Category: Trending

In recent years, EA Sports has made doling out its highest individual rating in its Madden series quite the occasion. Members are inducted into the “99 Club” on an annual basis, and this year, EA Sports decided to make the additions to that exclusive group of virtual players into a weeklong affair.

Each day this week, Madden has announced a new member into the 99 Club, with five players in total earning this distinction this season. Things kicked off on Monday, when to the surprise of no one, last year’s cover athlete and reigning Super Bowl MVP Patrick Mahomes got the nod.

The next three days went all over the field. Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey entered the club on Tuesday, followed by a pair of defensive players on Wednesday and Thursday: Los Angeles Rams defensive lineman and 99 Club stalwart Aaron Donald, and reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore of the New England Patriots.

To wrap things up, Madden went back to the other side of the ball on Friday, revealing that the final 99 Club member and the game’s top wide receiver will be Michael Thomas of the New Orleans Saints.

This year’s Madden game, which features Baltimore Ravens signal caller Lamar Jackson on the cover, hits current generation consoles on August 25. While the specific dates are unclear, Madden NFL 21 will also be available for next generation consoles sometime later this year.

Just a day removed from his 30th birthday and a week away from the resumption of the NBA’s season in its Orlando “bubble,” Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard — aka Dame D.O.L.L.A. — shared a new song with fans called “Home Team.” The NBA star/rapper celebrates family, friends, and loyalty on his latest single, which he calls his “pledge to remain true to his belief in ‘day ones over day millions.’”

He’s joined on the track by Dreebo, an LA rapper who offers a bleary-eyed hook and helps anchor the woozy Nonstop Da Hitman and Veyis-produced beat. On the verses, Dame goes in as usual, firing off multisyllabic, cage-like raps about the grind and making sure to share the spoils of victory with those closest to him.

“Home Team” follows “Blacklist” as the second track Dame released during the NBA’s long hiatus, with the latter responding to ongoing civil unrest in the wake of police killings of Black Americans George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. During the hiatus he also updated the format of his 4BarFriday series, turning it into a weekly live cipher. Before the NBA season was suspended, the league embraced his ongoing artistic endeavor, granting him a performance at All-Star Saturday Night. Before that, he released his third, independent album, titled Big D.O.L.L.A., as well as a deluxe edition.

Press play on Dame D.O.L.L.A.’s “Home Team” above.

The Rundown is a weekly column that highlights some of the biggest, weirdest, and most notable events of the week in entertainment. The number of items could vary, as could the subject matter. It will not always make a ton of sense. Some items might not even be about entertainment, to be honest, or from this week. The important thing is that it’s Friday, and we are here to have some fun.

ITEM NUMBER ONE — I need J.K. Simmons to yell at me, just once

The voice is the first thing. That booming, authoritative, distinctive voice. I could pick it out in a second in any crowded room or commercial voiceover. It’s so commanding, like a dad or a teacher or the mustachioed boss of a metropolitan newspaper who just wants pictures of Spider-man, goddammit, and that last one works out perfectly because, yes, I’m talking about J.K. Simmons, and yes, he did play J. Jonah Jameson to perfection in multiple Spider-man movies, to the degree that I would have watched a prequel about his rise to the top of the masthead at the Daily Bugle. J.K. Simmons is the best.

He’s great in everything he’s in, too. The man does what he does extremely well. Need a chief of police or high-ranking government official? J.K. Simmons is your man. Need a hard-charging teacher who drives his students with relentless intensity? Yeah, get him in there too, and get ready to give him an Oscar for it. Need a maniac who holds a grudge against your slacker main character and torments him for the majority of the movie before delivering a fatherly speech that puts everything in perspective? Well, guess what, he’s your guy, as we discovered — and should have already known, really — when Palm Springs dropped on Hulu last weekend. I desperately need J.K. Simmons to call me a shit bird. I feel like that will be the thing that finally makes me get my act together. Have him summon all the contempt and disappointment he can muster and have him blast it straight into my face. I’ll straighten up. I won’t have a choice.

