NBCUniversal and U-Next have entered into a long-term strategic partnership in Japan, bringing NBCUniversal’s international streaming brand Universal+ exclusively to the platform alongside joint initiatives with Universal Studios Japan and new global distribution pathways for Japanese content.
U-Next, operated by Usen & U-Next Group, is Japan’s second-largest subscription video-on-demand platform behind Netflix, with more than 5.2 million paid subscribers as of May 2026, according to GEM Partners. The service combines movies, television series, anime, sports including the Premier League, live music and e-books in a single app.
As the entertainment industry moves beyond standalone broadcasting, film and streaming segments toward a model centered on IP that spans digital platforms, live experiences and global distribution, the two companies aim to establish what they call a next-generation entertainment model in Japan.
The partnership’s first pillar centers on Universal+, which will roll out in Japan starting in October 2026 as an exclusive offering on U-Next. The service will carry NBCUniversal’s catalog from studios including Universal Pictures, Focus Features, DreamWorks Animation, Illumination, Universal Studio Group and Sky, featuring franchises such as “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” “Minions,” “Jurassic Park” and “Fast & Furious.” Beginning in the spring of 2027, U-Next will also offer major theatrical releases shortly after their cinema runs and first-run series from NBCUniversal on a rolling, exclusive basis.
NBCUniversal’s 2026 theatrical slate will include event films such as Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” opening in Japan on Sept. 11, and Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day,” opening Oct. 1. On the television side, the studio’s slate includes “The Five Star Weekend,” scripted series “Line of Fire” and “War,” along with library titles “Suits” and “Heroes.”
The second pillar centers on live experiences tied to Universal Studios Japan (USJ), which marks its 25th anniversary in 2026. U-Next and USJ will explore joint development of live music events, exclusive experiences and benefits for U-Next’s subscriber base, and the planning and production of video content featuring the park.
The third pillar will build new distribution pathways for Japanese dramas, anime, films and U-Next original productions through NBCUniversal’s Peacock service in the U.S. and Universal+ in Latin America, with the companies aiming to expand into additional markets over time.
“What sets apart this multi-faceted partnership is the innovative breadth achieved for both businesses,” said Chris Taylor, managing director, Asia Pacific, TV distribution and international networks and direct-to-consumer for NBCUniversal. “For NBCUniversal, it brings together our film and television catalog, our theme park experiences through Universal Studios Japan and our global distribution network – all under one roof for Japanese audiences.”
“U-Next’s impressive performance, having recently eclipsed five million subscribers, make them an ideal platform for NBCUniversal to align with on this ambitious partnership that includes the first fully-loaded Universal+ launch in Asia Pacific – reinforcing the importance of the Japanese market to our overall business,” Taylor said. He added that the collaboration builds on NBCUniversal’s strategy of pairing premium branded entertainment destinations with its traditional licensing business, and that the companies see an opportunity to extend the reach of U-Next’s Japanese dramas and anime as Asian content grows in global popularity.
“We are very pleased to enter into this strategic partnership with NBCUniversal,” said Tsutsumi Tenshin, president and representative director of U-Next Co., Ltd. “While continuing to build on the service and trust we have cultivated to date, we aim to evolve U-Next beyond a service for simply watching video content into a platform where people can discover entertainment, become passionate about it, connect with real-world experiences, and bring Japanese content to audiences around the world.”
“This partnership is the first step toward realizing those possibilities,” Tsutsumi added. “Together, we will build a new kind of entertainment service that extends beyond streaming.”
Specific initiatives under the partnership, including further USJ collaborations, the NBCUniversal content lineup, global expansion plans for Japanese content, user campaigns and new live event projects, will be unveiled on a rolling basis starting this fall.
Pokémon: Wild Cardwas announced Sunday night during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Pokémon World Championships, which took place in San Francisco.
“For the first time in seven years, a new Pokémon movie is on its way,” the Pokémon Company president and CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara said at the event, according to IGN. Ishihara added that the main character is a Pokémon trading-card game player who is “battling and striving to be a champion.”
A teaser for the upcoming animated feature film also was unveiled, which revealed that the movie will be released in 2027; actually, it says “coming 2027 and beyond,” hinting more is to come. In the teaser, viewers get a glimpse of the player, who’s dressed in a yellow hoodie à la Mimikyu.
