One of the most popular thrillers last year is coming back. “The Diplomat” season two seems to be continuing right where we last left off with showrunner Debora Cahn making clear, in regards to how season one ended, with the reveal that the US and UK are not enemies but rather allies in a way. And while this is only one thing out of dozens of others, it makes it clear the purpose of season two.

Continue reading ‘The Diplomat’ Season 2 Trailer: Keri Russell Returns In Netflix’s Popular Political Thriller at The Playlist.

Stately homes, state secrets, high treason, high tea. Certainly coming out of left field as not only a hit but a critically acclaimed political drama, “The Diplomat,” starring Keri Russell, really took off in its debut season in fall 2023. Back quickly, one year later, the Netflix series is set to premiere on the streaming channel on October 31.

Season one ended on a cliffhanger, and “The Diplomat” creator Debora Cahn teased what is to come in a recent Tudum interview.

Continue reading ‘The Diplomat’ Season 2 Trailer: The Keri Russell-Starring Netflix Political Drama Returns October 31 at The Playlist.

When are things not strange in Hollywood? Should we be surprised that there is always some industry or world crises crashing an awards season? Probably not, but it’s been quite a long time since a work stoppage affected the Primetime Emmy Awards. And, as we’ll discuss later, that means while writers form picket lines, actors and directors are still engaged in that Emmy nomination fight.

READ MORE: Emmys 2023: Drama Series Contenders and Predictions

Yes, Netflix, Amazon Studios, and Paramount all have installations and exhibits ready for Television Academy members to wander through and some Q&As are still going forward.

Continue reading 11 Emmy Season Questions: ‘Succession’ Actors, Peacock, WGA Strike & More at The Playlist.

It’s always difficult when your personal life bleeds into your professional career. And that situation is extra precarious when you and your husband are both skilled ambassadors trying to stop a major war. Welcome to “The Diplomat.”

As seen in the trailer for “The Diplomat,” Keri Russell stars as the new U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Seems like a great, somewhat cushy job, right? Well, things get really crazy when the U.K.

Continue reading ‘The Diplomat’ Trailer: Keri Russell Is Trying To Prevent A War & Survive Her Marriage In New Netflix Drama at The Playlist.

Arguably an early contender for the wildest movie of 2023, Elizabeth Banks‘ “Cocaine Bear” is based on the true story of a 175-pound Black Bear who overdosed on cocaine after ingesting the drug in 1985. While the bear did not kill anyone and died shortly after consuming cocaine, Banks and screenwriter Jimmy Warden fictionalize a story where the bear goes on a killing spree while massively high on cocaine.

Continue reading Get Your Coke-Fueled Weekend Started With 4 Clips From ‘Cocaine Bear’ at The Playlist.

Back in 1985, drug smuggler Andrew C. Thornton II dropped a duffel bag of cocaine out of the airplane he was piloting to ease the aircraft’s load. Not long after, he jumped from the plane and fell to his death following a parachute malfunction. And the duffel bag? It was found by a 175-pound black bear, who then proceeded to eat the cocaine and was found dead in Northern Georgia three months later. Fast forward to 2019, and we have the aptly named “Cocaine Bear,” the latest feature by actress and director Elizabeth Banks.

Continue reading ‘Cocaine Bear’ Trailer: A Bear Does Coke & Then Goes On A Rampage In Elizabeth Banks’ Latest Thriller at The Playlist.

The upcoming climate-change anthology series on Apple TV+, “Extrapolations,” is already filled to the brim with massive acting talent. But hey, why not add a few more A-listers to really turn Scott Z. Burns’ new series into a true embarrassment of riches?

READ MORE: ‘Extrapolations’: Forest Whitaker, Marion Cotillard, Tobey Maguire & Eiza Gonzalez Join The Already Stacked Cast Of Apple TV+ Series

According to THR, Scott Z.

Continue reading ‘Extrapolations’: Edward Norton, Keri Russell & More Join Scott Z. Burns’ All-Star Cast For The Apple TV+ Anthology at The Playlist.

Universal Pictures is working on a feature film “Cocaine Bear,” based on a 1985 New York Times article about a 175-pound black bear that got into a duffle bag filled with more than 70 pounds of cocaine that was dropped from an airplane in Kentucky by local drug smuggler Andrew Carter Thornton II, a wealthy son of an elite Kentucky horse-breeding family.

Continue reading ‘Cocaine Bear’: Elizabeth Banks’ New Film Adds Keri Russell, Alden Ehrenreich, Ray Liotta & Others at The Playlist.

Every Tuesday, discriminating viewers are confronted with a flurry of choices: new releases on disc and on-demand, vintage and original movies on any number of streaming platforms, catalog titles making a splash on Blu-ray or 4K. This weekly column sifts through all of those choices to pluck out the movies most worth your time, no matter how you’re watching. 

