Decentralized finance protocols have banded together in an attempt to restore the backing of rsETH following the $293 million exploit of the Kelp restaking platform on Saturday, which has triggered a liquidity shock.
The amount pledged has now exceeded 43,500 Ether, worth over $101 million, which decentralized lending platform Aave has called the “DeFi United” relief effort. Crypto protocols involved include Lido DAO and the Golem Foundation, with the largest pledges coming from the EtherFi Foundation and Mantle at the time of writing.
“We believe ecosystem collaboration matters most in moments like this, and our priority is achieving the strongest possible available outcome for users, said Aave on Thursday.
“Multiple strong indicative commitments are now in place to join this effort toward restoring the backing of rsETH.”
Hackers stole 116,500 Kelp DAO Restaked ETH tokens on April 18 from Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered bridge, then used them as collateral on Aave v3 to borrow wrapped Ether, resulting in about $195 million in bad debt on Aave, which has impacted the interconnected crypto lending market.
Source: Aave
DeFi United effort is ongoing
Ethereum layer-2 network Mantle has submitted a proposal to lend up to 30,000 Ether to Aave DAO to address the bad debt in return for yield.
The EtherFi Foundation has proposed a contribution of 5,000 Ether, while the Golem Foundation and Golem Factory are jointly offering 1,000 Ether toward the initiative.
Lido DAO has offered a one-time, capped contribution of up to 2,500 Lido Staked Ether (stETH) to a dedicated relief vehicle, conditional on others stepping in to fully fund the recovery package and close the deficit.
“The proposal is designed to reduce broader ecosystem spillover and support an orderly resolution for affected users,” they said.
Other DeFi protocols, including the cross-chain communication protocol LayerZero, layer-2 blockchain Ink Foundation and lending and borrowing platforms Tyrdo and Frax Finance, have also pledged undisclosed amounts of Ether to the cause.
Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov said he has also personally pledged 5,000 Ether and stated the platform is “working together with partners on formalizing more commitments.”
Source: Stani Kulechov
Some Ether already frozen from exploit
Earlier on Thursday, Aave announced that rsETH reserves were paused across Ethereum, Arbitrum, Base, Mantle and Linea in an effort to recover more of the stolen tokens.
“This was done with the objective of recovering additional funds as the recovery plans progress. We will keep the community updated on the next steps as the efforts continue,” it said.
On Monday, a few days after the exploit, Arbitrum’s security council took emergency action to freeze 30,766 Ether held in a wallet linked to the Kelp exploit. However, blockchain analysts have reported that 75,700 of the tokens have already been laundered by the attacker.
Ethereum price started a fresh decline and traded below $2,350. $ETH is now consolidating above $2,285 and might struggle to recover.
Ethereum started a downside correction from the $2,425 zone.
The price is trading below $2,365 and the 100-hourly Simple Moving Average.
There was a break below a bullish trend line with support at $2,340 on the hourly chart of $ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
The pair could start a fresh increase if it stays above the $2,255 zone.
Ethereum Price Trims Gains
Ethereum price failed to remain stable above $2,385 and started a downside correction, underperforming Bitcoin. $ETH price dipped below the $2,365 and $2,350 levels.
There was a break below a bullish trend line with support at $2,340 on the hourly chart of $ETH/USD. The pair traded as low as $2,286 and is currently consolidating losses. There was a minor move above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the $2,423 swing high to the $2,286 low.
Ethereum price is now trading below $2,365 and the 100-hourly Simple Moving Average. If the bulls remain in action above $2,285, the price could attempt another increase. Immediate resistance is seen near the $2,355 level and the 50% Fib retracement level of the downward move from the $2,423 swing high to the $2,286 low.
Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com
The first key resistance is near the $2,385 level. The next major resistance is near the $2,425 level. A clear move above the $2,425 resistance might send the price toward the $2,450 resistance. An upside break above the $2,450 region might call for more gains in the coming days. In the stated case, Ether could rise toward the $2,510 resistance zone or even $2,550 in the near term.
More Losses In $ETH?
If Ethereum fails to clear the $2,385 resistance, it could start a fresh decline. Initial support on the downside is near the $2,285 level. The first major support sits near the $2,255 zone.
