Despite The Mandalorian being a breakout hit and cultural phenomenon after debuting on Disney+ in 2019, actor Pedro Pascal found himself ineligible for a Golden Globes nomination thanks to his character being in a helmet for the vast majority of the first season. (Spoiler Alert: He briefly takes it off for one scene in the final episode.) However, according to Variety, the unusual nature of Pascal’s performance reportedly prompted a rules change that clarifies how eligibility for overly helmeted roles will be determined in the future.

Announced by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association on Wednesday, “voice-only performances are not eligible in any acting category.” That means even if characters are physically in the scene, actors whose faces are not visible are not eligible in any acting category. In “The Mandalorian,” which aired last fall, Pascal was in costume and hidden under a helmet throughout the show’s eight-episode first season. It’s not until the season finale that the character’s helmet is removed and Pascal is finally seen for the first time.

Since Pascal does make a very brief appearance in the final episode, the HFPA confirmed to Variety that, even with this latest clarification, the actor should have been eligible for a 2019 nomination. But here’s the thing: Pascal wasn’t hidden under a helmet throughout the entire season. In fact, he was rarely onset due to other commitments. While Lucasfilm has been initially secretive about this information, stuntman Brendan Wayne revealed to Vulture back in December that he handled the majority of the physical acting work for Mando, and Pascal himself admitted to Yahoo! Movies in April that he was brought in late in the production as the voice of the character.

The extent of Pascal’s actual work has been further revealed in Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, which has been airing on Disney+ and provides an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the groundbreaking show’s production. During a recent episode, Pascal credited Wayne and stuntman Lateef Crowder, who did the more acrobatic action scenes, for bringing Mando to life, while Pascal is shown doing voiceover work entirely separate from the set. At one point, he’s even seen holding a pillow to capture the feeling of cradling Baby Yoda. For the record, Pascal is shown filming the pivotal scene where Mando removes his helmet in the final episode, which seems to be his only time in costume.

Of course, none of this changes the fact that Baby Yoda was absolutely robbed by both the Golden Globes, Emmys, and let’s say the Grammys, too, just to be safe.

(Via Variety)

Love Life (HBO Max) — So HBO Max is finally here and if you’ve been able to figure out how to get it — or if you already have it as an HBO subscriber — then congratulations! You now have access to a smorgasbord of movies and TV shows ranging from The Lord of the Rings trilogy to Friends, but one of the better original offerings available at launch is this Paul Feig created, Anna Kendrick-starring anthology series about finding love in all the wrong (and right) places.

The 100 (CW, 8:00 p.m.) — The show explores the headache-inducing concept of time travel tonight as Hope leads Echo and Gabriel through the Anomaly and on a journey of her past, which includes glimpses of Diyoza and Octavia raising her on a mystery planet and ends with the arrival of a new big bad.

Thor: The Dark World (ABC, 8:00 p.m.) — Out of all the Marvel flicks they could’ve chosen, ABC decided the worst Thor movie was what fans deserved to see tonight. On the bright side, after watching this, you’ll have a newfound appreciation for what Taika Waititi did with Thor: Ragnarok.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC, 10:00 p.m.) — Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. kicks off its final season tonight with Coulson and the crew being thrust back in time and stranded in 1931 New York City. How did this happen? Your guess is as good as theirs.

What We Do in the Shadows (FX, 10:00 p.m.) — Nadja and Laszlo revive their musical act as Guillermo is forced to find a new master to serve when Nandor’s old familiar returns.

As the NBA nears a final plan to return to play in Orlando this summer, the most pressing matter is how many teams are involved and what the structure of the remainder of the season will be. It appears the league is one step closer on that front as of Wednesday, as Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN reported the most likely scenario would be a fully postseason, in addition to a competition for the final spot in the Western Conference playoffs.

Throughout conference calls with owners and players this week, NBA commissioner Adam Silver is leading many to “become increasingly skeptical of the league bringing back all 30 teams to complete the season,” according to the ESPN report. Weeks ago, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told reporters his team was operating as if their season was over, so this would lead to the same conclusion.

According to ESPN, the most likely plan would leave the East playoff seeding as is, but incorporate Nos. 9-12 in the West standings in a “playoffs-plus” format that would likely include a play-in tournament for the eighth seed in the Western Conference. This comes after Damian Lillard publicly said he would not be interested in playing out the year if there was no chance his Trail Blazers could make the postseason.

Players will need to begin congregating either in their home markets or in Florida in the next week or two if this plan goes forward, so the NBA is likely to cement the finer points of the 2019-20 Orlando basketball extravaganza in the coming days.

Last night, Deonna Purrazzo became the first of the WWE workers laid off last month to officially take the next step in her career – or at least the first that the public knows of. In a promo on the latest episode of Impact on AXS TV, Purrazzo declared that she’s headed to Impact Wrestling, and she’s keeping her Virtuosa gimmick. You can watch the promo here:

That’s a lot of math!