I’m not joking about the speeches, either. No one gives a full-on monologue that explains the gears and cranks of the plot like J.K. Simmons. The one from Palm Springs is wonderful, just him calmly explaining life to Andy Samberg while chilling by the pool in his backyard. He has another great one in The Accountant, a legitimately good action movie where, yes, he plays a high-ranking Treasury agent and gets to wear a fedora sometimes. It happens something like two-thirds of the way into the movie and lasts about five minutes and contains an entire prequel’s worth of information about how he and the murderous genius accountant played by Ben Affleck got to that point. It’s fantastic. You could make a whole movie that’s just J.K. Simmons explaining the plot while other people act it out in silence. He should narrate every documentary. Most of them, at least. Can’t have him burn out those pipes.

It’s always cool to see someone do the thing they do exceptionally well. I’m sure there are times where J.K. Simmons gets tired of playing authority figures who are sick of their underlings and their lackadaisical attitudes. I’m sure there are times where he and Lance Reddick show up at an audition and lock eyes for a moment like “Well, one of us is getting this role as the mildly corrupt CEO or weary police chief, so good luck, friend.” I’m glad he got the Oscar for Whiplash and I’m glad he got the dual-role lead in Counterpart — a good show — that allowed him to play both sides of the authority coin, cocky hitman and sadsack loser. Everyone should get to spread their wings a little bit now and then. It’s good. Let J.K. Simmons soar.

But please, Mr. Simmons, if you’re reading this (I feel better calling you “mister” for some reason even though I’m in my 30s), do not ever stop playing these intimidating authority figures. Do not ever stop giving speeches to confused slackers and troubled junior agents. Do it forever, in as many projects as possible, with or without a mustache. And please, for the love of God, just one time, look at me with scorn and call me a shit bird, just to get me on track with my life. I’m a mess. I’m 30 minutes late turning in this article and I’m not even done yet.

You’re the only one who can save me.

ITEM NUMBER TWO — I knew it!

It has been my position for a number of years now that the Fast & Furious franchise will end up in outer space at some point. I took this position in part because it is an objectively funny thing to say and because it is quickly becoming the logical next step. In Fast Five, there was a car heist that took place on a speeding train. In Furious 7, a half dozen cars parachuted out of an airplane. In Fate of the Furious, Charlize Theron flew around the world in an undetectable science plane and later briefly hijacked a nuclear submarine. There are only so many modes of transportation left before one or more characters get launched into the cosmos. It’s this or a blimp, really.

Well, I am pleased to report that it is starting to look like I am correct. Or that Ludacris is a cruel, evil man. Because this happened last week and set my tiny corner of the internet ablaze.

He’s being cagey here, either dancing around something he shouldn’t have let slip or being a rascal because quarantine is boring as hell and toying with the world is probably more fun than learning to bake bread. In that sense, if he is just doing this for goofs, I have no choice but to respect his decision. It’s not like I have a leg to stand on in complaining about it anyway. I’m the same person who has, on more than one occasion, tried to convince a person that I did not know who the Beatles are. (“Paul McCartney? The guy from Wings?”) I deserve this if that is all it is. Ludacris is just delivering the karmic payback that’s been coming to me for years. It’ll hurt, but I’ll deserve it.

They’re still going to space at some point, in this movie or one in the near future. There’s no way around it. Mark my words.

ITEM NUMBER THREE — Let’s all chip in and buy the house from Golden Girls

Ladies and gentlemen, we are buying the house from The Golden Girls. The why is simple: Because it is on sale for the first time ever. Then when is simple, too: As soon as we can get the purchase price of $3 million together.

For the first time in 65 years, the Los Angeles home made famous by the American sitcom “The Golden Girls” has officially hit the market, as was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The property is currently asking a little under $3 million, a lot of money for a not-even-3,000 sq. ft. structure. But as Blanche (Rue McClanahan) might say in her signature Southern drawl, that’s just the price of being a devastatingly beautiful house.

The how is where it gets tricky. I’m good for, hmm, let’s say $5,000. So I’ll need the rest of you to pony up a total of $2,995,000. And then we’ll have to split up some sort of sharing arrangement. I get all of January and February because I live in Pennsylvania and hate winter, and yes, I realize two months is a big chunk of time for a person paying less than one percent of the total price, but it’s my idea. I’m the one inviting you into this opportunity. You should be thanking me, really. Pretty ungrateful on your part.

Anyway, while you’re rounding up the money to make this dream a reality (just imagine the faces your friends will make when they pull up to your house to visit during one of your weeks), please read this mind-bending paragraph from later in the article.

