Kim Kardashian is one of the most well-known celebrities in the world, so after getting praise for her acting debut on American Horror Story: Delicate, it was only natural that Ryan Murphy would jump at the chance to collaborate again. The result is All’s Fair, a new legal drama whose first three episodes hit the 2025 TV schedule on November 4, and boy are critics worked up about this one.

Starring alongside Kim Kardashian on All’s Fair (streaming now with a Hulu subscription) are Naomi Watts, Niecy Nash, Glenn Close, Sarah Paulson and Teyana Taylor, who play powerful divorce attorneys. So what has the critics calling it “the worst television drama ever made”? What’s so bad that it currently holds a 0% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes? For Angie Han of THR, it’s the failed portrayal of female empowerment, the stiff and affectless script, and the fact that when you put Kardashian next to better actors, her weaknesses are all the more obvious. Han continues:

Lucy Mangan of The Guardian gives the series so far 0 stars out of 5, calling it “fascinatingly, incomprehensibly, existentially terrible” with a misguided concept of female empowerment, the “worst kissing scenes ever on screen,” and a cast where no one seems to know what they’re doing. Mangan continues:

Alison Herman of Variety points out that in a show that claims to be about female empowerment, only Episode 2 includes a major credit by a female creative — and it’s shared between executive producer Jamie Pachino and co-creator Ryan Murphy. Even with an interesting cast of guest stars, the writers can’t resist humiliating the female characters. Herman concludes:

Ben Dowell of The Times UK also says the show is not as feminist as it thinks it is. The clunky, clichéd writing, the brand name-dropping and “tawdry materialism” make for what Dowell says “may well be the worst television drama ever made.” The critic gives it 0 stars out of 5 and says:

Emily Maddick of Glamour writes that All’s Fair lacks emotion and charm, despite it’s quick pacing and dramatic reveals. It feels “Kardashian-ified,” as if it’s telling us we should aspire to behave like billionaires. Maddick’s review says:

Well, it’s pretty obvious that All’s Fair is not a hit with the critics. As of this writing, the general audience is giving it a much more generous 54% on Rotten Tomatoes, so it seems that some are finding enjoyment in all of the ridiculousness.

If you want to take a gander at Kim Kardashian’s first leading role, the first three episodes of All’s Fair can be streamed now on Hulu, with one episode dropping each Tuesday through its 10-episode run.

Some of the biggest and best actors have never won competitive acting Oscars. Some of those names might completely shock you as they have certainly put in the performances that make them worthy of winning the awards. There are a few on this list who have won honorary Oscars or won in other categories, like directing or acting, but none of these stars have been bestowed with the one they probably want the most. So here is our list of actors and actresses who have shockingly never won an Oscar for acting.

Glenn Close

At the top of the list of actors who have shockingly never won an Oscar has to be the great Glenn Close. For decades Close has been putting amazing performances on film, and yet that golden statue has eluded her. She has won multiple Tonys, Emmys, and Golden Globe awards, yet, despite an amazing eight nominations for either Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress, she's yet to win one.

Tom Cruise

There is no bigger "movie star" on the planet than Tom Cruise. While no one would realistically expect Cruise to be nominated for his action roles like in the Mission: Impossible movies (though, his stunt work in those movies should really be acknowledged), the Top Gun star has put in the work with Oscar-worthy performances in films like Rain Man, Jerry Maguire, Born on the Fourth of July, and Magnolia. He has been nominated four times, but he's yet to take home the prize.

Angela Bassett

In 1994 Angela Bassett lost out on the Best Actress Oscar for her incredible, transformative performance as Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It. Not to take anything away from the winner, Holly Hunter for The Piano, but it's frankly astonishing Bassett didn't win. Sadly, though she was honored in 2024 by the Academy, she still has yet to win a competitive Oscar.

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp has gotten a lot of bad press in recent years and that may hurt his future chances to win an Academy Award, but frankly, it's amazing he hasn't already won multiple Oscars, and yet he's never won even one. Despite three nominations and many other amazing performances, the Pirates Of The Caribbean star is still Oscar-less.

Sigourney Weaver

It's hard to believe that Sigourney Weaver hasn't even been nominated for an Oscar since the 1980s, when she was nominated thrice. In spite of wonderful performances in huge hits like Avatar and Aliens, she's still searching for that golden statue.

Bradley Cooper

Honestly, you can almost smell the desperation on Bradley Cooper to win an Oscar and that's completely understandable. Cooper is one of the best actors of his generation and has been nominated five times in an acting category (and another seven times in other categories), but hasn't won...yet. He'll surely get one.

Annette Bening

Five nominations and no wins. That's Annette Bening's resume at the Oscars and that is shocking. For decades she's been crushing it on screen and despite those nominations, most recently in 2023 for her incredible performance in Nyad, a win has eluded her.

Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey may have burst on the scene in wild comedies like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask - and we can argue that amazing comedic performances don't get nearly enough love from the Academy - but his more serious roles, like in Man on the Moon and even The Truman Show are certainly worthy of Oscars. Despite multiple Golden Globe nominations and wins, the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind actor has never even been nominated for an Oscar.

Amy Adams

When Amy Adams was first nominated for an Academy Award in 2005 for her breakthrough performance in Junebug, a betting person would have bet everything that she would win an Oscar in her career. Yet here we are more than 20 years later and despite five more nominations, Adams is still Oscar-less.

Samuel L. Jackson

Samuel L. Jackson has played every kind of character and starred in every kind of movie. From mega-franchises like Star Wars and the MCU, to more indie films like Pulp Fiction and Do The Right Thing, Jackson has done it all in Hollywood, except win a competitive Oscar and he's shockingly only been nominated once. He was honored by the Academy in 2021 for his body of work.

Scarlett Johansson

In 2020 Scarlett Johansson was nominated in both the Bet Actress category for Marriage Story and Best Supporting Actress for Jojo Rabbit. She lost out in both that year and despite an incredible career, they remain her only nominations.

Laurence Fishburne

Literally, since his breakout movie role when he was only 16 in Apocalypse Now, Laurence Fishburne has been putting in award-worthy performances. One of the most astonishing facts on this list, Fishbourne has only been nominated once, for What's Love Got to Do with It in 1994. Despite roles like Furious Styles in Boyz n The Hood, Professor Phipps in Higher Learning, and countless others, he still hasn't won.

Hugh Jackman

While he's best known for his work as Wolverine these days, the multi-talented Hugh Jackman has a ton of performances that have deserved more attention from the Academy. He's won every other award on the planet, including three of the "EGOT" awards, but he's still missing the "O."

Michelle Williams

Michelle Williams has been nominated for an Academy Award five times, starting with her breakout role in 2005's Brokeback Mountain. She has yet to break through with a win though. Certainly, she will at some point, right?

Saoirse Ronan

Saoirse Ronan was just 13 years old when she landed her first Oscar nomination for her performance in Atonement. The Lady Bird star has been nominated three subsequent times but hasn't been able to nail down an award yet. A win for Ronan at some point seems inevitable, given how she crushes every role she's in.

Matt Damon

Another one of the biggest movie stars in the world who has yet to win an acting Oscar is Matt Damon. His most recent of three acting nominations was for 2015's The Martian, and while he has won an Oscar for Best Screenplay for Good Will Hunting, an acting award has eluded him.

Salma Hayek

Despite her transcending performance in Frida, the great Salma Hayek wasn't able to win an Oscar in a stacked category in 2003 (Nicole Kidman won for The Hours). Despite numerous great performances, that remains Hayak's only nomination. For shame.

Willem Dafoe

Despite being one of the most reliable actors in Hollywood for more than four decades, somehow Willem Dafoe has yet to win an Oscar. It seems like every single role he takes on is award-worthy, and yet, despite four nominations, starting with Platoon, he still has yet to take home an Academy Award.

Carey Mulligan

2009's An Education garnered Carey Mulligan her first Oscar nom, and she's since nominated another couple of times, for Promising Young Woman in 2021 and Maestro in 2024. She's run into some stiff competition, but surely at least one of those performances was Oscar-worthy.

Mark Ruffalo

Mark Ruffalo has been acting his butt off for decades. For that hard work, he's received four Best Supporting Actor nominations, and shockingly, not for his work in Dark Waters, which might be his best performance of all. It's confounding.

Michelle Pfeiffer

The great Michelle Pfeiffer landed her first Oscar nomination in 1988 for Dangerous Liaisons and picked up two more for The Fabulous Baker Boys in 1989 and Love Field in 1992. Since then? Nothing. Zip. She has not even received a nomination as one of the best actresses of her generation. That has to be remedied, as it makes no sense.

Ralph Fiennes

Between 1996 when he was nominated for The English Patient and 2025 when he was nominated for Conclave, the great Ralph Fiennes wasn't even nominated for an Oscar despite countless award-worthy performances.

Naomi Watts

With two nominations and zero wins, Naomi Watts finds herself on this list. She was first nominated in 2004 for 21 Grams and again in 2013 for The Impossible, but she hasn't lucked out with a win yet. Surely one is in her future though, she's too much of a force not to win one.

Ryan Gosling

Year after year Ryan Gosling has put up fantastic performances, so his inclusion on this list is among the most surprising. He seems like a shoo-in to have won at least one Oscar, right? In not for Barbie or Half Nelson, both of which he was nominated for, then certainly for La La Land. Alas, he's yet to take home a trophy.

Alfre Woodard

When Alfre Woodard was nominated for her first (and to-date only) Oscar nomination way back in 1983 for Cross Creek, you'd be crazy to predict she would not get another one for what is now more than 40 years. Despite amazing performances in films like 12 Years A Slave and many others, she has been shut out.

Warren Beatty

There was no bigger movie star than Warren Beatty in the late '70s and '80s and despite a slew of hits, Beatty has never won an Oscar. Beatty has been nominated four times for Best Actor, yet his only Academy Award win came for Best Director for Reds in 1982. He didn't even win for Dick Tracy! He wasn't actually nominated for that iconic role though, which is understandable.

Laura Linney

Over her long, impressive career, Laura Linney has been nominated for many awards. She's won multiple Emmys and multiple Golden Globes, but she's never taken home a golden statue from the Academy. Linney has been nominated three times, for 2000's You Can Count on Me, 2004's Kinsey, and 2007's The Savages, but lost out each time. Linney has never been in a movie that has won Best Picture, either.

Ed Harris

Ed Harris is one of the best character actors of the last 50 years and yet he's never won an Oscar. He's been nominated three times for Best Supporting Actor, for Apollo 13, The Truman Show, and The Hours, plus picking a nomination for Best Actor for Pollock, but alas, he's never won. Weirdly, he's also 0-3 on Emmy nominations too. He has picked up two Golden Globes though.

Joan Allen

Joan Allen is an actress flies a little under the radar despite putting in amazing performances in everything she is in. It might because she's been incredibly unlucky at winning awards, despite multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG nominations. That luck includes her Oscar nominations, of which she has three, for Nixon, The Crucible, and The Contender, but sadly no wins.

Richard Gere

Despite being box office gold since the early 1980s, Richard Gere has shockingly never been even nominated for an Oscar. He's been in beloved movies that have stood the test of time like Pretty Woman, An Officer And A Gentleman, Primal Fear, Runaway Bride and so many more, but no nominations. Crazy.

Isabelle Huppert

It might not be a huge surprise that a French actress like Isabelle Huppert hasn't won an Oscar, as obviously the winners are almost always from English-language films. Still, Huppert is one of the most decorated actresses of all time in her native France, having been nominated 16 times (and winning twice) for the César Award (France's version of the Academy Awards). She was nominated for an Oscar in 2016 for Elle but lost to Emma Stone (for La La Land).

Paul Dano

It almost seems pre-ordained that at some point Paul Dano will win an Oscar. In performance after performance, he just crushes it. From There Will Be Blood to Love & Mercy, the list of his amazing performances just keeps growing. Like others on this list, the fact that he hasn't even been nominated for an Oscar is mindboggling.

The 2025 TV schedule won't just feature Kim Kardashian as herself, it will feature her return to acting too. That's right, the mega-famous media personality and businesswoman is making another foray into acting via one of Ryan Murphy's newest shows–All’s Fair. So, with this legal drama series on the way, one of Kardashian’s co-stars, Naomi Watts, had a lot to share on the subject.

Watts joined Vogue UK to discuss her new book, Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause, and didn't hold back about aging and romance with her husband Billy Crudup. Along with all of that, the Mulholland Drive actress shared her plans for 2025, which include working on the new Murphy project that sounds like a hybrid of Dynasty and Succession. When asked if she could reveal anything about working on this show and with Kim K. specifically, she had this to say about the Skims owner:

Kardashian is no stranger to appearing on television–I mean, The Kardashians Season 6 teaser just came out days ago. However, acting is relatively new to her. So, it's reassuring to hear acting veterans like Naomi Watts are vouching for the newer actress.

Before her collaboration with Watts on All's Fair, Kardashian worked with Ryan Murphy on American Horror Story: Delicate. So, along with her co-star's nice compliments, the producer clearly likes collaborating with Kim too.

To that point, The Watcher alum went on to talk about how much she loves the ensembles Murphy has become known for assembling. In the case of All's Fair, it's full of incredible actresses, as Watts explained:

One thing’s for sure, Ryan Murphy knows how to gather stellar actresses for a project.

Admittedly, it's a bummer that Halle Berry had to exit All's Fair due to a scheduling conflict and it would’ve been an entirely different show if Glenn Close had turned it down. However, Watts’ words have me so excited about this show, and hopefully, the L.A.-based legal drama performs well. For now, though, we’ll have to sit and wait to see if the Gypsy actress’ thoughts on her co-stars, and Kardashian specifically, ring true for the series, because there’s no set release date yet.

You can watch All’s Fair when it releases as well as The Kardashians, which comes out on February 6, with a Hulu Subscription.

When Naomi Watts and Billy Crudup tied the knot in 2023, many celebrities celebrated the couple's union, noting how wonderful their relationship is. With the release of The Watcher alum’s new book, Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known About Menopause, she revealed the most romantic thing her husband has said to her. Surprisingly, the special moment doesn’t involve their wedding day but rather his ‘balls.’

The Mulholland Drive actress’s January 21st released book predominately focuses on her foray into menopause and all that comes with the territory, including menopause patches. She revealed the first time she and Crudup slept together, the patches came into play. The King Kong alum was self-conscious about wearing one in front of her now hubby because it essentially symbolizes age. Luckily for her, when he checked in on her and she revealed what she was trying to hide, he said this about his age and body, via Us Weekly:

What a great and honest exchange between the then-new couple. They say honesty and openness are things that can make a relationship what it is, and for the duo, it seems like a solidifying moment. It probably wasn’t the first time Watts bonded over intimate body topics and by the looks of it, it won’t be the last.

The Swans actress opened up about how the frank statement made in trying to relieve her embarrassment over the patches became the most romantic words to her. In addition, she also shared The Almost Famous actor’s reaction to the whole thing. In her words:

What a sweet and non-Hollywood relationship-building moment that was for them with something so vulnerable. Seemingly, it was a pivotal point between the two of them and I’m so glad that it bonded the two. It’s no wonder with proactive reactions and honesty predating their 2023 marriage, the couple seems like they are endgame material and already loved by so many.

The newer newlyweds have had plenty of work going on between the two of them, beyond the British actress’s newly published book. Each performer has an exciting show premiering or returning on the 2025 TV schedule, respectively. Watts will appear in the new Ryan Murphy drama series, All’s Fair while Crudup will return again for Season 4 of The Morning Show. Let’s hope these lovebirds’ shows garner all the success their relationship seems to have.

The most romantic words can be as surprising as Naomi Watts’ pick of her husband’s Billy Crudup’s and his balls. The important thing is that the two are seemingly stronger than ever and happy.

You’ll need to have an active Hulu subscription to watch All’s Fair when it premieres. Watch the previous Seasons of The Morning Show while waiting for its 2025 premiere with an Apple TV+ subscription.

Watts’ book, Dare I Say It, is out now.

One thing that Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey and The Ring’s Naomi Watts have in common is their experience with steamy scenes. In one of Netflix’s best shows, Bailey’s character, Anthony, is known for his power of seduction. One of Watts’ best roles was in the sexy thriller film Mulholland Drive, where her character has seductive scenes of her own. The two British performers bond over filming masturbation scenes and when to draw "the line between feeling comfortable or not."

It’s one thing for audiences to watch sexually explicit movies on Netflix in theaters or other services on your streaming schedule. Filming these scenes is a whole other story. Jonathan Bailey spoke on Variety’s Actors on Actors about having to do a masturbation scene for his historical romance miniseries Fellow Travelers and channeling Naomi Watts’ Mulholland Drive masturbation scene. After the King Kong actress spoke about how that particular scene "traumatized" her in the David Lynch movie, Bailey spoke about what filming his masturbation scene was like:

I can imagine it feeling embarrassing having to portray solo sexual pleasure for the camera. It can also be very challenging when you’re trying to get into character, but you can’t help but feel like laughing in a moment that’s supposed to be very sensual. Still, it proves that filming physical scenes like that can be a mix of feeling comfortable and a bit out of place.