A clear move below the $2,255 support might push the price toward the $2,200 support. Any more losses might send the price toward the $2,150 region. The main support could be $2,120.
Technical Indicators
Hourly MACD – The MACD for $ETH/USD is gaining momentum in the bearish zone.
Hourly RSI – The RSI for $ETH/USD is now below the 50 zone.
Jump in prices comes as Donald Trump says vessels will need permission of US Navy to transit key waterway.
Published On 24 Apr 202624 Apr 2026
Oil prices have jumped on heightened tensions between the United States and Iran in the Strait of Hormuz following Washington and Tehran’s tit-for-tat captures of commercial vessels.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, topped $106 per barrel early on Friday morning as Washington and Tehran stepped up their confrontation over the key maritime route for transporting the world’s energy.
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Brent stood at $106.80 as of 01:00 GMT, up nearly 5 percent from its closing price on Wednesday, when it surpassed $100 per barrel for the first time in two weeks.
US stocks fell overnight, with the benchmark S&P 500 index dipping 0.41 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropping 0.89 percent.
Shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries about one-fifth of the world’s supply of oil and natural gas, remains at a standstill as Iran continues to demand the right to decide which vessels may pass and the US blocks Iran’s maritime trade.
US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Thursday that he had ordered the US Navy to destroy any Iranian boats laying mines in the strait, shortly after the Pentagon announced that it had seized a tanker carrying sanctioned Iranian oil for the second time in less than a week.
Trump also appeared to expand the scope of the US naval blockade beyond Iranian ports, writing on Truth Social that no ship “can enter or leave” the strait without the approval of the US Navy.
“It is ‘Sealed up Tight,’ until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!” Trump said.
Trump’s threats came a day after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the capture of two foreign cargo ships in the waterway.
The IRGC said it had seized the Panamanian-flagged MSC Francesca and Greek-owned Epaminondas after the vessels had endangered maritime security “by operating without the necessary permits and tampering with navigation systems”.
The Greek Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy Ministry has denied that the Epaminondas was captured and said the vessel remains under the control of its captain.
Only nine commercial vessels transited the strait on Wednesday, compared with seven on Tuesday and 15 on Monday, according to maritime intelligence platform Windward.
Before the US and Israel launched their war against Iran on February 28, the waterway saw an average of 129 transits each day, according to United Nations Trade and Development.
Most cryptocurrency wealth stories follow a familiar script: someone buys a small amount of an obscure token, forgets about it, and wakes up rich. Pi Network’s potential trajectory, according to one analyst’s breakdown, does not follow that script. The numbers here are more grounded, and the math is more straightforward than most in the space would like to admit.
An expert who has been tracking Pi Network’s ecosystem development has put together a projection that strips away the hype and focuses on a simple question: at realistic price points, how many Pi tokens would an investor need to reach $1 million?
How the Millionaire Math Works
The model is built on realistic price scenarios rather than hype-driven assumptions. If Pi reaches a $10 billion market cap, the price could hit $1, meaning an investor would need 1 million Pi tokens to reach $1 million. At current levels, that equals roughly a $188,000 entry.
At a $20 billion valuation, Pi could reach $2, cutting the requirement to 500,000 tokens, or about $94,000 invested today.
In a more aggressive scenario, if Pi climbs to a $30 billion market cap and hits $3, the requirement drops further to around 330,000 tokens, with an estimated $63,000 investment.
The structure is simple: higher price, fewer tokens, but every path still requires significant early positioning.
What’s Driving These Projections
The outlook is tied to Pi’s growing ecosystem and recent developments, including its listing on Kraken, which improves liquidity and access to global markets.
The network’s mobile-first mining model, large user base of over 60 million, and transition toward utility through smart contracts and applications all contribute to its potential valuation growth.
However, the projections also factor in limits. Unlike smaller meme tokens, Pi’s large supply means gains are expected to scale with adoption rather than explode overnight.
The Constraint That Still Matters
Despite the upside, one issue continues to shape the outlook: control. While Pi uses the Stellar Consensus Protocol, much of the network’s validation and token distribution remains tied to the core team.
That creates a clear trade-off. In short, the path to $1 million with Pi is possible, but it depends on execution, adoption, and whether the project can transition from hype to real utility.
