Sam Esmail has revealed why ‘Friends’ was crucial to include in ‘Leave The World Behind’

EXCLUSIVE: There is a new writer at the helm of Peacock‘s long-gestating reboot of the popular sci-fi franchise Battlestar Galactica. The Sinner creator Derek Simonds has come on board as writer, executive producer and showrunner.

One week after taking over the Nielsen streaming throne, Young Sheldon was ousted by Leave the World Behind.

Kelly Monaco was temporarily replaced on General Hospital this week, but don’t worry, she’s coming back to the show very soon.

Selome Hailu “Leave the World Behind” debuted at the top of Nielsen’s weekly streaming rankings after premiering on Netflix on Dec. 8.

Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon is still No. 1 on Netflix.

Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire took over the Netflix throne in its debut week.

Sam Esmail As part of Variety‘s 100 Greatest Television Shows of All Time issue, we asked 12 of our favorite creators of television to discuss the series that inspire and move them. Check out all the essays, and read our full list of the best TV shows ever made. When I was 12, my TV diet consisted of ’80s procedurals like “Knight Rider” and “The Incredible Hulk.” My impression of TV, then, was that it was visually static and repetitive, with the same formula every week — and, of course, a morally righteous main character. So when I discovered “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” on Nick at Nite, it blew up every notion I had about storytelling.

Barack Obama has a lot of accomplishments to his name. Aside from his role as President of the United States, Obama is also a Netflix partner, and provided notes for “Leave the World Behind,” a new thriller written and directed by Sam Esmail, known for his TV show “Mr. Robot.” Obama Stories: Antonio Banderas remembers when he forgot his keys just before meeting the president at his homePresident Obama surprised a pre-k class by wearing a Santa Claus hat and holding a sack full of presentsThe film stars Ethan Hawke, Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, and Kevin Bacon, and follows two families that start working together following a blackout that affects the whole country.

Sam Asghari is putting all his extra alone time to good use!

Audiences are still flocking to Netflix‘s new apocalyptic thriller Leave the World Behind.

Sam Thompson revealed his shock at being unable to hold onto any precious reminders from his time in the I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! jungle after he was stripped of his winnings.

Following Matthew Perry‘s shocking toxicology report, an ex-girlfriend is speaking out — and she has some very strong opinions.

Kevin Bacon. The plot follows a family on vacation to a rental house in Long Island, who get interrupted by strangers showing up, amid a mysterious blackout and technology glitches. Both families work together to decide how to survive as technology such as phones and television break down, and airplanes start crashing.

The death of Friends star Matthew Perry has been ruled an accident from the "acute effects of ketamine", the County of Los Angeles Department of Medical Examiner confirmed.

Jessica Chastain is crediting Taylor Swift for helping her get through a past breakup.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Rumaan Alam’s 2020 New York Times bestseller “Leave the World Behind” has returned to the top of bestseller lists this week following the release of the film adaptation on Netflix.

Zac Efron was two movies deep into the Disney Channel’s “High School Musical” franchise, in which he played singing, dancing basketball phenom Troy Bolton. He’d been the swoony romantic lead in the movie musical “Hairspray,” opposite John Travolta and Michelle Pfeiffer, was shortly to play opposite Matthew Perry in “17 Again,” and had pulled his T-shirt up on the cover of Rolling Stone under the headline “The New American Heartthrob.” At 21, Efron might have seemed like the kind of actor who was as likely to watch footage of the moon landing and decide to become an astronaut as he was to take inspiration from Mickey Rourke’s grizzled, broken-down performance. And yet.

I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! winner Sam Thompson and girlfriend Zara McDermott had an emotional reunion at the airport after he touched down from Australia. Zara, 26, was there to greet Sam, 31, at London's Heathrow Airport on Wednesday, 13 December after several weeks apart and they packed on the PDA - hugging and kissing. Proud girlfriend Zara even brought along balloons to greet her boyfriend, who became tearful as they reunited after his jungle win.

Caroline Brew editor SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for “Leave the World Behind,” now streaming on Netflix. “There was one ending that was really inevitable,” says Rumaan Alam, whose novel “Leave the World Behind” was the source material for Netflix’s latest apocalyptic thriller. “The key thing to look at … is that the book ends with a question mark.” Sam Esmail’s sci-fi feature adaptation makes a few diversions from the book, particularly in regards to the ending. But according to Alam, who also serves as an executive producer on the film, these changes were “emotionally faithful to the book.” “Leave the World Behind” follows Amanda and Clay Sandford, played by Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke, who bring their children Rose and Archie (Farrah Mackenzie and Charlie Evans) on a beach getaway.

Given this rising age of anxiety we’re in, where problems of uncertainty and instability feel like they’re global and yet local, intimate, and personal too, writer/director Sam Esmail’s unnerving global collapse thriller, “Leave The World Behind,” feels like it arrives at an all-too-perfectly timed moment. Its opening moments are arresting.