Impact is one of the few American wrestling promotions currently holding events, and the only one besides WWE and AEW taping wrestling TV. They’ve also been adding to their women’s division over the past few months; the company signed former AEW wrestler Kylie Rae to a long-term contract in March and indie standouts Kimber Lee and Tasha Steelz recently made their Impact debuts. So far there’s no word whether Purrazzo will be with Impact long-term, or just for a few appearances.

Since getting cut from the NXT roster, Purrazzo has spoken positively about Impact and its history of promoting women’s wrestling. She’s also explained why she had considered asking for her release from WWE, creative difficulties she had in the company, and that she thinks she was hired during a period of talent-hoarding.

On Wednesday, Walt Disney World unveiled its plans for a phased reopening of the Orlando Disney parks over the summer, along with SeaWorld who has plans to open their three Orlando parks on June 11th. Both theme parks follow Universal Studios Orlando’s lead, who announced a short-phased reopening that would begin on June 1st and open to the general public by June 5th.

This follows Disney reopening Shanghai Disneyland earlier this week with strict social distancing and hygiene rules in place. And if news reports of the park are any indication, people look ready to ride the teacups again in China.

Back in Florida, the Orlando Sentinel reports that Walt Disney World will reopen its Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom parks on July 11th, followed by Hollywood Studios and Epcot by July 15th.

All three theme park franchises will reopen with increased safety measures echoing those in Shanghai that include temperature checks, limited capacity, cashless payment options, and staggered parking, according to Deadline. Universal plans on closing all interactive play areas throughout their theme parks as well as remove water and mist elements from attractions, which might remind you that Universal Studios is always trying to throw mist your way any chance they get. What’s up with that?

According to the Orlando Sentinel, both SeaWorld and Disney World will require guests and employees to wear masks and include changes to the attraction line layouts in order to promote social distancing. Disney is also apparently developing a social-distancing squad, whose sole task will be reminding guests to keep a safe distancing between one another.

(Via Orlando Sentinel)

In a time when we’ve watched people fight over toilet paper, argue over mask-wearing and storm government buildings with firearms, a nice random act of kindness story is always appreciated. And when that random act of kindness happens to someone who is famous-adjacent, the impact somehow seems all the more pure.

Actor Nathan Fillion, best known for his starring roles in the TV series Firefly (and subsequent movie, Serenity) and Castle, shared one such story on Facebook this week—and people are loving it.

He wrote:

Somebody needs to get this kid his own show, immediately.

A video shared by Khary Kimani Turner on Facebook shows a kid at a computer desk with a microphone, narrating his online schooling in the style of a charismatic preacher—and holy goodness, it’s hilarious. It’s not made clear in the video, but the scene appears to be a mom filming her son, Ramone (spelling unknown), over her shoulder while he starts a school video.

He has the impassioned reverend bit down, from the vocal inflections to the banging the mic on the table to the singing and feet-shuffling when he really gets going. Even the content of his narration is entertainingly on point. When the school video is unable to connect, he sees it as a sign from the Lord telling him “Ramone, take a rest.”

And somehow, his mom stays miraculously straight-faced and calm as her kid performs one of the best impromptu comedy routines ever. When he paused the school video and sang about how God paused it, she said matter-of-factly, “I need you to stop putting stuff on God. God didn’t pause it.” But the best part is when Ramone really got going:

“You know I don’t wanna do the work. You know I don’t wanna do the work. Cuz God is doin’ the work in me. How am I supposed to be doin’ the work when he’s workin’ in me? I need to rest so he has a stable foundation to upgrade on. When I’m movin’ how am I going to get upgrades? When a car is getting upgraded it’s in a garage and it’s standing still. When a superhero is being upgraded, it’s in a garage and it’s standing still. IIIIIIIIII need to be still…”

Then a male voice from off screen gets in on the action, egging on Ramone with, “Tell ’em about the oil!”

And what ensues is even more hilarity, as the spirit overtakes Ramone and his mom finally breaks into giggles at his antics. Everything about this video and the family in it is just too good. Watch on repeat. You won’t be sorry.

Seriously, those are some skills. Somebody give this kid a church and a TV show and a break from his schoolwork ASAP. Amen and hallelujah.

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Given the bombshell news that HBO Max will officially “Release the Snyder Cut” next year, Justice League director Zack Snyder seems more than happy to promote the streaming service on its big launch day.

The filmmaker is known for whipping fans into a frenzy on social media, and he certainly leaned into his strong suit by dropping a first look at the epic DC Comics villain Darkseid, who will reportedly play a huge role in the upcoming Snyder Cut. Despite the blurry photo — it’s not your screen — the tweet has already racked up more than 60,000 likes after only being up for a few hours.