Katsuhiko Kitada is directing the film, with character designs by Akemi Hayashi. Story Inc. is producing while CloverWorks is handling the animation for Pokémon: Wild Card.
The last Pokémon movie, Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, was released in 2020 in Japan and the following year in the U.S.
Meanwhile, 2027 also will see the debut of a Pokémon series, The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d and Pichu, on Disney+ and DisneyXD.
Finland’s biggest international film and TV drama market, Finnish Film Affair, unspooling parallel to the Helsinki Intl. Film Festival – Love & Anarchy, has unpacked its full program, rolling out Sept. 23-25 in the Finnish capital.
In the pure Nordic tradition of mind-blowing chills and thrills, genre-bending content and documentaries are headlining the slate of 38 titles from the Nordics and beyond, to be pitched to 500-plus attendees at FFA’s centerpiece Showcase Day, Sept. 24.
Selected as FFA opener, Hanna Bergholm’s horror “Nightborn,” top winner at the Fantasia Festival and Berlinale Golden Bear contender, will set the tone for this year’s Nordic market, where eight Nordic genre pics in development will compete for best pitch, as part of a new partnership with the Nordic Genre Lab. The training and networking program is the brainchild of seasoned Finnish executive Laura Laaksonen (Purr PR), co-founder of Nordic Genre Lab with former Netflix executive Claire Willats (Two Magpie Entertainment).
Lydia Taylerson
Courtesy of Alejandro Ramirez
“We’ve partly replaced our Finnish Weird section with the Nordic Genre Lab showcase which fills the need on the market for fun, quality, genre-bending content from the Nordics,” FFA head of industry Lydia Taylerson told Variety.
Genre projects to watch include Making Movies’ “Alma” helmed by Pete Riski (“Icebreaker,” “Dark Floors”) from a script by Ilja Rautsi (“Red Snow,” “Nightborn”), the first Faroese horror feature “Whistler,” produced by Outlier Projects, “Linden Lane 6,” produced by the prolific banner It’s Alive Films (“Euthanizer,” “100 Litres of Gold”) and “Trespassers,” produced by Patrick Andersson (“Midsommar”), with Mylla Films co-founder Jakob Abrahamsson.
Headlining the six-title documentary slate selected by Tayleron, Mourad-Anis Moussa (Visions du Réel) and Erika Dilday (American Documentary Inc.) is “Lonesome Land,” by prominent filmmaker Virpi Suutari.
“Lonesome Land”
Courtesy of Euphoria Film
Besides Suutari’s latest plea to safeguard Finnish forests after her multi-awarded “Once Upon a Time in a Forest,” topics range from a tribute to working-class Italian men during WW2 in “Umarells – We Know Better,” to biopics about New York/Helsinki-based late artist Iria Leino in “Dear Iria,” and fallen-from grace Olympic medallist Mika Myllylä in “Myllylä.”
On the scripted front, the eight films in development and five works in progress selected by Taylerson, Katre Kajamäe-Gupta (Eurimages) and Natasha Degnova (LeveK) play across an equally wide range of topics and genres.
“We have familiar faces such as Aku Louhimies, Pamela Tola, the up-and-coming Laura Hyppönen, who first pitched her project “Lex Julia” at Finnish Film Affair in 2021, and true newcomers Kyran Davies and Scott Quinn with “The Lost Sons of Nada,” one of the rare Finnish-U.K. co-production projects,” noted Taylerson.
“Lex Julia” is also one of four Nordic selections, together with the Norwegian thriller “11 Hours,” the Danish psycho drama “Without You” and Icelandic coming-of-age “Just a Kid.”
As for the popular Series session curated by APFI (Audiovisual Producers Finland), this year’s slate of six TV titles range from thrillers and crime shows to teen drama and animation from hot helmers including American Film Institute graduate Jojo Erholtz (“Maria Kallio,” “Tape”) and Elin Grönblom (“Bloodsuckers”).
