of the Max film charts in the United States at the time of writing, beating out its revolutionary animated competitor Flow (second place, although it’s probably too busy iring its Oscar statue to care about this downgrade) and slop benchmark Morbius (seventh place).

Heretic stars Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East as a pair of Mormon missionaries who find themselves on the doorstep of one Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant), who purports to be interested in the faith and invites the girls in to talk religion. The discussion appears honest enough at first, but when chilling revelations turn into aggressive probing about faith, it becomes clear a little too late that the missionaries made a mistake by visiting this house.

Between Heretic, Blink, The Boogeyman, MaXXXine, and the horror-adjacent Companion, Sophie Thatcher has come to establish herself as a member of the 2020s-era scream queen designates alongside Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, and Kathryn Newton. As Heretic‘s Sister Barnes, it’s easy to see why.

But it’s Hugh Grant’s presence as the insidious Mr. Reed that fascinates the most here; a statement backed up by his Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, and BAFTA Award nominations for the performance. Grant, of Bridget Jones fame, enters this psychological horror territory by playing upon similar notes that defined his everpresence in the romantic comedy genre. In other words, Mr. Reed reads as the same haughty, slightly-to-entirely deplorable charmer that Grant’s face so often telegraphs.

It’s that exact familiarity, however, that makes the character’s evil impulses all the more unnerving. We reflexively want to find that rom-com-coded comfort in the actor, and that tempts us towards getting behind his cynically academic monologues on religion, all in spite of how obvious it is that Mr. Reed is bad news (this, importantly, is also downplayed until the other shoe is forced to drop, so to speak). We desperately want to trust him, and so it stings more when he crosses the lines that he does.

A24’s next pair of horror releases, Opus and Death of a Unicorn, will play more in the horror-comedy sphere than the straighter chills of Heretic. Early reviews haven’t been painting Opus in a particularly flattering light (it currently sits at a 39% approval rating after 33 reviews), while the jury cautiously remains out on Death of a Unicorn.

After that, however, will come more straight horror in Bring Her Back, the sophomore feature from the revelatory Philippou brothers of Talk To Me fame. So, even if Opus and Death of a Unicorn wind up falling short, we can at least look ahead to the work of some tried-and-true mavericks of the scare craft.

With its latest announcement, Max’s HBO reboot of Harry Potter has already broken one of original author J.K. Rowling’s strictest rules: not casting Americans. 

That’s right, after weeks of speculation, Emmy Award-winning (and American) actor John Lithgow has confirmed he is onboard to portray Professor Albus Dumbledore in the series, which will base each of its seasons on one of the original seven books. Lithgow confirmed the rumors of his role in a recent interview, saying that it was a “hard decision” since it is a character that will “define me for the last chapter” in his life. Nonetheless, the actor remains “very excited.”

EXCLUSIVE: John Lithgow confirms to ScreenRant he will play Dumbledore in the #HarryPotter TV show.

"You got a lot of books back there… I'm curious if you have any Harry Potter books back there">Adam Driver for Severus Snape and Timothée Chalamet as Regulus Black. Regardless, we already know Lithgow can nail the accent given his role as Winston Churchill in The Crown, so Max’s Harry Potter will retain at least some of the Britishness that fans adore.

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There was once a time where The Wild Robot — Chris Sanders’ juggernaut of a DreamWorks flick — seemed like a lock for the Best Animated Feature Oscar at the 97th Academy Award. But then Flow caught the attention of the wider world, drowning The Wild Robot‘s hopes and dreams in a biblical flood of artistic prowess.

Gints Zilbalodis’ feature already nabbed the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film, and is among the Oscar nominees for Best Animated Feature and Best International Feature Film. It has since emerged as a point of national pride for its native Latvia, with a commemorative statue having been built in the capital city of Riga, Zildalodis being awarded the 2024 “Riga Citizen of the Year” honor, and the Latvian film industry receiving renewed investment on of Flow‘s success. All this, and it’s also the current king of Max.

Per FlixPatrol, Flow is enjoying a buoyant reign at the top of the United States’ Max film charts at the time of writing, beating out a pair of dynamic duos in Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson (Central Intelligence, fourth place) and Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh (We Live in Time, third place).