The question of whether the Bitcoin price has hit a final bottom remains a major topic of discussion, as analysts remain unconvinced that the flagship cryptocurrency has reached a definitive floor. A recent analysis by market expert Maxi Trades suggests Bitcoin could bepositioning for another major correction, forecasting a 30% crash that could push the price to fresh lows near $50,000. The bearish outlook has added to the market’s growing uncertainty about Bitcoin’s price direction, especially after the cryptocurrency’slatest rebound above $78,000.
Historical Patterns Signal Upcoming Bitcoin Price Crash
In his $BTC price analysis shared on X this week, Maxi Trades drew on historical data and recurring chart patterns to support hisbearish outlook for Bitcoin and projected bottom target. The analyst noted that the Bitcoin price has been stuck within a defined range for more than two and a half months now. He pointed out that a decisive breakout, either to the upside or the downside, has historically followed such an extended consolidation.
According to Maxi Trades, the last three times Bitcoin displayed a similarrange-bound movement, it took roughly 64 to 114 days for a breakout to occur. His accompanying chart reflects this historical setup, showing that during the firstprolonged consolidation, Bitcoin traded sideways for 64 days before surging by 14%.
Source: X
The second instance saw the cryptocurrency remain range-bound for 114 days, followed by a decline of approximately 27%. In a third similar formation, Bitcoin consolidated for 77 days before recording a 33% price crash. Based on this recurring trend, the analyst believes that Bitcoin could be approaching another major volatility event, withdownside risk still on the table once its current range-bound movement resolves.
Analyst Sees Bitcoin’s True Bottom Around $50,000
In his post, Maxi Trades noted that despiteBitcoin remaining in a bear market for more than six months since its October 2025all-time high above $126,000, its price action has yet to show any signs of a true bottom formation. Because of this, he argued that the market has likely not reached its final capitulation phase.
As a result, the analyst said he is highly confident that $BTC’s next breakout may be to the downside, warning ofanother major price crash before a true market bottom is established. He added that if the current cycle unfolds like previous range-bound periods, the market may still have time left before the anticipated breakout.
Maxi Traders further noted that if his bearish scenario plays out and Bitcoin breaks below its recent lows, then the cryptocurrency could experience a rapid correction toward $50,000, marking a decline of more than 36% from current levels above $78,000.
$BTC bulls pushing for higher prices | Source: BTCUSD on Tradingview.com
The Euphoria cast weren’t the only ones who reunited for the new season of the hit HBO drama.
During season three, episode two, titled “America My Dream,” Zendaya shared the screen again with her former onscreen father, Kadeem Hardison. However, this time, it’s safe to say the setting was much less kid-friendly.
Zendaya and Hardison first starred together in the Disney Channel show, K.C. Undercover, which ran for three seasons from 2015 to 2018. In the series, the Emmy winner plays K.C. Cooper, a high school technology wiz and karate black-belt who discovers that both her parents are secret spies and expect her to follow in their footsteps. Hardison plays her dad, Craig Cooper.
Kadeem Hardison and Zendaya on ‘K.C. Undercover.’
Everett Collection
Years later, they’ve reunited but in much more mature roles. In Euphoria season three, Hardison plays Big Eddy, who helps manage operations at Alamo Brown’s (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) Silver Slipper strip club. His character interacts with Zendaya’s Rue at the club when she goes to work for Alamo to work off the massive debt owed to her former drug dealer, Laurie (Martha Kelly).
“Happy y’all enjoyed the reunion… always a blast to share the screen with the homie,” Hardison wrote on Instagram (below) after the new Euphoria episode premiered on Sunday. “If you’ve been watching, you already know. wearing the chestnut flip-up specs.”
Kadeem Hardison in ‘Euphoria’ season three.
HBO
The K.C. Undercover connection wasn’t the only subtle nod that fans noticed from the latest episode. Hardison’s signature flip-up glasses, initially popularized by his memorable role as Dwayne Wayne on the 1980s/90s sitcom A Different World, also made a cameo.
As the season continues, and Zendaya’s Rue finds herself more entangled in Alamo’s dangerous empire, I’m sure fans can expect more interactions between her and Hardison’s character, and maybe another flip-up glasses cameo, too. New episodes of Euphoria air Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT on HBO and Max
[This story contains spoilers from the two-part Matlock season two finale, “Who Are You?” and “Matty Matlock.”]