European Drive “All in all, it’s been very interesting to receive a record number of submissions for the Fiction in Development (45), Fiction in Progress (11-the largest number since 2022) and Documentaries (22), which proves the attractiveness of Finland as filming and production destination,” Taylerson observed.
“Also, this year we ended up with quite a few European co-productions in the final lineup, another display of the growing trend of Europe-leaning partnerships,” she said, underscoring the endemic lack of public funding for film in Finland, forcing indie producers to look beyond national borders for coin.
“Finns have to continue widening their networking opportunities across Europe, which is why we’ve signed a new collaboration with the Marché du Film for the inaugural Producers Network Award,” she added.
To help Nordic producers and filmmakers further hone their skills, more than 20 top industry experts, such as Isabel Arrate Fernandez (IDFA), Jason Gutierrez (Tribeca), Hugo Rosak (Karlovy Vary), Jim Kolmar (SXSW), Celine Dornier (IPR.VC), James Copp (Night Train Media), Mette Damgaard-Sørensen (Danish Film Institute) and Kjetil Omberg (Norwegian Film Institute), will take center stage to discuss among other things how to better budget, finance a feature, co-produce, navigate the international festivals, distribution landscape and the next Agora EU program in Europe.
The two-day panel sessions will close Sept. 25 with the popular XYZ masterclass, sponsored by U.S. genre specialists XYZ Films, FFA and Film Tampere, which will zoom in on how the Norwegian action comedy “The Trip” morphed into the U.S. remake “Over Your Dead Body,” shot in Tampere. XYZ Films founder Aram Tertzakian, producer of the U.S. version starring Jason Segel and Samara Weaving, will moderate the talk.
Furthermore, as part of the FFA training scheme Nordic Flair, 10 Nordic producers with a first feature project, will have access to the full FFA program and micro-sessions with mentors Max Malka (Banijay Finland), Jim Kolmar (SXSW), Gary Cranner (Mantra Films Norway) and Natascha Degnova (LevelK).
“We have amazing guests, with impressive resumes. It makes sense to tap into their expertise and insight and help Nordic professionals take their first step into the industry,” added Taylerson.
“Halima”
Courtesy of Keke Leppala
Full list of FFA projects: Fiction in Development: “Babyface,” directed by Aleksi Delikouras, produced by Helsinkifilmi (Finland) “Big Deal,” directed by Hedda Mjøen, produced by Kruela Film (Norway, Finland, Estonia) “Kekri: Trick or Die,” directed by Jari Pauna, produced by Pari Pauna Pictures (Finland) “The Big Party,” directed by Nicole Genovese, produced by Yukundun, Frakas, Good Hand (France, Belgium, Finland) “The Bottom Line,” directed by Jon Blåhed, produced by Just Republic, Anagram Sweden (Finland, Sweden) “The Lost Sons of Nada,” directed by Kyran Davies, Scott Quinn, produced by Poolboy, Falcon Nest Films (Finland, U.K.) “The Weight of a Man,” directed by Jojo Erholtz, produced by Whatever Pictures (Finland) “Tick Fever,” directed by Sebastian Granskog, produced by Characterhouse (Finland)
Fiction in Progress “Good Times, “directed by Pamela Tola, produced by Bardy Studios, Estar (Finland, Estonia) “Halima,” directed by Naima Mohamud, produced by It’s Alive Films, No-Office Films, Vico Films (Finland, Ireland) “Lapland War,” directed by Aku Louhimies, produced by Backmann & Hoderoff (Finland) “Lex Julia,” directed by Laura Hyppönen, produced by Greenlight Productions, Orka Film, Alexandra Film, Götafilm, Breidablick (Finland, Poland, Estonia, Sweden) – also part of the Nordic Selection “The Campers,” directed by Kari Ketonen, produced by Red Carpet Film & TV (Finland)
