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President Curtis is getting sworn into the Rick and Morty universe.

Veteran actor Keith David voices the titular commander in chief on President Curtis, the Rick and Morty spinoff that premiered Sunday on Adult Swim following the season nine finale for the flagship series. Stephanie Beatriz and Jim Rash round out the cast for the new project that centers on the leader of the free world and his quirky staff as they navigate an array of unusual crises.

David originated the role of President Andre Curtis during a season two episode of Rick and Morty back in 2015 and has continued to return periodically throughout the series. President Curtis co-creator James Siciliano recalls talk of a spinoff happening as a natural extension of the Rick and Morty team working on the Thanksgiving episode for season five, with Rick seeking a presidential turkey pardon.

“We started to see a more dialed-in world for Curtis there, with spider-FDR, the French assassin hidden in the Statue of Liberty — the National Treasure element of that stuff,” Siciliano, a longtime member of the Rick and Morty staff, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “We could see more of an X Files world that could be built out and wouldn’t necessarily be redundant with the Rick and Morty universe.”

Siciliano and fellow President Curtis series creator Dan Harmon recall the writing team initially suggesting qualities that have cemented previous real-life U.S. presidents as particularly memorable. Harmon notes that he personally has been fascinated by Harry S. Truman, while other writers brought up Teddy Roosevelt — and, of course, Donald Trump and Barack Obama.

“The conversations about Obama and Trump were inevitable,” Harmon admits. “Curtis has a naïveté that you could overlap with Trump, who is like, ‘I’m an outsider, and I consider this job simple, and I don’t care about the bureaucracy of it.’ On the Obama side, it’s the charmer and the guy who gets organic joy in being liked — that whole rock star aspect of Obama. But mostly just more legendary aspects of presidents from the past, all Serpentor’d into a test tube baby that then becomes our version of maybe Martin Sheen in West Wing, where it’s our fantasy president, warts and all.”

For fans hoping to catch Rick and Morty popping up on President Curtis (mild spoilers ahead), rest assured that the adventure-seeking duo are indeed part of the pilot, although they will not appear again in the first season. Luckily, there is more President Curtis to come, as the show’s team announced Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con that the spinoff had scored an early renewal for a second season.

“If we didn’t do that, people would be waiting for it,” Siciliano says of writing Rick and Morty into the President Curtis pilot. “In the first season, that’s their only appearance, but that’s not to say that we have anything against them appearing in the future. We really wanted to have this show just be able to get its own identity and breathe a little bit, so that people felt like it was its own show.”

Harmon concurs: “If the show has a life of its own, then we can go Dick Wolf nuts with the crossovers and have Detective Munch all over SVU. But we look forward to earning that.”

The President Curtis launch arrives just weeks after Rick and Morty landed its third Emmy Award nomination for best animated series, having won in 2018 and 2020. This year marks the show’s first such nomination after a turbulent stretch in recent years that saw Justin Roiland (who co-created the series with Harmon) exit following felony domestic abuse charges that have since been dismissed. The titular voice roles were recast in light of Roiland’s firing, with Ian Cardoni replacing him as inventor Rick Sanchez, while Harry Belden took over as teen grandson Morty.

“It is an incredibly important nomination for us because the show has gone through transitions of such peril,” Harmon candidly shares. “To me, it feels like we are an athlete back on a field after a major injury, and so it is an honor to be nominated. It is all I need. I’m happy to go and watch Smiling Friends win or whatever the case, but I’m so grateful for that nomination.”

President Curtis is not the only potential opportunity for expansion for the Rick and Morty world. THR recently reported that supervising director Jacob Hair was in talks to helm an animated feature version of the series for Warner Bros.

Although the possible film does not yet have a script, Harmon notes that it does have “a technically approved idea that we’re dreaming away on.” He was late to checking out Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films but reveals that they now might serve as inspiration: “I just watched the Dune movies because of messing around with the Rick and Morty movie script. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I’m so late to Dune.’ It’s so rad.”

As for his hopes with the Rick and Morty film, Harmon adds, “It would be my goal, however self-destructive, to make it the greatest movie ever to exist. That might make it hard to write. It would probably be a sci-fi epic, transcending time and space, but not in a way that was unsatisfying. It would probably blend colors as varied in its palette as Lethal Weapon 2 and Dune 2: Toon, as well as Indiana Jones and everything. One could argue that it’s a concept that would be my undoing and the franchise’s as well, since me having permission to think about stuff is not the recipe for success that people would think. It’s more of a trailhead to hell, traditionally.”

Ready for a bit of Swiss bliss on the big screen? The 79th edition of Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival is set to be a showcase of adventurous new cinema from around the globe, including homegrown productions from Swiss filmmakers and/or producers.

Various sections of the fest, running Aug. 5-16, will serve up homemade cinematic fare. In addition, the popular “Panorama Suisse” section will put the spotlight on “Swiss films that have enjoyed success at festivals, found an audience in cinemas, or are currently released in the country.” Plus, the Locarno Kids Screenings program also includes two titles with Swiss participation.