As promised when Matlock creator/showrunner Jennie Snyder Urmanlast spoke to The Hollywood Reporter on how the second half of season two would unfold, the big pharma Wellbrexa opioid scandal and Jacobson Moore’s unscrupulous role in it is now wrapped up. But that didn’t happen until the very last minutes into the second episode of the two-part season two finale.
After all the hard work of blowing up her life — transforming from wealthy lawyer and happily married Madeline Kingston into Matty Matlock, the folksy septuagenarian left bankrupt by a no-good husband and forced to still work to take care of her grandson Alfie (Aaron Harris), it looked like Matty was going to walk away from it all. But it wasn’t from defeat or bitterness. Instead, she reached a point of forgiveness primarily for herself regarding her daughter Ellie’s deathly drug overdose that she never anticipated. She also realized she wasn’t willing to walk away from her friendship and connection to Olympia.
Getting to this point broke with a lot of conventional TV storytelling. Skye P. Marshall’s Olympia found out who Oscar and Emmy winner Kathy Bates’ Matty Matlock really was at the end of the first season. Television of yesteryear would have likely had that play out for another season or two. But after Matty and Olympia begin rebuilding their friendship, they revealed to Jason Ritter’s Julian, the son of chief villain Senior (a very savvy performance by Beau Bridges), who Matty really is. Considering that Julian has been sitting by his father’s hospital bed following a stroke, the move was even riskier. Julian, who has dirt on his hands from doing his father’s bidding and removing the damning study revealing Wellbrexa’s wrongdoing, surprisingly joins the duo.
By the show’s end, Julian, especially on discovering that his dad has been faking early dementia and that the father-son closeness he’s longed for is yet another manipulation, is committed to doing whatever it takes — even risking prison time, by working with the DOJ, particularly with Lida Guitierrez portrayed by Gina Rodriguez, the star of Jane the Virgin, the show that got Urman noticed. Julian’s attempt to outsmart Senior boils down to a dramatic moment of his father discovering the wire and crushing him per usual. But everything isn’t what it seems. As Matty and Olympia walk away from Jacobson Moore on their own terms seemingly without bringing down Senior and his precious law firm, it’s revealed they actually did snare him, along with Justina Machado’s Eva, Senior’s disgruntled ex-wife and a partner in the firm and many others, including Julian.
So much happened in the second half of season two. Despite being married 50 years, Matty and husband Edwin (Sam Anderson) weren’t on the same page, mainly because he wants to return to their old life in San Francisco. And then there is the uneasy relationship with Alfie’s father Joey (Niko Nicotera) and the threat of Alfie going through what they did with Ellie after Joey relapses. A case of the week dealing with a company that creates AI versions of your loved ones you can chat with not only raised serious ethical questions with Jane the Virgin’s Yara Martinez as Vicki, who is not just grappling with her sister’s death but must also contend with a claim on the company as her last wishes. It also resulted in Matty finding addictive comfort in chatting with an AI version of Ellie. That storyline introduced Marshall’s husband Edwin Hodge as Langston, a super smart tech expert with multiple impressive degrees.
Urman spoke to THR below about wrapping up season two and building to this ending, and she offered insight into how smoothly the show handled the exit of one of the show’s core characters with actor David Del Rio’s dramatic departure as Billy amid bombshell accusations involving his co-star Leah Lewis, who plays attorney Sarah Franklin. She also talks about Julian’s dramatic arc, the fun Jane the Virgin reunion in the finale — and Urman also leaves clues about what to expect in season three when the show returns midseason in 2027.
***
Why was this the right ending for season two?
Myself and the writers wanted to wrap up Wellbrexa. We wanted to give some real answers and also have characters face real consequences. That was exciting for us. We just don’t want to sit in the same things over and over. We want to keep pushing storytelling forward and find new and interesting things to dig up about the characters, and their relationships and their complications.
It felt like we had gone on this two-year journey with both Wellbrexa and Matty, sort of understanding her grief and what the loss of her daughter did to her and how it changed her. But also finding new life and new choices and new avenues she didn’t expect or see coming. It felt like the culmination of all that storytelling. It was the right time for it.