Nordic Genre Lab “Alma,” directed by Pete Riski, produced by Making Movies (Finland) “Echo Chamber,” directed by Juha Fiilin, produced by Fiilin Good Films (Finland) “Linden Lane 6,” directed by Josefina Rautiainen, produced by It’s Alive Films (Finland) “Long Way Home,” directed by Kjersti Helen Rasmussen, produced by Truewest (Norway) “Sauna Diplomacy,” directed by Teemu Niukkanen, produced by TACK Films (Finland) “The Evil Eye,” directed by Kristian Lidegaard, produced by Manna Film (Denmark) “Trespassers,” directed by Johannes Persson, produced by Mylla Films (Sweden) “Whistler,” directed by Gudmund Helmsdal, produced by Outlier Projects (Faroe Islands)
Nordic Selection “11 Hours,” directed by Daniel Fahre, produced by Fenomen Studios, Maha Film (Norway) “Just a Kid,” directed by Vala Ómarsdóttir, produced by Ursus Parvus (Iceland) “Without You,” directed by Nils Holst-Jensen, produced by Hyæne Film (Denmark)
Documentaries “Umarell – We Know Better,” directed by Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen, produced by Zone2 Pictures (Finland, Germany) “P,” directed by Vadimir Loginov, produced by Korraks Film (Estonia) “Lonesome Land,” directed by Virpi Suutari, produced by Euphoria Film, Tambo Film (Finland, Denmark) “Darkness Counts,” directed by Anna Antsalo, produced by Ekokuvayhtiö Viisi (Finland) “Unicorns Never Die,” directed by Janne Tanskanen, Olli Vuokko, produced by Kinocompany (Finland) “Dear Iria,” directed by Janna Kyllästinen, produced by Iria the Film, BUFO (USA, Finland) “Marianne’s Lament,” directed by Antti Haase, Pariana Reyes, produced by Making Movies (Finland, Bulgaria, Mexico, TBA) “Myllylä,” directed by Sean Ricks, Jussi Sandhu, Ville Hakonen, produced by Wacky Tie Films, Story AB, f(x) Produksjoner (Finland, Sweden, Norway)
Series “Checkmate,” written by Veli-Pekka Hänninen, produced by Solar Films (Finland) “The Crimes of Others,” written by Sami Keski-Vähälä, Tara Kylmä, produced by Funfar Studios (Finland) “Body in the Closet,” written/directed by Elin Grönblom, co-written by Josefin Sonck, produced by Warner Bros Int’l Television Production (Finland) “Tango Metal,” directed by Jojo Erholtz, written by Mia Ylönen, Tua Harno, produced by Helsinki-filmi, Glassriver (Finland, Iceland) “Arctic Divers,” directed/written by Laura Satimus, co-written by Petro Salminen, produced by Kopla Entertainment, Yle Asia (Finland) “The Tradewife Theory,” written by Vilja Kesmimäki, produced by Just Republic (Finland)
It’s time to catch ’em all because Pokémon is heading back to the big screen.
The popular trading card and video game franchise is returning with “Pokémon: Wild Card,” a new movie releasing worldwide in 2027. The film was announced during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Pokémon World Championships, held in San Francisco. A short teaser also gave a brief look at the upcoming movie, which stars a trading card game player and a ghostly Pokémon named Mimikyu.
The mysterious teaser reveals the trading card game player, who’s dressed in a yellow hoodie like Mimikyu. The ghost and fairy type Pokémon was introduced in “Sun” and “Moon,” the seventh generation games in the “Pokémon” franchise. It crudely disguises itself as a Pikachu, the mascot of the “Pokémon” series, but its true form is hidden below the yellow rag that it wears.
Katsuhiko Kitada, who previously worked on anime films and shows like “The First Slam Dunk,” “Attack on Titan,” “Naruto: Shippuden” and more, will direct “Pokémon: Wild Card.” Character design is being handled by Akemi Hayashi, who has worked on “Banana Fish,” “Lazarus” and other anime. CloverWorks, the Japanese animation studio behind titles like “Spy X Family,” “Bocchi the Rock” and others, will produce the film.
“Wild Card” is the first “Pokémon” movie made since 2020’s “Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle,” which was released theatrically in Japan and worldwide on Netflix in 2021. The last “Pokémon” film to hit theaters worldwide was 2018’s “Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us,” which received a limited release by Fathom Events outside of Japan.
Next year will also see the release of “Winds” and “Waves,” the 10th generation of “Pokémon” titles. The franchise celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2026.