Flow follows the odyssey of a standoffish black cat, whose home is destroyed by a great flood, and who finds refuge on a wandering sailboat driven by a capybara. As more and more animals them on their voyage, they must set aside their differences and peacefully coexist if they want to survive in this new world — one as lush and beautiful as it is unfamiliar.

Flow was created entirely with the free 3D computer graphics software Blender, and took Zildalodis and his team five years to create. That’s a herculean feat on its own, but to also render a supremely evocative story without any dialogue? It’s no wonder Flow has been shown the love it has.

Beyond the genius of using various animals — complete with their instincts and capabilities — to parallel the diversity of human beings, Flow‘s visual execution stands as a key testament to Zildalodis’ artistic discipline.

When working with an animated frame, you become aware of just how much control you have over what appears on the screen. You’re not just capturing images with a camera; you’re painting directly from your imagination. This, of course, allows for more visual freedom, but any artist will tell you that constrictions are one of the greatest and most important tools in the field of creativity.

And yet, Zildalodis takes this animated frame and, rather than try to play with possibility for the sake of possibility, commits to rendering this adventure as cinematically as possible. Flow is an animated film that’s shot like a live-action one, and the breathtaking quality of that motion is second only to the pixel-perfect animation itself. Indeed, Flow is decidedly one of the great movies of this decade in of presentation, technical innovation, and storytelling. Latvia, you made one heck of an Academy Awards debut with this one.

One of the more compelling aspects of romance as a film genre is how it can leverage the parasocial attachment between the public and the celebrities they ire. This to say, if you look at a movie like Anyone But You — the rom-com sleeper hit from 2023 — it’s easy to trace its box office success back to the fact that it stars Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell; two high-profile movie stars that you can casually hang out with and observe the attractiveness of, per rom-com parameters.

This is one of the tools in We Live in Time‘s bag of tricks, given its pairing of Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield of Black Widow and Spider-Man fame, but it has a lot more going for it than two popular, in-demand thespians kissing each other. One of those things is its current prominence on the Max charts.

Per FlixPatrol, We Live in Time is living it up at the top of Max’s film charts in the United States at the time of writing, beating out a quartet of Final Destination films in the rankings (namely, the first, second, third, and fifth entries in the franchise, which occupy the charts’ second, fourth, sixth, and fifth placements, respectively).

Elsewhere, Noah Wyle continues to dazzle audiences in The Pitt, which is enjoying its own spell atop the United States’ Max television rankings at the time of writing. Wyle, who portrays the show’s lead character Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital, already has quite the medical drama prestige thanks to his time as John Carter on ER. That performance earned him nominations for three Golden Globes and five Emmy Awards.

We Live in Time stars Pugh and Garfield as Almut and Tobias, two thirty-somethings whose decade-long relationship is tracked from the moment of their first meeting, all the way to life after cancer takes Almut from Tobias and their daughter.

The film’s defining characteristic is its non-linear narrative, which causes us to jump around the timeline of Tobias’ and Almut’s relationship. This serves to highlight the relationship we all have to time, and how we primarily experience it through our most emotionally powerful memories, rather than those that most recently occurred.

This furthermore encourages viewers to consider how important it is to create the most meaningful memories possible, which is additionally emphasized by our early knowledge that Almut is going to die at the end of the film. This knowledge forces this family to carefully consider what they’re going to do with their extremely limited time together.

The emotional goal of We Live in Time, then, is to help us realize that our time on Earth — cancer or no cancer — is fundamentally limited, and so the best use of that time involves creating as much beauty as we can with one another. That’s a story worth exposing oneself to, even if you flock to it for no other reason than wanting to see Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield do the kissy-kissy.

The nominees for the 97th Academy Awards were revealed last week, and among the Best Actor crop was one Sebastian Stan, who made the cut for his groundbreaking portrayal of Donald Trump in Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice, a biopic centered on Trump’s relationship with his mentor, Roy Cohn.

