Adam B.Vary-Senior Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Jennifer Lopez is attached to star in a feature adaptation of the 1993 Broadway musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” written and directed by “Dreamgirls” filmmaker Bill Condon, Variety has confirmed with a source close to the production. The music is by legends John Kander and Fred Ebb, based on the novel by Manuel Puig and the book of the musical by Terrence McNally.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer “RuPaul’s Drag Race” has reached her sweet 16. The Emmy-winning reality competition series — which returns to MTV for its 16th season on Jan.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer James Gunn has found his Lex Luthor. Nicholas Hoult will play the Man of Steel’s arch nemesis in “Superman: Legacy,” completing the core cast for the superhero reboot, with David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan already set to play Clark Kent and Lois Lane.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in Season 2, Episode 6 of “Loki,” currently streaming on Disney+, and “The Marvels,” currently playing in theaters. For the past few months, I’ve been talking with some of my friends and colleagues about a radical idea that’s been bouncing around in my head that I haven’t been able to shake: The only way Marvel Studios can save the MCU is to destroy it. It’s become something of a national pastime of late to obsess over the perceived unraveling of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Timothée Chalamet embraced his inner-twink while hosting the Nov. 11 episode of “Saturday Night Live,” in a sketch in which the Oscar-nominated actor played openly gay Australian pop star Troye Sivan.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer The news that multiple Oscar nominee Michelle Williams was the reader for the audiobook of Britney Spears‘ memoir “The Woman in Me” was too delightful for “Saturday Night Live” to pass up.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer “Saturday Night Live” host Timothée Chalamet took full advantage of his ability to promote his latest movie, the upcoming movie musical, “Wonka,” following the conclusion of the 118-day SAG-AFTRA strike, which had prohibited actors from promoting any work for the studios.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer “3 Body Problem,” the highly anticipated sci-fi series from “Game of Thrones” executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and Alexander Woo (“The Terror: Infamy,” “True Blood”), will debut its first eight episodes on March 21, 2024, Netflix announced on Friday as part of its Geeked Week promotional campaign.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer The Merc With a Mouth can speak again.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story involves discussion of major plot developments in Season 2, Episode 4 of “Loki,” currently streaming on Disney+. When Eric Martin started writing the Season 1 finale of “Loki” (along with then-head writer Michael Waldron), he already had a sense that the Marvel Studios show was going to continue for a second season.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer “Daredevil: Born Again” has found its new creative team. Dario Scardapane, who wrote and executive produced on Netflix’s Marvel series “The Punisher,” will serve as the showrunner for the series, after previous head writers Chris Ord and Matt Corman exited amid a major creative overhaul.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer It’s been 30 months since Season 1 of “Invincible” — the animated adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s popular comic book series — wrapped up on Prime Video, but don’t expect the show to spend time catching audiences up on the story when it finally returns Nov. 3.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Wanda Sykes will embark on her “Please & Thank You” comedy tour in 2024, the veteran stand-up comedian’s first major tour in six years, Variety can report exclusively. The first 29 dates of the tour will begin on March 1 in Concord, N.H., and carry through June 15 in Kansas City, Mo., with more dates to be added into the fall.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses a few plot developments in Season 2, Episode 3 of “Loki,” currently streaming on Disney+. While working as the production designer on Season 1 of Marvel Studios‘ “Loki” — in which Tom Hiddleston’s god of mischief became embroiled with a vast bureaucratic organization know as the Time Variance Authority — Kasra Farahani realized that he was having a greater influence on the storytelling than usual.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses some general plot developments in Season 2, Episode 2 of “Loki,” currently streaming on Disney+. For 30 years, Dan Deleeuw has worked in visual effects, from “The Mask” to “Armageddon” to “Night at the Museum” — but he always had a dream that one day, he might get to direct.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Actor Ashley Johnson — star of the popular web series “Critical Role” and video game franchise “The Last of Us” — has filed a lawsuit against Brian Foster, her ex-boyfriend and former “Critical Role” castmate, alleging domestic violence, sexual battery, assault, stalking, gender violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil rights violations.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Of the eight live-action TV shows that Marvel Studios has produced for Disney+ to date, only one has concluded with the explicit promise of a second season: That would be “Loki,” the outrageously entertaining series about Tom Hiddleston’s god of mischief and his metaphysical exploits in the Time Variance Authority. It turns out, those plans were already in the works before a second of “Loki” had ever streamed.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer The timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has changed again. Marvel Studios has rescheduled several of its Disney+ shows as the company continues to feel the impact of the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Within a three-week time span this August, audiences have been able to watch two British teenage boys wrestle with when to come out as a couple to their school (in Season 2 of the Netflix series “Heartstopper”), the first son and the prince of England make passionate love in a plush Parisian hotel suite (in the Amazon Prime Video rom-com “Red, White & Royal Blue”) and a pair of lesbian BFFs start a fight club at their high school to cajole the hottest cheerleaders to sleep with them (in the MGM sex comedy “Bottoms”). This is, to put it mildly, unusual.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses several major plot developments in the feature film “Red, White & Royal Blue,” currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, as well as the novel it’s based on. Over this past weekend, certain corners of the internet were hyperventilating with excitement over the release of “Red, White & Royal Blue,” the romantic comedy about how Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez), the First Son of the United States, and Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine), third in line to the British throne, transform from enemies to friends to lovers.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments for the Season 2 finale of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” currently streaming on Paramount+. The second season of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” took a large number of big swings: Spock (Ethan Peck) becoming human for a time; an alternate universe James T.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses plot — and musical! — developments in Season 2, Episode 9 of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” currently streaming on Paramount+. Since premiering in 2022, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” has already embraced body-swapping comedy, storybook fantasy and a crossover episode with the animated series “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” So perhaps it’s not surprising that for the penultimate episode for Season 2 of “Strange New Worlds,” executive producers Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman would mount the first-ever full-on musical episode in “Trek” history.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses plot developments in the finale of Marvel Studios’ “Secret Invasion,” currently streaming on Disney+, but maybe that doesn’t really matter to you — and maybe that’s OK.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer “Woo!” That’s Jonathan Frakes’ reaction when he’s told he’s probably worked on more iterations of “Star Trek” than any other person alive. “I’ll take it!” he says with a massive grin.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer The perils of artificial intelligence to the entertainment industry came to San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, with SAG-AFTRA national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland joining a panel of voice actors organized by NAVA, the National Association of Voice Actors, to discuss the specific hazards AI is already posing to the profession. “We’ve got to reject the idea that this is just something that’s going to happen to us and we can’t say anything about it,” Crabtree-Ireland said at the outset of the panel, about whether AI could devastate the entertainment industry. “I think it definitely could, the question is whether we’re going to let that happen.”