Was wrapping Wellbrexa up now in season two your plan originally?
Our plan was to wrap up Wellbrexa [early]. The ending of last season was the midway point. The hardest thing to figure out was: Why would she organically stay Matty Matlock? We knew we had to solve that. And we didn’t know what that answer was because, obviously, the show is called Matlock. And what we came to was something we couldn’t have imagined at the beginning of the storytelling, because it took in all [the ways of] how she had changed, Kathy Bates’s performance, and all of the ways she realized how much she had gained that she didn’t expect to gain by doing this mission. So it felt like the right culmination.
When did Matlock become a show about these two women — Matty and Olympia, and not just about Matty Matlock?
I always pitched it as a love story between Matty and Olympia. That was always the storytelling plan. I always knew we would have the “my daughter led me here to you” [realization]. I didn’t realize it could come at the end of season two, and what it would allow us to do moving forward, which I’m excited about for season three. I thought that would be more of an endgame realization. And I realized, “No, we’re here now.” This is what she’s going to do. She really has processed her daughter’s death in deeper ways than she could have anticipated. She’s so many years past [Ellie’s death], but it’s haunted her and she didn’t expect to get more resolution beyond the resolution she gets from finishing her mission and doing this last bit of mothering for her daughter. That’s how it was in her head.
What she realized at the end was that it felt so right for her to acknowledge that she could, in fact, give up this mission if she had to, because she realized what it was about for her. She realized what she got from it — her connection to Olympia [and] their relationship and where she is in her life. That felt significant for the character to say: “I could give it up if that would mean not ruining your lives, Olympia and Julian.” That felt like a really significant arc for the character, and one we had earned after two years of storytelling.
Kathy Bates as Matty with Skye P. Marshall as Olympia in the season two finale.
How did you so easily transition Billy [actor David Del Rio] out?
You just look at the pieces in front of you, change some storytelling and move forward and keep pushing the story forward, and take seriously the fact that he was gone for the characters and let them process and have that lead them to more change and growth and connection. That’s what we did. When he was no longer there, we also investigated how that felt for Sarah and for Matty, and how it could push them closer. People move in and out of our lives, and you have to deal with it. So we took it as that, in terms of inside the show and with the storytelling.
The episodes involvingAI Ellie was unexpected, especially considering behind the scenes drama and controversy in the industry over it when it as it impacts writers. Take us through the process of why you elected to include the AI storyline and what it accomplished for the story.
A few things. One is that AI is obviously so prevalent right now, and there is this big afterlife industry, and we’d read some interesting articles about it. The show is about grief and addiction, and it felt like the right way those two things could specifically hit Matty in new ways was that she could get addicted to this idea of being able to talk to her daughter once more. But that’s not really her daughter. What would that feel like? The complications of that in her regular life felt interesting.
And then being able to close the computer at the end and step back into her real life felt like the last ledge she had to stand on before getting to that finale revelation of, “I think my daughter led me here to you” and “I could lay down my sword if I need to in order not to blow up our relationship.” This understanding and metabolizing of Ellie and being able to close that computer on her daughter was an important emotional step on the way to her larger emotional arc.
Since we’re talking about things in the past, let’s talk about bringing in Jane the Virgin faves, especially for the finale.
I just love all the Jane the Virgin actors. I had all these things in my mind [of] if I should save this person for this or that. And then towards the end of the second season, I was like, “I’ve got all these great actors that I would love to just be in the show.” Once I made that decision, it was great. I was able to call so many people, and Yara Martinez came in in 13 [playing Vicki the owner of the afterlife AI company in “The Future Is Nigh”] and did a great episode for us. Bridget [Regan] and I had been texting, and suddenly I was like, “Oh my god, she could be our district attorney and, holy shit, she’ll be so great going toe to toe with Olympia.” Justina [Machado] has been in our show since episode three [as Eva, Senior’s ex-wife and now one of the firm’s partners], and I just love the scenes she has with Skye [P. Marshall who plays Olympia] in the finale. I really love seeing those two women go toe to toe.
Then I knew I needed someone [with the DOJ] who would come with a lot of meaning, who could do a lot and make a character really fly off the page and make her significant even though she’s not in a million scenes. It was 11 o’clock at night, and suddenly I was like, “Oh my God, that could be Gina Rodriguez!” I just texted her, and I think she texted me back within like three minutes [and said], “Yes, I don’t need to know what the part is. Yes!”