The nomination — alongside that of Jeremy Strong, who played Cohn in the film — is a big deal, not only because of how Stan’s presence in the category elevates the prestige of the Best Actor award, but because of the example that The Apprentice sets for the types of stories we could be telling. Funnily enough, the same could be said about another one of Stan’s films this past year, and it’s since established itself as a Max darling.

Per FlixPatrol, A Different Man is sitting pretty on the United States’ Max film charts in second place at the time of writing. Separating it from the top spot is the Tom Holland-led Uncharted film adaptation, while the equally-limp Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets chomps at its heels from third place.

Written and directed by Aaron Schimberg, A Different Man stars Sebastian Stan as Edward Lemuel, an actor who has neurofibromatosis (NF), which causes sizeable tumors to grow on his face. Believing it will fix his social anxiety, Edward volunteers for an experimental treatment to make his face “normal,” the success of which leads him to fake his own death and begin a new life with a new identity. His insecurities only exacerbate, however, when the charismatic Oswald (Adam Pearson) — another actor with NF — bursts onto the scene and begins winning hearts left and right.

Stan won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Male Actor – Musical or Comedy for his portrayal of Edward in A Different Man, and it’s not terribly difficult to see why. The antisocial sheen with which he carries Edward creates an engrossing friction with the world around him — one that, by all appearances, isn’t entirely innocent in Edward’s plight. And yet, we don’t fully empathize with Edward’s struggle, especially when Oswald comes along as living proof of the law of attraction.

Still, there are angles missing to A Different Man that weakens its otherwise mighty themes of the power we have in creating our personal realities, and the politics of erasure and representation. We never get to see how Oswald deals with bullies or antagonization or rejection, and it’s naive to think that Edward’s current personality wasn’t affected by his formative years as a person living with NF, even if the deciding factor of one’s outlook on life is exactly that — one’s outlook on life. The character Ingrid, Edward’s crush who seems progressive one minute and joyously ignorant the next, only complicates this matter even more.

Still, you’re not going to find a film quite as cerebrally unique as A Different Man, and Stan’s compellingly agonizing turn as the self-destructive Edward is among its finest assets. Together with The Apprentice, 2024 marked a slam-dunk of a year for not only the Marvel star, but also the landscape of crucially uncomfortable storytelling that he appears committed to.

The regular truth of the matter is that box office success determines how the media cookie crumbles. Indeed, you can tap into profound emotional truths, land yourself a lead who puts on the performance of a lifetime, and make it through your runtime with minimal plot holes, but first priority will always go to the filmmakers who get more butts in seats, even if they only make loud slop.

This is precisely why Den of Thieves 2: Pantera — due in theaters on Jan. 10 — exists; because 2018’s Den of Thieves managed to snag $80.5 million at the box office on a $30 million budget in spite of its artistic dearth. The worst part? Viewers at home still haven’t wised up to its stench all these years later.

Per FlixPatrol, Den of Thieves has cemented itself as the third most watched film on the United States’ Max charts at the time of writing, falling short of a first-place Juror #2, the latest and perhaps last film from Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood, which was hardly given any chance in theaters despite being one of the best films of 2024.

Den of Thieves stars dad-movie superstar Gerard Butler as Nick O’Brien, an alcoholic officer with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department who’s dead set on taking down a gang of thieves led by Ray Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber), an ex-Marine whose crew is planning a heist on the Federal Reserve Bank in downtown Los Angeles. Bouncing between them is Donnie (O’Shea Jackson Jr.), a member of Merrimen’s crew that Nick has the drop on.

The two biggest faults of Den of Thieves is how it doubles down on toxic impulses that shouldn’t be affirmed, and doesn’t seem understand what it’s doing half the time. The film wastes a fair chunk of its frankly unacceptable length (two hours and 20 minutes) exploring the lives of characters that have little to no weight in the film’s story, while the story itself is nothing more than complex info drops about the incoming heist’s logistics.

In others words, Den of Thieves exists to show off how well director-writer Christian Gudegast can intellectualize the ins and outs of the Federal Reserve Bank, all while the characters crack tasteless jokes and abuse each other, only for the film to try and win back our sympathies by showing us Nick’s daughters, who also have nothing to do with the story.