Naomi Watts’ masturbation scene in Mulholland Drive wasn’t as pleasurable for her character, Diane, as you may imagine. With distressful tears and frustration on Diane’s face while she touches herself, this is the character’s vulnerable moment when she’s trying to take back control after feeling like everything is going wrong for her. Filming that challenging scene was no picnic for Watts herself. She explained to Bailey just how jarring it was:

The St. Vincent actress mentioned that there may not have been intimacy coordinators on set, but David Lynch helped her feel safer by creating a private environment for her. On the other hand, she couldn’t stop crying during the masturbation scene, which was not Lynch's intention. The Oscar-nominated filmmaker wanted the British actress to convey anger in her struggle to reconnect with the world in what’s supposed to be a sexually satisfying moment. Having to rush to the bathroom many times after accomplishing scenes like this sounds like such a pain. Fortunately, Watts handled these emotional scenes like a pro.

As Jonathan Bailey and Naomi Watts bonded over filming masturbation scenes, we learned that taking part in sensual scenes like this can either make you giggle or take multiple trips to the bathroom. These suggestive scenes may not have been easy to do, but both performers were able to get the job done well. 

Jonathan Bailey’s miniseries Fellow Travelers is available to watch on your Paramount+ subscription. Make sure to also see Naomi Watts play Babe Paley in FX’s series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans with your Hulu subscription.

Years before Emma D'Arcy's Rhaenyra Targaryen, Olivia Cooke's Alicent Hightower and Matt Smith's Daemon Targaryen debuted on HBO's House of the Dragon, there was Bloodmoon. Said production was another planned TV entry into the A Song of Ice and Fire universe. However, unlike HoTD -- which debuts its anticipated second season this June -- that latter Game of Thrones prequel series, which was to star Naomi Watts, sadly never materialized. It's a fact that the spinoff's director S.J. Clarkson recently discussed while reflecting on her "good pilot." 

While on a promo tour for her latest directorial project, Sony's Spider-Verse flick Madame Web, Clarkson caught up with Deadline, during which her past GoT project came up. She praised the Bloodmoon pilot, which was filmed back in 2019 and would've seen Naomi Watts joined by Miranda Richardson, Denise Gough, Shiela Atim, Toby Regbo and Jamie Campbell Bower, among others. Clarkson said of the production:

Per Entertainment Weekly, the Bloodmoon spinoff was meant to take place thousands of years before the events of the OG show, chronicling "the world's descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour." The show would've delved into the "horrifying secrets of Westeros's history" as well as the true origin of the White Walkers.

The Academy Award-nominated Naomi Watts was cast as "a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret" in the prequel series, and photos of the British actress in character costume have recently hit the Internet. That happened after the show's hair and makeup designer, Flora Moody, posted them on Instagram.

Ultimately, despite forking over a cool $30 million to film the pilot, HBO decided against moving forward with the series. As for whether the episode might ever see the light of day, S.J. Clarkson told the trade:

When it comes to the network's reasoning for the cancellation of Bloodmoon, former WarnerMedia chairman Robert Greenblatt told The Hollywood Reporter: 

Alas, while Game of Thrones fans may never get to see Bloodmoon, there are plenty of GoT spinoffs to keep them occupied. Along with picking back up with the Targaryen family after that eventful finale of House of the Dragon Season 1, there's the much-rumored Jon Snow sequel, that Dunk and Egg spinoff and an origin-story series centered on Aegon the Conqueror. The world of Westeros is growing, and we're not mad about it. Though some may always wonder what could've been with Naomi Watts' intended show.

To catch up with the Game of Thrones prequel that did happen, check out House of the Dragon's first season with a Max subscription. 

Love was in the air this weekend, as Billy Crudup and Naomi Watts announced they got married! The two stars were first romantically linked in 2017 and have been together ever since. They apparently got hitched at a New York City courthouse and shared an adorable picture from the lovely day. And after they shared the confirmation of their nuptials, a wide array of big-name stars, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Mark Ruffalo, have been forwarding their congratulations.

The pair’s Instagram post was confirmation of their union, after rumors of their engagement had been swirling for months. While it was a courthouse wedding, the couple still wore stunning wedding attire. Billy Crudup wore a blue suit, while his new wife dawned a gorgeous floral gown designed by Oscar de la Renta. You can see the announcement post below:

The exciting marriage announcement prompted many comments from excited friends wanting to send the newlyweds well wishes. Mark Ruffalo made his own social media post dedicated to the happy couple. He co-starred with Naomi Watts in We Don't Live Here Anymore, and he's seemingly remained friends with the actress and her new hubby. You can see his post below:

Gwyneth Paltrow commented on the King Kong alum's Instagram photo, expressing her congratulations and her excitement for the two actors getting hitched. She said:

White Lotus star Jennifer Coolidge was also thrilled for the two A-listers. She was co-stars with Naomi Watts on Netflix’s The Watcher and shared her support for the marriage by commenting:

Scarface and Batman Returns icon Michelle Pfeiffer was also elated by the announcement, sending her love and wishing her own happiness for the union. She said:

Sarah Silverman used the opportunity to express her love for the two actors. Billy Crudup was a guest star on the comedian’s self-titled show back in the '00s, and Naomi Watts co-starred with Silverman in 2017's critically maligned The Book of Henry. The stand-up veteran commented:

Liev Schreiber sent his congratulations as well. Schreiber is actually an ex of the Mulholland Drive actress, as they were together for 11 years and share two children together. They are seemingly friendly though, as the Ray Donovan alum commended his former partner on her marriage. He said: 

Billy Crudup and Naomi Watts are normally private about their relationship, so this confirmation is a welcome surprise. The two reportedly started dating after co-starring together on the Netflix's sexy therapist show, Gypsy, in which Watts portrayed a sexually frustrated woman. While the show was canceled after one season, the couple's real-life romance clearly lived on. They made their official red carpet debut at the SAG Awards in 2022 and always seem to be smiling and looking happy together. Watts, in particular, was absolutely glowing in her wedding dress on the big occasion. The designer of the matrimonial fit posted a closer image of the gown on their Instagram, which you can see below:

Congratulations to this power couple, and I hope to see more photos from the big day sometime soon! Fans of this duo can see their electric chemistry in Gypsy, which is streaming now for those with a Netflix subscription. For more information on other projects coming to the streamer later this year, make sure to consult our 2023 Netflix movie release schedule.

Even as Evan Peters was still terrifying bazillions of Netflix viewers with his Jeffrey Dahmer portrayal in Monster, its creator Ryan Murphy unleashed even more terror in the form of The Watcher. Though the latter’s true-to-life ending peeved certain audience members, more than enough droves of people binged through it that Netflix went ahead and confirmed Season 2 within the same announcement revealing that Monster is now a full-blown anthology series with two more seasons set for the future. But while it’s clear that Dahmer will be succeeded by stories devoted to other horrifying subjects, it’s not so clear how Murphy & Co. will be tackling what transpired during The Watcher’s first season.

As such, let’s look at the two clear ways a follow-up season could work for The Watcher, and what the best course of action might be however things go.

Season 2 As A Direct Follow-Up To Season 1

First would be the more traditional and seemingly obvious route, where The Watcher Season 2 would directly play off of the storylines and events that were set up in the first season’s seven episodes. Which would be a huge relief to many viewers out there who felt frustrated by the many loose ends that were left unexplained, no doubt. But that would also possibly be in direct contrast to the writers’ purposefully setting up so many different clue-filled elements to go unanswered, since the New Jersey case that the show is based on is still unresolved. 

Not that there weren’t plenty of fictionalized details introduced, but those also speak to the idea that there may be too many moving parts going within the neighborhood surrounding 657 Boulevard for a second season to do them all justice. At this point, do we really want to see how far Dean Brannock goes over the edge when it comes to the new owners? Do we really need to see Mia Farrow and Margo Martindale’s characters directly conspiring to terrorize other residents across an entire season in order to feel closure? It wouldn’t be out of the question for an additional episode to pop up with some explanations, but I find it somewhat difficult to picture another seven episodes devoted to these characters. 

But would I watch it if that’s what Season 2 ended up being? You bet your never-closing-your-curtains ass I would. I’m 100% into Martindale and Richard Kind’s charismatic antagonism in any capacity, along with the rest of the stellar cast.

Season 2 As An Anthologized Entry About Different Case

On the flip side of the equation, The Watcher Season 2 could take after Monster, American Horror Story, American Crime Story, and other Ryan Murphy shows by becoming an anthology horror-thriller. This would allow for the creative team to latch onto a completely different storyline based potentially on a real-world case (or something completely made up) that also focuses on one or more characters being secretly watched by one or more other characters. I can’t imagine there’s a lack of creepy stories that can be used as launch pads for it, although I can’t argue against the viral nature of The Cut’s original article being a prime reason why Netflix quickly made moves to spin it into a TV show. 

From a freshness perspective, focusing Season 2 on another standalone case would obviously be a solid move, and would allow a new ensemble of A-listers to step in and haunt viewers’ dreams for a few nights. And while that would also allow the creative team to set up a whole new string of unexplained suspects and clues, it’s likely that the writers will take note of the feedback from Season 1 to play into what people enjoyed, and stray from what they didn’t. Hopefully, anyway. Poaching more real-world cases obviously presents more opportunities to negatively impact the lives of those who were involved, but things don’t necessarily have to go in such ways, which can also be helped by hindsight. 

There’s technically a third option where the guilty party from Season 1 is obsessed with another house, or another family, so that Season 2 would be focusing on newer elements while also still tying back to everything that was already introduced. Which might theoretically be a bigger headache to have even more people involved, but hey, being a threatening voyeur isn’t supposed to be easy.

The Watcher Season 1 is available to stream with a Netflix subscription. While waiting for more info, check out other shows on the same wavelength, and head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what’ll hit the small screen in the near future.

Ryan Murphy’s horror-adjacent non-killer thriller The Watcher has held a lot of mental real estate within the brains of those with Netflix subscriptions, and for good reason. The Top 10 mainstay is based on a disturbing real-life incident in which a family became obsessed over sporadic and threatening messages from someone all too familiar with their lives, and particularly with their new home. And with a cast of talents such as Bobby Cannavale, Naomi Watts, Jennifer Coolidge, Margo Martindale and beyond, who wouldn’t be completely enamored with the tense tale?

Though viewers have fully gone public with negative opinions about The Watcher’s true-to-life ambiguous ending, the lack of a resolution still can’t fully take away how disturbing all of the moving parts were throughout the seven-episode series. And it’ll either comfort or infuriate audiences to realize that the bulk of The Watcher’s wildest and most unexplainable moments were scripted specifically for harrowing entertainment purposes. So let’s run down all of the biggest details that weren’t actually based on reality, starting with this freebie of a fact that the Broaddus family never even moved into the house after buying it. 

The Watcher Only Ever Sent Letters, And Not That Many

Anyone coming away from The Watcher might think that the real family that the Brannocks were based on were constantly being harassed with letters, phone calls and occasional ferret-cides. But in reality, according to The Cut journalist Reeves Wiedeman, they only received four separate letters from someone calling themselves The Watcher. One ahead of finalizing the home purchase, the next two across the next six weeks, and then a fourth letter (which is theorized as possibly being from a different source) arrived years later in the midst of a zoning board debate tied to the Broaddus family's desperate attempts to sell the house. 

What's more, The Watcher also didn't have as far of a reach when it comes to communicating with others. To date, only two other letters are suspected as potentially being sent by the stalker. One went to the Woods family, the former owners of 657 Boulevard, just prior to the home sale; and one was allegedly sent to a neighbor down the street after the story initially went viral. In both cases, the parties assumed the letter to be non-threatening and akin to a prank, and threw them away.

The Weirdo Neighbors Weren't So Weird, And Didn't Lead Historical Society

Mia Farrow and Terry Kinney's Pearl and Jasper Winslow were based on the 90-something Peggy Langford and her schizophrenic son Michael. The latter was indeed a pertinent suspect in the real-life case, and did have a reputation for absentmindedly wandering through people's yards and fetching newspapers. But there weren't instances where Michael or anyone else was ever inside 657 Boulevard, though he for years remained a suspect where the Broadduses were concerned. (That also means 

As well, Peggy did not head up the Westfield Historical Preservation Society or anything like it. While the group does indeed exist, the only time they were involved in the real-world New Jersey case is when they voiced displeasure over the Broaddus family's attempts to tear down the home. And as far as anyone knows, there weren't any other secret cabals in town either.

No Neighbors Were Presumed Murder Victims, Though The Lawn Chairs Were Legit

Richard Kind and Margo Martindale were the perfect pair to bring Mitch and Mo to life with a sense of genial menace, but that doesn’t mean their suspicion-magnet Watcher characters were entirely based on reality. When it comes to the reported facts, the couple living behind 657 Boulevard were said to have posted a pair of lawn chairs questionably close to their neighbors’ lot, but that’s where the similarities both begin and end. 

There doesn’t appear to be any legitimacy, however, to the idea that they were actively haughty and confrontational, and considering no one actually moved into the house during this ordeal, the real-life Mitch and Mo, as it were, weren’t constantly yammering about people playing instruments. As well, the area reportedly hasn’t been privy to any murder investigations for decades, so don’t put much faith in the couple’s son randomly kidnapping and murdering a homeless couple that shared physical characteristics with his parents. 

The "Ode To A House" Project Was All Made Up

One theory that hadn’t been approached during the initial news cycle surrounding the Broaddus family’s ordeal involved the screenwriter, novelist and high school teacher Robert Kaplow, a Westfield native arguably best known for Me and Orson Welles. He supposedly hadn’t ever assigned any students with writing letters to houses in the area, but rather told stories about having done so himself for a particular abode. But it wasn’t 657 Boulevard, according to Kaplow himself; rather, he claims to have written to a Victorian house on the north side, and later befriended the family who lived there. 

The writer is apparently all too aware of public scrutiny, which has presumably risen in intensity since the show was released. More suspicion went his way due to the fact that his brother Richard is the lawyer who represented the Woods family at a point when the Broadduses attempted to sue them for not disclosing their Watcher-penned letter. But this is allegedly all circumstantial.

No Security Dude, And No Creepy Daughter Relationship 

Though there are reported mentions of the Broaddus family installing security cameras at 657 Boulevard, as well as a police officer who observed the property at points, Henry Hunter Hall’s teen entrepreneur Dakota and his security upstart were completely made up for the show. Thus, the creative team intentionally shoehorned in arguably The Watcher’s skeeziest plotline, concerning Dakota’s legal-in-Jersey relationship with 16-year-old Ellie Brannock, and Dean’s mental reckoning with it all. To that end, the Broaddus’ three children were all under ten years old when this all began.

One element of Dakota’s story that was vaguely based on reality ties to a couple who were parked in front of 657 Boulevard at some point. When officers questioned them, the female stated her boyfriend played video games using the screen name “The Watcher,” but that’s about all the context there is, as the police were never able to formally question the boyfriend about it.

Sketchy AF Realtor Karen Didn't Exist

Jennifer Coolidge is nailing it on all cylinders by way of heightened, high-profile dramas, as also witnessed on HBO’s The White Lotus. And it’s a testament to her talents that the Brannocks’ detective-schtupping realtor Karen Calhoun appears to be based on little more beyond personified paranoia. The reports on the Broaddus family don’t really delve into any personal qualities tied to who they worked with, only mentioned the well-established Coldwell Banker real estate giant as their realtor during their initial attempts to sell the home. While there have been theories about a greedy agent, nothing major has been revealed that has strongly supported that idea. 

John Graff's Story Is Half-Legit, Half-Ludicrous

The Tony-winning theatre vet Joe Mantello brings all the creepster vibes as John Graff, whose killer backstory is rather closely based on one of New Jersey’s most notorious murder cases. During a single day in 1971, Westfield resident John List murdered his wife, mother, and three children, leaving the bodies in the house along with a note explaining his actions, and then fleeing the area. It was a month before the bodies were found, and it was another 18 years before List was identified and apprehended through the case being reported on a first-season episode of America’s Most Wanted. He’d since changed his name, remarried, and joined a Lutheran church, among other details that match up with the show, such as allegedly all known photographs of him having been destroyed. 

However, The Watcher took things a bit too far by even having him be around to begin with. After being captured in 1989, the real John List was put on trial and was convicted in 1990 on five counts of first degree murder. He remained in prison, despite appeals, until his death at 82 in 2008 of pneumonia complications. Plus, he famously lived within a mansion on Hillside Ave. dubbed Breeze Knoll (which burned down without explanation a few years after the murders), and doesn’t seem to have had any direct ties to 657 Boulevard, and absolutely never lived within its walls. 

657 Boulevard Didn't Have Underground Tunnels Or A Dumbwaiter

Two of the most interesting elements laid out there about The Watcher’s central domicile are its functioning dumbwaiter (which doesn’t ever get a great payoff) and the tunnels stretching beneath the property that connected to at least one other home in the neighborhood (which felt weirdly timed after everything that played out in Only Murders in the Building). But when one considers that none of the in-home terror that the Brannocks suffer is based on reality, it’s perhaps easier to accept that the real Westfield house doesn’t actually have either a dumbwaiter or any tunnel systems. It was also noted by Reeves Wiedeman that the family did have professionals look into the claims that something was within the home’s walls, but nothing of note was ever discovered.

The Family's Real-Life P.I. Was No Theodora Birch

As portrayed by Noma Dumezweni, soon to be seen in Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid, the Brannocks’ private investigator Theodora Birch is perhaps The Watcher’s most empathy-worthy character, as she literally dedicated her final stage in life to trying to bring some semblance of justice and/or sanity to Dean and Nora during their time of terror. To the point where she fallaciously tried to take the blame for it all on her deathbed, if only to offer Dean mental peace. But she was just as much a whim of the writers as anything else, with the Broaddus family’s actual P.I., a retired NYPD cop named Frank Shea, falling into far more stereotypical and less flamboyant expectations. 