It was awesome. And then I was able to really write that character because I knew what Gina does. We have Yael [Grobglas], she’s been there [as Shae]. So, there’s a lot of Jane people on the set, and having a picture with Gina and Kathy was really special to me and just awesome!
Let’s talk about what Julian goes through, especially in this second half and how emotionally torn he is because he is being asked to send his own father Senior, who almost dies and who he believes has dementia for a lot of this second half, to prison. In the finale, him going through with it in the end is an act of bravery. Talk about what that means for his character.
He’s always been the character who believes he’s a good person. But then when things are tested, he chooses the easy way out. Morals are great on paper, but when they really count is when you’re up against it, and you have to make choices that are difficult. We really have been building towards this moment for Julian, where he finally makes the ultimate sacrifice [and] makes a move that is so definitively not what his father would have done [which] would have been just all about self-preservation. Julian really did something selfless and something good, and he lived up to, I think, who he wants to be. It was important for him as a character.
And we’ve been building towards this. [Julian] understands what happened to Matty and what she’s lost, and how many people have lost as a result of his action, which he kept in a little shoebox and didn’t think about who suffered emotionally and internally. I think he had a hero moment at the end, and it’s going to come with consequences in the third season. But [this season] he had his hero moment and became the person he wanted to be and who he believed he was deep inside.
Beau Bridges as Howard “Senior” Markston with Kathy Bates as Matty in the season two finale.
That scene when Julian is in Madeline Kingston’s home, sitting on the staircase, and he just breaks down in tears is a very powerful moment.
Exactly. We’d been in the writers room trying to carefully arc his moment from realizing from fury that he was set up to redemption, and also really carefully calibrating the way in which Matty interacted with him at every level so that their relationship started to slowly build too once the truth [of who Matty really is] was between them.
That moment when Olympia is sitting with Eva for lunch and then realizes that Eva was involved in Wellbrexa is very tense. Talk about that gotcha moment.
We wanted that reaction. We’ve been building towards that since the beginning of the season, where [Olympia] finally thinks Eva’s her ally, and then realizes Eva’s in on it, too. So we’ve been very excited for that [moment]. What was important within that interaction and confrontation is that Eva’s not an arch villain. You understand what happened to her, what her circumstances were, what she was sort of trapped into, and how much power she did or didn’t have. Also, what it means to be in those rooms where decisions are made and what your responsibility is once you’re in those rooms.
We wanted that all to be part of that conversation with Olympia, and we wanted to make sure you could see on some level Olympia saying, “Okay, what? Why am I continuing to excavate the past? Maybe we could get these bad guys out, move forward with intention and precision and make this the place that we want it to be.” Eva’s a part of her circumstances as well, and she makes a different choice than Olympia, but a choice we can understand. That was the most important thing to us in the writers room.
With Matty and Olympia going off on their own to establish their own firm, what does season three look like without a Jacobson Moore?
We have a lot of exciting storytelling [ahead]. There will be a part of Jacobson Moore in it, but we are leaving with a lot of forward momentum, and things will be very different in the third season in an exciting way. We get to shake up our storytelling and really build a great new, contained mystery that relates to but is not a part of the old mystery, and it gives us a lot of fresh storytelling. Even though you repeat certain elements in a procedural, I don’t want the show to ever be repetitive. The cases of the week are the things that stay consistent, but I want us to always be pushing our characters into new situations, new challenges, and really make the storytelling as exciting as it can be.
With Sarah and Emmalyn or Belvin showing up at the Kingston home and Edwin welcoming them in, season three seems like it will be even more female-focused.
It’s got a female focus, but Julian’s part is big. I want to bring back Langston, and he and Olympia are going to be in a certain situation when we come back.
We didn’t even talk about Langston being portrayed by Skye P. Marshall’s real love in real life.
I have been trying to get Edwin [Hodge] on forever, and I’m so happy that that worked [out]. There are going to be new dynamics [that are] female-focused, and also male-focused, and just new elements in the storytelling; we’re shaking up the pieces on the board. We’re going to have a lot of the same pieces, but there’s going to be a few new ones in there too that I think will be fun.