It’s shockingly inept filmmaking, but for some reason, audiences love a bunch of men who appeal to some perverted power fantasy that always stems from a place of hurt rather than a place of healing. And really, pandering to that crowd might be the film’s worst sin. In a world where art has always been one of our greatest tools in fostering empathic literacy, is it not a sickening tragedy when a film insists upon these maladaptive, mean-spirited vices as facts of life to be proudly owned?

If you want to see a truly beautiful example of markedly masculine filmmaking, queue up The Iron Claw, also on Max, and let Sean Durkin paint you a portrait of brotherly love that will leave you sobbing.

For those in the know, season 2 of The Last of Us is not a cause for celebration. Many fans are excited to see the return of their favorite characters, but video game players know to approach this next phase in the HBO series with caution.

The reason for this is evident when watching the new teaser for the sophomore season. As soon as the trailer starts, fans are wrestled back to the scene of Joel and Ellie’s worst moment. Sirens screech throughout a darkly lit hospital hallway — the same one Joel shot his way through to rescue Ellie from the Fireflies deadly plan. This time when fans see the location, it’s through the perspective of a new character — Abby. Kaitlyn Dever dons the character’s iconic braid as she makes her way through the hallway, lit with a scathing red color scheme. The effect is unsettling, as many fans noted when taking to social media.

Fans are right to have some hesitance. Even for those who have not played the games, The Last of Us was never easy viewing. Taking place in a post-apocalyptic world where a deadly infection has turned people into fungus-ridden zombies, The Last of Us is an emotional story filled with themes of grief, loss, and redemption. To call the series bleak would be an understatement. The happiest episode is the only slightly tangential episode following the love story between Joel’s allies, Bill and Frank which earned Nick Offerman an Independent Spirit Award in 2024. The two experience what people even in the real world rarely get to have: a happy ending. This happy ending consists of them growing old together and eventually electing to die by suicide.

Such is the world of The Last of Us, and Bill and Frank’s ending gives context to why fans are so anxious going into season 2. With a new antagonist introduced in the aftermath of Joel’s bloodbath, the second season aims to be even more fraught with emotional trauma than the first.

The Last of Us trailer also presents happier times 5r6864

While The Last of Us season 2 trailer is punctuated with eery music and a dramatic voice-over, there are some things to look forward to. Season 2 will introduce Ellie’s love interest, Dina, who many fans theorized appeared in the first season in a younger version. The trailer shows a brief shot of Ellie dancing with the new character. Portrayed by Isabela Merced, Dina is the one source of light in Ellie’s life. As can be expected, Ellie isn’t fooled by Joel’s lie about the Firefly camp last season and things have deteriorated between them.

Dina’s arrival signals a new beginning for Ellie, who so rarely has experienced love without tragedy. Merced notably portrayed Kay in Alien: Romulus, as well as starred in Sony’s ill-fated Madame Web film. Her role in The Last of Us will likely yield better results than the Spider-Man adjacent film. Viewers can look forward to the new season of The Last of Us when it premieres on Max in April.

Natasha Rothwell is just weeks away from reappearing on screens, but one person who certainly isn’t on her The White Lotus hotel guest list is president-elect Donald Trump. 

The actress — who will reprise her role as luxury hotel masseuse Belinda in the third season of the HBO series — diverted from the zenness of her character to unleash her thoughts on Trump in an X post. “You are trash,” she wrote of the soon-to-be president on Jan. 3, offering a potentially succinct assessment that maybe even The White Lotus creator Mike White couldn’t have penned. 

For those who’ve followed the actress — whose credits also include Insecure, Wonka and Sonic The Hedgehog — this message might feel familiar. That’s because, upon Trump’s first presidential victory back in 2016 (which somehow feels like simpler times), Rothwell vowed to tweet every day that the then-president was trash, a ritual which she continued until his defeat by Joe Biden in 2020. “For the last four years, every day I tweeted that Trump was trash,” Rothwell explained of her X activity upon Biden’s victory.