So in the end, it probably only made sense for The Watcher to end on a question mark, since so many of the clues that were laid out for audiences weren’t wholly based on the actual case. But it’s still fun to think about who within the show itself was guilty. My vote is “everyone, even the kids and people who had nothing to do with it.” That’s the safest bet, anyway.

All seven episodes of The Watcher are available to stream on Netflix now, and you can also find lots of other shows in the same vein out there. Head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what new and returning shows will be popping up soon.

Naomi Watts’ career started in her early thirties in the United States. She’s still got a thriving career in her fifties with her return to horror after 20 years as part of the cast of Netflix’s The Watcher and an American remake of the Austrian psychological horror film Goodnight Mommy. During the time Watts made her film debut in 2001's Mulholland Drive, she received an ageist warning that “didn’t make any sense” to her.

With Hollywood having shallow perceptions about beauty and aging, aspiring actresses may believe that they need to start young in order to have a lasting acting career. Naomi Watts told InStyle about the ageist remark she received when first starting out in Hollywood, saying:

That ageist remark that Watts received couldn’t have been further from the truth. So many women over 50 in Hollywood continue to rule the screen. You can see in these delightful pictures of Meryl Streep that she gets more beautiful with age and has over 60 film roles in her career. Being in her late 50s didn’t prevent Jamie Lee Curtis from returning to her Halloween franchise four years ago for three more films. Halle Berry continues to show off her 56-year-old self whether she’s wearing a plunging jumpsuit or decides to bare all. These are just some of the examples that point out that your appearance and your acting career don’t always fade by the time you reach 50. 

Hollywood tends to provide a double standard where men are not threatened with aging like women. The Ring actress continued explaining to the magazine her frustration with that way of thinking.

Women face the threat of thinking about plastic surgery in order to prolongate their careers. Ironically, the English actress’s new role in Goodnight Mommy is about an aging actress who gets plastic surgery with her face all bandaged up for most of the movie. As for if she would ever consider plastic surgery for herself, Watts has told the publication that she's open to it eventually and doesn’t believe women should be shamed for making that choice. After all, you must live with your body and be comfortable with it. The 56-year-old actress continues to inspire women over 50 with Stripes, her new beauty brand meant to tackle the stigma of menopause.

Naomi Watts has got true beauty inside and out that I’m confident will continue to follow her. You can see her comeback into the horror genre on The Watcher with a Netflix subscription and the remake of Goodnight Mommy with an Amazon Prime subscription.

Spoilers below for Netflix’s new thriller The Watcher, so be warned if you haven’t yet watched!

Anybody who’s endeavored to enjoy the full runtime of any Ryan Murphy project is well aware the talented filmmaker and horror aficionado can make some truly unfathomable decisions from time to time, as every season of American Horror Story and its anthologized spinoff have proven. His newest episodic exercise in tension, Netflix’s The Watcher, largely bucked that trend, with a tight seven-episode season full of weird moments and a top-notch cast list. But the psychological home invasion thriller managed to stoke a whole lot of ire amongst its viewership thanks to Murphy’s decision to conclude the “based on true events” series in the same way things wrapped up for the real-life case. In that it wasn’t ever actually wrapped up.

The finale, titled “Haunting,” offered up a bevy of Ryan Murphy-esque twists and turns for Bobby Cannavale and Naomi Watts’ Dean and Nora Brannock as they attempted to rid themselves of the home at 657 Boulevard. Or at least one of them had such intentions, as it’s revealed Dean followed his obsession and inserted himself into the house’s mysterious lore for the newest owner, with a suspicious Nora keenly aware of his trip further down the spiral. And in the end, following Theodora’s falsified death bed confession and the full meeting of the Historical Preservation Society, The Watcher left viewers with the message that the 2014 New Jersey mystery the series was based on remains unsolved.

As it goes, Twitter users put on zero airs when sharing their frank AF opinions about The Watcher’s ending. This viewer wasn’t alone with the notion that was shared to others thinking about checking the show out, saying: 

Looking for something slightly more hyperbolic and questioning? There are 100% reactions on social media that follow suit, such as this one:

Opinions like these did spark some opposing arguments from others, in particular that the Netflix series' unresolved conclusion adhered to the real life events. But those ideas often got quickly squashed with the counter-counter-argument that Ryan Murphy and his creative team introduced a lot of unexplained elements that weren't directly taken from real life. In some cases, it's more clear that viewers took far more issue with the abundance of loose threads and red herrings than a lack of justice being brought to the suburban town.

The words "waste" and "wasted" come up quite a few times in people's reactions to the seven-episode season, as it went in the post below:

While the viewer below did use the phrase "waste of time," they acknowledged the fact that the show managed to pull off some terrifying moments ahead of its infuriation-causing denouement. 

Others shared similar views, decrying the fact that their good-natured expectations throughout most of the season were upended by the total lack of closure. 

Just to get a totally opposing view recognized in here, let's wrap things up on our own mysterious closer, with a glowing rating that doesn't stand up to the rules of math. 

Personally, I'm okay without The Watcher's true identity being revealed, since part of the show's purpose is to endlessly wallow in the unsteadiness of small-town paranoia. For the most part, it stacked up against some of the best true crime shows out there. That said, I do take issue with Dean's Stockholm Syndrome-ish flip in the end, which to me wasn't fully earned, unless he's meant to be seen as a wholly unreliable lead character whose mental troubles were worsening behind the curtain. Either way it goes, I'm still going to close the hell out of my curtains for the foreseeable future.

The Watcher is available to stream in full with a Netflix subscription, where you can also catch a bunch of other excellent streaming TV shows. And head to our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what other new and returning series will be popping up soon.

Imagine purchasing your dream home, only to discovery through a series of disturbing letters that it is also an object of fascination for a mysterious onlooker observing the house with possessive and envious eyes. Not only is that the plot of the new Netflix original TV show, The Watcher, but the horrifying true experience of an American family in 2014.

From Ryan Murphy of American Horror Story fame and Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story creator Ian Brennan, this seven-episode limited series dramatizes the shocking and bizarre events that happened to the Broadusses after they moved into an idyllic New Jersey house that turned out to be the site of their worst nightmares. Bringing the story to life on screen is the star-studded, supremely talented The Watcher cast, including Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale. Learn about some of their greatest hits and that of their co-stars in our breakdown of the ensemble.

Naomi Watts

The Watcher is only the latest of many creepy titles in English actor Naomi Watts’ repertoire, many of which (excluding her David Lynch movies, like Mulholland Dr.) are remakes — including 2001’s The Ring, 2007’s Funny Games, 2005’s King Kong, and, most recently, Amazon’s English-language version of Goodnight Mommy in 2022. 

The two-time Academy Award nominee (for 2004’s 21 Grams and The Impossible in 2012) is known for plenty of comparatively lighthearted titles, too, such as the many biopics in her filmography (including 2003’s Ned Kelly or 2013’s Diana, in which she played the late princess) or the hilarious Best Picture Oscar winner, Birdman, from 2014.

Bobby Cannavale

Two-time Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale (for playing Vince on Will & Grace and Gyp Rosetti on Boardwalk Empire) previously worked with his onscreen wife from The Watcher, Naomi Watts, a few times (namely in Movie 43 and, more recently, 2021’s This is the Night), yet is not known for as many particularly creepy titles. 

He is part of the MCU, though, after appearing in two Ant-Man movies and, even then, was still cast in Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman — one of a few other Netflix originals he is also known for. Highlights of his versatile filmography also include 2013’s Blue Jasmine, star and director Jon Favreau’s Chef from the following year, and leading HBO’s short-lived music history drama, Vinyl.

Jennifer Coolidge

Playing a local realtor, we have Jennifer Coolidge, who recently won an Emmy for her performance in HBO’s The White Lotus cast after nearly 30 years of memorable small screen appearances that include her starring roles on 2 Broke Girls and The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and a guest spot on Seinfeld that marked her TV debut. 

However, she is even better known for big screen titles like David Guest’s improvisational mockumentaries (such as Best in Show), being in the American Pie cast as Stifler’s Mom, the Legally Blonde movies as Paulette Parcelle, and A Cinderella Story as Hilary Duff’s evil stepmother.

Mia Farrow

A The Watcher cast member who is certainly no stranger to creepy titles is Rosemary’s Baby star Mia Farrow, who would go on to star in other thrillers like The Haunting of Julia before playing Daisy Buchanan in 1974’s The Great Gatsby, Jacqueline De Bellefort in 1978’s Death on the Nile, and a Kryptonian named Alura in the 1983 Supergirl movie, to name a few. She is also known for several Woody Allen movies (including The Purple Rose of Cairo and Hannah and Her Sisters), the 2006 remake of The Omen, and Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind. 

Margo Martindale

Three-time Emmy winner Margo Martindale (one for her recurring role in the Justified cast and two for The Americans) made her feature film debut in 1990’s Days of Thunder, starred in The Rocketeer the following year, and continued to earn roles in acclaimed films like 1995’s Dead Man Walking, 2002’s The Hours, and 2018’s Instant Family to name a small, but notable, few. Her other best-known small screen credits include a recurring spot on Bojack Horseman as herself, FX’s historical miniseries Mrs. America, and Showtime’s Your Honor cast, more recently.

Terry Kinney

Terry Kinney previously worked with Margo Martindale in The Firm in 1993 — the same year he starred in Abel Ferrara’s Body Snatchers and the year after he appeared in Michael Mann’s The Last of the Mohicans. This only describes a small portion of his notable filmography, which also includes acclaimed TV series like Thirtysomething in the late 1980s, HBO’s harrowing prison-set drama, Oz (which also featured Bobby Cannavale in a small role), Showtime’s Billions, and another fact-based Netflix original miniseries called Inventing Anna.

Joe Mantello

The Watcher marks Joe Mantello’s fifth collaboration with The Watcher co-creator Ryan Murphy following the 2014, Emmy-winning HBO movie, The Normal Heart (which Murphy directed), Netflix movie The Boys in the Band (which Mantello directed and Murphy produced), another Netflix miniseries called Hollywood (which Murphy co-created and Mantello starred in), and a role on American Horror Story Season 11 this year. The Broadway star made his screen debut in the 1989 movie, Cookie, and made his theatrically-released directorial debut with 1997’s Love! Valour! Compassion!

Richard Kind

Another Broadway-based actor in The Watcher cast is Richard Kind, whose best-known roles are, mainly, of the comedic variety — such as Paul Lassiter in the Spin City cast, the various characters he has voiced in Pixar movies like Inside Out, Marty Glouberman in Netflix’s Big Mouth cast, and recurring spots on hit sitcoms like Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Goldbergs. His more dramatic work includes Oscar darlings like Argo, 2019’s Bombshell (in which he played Rudy Giuliani), and the 2021 Netflix original tick, tick… BOOM!

Noma Dumezweni

British actress Noma Dumezweni made her feature-length film debut in director Stephen Frears’ 2002 crime thriller, Dirty Pretty Things, and her most notable cinematic credits from later include 2018’s Mary Poppins Returns, the 2019 fantasy The Kid Who Would Be King, and Netflix’s biographical drama, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, from the same year. Audiences may also recognize her from the small screen as Capt. Magambo on Doctor Who, the 2018 miniseries Black Earth Rising, an episode of Hulu’s Normal People, HBO’s The Undoing cast, HBO Max’s Made for Love cast, and FX’s Pose — her last collaboration with Ryan Murphy. 

Christopher McDonald

Emmy nominee Christopher McDonald (for his recurring role on HBO Max’s Hacks), is best known for playing unscrupulous jerks in classic ‘90s comedies like the John Hughes-penned Dutch, Happy Gilmore (also one of Adam Sandler’s best movies), Dirty Work (a cult favorite starring Norm Macdonald), and the animated sci-fi classic The Iron Giant in 1999. He also has a few credits in common with his fellow The Watcher cast members (such as Boardwalk Empire), previously worked with Ryan Murphy on Impeachment: American Crime Story, and is about to join the MCU as part of the Secret Invasion cast in an undisclosed role.

Michael Nouri

Fellow American Crime Story vet (of the second season from 2018) Michael Nouri has starred in some great ‘80s movies of both the iconic (dance drama Flashdance) and underrated variety (sci-fi thriller The Hidden) and also worked with Steven Spielberg for 2004’s The Terminal and appeared in the beloved rom-com, The Proposal, in 2009. He also has a Marvel movie under his belt (1990’s straight-to-video Captain America) but, as a TV star, he is known for soap operas like The Young and the Restless and All My Children, and recurring roles on dramas like Damages, NCIS, and Yellowstone.

Isabel Gravitt

Before joining Netflix’s The Watcher cast, Isabel Gravitt had experience portraying people involved in a suburban nightmare by starring in the 2018 horror flick, Cucuy: The Boogeyman, and the Hulu original miniseries, Little Fires Everywhere. Before then, she had a recurring role on the hit ABC sitcom, American Housewife, and played a younger version of actress Ksenia Solo’s central character in the 2017 drama, In Search of Fellini.

Henry Hunter Hall

Henry Hunter Hall debuted in 1997’s Gridlock’d — directed by his father, Vondie Curtis-Hall, who later cast him in his 2006 crime thriller, Waist Deep, and later acted alongside him the 2013 holiday movie, Black Nativity, and 2019’s Oscar-nominated biographical drama, Harriet, which his mother, Kasi Lemmons, directed. After making a brief, uncredited appearance in the quasi-true-crime-documentary American Animals in 2017, he appeared in two episodes of Netflix’s Emmy-winning, fact-based miniseries, When They See Us, in 2019 and, in 2020, joined the cast of the Amazon Prime original period action drama, Hunters.

Luke David Blumm

After making his acting debut on an episode of The Walking Dead in 2019 and following that with an episode of HBO’s Watchmen the same year, Luke David Blumm had a recurring role on Season 3 of The Sinner in 2020 and, that same year, starred in one of the best Pete Davidson movies, The King of Staten Island. He played the focus of the 2021 horror flick, Son, before later appearing in the Amazon Prime original rom-com, I Want You Back, and 2022’s adaptation of Where the Crawdads Sing as a younger version of Taylor John Smith’s character, Tate.

A cast like this should make it easy to decide if you will watch The Watcher. Stream the intense miniseries on Netflix now.

Remakes and reimaginings are still all the rage, even as the horror genre has been pushing the boundaries in past years. But Naomi Watts proved with The Ring that adapting foreign horror movies can have fantastic results, and she’s set to try it again with the upcoming release of Goodnight Mommy, which will be available to Amazon Prime subscribers on September 16. Can this Austrian remake, directed by Matt Sobel, live up the original, which was one of the best horror movies of this century? The reviews are here, and the critics seem to be in agreement in regards to answering that question.

Naomi Watts will star as the titular Mother, whose face is covered in bandages following a supposed cosmetic surgery. When her twin boys (Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti) arrive at her country home, it’s quickly obvious that something is different about their mom, and the duo start to question the identity of the person they are living with. Let’s see what critics are saying. 

Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting rates the movie 3 skulls out of 5, praising Naomi Watts’ “captivating” performance, which the critic enjoys more than those of the Crovetti brothers. There is more character development but less dread in the updated version, the review states: 

Patrick Cavanaugh of ComicBook.com also rates the film a 3 out of 5, agreeing that something is lost in Matt Sobel’s decision to focus on different aspects of the narrative than the Austrian original. However, these critics don’t agree when it comes to the actors, as this review states that the Crovettis, and particularly Cameron, are on par with Naomi Watts, and without the trio’s confident performances, Goodnight Mommy would not be a success. This critic says: 

Alyse Wax of Collider is on the same page, calling this movie a great thriller, as long as you’re unfamiliar with the original. With that condition in place, the reviewer grades the remake a B, but that grade lowers to a C when comparing it to the Austrian version: 

The remake falling into the psychological thriller category rather than horror, like the original, is a running theme throughout many of the reviews. David Rooney of THR, like his peers, says this isn’t going to keep anyone awake at night: 

Michael Nordine of Variety says the film was better than he expected it to be, but there is really no reason to have a remake of the original, which is less than 10 years old. However, it could be a pleasant surprise for those who don’t know the twist of the original: 

The critics all seem to be in agreement that the Naomi Watts-led remake doesn’t live up to the horror of its Austrian predecessor, but newcomers to the story are likely to enjoy the psychological thriller. Goodnight Mommy will be available for streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video on Friday, September 16. You can also check out some more upcoming horror movies, and start planning your next trip to the theater with our 2022 Movie Release Schedule. 

Ryan Murphy is known for horror when it comes to television, but when it comes to movies, Naomi Watts is a scream queen. The actress starred in 2002’s The Ring as well as its sequel in 2005. Now the two of them are teaming up, as Watts will be the lead in Murphy’s new Netflix series, The Watcher. Watts recently revealed what it’s like returning to horror and it’s like 2002 all over again.

Naomi Watts recently talked to EW while promoting her new movie Lakewood. While she wasn’t able to say much about the new series, she did express her excitement about working with Ryan Murphy, who is known for shows such as American Horror Story, Glee, 9-1-1, and American Crime Story. Watts shared:

News broke that Naomi Watts would be leading Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix limited series The Watcher, along with Bobby Cannavale, in June. Not much is known about the series, but the show reportedly follows a married couple who get threatening letters from a stalker after moving into their “dream home.” Watts is known for horror besides The Ring, as she’s leading Amazon’s remake of the horror cult classic Goodnight Mommy. The Watcher seems like it’s going to be a great addition to the genre, especially since it’s from Ryan Murphy.