K-pop group Enhypen moved 98,000 equivalent album units in their first week with “The Sin : Bliss,” marking their seventh top 10 over the past four years. Enhypen previously reached No. 2 on the albums chart with “The Sin : Vanish” earlier this year, and also reached the same position with 2024’s “Romance : Untold.”
Additionally, Parton returned to the top 10 with “Ultimate Dolly Parton,” which re-entered the chart at No. 5 with 59,000 equivalent album units. The country icon released the greatest hits collection in 2003 and peaked at No. 112 in 2019. With the resurgence of “Ultimate Dolly Parton,” the singer notches her fourth top 10 and her second-highest-charting album ever.
Parton, who died at 80 after a short battle with cancer, saw a sharp increase in streams following news of her death. On Spotify, total streams increased over 1,260% globally and 2,320% in the United States in the first 24 hours after her death was announced. “Jolene” had the biggest surge with 630% globally and 1,225% in the U.S., while “9 to 5” increased 620% globally and 1,030% in the U.S. and “Islands in the Stream” increased 525% globally and 1,235% in the U.S.
Elsewhere in the top 10, Ella Langley’s “Dandelion” lands at No. 2 followed by Olivia Rodrigo’s “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love” at No. 3 and Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” at No. 4. Rounding out Nos. 6 through 10 are Katseye’s “Wild,” Noah Kahan’s “The Great Divide,” Stray Kids’ “This & That,” Drake’s “Iceman” and Ariana Grande’s “Petal.”
Showbox, the Korean film and content studio, has launched a new microdrama label, Showbite, and will begin rolling out original short-form content in September, spanning genres from romance and comedy to revenge, action-thriller, period drama, fantasy, mystery and horror.
The romance slate includes “Taste of You,” a BL enemies-to-lovers story set in the world of culinary competition, and “Love in Thailand,” a romantic comedy set at a golf resort. Also on the slate are “The New Hire Is Too Hot to Handle,” an office romance built around a high-concept premise; “Love, Again,” which follows a second-chance romance involving lost memories and a reunion; and “My Ex-Bias Problem,” a romantic comedy centered on an arrogant K-pop idol whose life changes after he is sent to a remote island village.
Showbite’s female-driven revenge titles include “The Fallen Heiress Returns Wicked,” “They Messed with the Wrong Daughter-in-Law” and “Contract Marriage: The Heir’s Hound.” The label will also release the action crime-thriller “Asura: Return of the Reaper.”
The slate extends into historical and fantasy territory with “The Secret Wife Exchange,” a period drama set in Joseon society, and “Her Royal Queen Energy,” a reincarnation fantasy set in an alternate modern Korean monarchy.
Mystery and horror also feature prominently. “Bridal Shower: The Missing Bride” is a mystery comedy built around a string of twists, while “The Fallen Idol Is Possessed!” blends K-pop, romance and supernatural elements. “Lucky Horror Live Show” is a horror thriller centered on a livestream that turns terrifying.
Showbox said the label is designed to pair its background in storytelling with the pace of short-form drama, bringing Korean stories to audiences around the world.
Showbite will attend Broadcast Worldwide in Seoul, and the Busan International Film Festival‘s Asian Contents & Film Market, where it plans to meet with partners at home and abroad to expand its distribution network.
The label will launch official TikTok, Instagram and YouTube accounts under the Showbite name in early September, with updates on upcoming titles to follow through those channels.
SPOILER ALERT:This article contains spoilers for Season 1, Episode 3 of “Lanterns,” now streaming on HBO Max.
From the series’ opening scene, “Lanterns” sets up John Stewart’s (Aaron Pierre) calling to one day step into his own as Green Lantern. But it’s not until Sunday’s episode that we learn just how long John has been preparing and training — at the direction of his parents — to one day take Hal Jordan’s (Kyle Chandler) title.
“It was a gift to have the opportunity to explore each of these characters with such enormous depth,” Pierre tells Variety of filming Episode 3. “It’s not a given that you get to have this much experience with a character, and live this much with a character in your portrayal.”
In the latest “Lanterns” episode, John is grilled about his difficult life choices by one of the Guardians (Laura Linney) to see whether he’s worthy of replacing Hal. It’s the moment John has been waiting for all his life — the moment he gets to prove exactly why he is worthy of the ring.