“Golden Girls” location scouts were initially drawn to the home’s flourishing flora since it gave off more of a Miami vibe than most L.A.-area properties. The Barrys agreed to have their house featured on the show for a small fee and loved having their famous home be seen on a national platform, though they were reportedly not sitcom fans and didn’t watch the show.

This is fascinating to me. I feel like the Barrys are either the coolest or most insufferable people to ever live. I really don’t see how there’s a middle ground on this one.

ITEM NUMBER FOUR — I did not know how much I needed this until this very moment

Everything is very weird and stressful right now. There’s a pandemic and massive unemployment and an upcoming presidential election and my beloved Philadelphia 76ers are planning to move Ben Simmons to power forward. Lots of uncertainty. It’s understandable if it keeps you up at night sometimes. It would be nice to have a calm, relaxing program to put on in the evening, something that doesn’t involve murder or many murders, something that, to chose an example at random, features a number of celebrities with soothing voices talking you to sleep.

Well, too bad it doesn’t exist. Now to open up the old inbox and s-…

A totally new type of television experience that combines mesmeric imagery with narration by A-list stars – including Mahershala Ali, Idris Elba, Oscar Isaac, Nicole Kidman, Zoë Kravitz, Lucy Liu, Cillian Murphy, and Keanu Reeves. HBO Max’s first project in the Health and Wellness space, A World of Calm is the result of a unique collaboration between the makers of Calm, the no. 1 app for sleep, meditation and relaxation, and Nutopia, the team behind Nat Geo’s critically acclaimed series One Strange Rock.

It is ridiculous how excited I am about this show. It says a lot about the world we’re living in and my mindset that my favorite show right now is Holey Moley and the show I’m looking forward to most is basically a high-end substitute for Ambien. It’s probably fine. Let’s not talk about it!

I would like to point out two additional things before I end this section, though: One, it is borderline malpractice to not get Matthew McConaughey for this and, yeah, I’m a little mad about it, although the Keanu part helps; two, please take this opportunity to remember that Jeff Bridges made a completely mad and trippy spoken word album called Sleeping Tapes that sounds almost exactly like what you probably think it sounds like.

The world is always a little bit weirder than you think it is, no matter how weird you think it is.

ITEM NUMBER FIVE — Is… is Mike Tyson going to punch a shark?

Well, Shark Week is coming up. I wonder what the old Discovery publicity department has in store f-…

Legendary boxer and entrepreneur Mike Tyson is taking on a new challenge…and he picked the most unlikely training partner. Iron Mike will go head to head with one of the ocean’s top apex predators in TYSON VS. JAWS: RUMBLE ON THE REEF. With famed ring announcer Michael Buffer calling the shots, these two heavyweights will square off underwater, where Mike Tyson will try to score a TKO over the massive shark… all in the name of research.

See, sometimes public relations people think they’re slick. They think if they fill a paragraph with sentences about Mike Tyson maybe fighting a shark, you’ll forget that they tried to slip “legendary boxer and entrepreneur” past you. But you and I are too smart for that. We see everything. Congrats to Mike on the weed ranch, though.

That said, this did get me a little excited for a second. The rational part of my brains knows Mike Tyson isn’t going to punch a shark. There’s just no possible set of circumstances where that’s going to happen here, on television, in America, in 2020. I would kind of like to see it, though, just because I’m a curious man who has watched the entire video at the top of this section more than once, but yeah, no chance. Still, my heart sank a little when I got to this sentence.

And don’t worry, no sharks were harmed (or bitten) in the making of this episode.

Ah, come on. Let Mike Tyson punch a shark. Just once. We’ll pick a shark who did something bad so we don’t have to feel crappy about it. Maybe one who yells at retail employees during the holiday season.

READER MAIL

If you have questions about television, movies, food, local news, weather, or whatever you want, shoot them to me on Twitter or at [email protected] (put “RUNDOWN” in the subject line). I am the first writer to ever answer reader mail in a column. Do not look up this last part.

From Megan:

I just wanted to thank you for recommending Patriot a few weeks back. My husband and I binged both seasons over the last month or so as our nighttime show after we put the kids to bed. The only problem is that we’re both so upset it got canceled. What a funny, moving, weird show. I’m trying to help spread the word, I promise!

Megan.

Yes.

YES.

Tell everyone to watch Patriot.