The Watcher marks a big TV leading role for Naomi Watts since she was originally supposed to star in a Game of Thrones prequel that was in the works after the original HBO fantasy drama came to an end. The prequel series ultimately didn't move forward and was replaced by a different prequel altogether. Last year, Watts shared her disappointment. But at least with the cancellation of one series, Watts is still open to starring roles on the small screen, with The Watcher as the latest on the way.

With The Ring franchise, Naomi Watts is no stranger to horror. However, Watts was not part of the 2017 reboot Rings. Director F. Javier Gutierrez told CinemaBlend that although the thought crossed their minds, it was a matter of tying it to the original too much when they wanted it to be a separate movie. Watts will be back into horror once again in The Watcher. There are not too many details on what's coming with The Watcher, including when it could premiere on Netflix, but stay tuned to CinemaBlend for any updates and be sure to check out our fall 2021 TV schedule as well!

The last several years have been quite good to the horror genre, with movies from both the Hollywood space and other countries having contributed to this “renaissance” period. As an example of the latter, 2015 saw the wide release of Goodnight Mommy, an Austrian psychological horror movie that scored a lot of positive reception, including being named one of the Top 5 Foreign Language Films of 2015 by the National Board of Review. Well, word’s come in that Amazon now has a remake of Goodnight Mommy in the works.

Naomi Watts, who’s no stranger to horror thanks to playing Rachel Keller in The Ring and The Ring Two, has been tapped to star in and executive produce Amazon Studios’ Goodnight Mommy remake. Take Me To The River director Matt Sobel will helm the remake, working off a script written by Kyle Warren. The new take on Goodnight Mommy hails from the Animal Kingdom indie label and production company Playtime, the latter of which acquired the remake writes. Amazon is handling the financing and will release its version of Goodnight Mommy worldwide. Here’s what Sobel said about the project to Variety:

My favorite films are those that invite the audience to step inside their protagonist’s journey. In our re-imagining of Goodnight Mommy, fear of abandonment — and the dreadful realization that those close to us may not be who they seem — create an immersive nightmare, with visceral sensations front and center. I can’t wait to create this heart-stopping story with Amazon and the peerless Naomi Watts.

For those unfamiliar with Goodnight Mommy, the original movie followed twin adolescent brothers who are sent to live with their mother, whose head is bandaged following cosmetic facial surgery, making only her eyes and mouth visible. The boys soon notice that their mother is behaving abnormally, and it eventually gets to the point where they believe that she is actually an impostor, which leads them to take drastic actions to learn the truth. Goodnight Mommy was so well received that it was selected to be Austria’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 88th Academy Awards, but it didn’t make the final cut.

So now Naomi Watts gets to add another American remake of a foreign horror movie to her resume, as The Ring was based on the 1998’s Ring from Japan, which itself was based on the same-named novel by Koji Suzuki. As far as Watts’ work in recent years go, the Academy Award-nominated actress’ credits include The Glass Castle, Ophelia, The Loudest Voice and Penguin Bloom, and she most recently popped up in the Frank Grillo and Mel Gibson-led action movie Boss Level (alas, her Game of Thrones prequel isn’t moving forward). Since development on the Goodnight Mommy remake is still in the early stages, it’ll be a while until we get a first look at the Amazon production, but fingers crossed this remake will be a captivating watch, just like its predecessor.

While we wait for more news concerning Amazon’s version of Goodnight Mommy, check out our upcoming 2021 movies schedule to learn what’s hitting theaters later this year, or you’re welcome to read through CinemaBlend’s picks for the best horror movies of 2020.

Among Netflix’s latest releases this week is the heartwarming and heart-wrenching true story about a family adopting an injured magpie in the wake of their mother’s recent paralysis. Penguin Bloom stars The Impossible actress Naomi Watts and The Walking Dead’s Andrew Lincoln. The actors portray Australian couple Sam and Cameron Bloom, who told their story through a best-selling book back in 2019 before being adapted into this inspiring movie.

The title refers to the oddball name the Bloom children gave their magpie. While Naomi Watts’ Sam is feeling stuck and isolated without the ability to walk, she seeks solace in taking care of the magpie. When CinemaBlend spoke to Watts, she told us about her initial thoughts about heavily co-starring with magpies on the set of the film:

Getting pooped on by an animal (especially as a kid) wouldn’t exactly elicit the strongest or fondest reaction in working with one, but Diana actress Naomi Watts rose to the occasion for Penguin Bloom. I’m sad to say Watts had to face the situation again with one of the magpies, as she got “swooped again” right on top of her head and it trickled right into her mouth, per The Age. But hey, they do say never work with animals for a reason or two.

Magpies are common in Australia and said to be one of the most intelligent birds (and animals) in the world. They get a bad rep for launching their droppings from the sky, but they actually have the capacity to develop lifelong friendships with humans, along with being monogamous among their magpie mates. Naomi Watts elaborated with us about working with them on the set of the film:

Penguin Bloom definitely educates and exposes the audience to the unique sensibility of the magpie through this beautiful story about a family’s journey to heal from a tragedy. Naomi Watts and Andrew Lincoln worked closely with the Bloom family for the Netflix movie, particularly by filming the movie in their actual home. Watts was also given access to Sam’s journals from the time she was dealing with the depression and powerlessness before facing it head on and Penguin came along.

Naomi Watts and Andrew Lincoln star in Penguin Bloom, now available to stream on Netflix. Be sure to check out what else is coming to the streaming service this year here on CinemaBlend.

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Throughout the course of its eight season runtime, HBO's Game of Thrones truly dominated pop culture. And when series ended last year, the network began exploring a few spinoff options. While some of these efforts are still developing, Naomi Watts was set to star in a now-cancelled project. And the Birdman actress recently revealed what she wishes she could share about filming the pilot.

Game of Thrones brought George R.R. Martin's fantasy world to life, and fans are eager to dive back into Westeros on the small screen. While a Targaryen prequel is still in development, fans will likely never see the pilot which starred Naomi Watts. She recently spoke to the experience of keeping the cancelled show's secrets, saying:

While Naomi Watts might not be a Game of Thrones fan like so many of us, she still wants to share tidbits from the set of her spinoff pilot to the public. Specifically, showing off the Westerosi costume she got to wear as her mysterious character. We'll just have to see if the floodgates open and she's able to reveal it sometime in the future.

Naomi Watts' comments to Collider are sure to excite the countless Game of Thrones fans out there who want to know what went down with her mysterious spinoff. Because while the project never came to fruition, it would reveal where the dropped project would have continued the franchise's story. Unfortunately, it sees the King Kong star is keeping her cards close to the chest for the time being.

Game of Thrones is currently streaming in its entirety over on HBO Max. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.

Later in her same conversation, Naomi Watts went on to explain that she's worried how anything she reveals about the Game of Thrones spinoff pilot might be a potential spoiler for a future project. After all, HBO will want to utilize the beloved property at some point. As she explained in the same interview,

Smart move. Because while it's unclear when Westeros will return to our televisions through a Game of Thrones spinoff, it's only a matter of time before the property returns to HBO. And as such, Naomi Watts is going to keep her pilot's secrets for the time being. After all, some of the concepts from the dropped show could end up incorporated into another spinoff.

CinemaBlend will keep you updated on all things Game of Thrones as more details become public. In the meantime, check out our fall premiere list to plan your next binge watch.

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In three films released in the last six years, the John Wick franchise has done a brilliant job hiring real badasses to star opposite Keanu Reeves in key supporting roles. The likes of Adrienne Palicki and Willem Dafoe were in on the ground floor starring in the first movie, but since then we've seen actors like Ruby Rose, Common, Franco Nero, Laurence Fishburne, Cecep Arif Rahman, Yayan Ruhian, and Halle Berry tear up the screen in the sequels. As fans, we can’t help but wonder how the movies will continue that trend in future titles, and who they will cast next… so we decided to craft what one might call a wish list.

As of now it’s unclear how long the John Wick franchise will last, but assuming that it will continue ad infinitum, we definitely have some ideas about who director Chad Stahelski should bring on-board – with a particular focus on actors who have the capacity to realistically participate in the ridiculous trademark action sequences.

Uma Thurman

Can anyone explain why Uma Thurman hasn’t done a lot more action movies? Her role as Beatrix Kiddo a.k.a. The Bride in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill is iconic because of the amount of ass she kicks, and yet she has not played the lead in a serious action feature since then (and that was 16 years ago). Having her take on a significant role in the future of the John Wick franchise would make for a dream pairing, and would be a great opportunity to put a sword back in her hands. Plus, the series could go a step further and also cast Thurman’s Kill Bill stunt double, Zoe Bell, alongside her – perhaps even as a sister.

Gina Carano

From Haywire, to Fast & Furious 6, to Deadpool, to The Mandalorian, Gina Carano has consistently demonstrated herself as a consummate badass on-screen, with her background as a professional MMA fighter lending a special authenticity to all of her roles. This is the same authenticity that is deeply embedded in the atmosphere of the John Wick movies, and thus the actor makes for an excellent match for the content. When given proper material she can deliver a great performance, and it’s consistently fun to see her just tear through opponents. She could be a powerful ally, or the titular hero’s worst nightmare, but either way Carano should be a part of this series.

Iko Uwais

I would give you full permission to dismiss this list as invalid if it didn’t include Iko Uwais, so consider this me saving you the need to leave a negative post in the comments section. For those who don’t immediate recognize the name, Uwais is the star of the two movies in The Raid duology (which is one of the most bone-crunchingly incredible pieces of modern action cinema), and has seen his profile grow recently with roles in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Stuber, and the upcoming Snake Eyes. Frankly, the only reason I can fathom that the Indonesian star isn’t already a part of the franchise is because Chad Stahelski has been saving him for some kind of grand finale. And, of course, if the series were to bring Uwais on board, it would also be amazing to see…

Joe Taslim

Those who have seen The Raid will recognize Joe Taslim as one of the main villains in the film opposite Iko Uwais – but their awesome on screen chemistry has continued in the years since then as well with their protagonist/antagonist roles changed in the blistering The Night Comes For Us. Taslim has also been gaining a lot of exposure in Hollywood movies, like Star Trek Beyond, Fast & Furious 6, and the upcoming Mortal Kombat, and it feels like it’s only a matter of time before he is brought into the John Wick universe. It’s insanely fun to watch him do his thing, and we want to see it opposite Keanu Reeves.

Naomi Watts

Known for making dramas like Mulholland Drive, The Impossible, and Birdman, Naomi Watts may not be the first actor you think of when contemplating potential additions to an action franchise like the John Wick movies, but that simply demonstrates a gap in your knowledge about her. While she hasn’t had many opportunities to show off her skills on film, Watts has trained in martial arts for years, participating in Judo contests in the late 1980s/early 1990s, and more recently learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. To see that background translated on screen with her acting opposite Keanu Reeves sounds like a recipe for surprise and awesomeness.

Tony Jaa

With the exception of small roles in Furious 7 and xXx: Return Of Xander Cage, Tony Jaa doesn't have a great deal of experience working in English-language films, but from a physical perspective he most definitely has what it takes to function well in a John Wick movie. In his native Thailand he has been working in film since the early 1990s, and is best known for whipping all kinds of ass playing the hero in the Ong Bak trilogy. He’ll soon be getting more exposure in America via the release of the upcoming Monster Hunter, and perhaps that will wind up being his springboard into the Keanu Reeves-led series.

Michael Jai White

From Spawn, to Black Dynamite, to Arrow, Michael Jai White’s physical prowess has long been a key part of what he brings to the table as an actor, and his background explains why. While he has a particular focus in Kyrokushin Karate, he practices eight different styles of martial arts. He is exactly the kind of performer you expect to see in a John Wick movie if not simply because action fans actively talk about showdowns like Michael Jai White vs. Keanu Reeves. He’d be an excellent fit for the future of the series.

Forest Whitaker

There probably isn’t a ton of crossover on the Venn diagram of “Best Actor Oscar Winners” and “Black Belts,” but Forest Whitaker actually exists in both categories. He's never been a big action guy on the silver screen, but he is expertly trained in Kenpo Karate (a form originating in America), and is also experienced in Escrima (a weapons-based martial art created in the Philippines). Whitaker has had significant dramatic roles in recent blockbusters like Black Panther and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but it would be great to see him exercise his fighting talents in future John Wick chapters.

What actors would you like to see join the John Wick franchise at some point in the future? Hit the comments section with your thoughts, feelings, and opinions, and stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for updates about future movies in the series.

Even before fans said goodbye to Game of Thrones earlier this year, which ended its watch after eight seasons, HBO announced a spinoff prequel to the hit series. However, Naomi Watts, the prequel’s star, surprisingly admitted to not knowing anything about Game of Thrones before signing on to the new series.

Though the HBO series ended its long reign as one of the most popular sci-fi/fantasy series of all time, Game of Thrones went out with a bang, winning in the category of Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmy Awards Sunday night (though it lost big in other categories). HBO has since announced a few potential spinoffs of the show, including the one starring Naomi Watts, which will chronicle the transition from "the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour."

Naomi Watts (who starred in The Impossible and Netflix's since-canceled Gypsy), was cast in the prequel as a socialite with a huge, dark secret. The actress was on hand at the Emmys, where she shockingly revealed to Entertainment Tonight that she had never actually seen the HBO show prior to her casting.

Of course, watching just one episode of Game of Thrones without becoming addicted to the series is hard. Just ask any fan (I binged seven seasons of the show in a matter of weeks). Suffice it to say that Naomi Watts also became an avid fan of the show fairly quickly, which is good because it’s the best homework (aside from reading George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire) in preparing to play her character in the prequel.

Here's how Naomi Watts put it:

This Game of Thrones prequel (one of several that HBO is producing), has yet to be given an actual title, but will include a backstory on the White Walkers, as well as introduce new members of House Stark. The series will be set during the Age of Heroes and prior to the Long Night, which was the dreaded winter that first brought the White Walkers to Westeros.

Though Game of Thrones received several Emmy nominations and Peter Dinklage won in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Tyrion Lannister, many fans weren't thrilled with the way the series ended in Season 8. At least with this prequel series, the world of Game of Thrones gets to start fresh and will hopefully win over the favor of fans.

The Game of Thrones prequel doesn't have a premiere date yet, but there's plenty of other shows premiering this week and in the not-too-distant future, so be sure to check out our Fall TV schedule in the meantime.

Before Game of Thrones came to a divisive end this May, work on prequels to the franchise were already underway. The first to make it the pilot stage has been the project starring Naomi Watts. Note that it has not been ordered to series yet, so don't start planning your watch parties just yet.

After a lot of speculation about when it would happen, filming on the prequel reportedly began this week. As you can imagine, doing a project with as intense of a pre-existing spotlight as a Game of Thrones prequel can be “scary.” Naomi Watts opened up about her emotions surrounding the project, telling the AP (via The Wrap):

Her excitement is entirely understandable to me. She has joined the cast of one of the most popular franchises on the planet. Her nerves also make sense. Naomi Watts is reportedly beginning to film the pilot for the prequel, right on the heels of the original series’ explosive end. One that was microscopically covered and analyzed.

That has to be daunting. Thankfully, Naomi Watts has some creative breathing room between the series. The still-untitled prequel is set thousands of years before the events chronicled in Game of Thrones. Watts remains hopeful about how fans could respond to the prequel, saying:

The team behind the series consists of A Song of Fire and Ice author George R.R. Martin, and Kingsman franchise screenwriter Jane Goldman. Earlier in the prequel process, there was a series in the works from Game of Thrones contributor Bryan Cogman and George R.R. Martin.

When Season 8 was airing, Bryan Cogman revealed that the project would not be going forward. Other prequels are still in the works, according to George R.R. Martin. He recently shared that three spinoffs are making progress at HBO.

In the vein of Game of Thrones’ sprawling ensemble, a considerable cast of co-stars will join Naomi Watts. So far, the project remains shrouded in considerable mystery. There have been some clues and George R.R. Martin has clarified the timeline and other vital details.

HBO has decided to forgo Game of Thrones follow-up spinoffs, including an incredibly fan-desired Arya spinoff that would follow the younger Stark sister on her adventures west of Westeros. HBO’s president of programming explained why it would not happen. In essence, the network is currently planning to chart its course to the past of Game of Thrones’ era of Westeros.

It will be exciting to see how the pilot comes together and if it gets picked up. Naomi Watts will be playing a socialite that has “a dark secret.” If that is not a Game of Thrones style character, what is? I’m highly intrigued to find out what her secret is.

Want to relive Game of Thrones’ final season? You can already do so on digital. While waiting for word on whether HBO picks of the prequel pilot, there are loads of summer premieres to relish.

Game of Thrones has only one season left before the end, and it will be the shortest season of the series to date. Although HBO has yet to release an official premiere date for the eighth and final season, fans may already be mourning the end of one of the most epic series in television history. The good news is that the end of Game of Thrones doesn't mean the end of the Westeros action on HBO, as a spinoff pilot has already been ordered.

HBO has actually had multiple spinoffs in development for a while, and the first to get the order for a pilot will be set thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones picked up. The project hasn't even received an official name just yet, so details are relatively scarce. That said, we do know the bare bones of what the show will be about if ordered to series, and we know some of the actors cast for major roles.

Let's start with the actress seemingly poised to take the spot as leading lady!