“I know exactly why me,” John says at the beginning of the interview.
The episode cuts back and forth between John’s tense interview and his upbringing, revealing how John was conditioned to be fearless from a young age. The flashbacks show how desperate his parents become after John Stewart, Sr. (J. Alphonse Nicholson) is tested by the Guardians in the middle of the night, ultimately failing to become Green Lantern because he shows fear. Investing in John’s future is how the family finds salvation.
As the son of somebody who had real potential to become Green Lantern, both John’s father and Bernadette (Jasmine Cephas Jones), his mother, recognize that if they do everything in their power, John will be the perfect candidate. In order to test him during his childhood, his parents do everything from shooting an apple off his head to leaving him stranded in a dangerous part of town, forcing John to fend for himself. They also lie, and tell him that the Guardians are always watching over him through birds.
Knowing how everything John has done in his life has been with the goal of one day becoming Green Lantern, including joining the Marines and isolating himself from other people in his life, informed how Pierre played his budding dynamic with Chandler from the beginning.
“He’s had a wealth of life experience, more life experience than people twice, three times his age have even come close,” Pierre says.
Jones wanted to show that despite her stern attitude with John and forcing him to grow up, her love for her child always comes through.
“I really wanted to show that militant side of her, and that she made that decision at a very young age for him, and that is his destiny,” Jones says. “No matter what happens, she’s gonna stick with it.”
The biggest challenge was showing those moments of vulnerability when her character doesn’t speak, Jones says: “Like telling him to shoot a gun off of his father’s head, but then seeing in her face how much that breaks her.”
When a young John learns that his parents lied to him about the Guardians always watching over him, he grapples with the reality that he wasn’t chosen, and will have to work harder than most people around him to prove that he’s worthy. At one point, Bernadette even tells him: “Sometimes, a Black man has to raise his own hand. Doesn’t mean you’re not good enough, doesn’t mean you’re not better. It just means they don’t see us.”
“The importance of having no fear in a society, and also being a person of color in this country, fear is instilled in our ancestry as well,” Jones says. “That was also an important piece to talk about. How do we extract that for him to become the Green Lantern?”
Nicholson adds: “It’s real, man. Yeah, I know we all want to escape from it but sometimes those questions need to be addressed even in our fictional worlds, right? Why do they make us have these feelings or why do they exist? And so just asking the questions sometimes allows room for people to talk about it. I think that’s what great writers do.”
The idea of raising John to be the next Green Lantern is largely born out of his father’s trauma. Investing in his son, and doing everything he can to give John the highest odds possible, becomes the only way he knows how to move forward.
“He doesn’t want to let his son down. Essentially, he felt like he let himself down, he let his community down, let his wife down, so now it’s up to him to make sure that his son doesn’t feel that way and doesn’t go into the same spiral of depression,” Nicholson says. “It’s really cool to see him protect his son in a really tough way, but it’s tough love.”
The major turning point in the episode comes when John takes matters into his own hands by shooting an apple off his mother’s head. He’s finally become exactly who his parents raised him to be.
“It’s him taking a step into his own lane and really showing how fearless he is because that’s a huge risk, right?” Nicholson says. “He showed an immense amount of confidence, and I’m proud as his father to have shown him how to have that confidence early on.”
As Pierre looks back on filming, one of the most enjoyable parts of the episode was getting to work with the child actors, including Jayce Eiland and Cairo Cash Lee, who play the younger versions of John.
“They really need to be celebrated, acknowledged and commended for delivering all of the emotion and beyond that was necessary,” Pierre says. “It was very rare that we were working on the same location or on the same day because it’s a completely different timeline, but anytime I had the opportunity, I would definitely give them a fist and just tell them how proud I was.”
Finneas O’Connell and Claudia Sulewski have officially tied the knot!
O’Connell, a musician, producer and Billie Eilish‘s brother, and Sulewski, a YouTuber, actress and founder of Cyklar skincare, got married on Saturday in Montecito, California, surrounded by family and friends, according to Vogue.
The Grammy and Oscar winner knew something was special about Sulewski from the moment they first met on a dating app in 2018. He previously told BuzzFeed that he wrote his song “Claudia” on the first night they spent together. The singer also wrote his 2022 song “Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa” about Sulewski.