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer The “Star Trek” Universe unveiled several first looks of its Paramount+ TV series at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, including an extended clip from the fifth and final season of “Star Trek: Discovery,” a trailer and premiere date for the fourth season of “Star Trek: Lower Decks,” and a trailer for the upcoming musical episode of “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” currently streaming its second season. The panel ended with a screening of the “Strange New Worlds” episode featuring the stars of the animated “Lower Decks” — which will be available on Paramount+ early, starting at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Achievement unlocked: With nods for best drama series, actor (Pedro Pascal) and actress (Bella Ramsey) — HBO’s “The Last of Us” is the first live-action video game adaptation to earn major awards consideration from a top Hollywood awards body, in television or in film. See the full list of nominations. On TV, live-action video game adaptations are practically a brand new phenomenon, starting with “Halo” for Paramount+ and “Resident Evil” for Netflix, both of which debuted in 2022. That landscape is quickly expanding, with shows based on “Twisted Metal” (for Peacock), and “God of War” and “Fallout” (for Amazon Prime Video) all on the immediate horizon. 

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer “Superman: Legacy” writer-director James Gunn is expanding the new DC universe with three new actors joining the cast: Nathan Fillion (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer Teeing up an inevitable “sai-ke” pun for Ryan Reynolds, Jennifer Garner is set to reprise her role as the sai-wielding superhero Elektra in Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool 3.” Hugh Jackman is also reprising his performance as Wolverine for the movie, which is rapidly becoming a multiverse mash-up of bygone non-MCU Marvel movie characters. Garner first originated the role of Elektra Natchios in 2003’s “Daredevil” with Ben Affleck, which was a modest hit, and returned to headline 2005’s “Elektra,” which flopped. In 2021, Garner told the Hollywood Reporter that she wished both of those films had been produced by Kevin Feige as a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “It’s such a shame, honestly, because once Kevin took over everything there was elevated: the writing, the direction, the comedy inside of the stories they were telling,” she said. “And I did not have that experience.” Most recently, Garner starred in and executive produced the limited series “The Last Thing He Told Me” for Apple TV+.

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer After a successful post-pandemic return in 2022, San Diego Comic-Con will hold a much quieter event for 2023, which runs from July 20-23. The ongoing writers strike and the looming threat of an actors strike — along with several focused fan events (like Star Wars Celebration and Tudum) — have contributed to several major players deciding to sit out this year’s convention, including Marvel, Lucasfilm, HBO, Universal, Sony and Netflix. But there are still some marquee panels that could delight the fans during the week (even if most panels are refraining from announcing whether any actors or writers will be attending). See the Comic-Con schedule below, which will be updated each day as more panels are announced. (All times Pacific Daylight.)