For those looking for some Swiss cinematic bliss and trying to avoid having Swiss cheese-sized holes in their Locarno schedules, THR is below highlighting a selection of Swiss treats screening at Locarno79.

The Chilean
Director: Sergio Castro-San Martín
Piazza Grande
International sales: Fandango

A political thriller telling the story of a fugitive is ready to explode onto Locarno’s screens. The big-screen epic The Chilean is a co-production between Italy, Chile and Switzerland that starts off in 1976 Chile.

Amid mining protests, Aldo, skilled in explosives, is forced into exile, leaving his wife and newborn child behind. He moves to Italy, where he must survive on menial jobs in Torino and where people simply call him Il Cileno, The Chilean. But everything changes when he meets Luciana, a doctor involved with anarchist groups. She offers him the chance to reunite with his family. But in exchange, he must return to his old trade – making bombs for revolutionary groups.

“Reconstructing an era means not only designing its atmosphere, but understanding the personalities that embody it,” the director says about The Chilean. “The exiled Aldo Marín leads us to one of the most pressing issues: immigration, omnipresent in the film.”

Happiness Is So Close!
Director: François-Christophe Marzal
Out of Competition
International sales: Point Productions

Jean-Luc, an actor in his 80s, is set to play Don Quixote in a prestigious theater. It is the big role that he has been waiting for to bid farewell to the stage. But his health problems make rehearsals difficult, so the production team hires an understudy in case he is unable to perform. The result is paranoia. Says a synopsis: “Jean-Luc gradually sinks into an obsessive delusion, convinced that his understudy will take his place until he disappears completely.”

Jean-Luc Bideau, Gilles Privat and Aurore Clément star in the Swiss production, written by the director and Nicolas Frey, who also served as the editor.

Ahead of the Aug. 9 world premiere of Happiness Is So Close!, Bideau will receive a special honorary Leopard at Locarno.

Small Talk
Director: Matteo Yberra
Filmmakers of the Presence Competition
International sales: Urban Sales

How’s this tease for the hybrid feature that serves up a peek behind the curtain of an elite institution? “Hoping to launch a career in the luxury world, Charlie enrolls at Institut Villa Pierrefeu – the last finishing school still operating in Switzerland. Here, women from all over the world are prepared to move within the circles of the international elite.” Over the course of a summer, their daily life is all about lessons in elegance, protocol and the art of conversation.

Written by the director, the actress, along with Louis Rebetez, Hélène Bares, Milan Alfonsi,, the film features actress Hélène Bares.

Says the director: “By working with an actress within a real educational setting, the film explores the porous boundary between performance and social behavior, questioning how identity is shaped by learned codes and expectations.”

O Jacaré
Director: Basil Da Cunha
International competition
International sales: Thera Production

Director Basil Da Cunha has dual Swiss and Portuguese citizenship, which explains this co-production and its elements that don’t sound quintessential Swiss: such as alligators and its setting, namely Reboleira, a suburb of Lisbon.

The haul from a robbery has mysteriously disappeared. Within the area sealed off by the police, rumors spread and speculation runs wild. Among the residents, a whole cast of colorful characters dream of getting their hands on the loot. But who will be first to find it?

For the filmmaker, who also wrote the script for the movie, the production marks a farewell of sorts. “For the past 15 years, I have been filming the Reboleira neighborhood, which is due to be demolished,” he explains. “O Jacaré is like a final dance before its disappearance: a vibrant, light-hearted film, infused with comedy and a sense of freedom.”

The Angel Maker
Director: Marina Klauser
Out of competition
International sales: tellfilm

This four-part documentary series from Switzerland, written and directed by Klauser, is not for the faint of heart, but it will appeal to fans of true-crime and cult stories and audiences beyond that.

After all, the series tells the story of “the Swiss religious community of Methernitha, which still exists today, its founder Paul Baumann — the inventor of a mysterious energy machine — and the young women who brought him down on charges of child abuse,” as a synopsis reads.

Klauser has previously written and directed short films and served as head writer of the writers’ room for the dramedy series How to Be Sad – The Right Way.

Frank & Louis
Director: Petra Volpe
Piazza Grande
International sales: TrustNordisk

Last but not least, Locarno will showcase a well-established Swiss cinematic voice’s latest movie, but not in a world premiere, which happened at Sundance. But the film will still get a big square screening at the festival.

Swiss-Italian writer-director Petra Volpe followed up her box office and critical success Late Shift with Frank & Louis, her English-language debut, putting a spotlight on another often-overlooked care issue: the care needs of the aging incarcerated. Set within the walls of a U.S. prison, it Frank, portrayed by Kingsley Ben-Adir, who is serving a life sentence and takes on a caretaking role for aging inmates suffering from memory loss. Rob Morgan stars as one of those inmates, Louis.