Tell them it’s on Amazon Prime.

Tell them they’re already paying for it anyway.

Tell them to join us.

Join us on the Patriot train.

Hey.

Speaking of trains…

And Patriot…

God, what a perfect show.

AND NOW, THE NEWS

To Fort Lauderdale!

A curious 2-year-old kangaroo named Jack decided to roam the Fort Lauderdale neighborhood around his home north of downtown on Thursday, but city police had to jump in and catch him for safety’s sake.

This story is already perfect. Look at everything we have in the first sentence:

• A kangaroo on the loose
• A kangaroo on the loose in Florida
• Florida cops trying to catch a loose kangaroo

It’s beautiful. I might start crying.

Fort Lauderdale police officer Robert Norvis answered the Signal 69 call, which usually means a dog or cat got loose.

“At first we didn’t believe it,” he said. “But when we got there it, sure enough, was a kangaroo.”

I’m not going to lie to you guys. I still love this story. I do. But I am kind of furious it didn’t come with helicopter footage of these cops trying to catch the kangaroo. I would have paid money to see that. I’m not joking. I’d pay $5 for it right now. Remember the llama chase? Remember how fun that was? Now add hopping. I’ll go as high as $10. Okay, $20. I won’t go above $50. But that’s it.

If you’re wondering how a kangaroo got loose in a Fort Lauderdale neighborhood, you clearly haven’t thought this through enough. The answer, as you should have known, is “because a Florida man got it from a guy he knows and was keeping it in his house without ever filing paperwork or checking to see if it’s legal, which it is not.”

Macias said he got Jack about four months ago from a Davie man who was moving and didn’t want Jack anymore.

Jack shared a home with Macias’ Corgi named Max.

“They love each other,” he said. “They play and run around.”

Okay, fine. I’ll pay $50 for video of this, too.

Considering the frequency in which random and terrifying events seemingly happen on a daily basis, it’s pretty easy to forget that, just two years ago, the entire state of Hawaii descended into chaos after a false missile alarm made the island inhabitants fear for their lives. But there’s one celebrity who remembers it very vividly, and that’s because he was there: Jim Carrey.

While dialing into The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon from a “remote cabin in Montana,” the rubber-faced Carrey revealed that he was driving in Hawaii with his daughter when his assistant called him crying to warn him about the impending missile strike. After realizing that he’d never get off the island in time, Carrey pulled over and walked down to the ocean for what he thought was the final moments of his life:

“I just decided to go over a list of gratitudes… I could not stop thinking about wonderful things that have happened to me and blessings that I’ve had,” he said, adding that “it was lovely” and he finally “got to a point of grace with two minutes to spare” when he learned the missile was a false alarm.

“All I was planning to do was close my eyes and be thankful cause it’s been a good ride,” he revealed.

As the story goes, it took 40 minutes for the Hawaii officials to get a message out that the missile warning was a false alarm, and it turns out the whole thing was the result of an employee pressing the wrong button. 2020 might be a beast, but 2018 was pretty wild, too.

Carrey was on hand to promote his new book, Memoirs and Misinformation, which has already hit the New York Times Bestseller’s list, and is a whirlwind ride of semi-true stories from the comedian’s life thinly disguised as absurd riffs on Hollywood. More importantly, Carrey tells Fallon that he hopes it’s the kind of book that people read then “rip their nipples off and scream my name.” That’s one way to promote a project.

(Via The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon & Hollywood Reporter)

Today, Jhene Aiko finally released the deluxe version of her album Chilombo. The original version of Chilombo, released March 6 this year, broke a near three-year streak of radio silence for the Los Angeles-born singer and contained a remix of mixtape favorite “H.O.E.” featuring Miguel and replacing Gucci Mane with Future, as well as a surprise collaboration with Bay Area singer and kindred spirit Kehlani.

Now, the new version of the album contains another long-awaited surprise collaboration; one with Jhene’s older sister Mila J, who is also a singer and has released music independently alongside her for the past decade. The song is titled “On The Way” and incredibly marks the siblings’ first commercially-released record together. While Jhene’s verse makes reference to Chilombo‘s lead single “Pussy Fairy” and employs some pretty raunchy imagery in contrast to her sweet demeanor, Mila gives a confident verse that pulls from Harlem Nights‘ infamous “sunshine” metaphor and boasts of her bedroom skills.