Matlock seasons one and two are now streaming on Paramount+.
NEW YORK — Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker has been fined $35,000 for public criticism of the officiating, it was announced today by James Jones, Executive Vice President, Head of Basketball Operations. Following an investigation including multiple interviews and video review, the league found no basis to any claim of bias or misconduct by game officials.
Booker made his comments to the press following the Suns’ 120-107 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series on April 22 at Paycom Center.
The NBA also determined that Booker’s technical foul at 2:05 in the third quarter was improperly assessed and it has therefore been rescinded.
Film producer Fauzan Zidni has been elected chair of the Indonesian Film Agency (BPI) for a four-year term, with the government-backed body set to make its first international delegation appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Zidni, a producer at Cinesurya who previously led original production at The Walt Disney Company Indonesia, has appointed Nazira C. Noer as secretary general and Yulia Evina Bhara as head of international cooperation, with all three set to attend Cannes 2026.
“Indonesia is one of the few countries where cinema attendance has increased since the pandemic. With local films accounting for 67% of market share by 2025, it’s time to build an ecosystem that matches this momentum. We will focus on expanding Indonesian films’ access to the global market through strategic festivals and international co-productions,” Zidni said.
“BPI holds a very important position as a bridge between the government and the film industry,” Indonesian Minister of Culture Fadli Zon said in a statement. “We hope BPI will further strengthen the Indonesian film ecosystem, promote transparent governance, and open wider opportunities for creative talent throughout Indonesia.”
“We are actively looking for international partners – whether studios, distributors, or festival programmers – who want to co-create, co-finance, and co-present stories from this region to the world,” Zidni added.
Zidni’s producing credits include “This City Is a Battlefield,” which screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2025, and “Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts,” which premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2017 as Indonesia’s Academy Awards submission. He also produced “What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love,” a Sundance 2013 premiere. Between 2022 and 2024, he served as head of original production at The Walt Disney Company Indonesia, with his team credited on 12 original series and 10 development projects.
Noer is the CEO and co-founder of Poplicist, a film marketing and publicity firm whose annual slate covers some 40 to 50 local titles from a total catalog running to around 200, including “Jumbo,” “Agak Laen,” “Pengabdi Setan 2,” “Siksa Kubur,” and “Gundala.” She also serves as chief marketing officer at Navvaros Entertainment and chaired the public relations committee of the Festival Film Indonesia for seven years.
Bhara, a producer at Kawankawan Media, was named one of the most influential international women of 2023 by Variety. In 2025 she served on the jury at both the Critics’ Week at Cannes and the 30th Busan International Film Festival. Her credits include “Autobiography,” Indonesia’s Oscar submission from Venice 2022; “Tiger Stripes,” which took the Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize in 2023; and “Renoir,” which competed at Cannes 2025.
Founded in 2014 under Indonesian film law, BPI is an independent body charged with advising the government on film policy, facilitating international co-productions, and representing the country’s industry at festivals globally.
SPOILER ALERT:This post contains stories from the series premiere of “Half Man,” now streaming on HBO Max.
“Half Man,” the sophomore drama from “Baby Reindeer” creator Richard Gadd, follows the story of two very different teenage boys thrown together by fate, whose relationship will affect the rest of their lives.
There’s awkward, under-confident Niall (played by Mitchell Robertson, and later Jamie Bell) and volatile, angry Ruben (Stuart Campbell, then Gadd) who form a tragic and suffocating lifelong bond when they find themselves living under one roof. Over the course of the series’ six episodes, their relationship waxes and wanes, but continues to cast a shadow over their fates until the finale’s electrifying denouement.
Ahead of the first episode dropping on HBO (it will hit BBC iPlayer on April 24), Robertson and Campbell spoke with Variety to discuss the fraternal and sometimes sexual nature of the boys’ friendship, that bedroom dance and the “shocking” sex scene that required two intimacy coordinators.
Jamie Bell and Richard Gadd
Courtesy of HBO
How do you see the relationship between Niall and Ruben?
Stuart Campbell: It helped that Mitchell and I got on really well from the very first — we didn’t know each other in the first chemistry read. I felt very safe and comfortable with [him], and we became quite close friends quite quickly. So as a base safety blanket, I felt like I could feel safe with him to be vulnerable and to challenge myself, and to go to the places that the relationship and that the script requires.