This week, one of the most divisive movies of the holidays hits disc and VOD today, and that’s not all; we’ve got critically acclaimed choices streaming on both Netflix and Hulu, plus a quartet of catalog classics on disc from Criterion and KL Studio Classics.

Continue reading The 7 Best Movies To Buy Or Stream This Week: ‘The Rise Of Skywalker,’ ‘Portrait of A Lady on Fire’ & More at The Playlist.

PASADENA – You’d assume that sitting down with Keri Russell to talk about a character she can’t really talk about would be frustrating for all parties involved. The truth of the matter is, Russell appears so excited about being in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” it doesn’t really matter if we talked about the movie or not in the 10 minutes allotted.  That was a good thing considering the Golden Globe winner has other intoxicating releases on her slate such as Scott Cooper’s “Antlers” this Spring.

Continue reading Keri Russell Said “F**k Yeah” to ‘Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker’ & Raves About ‘Antlers’ Aesthetic [Interview] at The Playlist.

If you don’t know the name of Jesse Plemons (“The Irishman”, “Game Night”), you certainly have seen his face. Since 2014, Plemons has appeared in 20 films and television series, with another 3-5 appearances expected in 2020 alone. He is what you might call a “working actor.”

Besides the sheer amount of appearances, his filmography includes huge successes in film and television, including movies like “The Irishman” and “The Post,” and TV shows like “Black Mirror” and “Fargo.” He even has worked with directors like Martin Scorsese, Adam McKay, and Steven Spielberg.

Continue reading ‘Antlers’ Trailer: Jesse Plemons & Keri Russell Are Up Against Something Evil In Scott Cooper’s New Thriller at The Playlist.

It looks to be one of the scariest films of the next year, and it’s not hard to see why as cannibals seem to terrorize a small town in Oregon in “Antlers.” The project was directed by actor turned director Scott Cooper, whose previous work includes “Hostiles” and “Black Mass.” There is a producer role for a veteran in the film industry, Guillermo del Toro, who has been a part of great films like the Oscar-winning “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “The Shape Of Water.”

READ MORE: 2019 Fall Preview: The 45 Most Anticipated Films

The Mexican filmmaker in the past has said he does not want to work with any superhero films that don’t involve monsters.

Continue reading ‘Antlers’ Trailer: Scott Cooper’s Terrifying Horror Finds Cannibals Terrorizing A Small Town at The Playlist.

When you see a horror film with Guillermo del Toro attached, you know that you’re probably going to be in for a good time at the theater. Even if he’s not directing, del Toro produces some of the most exciting films in the genre, such as the recently released “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.” And even though he’s not behind the camera, del Toro lends his talents as a producer to the upcoming “Antlers,” and judging by the new teaser, the film looks like it’s going to be pretty damn great, as well.

Continue reading ‘Antlers’ Teaser: Guillermo Del Toro & Director Scott Cooper Team For New Horror Film Starring Keri Russell & Jesse Plemons at The Playlist.

Actress Keri Russell and director J.J. Abrams have a long history together. The duo first collaborated on the long-running series “Felicity,” which premiered over 20 years ago, in 1998. Russell was the young actress in the lead and Abrams was a writer-producer that helped create the series. Decades later, they reunite in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” and according to Russell, she couldn’t be happier.

Continue reading Keri Russell Says She Cried After Reading JJ Abrams’ Script for ‘Star Wars: Rise Of Skywalker’ at The Playlist.

The “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” marketing has officially begun. Sure, we’re about seven months away from the film’s release, but we already have a trailer (released last month) and now a set visit that reveals even more details about the upcoming ‘Episode IX.’ And according to director J.J. Abrams, ‘Rise’ is very different than the eight previous films in the Skywalker Saga.

Vanity Fair did what it does best, with a deep dive into the new film, complete with beautiful pictures courtesy of famed photographer Annie Leibovitz.

Continue reading ‘Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker’ First Look: Details About The Knights Of Ren, Zori Bliss, Allegiant General Pryde & More at The Playlist.

Scott Cooper is a filmmaker that always seems to be on the cusp of hitting the big time. That isn’t to say the director has been making small, no-budget indie projects. Cooper’s films are often headlined by major stars such as Christian Bale (“Hostiles” and “Out of the Furnace”), Johnny Depp (“Black Mass”), and Jeff Bridges (“Crazy Heart”).

Continue reading Keri Russell & Jesse Plemons To Star In Director Scott Cooper’s New Thriller ‘Antlers’ Produced By Guillermo Del Toro at The Playlist.

Good luck, Keri Russell. You are officially part of one of the most debated and dissected franchises on the planet.