Jhene also added another pair of high-profile collaborations to her collection recently. In April, she joined up with H.E.R. to sing an acoustic rendition of their song “B.S.” for a charity livestream, while in June, she dueted with John Legend on his Bigger Love album cut, “U Move, I Move.”

Listen to Jhene Aiko and Mila J’s first collaboration above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Admit it: This would absolutely be the most apt season for the Kings to finally break their streak of 14 seasons without a playoff berth. Sacramento is a truly competitive team, with intriguing depth and scoring up and down the roster. They, just like the New Orleans Pelicans, truly earned their chance to compete for a playoff spot in Orlando, even if you argue that the field is too big. At 28-36, the Kings deserve a chance to see their season out ahead of what will be an important offseason.

They enter the Disney World bubble as a shell of themselves, with multiple players having tested positive for COVID-19, others dealing with injuries, and another who already broke the public health rules at the player campus. It’s been a very Kings start to the most important eight games the franchise has played in a while. That said, there is a chance in front of them to charge into the playoffs and be competitive once they get there.

ROSTER

Marvin Bagley III
Harrison Barnes (awaiting arrival after positive COVID-19 test)
Kent Bazemore
Nemanja Bjelica
Bogdan Bogdanovic
Corey Brewer
Yogi Ferrell
De’Aaron Fox
Harry Giles III
Kyle Guy
Buddy Hield
Richaun Holmes
Justin James
DaQuan Jeffries
Cory Joseph
Alex Len
Jabari Parker

SCHEDULE

Friday, July 31 — 8 p.m. ET — vs. San Antonio Spurs
Sunday, Aug. 2 — 6 p.m. ET — vs. Orlando Magic
Tuesday, Aug. 4 — 2:30 p.m. ET — vs. Dallas Mavericks
Thursday, Aug. 6 — 1:30 p.m. ET — vs. New Orleans Pelicans
Friday, Aug. 7 — 2 p.m. ET — vs. Brooklyn Nets
Sunday, Aug. 9 — 8 p.m. ET — vs. Houston Rockets
Tuesday, Aug. 11 — 9 p.m. ET — vs. New Orleans Pelicans
Thursday, Aug. 13 — time TBD — vs. Los Angeles Lakers

STANDINGS

1. Los Angeles Lakers: 49-14
2. Los Angeles Clippers: 44-20 (5.5 GB)
3. Denver Nuggets: 43-22 (7)
4. Utah Jazz: 41-23 (8.5)
5. Oklahoma City Thunder: 40-24 (9.5)
6. Houston Rockets: 40-24 (9.5)
7. Dallas Mavericks: 40-27 (11)
8. Memphis Grizzlies: 32-33 (18)
9. Portland Trail Blazers: 29-37 (21.5)
10. New Orleans Pelicans: 28-36 (21.5)
10. Sacramento Kings: 28-36 (21.5)
11. San Antonio Spurs: 27-36 (22)
12. Phoenix Suns: 26-39 (24)

WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?

Getting into the playoffs. Sacramento was a darling pick in the preseason to make the playoffs after nearly doing so in 2019, and though a slow start put them back, the Kings are now right where they left off last season. The franchise hasn’t made the playoffs in 14 years but has legitimate momentum and a promising young core that fits together pretty well. They have the firepower to take two play-in games from Memphis if they can force a playoff for the eighth seed, and the depth to make up for injuries or positive virus tests during the restart. Earning a bout with LeBron James and the Lakers and getting their youngsters a spotlight on the playoff stage would be a big step forward for the Kings.

X-FACTOR

Most of the time, this will also be the best player on the team, and in this case that’s De’Aaron Fox. Though the point guard is dealing with an ankle sprain and is out at least a week, that would ideally put him on track to return for (re)opening night. Per Kings Herald, before Fox came back from a separate grade 3 ankle sprain on Dec. 17, the Kings ranked 30th in the league in pace at 97.47. From Fox’s return to the NBA’s pause on March 11, the Kings ranked 15th in the NBA in pace at 100.18. The team’s personnel is best when Sacramento plays in transition, and Fox is the battery that powers that attack. Head coach Luke Walton has recently discussed playing faster in Orlando as well, which would bode well for Fox and the team overall. They were 7-3 in the games leading up to the break, all with Fox healthy and all with an increased tempo.