After years together, they got engaged in September 2025 when O’Connell popped the big question during a romantic sunset proposal. “Forever and ever 9.22,” the pair captioned a joint Instagram post at the time.
Last year, during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, O’Connell opened up about the proposal and the challenge of keeping it a secret from Sulewski.
“I’m very relieved that it happened,” he said. “I feel like it really taught me that I’m not cut out to rob banks or steal cars or something because I was keeping a joyous, happy secret for several weeks, and it ate me alive.”
Neither O’Connell nor Sulewski has personally shared details about their big day yet, but Vogue reported Sulewski wore four looks throughout her wedding weekend, all designed by Oscar de la Renta, including one for the rehearsal dinner, another for the ceremony, a third look for the reception and the last one for the afterparty.
Per longstanding annual tradition, The Hollywood Reporter granted anonymity to a member of the TV Academy — this year a male Emmy-winning member of the organization’s producers peer group — in return for candor about why he made the choices that he did on his Emmys ballot.
We share “Brutally Honest Ballots” not because the views of any single member are representative of the views of all 27,000 members; obviously, they are not. Rather, we believe that they can offer interesting and valuable insight into the sorts of things that are on voters’ minds as they decide what and whom to support.
Unlike many of the other outlets that have shamelessly ripped off this feature without acknowledgment, THR waits until voting has closed before sharing any ballots and views.
The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards will take place on Sept. 14, and will be preceded by the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sept. 5 and 6. Follow THR.com for complete coverage.
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BEST DRAMA SERIES
I skipped The Gilded Age — I’d rather prep for a colonoscopy than watch another period drama. I also did not watch A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms — I’m completely Throne’d out. Your Friends and Neighbors, a dumb show about entitled people who I don’t care about, got nominated over Industry — what the fuck? I’m a fan of Vince Gilligan, but there’s a sort of arrogance to Apple TV shows, including Pluribus, where they’re like, “We don’t really care if you watch. We don’t need to grab you in the first episode.” For a couple of episodes I was like, “Is this show ever going to fucking get going?” And then I bailed. Slow Horses has had better seasons. Task is in the wrong category [more on this later]. I really liked Paradise — I could watch Sterling K. Brown read the phone book, and Shailene Woodley was a great addition. I loved this season of The Diplomat, and as a West Wing fan it was pretty great seeing Allison [Janney] and Brad [Whitford] back together. But The Pitt is the best show on television, made by people who have been working at such a high level for so long that they’ve forgotten more about how to make great TV than most people will ever know. There isn’t a bad piece of casting, or acting, or writing, or directing. And the fact that the show comes back after six months? Some shows go away for years between seasons and when they come back they’ve lost all of their momentum — The Old Man, for instance — but these guys are already well into season three. Just please don’t kill off Noah Wyle!
My vote: The Pitt (HBO Max)
BEST COMEDY SERIES
I’ve had it with The Bear. It’s not a comedy, it’s never been a comedy, it’s a terrific drama — although I didn’t love the way it ended — and it should be in the drama category. Only Murders in the Building is a big yawn for me. Margo’s Got Money Troubles? I watched one-and-a-half episodes, didn’t get it. I don’t love the stereotypes of Nobody Wants This — it leans into a bit of caricature for both Jews and Gentiles, and that makes me uncomfortable in the world that we’re living in now. I’ve loved Abbott Elementary and Shrinking, but these weren’t their best seasons. Enough of Hacks. This was an easy decision: Widow’s Bay is far and away the best. It came out of nowhere, and it had me from the first episode — it’s funny and clever, and I loved that, like The Pitt, it was put out in the old style of one episode a week, with everyone talking about it the next day and looking forward to the next one. Hiro Murai is probably the best director in television right now.