Naomi Watts

Naomi Watts is probably best known nowadays for her roles on the big screen, even scoring Academy Awards nominations for best leading actress on two occasions. She did recently star in a Netflix series of her own, but it wasn't especially well-received, and Gypsy got the axe after only one season. The Game of Thrones prequel pilot could be the project that turns her into a force to be reckoned with on the small screen.

For the HBO pilot, Naomi Watts will play a charismatic socialite. Fitting with characters introduced on Game of Thrones, she conceals a dark secret. If she takes after members of high society from Game of Thrones, she may be more than willing to kill if that's what it takes to protect her secret. At this point, we can only speculate about her character's role.

Josh Whitehouse

If you're familiar with Josh Whitehouse, you're probably a fan of Poldark. The actor played Hugh Armitage for ten episodes. He'll appear in the upcoming remake of Valley Girl, tackling the role originally played by none other than Nicolas Cage. You can also find his face on billboards in certain places, as he is the face of Burberry's new fragrance campaign.

Unfortunately, there are even fewer details about Josh Whitehouse's role on the Game of Thrones prequel project than there are for Naomi Watts. Deadline reports that he landed "a lead role," which at least indicates that he'll play a prominent character. Beyond that, we can only guess. Now, onto some new castings!

Naomi Ackie

Prequel viewers can expect to see Naomi Ackie on board the new show, although any details about who she'll play have not yet been released. The British actress is best known for her role in the 2016 movie adaptation of Lady Macbeth, and she did appear on Doctor Who and a couple episodes of British crime miniseries The Five prior to her Shakespearean turn in Lady Macbeth. More recently, she appeared in five episodes of Hulu's The Bisexual, and she will appear in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX.

Denise Gough

Although there is no news about Denise Gough on the Game of Thrones prequel aside from her casting (via Deadline), Gough should be an intriguing addition to the show. She has a strong background in both theater and television on the British side of the pond, going all the way back to 2004. The 38-year-old Irish actress appeared on Broadway's Angels in America in 2018, and most viewers will probably recognize her from her performance as Mathilde de Morny in 2018's Colette, which starred Kiera Knightly.

Jamie Bower Campbell

Jamie Bower Campbell's character is under wraps, and his past roles indicate that he could play one of the heroes as well as one of the shadier characters without much trouble. His versatility -- as demonstrated by roles ranging from the lovesick Anthony in Sweeney Todd to young dark wizard Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald to Jace in The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones -- means that it may be difficult guessing what kind of character he'll play without more information or footage.

Sheila Atim

Sheila Atim is another actress with Shakespeare experience, as she appeared in The Donmar Warehouse's All-Female Shakespeare Trilogy (which included The Tempest, Henry IV, and Julius Caesar). American viewers are more likely to recognize her from her appearances as Limehouse Nell in the second season of Harlots, which airs in the U.S. on Hulu. She has worked on multiple period projects in the past; although the Game of Thrones universe isn't exactly a period piece, the Seven Kingdoms do generally require historical-esque costumes and language. The prequel could be a good fit for Atim!

Ivanno Jeremiah

Ivanno Jeremiah will make the jump to HBO from AMC, where he spent three seasons playing a synth on Humans. Unsurprisingly, no details have been released about his Game of Thrones prequel character, but he probably won't be playing a robot this time around. The English actor also nabbed roles in episodes of Black Mirror and Doctor Who, so he has experience in genre series all around.

Georgie Henley

23-year-old Georgie Henley made a name for herself on the big screen with her performances as Lucy Pevensie in the relatively short-lived Chronicles of Narnia film franchise, which ran for three movies and covered three of the seven books in the novel series. She's slated to appear in Starz's upcoming Spanish Princess TV show, so HBO won't be the only premium cable network she'll have worked for in recent years.

Alex Sharp

Alex Sharp is another British actor with a strong history in stage theater. After graduating from Juilliard in 2014, he landed a Broadway role in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, for which he won a Tony Award. For non-Broadway fans, he starred in the 2017 sci-fi rom com How to Talk to Girls at Parties, alongside Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman.

Toby Regbo

Just as the Game of Thrones prequel cast the person who played young Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, young Dumbledore (played by Toby Regbo) is on board as well. TV fans may be more likely to recognize him for his performances as Francis on The CW's Reign and then Aethelred -- no, not that Aethelred -- on The Last Kingdom. Here's another actor used to wearing period costumes!

Miranda Richardson

Yet another actor from the Harry Potter franchise has signed on? What does it mean? Not much, likely, but it still is interesting to note that Oscar nominated actress Miranda Richardson has jumped on board the prequel. Of course, there's no specifics to who she'll be playing yet, although her role is noted to be substantial. We'd expect nothing less considering her resume in Hollywood, and reputation as one of England's premiere actresses.

The setting of the spinoff does mean that none of the Game of Thrones characters we've come to know and love/hate will be able to appear, unless Bran uses his Three-Eyed Raven powers to visit the past (and perhaps build the Wall as Bran the Builder). The spinoff action will reportedly take place during an era of transition, as the world moves from "the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour."

Assuming it gets a series order, the show will explore the true origin of the White Walkers, the Starks of days long gone by, and "mysteries of the East." As A Song of Ice and Fire book readers (who are undoubtedly starting to get seriously cranky about how long Winds of Winter is taking) know, the Age of Heroes ended when Westeros was plunged into the Long Night, a.k.a. that dreadful winter that lasted a generation and inspired some of Old Nan's spookiest stories.

The Long Night saw the arrival of the White Walkers from the far North for the first time, and the Children of the Forest teamed up with the First Men to drive them away. If the spinoff prequel does indeed tackle this era, viewers are in for a wild ride. Naomi Watts' character description as a socialite sounds fitting to a golden Age of Heroes, even if only at the end before the Long Night.

If ordered to series, the project still likely won't hit the airwaves for quite a while, although filming may begin sooner than we expected. A casting call recently went out with descriptions of some characters who will be featured, so progress is clearly being made.

For now, we can only imagine. George R.R. Martin will be involved in the pilot despite Game of Thrones not running for as long as he'd hoped, so perusing some of his published materials could provide some background on what's going to happen. He has stated that finishing Winds of Winter will be his top priority, so he won't be overseeing everything on the spinoff project.

George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood book could be a source for helpful information. It won't be a novel like those in the A Song of Ice and Fire series, but rather a "monumental history of the Targaryen kings of Westeros." It could provide background valuable to the writers and producers of the spinoff prequel. Only time will tell.

For now, you can look forward to the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones hitting the airwaves in 2019. A lot of characters are probably going to die, and we can only cross our fingers and hope for our favorites to make it to the end. Very little footage has released so far. Check out our midseason TV schedule for some viewing options now and in the not-too-distant future.

Only one abbreviated season of Game of Thrones is left before the final credits roll, but that won't necessarily be the end of the action in Westeros and beyond. Multiple spinoffs have been in development, and one scored a pilot order over the summer. Now, we know that Naomi Watts of The Impossible and Gypsy has landed the lead role.

Naomi Watts has landed a starring role in the Game of Thrones prequel spinoff pilot, which does not yet have a title, and not a whole lot of details are currently available about what to expect. Watts is slated to play a socialite with no shortage of charisma, but -- like many of the Game of Thrones characters -- she hides a dark secret.

The character's name has not yet been revealed, according to THR, so we can only speculate at this point if she's a member of one of the noble houses of Westeros. Naomi Watts could certainly be a good fit for a Targaryen character based on her looks, although having blonde hair hardly means that she must be a Targaryen. After all, Emilia Clarke only recently went blonde in real life.

Still, the Targaryens would still be around during the time of the prequel, which is set thousands of years before Game of Thrones, so it's not impossible. The pilot was created by Jane Goldman, and she'll serve as executive producer and showrunner, along with George R.R. Martin.

Book fans can only hope that the prequel doesn't keep him so busy that he can't keep working on Winds of Winter. The setting so far ahead of Game of Thrones means even diehard fans can't predict exactly what the prequel will cover, if ordered to series. Since this is a Game of Thrones spinoff pilot, it shouldn't surprise anybody that the pilot is getting a lot of resources to film, and filming could kick off sooner than expected.

Interestingly, the news of Naomi Watts' casting comes shortly after a casting call for the spinoff pilot hit the web, and the descriptions for the characters give the impression that the pilot will at least feature characters from Essos and perhaps the Summer Isles. Only time will tell. If this spinoff is the one to get a series order, we'll get to see Naomi Watts in action.

Game of Thrones will return in 2019, with the prequel at some point after if ordered to series from the pilot. Given how little footage HBO has released about Game of Thrones' last season, we may not want to expect too many details released about the spinoff if it really happens. The network can be reasonably confident about gaining an audience even if little footage hits the airwaves early. Game of Thrones fans may be in Westeros withdrawal, especially if Winds of Winter doesn't happen in the foreseeable future.

The good news is that speculation can be a lot of fun when it comes to the Game of Thrones universe. Between all the lore about the history of the universe created by George R.R. Martin and the show's adaptation, there are a lot of factors to take into account when imagining the future of the franchise, if technically the past of Game of Thrones.

The prospective spinoff is teased as containing "horrifying secrets of Westeros' history" as well as the "true origin of the White Walkers," which we may need to take to mean that Game of Thrones won't reveal that true origin in its final batch of episodes. The new project is slated to tackle parts of the East that have not yet been explored on HBO, and the Starks from hundreds and hundreds of years past.

A lot of what we can accurately guess about the pilot depends on when exactly it is set. Most reports of the prequel place it as "thousands" of years before the events of Game of Thrones, which opens it up to a lot of major events Thrones characters have only talked about. A different report claimed the spinoff will take place only a thousand years ahead of the flagship series, but I'm still inclined to believe that the pilot will be set further back.

Why? Well, when the spinoff pilot was first ordered, it was described as following the transition from "the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour." The Age of Heroes on Game of Thrones and in the still-incomplete A Song of Ice and Fire book saga was around 8,000 years ahead of the War of the Five Kings. Assuming that descriptions holds true, we should expect the new characters to hail from further than 1 thousand years in the past.

If the "darkest hour" refers to the Long Night that plunged Westeros into the legendary winter that lasted a full generation and saw the first emergence of the White Walkers into the south, we can probably count on the Children of the Forest appearing, and perhaps the birth of Bran the Builder, who built the Wall after the first time the White Walkers were pushed back into the far north.

If one fan theory is correct and Bran used his Three-Eyed Raven powers to go back in time and build the Wall as Bran the Builder, that could open the door for at least one Game of Thrones actor to reprise their role for the spinoff. As I said, a lot depends on when the spinoff pilot is set. The Age of Heroes undoubtedly didn't plunge into its darkest hour overnight, so it would be interesting to see how the transition is handled.

Game of Thrones went from a time of seeming contentment between the Seven Kingdoms under Robert Baratheon's reign to chaos by the end of the first season, when Joffrey had Ned Stark executed and messed up just about all the players' plans. The spinoff could follow the same sort of format and end the Age of Heroes early on to focus on the darkness.

Alternately, it could stand apart from its predecessor and spend more time on the Age of Heroes before everything goes wrong and winter comes. The description of Naomi Watts' character as a socialite seems to place her somewhere prior to a devastating long winter. In the stories told of the Long Night, I don't recall anybody chatting about the social scene. Maybe Old Nan didn't get that far in her stories before her death.

Only time will tell. For now, we can always rewatch the earlier seasons of Game of Thrones and read the published materials courtesy of George R.R. Martin to help speculate about what's to come if the pilot is ordered to series and makes it to the airwaves following the end of Thrones.

It has been a while since there has been headlining-making news about Showtime's upcoming untitled miniseries centered on late Fox News founder, Roger Ailes. Back in June, the limited drama based on Gabriel Sherman's bestselling book The Loudest Voice in the Room was announced. Along with the news that Russell Crowe would star as Ailes in the drama. Well, the miniseries has added another dose of star power to its cast. Crowe's fellow Aussie, Naomi Watts, has joined him on the project.

The actress, who recently starred in Netflix's one-season drama Gypsy is keeping her TV career going, having boarded the Showtime miniseries. Watts has signed on to star as former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson in the drama, per EW. Carlson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Roger Ailes, after she was fired from her position on the news network. On behalf of Ailes, Fox News ended up settling the suit with Carlson. She is currently serving as the chairwoman on Miss America's board of directors.

So, how much will Naomi Watts be featured in the show? It makes sense to expect her time to be significant as the eight-episode series is set to primarily focus on the last decade of Roger Ailes' life, which Gretchen Carlson ended up heavily figuring into. The show's description also points to telling the story from multiple viewpoints. Only time will reveal if one of them is Carlson's.

Making the casting news all the more interesting is that Naomi Watts will not be the only one portraying Gretchen Carlson on-screen in the near future. The news of Watts' casting comes as one of her closest friends, Nicole Kidman, is also set to portray Carlson in a movie. Thanks to one actress playing Carlson on television, and the other in a film, they will not have to go head-to-head during the awards season frenzy over the same role.

The Showtime series is set to be a major player when awards season comes around with the two-time Oscar-nominated, Naomi Watts, arguably an early contender in the limited series categories. That said, Big Little Lies Season 2 will almost certainly be a factor during the upcoming awards season. Whether this untitled Roger Ailes drama will have premiered in time to go against it, will be interesting to watch.

Television is currently enduring an embarrassment of riches when it comes to mega-star talent making forays onto the smaller screen. It is an excellent sign that an actress of Naomi Watts' skill is keeping her television career going. When you will get to watch Watts starring as Gretchen Carlson in the Showtime miniseries is currently unknown. A premiere date for it has not been announced yet, so stay tuned. In the meantime, there will be lots of new fall television to keep viewers busy.

The future of original series is rarely guaranteed on Netflix nowadays, and even shows with high profiles and/or big name stars won't necessarily have a long life on the streaming service. Now, another original series has bitten the dust. Netflix has officially cancelled Gypsy after only one season. Naomi Watts will not be back as Jean Holloway.

Netflix is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to ratings and viewership, so there was no way for folks at home to know for sure if Gypsy was a hit or not. Still, the cancellation comes as a bit of a surprise, as Deadline reports that the writers have been back at work planning storylines and even penning scripts for a second season. Conversations about Season 2 have apparently been ongoing, and the odds looked pretty good for more Gypsy on the way. Unfortunately for the cast, crew, and whatever fans who became attached to the show after its single batch of episodes, the Season 1 finale was ultimately the series finale.

The cancellation will undoubtedly come as bad news for those who were hoping that Season 2 would provide some payoff to the unresolved plots of Season 1. There were still a great many questions that were still unanswered by the end of the Season 1 finale. While Netflix has proven to be willing to give cancelled shows one last hurrah to tie up loose ends, I'm guessing Gypsy doesn't have the impassioned fanbase to try and make it happen.

News of the cancellation comes a few months after Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that the company's "hit ratio is way too high" and they "should have a higher cancel rate overall." Gypsy isn't the only show to get the axe from the streaming service this year. Sense8, The Get Down, and Girlboss were all cancelled as well. That said, Netflix hasn't refused to give renewal orders. Dear White People, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and GLOW are only a few of the shows that will be back. Throw in the Marvel universe that is still continuing to grow and the upcoming return of Arrested Development, and Netflix will have plenty of originals, even without Gypsy.

Gypsy starred Naomi Watts as Manhattan therapist Jean Holloway. Although she seemed to have the perfect life with a perfect family, she concealed a darker aside as she began illicit and incredibly inappropriate relationships with the people who she learned about from her patients' stories. Fantasy life and reality collide for Jean, and her actions threaten to ruin the lives of many, ranging from her patients to her husband. We can only guess at what would have happened next.

For a closer look at Netflix's lineup, take a gander at our 2017 Netflix premiere guide. If streaming isn't totally your style, our fall TV premiere schedule has all the dates you could need for cable and network television as well.

No matter where we go or what we do with our lives, there's no changing where we came from or who was there with us as we grew up. For better or for worse, our childhoods define us, and few people have ever experienced a childhood as bizarre and turbulent as New York Times best-selling author Jeannette Walls. Destin Daniel Cretton's The Glass Castle is the silver screen take on Jeannette's life story, and while the film sometimes gets bogged down in cliché and a palpable sense of melodrama, the two lead performances and strength of execution definitely make it worth a watch.

Chronicling events that actually transpired in the life of author Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle follows the writer (portrayed as an adult by Brie Larson) as she navigates her seemingly perfect life as a gossip columnist in 1989. Engaged to a wealthy New York businessman named David (Max Greenfield), Jeannette does everything in her power to avoid revealing much about her past -- until she comes across her mother Mary (Naomi Watts) and her father Rex (Woody Harrelson) living as squatters in the city. Following this encounter, memories of Jeannette's childhood come flooding back to her, and she finds herself forced to grapple with the traumatic events that occurred at the hands of her alcoholic (yet well-intentioned) father.

Right off of the bat, it's easy to see that Brie Larson (reuniting with Cretton after her star-making performance in Short Term 12) and Woody Harrelson fire on all cylinders in this movie. Though Max Greenfield and Naomi Watts often find themselves shortchanged by the material given to them, Larson and Harrelson are absolutely magnetic as an estranged father-daughter duo. Harrelson, in particular, delivers a career-best performance as the hard-drinking Rex Walls, and the actor conveys a notable sadness and empathetic sensibility -- even when Rex does things that are objectively abhorrent. Harrelson has two Oscar nominations to his name for The Messenger and The People vs. Larry Flynt, but The Glass Castle could potentially be the one that turns him from Academy Award Nominee Woody Harrelson into Academy Award Winner Woody Harrelson.