“The theme of care and caretaking, what that means and how we all need it, is such an important societal issue,” Volpe told THR about her motivation for the film in a previous interview. “We take for granted that there are people who take care of us. It’s also a taboo, because nobody wants to think about being old and sick and needy. And especially in the context of prison, we never really think about it deeply.”

Actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming and Benedict Wong have penned an op-ed in The Guardian calling for the U.K. to block the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger, arguing that the deal threatens to inflict “immense harm on the British public.”

The U.K. culture secretary Lisa Nandy — who has remained in her post amid a cabinet reshuffle with new Prime Minister Andy Burnham taking office — has previously said she was “minded to intervene” in the $111 billion mega-deal that, if successful, will undoubtedly change not just Hollywood, but the global film and TV industry.

Among a host of issues, the actors cite concerns over the livelihoods of British film and TV crews, independent film financing, and losing public service broadcaster Channel 5 to Hollywood ownership.

“As actors and public figures who have spent our careers in the arts in Britain — working with British crews, on British stages and sets — we have a responsibility to the public who support, enjoy and consume the art we make,” wrote the famed Marvel actors (Cumberbatch and Wong), as well as Cummng (The Traitors), on Monday in a piece titled “A TV and cinema calamity could be disastrous for what you watch and what you know. Act now to stop that.”

“The U.K. is being threatened by a media merger that would harm our workers, our culture and the public — but we can stop it.” They mention that they are encouraged by Nandy’s statements that she wants to investigate the threat to public interest, and acknowledge that she is not acting alone. This month, 12 U.S. states, led by California, sued in federal court to block the merger, warning that it would “raise prices, shrink the number of films made and degrade the quality of what audiences see,” said the men. And over the weekend, news broke that Larry Ellison’s Paramount agreed not to close the takeover until the court decides whether the deal violates antitrust laws.

“Their lawsuit confirms the danger; it cannot, however, do the U.K.’s work for it,” continue Cumberbatch, Cumming and Wong, who add that the EU has conditionally backed the merger and makes its own decisions. “The fight against this merger now runs on two fronts, and Nandy commands one of them. Should her department decide to intervene, it may prove one of the most important decisions any culture secretary has taken for U.K. film, television and media in a generation,” they explain.

“This is why. We have spent our lives working in this industry. We know what it looks like from the inside: the sound stages at Leavesden [studio], the crews who move from production to production, the editors and camera operators and costume designers whose names scroll past in the credits at the end of a film. These are our cherished friends and colleagues, who create the shows we all love, who produce the news that educates the public and film the sport events we enjoy together,” write the actors.

The men say that U.K. film and TV are not just “images on your screens; they are lives and livelihoods of thousands of workers and families, whose work supports local economies.” They cite buoying figures, such as the 180,000 jobs supported through the industry and the £6.8 billion production spend reported last year. “It is one of the things the U.K. still does better than almost anyone, and a cultural heritage we must protect,” they say.

They add that they have watched “with growing alarm” what consolidation does to the “breadth and depth of the work we produce,” before recognizing that independent film acquisitions at the leading independent film festival, Sundance, fell by half between 2019 and 2025. “Award-winning documentaries – films that won Oscars and topped festival juries – have struggled to find commercial distribution because they touched subjects the remaining handful of buyers found inconvenient. Every merger of this kind narrows the funnel through which stories can reach audiences.”

To service Warner Bros.’ estimated $84 billion in debt, executives have promised investors around $6bn in “synergies,” Cumberbatch, Cumming and Wong mention. “In plain English, that means redundancies, cancelled productions, fewer films commissioned and fewer risks taken,” they add.

“That is precisely what makes the Paramount-WBD merger so dangerous,” they write, adding that it has happened so many times before, such as Discovery’s merging with WarnerMedia in 2022, which led to the shelving of finished films and thousands of job losses, or Skydance’s merger with Paramount last year when around 2,000 people were laid off.

They admit they are extremely concerned about Paramount’s acquisition of Channel 5, one of the U.K.’s public service broadcasters, as well as CNN International. “The CNN and CBS news archives [are] among the world’s most important broadcast news collections, with more than 4.25m videos, images and media spanning nearly half a century of history. If one commercially interested owner controls access to both, they control the raw material of our historical memory… Fold those newsrooms into a single company, and one boardroom’s commercial anxieties — or political debts — determine what millions of people see and what they never learn existed.”

“And we know something about this particular proprietor’s intentions. Paramount’s chief executive reportedly told Donald Trump that he would make ‘sweeping changes’ to CNN if the deal went through,” they add.

“Actors are often told to stay out of legal arguments,” write Cumberbatch, Cumming and Wong. “We understand the instinct. But we have spent our lives on enough U.K. sets, worked alongside enough U.K. crews and watched enough brilliant work from the U.K. struggle to find a buyer to know that this is not someone else’s argument. It is ours.”