BIGGEST ON-COURT QUESTION

How does the center rotation shape up? We know Hield, Bogdanovic and Bjelica will be aggressive from deep and that when Fox can jump-start a possession, the Kings can score. But Walton was not able to establish a pecking order at the 5 after a trade-deadline deal added Len to a roster that already included the much-improved Holmes as well as Bagley, the 2018 No. 2 overall pick.

All three have the potential to fit how the Kings want to play, with Len not quite as athletic or quick but able to pop out for threes and a much more consistent defender than the other two younger players. Holmes posted career highs across the board, including in several advanced defensive statistical categories after long being jumpy and unreliable as a defensive anchor. Yet Bagley is clearly the focus here, and he allegedly gained 10 lbs. of muscle during the shutdown, making him a more ideal center rather than a 4, where he played at Duke and in many of his Kings minutes so far. There is likely space for all three to get minutes here and there, but as much as this is about a push for the playoffs, it would be hard to box Bagley out of an opportunity to finish out his second season. The Kings’ strength may be on the perimeter, but they will need to defend, rebound and finish inside to round out a team capable of jumping into the playoffs. To do that, they will need to focus during minicamp and scrimmage games on who of these three bigs fits best on the faster, more aggressive team they’re striving to be in Orlando.

After a 14-year hiatus and a highly publicized name change, The Chicks (formerly Dixie Chicks) have returned with their new album Gaslighter. To celebrate their record’s release, The Chicks joined together on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to address their new title and give a rendition of their single “March March.”

Discussing their group’s new name with Colbert, The Chicks said they have actually been wanting to make the change for quite some time. “Well, it’s because of everything that’s going on in the world,” said vocalist Natalie Maines. “It was about time; we’ve wanted to change it for a long time, actually. We started using ‘DCX’ a lot and ‘The Chicks’ a lot whenever we could — we hoped it would catch on, but it didn’t. So, in the moment now, we just felt that it was right, and we didn’t even have to have much discussion about it. We just all wanted to do it right away, and so we did.”

The Chicks’ Emily Robison told Colbert that they had some other names in mind. Some of the monikers they considered before settling on The Chicks include “Puss In Boots” and “M.E.N.,” which is a combination of each of the members’ initials (Martie, Emily, and Natalie).

Watch The Chicks on Colbert above.

Gaslighter is out now via Columbia. Get it here.

For someone who’s survived a car crash, pair of heart attacks, and brain surgery, not to mention his current battle with pancreatic cancer, Alex Trebek looks damn good for 80 years old. Technically, the Jeopardy! host is only 79 — his birthday isn’t until next week, July 22, the day after his first book, The Answer Is… Reflections on My Life, comes out. But look at that beard! The country’s most famous game show host (sorry/not sorry, Chuck Woolery) decided to publish his memoir now, “after turning down offers in the past” according to the New York Times, for two reasons: he’s quarantined at home, and:

When I asked him why he decided to publish a book now, he was direct. “They offered me a good deal of money,” he said, adding that “it wasn’t John Bolton-type money” and that he was donating it to charity. (Bolton received an advance of $2 million for his recent White House memoir [The Room Where It Happened].)

The New York Times notes that there are “no shocking revelations in his memoir,” but I disagree, as one of the stories Trebek tells is about the time he “accidentally ate four or five hash brownies at a party in Malibu” in the early 1970s, “and woke up at the host’s house three days later.” I demand to know what happened here. Sorry sorry, let me phrase that in the form of a question: “What is… Trebek slept for three days after eating a bunch of pot brownies?” I also need an entire chapter about his thoughts on “Lost on Jeopardy.”

(Via the New York Times)

Life really is attempting to find a way. Universal previously revealed that Jurassic World: Dominion would be the the first major studio film to fire production back up in the U.K. (at Pinewood Studios in July), and it’s definitely happening. There are, of course, millions of dollars newly invested in safety protocols and staggered schedules, and so on, but the stunt work is in full swing, from the looks of the proof offered up by the film’s leads.

On Twitter, Bryce Dallas Howard posted a photo of herself back in gear with Chris Pratt. In doing so, she wrote that “[t]hese past couple of weeks my abs have been sore from laughing so much — it’s good to be back at work with this funny guy.”