You can (kinda) see Darkseid below:

While the theatrical version of Justice League featured the villain Steppenwolf, who was not well-received by fans and general audiences, it’s unknown how large of a role Darkseid will play in the new Snyder Cut version of the film or whether he’ll replace Steppenwolf altogether. What is known is that actor Ray Porter was secretly cast in the part, which he officially confirmed on Twitter for the first time after the Snyder Cut announcement was made.

While hardcore Snyder fans were aware of rumors that Porter was cast as Darkseid, the assumption was that he only did a small amount of voiceover work. But in a recent interview with the Lightcast podcast, Porter revealed that he actually filmed a significant amount of motion capture footage for Snyder before the tragic circumstances that led the director to exit the Justice League film. Via Heroic Hollywood:

“Obviously you never know how much… I know what I did, and you never know how much is going to be in the film, because editing occurs. If it all comes out in the wash in 2021 and I’m not in as much as I thought I would be, or there was stuff that’s cut, that’s just part of the deal, that’s part of the process. But there was a lot of work. There was a lot of work. Obviously not as much as some other cast members, but there was a lot going on.”

Judging by Snyder openly teasing DC Comics’ biggest villain to promote the HBO Max launch, we’re guessing Porter’s Darkseid will be seeing a lot less of the cutting room floor this time around.

(Via Zack Snyder on Twitter)

The RX is Uproxx Music’s stamp of approval for the best albums, songs, and music stories throughout the year. Inclusion in this category is the highest distinction we can bestow and signals the most important music being released throughout the year. The RX is the music you need, right now.

If you’re only able to give your time to one trap album from the first half of 2020, it’d be supremely difficult to go wrong with Gunna’s lean, pristine Wunna. In the modern era of supersize projects tapping the same producers and addressing the same handful of topics, Gunna does enough things right on his latest album to overcome the drawbacks of the genre and of his prior effort, raising his game and delivering a project that not only stands up to multiple listens, but also encourages them as well.

Ever since Gunna’s first appearance alongside Young Thug on “Floyd Mayweather” in 2016, the Atlantan neophyte has been deemed Thugger’s heir apparent of the slippery, melodically-driven flows he helped pioneer into the prevailing style of trap rap. That status seemed solidified in 2018 when Gunna followed up his breakthrough mixtape Drip Season 3 with a collaborative tape alongside his own mentee Lil Baby, Drip Harder. However, far from cementing him as the next big thing out of Atlanta, the tape and its followup instead served as a coronation for Lil Baby, who seemed to surpass Gunna, despite both rappers admitting that it was Gunna who both inspired and instructed Baby early in his career.

Gunna’s debut studio album Drip Or Drown 2 sparked the debate among fans: Which of the two Atlanta trap prodigies most deserved to take over the top spot? However, that argument assumes that there’s only room for one at the top, when in reality, they are as linked as their immediate predecessors, Future and Young Thug — with whom they are ironically also working on a joint title, the sequel to Future and Thug’s own joint mixtape, Super Slimey. Instead, I like to think of the dynamic as similar to A Tribe Called Quest — you can’t have one without the other and each fills a specific role. While Lil Baby’s visceral narratives may resonate most strongly with the streets, Gunna’s heady ghetto philosophy gives him a different edge.

There’s no clearer demonstration of this effect than Gunna’s sophomore effort Wunna following the release of Lil Baby’s parallel project, My Turn. Where Baby’s approach is sprawling, clocking in at over an hour with 20 tracks and a ton of features, Wunna instead zips along at just under 50 minutes, with two fewer tracks and only six guest verses — one from Lil Baby, on “Blindfold.” The production is tight, utilizing mainly YSL in-house beat maker Wheezy, with a few beats from Mike Will Made It and Tay Keith sprinkled in for variety. “Blindfold” displays the smooth chemistry between the two rappers, highlighting Gunna’s focus on rap skills over storytelling: “Gunna spit venom, you can hear it in his voice,” he snaps, “Tried me and I killed him, I didn’t really have no choice.”

For the most part, as Gunna goes it alone, he demonstrates his slick ability to slip from one topic to another, elegantly flexing and snidely threatening at the same time on “Met Gala,” then comparing his lifestyle to classic rock icons on “Rockstar Bikers & Chains.” Gunna continually shows off a gift for sing-song choruses designed to stick in the crevices of listeners’ brains, as on the Roddy Ricch-featuring “Cooler Than A B*tch” and album intro “Argentina,” but he rarely overstays his welcome. The album’s brevity is its greatest strength, as Gunna displays his gift for efficiently delivering memorable verses and getting out before the flexes wear out. Wunna may not resolve the debate between fans of which of the Drip Harder collaborators consistently delivers the strongest product, but it does strengthen their connection while proving that Gunna deserves his spot in the conversation.

Wunna is out now on Young Stoner Life Records / 300 Entertainment. Get it here.

Gunna is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.