Brie Larson similarly does an incredible job embodying her role, which it is even more impressive when you learn that Jennifer Lawrence was actually the first choice for the role before dropping out. However, the use of flashbacks gives her considerably less screen time and forces her to share Jeannette with several other talented young actresses like Ella Anderson and Chandler Head, thus making Harrelson the de facto "star" of the show.

That said, although The Glass Castle is an adaptation of a wildly successful memoir, it is also sometimes hard to shake the sense that certain sequences in the movie feel ripped straight from "Oscar Bait 101." From a scene in which Rex drives his family out into the middle of the desert to camp under the stars and experience "real" life, to an emotional alcohol detox scene, it is sometimes hard to shake the sense that we have seen moments like these in other movies. They are the type of moments that get played during reels at awards ceremonies, and it sometimes lends the cynical sense that The Glass Castle knows exactly what it is trying to achieve with its particular form of storytelling.

That's not to say that Destin Daniel Cretton doesn't handle most of these (admittedly cliché) scenes with a deft hand. There is a high degree of filmmaking prowess on display in The Glass Castle's cinematography, and a few of the movie's more emotional sequences maintain a decidedly raw tone that almost makes you forget that the film has a PG-13 rating. Perhaps most notably, there's a scene towards the middle of the movie in which an inebriated Rex attempts to teach Jeannette to swim at a public pool. Mostly shot in one take, the sequence starts off innocent enough but builds in tension as the audience begins to realize just how far Rex is willing to go to show off his unorthodox parenting style. It's sequences like this one that make The Glass Castle work as well as it does, but they can only work so well when the narrative foundation (much like the foundation of an actual glass castle) can't hold it up.

Ultimately, the biggest issue with The Glass Castle is the fact that the scenes that catch up with adult Jeannette Walls in 1989 simply don't carry the same amount of weight as the film's flashbacks. The "present day" sequences are meant to work in tandem with the flashbacks in order to help flesh out the story of the Walls family, but the flashbacks simply have so much more meat on their bones that you start to wait for them whenever the film cuts back to adult Jeannette. It's obviously important to see the long-term consequences of the Rex-Jeannette relationship, but the film could've done a better job of investing us in both arcs.

Let me be clear; The Glass Castle is the furthest thing from a bad movie. It tells an emotionally rich story replete with Oscar-caliber performances and some impressive visuals. The only issue is the fact that it depicts a somewhat conventional and cliché arc that builds to an emotional yet still predictable and unsatisfying climax. There's an abundance of talent on display in The Glass Castle, but the story of the Walls family never rises to the occasion and becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Netflix is bringing yet another movie star to the small screen in the not-too-distant future. Naomi Watts' new series Gypsy is slated to debut on the streaming service at the end of the month, more than a year after we first learned that it was in the works. Now, Netflix has officially released a trailer for Gypsy, and it reveals Naomi Watts as a sexually frustrated therapist who gets herself and the people around her into a lot of trouble as she begins to cross lines. Check it out!

In case anybody thought that Naomi Watts (who is earning a pretty penny for the role) wouldn't be able to pull off a character who is as unsettling as she is alluring, the first 20 seconds should have settled the question. As Jean Halloway, Watts is a Manhattan therapist whose perfect life with her husband and daughter isn't quite as settled as it seems. She begins to develop illicit and ill-advised relationships with people in her patients' lives, about whom she has presumably heard a great deal of intimate details without their knowledge. Jean will quickly discover that she can't keep her professional work and her fantasy world separate when her secret desires begin to bleed through to her real life.

Billy Crudup of Spotlight co-stars with Watts as Michael Halloway, Jean's husband. The trailer indicates that Michael is well aware of his wife's tendency to get a little too invested in the lives of her patients, but he also seems to believe that she has moved past it. The glimpses of Jean hooking up with a number of people other than her husband prove that she's very much not past it, and Michael will clearly figure it out for himself as well. While Jean is really the creepy one in the first look, Michael is a closer runner-up, if only because nobody wants to be interrogated about their whereabouts while being spooned in bed. I half expected one of them to whip a knife out from under a pillow.

The main cast will be rounded out by Lucy Boynton as Allison and Karl Glusman as Sam, both of whom are patients of Jean's. Although the trailer obviously didn't paint the whole picture of what to expect when Gypsy premieres, we can bet that Allison and Sam will end up in the middle of something they weren't expecting when they started therapy. All things considered, Gypsy looks like it could be an awesomely creepy psychological thriller to keep us on the edge of our seats. Only time will tell.

You can catch all ten episodes of Gypsy when it debuts on Friday, June 30 at 12:01 a.m. PT on Netflix. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in TV news, and don't forget to check out our summer TV premiere schedule to discover all your viewing options now and in the coming weeks. Be sure to drop by our rundowns for cable/streaming and broadcast TV renewals and cancellations as well. If streaming is more your style and you need some ideas of what to watch while we wait for Gypsy, our Netflix premiere schedule will help you out.

Naomi Watts has had a storied and diverse career as an actress. Usually, she's holding down parts in prestige pictures like Birdman, 21 Grams or The Painted Veil. She also has dabbled in blockbusters (Insurgent, Peter Jackson's King Kong) and worked with outstanding directors. But Watts was also linked with a horror franchise for some time, showing up as Rachel in 2002's The Ring and its sequel, The Ring Two. But when it came time to reboot the franchise with Rings, opening on Friday, director F. Javier Gutierrez told our own Eric Eisenberg why they decided not to have the actress back. Turns out, they had specific reasons:

Here's a recent example. Remember when you were watching the rebooted Ghostbusters movie, with an all new cast of female Ghostbusters? But then Bill Murray, a famous Ghostbuster in his own right, showed up playing a paranormal skeptic who opposed the lady Ghostbusters. That was so weird, and forced. So I understand where F. Javier Gutierrez is coming from with that sentiment.

The new Rings, sans Naomi Watts, looks like this:

Though it's based on a similar premise as the original The Ring (which, in turn, was lifted from a Japanese horror film Ringu), Rings at least tries to expand on the premise. The cursed tape that has Samara on it lands in the hand of a college professor who is using it to train and educate students on the afterlife. So by showing the tape to dozens of college students, that seems like they will be spreading the "virus" to a lot of suddenly endangered teens. Right?

Rings stars Matilda Anna Ingrid Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki and Vincent D'Onofrio. It opens in theaters on February 3.

By now, most people realize that TV actors who have regular gigs on popular shows make a lot of money. Really, a LOT of money. As in, these guys make more money for just one episode of TV than a significant number of us regular slobs could make in a whole year. Well, now we might know what streaming service Netflix pays some of its top talent.

A new survey from Variety has estimated the salaries for the top talent in TV right now, and those numbers include the estimated earnings for a number of big names involved in Netflix projects. And, it looks like the streaming service is sparing no expense to make the stars of its original series feel wanted. Take a look at the numbers for some of their top actors, and keep in mind that these are all per episode figures.

Wow, those are some impressive numbers. And, it would be fair to say that some of these paydays are really surprising. The estimates, which have not been confirmed by Netflix or any of the actors on the list, come from a survey that Variety did of various industry professionals who are in the know about what top TV talent gets paid nowadays, including actors, executives, attorneys, agents, managers and others who represent actors. All the numbers are for current seasons of television shows, meaning that, in many cases, the first season shows haven't even hit the streaming service yet, and some of these numbers include backend fees that the stars get paid for things like profit participation for their show. None of these numbers, though, include money earned from side business ventures like licensing, merchandising or spokesperson deals.

Well, the first thing I can say about this list is damn, Netflix was serious about getting Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel back on board for Gilmore Girls. They each netted a very healthy sum for returning to their roles as Lorelai and Rory Gilmore in the rebooted series, and I think many people would be surprised to see that they each probably made more money per episode than Kevin Spacey did in the current season for his critically lauded lead role on House of Cards.

Emma Stone and Jonah Hill are very much current movie stars, so it's no surprise that they each got an estimated $350,000 per episode for their new Netflix show Maniac. But, it might shock some people to know that Drew Barrymore, who hasn't exactly been at the top of her movie making game lately, netted so much more than Naomi Watts for the per episode earning in their respective shows, especially considering that Watts has two Oscar nominations to her name.

The biggest shock here, by far, though, would have to be the realization that Joel Kinnaman, who starred the Netflix show The Killing and was most recently seen in Suicide Squad is making the same as those big movie stars for Altered Carbon. Kinnaman only has one big movie to his name right now, and, even though he was a co-lead on The Killing, he wasn't the main focus of that series, so he's never really had his own show. Apparently, Netflix has some major faith in his ability to help pull in viewers for his new series, or they wouldn't have even considered giving him such a payday.

Well, what do you think of the list? Does it seem like everyone is getting paid the right amount of money to you, or are you convinced that someone should be getting more (or less)? Let us know in the comments below.

Fresh off her Oscar-winning success with Room, Brie Larson has already lined up a tantalizing project, an adaptation of Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle. And the film has brought on some stellar acting talent to appear alongside the recent recipient of the Best Actress Academy Award.

Brie Larson will be re-teaming with Short Term 12 director Destin Daniel Cretton on The Glass Castle, which has been described as a comedy drama and revolves around a successful young woman living in New York whose life is severely altered when her dysfunctional and non-conformist parents move to the Big Apple to be near to her. And, according to THR, the film has lined up the perfect pair to play Brie Larson’s folks. Starting with:

Naomi Watts

Naomi Watts will be playing the eccentric mother to Brie Larson’s character, which is a casting decision that you can’t help but immediately nod your head at and agree with.

You probably last saw Naomi Watts in The Divergent Series: Allegiant, reprising her role as Evelyn Johnson-Eaton. Recently, Naomi Watts has primarily worked with more critically acclaimed directors, which has included leading roles in Jean-Marc Vallee’s Demolition, Gus Van Sant’s The Sea Of Tress, Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman.

Before the release of The Glass Castle, she’ll appear in the psychological thriller Shut In, Colin Trevorrow’s follow-up to Jurassic World, as well as The Book Of Henry, and the Chuck Wepner boxing biopic The Bleeder. But for The Glass Castle, her husband will be portrayed by:

Woody Harrelson

Everyone loves Woody Harrelson. How can you not? He’s just an eminently loveable man. However in The Glass Castle, in which he’ll be playing the wife to Naomi Watts and father to Brie Larson, he has been described as an alcoholic, which suggests that he’s going to be somewhat disagreeable. But since Woody Harrelson is playing the drunkard, you’ll almost certainly find yourself on his side just a tad, even if you’ve never touched a drop of alcohol in your life.

It’s a big year for Harrelson. Because not only does he have Now You See Me 2 due out later this summer, but he also has a part in the western By Way Of Helena, is currently filming War For The Planet Of The Apes, and is even an early outsider for an Oscar thanks to his performance as the 36th President Of The United States Lyndon B. Johnson in Rob Reiner’s LBJ.

The Glass Castle is coming from Lionsgate, while Marti Noxon initially wrote its script and Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Lanham are currently working on the latest draft. Production is due to begin in Montreal in June, which means that we can probably expect The Glass Castle to be with us at some point towards the end of 2017.

The Hunger Games may be over and done with, at least until Hollywood starts churning out proposed sequels, but there’s still plenty of dystopian young adult action to keep you occupied. The 5th Wave hopes to make a splash at the box office this weekend, but later this year we’ll get a new installment from another ongoing franchise, The Divergent Series: Allegiant, the first part in a two-film finale, and a new trailer just hit the airwaves.

Over the course of the saga, the world of the movies, adapted from the trilogy of novels by Veronica Roth, keeps opening wider and wider, and from the look of this trailer, things are changing in this post-apocalyptic setting like never before.

A key part of the narrative of The Divergent Series is the wall that surrounds a futuristic Chicago, keeping the last remnants of humanity safe and alive, and keeping, well, some mysterious threat on the other side. Allegiant, however, tears down that wall, and what heroine Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley), her hunky boyfriend Four (Theo James), and her other tattooed friends find on the other side is not what they expected at all.

I bet in their wildest dreams they didn’t think they'd run into Jeff Daniels hanging out over there. But there he is, another in a long line of fantastic actors who appear in this saga. Out of all of the YA movies out there, The Divergent Series has consistently managed to put together an impressive array of actors.

After the huge revelations at the end of The Divergent Series: Insurgent—that the wall was really keeping them in, and that the whole faction sorting system they had was just an experiment—it’s time to venture outside and see what’s what. The action finds Tris, Four, and their pals experiencing a brave new world that none of them are prepared for, having never left the city where they were born. In this new environment, fraught will all manner of threats and mysteries, they must decide where their loyalties lie. Eventually a battle ignites that could destroy all of humanity, and Tris will have to make some tough choices about life, love, and many other things.

This installment looks to continue the striking visuals of the last two chapters—though while most of the crazy stuff was confined to dreams or those hallucinatory inner journey things, it looks like Allegiant ramps up things in the real world. They’re cranking up the hard sci-fi vibe quite a bit here, with all kinds of futuristic crafts, those weird bubble things the characters float in, and more. If nothing else, this should be a spectacle to behold

The Divergent Series: Allegiant hits theaters opens March 18, and the saga wraps up with The Divergent Series: Ascendant next year on June 9, 2017. Now let's get to know the cast a little better.

Shailene Woodley

Though she’s only 24-years-old, Shailene Woodley has already been acting professionally since 1999, though it wasn’t until her role in 2011’s The Descendants that she began to break through to a wider audience. Holding her own on screen with George Clooney, she earned a Golden Globe nomination. However, it’s her role as Beatrice "Tris" Prior in The Divergent Series that has been her highest profile part to date, though, outside of that, she fills the time in smaller indie films and more left of center projects.

Theo James

Hunky Brit Theo James is set to return for The Divergent Series: Allegiant and reprise his role as the swoony love interest slash dreamy badass Tobias Eaton, though he goes the by the self-imposed moniker Four. He’s appeared on TV in the likes of Downton Abbey, and though the Divergent movies are his biggest gigs to date, he’s got a lot on his plate, including a return trip to the Underworld movies—he had a small part in the last one and will be back for the upcoming Underworld: Next Generation. And, of course, he’ll show up in the final Divergent movie, Ascendant, next year.

Miles Teller

When you’re putting together a cast of talented young actors on the rise these days, it’s a no-brainer that you’ll want to include Miles Teller on the call sheet. Sure, he fronted the disaster that was the most recent Fantastic Four, but his performances in the likes of The Spectacular Now and, especially, Whiplash, marked him as an actor we need to keep and eye on. He’ll be back as the antagonist-turned-ally Peter, and you just know he’ll have some smart ass quips to deliver in the first part of the final chapter of The Divergent Series.

Jeff Daniels

By far the biggest addition to the cast for The Divergent Series: Allegiant is Jeff Daniels. Any time you add an Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor to your film, it’s a notable occasion. The 61-year-old plays David, who is the head of the Bureau of Genetic Welfare and, in the world outside of the walled-off Chicago, he represents Tris’ greatest enemy. He was also in love with Tris’ mother, played by Ashley Judd, and you just know that he has a personal vendetta that he’s going to use to justify why a powerful older man might go to war with a teenage girl and a bunch of her friends. Daniels is just the latest acclaimed actor to join this saga, as Academy Award winner, and current nominee, Kate Winslet has already shown up to cause a ruckus.

Zoe Kravitz

The daughter of rock star Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet, Zoe Kravitz has been carving out her own bit of stardom thanks to roles in movies like X-Men: First Class and Mad Max: Fury Road. In The Divergent Series, she plays Tris’ bestest friend, Christina (What’s a young adult heroine without a BFF?) and she reprises that role in Allegiant. Christina may not be the biggest part in the saga, but she serves a key grounding function.

Naomi Watts

Parents always complicate young love, at least in the movies, and Four’s mom, Evelyn, played by Naomi Watts, is no exception. The leader of the Factionless, she used her son and his girlfriend as pawns to further her own plans and schemes. She didn’t show up until the second movie, but looks to play an even bigger part in The Divergent Series moving forward, and you just know that her manipulative tendencies are sure to kick into overdrive now that the truth of what lies beyond the wall is out.

Hipster may be a commonly used term these days, but Noah Baumbach’s new film While We’re Young explores the trendy subculture in an entirely different light. Watch the full trailer below:

Noah Baumbach pays homage to his Brooklyn roots in this quirky, smart new film While We’re Young. After praise at the Toronto International Film Festival, the official trailer dropped for the public and features a middle-aged Ben Stiller exploring what it means to grow up. Among the complexities explored in the trailer, Stiller forms an adorable man crush on Adam Driver’s character, a young hipster living in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.

The film follows an older couple played by Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts under the pressure to start a family when they meet an inspiring younger couple, played by Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried, living the happy hipster life in Bushwick. Stiller’s character immediately becomes entranced by Driver, and begins to participate in the youth culture. From wearing fedoras to strapping on some rollerblades, Stiller’s mid-life crisis takes him on some crazy adventures, all inspired by his newly blossomed friendship with Driver.