“Not just because it was true, but because it served as a daily reminder that what we were living through wasn’t normal or okay.” Since then, Rothwell’s thoughts on Trump remained somewhat dormant (save for her revelling in his Twitter ban in 2021), but his stunning defeat of Kamala Harris in November might just signal the reawakening of Rothwell’s daily Trump-trash talk. In fact, a quick internet sleuthing reveals that the actress actually restarted her “you are trash” routine back in October, with many observers welcoming the return of her concise messages. 

While there’s clearly no invite for Trump upon her return to The White Lotus, Rothwell has been more welcoming of her show’s third season in the lead up to its February premiere. Recently speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Rothwell said her character — who will make the trip to the season three location of Thailand alongside the broader ensemble — will have her “eyes opened in new ways” throughout the course of the new installment. 

While she is still an employee of the hotel, Belinda will stay in the Thailand resort as a guest, as part of “an exchange program to learn more about the wellness programs that the Thailand White Lotus offers,” Rothwell explained. She will be ed by a host of extremely rich and extremely annoying guests, who will be played by the likes of Parker Posey, Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon and Jason Isaacs, among others. For her part, K-Pop star Lalisa Manobal will take the reins from Murray Bartlett and Sabrina Impacciatore as season three’s hotel manager, much to the delight of her fans. 

Season one of the anthology series was set in Hawaii and took a satirical look at white privilege, while season two jetted off to Italy for an examination of sexual power dynamics. The , Asia-set installment, according to White, will offer a more “satirical and funny look at death and eastern religion and spirituality.”

Rothwell is only the second White Lotus castmate to reprise her role, with Jennifer Coolidge playing her iconic character of Tanya in the first two installments before meeting her tragic (and totally fitting) demise. While Belinda will undoubtedly endure the petty dramas of rich white folks in season three, thankfully none of them will be a reality star-turned-president.

Here’s the thing about modern moviegoing: everyone likes to complain that no good movies are being made anymore, when in reality fantastic films come out every other day that simply require a bit of effort to access.

But it’s still nevertheless depressing that these fantastic films aren’t more broadly embraced by movie theaters, and end up buried for committing no more heinous a crime than not featuring the Minions or satisfying the nostalgic ego of its audiences. Juror #2 was found guilty of these charges by the Warner Bros. overlords, and Max viewers are now picking up the forced slack in hopes of giving Clint Eastwood’s potential swansong the attention it deserves.

Per FlixPatrol, Juror #2 continues to enjoy itself at the top of the United States’ Max film charts at the time of writing, utilizing its robust drama to keep the likes of a second-place Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and a third-place Joker: Folie à Deux at bay.

Directed and produced by Clint Eastwood, Juror #2 stars Nicholas Hoult as Justin Kemp, a man who regrettably gets called up for jury duty in the middle of his wife’s high-risk pregnancy. The case is one of James Sythe, who’s on trial for the alleged murder of his girlfriend Kendall Carter after a none-too-pleasant fight at a local bar. This bar, being the one that Justin drove home from the night of the murder, and the night of that murder being one where Justin accidentally hit a deer that might not have been a deer. Quel scandale!

To speak of Juror #2 is to accept the fact that you will never unpack it in full. There’s nothing glamorous or indulgent about Eastwood’s direction; every decision he makes and every performance he gets out of his top-notch cast is entirely in service to the most sobering possible reflection on the American justice system.

And within that, the nonagenarian screen legend strikes a devastatingly humanist chord with all the dilemmas faced by the likes of Justin, his peers, his superiors, and the lives that are in his hands. The film ostensibly declares that justice isn’t real, but also more accurately suggests that justice is often so ugly that calling it as such fills us with existential dread. We are all, after all, just trying to do the right thing while staving off our own fundamentally restless conscience, as well as that of a public who must consume tragedy and its gerrymandered resolution to distract from their own emptiness.

To put it simply, Juror #2 is not an easy watch, and unfortunately, easy watches are what’s “in” right now. Indeed, it’s perhaps no wonder that Eastwood’s latest was unceremoniously kicked to the curb when we’re living in the advent of streaming films designed to be understood while you’re looking at your phone. And yet, Eastwood seems to believe that we can all rise to the occasion, and that counts for something.