There’s another reason for sore abs, too, as Pratt urged Howard to reveal. “Show them the pictures of the bruises!!!” he very eagerly tweeted. “(She got some crazy sick bruises from doing stunt work) Show them!!!”

To which Howard responded (with photos of gnarly bruises that look, hmm, about a week old?), “Raise your hands if you’re happy to be doing stunts again!!”

She didn’t get those bruises simply from running in heels, that’s for sure. However, we’ll have to wait until at least June 2021 (the current release date) to see this “sick” stunt work in action. In the meantime, Deadline has reported that Universal’s insurance policy, as it was written before, is somehow going to “remain in place without exclusions” despite the viral threat at hand. Seriously though, let’s hope that life really does find a way here, and everyone involved can stay healthy — and fingers crossed for hitting release dates again.

A secret group of militarized nuns fighting demonic spirits in the shadows. That’s the definition of a kick-ass superhero show if you’re talking to Warrior Nun creator Simon Barry. He wanted to take the best-selling YA fantasy property and tailor it for the Netflix streaming crowd, hoping that a touch of mysticism, a few mentions of angels, demons, and the afterlife, and oh yeah, an army of Gen Z nuns wielding shotguns, throwing knives, and ancient super-powered objects might yield a fandom big enough to take the show into a second season.

The jury’s still out on that last bit, but his faith has been rewarded in other ways. The show’s already gained a devoted following, performing well in a quarantined era when streamers are clamoring for new content that sparks excitement and imagination. Other-worldly monsters, demonic possession, and portals to unknown realms should fit that bill, right? We chatted with Barry about the show’s still uncertain future, the fates of key characters, and infusing a bit more feminism into that dusty Biblical mythology.

So, why nuns? What got you interested in this world?

I really liked the idea that we could do this feminist superhero show that had its mythology rooted in a little bit of the typical good, evil, heaven, and hell, angels and demons. When you deal with mythology like Biblical mythology, the audience is already up to speed. You don’t have to spend a lot of time explaining the stakes. The stakes are God and the Devil. That really allows for writers to focus more on the mechanics of the new things that are coming into the show.

For us, it was then about this interesting world where nuns are trained to fight and be kick-ass martial artists and weapons experts. Then, this idea of the Halo as sort of a supernatural, superpower device that makes one of the nuns become special. I felt like this was familiar ground, but also very different from an audience point of view and the genre point of view — it was accessible, but also fresh. I liked those two things kind of commingling in the way that you could accelerate the process of storytelling and get an audience invested quickly by being curious but by also being read up on the mythology a little bit.

Yeah, you don’t normally think of “feminism” when I think of the Catholic Church.

No, and that’s why it was kind of fun. We were like, “Hey, let’s have these girls fighting patriarchy as well.”

Were you worried about taking on some of that heavier material?

We weren’t really worried. I think we were so unabashedly upfront with our wacky concept of the angel’s Halo being put inside someone and it giving them superpowers, that we felt the show was planting a flag early. We’re not trying to be a religious show. We’re just using religion to help us understand the stakes of good and evil and what bad things might happen and how angels could be involved in this pathology.

We were really just kind of honoring the mysticism and supernatural existing qualities of the church that are there and the unexplained. And it’s saying, “Hey, if this can all be unexplained, why can’t we kind of link it to our supernatural device,” which is the idea of this angel’s Halo being a physical object. For us, it was more leaning into the mythology than trying to exploit it in a way that was making a political point.

Right, okay. Enough games. Who is Adriel? What is Adriel? An angel?

That’s a good question, but I guess I could come back to you and go, “What is an angel?”

You could.

That’s the fun part of this. We exist somewhere in between, which makes the show a little bit more interesting, I think, because by not doing these hard definitions about what things are or aren’t, and by not saying, “This is it,” we’re leaving that speculation open for the audience and for our characters, more importantly, to wonder, “What does it mean?” If someone tells you that this is this and you have accepted it, are you accepting it based on what you know, what you think, or what you’ve been told to think?

I could argue that giving an answer would be rewarding to an audience who’s working hard to figure things out.