It’s no wonder Ben Stiller crushes so hard on Adam Driver. Driver exhibits confidence, intelligence, and that awkward but adorable smile. Driver is no stranger to playing an intelligent and confident 20-something. In his breakout role on Lena Dunham’s Girls, Driver plays a straight-shooting love interest who can seem a bit odd and moody sometimes, but doesn’t care about what others think of him, and always stays true to himself, making him one of the most liked characters on the show. Sound familiar? It looks like Driver’s character in While We’re Young is pretty darn similar to his character in Girls. Just switch out Lena Dunham for Ben Stiller, and we have an almost-match (minus the awkwardly uncomfortable sex scenes). Driver has a way of shining sincerity through his roles that make him a likable character, even when you want to hate him. The young actor has been gaining some serious attention lately for his acting chops since Girls and has quickly built an impressive film career including scoring a role in the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

And Ben Stiller is definitely no stranger to the mid-life crisis. For his last role as Walter Mitty, in his self-directed movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Stiller played an avid daydreamer who one day decides to explore the real world, and finds adventure that he never could have imagined himself. The character is a bit awkward, and lives in his head, but exudes creativity. His mid-life crisis takes him into a world he never knew, but had an idea of. It’s a very similar situation to Stiller’s character in While We’re Young, except that in this mid-life crisis, he finds his adventure through another. Stiller’s relationship with Driver fuels Stiller’s need for a change of scene, but in a way that the older couple had known long ago, when they were young. Stiller’s character crushes on Driver’s because it is a younger version of himself, or a younger version of what he wished to be.

There’s no telling where this relationship will take Driver and Stiller. We’ll find out when While We’re Young is released by A24 Films on March 27, 2015.

It's time for Naomi Watts to get some of that sweet, sweet franchise money. The Oscar-nominated actress has been so prolific over the last few years that it's easy to lose track of her, melting in and out of the backgrounds of movies with both high and low profiles. Now Naomi Watts is ready to join a massive franchise in a show-stopping role; you're not gonna miss her this time.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Naomi Watts is set to appear in Insurgent, the upcoming sequel to this year's young adult adaptation Divergent. Watts will play Evelyn, the leader of a group called the Factionless who team with Tris (Shailene Woodley) in their fight against a dystopian future government. Spoiler alert: she lives, because she'll also be appearing in Allegiant Parts One and Two, the final chapters of this series.

Evelyn is described in the book as having a hooked nose (…) so don't be surprised to see Watts trying on some prosthetics. She's also the mother of Four, the character played by Theo James, and if you look online you can discover facts about her that definitely feel like spoilers.

Insurgent is being directed by Robert Schwentke, somehow bailed out of Director Jail after the unwatchable R.I.P.D.. The original cast is returning, including Woodley, Theo James, Jai Courtney, Ansel Elgort, Kate Winslet and Miles Teller are returning for the sequel, along with newcomer Octavia Spencer. Insurgent, written by Brian Duffield and Akiva Goldsman, is scheduled to be released March 20th, 2015 and is currently in production. The two parts of Alliegiant will see theatrical release on March 16th, 2016 and March 24th, 2017, respectively.

Watts has a crazy busy schedule lined up. She's reuniting with 21 Grams director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu in Birdman and will show up in St. Vincent later this year with Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy. She's also joined Matthew McConaughey in Gus Van Sant's intriguing-sounding Sea Of Trees. She recently drew some flack due to the horrific reception to Diana, but Watts stays so busy that she's never playing the same part twice, and will likely emerge from that experience unscathed. I'm not sure how she's old enough to play the oldish-looking Theo James' mother, but since when has Hollywood been interested in age-appropriate casting?

It's interesting that they're stretching this series as far as possible, bringing Watts on for three more films. Will the audience even want three more movies? The model for success is obviously The Hunger Games, another trilogy-turned-quadrilogy that so far has produced a couple of massive blockbusters. Divergent, meanwhile, was only somewhat well-received: the reviews were not enthusiastic, and the first film only grossed $267 million worldwide, which included a lukewarm international reception of only $118 million internationally. Compare that to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which grossed a spectacular $439 million outside of America alone. Does Insurgent have enough of a hook to improve upon those numbers? It sounds like that's exactly what they're counting on.

What’s sure to be one of the most closely watched performances of the year will be coming to theaters in just a couple of months! Naomi Watts has taken on the coveted role of the People’s Princess in the biopic Diana, and Deadline has revealed eOne will release the much talked about drama in the United States on November 1st in limited nationwide release. Should things go well from there, Entertainment One will widen the pic’s distribution in the weeks that follow.

Based on biographer Kate Snell’s book Diana – Her Last Love, this particular Di biopic won’t attempt to cover the entirety of Diana Spencer’s life, but rather will focus on her rocky days post-divorce from the Prince of Wales up to her tragic and unexpected death in 1997. During this span, the former princess became an outspoken advocate for the diligent removal of landmines in former war zones, and began a transformative relationship with a Pakistani heart surgeon named Dr. Hasnat Khan. This—rather than her relationship with Dodi Fayed—is said to be at the center of Diana.

This Oliver Hirschbiegel-directed Diana pic first grabbed headlines in the fall of 2011. At the time, it was called Caught in Flight, and the fiery and lauded leading lady Jessica Chastain was attached to star. However, scheduling conflicts ultimately forced the twice Academy Award-nominated actress out of the project, paving the way for Watts, who signed on in early 2012. Since then, Watts has earned her second Oscar-nomination thanks to the very unglamorous role of a mother mauled by the gruesome 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in the devastating drama The Impossible. While no actor will admit they accepted a role hoping for Oscar, we have to assume Watts has hopes to at long last snagging that little gold bastard with this part. After all, playing royalty is a great way to catch the Academy’s eye. Just look at Colin Firth (King George VI in The King's Speech) and Helen Mirren (Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen).

Clearly eOne saw Diana’s potential, snatching up its US distribution rights at Cannes back in May. But while we wait to see what all the buzz is about, we can at least get a taste of what Hirschbiegel and Watts have in store with the film’s first teaser and trailer.

The Cannes Film Festival is in full swing, kicking up news of upcoming productions as well as their promotional pics. Among these is the one seen above, which features Naomi Watts as the beloved Princess Diana from the biopic titled Diana (formerly Caught in Flight). Though we've seen several unofficial shots of Watts in princess mode before, this image is the one that's meant to tantalize on-the-fence distributors to pick up the curious drama about the late royal's final years. And it seems to be working.

Deadline reports Entertainment One has snatched up Diana's U.S. distribution rights, which means those curious in the colonies could see the Oliver Hirschbiegel-directed pic by year's end, just in time for award season. eOne also picked up rights to distribute with major releases in the UK, Canada, and Spain.

Penned by The Libertine playwright/screenwriter Stephen Jeffreys, Diana follows the Princess of Wales post-divorce, when she got involved in a campaign against landmines as well as a romantic relationship with Dr. Hasnat Khan, a Pakistani heart surgeon. Lost's Naveen Andrews will appear opposite Watts, playing the good doctor, while Canadian character actor Cas Anvar will portray Diana's better known lover, Dodi Fayed, who died alongside her in that tragic car crash on August 31st, 1997.

Earlier this year, Watts earned her second Academy Award nomination for her brave performance in the tsunami disaster movie The Impossible, but didn't walk away with the trophy. Could her follow-up portraying the People's Princess win her that so-far elusive Oscar? Playing a royal certainly worked for others, including Colin Firth (King George VI in The King's Speech) and Helen Mirren (Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen).

In St. Vincent De Van Nuys, the new dramedy from writer/director Ted Melfi, Bill Murray plays a cantankerous old man who is charged with taking care of a 12-year-old kid and introduces the young child to all kinds of horrible habits and terrible life lessons. One of those terrible habits includes being a regular client of a Russian prostitute...and today we have learned which actress will be taking on the part.

Naomi Watts, who was in the running for an Academy Award earlier this year for her leading role in The Impossible, has landed the aforementioned role in St. Vincent De Van Nuys, according to Deadline. She joins a cast that, in addition to Murray, includes Melissa McCarthy - as the 12-year-old's single mother who is stuck working multiple jobs - and Chris O'Dowd - who plays a parish priest horrified by Murray's character's treatment of the kid. The trade notes that the film strikes a tone similar to movies like As Good As It Gets and Silver Linings Playbook, and that the role that Watts' won was being sought after by "every age appropriate hot actress in town."

Watts recently completed work on Diana, the Oliver Hirschbiegel-directed biopic recounting the last two years of Princess Diana's life. She is currently filming Alejandro González Iñárritu's Birdman, the first comedy from the director, which features an ensemble lineup that includes Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Edward Norton, Amy Ryan, Zach Galifianakis and Andrea Riseborough. The drama Sunlight Jr., in which she stars with Matt Dillon and Norman Reedus, just premiered this past weekend at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu is changing gears in a major way for his next project. While we have gotten to know the filmmaker through his deeply dramatic, soul crushing movies like Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel and Biutiful, his next title, Birdman, will take him head-first into the world of comedy. And he's assembled an absolutely amazing cast to take the trip with him.

The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Michael Keaton, Emma Stone, Naomi Watts and Zach Galifianakis have all signed on for Inarritu's first comedy. As previously reported, the movie will center on an aging actor who earned fame while young playing an iconic superhero, Birdman. Looking for a way to see his name back in lights, he realizes that his best course of action is to put on a Broadway play. Keaton, who actually played Batman in Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns, will star as the lead and Stone will play his daughter, a young woman fresh out of rehab who works as her father's assistant. The trade adds, "Watts will be an actress in the play, while Galifianakis will play the production's conniving producer." The film is still looking to fill two major roles: the lead actor in the play and Keaton's character's ex wife.

While most of the actors will be working with the director for the first time, Watts previously starred in 21 Grams, though this will obviously be a very different kind of movie. I love the fact that Keaton may be playing some kind of odd version of himself, and it's just straight up awesome that he's been signing on for so many projects recently.

Birdman is looking to start production early next month.

This morning the Screen Actors Guild announced their nominees for the best performances of the year, and threw in more than a few surprises. Nicole Kidman for The Paperboy? Javier Bardem for Skyfall? Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for Best Ensemble? In the world of people who aim to predict the Academy Awards, these nods raised a lot of questions, and presented a lot of exciting possibilities for what might happen when the Oscar nominations are announced January 11.

To talk over some of those surprises, and figure out any new frontrunners or contenders based on this morning's announcement, Sean and Katey got together to hash it out , as usual, on chat. In the Great Debate below we talk about whether Nicole Kidman deserved that nomination, if Javier Bardem can really make it in for the Oscars, if Lincoln is now the Best Picture frontrunner, and much much more.

SEAN: History suggests that the Oscar race has become a little more clear now that the Broadcast Film Critics and the Screen Actors Guild have revealed their annual nominations for year-end awards. Typically, these groups are good bellwethers for where the Academy could lean, and so I think we can make a few bold assumptions based on what we've heard over the past two days. For example, I'm willing to concede that Anne Hathaway is a lock for a Best Supporting Actress nomination (though I'd still love to see someone beat her in the category) after scoring nods for both SAG and the Critics' Choice. Can we make any other bold predictions? Like, maybe, Javier Bardem being a lock for some Oscar love?

KATEY: I'm fascinated to see Javier Bardem emerge in both of those groups, but there are still a lot of X factors jostling for attention in that category. I think that fifth spot could easily also go to Matthew McConaughey-- who the BFCA also included, because they cheat and include six. But let's talk about the real honest-to-God shocker in a supporting category: Nicole Kidman!!

SEAN: That's not just an eye-roll. It's a flat-out knee slapper of a joke nomination. There's no way to possibly explain that, except to say that the group needed/wanted star power for its TNT/TBS telecast. It's worse than nominating Depp and Jolie for The Tourist at the Globes.

KATEY: Oh come on, Kidman is fantastic in The Paperboy. It's an awful movie, but I think it's pretty remarkable when someone is rewarded for being great despite all the crap around them. And the Supporting Actress category is super weak-- a lot of the BFCA picks, like Judi Dench or Ann Dowd or even Amy Adams, could easily be knocked out. Nicole Kidman might have a real chance now-- and I would LOVE to see it happen, even though I know she'll get steamrolled by Hathaway.

SEAN: Ugh. Hathaway. Stop rubbing it in.

I think at this point, there are a few movies and performances we have to say are out of the race, right? The Master took a serious hit today with the SAGs. So, too, did Django. Are you surprised it didn't get a Cast nomination? Or any nomination, for that matter?

KATEY: Django? A little bit, only because it's got such a HUGE cast and so many good performance. But I think that's more of a factor of time than anything. There are a ton of SAG members and they only started screening Django a week ago-- there's no way everyone was able to see it.

It's what I've been saying all along about Django-- it's a movie that needs time to grow on people. Releasing it like this in the thrum of everything else essentially dooms it. I have a really hard time seeing it getting into Best Picture for many of the same reasons-- and I thought this even before SAG.

SEAN: It all depends on how many Best Picture noms the Academy decides to have. If they keep it to five or six, Django could be on the outside looking in. If they go as high as nine or 10, though, I think it gets in. Tarantino likely won't get the Director nod, though. The field is way too crowded.

Is there a person or film that scored victories over the past few days that has made you exceptionally thrilled for their Oscar chances? Beyond Bardem, I'd have to say Naomi Watts, who I would LOVE to see in the Best Actress race. The fact that she got recognized for The Impossible by both groups has me feeling much better about her chances.

KATEY: I'd be fine seeing Watts get a nomination-- but she still has to get past Quvenzhane Wallis, who wasn't eligible for SAG but who I still think has it locked down, and also Emmanuelle Riva, who as a French actress was probably not going to get any love from SAG, but is still an Oscar threat. I'm also holding out hope that Keira Knightley somehow storms this barricade, but I realize that is wishful thinking.

SEAN: You know I'm with you on the Knightley bandwagon. And Riva is BRILLIANT in Amour. But I think Keira's chances are slim after the results of the past 48 hours (and I blame Focus for dropping the ball on the beautiful Anna Karenina). She would have had to gain some momentum -- any momentum -- to keep the flame of hope burning.

Last question: Do you think there's a Best Picture frontrunner after what we've seen from the BFCA and SAG nominations? I'm beginning to think Lincoln is the film to beat. Multiple nods from influential groups. Stout box office. Spielberg. Lots of factors in its favor.

KATEY: Yeah, I was thinking Lincoln as well, because it's nearly as strong a film as Zero Dark Thirty, and easy to get on board with-- but there's more to nominate from it, and it's a bit easier to be on board. But I think Zero Dark Thirty's sweep with critics can't be ignored, and if it continues getting headlines like it has it will stay in the conversation.

What's fun, though, is I'm totally down with a Lincoln Best Picture win. This is one of those years where all the choices are really pretty good-- unless we are going to take Best Exotic Marigold Hotel seriously after that SAG nod, which I don't think we should.

SEAN: Nor do I. It's funny. As you know, I was disappointed by Lincoln, and originally felt that I'd be disappointed if it were to win. But after seeing Les Mis, that has become my "Anything But That" target, so yes, I'm down with a Lincoln win, as well. The main thing counting against it, if this matters, is that Spielberg and DDL are previous winners, and for some reason, the Academy rarely double dips. That is a serious factor to consider. It could hurt ZDT, as well. Someone who's opinion I trust pointed out that they'd really see a ZDT sweep had Bigelow not won for Hurt Locker. But she did. I wonder if that will change the course of the race.

KATEY: Yeah that will be something really interesting to consider once we have the nominations set. In the meantime, It's going to be really fun to speculate about all these oddball potential nominations. Anything you're particularly hoping to see happen based on the SAG awards?

SEAN: Seth MacFarlane's "stream" of piss jokes on Oscar night if Kidman gets a nomination?

KATEY: I was trying to end on an optimistic note!

SEAN: That IS optimistic!

OK. I'd love to see Bardem get an Oscar nomination. I'd love to see Naomi Watts get an Oscar nomination. And I'd love to see more -- or any -- support for Cloud Atlas, a movie that has disappeared from the conversation. And you?

KATEY: I'd love Matthew McConaughey to come barrelling back into the conversation-- though without a SAG Award nomination, that's looking a little harder. And I'd love to see this Nicole Kidman surge stick, because Supporting Actress has been a dull category so far this year, and we need to shake it up a little bit. But maybe the Golden Globe nominations tomorrow will throw us in yet another tizzy!

While many little girls daydream of growing up to be a princess, Princess Diana of Wales made that dream seem more feasible than ever. The People's Princess dazzled the world on her wedding day with a big puffy gown that seemed light as a cloud and a train that appeared to go on for miles. She warmed our hearts with her activism and outreach efforts, but this princess's tale had no happy ending. After a messy divorce from Prince Charles, Diana was mercilessly hunted by the paparazzi that made headlines out of every romance or heartbreak. In a weird way this too bonded us to her as we wished Diana well—even as our compulsion to know more, more, more added to her troubles, and arguably to her death.

It's been fifteen years since Diana's passing, and a new film from Oliver Hirschbiegel, director of the Academy Award-nominated German docudrama Downfall, will explore what her final years were like. The biopic Diana stars Naomi Watts, and focuses on her activism against land mines and her tumultuous romantic relationship with Dr. Hasnat Khan. We got a glimpse of Watts in costume back in July, and now Kino Gallery has a collection of images from the set. Check out a selection of these shots below:

While two of the shots are Diana in glitz and glamor mode, the third appears to be her in the company of Khan, played here by Naveen Andrews. What I find most interesting about these images—to be perfectly frank—is the lack of sex appeal. Typically, biopics feature insanely good-looking performers portraying ordinary-looking people, offering often-dramatic movie makeover upgrades. But here, not so much.

Of course, the real Diana was beautiful and a style icon, but she was not movie star level gorgeous. By these images it seems Hirschbiegel is purposely toning down his oft-sultry leading lady, perhaps to make a more grounded narrative. The same goes for Andrews, who is typically styled with tousled long locks and wardrobe that shows off his typically buff bod. Going off these images, it appears Diana might just reject the sensationalism and sentimentality that has shaped the Princess's image in favor of figuring out who she was behind the headlines. In short, this could prove compelling.