Variety is reporting that the actress, who has been killing it over at FX’s “The Americans,” has signed on to star in the upcoming mega-blockbuster “Star Wars: Episode IX.” There are no real details about the role, but the report claims that it will call for “action-heavy fight scenes,” which could mean a variety of things.

Continue reading Keri Russell Teams With J.J. Abrams Again For ‘Star Wars: Episode IX’ at The Playlist.

Despite all the numerous wigs, elaborate disguises, and covert missions, “The Americans” has never really been about espionage or even the tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. during the 1980s. Instead, when you strip all of that away, it’s simply about a marriage: one that just happens to be between two Russian spies in the Cold War. That focus has never been more clear in the first three episodes from the sixth – and final – season of the FX series from Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields.

Continue reading ‘The Americans’ Season 6 Is A Worthy Ending To One Of The Decade’s Best Series [Review] at The Playlist.

All good things must come to an end. And so it goes for “The Americans,” FX’s critically-acclaimed series, set in the 1980s, about two Soviet spies living undercover in Washington D.C. (insert obvious Trump joke) will begin airing its sixth and final season this March. Though each season so far has run for 13 episodes, season six will be condensed to ten.

While of course much of the plot has been kept under wraps thus far, we have managed to obtain bits and pieces of information that will impact season six’s direction, as seen in the new trailer.

Continue reading ‘The Americans’ Season 6 Trailer: Cold War Spy Thriller Makes The Final Curtain Call at The Playlist.

This is going to be a very tight race between Moss and Foy, but the former “Mad Men” star has a slight edge. [Updated July 20]

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

1. Elisabeth Moss (“The Handmaid’s Tale”)
2. Claire Foy (“The Crown”)
3. Evan Rachel Wood (“Westworld”)
4. Keri Russell (“The Americans”)
5. Robin Wright (“House of Cards”)
6.

Continue reading 2017 Best Lead Actress In A Drama Series Emmy Awards Predictions at The Playlist.

Though we’re probably twenty years into the revolution of TV drama, the generally accepted canon is still a relatively thin one. Most critics would agree on a handful of shows — “The Sopranos,” “The Wire,” “Six Feet Under,” “Breaking Bad,” “Mad Men,” “Deadwood.” Some with longer memories would suggest something like “Homicide: Life On The Streets,” those able to forgive patchy seasons or disappointing conclusions could fly the flag for “Lost,” “The West Wing,” “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” or “Battlestar Galactica,” and there’s probably a second tier of shows with a small but passionate following, shows like “The Shield” or “Justified.”

It’s hard to say which of the shows currently airing will take their place in the canon once they wrap up.

Continue reading Why ‘The Americans’ Will Stand With ‘The Wire’ & ‘Breaking Bad’ As One Of The Best TV Dramas Ever at The Playlist.

There isn’t another show on television that does as much with silence as “The Americans.” Whether it’s in brief reaction shots or in whole scenes, the FX drama doesn’t need expository dialogue to communicate its complex stories and characters. Season five’s first three episodes each feature an extended wordless sequence, with one in the premiere “Amber Waves” clocking in at about 10 minutes. But these aren’t gimmicks: the lack of sound works within the world showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields have created. 

Continue reading Season 5 Of FX’s ‘The Americans’ Continues Its Run As TV’s Best Drama [Review] at The Playlist.

If it weren’t for the close-ups on amputated limbs and dogs feasting on dead soldiers, “Free State Of Jones” might make for essential high-school viewing for its take on an oft-unseen part of American history in a corner of Mississippi. Not only does it focus on a single rebel among the Rebels in the Civil War, but it also reveals the struggles of former slaves in the years after the war.

Continue reading Matthew McConaughey Fights The Confederacy In Well-Intentioned, Powerful ‘Free State Of Jones’ [Review] at The Playlist.

While fledgling studio STX has gotten their feet wet by releasing mostly genre fare, during the Cannes Film Festival they made some power moves, picking up domestic rights on Aaron Sorkin‘s “Molly’s Game” and international rights on Martin Scorsese‘s “The Irishman.” Will they be a new home in Hollywood for adult fare? We’ll see, but certainly the first test is coming next month with “Free State Of Jones.”

Starring Matthew McConaughey and directed by Gary Ross (“The Hunger Games,” “Seabiscuit,” “Pleasantville“), the film is based on the true story of an ordinary farmer who fights back against the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Continue reading Watch: Matthew McConaughey Fights For Family & Freedom In New Trailer For ‘Free State of Jones’ at The Playlist.

Watch: Full Pilot For Failed 'Clerks' TV Series

Continue reading Watch: Full Pilot For Failed ‘Clerks’ TV Series at The Playlist.