Did you know while you were shooting your scenes how their relationship eventually ends?
Robertson: We didn’t know how it played out. We had no idea. I heard little rumors about maybe what happened. So we didn’t know while we were shooting our episodes, which for me — I preferred that, to be honest. I preferred just focusing on our version of events.
Mitchell, how do you see Niall’s fixation with Ruben? Obviously, there’s fear, but is there also a sexual undercurrent? Or is it more fraternal?
Robertson: When Ruben first comes back into Niall’s life, the obvious initial reason for Niall wanting him to stay is the physical protection that he provides, obviously he helps the situation with the bullies. And then on top of that, as they start to connect and have moments of connection, there’s a real sense of friendship that maybe grows between them. In terms of the sexual undercurrent, it wasn’t something that I played intentionally. It’s really interesting because a couple of people have asked me about it. I think there was definitely moments, particularly in Episode 1, where I was maybe playing being in awe of Ruben a little bit or fascinated by Ruben, couldn’t-take-your-eyes-off Ruben, I guess, looking at him with eyes full of intrigue or interest, and maybe some of that does kind of read as a sexual undertone. But I didn’t at any point intend to play it that way. So it’s interesting it came across like that.
Stuart Campbell
Courtesy of HBO
The scene where Niall watches Ruben dancing in their bedroom, was that choreographed?
Campbell: We did have a choreographer. But I was like, there’s got to be a little bit of improvising to make it human. Especially because it doesn’t need to be an unbelievably perfect routine. It’s just a guy in his bedroom who’s improvising. So I added in a few of my own moves in there. I suppose getting over the fear and the crap that gets in the way of being like, you know — because I’m not a dancer and I don’t have that sort of training — but it doesn’t need to be that. And just letting go of the fears and the voices and just like trying to have fun with it.
What was your reaction to the scene in which Niall loses his virginity to Mona, played by Charlotte Blackwood, while Ruben is in the room?
Campbell: My reaction when I first read it [while auditioning] was very much shock, is probably a good way to put it. And also, I remember thinking, “This is going to be a real challenge for whoever gets to do it.” It was a lot scarier on the page than it actually was to shoot for me personally — obviously, I don’t speak for all the actors in that scene — but for me. And credit to the team that we had, the intimacy team and our director, and our DoP, that really was shot with a lot of care.
And it’s a really pivotal moment for Niall as well. For me, that scene reinforces to Niall a lack of autonomy, it reinforces to him a lack of autonomy over his own body. And definitely in that scene, Ruben is a lot more of the focus for Niall than Mona I feel like, which is interesting as well.
Mitchell Robertson
Courtesy of HBO
Why do you think Ruben involves himself in that way?
Campbell: There’s a constant intertwining of protectiveness and possessiveness with Ruben in terms of his relationship to Niall. Both of those can play out in the same the same sentence or the same moment. And I feel there’s like positive qualities that obviously Ruben, as a context, has had to survive on his own, and he brings a lone wolf energy when he we re-meet him again out of the Young Offenders Institute. But then the feeling of duty and loyalty and family and wanting to protect [Niall] is quite a positive impact for [him] getting that protection, but also for me, having that sense of purpose and connection with someone, but then can quite quickly move into something more toxic and sinister and it’s like, “I can’t let you just have it.” It’s like, “I’ve got to have a little bit for myself as well.” Which sort of keeps the two of them together, probably until the end of [Episode] 6. I can never just let [him] have it.
I don’t think it’s an overstatement or an understatement to be like, it’s a scene that needed to be handled with a lot of care and attention and two intimacy coordinators on the day. Multiple days of rehearsals prior to ever getting on to set was needed to understand what was required, but I think we both felt very safe and comfortable on the day.
Do you remember how many takes it took to shoot?
Robertson: We had the full day to do it. In terms of how many takes, I don’t know, but we did a lot of different setups.
Campbell: Incredible credit to Charlotte. That was her one day on the job. To come in and do that was think remarkable, [to] come in and find that in a day. And there’s obviously safe spaces off the set. Because it’s a set it’s obviously easier to control and keep safe environment than probably somebody’s house on location.