It’s only human as the audience has found out, to want to have answers. We would rather exist in that kind of parallel world where we think we know what’s going on, but we don’t. I think if we get to season two, it will allow us to continue that journey of revealing what is mythological supposition, I guess, and what is something that we can say, “Oh, our myth evolves from something real. And here’s the real thing. And here’s where the myth evolved from.” Everything in the show has its connection to Biblical mythology and art, and sometimes we just want to ask the question, “Well, what came first? The thing the myth was designed [from] or was the myth the thing all along?”

You’re sending me back to the Reddit theory threads then?

I know. I’m so sorry, but this is how we do drama. We want to drag it out. We want to torture you for a few more years.

Speaking of, are there plans to reveal more of what happened to Lilith if you get a season two?

Yeah, for sure. If we get more seasons, we’ll definitely expand on the journey. It’s one of those imperatives that we dig down and understand what she’s going through and what’s happened to her. When we designed the characters out of the gate, we definitely had a big overview of some of the prototypical character set-ups that we liked, but we also wanted to defy those and do the unexpected and surprise the audience wherever possible. In building Lilith as the presumptive Halo bearer and the most eager to be selected, we knew we were dealing with a trope-y character study that exists in many, many other stories, but we didn’t want to use her the way other stories would have used her, which would have been to be the classic foil for Ava.

By doing all we did to her, by forcing Lilith, someone we thought we knew, to change, it meant that the audience had to go through this re-examination as well. The journey that Lilith took was very much part of our plan from day one. In fact, if she ever comes across in the first three episodes as being a little bit one-note, it’s because we knew we were going to flip it.

I was always a bit suspicious of her. Lilith is not the kind of name you’d give a nun, you know?

[Laughs] That’s us honoring the graphic novel. Lilith is a character from Ben Dunn books, Warrior Nun Areala and I think the fans, if they know the books, would go, “Ah, I see what you guys are doing here. Very crafty, I know where this is going.” For everyone else, they should just enjoy the journey and see what happens.

Are Ava and Beatrice going to go on a journey, maybe a romantic one, next season?

We always intended Beatrice and Ava to become very close, and it had nothing to do with sexuality. It was really knowing that Ava was a neophyte and not religious and not feeling like she belonged, that she should have a best friend or a connection with someone who had had similar feelings, but was actually on the opposite end of the spectrum when it came to how seriously she took her role.

Beatrice might feel like she is an outsider, but that’s just the way society and her parents have treated her. That sense of being an outsider was something we knew that Ava had and we wanted to have them bond as friends first. The one thing you don’t want to do is ever say that sexuality defines the character. As writers, our job is to define the character and then let the sexuality play out as it would normally.

Ava and Beatrice’s journey for us is not something that is an easy definition, and we like it that way. We don’t want it to be defined as one thing. We want it to be defined as 10 things. We’re going to service all of those components — a great friendship, a great relationship, camaraderie, and love. But, we’re not there yet in the story, so we’re not going to do something that isn’t honest as it relates to them just to service potential.

I’m worried if this ship doesn’t sail, you might have to find a bunker to hide in.

[Laughs] It’s already happening. I mean, look, this is the nice thing about it. We don’t have to write it in to know that it exists. You know it’s already there. People can see it with their own eyes. Just because we don’t label it as such, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. And just because we don’t have someone say it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It exists for everyone to see and experience. I think the audience has made their decision. I don’t have to make that decision. I’ll just build on it and make it better and better and better, hopefully. That’s my job.

What about Shotgun Mary? Where will we pick up with her?

Is Shotgun Mary going to be okay? I think so, but you never know. Nothing’s off the table. I think that’s sort of a question that remains for if we officially get a season two. We’re all aiming to be truthful to these characters as much as possible and to the audience by honoring who these characters are — their strengths, their weaknesses. We’ll always try to do right by Mary, by Lilith, Beatrice. It’s our job to make sure that they never are abused in that way as characters, that we keep them on their line and make them interesting.

Do you think the OCS will survive after the disaster of season one, particularly Father Vincent’s betrayal?

I think that regardless of what happens institutionally, the definition of the OCS for our show will always be driven by the girls. Obviously, the Vatican will try to have a say in that, but like you said, this is a major upheaval. The OCS is attacked from various angles right now, whether it’s political, whether it’s just from a story point of view with Adriel emerging, whether it’s because Duretti has now become Pope and has much more power. That is something that we really feel is a catalyst for season two if we get one. I’m curious to know what happens to the OCS too.

Netflix’s ‘Warrior Nun’ is currently streaming.