My voteWidow’s Bay (Apple TV)
BEST LIMITED OR ANTHOLOGY SERIES
Two shows should’ve been nominated in this category that weren’t: I don’t understand how Death by Lightning got overlooked, and I think Task [nominated for best drama series] belongs in this category — it was created as a limited series, it aired as a limited series, and then they decided, “Well, maybe we’ll do another season and have it overlap with Mare of Easttown,” but the reality is that this show ended. If Beef is a limited series — and it is, with a mediocre installment this season — then Task is a limited series. I had a problem with Love Story, just as I did with Winning Time: if you take living people, turn them into characters, and then disparage them, you should be sent to an island and never allowed to make television again. I hated what they did to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jerry West with Winning Time, and what Love Story did to Daryl Hannah was inexcusable. DTF St. Louis should’ve been called WTF St. Louis — Jason Bateman is lovely, but the show is terrible. Who are you supposed to be rooting for? Sarah Snook was great in All Her Fault, but I grew bored with the way the story was told. I voted for The Beast in Me because the performances were all strong and there were some good scares and twists in it.
My voteThe Beast in Me (Netflix)
BEST MOVIE
This category is not “television movie” anymore, just “movie,” which is as close as we’re going to get to them acknowledging that it’s no longer about MOWs [Movies of the Week] and, for the most part, is now just filled with movies that weren’t good enough to get a theatrical release — what a fucking joke. I never heard anything about Miss You, Love You or People We Meet on Vacation, so I didn’t watch them. I refused to watch Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan — first of all, enough of Jack Ryan, and second, I hate Amazon, I don’t buy Amazon products and Jeff Bezos should stay the fuck out of our business. I could only get through half of Heads of State. But Remarkably Bright Creatures is the kind of television movie — not movie — that used to win: a small, quiet story, told beautifully, with wonderful actors. Sally Field is amazing in it, Lewis Pullman is a star, and the melding of puppetry, live and visual effects with that octopus was pretty amazing.
My voteRemarkably Bright Creatures (Netflix)
BEST VARIETY SERIES
I think it’s a stupid rule change [to now ask voters to select “yes” or “no” beside each nominee in this category to indicate if it is worthy of a win, and then award statuettes to any/all nominees that garner 90 percent “yes” votes; if none do, then the single highest-tallying nominee will be declared the winner]. Colbert and Kimmel are both an easy “yes” for me because I think our industry needs to speak up and defend First Amendment rights — what happened to Colbert and Kimmel is inexcusable. “Yes” also to Oliver — it’s a great show and I always vote for him. “Yes” to The Daily Show because of Jon Stewart, whose night [Stewart hosts Monday nights] is appointment television. And I’m sorry, but “no” for Saturday Night Live — it wasn’t a good season, the new people weren’t great, and the old people are getting a bit stale.
My vote “Yes” for The Daily Show (Comedy Central), The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS), Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC) and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)
Josey Dorsey, 10, has landed a role in writer-director Evan Coury’s The Burning Valley, according to IMDB.com. Ryan Dorsey also is listed among the cast, meaning the father-son duo could share some screen time in the younger Dorsey’s film debut.
Coury told Pittsburgh’s Tribune Review that the movie “is about a steelworker who loses his job when the mill announces a shutdown. It sets him on a journey as he wanders through his Rust Belt town.”
The movie also mark’s Coury’s directorial debut. He has a couple of acting credits, according to IMDB, including the 2015 short film Adopted and the 2022 film Dear Zoe, which stars Sadie Sink.
The Burning Valley began filming in August in locations around the Pennsylvania area where Coury grew up, including Brackenridge and Arnold. “My hope is to encapsulate the history of our region through one guy’s personal experience,” Coury said.
Other cast listed includes Tyler Miles, J.B. Brown, Joseph Ducar, Whip Hubley, Patrick Jordan, Sam Lothard, Joseph Mazza and Sheila McKenna.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to a rep listed for Josey for additional information.
According to KTVB, Josey landed a role in a local theater production of Seussical Jr. in West Virginia in 2024, when he was 8. According to People, Josey and his dad moved from Los Angeles to West Virginia in 2023.
Ryan Dorsey’s credits include Yellowstone, Ray Donovan, Justified andPalm Royale.
Josey’s mom, Naya Rivera, was known for her role in Glee. She died in a drowning accident in 2020 on a boating outing with Josey, who was then 4-years-old, in Lake Piru in Ventura County, California.
She and Ryan wed in 2014 and were married for two years before divorcing.