Diana is expected to hit theaters in 2013.

On December 26th, 2004, many of us were lucky enough to be enjoying the luxury and leisure of the holiday season, when news of a horrific tsunami made headlines across the world. The level of destruction was unthinkable when a massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean—later designated the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake—set off a string of towering tidal waves that ravaged Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and more, killing over 230,000 people. This devastation is unfathomable for most, but Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona, who drew praise with his beautifully elegiac feature debut The Orphanage, has tackled this tragedy for his follow-up, The Impossible.

The film reunites Bayona with his Orphanage scribe Sergio G. Sánchez, and is based on a real account of the events. Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts star as a married couple who are on vacation with their children in Thailand when the killer waves hit the shore, throwing them each into the remarkable mayhem that followed one of the most catastrophic natural disasters of our time. But far from wallowing in the darkness of such tragedy, Bayona and Sánchez aim to highlight the moments of courage, compassion and kindness that could be found among the rubble.

Paving the way for the film's debut in Spain this fall, Warner Brothers has already unleashed a chilling teaser —in which we can collectively feel the relief of Watt's desperate breath as she pulls herself free of the furious waters—as well as a full-length trailer. Both gave an awe-striking glimpse at Bayona's ambitious disaster drama, but there was no word on when The Impossible would come to the U.S.

Now Summit Entertainment is proud to announce The Impossible will open in limited release in New York and Los Angeles on December 21, 2012, meaning it will make for a cinematic memorial on the eight year anniversary of the event.

Even in the U.S. where we renounced the aristocracy, we are mesmerized by the royals. If television's non-stop coverage of Prince Williams and Kate Middleton's royal wedding or Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, wasn't enough to convince you of our fascination, then consider all the biopics about royalty that have won Oscar acclaim in years past. There's been The King's Speech, The Queen, The Young Victoria, The Duchess, and Elizabeth, just to name a few. We love the luxury of these films' worlds, the snootiness of their guarded nobles, and the tour de force performances that typically come along with their grandiose tales.

And yet, we adored the late Princess Diana for all the ways she wasn't a typical royal, her perceived warmth, generosity, casual grace and everygirl quality. This paradox offers an incredible challenge to any filmmaker who would dare tackle Diana's tragic tale, yet German director Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) is in the works on shaping a drama from Diana's last two years of life. Penned by Libertine scribe Stephen Jeffreys, Caught in Flight centers on Diana's love affair with Dr. Hasnat Kahn, which began in 1995 and ended just months before her fatal car accident in 1997.

Back in February we reported Naomi Watts won the role of Diana, and now we share a first glimpse of her in costume, courtesy of Kinopoisk (via The Playlist.)

(IMAGE NO LONGER AVAILABLE) 

With Watts donning Diana's iconic hairstyle, the resemblance is striking. But she will still have to work hard to win over some of Diana's most devoted fans, especially as Caught in Flight doesn't promise to be a totally complimentary portrait of the People's Princess. The script could show Diana using Dodi Fayed—who died by her side in that Paris tunnel—as a means to make Kahn (Lost's Naveen Andrews) jealous, as it reportedly portrays her "as a damaged person who stalks the doctor after he ends the affair." Basically, for better or worse, Caught in Flight is sure to draw notice.

Juan Antonio Bayona’s 2007 chiller The Orphanage was exactly the kind of haunted-house story that Hollywood needs to make more of: smart, unpredictable, and squirm-in-your-seat scary. The Spanish director hasn’t released anything since, though he has The Impossible on the books for 2012, and we finally have footage to share. Bayona’s film is based on a factual story of survival in the wake of the 2004 tsunami that devastated Thailand. A Spanish teaser was posted on Twitch. We have it below:

Bayona’s film was shot in English, with Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor starring as parents of two young sons whose family vacation is disrupted – to say the least – by the natural disaster. Twitch has the translation for the video's subtitles. They read:

“On December 26, 2004, a devastating tsunami hit the coast of Southeast Asia.

The lives of thousands of families around the world changed forever.

This is the true story of one of these families.”

Though the images are quick, it’s pretty obvious that this will be the treatment of the devastating tsunami that Hereafter could have been (if Clint Eastwood hadn’t directed, that is). Bayona’s direction looks intense, and I’m dying to see what lengths these characters will have to go to in order to survive the sudden onslaught. But when will we see it? IMDB only gives us a 2012 release date, but no specifics. Warner Bros. is tagged at the start of the teaser. Hopefully the studio can provide us with further details soon enough.

The first trailer for Dream House has arrived and, for some reason, it spoils the entire movie. The film is a horror thriller starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, and Naomi Watts. All you’re supposed to know about it going in is that a family moves into their dream house, and creepy things start happening to them. The trailer though, goes a step further and literally ruins the movie. This isn’t just supposition on my part, I’ve spoken to people this morning who are intimately aware of the nature of the production, who know the ins and outs of the film. They confirm that this trailer spoils pretty much the entire movie.

So viewer beware. This is the official trailer for Dream House, but it also ruins Dream House. If you’re interested in the movie you probably don’t want to watch it. Feel free to skip past the video embed (it’s also in HD on Apple), and we’ll talk more about the movie spoiler-free, below it.

So why would Universal Pictures spoil their own movie? The Dream House production has been troubled, pretty much all along. Our sources tell us Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz are so unhappy with the movie they may not even do press for it, and that director Jim Sheridan lost control of the film to the studio. Were he still involved in the production, it seems certain that Sheridan would not have wanted this trailer to be seen.

The thing is, assuming you didn’t know that it’s one big spoiler, this is actually a pretty great trailer. Confusing, scattered, all over the map, but there’s so much going on that you can’t help be interested in it. And that may be why they’ve decided to ruin the film. It’s worth it, if it gets people in seats for that initial weekend I suppose, no matter if they walk out angry because the trailers already gave away the entire movie.

If you skipped the trailer to avoid spoilers, you can get a more spoiler-free look at the film with new images and a poster in our Dream House image gallery.

They say that truth is stranger than fiction. If that's true, then the story of CIA officer Valerie Plame's outing by the very government she served certainly qualifies. With a real-life tangle of betrayal, secrets, and scandal, it was just a matter of time until someone brought Plame's story to the big screen. In this case, "a matter of time" meant "until last November," when director Doug Liman brought Fair Game to American theaters. Now the film is headed for home video this March 29th.

As expected, Fair Game will be available on both Blu-Ray ($30.49) and DVD ($22.99) from Summit Entertainment. Naomi Watts plays Plame, with Sean Penn taking the role of her retired ambassador husband, whose article criticizing America's actions in Iraq serves as the catalyst for the White House's leaking of Plame's undercover status. The disc will be light on special features, but the audio commentary with the real-life Valerie Plame-Wilson and husband Joe Wilson should make for a fascinating listen.

You can read Katey's review of Fair Game right here.

Here’s a quick rundown of everything we know about The Dark Knight Rises: all the principals, from Christian Bale to Gary Oldman will be returning; Christopher Nolan is the director; the script was written by Jonathan Nolan; Tom Hardy has been added to the cast; neither The Riddler nor The Joker will be in the film; there are two female leads, one a villain, the other a romantic interest; and the title is The Dark Knight Rises. Absolutely everything else, however, is completely up in the air. The script is undoubtedly under security that rivals Fort Knox, the Nolan’s continue to be the most secretive dudes in the industry and nobody official is giving away any details. Until we do start getting official announcements, however, we’re simply going to have to make do with rumors and speculation, and we have three new ones for you today.

Collider has been in contact with some unnamed sources who have clued them into some details about the production, from the casting of the female roles to what we may see on the Batcave/Batmobile front in the last film of the trilogy.

Kicking things off, one of the sources says that former Bond girl Eva Green and Naomi Watts have officially signed on to the film, and while the source isn’t certain, it is believed that they will be playing the roles of Vicky Vale (fans may recognize her as the character played by Kim Basinger in Tim Burton’s Batman) and Talia al Ghul (daughter of Ra’s al Ghul, played by Liam Neeson in Batman Begins). It is expected that Vale will be the love interest while al Ghul is the villain, but the story doesn’t specify which actress will play which role.

The next rumor in the set of three is that production will run from May 6 to November 28. This rumor is easily the most believable, as Michael Caine suggested those exact dates back in November when he said that he would be receiving the script in January.

Lastly comes the matter of the new the Batcave and Batmobile (a.k.a. The Tumbler). Fans know that Bruce and Alfred have been hard at work on the new secret lair since the end of Batman Begins when it’s suggested that they improve the foundations in the south-east corner of Wayne Mansion. As for the Caped Crusader’s car, it was blown up while blocking a rocket launcher in The Dark Knight. So what’s going to happen in The Dark Knight Rises? According to the site’s source, The Tumbler has been redesigned to be sleeker, “but still powerful and with all the gadgets.” The new Batcave will be in the same cave we saw in Batman begins, but with new elements introduced, including the circular bay for the Batmobile, the display for the Batsuits, and the Batcomputer.

As suggested in the opening paragraph, please, for the love of God, don’t take this all as strict fact. This could easily all be proven wrong, and, frankly, most of it probably will be. Rule of thumb: unless you hear Christopher Nolan talking about it, don’t believe a word.

There's already a picture floating around the Internet of Michelle Williams done up in full Marilyn Monroe garb for My Week With Marilyn, the Weinstein Company movie currently filming in England telling a story set during Monroe's time filming The Prince and the Showgirl opposite Laurence Olivier. But just as the cultural fascination with Monroe takes countless forms, there's plenty of room for more movies about her-- and the next one, Blonde, is still set to start shooting in January.

The New Zealand site Stuff published an odd article about Naomi Watts's plans to play Monroe in Blonde that seems to be based entirely on quotes form other sources, but that promises the movie is set to shoot at the beginning of next year. Who knows where they're getting the information from, but the quotes at least shed some light into the stress Watts is feeling as she prepares for the project:

Blonde, however, isn't going to be your typical biopic-- based on the novel by Joyce Carol Oates, it's described as an "imagined memoir" about Monroe, taking great liberties with actual history and delving into the star's mind as Oates imagines it. It's a psychologically challenging role even for an actress like Watts, who have proved repeatedly she's up to the challenge with films like Mulholland Drive and 21 Grams. It's good to know, at bare minimum, that the start of production on My Week With Marilyn hasn't delayed Blonde-- which, if we're being honest, seems like a much more interesting project. Now it's time to prepare for the "Battle of the Marilyns" a year from now, when we figure out if Watts or Williams does the best impression, and inevitably decide they're both great actresses and everybody wins.

Jenny Downham's novel Before I Die sounds like an intense but, from the description in the New York Times review, worthwhile experience. It's a novel narrated by a 16-year-old girl dying of leukemia, describing her every experience and emotion and pain as she slowly makes her way toward a death she knows is coming. Yeah, I know. Not only does it sound like a challenging book but pretty much an impossible movie, and yet director Ol Parker is giving an adaptation a shot, with Dakota Fanning in the lead role.

Now, according to Production Weekly, Naomi Watts is in "preliminary discussions" to join the film, which will be titled Now Is Good (presumably to keep people from thinking it's a horror movie? Who knows). They're not saying what Watts's role would be but I'm guessing she'd play the mother; according to the review in The Guardian the mother in the book has only newly reappeared in the girl's life, but it's possible they'd change things to accommodate a star with as much leverage as Watts.

Fanning was at one point set to play another girl with cancer in My Sister's Keeper, a dull weepie she was right to bow out of, and this sounds like a much more realistic, less sentimental take on the same material. Fanning just keeps getting better as she gets older, and she really does seem to be at the point where she couldn't just carry a movie, but hold her own against the likes of Watts. So long as the movie veers away from sentimentality the way the book apparently does, this sounds like a tearjerker worth the time.

A few weeks ago we were trumping up the "battle of the blondes" between Blake Lively and Scarlett Johansson as they both vied for the lead female role in Gravity, the outer-space thriller from director Alfonso Cuaron that's already set to star Robert Downey Jr. Angelina Jolie had originally been on board for the film but bailed several months ago, and even with Downey Jr. on board the producers were apparently struggling to come up with someone to replace Jolie.

We all knew Angelina Jolie was one of a kind, but apparently she's so unique that Warner Bros. searched through all of Hollywood's starlets only to try and get Jolie back again. Deadline reports that after testing the likes of Lively, Johansson, Sandra Bullock, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Olivia Wilde and nearly every other hot young actress you can name, the studio went back to Jolie with a better offer, and she still passed. Apparently Downey Jr.'s role is small compared to the female lead, and they need a gigantic female star to carry the film-- and there's no bigger star right now, once again, than Jolie.

Running down the list of all the other projects Jolie has in mind, from the Bosnian war love story she plans to direct to Salt 2, Deadline speculates she won't come back to Gravity no matter what, and I have to agree. Now it's just going to take one of those actresses to have the chutzpah to say not only can she act like Jolie, but she can open a movie all by herself like Jolie-- when, of course, no other female star has that power, especially for action movies. Maybe by passing Jolie is trying to help breed a new female action hero to follow her lead. It's too bad Warner Bros. didn't trust themselves or their property enough to actually give it a shot, though now they'll have to. I hope Naomi Watts or Abbie Cornish or whoever they cast-- I'm rooting hardest for Cotillard--gives 'em hell and proves Jolie right.

I used to think I liked Doug Liman. Then Paul Greengrass took over the Bourne franchise and I realized, oh, that’s what was missing. Doug Liman’s a competent enough director, but I doubt he’ll ever be more than competent. Which raises the question: What the hell is Sean Penn doing in Liman’s new movie, Fair Game? The trailer’s below and when you watch it, you’ll probably think it’s a paint by numbers thriller. Sean Penn takes this acting thing seriously. Sean Penn doesn’t normally do paint by numbers movies. Unless… that paint by numbers movie happens to connect with his wildly left-leaning politics. Fair Game is just such a movie.

It’s based on the real life memoirs of Valerie Plame, the CIA agent outed by Bush White House officials 2003. Allegedly the Bush White House blew her cover to discredit the work of her husband, who wrote a New York Times op-ed piece in which he revealed that the Bush administration fudged intelligence about weapons of mass destruction. Yep, that old thing. We’re just never going to get past it.

So here’s the trailer for Fair Game. Watch it below or watch it in high-res on Yahoo. I’ll see you afteward for random and generally irresponsible discussion of what we’ve just watched.

If you’ve seen one Doug Liman trailer you’ve seen them all. This definitely feels like a Liman movie and it does a decent job of avoiding the politics involved in the whole thing and setting it up more as a thriller. Except it doesn't really set it up as a good thriller. I'm pretty sure the words “On a mission to find the facts…” don’t qualify as a tagline, even if you say them in a deep and ominous voice.

If deep voice narrator guy says the words “On a mission” they should be followed by “to save his daughter” or “to stop an alien invasion in South America”. “To find the facts” seems like kind of a let down. It’s like saying “in this movie you’ll be able to watch people read the newspaper”. Doesn’t matter how you say it, it still doesn’t sound exciting.

If the name of this movie sounds familiar to you, it's probably because you were a teenage pervert some time around the mid-90s. Fair Game was also the name of a 1995 William Baldwin/Cindy Crawford movie which was not at all about Valerie Plame. Actually, it's only ever been noteworthy because it features more than its fair share of Cindy Crawford topless.

For more on Naomi Watts's Fair Game visit our preview page. For Cindy Crawford's, try Google Image Search with "Safe Search" turned off. Actually you probably shouldn't do that last thing. It's NSFW.

Back in May Woody Allen's new comedy You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger debuted with a whimper-- critics seemed to barely muster up the energy to even review it, calling it serviceable at best. So now that you know not to expect a Vicky Cristina Barcelona-level triumph, take a look at the first trailer, an international one complete with Spanish subtitles and the very exotic-sounding title Cononceras al hombre de tus suenos.

Basically this is one those Woody Allen movies with a jaunty score and lots of wealthy white people-- this time with British accents-- who are continually wanting what they can't have. Elderly Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) has left his wife Helena (Gemma Jones) for a ditzy young actress (Lucy Punch), and Helena has taken to consulting psychics and exasperating her daughter (Naomi Watts), who is married to a bookish-looking Josh Brolin but has eyes for her swarthy boss (Antonio Banderas). Yes, it sounds awfully complicated, but if it's this clear in the trailer it has to work in feature-length, right? OK, hardened survivors of Scoop and Melinda and Melinda, you don't have to answer that.

Just like the domestic poster, the international artwork for Woody Allen’s You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger is extremely minimalistic, especially compared to the digitally rendered, effect heavy one sheet imagery we’re used to. The international version more telling than the simplistic domestic doodle, actually hinting at what the film is about.

Alfie and Helena (Anthony Hopkins and Gemma Jones) are married, but Alfie decides to leave his wife in pursuit of a younger woman (Lucy Punch) leading Helena to seek the help of a fortuneteller. Meanwhile, their daughter Sally (Naomi Watts) is having relationship troubles of her own. She’s married to Roy (Josh Brolin), but finds herself falling for her boss (Antonio Banderas). It turns out Roy isn’t so innocent himself. He’s crushing on Dia (Freida Pinto), a mysterious young woman whom he spots in a nearby window.

Check out both posters below, the international one first and the domestic one second, courtesy of IMP Awards.